Nope, don’t need the three episode rule here – all good, thanks.
There’s nothing too complicated going on with me here – I really, really like this show. Like it both in the critical and personal sense, as in feeling real affection for it. It’s rare that my feelings for a new series are so straightforward and clear-cut. But then I have no baggage with Runway going in – I’ve never read the manga, I care not a whit about the fashion industry in real life, and the show is employing no trickery or short cuts to get the job done. There’s some serious quality on display here at every level, and that makes all the difference.
Not having any emotional connection going into this series doesn’t mean I don’t care about what’s happening – it just means I can do so without any preconceptions. The characters here are really winning and quite interesting and believable. And goodness me, what a tonal shift we got after last week’s ending, which made Runway de Waratte seem like a feel-good story about two plucky kids taking the world by the throat. This week was a reminder that when they come true at all dreams don’t come true without serious blood (literally), sweat and tears, and that not everyone is a kind soul trying to open doors for you where you didn’t know there were doors.
I don’t use that language coincidentally, because Runway is a story that puts me very much in mind of Joseph Campbell and his notion of “following your bliss”. Campbell said “Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” In a quite magical and affecting way, we see Ikuto and Chiyuki doing that – especially Ikuto, it must be said, and especially this week. One can see the competing impulses at war in him – common sense and humility struggling with ambition and the surefire knowledge of what it is he wants to do. That surefire knowledge is his bliss, and only he can make the decision as to whether he can – and will – follow it.
If a happy ending in the first episode seemed a little incongruous, it’s because it wasn’t actually either. Once Kenji finds out Ikuto is in high school – it turns out he believed otherwise because Chiyuki lied to him and said he was in college – he immediately rescinds his job offer. But it’s for his daughter that Kenji saves his ire, and he comes off quite differently than he did in the premiere. He scolds his daughter in Ikuto’s presence, and declares that she has “no talent”. Ikuto mans up here and takes the fall for what happened, and I honestly was hoping Chiyuki would put a stop to that right then and there. That she stayed silent and let him do it was not her most endearing moment as a character, but it serves as a reminder that she’s only human and still a kid.
However, Chiyuki does redeem herself quite a bit by refusing to let Ikuto wallow in his disappointment and give up. She isn’t only doing this for her own sake – it’s clear she genuinely cares whether Ikuto chases his dream. She more or less shames him (hey, it works) into going back to her father for another chance. And while he doesn’t hire the lad, Kenji-san does send him to one of his former designers who’s started his own company – Yanigada Hazime (Suwabe Junichi). Chiyuki offers him a free warning that Yanigada is more a porcupine that a lamb, but that could hardly have prepared Ikuto for what was coming.
Yanigada is a piece of work, to be sure. His company is a guerrilla outfit run out of an apartment and selling on the internet, and when Ikuto arrives his two clothiers are passed out from exhaustion. Maybe this isn’t totally normal, as it is Tokyo Fashion Week, but it’s clear Yanigada Hazime is going to be a tough place to work. And Ikuto can’t hide the truth – he has no formal training and doesn’t understand how the profession works. The kindly but defeated Moriyama-san tries to help where she can, but Yanigada immediately fires Ikuto for failing his sewing audition. This is where we see Ikuto really at war with himself – clearly, he’s not possessed of much self-confidence – but thanks to Chiyuki’s tough love, he realizes the other path leads to a bad end.
Honestly I never would have believed a fashion show could be so riveting, but that’s this series’ skill in making us care about the characters. It’s chaos, especially since one of Yanigada’s models has cancelled and he’s had to beg his old boss for a sub. That Kenji sends his daughter could be read multiple ways, but I take it to mean that he genuinely believes she does have talent, and his harsh rebukes to the contrary were a means to test the strength of her resolve. Ikuto gets a little culture shock at the realization that there’s no time for modesty backstage at a fashion show, and everyone is focused on the moment at hand – because for a newbie designer with buzz, Tokyo Fashion Week is make or break.
Yanigada is tough to like at this point, but I’ll take it as read that he’s a genuine talent (I would be the worst judge you could imagine). And Moriyama’s collapse means that it’s not only Chiyuki who gets her chance to be a last-minute sub, it’s Ikuto – because Yanigada designs clothes, he doesn’t make them, and a dress meant for a 180 cm model is a nightmare on a 158 cm body (even if the waist is the right size). Last week’s big break was a mirage, but this one has the sense of one that’s real – not least because it would land Ikuto on the first square of the board, not crossing the finish line.
Haraga
January 18, 2020 at 4:57 pmI absolutely share your immediate love of the show. You just can’t help but root for the two leads, and I think applying sort of sports manga mentality to a story about an entirely different industry is, while a common trick, still a stroke of genius.
Then I become curious what the community at large thinks, read takes like “the show introduces assholes and doesn’t give them enough backstory so that they deserve to be assholes” and realize that oh well, why would your average anime fan like a show that is genuinely well written.
BlueBlue
January 18, 2020 at 5:13 pmSo, I will repeat what I “advised” you, that is (at least when that core is over?) buygin/read the manga. Because to give you an idea (and that is not a spoiler):
Episode 1= Chapter 1 (classic, even though with shuffled orders for events)
Episode 2= 7 chapters (yeah yeah 7).
So, it is no surprise the fact that for the manga reader that I am, it was a strange trainwreck feeling as they skipped and squeezed so many things (yeah I can confirm that Yanagida is a waaay tougher nut to crack for instance and neither Moriyama). But well, in general, I have always been a fan of manga as media rather that anime, so…
But that also testifies to the positives of that series (and so the stroy-boarders for the anime?) if it still managed to get positive reactions (I have seen many others) even with such a rushy choice. I was already puzzled by some thngs that I saw in PVs when I saw that it will be 12 episodes. At least, now I know how they will manage to reach that!
Anyway, at least I think that I have understood one of the mission statement of the production commitee and I am not going to complain too much about that as I adore the Chiyuki character (one again, she’s a great and rare female character for Shounen manga, especially nowadays) and so for me that’s OK if they want to do things that way.
Guardian Enzo
January 18, 2020 at 6:37 pmAs I said, no baggage. So fortunately I don’t have to give a toss about any of that. It worked for me and didn’t seem rushed at all, so jimmy crack corn and I don’t care.
Our reality as anime fans in 2020 is series like this are going to get one cour or nothing, so I’m fine with the anime getting whatever it can out of that. It’s a miracle manga like this get adapted at all under the production committee system.
SagittariusA
January 19, 2020 at 12:30 pmI feel you about mangas such as this getting anime adaptations. I couldn’t believe it when I read that an anime adaptation of Kono Oto Tomare was greenlit a few years back, and I felt the same way about Runway de Waratte when the anime was announced last year.
With the way the anime industry has been in the past decade, never would I have dreamed that these sorts of mangas would be picked up for adaptations. And I’ll take what I can get, regardless of the cuts to the original content or artistic license implemented by the anime staff.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2020 at 12:46 pmThe thing about KoT though is that the manga, at least, is really popular. Much more than Runway. There are chances for the production committee to make some money back if the manga is popular enough to begin with.
SagittariusA
January 19, 2020 at 1:14 pmWow, I actually didn’t know that. I’ve always thought KoT was a pretty nich series, so it was crazier to me that the anime was announced to be 2 cour. The animation took a hit here and there, but the budget went to areas that really mattered.
I’m not sure what sort of executive or economic decision led to the anime production of Runway, but I hope more of manga like this get anime adaptations. Helps me remember there are plenty of mangaka who are passionate about telling a decent story and developing their characters.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2020 at 1:41 pmThe other thing you have to remember is that Tomare! is a music series, and King Records was near the top level of the PC. They were putting out selections from the series when it was still a manga. So if the anime managed to generate music sales, that would surely help too. I don’t think we’ll get a third season or anything, but KoT has more of a realistic break-even economic model than Runway does.
BlueBlue
January 19, 2020 at 8:38 pmLet’s also be a bit fair. It seems clear that for an unknown reason (miracle?), Kodansha found the the “mother lode” (and also a change of mindset?) for greenlithing anime adapations for series in their Weekly Shounen Magazine. I mean, comparing to before, now all their “old” series have an anime adaption (except “Tokyo revengers”, but it will certainly never happen considering the topic). That is a huge contrast compared to before. Both in numbers and time awaited before adaptation.
Once again, not saying that the anime is bad. That series is intrisically good (you do not always get a Taisho award nomination or from a rival editor while being bad), so it can’t be. Just that more character developments are missing and so, to some people, it may sound as a combination of lucky breaks.
Kim
January 18, 2020 at 8:49 pmWatched the first two episodes today and I enjoyed them with some minor qualms. Chiyuki keeps getting told she lacks talent but really it seems she just isn’t tall. While most models are tall there are plenty of models on the shorter side. I have to suspend disbelief but it does feel like that created a problem that shouldn’t even be there. It’s like they want to seem like she has something to overcome even though her father owns the modeling agency. What does still make her work is I like her character.
Ikuto’s issues seem at least more realistic and relatable not everyone can afford the schooling and training they need even though they have the talent. Also the way the fashion designer treated “abused” his employees also rang really true to me and I am sure that happens a lot in this industry. I just hope the message isn’t you need to put up with it to follow your dreams instead of its just plain abuse and wrong.
As for the series being only one cour that is disappointing (I always feel for most series 2 is really needed to give it justice) but If I enjoy it enough the manga is licensed here and well anime basically is an ad for the manga.
Guardian Enzo
January 18, 2020 at 9:06 pmAs I said, modeling could not possibly be a less interesting subject for me. But I liked this show enough to google it, and I’m not sure this is all that unrealistic. I think the reality is that while there are exceptions, models do tend do be very tall (women average 5’9″, supposedly). Also, Chiyuki isn’t just looking to be any model – she wants to be a runway model, where height is even more de rigueur, and for a very established company. What happened is probably not far-fetched – eventually they sent her to a smaller agency where the requirements might be less strict. And as I said, I think Kenji keeps telling her that because he wants to make sure she’s really serious, because the path she’d be doing at about 5’2″ would be an extremely tough one.
I think Ikuto is more the spine of the story anyway, though. At least that’s the vibe I’m picking up.
damnt512
January 19, 2020 at 1:54 amThe manga is very good. Saying this as a manga reader.
LGrey
January 19, 2020 at 2:53 pmI believe the contrast here is that Chiyuki has practically everything to start her dream career, except one single major *short*coming. On the other hand, Ikuto has one major thing to begin with – his talent – but lacks almost everything else.
Smile on the Runway manga, despite its title, actually elaborates much much more on the dressmaking part on Ikuto’s side. Perhaps because he has far many hurdles than Chiyuki – she only has one (at least that’s how I see it).
So far the anime adaptation seems to trim this quite a bit, so that Ikuto’s part doesn’t overwhelm Chiyuki’s. I think it works – Enzo got hooked on this, right? ;D
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2020 at 3:02 pmYes, I’m hooked. And yes, I think Ikuto’s journey inherently has more dramatic potential than Chiyuki’s – but I’m quite invested in both of them.