I haven’t exactly hidden my dislike of shouting protagonists, but there’s another type of character I find equally off-putting regardless of how good the story might be. And Run With The Wind delivers us Haiji, the guy who has some personal goal or dream of running a marathon and is willing to drag whoever he needs to into it. He might be described as passionate or driven, but I generally find imposing your own wish on other people to be a fairly repugnant character trait. If he wants to run a marathon he’s welcome to; leave everyone else alone.
Which meant this first episode didn’t exactly scream at me that this is a must watch. A sport focused story with a bunch of guys brought together through whatever means necessary to train to run a marathon it isn’t exactly shouting pick me. Despite that, it also isn’t an instant drop and I’m going to give it another episode or two to try and convince me these characters are worth investing my time in. And there’s a couple of reasons for that.
The first is the visuals. While for the most part they are pretty ordinary (neither good or bad), there is one sequence where Haiji sees Kakeru running and it just grabbed me (as it was clearly intended to). I actually saw this sequence on Twitter before I watched the episode and while I liked it on Twitter, it actually just worked beautifully in the episode and it was the moment I really started paying attention.
This scene alone was so damn pretty! #kazeanime pic.twitter.com/mFhYOLRBH7
— Jeremiah (@kawaikenma) 2 October 2018
The second reason I’m not instant dropping this, is the rest of the cast seem interesting enough. They each have their particular personality trait but they don’t seem as exaggerated or caricature like as some ensemble casts and I’d like to give them a chance to grow on me.
Still, I will be quite surprised if this one stays on my watch list.
- 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.
Sports anime aren’t my forte either, so while it looks good enough to keep for another episode or so, I’m not sure if I’ll be sticking with it for the entire season. I think there were a few reactions I had to this show that I wasn’t meant to have (like laugh whenever I see that face Haiji makes – the one he makes when he asks Kakeru “Do you like running?”), but I did jot down something about these moments for an impressions post (the second one, which is still in progress as I type this comment, but it should be out in a few days).
…just wondering though, did you ever check out RErideD?
I haven’t gotten to RErideD. Because it came out earlier I wasn’t ready to start trying new shows and then there were so many episodes I’ve just kind of put it on the binge when I’ve got time pile so I probably won’t pick it up this season.
Haha that is funny I just had a bit of the opposite reaction. I thought it was funny that they all were tricked but honestly you are right… It was a super jerk move. I’m excited to see these characters. I really hope they stay unique.
Honestly, if this were reality, the guys would all just announce they are resigning and looking for a new place to live and that would be the end of the silliness. Somehow I doubt any of them will actually try to leave though and they can use the excuse cheap rent all they like but realistically that kind of manipulation just isn’t worth it.
Very true I would pay more for rent just to avoid running!
Hm seeing as this is a sports focused story, and one that also doesn’t really interest me, I don’t think I will be picking this one up. Especially not considering the wide range of shows that are still coming up 😊
I’m pretty sure once more stuff comes out I’ll decide to drop this, but there was some promise in the first episode so we’ll see what happens next week.