Run with the Wind
a review by Benkei
a review by Benkei
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Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The story goes on showing Kakeru, a runner that has lost his passion for running and quit competitions. One day, he finds Haiji, a runner who is overfilled with passion towards the sport and who has one dream: to run the Hakone Ekiden. This is a marathon-like running competition that takes place in Japan every year, composed of 10 runners who each have to run about 23km in this incredibly challenging competition. With Kakeru, Haiji now has 10 members, but they're all amateurs with pretty much no competitive running experience.
The story is incredible. While it might seem simple, you go through every character's backstory, motivations, and several competitions. The anime never feels rushed, it has a really good pacing, incredible sequences, and what makes this anime a masterpiece for me is: Its closure. While in many sports anime the story can be dragged out, this one has one goal, one objective, and the story goes so focused on this competition that it just makes an incredible anime.════ ⋆★⋆ ════
Art ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The art is very good, the animation is well done, you can see things as the form of the runner, and they're very creative with shots too, especially when trying to show a species of out of body experience that you can have when you're running, as if you're in the "Zone", but in a sense of belonging. Of course, they do use CGI here and there, but it's a given. I honestly never felt anything lacking in the animation section.
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Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ That is, in my opinion, the high point of the anime. As I said before, for the Hakone Ekiden, 10 runners are needed, which pretty much means about 10 "main characters". Each character is developed so nicely throughout the anime, you get to see each mentality, growth, and personal hardships. It is, in my opinion, impossible to finish this anime without really resonating with at least one of the runners.
(Prince was so funny)Regarding the "true" main character, Kakeru was amazing, he starts a bit closed off because of everything that happened to him, but with time and his interactions (especially with Haiki), things start to change and he develops a lot as a character.
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Soundtrack ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The soundtrack is really good. It is mostly a dramatic soundtrack, focused on giving you the vibe of running almost as something that transcends the sport itself and it's almost a way to live.
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Conclusion
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If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:Watch it. It's a great series, animation is really good, the characters are masterpiece level, the pacing is good, and it doesn't let you down. It's emotional, rewarding, and you can see throughout the anime that this was made by someone who's just like us, a fan of sports anime. There are references to great works such as Hajime no Ippo, Yowamushi Pedal, and many other great sport series. If you like sports anime, watch it.
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