Finding Your Own Wind

Run With The Wind Episode 21 Review

So hard to review this episode because the emotional punch of episode 20 obviously wasn’t beaten, nor did the anime try to do so. Run With The Wind hasn’t been big on continuous melodrama beats to keep us watching so after giving us that glorious moment in episode 20, sensibly toned it down but didn’t retreat from building toward the climax of the series.

This episode we had Yuki taking the downhill stretch of the track and I loved his character moment. As the most reluctant (other than Prince) to join the team and the one who fought Haiji hard, to see him tearing down that hill and giving it all he had was a truly amazing thing. What I liked as well was they built in a family moment for him, which tied in neatly with a previous comment he’d made about his relationship with family, but it wasn’t a bit deal or huge drama. It was just there and a moment for the character and something that helps to make all of this feel grounded in reality because all of these characters have other things going on, but they didn’t make a spectacle of it. Anyway, really loved it.

Yuki passes the sash to Hirata (or Nico) who then runs and realises how much he loves running. This is probably the most back story we’ve seen from this character but it ties in beautifully with all the quiet moments we’ve seen previously with him worrying about his size and his weight. Again, not over-dramatised, fit beautifully with what we knew about the character, and gave us just enough to flesh him out and round out his character story as he finally runs his leg.

The sash is passed to King though we don’t get much of this because we hop over to Kakeru who is pretty much declaring he’s going to beat a section record and yet for Kakeru he seems to actually be enjoying running again and friendly competition.

I find it amazing that this anime has managed to build up a team that feels like a team and the camaraderie and all the points that go with teamwork as a theme, but each character has gone on an interesting personal journey. Some of these journey’s have been happening quietly in the background but they’ve been there and as the final stretch shows each character finally running their leg we get closure on each of these personal stories.

It really is a remarkable story and one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up in. I’m going to be very sad to see this one leave my watch list at the end of the season.

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• Run With The Wind Series Review
• Episode 1 – Another character dragging others along in pursuit of their dreams.
• Episode 2 – The hard sell
• Episode 3 – As the wind blows
• Episode 4 – A wind of change
• Episode 5 – Scattered by the winds
• Episode 6 – No need to be frantic; It will all blow over soon
• Episode 7 – An opportunity to knock the wind clean out of their sails
• Episode 8 – The Downfalls of the Pursuit of Perfection
• Episode 9 –  You Really Have To Step Back To See What’s There
• Episode 10 – How Run With The Wind Shows Us To Celebrate Effort Rather Than Achievement
• Episode 11 – Why Run With The Wind is an Oustanding Example of the Use of Sound
• Episode 12 – The Change of Seasons Welcomes a Changing Wind
• Episode 13 – Clearing the Air With The help of Friends
• Episode 14 – Facing Forward is Easier When You Know Someone Has Your Back
• Episode 15 – How Did They Make Me Start Caring? 
• Episode 16 – The Moment Of Truth From All That Training
• Episode 17 – Should They Follow The Course Before Them?
• Episode 18 – May The Wind Be At Their Backs
• Episode 19 – They Are Three Runners Down With Seven To Go
• Episode 20 – Blowing Past Your Limits
• Episode 21 – Finding Your Own Wind
• Episode 22 – Running With The Wind And With Your Team
• Episode 23 – The Final Wind
• Images from: Run With the Wind. Dir. K Nomura. Production I.G. 2018.