The Downfalls of the Pursuit of Perfection

Posted on by Karandi
Run With The Wind Episode Review Title

Run With The Wind Episode 8 Review

Contrary to my expectations that Kakeru would attempt to leave the team or quit running again, Run With The Wind has taken a different path. It seems the track meet has served only to light a fire underneath him and make him incredibly impatient. He wants to train harder, improve sooner,and he’s become even more critical of his less experienced and able team-mates driving tension through the roof.

Run With The Wind Episode 8 Kakeru

While Kakeru might be on a path to self-destruction, and it certainly seems that way with an ominous near miss with a cyclist because he’s got tunnel vision, excessively driving his body and not letting his muscles rest, and even the pan down to Haiji’s leg where we know he has an interesting scar that has yet to be fully explained, the writing is more or less on the wall unless somehow Kakeru manages to turn things around I suspect it isn’t going to end well for him. Then again, if Kakeru actually sustains a major injury that more or less ends Haiji’s dream of Hakone so I suspect the power of teamwork, or maybe one of his teammates finally having enough of his dribble and punching him, may solve the problem (or at least I hope so because while Run With The Wind might be 23 episodes, I don’t want to get to the half-way point without this being resolved).

Run With The Wind Episode 8 Haiji and Kakeru

But let’s look at those teammates. For once, Haiji didn’t do a single actual obnoxious thing for the whole episode. It isn’t enough to make me forget that he essentially coerced all of these guys into the situation so everything, including Kakeru’s potential crash-and-burn is ultimately his fault. Kakeru had abandoned running and Haiji was the one who talked (and more or less bribed and threatened) him back into competing. So any fallout there is going to be laid on Haiji.

Run With The Wind Episode 8

However, the rest of the team are now fully on board. Some to the point where they are also driving themselves too hard and others are just now not resisting Haiji’s drive and training. With no more attempts to escape being a part of the team, the dynamic has shifted into one of concern for key members.

Run With The Wind Episode 8 Prince

Still, as always the MVP is Prince. Tired of being asked to run outdoors, particularly when it might rain, he begins to look for a treadmill. In his words, if he has to run, he’d like to be able to read manga while he’s doing it. Prince is golden and every scene he is in is just perfect.If you have no other interest in Run With The Wind (which would be a shame because it is very good), you should definitely check it out for Prince.