We’re at two shows from the murky middle of my season preview that have exceeded my expectations.  I’ll refer back to my “house money” analogy from yesterday’s Jeweler Richard post, because it very much fits.  It’s always great when that happens, as it did with “Richard” – a show that was well down the table but was entirely pleasant and well-made.  Runway de Waratte was somewhat higher on the list – a “mid-table” series and one of my sleepers to boot.  And while I liked Jeweler Richard a lot, I liked Runway even more.

To be blunt, you could search long and hard for a subject that interests me less than fashion design and runway modelling.  Not active dislike or anything (as with the idol industry) – just total disinterest and apathy.  I don’t find it remotely interesting.  But my anime history is rife with shows which focused on subjects in which I held no interest (and often still don’t) yet managed to hold my interest just the same.  Sometimes they actually changed my mind about the topic (like karuta or rakugo), but more often they were simply engaging as character stories and that was all that mattered.

We’ll see what happens with Runway de Waratte.  Hell, there’s no guarantee after only one episode that I’ll even continue to like the series.  But whether it can get me interested in fashion (and the premiere was a noble effort) or not, it’s off to a great start where the character side is concerned.  There was a great feel to this episode – it did a wonderful job of communicating the emotions of the characters and not always with dialogue, either.  One gets the sense that this is a solidly humanistic story that’s going to make one feel better about the universe after watching it, and anime can always use a few more of those.

Is this a “false main character” setup?  I don’t think so – more that the intro cleverly hides the fact that Runway is a dual-protagonist narrative until the very end.  The obvious central figure is Fujito Chiyuki (Hanamori Yumiri, entirely winning here), the daughter of the owner of the Mille Neige fashion design company.  The father, Kenji (the peerless Inoue Kazuhiko) named the company after his daughter (Mille Neige is French for Chiyuki, which is Japanese for “a thousand snows”).  And Chiyuki is desperate to one day officially be a “supermodel” by wearing her father’s creations on the runway in Paris.  And at 158 cm at only 10 years old, she seems to have a real chance.

I don’t know how hard and fast the 175 cm rule for supermodels is (even I know height is hugely important), but it does seem odd for a kid to be 158 cm at 10 and never get any taller.  Nevertheless her height becomes a source of huge frustration for Chiyuki, who’s perpetually rejected in her attempts to model for Mille Neige.  But her father doesn’t stop her from trying, and a kindly manager even nudges her towards some of their competitors where she might have a chance to be hired.

Into this dynamic slips the other protagonist, Tsumura Ikuto (Hanae Natsuki).  He’s a classmate of Chiyuki’s, anonymous enough that she can’t even remember his name.  Their first real conversation comes over the topic of their post-graduation intentions forms (she’s collecting them), which he clearly wants to change back to what he originally wrote (“Tokyo Fashion Design Academy“) but can’t bring himself to do.  He’s the only member of the school’s dressmaking club, and Chiyuki can see his passion for the art (even if financial necessity may have been his initial motivator).  But Tsumura obviously comes from a financially struggling family, and is determined to start working right after graduation in order to support his three younger sisters (their mother seems to be hospitalized).

Here’s my observation. Conditioning by too many mediocre anime caused me to expect certain things here – the father to be a villain.  Ikuto to be brow-beaten and demeaned by his sisters.  Chiyuki to be disgusted by his social pariah status.  But none of those things happened.  Kenji is a good guy, and only rejecting his daughter because he sees no other option.  Ikuto’s sisters love him and the older pair are fully aware of the sacrifices he’s making for them.  And Chiyuki looks at this uncool, odd boy with an open enough mind to see both his passion and his talent.

My favorite moment here, I think, was when Chiyuki excoriated herself for telling Ikuto his dream (becoming a designer without going to college) was impossible after reflecting on how continually being told that made her feel.  It was her willingness to take a chance on Ikuto that led to the lucky break which launches both of them at Mille Neige – an incident where Kenji shows his decency and integrity – and starts them on the journey that Runway de Waratte will clearly follow.  It’s one episode, who knows if all this has staying power – but it would be hard to imagine this story being introduced in a better fashion than it was.