This week’s episode of Run With The Wind focuses almost exclusively on King, as the last hold out really on the track team. Even those other members who aren’t wholly committed or convinced that they will run in Hakone are now more or less diligently turning up to training and seem to be enjoying it, whether they admit it or not.
This would all be fine if King were a more interesting character. However, his job search is really not particularly compelling as a piece of drama (while understandable that he would be stressed it isn’t as though he can search every minute of every day) and his visit to a mahjong parlour just seemed empty. I get they are trying to show him being a little bit lost and directionless but it all just makes his refusal to run seem more like stubborn and pointless pride (for the first time in six episodes, Haiji was not the most annoying character in the show).
Despite the King focus, they didn’t forget the other characters with the twins having some great lines, Kakeru having another one on one with Haiji (though these are starting to get repetitive as it seems we are hearing variations on the same conversation), and Prince certainly gets another fairly solid moment here (still my favourite character). Basically, individual characters in this show might grate on me or not really be as nuanced as I’d like for what they seem to be striving for, but the ensemble as a whole is pretty great and the show is at its best when it lets the characters interact in a way that flows naturally from one conversation from the next.
Still, the team are all in now and it looks like next week we’re heading to a race so I guess we will see what happens. The idea of Prince competing right at the moment is pretty golden given everything so I’ll look forward to that.
- 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.