The story progresses and our intrepid potential marathon runners are now being coerced into training. Okay, that’s a lie. Some of them are coerced and others are now actually on board with the idea though their enthusiasm waxes and wanes with the promise of girls and how long ago they finished running. That said, Haiji is still a character I can’t stand and while I get he is a necessary plot driving force, if he happened to get side-swiped by a car while running I probably wouldn’t shed many tears.
Fortunately, the very solid execution of this show continues with some really solid animation and some really great incremental character development for the rest of the cast. They are becoming more and more likeable and interesting (with the exception of Haiji) and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them as this episode essentially rinsed and repeated waking up for morning running training with a few diversions as characters tried to get out of it or took a trip to the bath house.
I’m kind of hoping next episode just gets Kakeru’s dark/tragic back story over with though because like some of the other characters I’m at the point where his attitude doesn’t make sense. If you don’t want to run move out. More importantly, if the whole point is that the team isn’t good enough to qualify, doesn’t that work out better for him because it means the farce will be over long before the main event.
Still, despite my nitpicking and personal dislike of a main character, this is a very solid anime and one that from these early episodes is a contender for one of the better anime of the season. That said, it probably won’t top my list because it will extend into next season and because while I really do appreciate what this anime is doing so far, I’m having more fun with some other titles that may not be quite as polished but for me at least are a little more light and entertaining.
Honestly, if you were waiting to see which shows were worth picking up this season, I’d have to say this one is so far pretty solid.
- 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.
With Attack on Titan now going on hiatus, a slot has opened up for my seasonal anime. I don’t know if this is the show I would necessarily pick to fill up that slot (as it’s a sports anime), you mentioning the fact that it’s a contender for one of the better animes of this season…make me pretty curious 😊
There is some really solid execution to this. If I put aside personal tastes, the three best anime I picked up this season would be Bunny Girl Senpai, Bloom Into You and Run With The Wind (based on the two or three episodes I’ve seen of most things). That said, of those, the only one that is really my kind of thing is Bunny Girl Senpai so far.
This one though is slowly winning me over because it is hard to dislike something that has so much genuine effort behind it and is so competently executed.
Hmm…well you have certainly made me curious now. If all goes well, I might be able to check this one out on sunday! Will let you know what I think of it 😊
This is one that I still look forward to watch every week which is a good sign to me! Yeah, I really hope they have better motivation for the main character. If there is nothing deeper than selfishness behind him this anime won’t be as strong as it could be.
Yes, they are going to have to keep providing decent development for the characters including a plausible explanation of their driving motivation. If they manage it, then this show will be pretty amazing as an anime because it is doing so much right. If they don’t quite manage it though it will end up making this a pretty forgettable experience in the long run despite some fairly good execution in the early episodes.