Common Name: Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru
Alternative Names: Run With the Wind
Score: 10/10, 5/5
Length: 23 Episodes
Genre: Sports, Drama, Slice of Life, Comedy
Summary: Down on his luck and running from his past, Kurahara Kakeru has been reduced to using his incredible athletic prowess to steal from convenience stores just so he can eat. When another student at his college catches him in the act, though, he isn't handed over to the cops or sold out. Rather, Kiyose Haiji, inspired by Kakeru's speed and form, offers him the chance to join the track team he's been steadily putting together in the hopes of racing in the Hakone Ekiden--a grueling 218km marathon relay. With him and Kakeru being the only experienced runners on this team of newbies and misfits, though, the chances of them even qualifying for Hakone are bleak. Still, despite everyone's protestations, Haiji is insistent that they have what it takes to reach the top.
Review: Despite how frequently I pick them up out of sheer curiosity, it should be stated that I'm generally not a fan of sports anime. To be blunt, a good part of my dislike for sports anime stems from the simple fact that I do not personally like sports and I often find their stories to be dull or a reiteration of the same themes seen time and again. Just look at titles like Free!, Prince of Stride, Keppeki Danshi Aoyama-kun, and even last season's hidden gem, Tsurune, and you'll get a good idea of what I mean. More often than not, sports stories generally fall under two categories I refer to as "the sleeping geniuses" and "the underdogs." In the former, we see a team cobbled together out of nothing come together and beat all odds simply because every member possesses some hidden talent or experience that makes them suddenly amazing at the sport. One of the show's I'll be reviewing in the weeks to come, Hinomaru Sumo, is a fantastic example of this kind of show. The latter category, however, is pretty self-evident; you have a team of nobodies that miraculously stumble their way to victory regardless of how unreasonable and insulting it is to believe that someone can pick up a sport and become a pro within a matter of months. Run With the Wind is a fairly solid example of this kind of story but it feels like there's something or, rather, a good many somethings that separate this show from others like it.
Because I always hope that I'll find a show like this one that'll
make me reconsider my general disgust toward the genre.
One of these things, I think, is simply that, while Run With the Wind is mainly an underdog story, there are aspects of the "sleeping genius" method present in its story as well. Specifically, when it comes to it's two main leads, Kurahara Kakeru and Kiyose Haiji, the "sleeping genius" story makes itself known since the two are established, from the very beginning, as individuals who are already fantastic runners in their own right. Kakeru, especially, already exists as a kind of inhuman god-king of the track world who simply can't help running whenever he can. Though he's fallen off the grid for a couple of years now thanks to a scandal that serves as one of the show's long-standing mysteries and the primary roadblock to Kakeru's revival as a track star, the truth of the matter is that he is still just as obsessed with track as he was back in high school. Thanks to that fact, Kakeru is given another chance to take the stage when Haiji catches sight of him mid-flight and chases Kakeru down just to recruit him for a track team that he's been putting together for over a year.
In case you're wondering, no, neither of these two are particularly sane or stable individuals.
Despite their being prodigies with a background in track, though, there's also a bit of an underdog aspect to the stories these two offer the overall plot and narrative. Namely, each has something about who they are and who they used to be that greatly limits what they can do. In Kakeru's case, he's one of the better-written idiot savants I've seen in recent years. For him, track is pretty much all he's got going for him and the only thing he actually cares about. With everything else, from socializing and team building to anger management and self-care, though, Kakeru is severely stunted, making him an instant outcast in every social situation and an easy target for bullying. Having caused trouble in the past because of his inability to really deal with his emotions, Kakeru, more often than not, simply opts to isolate himself from others for both his and everyone else's benefit. For all intents and purposes, though, Haiji might as well be Kakeru's polar opposite. Where Kakeru is shy and antisocial, Haiji is aggressively social. Where Kakeru fumbles with his own thoughts and spends days mulling over simple statements, Haiji speaks his mind and throws caution to the wind. Where Kakeru is quick to let his temper flare up at a moment's notice, Haiji's rare moments of anger come on slow and chilling. The greatest difference of all, though, is the simple fact that Haiji can't run like he used to anymore, having suffered an accident in high school that severely crippled his ability to run long distances.
Before you ask, yes, there are definitely some yaoi "opposites attract" undertones between these two.
Despite how great their strengths and weaknesses might be, though, this show wholly acknowledges that these two cannot possibly reach their ultimate goal on their own. No, there are still eight other characters they need to whip into shape before they can even dream of competing in one of Japan's greatest collegiate races, the Hakone Ekiden. This, then, brings me to yet another aspect to this show that makes it stand out from its competition. While the core drive of the plot might be the cast's steady movement toward their goal of running in the Hakone Ekiden, the story itself is actually focused more on its characters and their personal struggles than the sport of marathon running. Throughout the series, each character is given at least two moments to shine that goes both into the troubles that have made them who they are today and how Haiji's dream and Kakeru's determination have helped them move forward with their lives.
The sheer fact that the show's otaku "Prince" goes through this much a transformation
and actually deserve it should speak volumes.
Yet, the way the show goes about these moments isn't like your standard arc format where each character gets an episode dedicated to them. Rather, each of the show's "arcs" center around a complication coming up within the group and how various pairings of the cast prove themselves by using their past and current talents and frustrations work through that problem. Then, since actual development happens along the way, those characters ply the lessons they've learned along the way to solve further complications. One of the greatest examples of these comes fairly late into the show when the twins, Jouji and Jouta, after dedicating months to their goal, suddenly start getting cold feet and questioning what the point to all this was if they weren't ever going to take 1st Place, taking their frustrations out on the socially inept Takeru. Having already come to terms with his past and learned that he needs to help pick up some of the slack for Haiji and support the team, though, Takeru does what he does best and chases the twins down after they try running away, dragging them to practice despite their complaints. Then, being the more eloquent and reasonable of the two, Haiji simply admits that he doesn't really know what they're running for but, rather, knows that everything they've done up until then wouldn't have been possible without the twins, validating both their efforts and wholly reasonable doubts.
Now, let me reiterate, all 10 characters, plus a few of the show's side characters,
are given this kind of depth and development at least twice. That's ridiculous.
True as it might be that the show is centered mainly on Kakeru and Haiji, the former of which has a great deal more to work through than the rest of the cast, not a single character gets snubbed over the course of the series. Each and every one is given their moments to shine, buckle, and prove their worth to the team time and time again. The fact that the show manages to do so without dragging things on or skipping some moments or characters with its 23 episode run is nothing short of astounding. Each episode has a point behind it and makes the journey fly by faster than you might expect. What's more, it does this by tackling, addressing, and resolving problems ranging from fear of the future to the threats of impatience when trying to improve and even a little romance on that side. Poverty, racism, family problems, isolationism: this show deals with so many touchy subjects but does so in a manner that is both reasonable, believable, and commendable. One of my personal favorites is simply the manner in which the team and even one of their greatest competitors deal racist remarks directed at the team's exchange student, Musa, and how some people see it as unfair to even let Africans like him compete. Without even a moment to consider it, Kakeru feels the need to lash out and defend his teammate, obviously justified in his anger. But his rival, Fujioka, simply states that those kinds of ignorant arguments can only be made by those who've never really competed. In this moment, this character previously viewed as some unearthly god of the track world, shows how grounded he really is by acknowledging that genetic differences like size, race, and history can impact one's performance but that it is ignorant to believe that such differences can't be overcome by those who truly work to hone their craft. That kind of measured but respectful belief works to validate people like Musa who are often handicapped for their "otherness" but also those like Fujioka, Kakeru, and all the other athletes who wish to compete and improve as runners.
It was great seeing the show's resident cinnamon roll get the respect he deserves.
Tempted as I am to just talk about this show at length, it's definitely one of those titles that I don't want to spoil too much since I believe everyone needs to see it, regardless of whether they like sports or not. It's rare enough to get this level of quality character writing in many dramas. The fact that we're getting it from a sports drama of all things--a genre typically more obsessed with the power of friendship than the weight of personal struggles--is just icing on an already wonderful cake. As easy as it might be to mock this show for its giraffe-necked characters, especially after we suffered the body horror that was Welcome to the Ballroom, I found the show's artistic quirks easy to ignore after a few minutes of it. Particularly since the show as a whole looks gorgeous and is animated very well, every little nit I could pick just wouldn't be worth the effort. So, I'll say it again, this is one of those shows everyone should watch and should be able to enjoy for lots of different reasons. Run With the Wind manages to do so much and weaves such a wonderfully complex but down-to-earth story that it'll honestly fly by like it was a single-cour series. I don't know if this'll go down in history as one of my Top 10s but it's safe to say that this is my favorite sports anime of all time.