Runway de Waratte is far from a perfect series, to be sure. It manages to do something to annoy me almost every week, but also manages to draw me back in. There’s an underlying core of affection which transcends the irritation – and sometimes the irritation itself proves misguided. That’s hit-and-miss though – sometimes when stuff doesn’t click it just doesn’t click. Nevertheless it’s an endorsement of sorts that I always care enough to have strong feelings one way or the other. One thing I’ve never felt with Runway is indifference.
With that in mind, I’ll just say up front – I don’t like the fact that Chiyuki abandoned Ikuto to model for Kokoro, and I don’t like the fact that he was OK with it. Yeah, I get why she identified with Kokoro, and Kokoro certainly deserves better treatment. But Chiyuki just got through waxing lyrical about how Ikuto is always there for her, whenever she needs someone. Well – he needs her now. Her loyalty should be to him, and I think the bonds between them have been shown to be strong enough to back that up.
In short, then, this feels like a development executed for the needs of the plot rather than a natural progression of character behavior, and that’s almost always a bad thing. But it is what it is, and now we have our structure for the anime’s climax. The showdown is Kokoro and Chiyuki vs. Ikuto and… this guy?, and (???) modeling for him vs. Toh. That’s not how I would have drawn it up – just let Ikuto and Chiyuki have their moment, damn it. But I do like the fact that Ikuto’s involuntary course change will lead to a showing for men’s clothes, because that’s an area the series has pretty much ignored up to this point (and it’s a huge market in Japan).
There’s one other element of this that didn’t quite click for me. It doesn’t sit well that it took his mom’s will to motivate Ikuto to win this thing. Never mind that Chiyuki lectured him about that (whatever) – he should have plenty of motivation on his own here. What an opportunity this is. And he’s not responsible for Kokoro’s problems – he’s already done a lot for her (including turning down a bribe). The whole thing with the mom was heavier-handed than it needed to be, and shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.
“This guy”, as it happens, is Eda Ryuunosuke (Amasaki Kouhei), and of course we did meet him earlier. He was making a general ass of himself in the Geika preliminaries, and now that he’s been eliminated he’s trying to force his way onto Toh’s team and leech as much as he can from him. Toh isn’t biting, but Ikuto overhears everything and invites Eda to join him. As dismissive as he is, the notion of helping someone take down the guy who’s just dissed him does have appeal. And given that his specialty is men’s clothes, he’s a natural fit to offer Ikuto some much-needed expertise.
That’s about all Eda-san offers Ikuto though. Once he gives him a steer in the right direction (and a primer on slacks) Ikuto is very much on his own. I hate that, but of course Kokoro is too for this portion of the event. As Toh orders his mini-factory of subordinates around, Ikuto and Kokoro labor in solitude. There’s something about the sight of Ikuto in his gym clothes using the school crafts room that really frames the difference between he and Koh perfectly. If this isn’t an underdog scenario I don’t know what is.
BlueBlue
March 7, 2020 at 8:36 pmSo funny to hear some “French”. Was wondering if they would have kept it :D. But after slowing down last week, we are back to “Rush down the runway” city! As I intuited in my early comments (for avoiding spoiler of course), it was clear that they had decided to reach the Geika Festival arc. And now, we have three episodes for packing/skipping chapters of probably the best arc of the series so far…but that is anime life (sometimes)
Anyway. Did I already say that I adore Chiyuki? 😀 And probably as “love” is blind, that is the reason why even after having read that part many times, and watching it again in anime, I absolutely feel no remorse about what she did. I can perfectly understand the issue (that is also the main critics of many other people since yesterday), but I don’t know…As I said, since the beginning, for me Chiyuki is “female version (caricature?)” of the classic selfish nekketsu shounen hero. And I mean, how many times have we seen Goku, Luffy, Sakuragi, Gon (what teamwork/friendship Killua? Pitou is mine!), Sora, etc. put their friends/teammates in trouble with their “selfish” purpose and in even more dramatic situations? 😀 (I know that you are probably not one to glorify “nekketsu” but I am sure that you see what I mean). Not saying that it deserved a free pass, but to me, that was not an issue at all to me (also because there’s a kind of transition chapter between the two phases which has been skipped and also the inner debate of Chiyuki were not displayed here).
I am probably biased as I also know what’s coming next, but that is the time to grow some b**** for Itsuko/Kokoro(yeah I know that is hard for her…) and as you repeated many times, being selfish. (Also, he will be a designer designing for Chiyuki for his whole life? Good luck then!). Something that the anime missed during the previous episodes and that I always tried to point out, is how Ayanoh behind his “bad guy” trait (exacerbated by the anime patchwork) is teaching lessons to Ikuto. And the fact that Ikuto is too nice and lack (lacked) of competitive spirit is something which has been skipped and was again in full display here as you pointed out yourself.
Funny enough (at least to me), as for marketing/sexism reasons, the manga is labeled as Shoujo in France and even by Kodansha in USA, in that episode, I found it funny how many times Ikuto pronounced one the most sentence of shoujo female character (“dou shiyou”…?). Ahaha.
leongsh
March 8, 2020 at 12:37 amI see no issues with Chiyuki ditching Ikuto for Kokoro. Yes, Ikuto has been the positive support for Chiyuki but unless Ikuto is a top tier fashion designer, it is still up to the fashion model to decide who to work for when presented with choice between 2 unknown designers. Chiyuki felt she needed to support Kokoro – in part because Kokoro wanted to be a fashion designer instead of a fashion model which Chiyuki is being told not to bother to be a fashion model with her short height. It’s also in part that if she successfully pulls it off for Kokoro and Kokoro gets out of her modelling to do fashion designing, it would mean one less major competitor to be a fashion model.
Ikuto may have the talent to pick up very fast on the technical aspects of clothes making and apply them but he is way too naive for the cutthroat world of fashion. Chiyuki knows what it is like as she has been brought up close to this world.
Guardian Enzo
March 8, 2020 at 10:01 amAll the more reason for her to stick with him and offer her expertise. Or was that whole internal monologue in the beginning just a whim on her part?
tsirrus
March 8, 2020 at 2:22 pmI think they tried to emphasize that Chiyuki knew that Ikuto would be all right without her.
That being said it did feel stretched.
Say
March 8, 2020 at 9:07 pmReally? This is a common trope recently in spokon since Kuroko no Basket (for what I know): teammates separate to grow on their own and become a stronger force when they turn back together. Chiyuki is Ikuto’s confort zone and Ikuto is hers. If they don’t achieve recognition separately they won’t develop self confidence. Besides she asked him if it was all right to leave him and he agreed. It isn’t a betrayal.
Guardian Enzo
March 8, 2020 at 9:17 pmJust because events were manipulated so he gave his OK doesn’t mean that was any more natural than her doing it in the first place.
It is what it is – I’m just of the opinion that it plays as inauthentic. Maybe it worked better in the manga.
Stöt
March 9, 2020 at 6:11 pmTotally agree. I had forgotten he sold his design last episode, so when I saw him with no model, no designs and no workshop I was livid. But even with some money to get him out of rock bottom, a friend doesn’t abandon people like that. She knows what it meant for him to be there for her when she needed her. Kokoro doesn’t need help in the first place. She’s got the money and a workshop. If she wins the Geika festival on her own, that’s recognised on its own. Even without some personal bets, she could motivate a swap of careers to anyone at that point.
Say
March 11, 2020 at 4:59 pmI have a different view: why do you think Kokoro doesn’t need her while Ikuto does?
Ikuto is talented, he has enough money now and his carrier isn’t at stake.
Kokoro has to drop school unless she succeed and say farewell to her dreams.
Kokoro is the one who need a top model the most.