At this point it’s kind of hard to say which of the two main branches of Runway de Waratte is the more compelling. And that’s surprising, since for a while it looked like the Ikuto-design side would win that in a cakewalk (which would be an easier sell for me anyway). Indeed, it looked like that would be the focus of the series. But without Ikuto or his dream becoming any less compelling, the playing field has seriously leveled in the last couple of episodes. And that, simply, is a testament to how much pathos there is in the “B” storyline.
In a reversal of last week’s format, it’s the modeling thread that takes the A-part and the design the B-part this week. And it’s a big week for Kokoro, who of course straddles both in a way no other character does. Like all of the major characters in Runway de Waratte she’s imperfect – there are things about Kokoro that irritate me. But rather than making me dislike her they make her more human. Like Ikuto’s martyr complex Kokoro’s self-pity and tendency to drift are seriously problematical in her chosen vocation – and it would be equally true in whichever one she lands in. She hasn’t mastered the art of being present, and she damn well better do so soon.
Lordy, how I feel for Chiyuki here. She shows up totally prepared, motivated and psyched – for a job where she’s literally told to hide her face. Then she gets told by Ishigaki-san (Kaida Yuko is a seiyuu with a lot of steel, boy) to drop out altogether because she’s throwing off the balance. And Kokoro, the star, has made the beginner mistake of showing up for a shoot with cuts on her hands (from her clothes-making of course) and it’s Chiyuki who has to bail her out with black gloves she brought (because she’s prepared for any eventuality – like a pro).
The fundamental unfairness of this is obvious. Chiyuki is a diligent and motivated professional, Kokoro doesn’t even want to be a model. What Chiyuki has to deal with here is injustice on the most fundamental and visceral level based on the most superficial of reasons – but that’s being a model. As Shizuku warned her, she can only control what she can control – and lashing out at others over the unfairness of it all is going to prove incredibly tempting. Both Ikuto and Chiyuki are going to have to be incredibly strong to make it in their chosen vocations, but the challenges before Chiyuki are possibly even more formidable.
Ishigaki may, indeed, see too much of herself in Chiyuki not to butt in. But whatever her reasons her behavior is hard to defend, and I must confess I don’t understand the hold she has over Kokoro. If she wants to quit modeling, why not just quit – why does she need Ishigaki’s permission? It’s a shame in that she does have a natural advantage that Chiyuki can only dream of, but clearly it’s in design where she’s following her bliss. But her lack of presence haunts her here, too, as she’s too involved in obsessing over the Gaika preliminaries to do her job for Yanigada-san – which would have had her fired (not unjustifiably) if Ikuto-kun hadn’t intervened on her behalf.
As for Ikuto, he doesn’t need to worry about the prelims of course. But he has plenty to worry about (more than he knows). Toh invites him to check out his studio space (I guess Ikuto will be openly working for two designers, which I guess means that’s not taboo) and “jokingly” asks if Ikuto wants to be his patternmaker. I don’t sense anything too sinister in this exchange, but it’s clear that at the very least Toh is testing Ikuto’s seriousness. Toh is relentlessly competitive and ambitious. It’s hard to imagine anyone born into a more advantageous position for what he wants to do, but to his credit he wants more than that – and seems willing to do whatever he has to in order to achieve it.
For Ikuto this school fashion show is a huge opportunity – maybe even more so than for Toh, who seeks to break his grandma’s record of 52 inquiries for her design. Ikuto can get noticed here – he can become a name people he needs to know it know, and make connections (like Sara) that will serve him for years to come. But if Chiyuki’s biggest challenge is the fundamental unfairness of nature, Ikuto’s is the fundamental unfairness of circumstance. Chiyuki doesn’t have height but she has privilege – financial independence is a source of freedom those who have it rarely appreciate. Real life is Ikuto’s greatest roadblock, and his resolve is surely about to be tested as never before.
damnt512
February 22, 2020 at 2:59 pmIn the manga it was explained why she need Ishigaki’s permission in order to quit, but with the anime skipping a lot of stuff, there’s no guarantee that they would cover it.
Guardian Enzo
February 22, 2020 at 3:47 pmIf they don’t, you can tell me after the finale!
leongsh
February 22, 2020 at 10:32 pmI don’t read the manga and I can fairly guess why she need’s Ishigaki’s permission to quit. She signed a modelling contract with Ishigaki’s company. Breaking the contract will result in huge penalties and potentially being blackballed from the fashion industry. Since she is Ishigaki’s star upcoming model, Ishigaki would be demanding a high price to break the contract as she plans to ride Kokoro to further her and her company’s reputation and business. Furthermore, Ishigaki has likely lined up modelling work and it would not do for her reputation to cancel the work she has used her fashion connections to arrange them.
BlueBlue
February 22, 2020 at 6:01 pmProbably the “worst” episode for me so far. But I won’t deny that this time this is really linked to being a manga reader (and do not get me wrong, I liked all previous episodes, otherwise I would be a huge masochist for having proceeded so far).
Actually, my main issue came for another anime-original stuff or at least I should say level of freedom with the manga material (which is getting more and more since three episodes). I mean, the Kokoro trouble with Yanagida part is actually part of the…Kokoro introductory arc in the manga. What I mean is that it happens even before she decides to get in the competition. So, the story is quite different. There is indeed an event between the two rounds regarding her, but this is totally different (and more interesting to me) but alas, probably too much longer for what the studio has been allowed to…
Same goes for the Igarashi/Shizuku interconnected background and Ayanoh discussion with Ikuto. But as now, I am discovering that they can invert/”patchwork” stuffs, maybe there will be something later.
By te way, regarding Ayanoh, as now the thing has been fixed, I can point out something for those following with the english subtitles and not reading the manga (you probably did not get this trouble as you understand Japanese and “EngRish”). When Ayanoh talked with Yanagida at the end of episode 4 about Ikuto, he proposed to have Ikuto has a “patterner” (as pronounced by Japanese) and NOT as a partner as it had been translated at that time. This time, an appropriate tanslation has been used (“patternmaker”, even though “patterner” is not wrong itself. “modéliste” sometimes in French). I bring it out not for showing off, but because it is supposed to have an importance…
Anyway, 5 episodes remaining so more than enough to reach the point that they aim to reach. Especially at that pace…
leongsh
February 22, 2020 at 10:38 pmThe first part covering the modelling world was fine. It sucks to be Chiyuki but unfortunately that’s how modelling in the fashion business world is like. She has the right attitude in keeping it professional and being ready at all times and being persistent.
The second part was downhill, particularly at the end with the cheap and tacky “drama”. I was eye-rolling hard.
Guardian Enzo
February 22, 2020 at 10:41 pmI guess having grown up in a household with little to no money to spare and a mother who was in and out of the hospital for years, such things seem quite realistic to me. It’s hard to think idealistically when you’re concerned with survival, but I suppose it’s easier to just write it off as melodrama.
leongsh
February 23, 2020 at 2:18 pmThere’s a lot of hard luck stories out there. I’ve lived part of it myself. Things happen in this world out of control. All the more so when you are already flattened and on the floor. That does not mean it gets a free pass.
The odds are badly stacked against Ikuto. He has taken on a lot of responsibility by virtue of being the eldest in the family when the mother is hospitalised on a long term basis. That’s the clue that she is doing badly to require a continued stay in the hospital. Complications arising would be the expectation. The longer the stay, the more likely it will strike. The hysterical sister was just over the top and way overdramatic. It was trite.
Magewolf
February 23, 2020 at 6:09 amThe thing is stories have to be believable, real life just has to happen. So having a sick mother in the hospital has been used so much(so badly) that it actually reduces lots of readers sense of belief in a story even though it is perfectly realistic.
Like my coincidence story. I had to travel to Australia for a few days of business in 92 so I also took my vacation at the same time to look around. There I was in the Sydney airport getting my bags when someone started to shout my name. I turn around and it was one of my old roommates from collage who was there on vacation. We talked for a while then started walking out together after I found out were the pickup area was(they were supposed to send a car for me and he had a rental waiting). We got to the pickup area and I just started looking around when someone started shouting both our names from a limo. Turns out it was another old roommate and friend who was waiting for a group of swimsuit models who he was letting use his beach-house for a shoot. He invited us as well so we all ended up spending several days with bikini models at a private beach. And all of that was just random chance, I had not seen David since we graduated and I had no idea he even owned property in Australia. So all that actually happened but if I put it in a story the readers would have a perfect right to say that was unbelievable.
BlueBlue
February 23, 2020 at 6:35 amWell, if we start from that point, nothing will be believable then. Lol.
I got what you (and others) say but I believe that this just related to the reccurence.What I mean is that we are so used to manga/anime that a sick mother, an orphan, etc. became such a banal trope that we became almost “insensitive” to these things.
Also, in that series, unfortunately because of the anime skipping character development/breathing chapters, each episode looks like a stack of drama.
But I want at least to point out that the Ikuto’s mother situation in that last episode is not really out of the blue. Indeed, looking at carefully what I think is episode 5 (well, the last one where we have Ikuto visiting his mother), there is already a hint that things were not going that well through the stare of a nurse when Ikuto was leaving…
Guardian Enzo
February 23, 2020 at 10:05 amDon’t try and blunt hysteria with facts…