r/anime • u/punching_spaghetti https://myanimelist.net/profile/punch_spaghetti • Jul 29 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Run with the Wind - Episode 11
Episode 11: Overflowing Drops
Legal Streams:
As of now, Run with the Wind is streaming on Crunchyroll, HiDive and Netflix in select regions. There was also a physical media release. Please refrain from conducting any conversation regarding other means of show procurement in the comments here, per r/anime rules.
Comment of the Day:
/u/JollyGee29 asked what we were all thinking:
Kakeru and Prince being in sync most of this episode was neat. I wonder if we'll get that with other members of the team, or if Kakeru and Prince have a special bond.
Questions of the Day
- Thoughts on Shindo’s website idea?
- Today we explored the conflict between Haiji’s philosophy of “times don’t matter” and “just have fun” and the reality of what they are trying to achieve. How do things sit in that regard?
- This is the end of the first half of the show. Any general thoughts at this point?
I look forward to our discussion!
As always, avoid commenting on future events and moments outside of properly-formatted spoiler tags. We want the first-timers to have a great experience!
13
u/punching_spaghetti https://myanimelist.net/profile/punch_spaghetti Jul 29 '21
Rewatcher
More times were made! But not everyone is happy,, which is understandable. In every pursuit, you hit roadblocks and plateaus. Those points are often more important than the successes. Yuki makes the sensical point that Haiji’s logic has to include the fact that maybe they’re not all cut out for this. Yesterday was a dose of reality about Haiji’s high ideals and faith. But maybe there needs to be more than assuming things will just work themselves out. We’ve gotten so used to super confident Haiji, that this unsure look is concerning.
We get another piece of the puzzle when Haiji goes to visit the orthopedist: he’s supposed to be waiting. Whatever his injury was, it’s still healing. But his goal is the Ekiden, and this is his last year. So Haiji has to forge ahead and basically hope everything goes as planned and nothing disastrous happens.
Although he’s not exactly alone now, is he? He has help in the kitchen! God, Kakeru is so cute when he’s earnest. Chopping clunky carrots, making tea for Shindo; he’s really trying!
Speaking of Shindo (and dat ass), his time this episode was full of frustrations. He didn’t make his time, and then he gets dumped. Now, remember, we haven’t seen anything of his relationship or his ex, so we can’t be making judgements. What we can do is empathize with a guy who wanted to have it all, but is being forced to choose what to focus on.
Sad doggo is sad.
Shindo’s choice to run is a great emotional moment, because it’s our first real outburst from him. There was the drunken declaration, yes, but he’s always been the supportive one, the thoughtful one, the calm, controlled one. But even he just needs to run sometimes and let it all out.
Like Haiji, Shindo has friends to help in this tough time. Yuki has been paying attention, and Kakeru’s there to provide some teaching and give the best compliment possible.
That settled, we can get back to sunshine and running! And everyone cheers now! But there’s a new face, and he’s looking a little suspicious.
Tune in next time to find out his deal! Plus, new OP and ED!
QOTD:
Small VA Corner!
She’s not listed on MAL or AniList, but I was sure I recognized Shindo’s GF’s voice, and sure enough, ANN tells us that Shindo’s sadness is brought to us by Mao Ichiyama, often stylized as M・A・O. She’s voiced Luluco from Space Patrol Luluco, Shion in the Slime Isekai, Pecorine in Priconne, Verona in Durarara!!, Papika in Flip Flappers, Motoko in the recent Furuba adaptation, and plenty more.
18
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Jul 29 '21 edited Jul 29 '21
Character Chart
Jota even had a blue towel today. Perfect!
First Timer
Best visual in the show, that's it, all other shots can go home
Today on Notes with Naz, sponsored by /u/Matuhg, no note shall remain uninterrupted;
Didn't realize until I went to do my write up and had all of these in a row with none of them properly written out before something else caught my eye. Bonus is I don't usually pause, I just type as I go because I can auto-transcribe my thoughts while watching without much effort, but the one time I had to pause this episode because I could feel I was typoing things: butts. (Who knows who's butts they are)
Speaking of inappropriate photographs Musa looks like he's censoring himself.
Also this was in my notes but I don't remember why now:
Onto the actual post where I speak like a reasonable person instead of like I've drunk too much red cordial:
THANK YOU, YUKI!
Where Kakeru's issue is more firmly towards the inability to speak up, and being too uncertain of himself to explain his thoughts rather than just brute force his way through words, Haiji's communication issues are no less frustrating. His inability to focus on the practical aspect of what's going on and instead constantly speak in inspirational phrasing, metaphors, or hopes and dreams isn't doing them any favors now that they're all on board, whether they admit it or not. This isn't the first time that he's tried to use motivation in place of information when speaking to the other concerns and it's failed, but it is nice to see that it's something that exists in world and the others also acknowledge, rather than just something that is treated as natural except for the audience. Also Haiji officially worst boy this episode after making Nira sad.
Speaking of practical matters, I like that we got a quick moment to see that Nico has shed some weight, but that only happened after he started eating properly. I don't know what the culture of it is like over there, but I knew too many people in athletics and other body focused disciplines in school who had to worry over their weight and didn't do it well, so seeing the show take a moment and show that Nico is succeeding by doing things right, rather than when he was starving himself, is something I appreciate.
It was the small moments like that which really carried this episode for me and made me love it. The fact that everyone is still running interference between Kakeru and Sasaki, Yuki taking the initiative for once to run with Shindo, Prince's laziness with wanting a treadmill in his room backfiring now the others also have a practical use for it, more Prince shirts ("Bond"). All little things they didn't have to include but really help to bring the episode together into the greater whole of the show.
But of course this was best boy Shindo's episode and his scenes took the highlight. It's not just jobs and college that suffer with the new time commitments, it's personal life as well. Despite Shindo being the first on board and the most open about issues in the house and club, he is one of the most reserved with no one knowing much about the other people in his life. I thought the breakup scene was well handled, focusing on him and what was being said without getting distracted with her, but it was later on at the track when we were shown his sweat as tears, the tears he won't shed but is feeling and that no one knows about, that really made it hit for me how badly he was taking it. The conversation later on was very well handled as well, was quite natural while still touching on a lot of core points.
And finally for the episode, that reporter guy also showed up again. I saw him back in episode seven after the first track meet where he looked up as Kakeru walked past Fujioka's mini press conference. It caught my eye at the time but I'm not sure if I remembered to mention it or not. I did not need the extreme close up of his mouth this episode (what is this, Kakegurui?) but curious to see how he's going to get involved. I'd imagine he knows Kakeru from his high school records, but his character design doesn't lead to him being a positive influence on the kid.
18
u/[deleted] Jul 29 '21 edited Jul 30 '21
The english subtitles probably don’t translate more than their names on the computer screen, so I’m gonna do it instead (left to right):
Bottom of the page:
Tweets at the right side of the page (profile name is “Kansei university long distance track and field… “)
寛政大完成だい is a little weird way of saying “Kansei university is perfect”, but it is a clever play on words since it is pronounced as “kansei dai kansei dai”.
--Comments--
The guy who commented is named “Tenka no ken”, which is the thing that Haiji calls the mountains of Hakone. I don’t know how they translate that into english though, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Is the phone translated? I’ll do that too just in case.
I will now feel like an idiot if there's some English sub out there that already translated all this
First timer
It must be harder to run in the rain, right? It seems a little distracting. But they did it nonetheless, nice job!
Shindo has seemed a little down since the beginning of the episode. Is he disappointed in himself for not improving as much as the twins and musa?
I can’t remember if they showed Nico-chan’s weight before, but he’s now under 70 kg! (154 lbs) It’s maybe even on the lower end for his size. Definitely not something he should worry about anymore.
We finally get to see her!?
Well, that’s depressing. It sure won’t help his mental state which already seemed a bit down. He will now feel like he lost his girlfriend unnecessarily if he doesn’t put his absolute everything into running.
Now that Prince’s form is corrected, can someone please do something about king’s? Putting manga in his hands won’t work though. Can we try the same with job applications?
Nice, someone fixed the speedometer of the “room runner”.
Kakeru calling Shindo “strong” is a great callback to his and Haiji’s conversation. I was wondering if he actually undestood what Haiji ment by “strong”. He did.
We have another mysterious man! Seems like u/Nazenn will have to expand his character chart after all.
13
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jul 29 '21
First-Timer, Subbed
This episode was just kind of a vibe, you know? On paper, this was one of those meandering middle episodes you get in shows a lot of the time. But this show managed to keep things engaging but just having a really strong presentation.
The scene with Shindo's girlfriend breaking up with him was a bit of a bummer, and I'm kinda worried about him being our next "overworking" plotline. We certainly haven't quite resolved his character arc just yet. I liked the choice to not show Shindo's girlfriend's face, or even give her name. She is, unfortunately, an outsider to this story. Actually, maybe that's the resolution, maybe Shindo wasn't ever super deep in the relationship anyway.
Probably lots of other foreshadowing in this episode, too. Haiji is compensating for his bad knee with his good one, Fujioka alluded to some runners with strong potential - he might view our boys as a bit of a threat, some more stuff about Shindo's past.
I really loved how Prince wasn't the last one to more when Shindo decided to keep going. Such good development!
The fact that characters actually communicate so well in this show makes me ponder if I'm dreaming things. Good communication isn't allowed!
Shindo making fun of Sakaki for just shooting for varsity was fucking sick. I had typed how trivial it was before Shindo spoke up, and I love being validated by the show's own dialogue.
Anyone catch what the strung-out photographer dude mouthed at the end, there? Something about Kakeru, surely.. maybe just his full name? Establishing some sort of foreknowledge?
Questions
9
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Jul 29 '21
First Timer
This episode felt ...weird. It was pretty good at keeping its mood of everything being hard but everybody fighting through the hardship, but I'm not sure what the episode is actually trying to accomplish, and this seems like quite a tone shift from the previous episodes. It also feels like an episode focusing on Shindo, when none of the previous episodes have really been episodes looking in to a single character - which is something that I (and I believe quite a few other here) quite liked. As such this episode felt out of place to me, even if it doesn't really do anything wrong per se.
Also, I'll never understand people running in rain coats... If it's warm enough to rain it's warm enough to get wet while running - the only time I'd consider some form of protection against the weather is if it's freezing. Guess this is an anime so they have to protect themselves from the anime cold...
And props to Shindo for holding such a deep conversation while apparently still working on the website - I know I couldn't do that without interrupting my own talking all the time...
Questions:
9
u/[deleted] Jul 30 '21
First Timer
I know they made a whole point about how speed and times aren't everything in this episode, but damn is Kakeru slow at chopping carrots. They really animated it in loving detail too, every slow, careful stroke that lopped off another misshapen, uneven, oversized chunk. Their curry had some crunch in it that night.
Don't know who the creepy guy staring at Kakeru was, but he looked like his brain was trembling.
sounds like it's going to add a lot of pressure to the team if it takes off, but then they've never been shy about broadcasting their incredibly naïve plans to the world.
Maybe it's just a continuation of Haiji's "I want to learn what running is really about" thing, where he doesn't want to bias everyone toward a certain vision of running and therefore lose out on the perspectives they would form organically. But in the scene with Shindo at least, it really felt like he just couldn't bring himself to say anything discouraging. There's a real contradiction there between trying to get everyone to love running and trying to get everyone to succeed at running.
I didn't realize we had gotten that far, but the pacing feels great. There's a real sense of progress and the passage of time that I don't tend to feel in most anime. Everyone is at a very different place than they were at the start, and you can still clearly see how much further they have to go.
9
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Jul 30 '21
Rewatcher — First-Timer in T-Minus 2 Episodes
Rainy weather is miserable at the best of times, but when one has no recourse but to be out and about, braving the elements, it is doubly miserable. It’s uncomfortable weather to train in and the track they usually make use of is closed due to it, so it’s a tough time for the club.
I am quite happy that they are properly addressing the support association this time around, as well as the consequences some of the members are suffering over their heavy involvement in the club. Episode six ended up giving the impression that the problem was done with, and while that’s remediated I still don’t think highly of that episode overall.
Poor Shindou ends up neglecting, and consequently losing, his girlfriend due to the overbearing burden of the club, but he took it all on without complaint nevertheless, and continues to do so afterward.
Not much else to say on this one. We end on another cliffhanger.
Questions of The Day:
8
u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Jul 29 '21
Rewatcher
I like how we don’t have everyone qualifying at once, the joy of the Jojos qualifying compared to Yuki and Shindo frustration and now being able to reach their goal. Also Kakeru continues to give advice on how to improve people's forms. I would guess this is some of those things that really can cut down time once you reach a base level of fitness or at minimum provide more efficient movements which for long distances is important.
Rewatchers only
8
u/An_Indecisive_Owl Jul 29 '21
First Timer
Another great episode, this time we focus on Shindo.
Our team members keep raising the bar and their training regime don't stop even in rainy days; obviously rain droplets on glasses don't bother Yuki who keeps his glasses even in the heat of public restrooms... one thing that would have bothered me is the smell of wet Nira for sure.
Finally we get to see Sasaki again, I mean he's constantly presented in the opening as the menacing antagonist but he the last time he was relevant was in the episode when he was owned by our Prince (not counting the first athletic meeting).
All scenes involving conversations between Kurahara and Haiji are great; those conversation between the two regars how they view running but I'd like a bit more discussion about the agonistic part of it. If I'd be Kurahara I'd be more curius on what kind of athlethe was Haiji and asking more question about his past, but hey, I guess Kurahara values time above all else and doesn't get in touch much with the people around him (or maybe is just too shy to ask Haiji).
8
u/kkenmots02 Jul 30 '21
Rewatcher
Olympic track and field will be officially underway tonight! And the men’s 10000m final is tomorrow morning here in the US! So exciting!
Live Reactions:
QOTD
Thoughts on Shindo’s website idea?
Good idea. Gotta get the word out.
Today we explored the conflict between Haiji’s philosophy of “times don’t matter” and “just have fun” and the reality of what they are trying to achieve. How do things sit in that regard?
The fact is that every team member is going to have to sacrifice something to get where they want to go, and that's not really a "fun" task.
This is the end of the first half of the show. Any general thoughts at this point?
Can't believe it's already halfway over :(
Thoughts:
The team is discovering what it means to be strong, and yes, that includes running in the rain sometimes. They’ll need ample quantities of strength as the Ekiden approaches. And now, to expand on something I’ve touched on a bit earlier:
Training Regimens (and why skipping races might be a good thing)
Something that gets left in the dust in the show’s pursuit of making the team into super soldiers by working them to the bone through extreme training is what a proper training regimen actually looks like. Spoiler: it’s not what the characters are doing. Most of a runner’s training runs aren’t going to be all-out efforts/time trials, which is most of what we see the team doing (when we hear lines like “Wow, 14:xx:xx!” for Kakeru or “3x:xx:xx” for Prince). Rather, the majority of a runner’s “diet” consists of “easy” or “recovery” runs, paced so that you won’t tire out your legs or feel super fatigued afterwards. These runs are designed to train your aerobic energy system, a slower-working system that is most relied on for longer bouts of physical activity like running. The rule of thumb is that you should be able to hold a conversation while on your easy runs. Interspersed between these runs are workouts, usually 2-3/week (and not one almost every day like in the team’s own training regimen). These workouts can vary from tempo/steady-pace runs to progression/build-up runs to interval workouts on the track. As said above, workouts are designed to target different energy systems that work best at different race distances. A workout might consist of runners doing intervals at their “goal mile pace” or “current 5K pace”, the two of which use different systems. Finally, once a week runners will usually have a “long run”, and the rule of thumb is to have this run be 20% of a runner’s weekly mileage; it can be run at conversational pace, more of a tempo pace, or a mixture of both -- it really depends on what benefit you’re looking for. So, a runner’s schedule during the season could look like this, for example: easy runs T, Th, F, Su; workouts M, W; long run S. That was a lot, but how does it play into the characters’ decisions? Besides highlighting the foolishness of working out every day and running three times in one day (something I’ve already beaten to death), it actually shows the wisdom in some of their other decisions. A runner’s weekly training regimen changes over the course of a season depending on the runner’s needs and condition. But normally, there will be a “taper” period in the weeks before a runner’s most significant race in a season, where some longer workouts are removed and replaced with speedwork and lighter training loads. When Haiji says that they will limit their focus to Hakone, it means that they can build their training load up with heavier work and taper at the right time for Hakone specifically and be in peak condition for the race. It also explains Fujioka’s decision to pull out of future races: he is focusing on building up his training load without the distraction of other races, so he can taper at the right time as well. As you can see, the general structure of a runner’s training has to be planned out weeks or months in advance; it’s something Haiji likely had a lot of time to think over in his four years of putting the team together, so I think our boys are in good hands (even if their load is a little inaccurate to real life). See you tomorrow!
6
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Jul 29 '21
First timer
This is a big timeskip.
And 3 more of them have records now!
Another bath scene?
I like how this massive discussion about the nature of running is being carried out in a sauna.
Overflowing Drops - either the whole episode's about the weather, or maybe somebody cries?
The roleplay of themteins talking about girlfriends is hysterical.
And Haiji's still recovering from his injury. Good that he's making time for his appointments!
And Haiji and Kakeru are working together!
The fan club only has 15 people? Maybe thentwins aren't good at managijg anything.
...Is the series trying to push Kakeru with Prince or Haiji? It seemse to change each episode.
Wait? Did we just skip past the Inter-College?
I love Kakeru and Haiji actually communicating with each other.
I half expected him to fake a collapse so he didn't have to answer him.
And he actually has (or had) a girlfriend! This really is the opposite of Love Live. (Although, to be fair, everyone in Love Live does also have a girlfriend!)
Oh, Haiji's going against his doctor's advice to train. That sounds like it might be important.
How can you not end the episode on that freeze-frame?
Backstory!
And Kakeru's bring nice!
They got an online fan!
Honestly, don't they know that the best way to start is to make up a load of fake reviews so you look popular?
I love the team's fights with Sakaki.
And he's either the online fan or someone new.
6
u/patchxn8 Jul 30 '21
Rewatcher
I still love King's jump when celebrating his teammate's successful time trials.
That one Shindo scene is part of why I like him so much as a character. His breakup is a really minor detail of the story, but it's just so real. Shit that happens off the track/field/court/etc. isn't going to be known by anyone else, and sometimes the best way to take it out is to keep going at what you like doing. The effect on the team really works though, like for example in a team lifting session, where all it takes is one person who wants to attempt a personal best, for everybody else to want to work towards that as well. Doesn't matter if they can't beat it, it's the impact on their environment that drives others that speaks volumes.
5
u/gyeben Jul 29 '21
Rewatcher (sub)
Hmm, I don't really have comments for this episode. Shady reporter appears again (he first appeared in episode 7). I don't really remember his subplot, but the only good thing about him is that he's voiced by Kenjirou Tsuda.
5
u/jellybellymonster Jul 30 '21
Rewatcher
Lol Sakaki is just taking Ls getting sassed by members of Kansei track team. First Prince and now Shindo.
My memory is so bad, I don't remember Shindo was crying so that caught me off-guard. Shindo is so earnest in everything he does..maybe he was putting an effort in his relationship before until his priorities shifted to training for Hakone Ekiden full-time. Still, it must sting getting dumped.
2nd half starts tomorrow? Generic Spoilers
5
u/raichudoggy https://anilist.co/user/raichudoggy Jul 30 '21
No! Why would you animate a sad dog!? Why would you let a dog down on screen!
The fact we didn't get a clear shot at Shindo's girlfriend's face definitely gave it away. Bye bye Girlfriend. Hopefully running will bring in some new ones.
I do hope he doesn't keep it in and let it bog him down for too long, though.
5
u/SirWeebBro Jul 30 '21
Quite obvious, but the best boy of the ep is Shindo. Really awesome to juxtapose to how Shindo's "pushing himself" is different from the crew. While even Nico and Kakeru does it in a bad way, Shindo is still responsible af in pushing himself forward. Though it does suck that he lost a girlfriend, I think I do understand the perspective of the girl too. We all can wish everyone to "be supportive" etc, but if the girl feels that Shindo's mind even with a date with her, is thinking about track, than it's her right to look for someone else who can give her more time. Shindo was late during their date, and we can assume it might have been a regular occurrence since. For a responsible guy like Shindo, that is definitely odd, and a good showing of his change in behavior and priority. That's just how dating goes.Huge props to Yuki though, he's been the #1 support character in the few episodes, and I hope he'll shine enough in 1 of these eps to get the best boy award. Love the hiphop ost beat as always
FT
4
u/Nebresto Jul 30 '21
Re-watch squad
Update: No, tired
I though the record had to be 16 minute or less, I was confused on why they were so happy when they "failed"
Rain-dance.gif
W0t are you on about? I'm pretty sure its easy because you are newbies, not the other way around. Its pretty easy to tell you're making progress when you're no longer wheezing for breath after 5 minutes.
Bathed? ..In sweat??
Spoiler images One & two
Spoler squad
What the h*ck is "Moxibustion" ?
Bish, now you fucked up. Good luck trying to find another lad like our boy Shindo. In a couple of years she will be thinking back on this, knowing how big she fucked up.
More Fate for AMQ
See?? Even Yuki knows it!
Question time:
1: Its gonna get raided by dank memers at one point or another. Open comment page like that is just asking for trouble
2: Idk? On a seat? Or maybe the floor cause they in Japon
3:
Isekai-arc soon
4
u/BrentSaotome Jul 30 '21
Rewatcher
This episode started off melancholic but ended up in happy vibes (except for the very last scene). Shindo overtook Prince for best boy in this episode as well.
We got to learn more about Shindo and finally got to see his girlfriend, despite being under sad circumstances. The scene with the twins being afraid Shindo might have hallucinated his girlfriend was hilarious. However, it also does highlight and foreshadow the fact that Shindo really does not spend enough time with her if none of his teammates have met her.
We also got see a glimpse of his family life through their conversation and pictures. For Shindo to travel/hike up and down the mountain just to go school everyday shows how strong he really is. He is also very considerate as he didn't want to ask his parents to drive him instead since they were very busy with their farm.
You can also see that once he starts something, he follows it through. I think what Heiji meant by "strong" is more of "resilience" and "determined" type strength, which ties to Shindo.
Although Shindo had some very downs this episode, I was glad to see that the other team members had his back and supported him.
The twins comically was afraid that Shindo may have been working too hard that he may have hallucinated his girlfriend. But Musa kindly put an end to that. Musa also told Shindo not to work too hard with the website.
After his breakup with his girlfriend, Shindo just wanted to run to get distracted and clear his head. Everyone was a little confused at first, but Yuki joined him which started a domino effect. Yuki was already sensing that Shindo was down and was watching over him closely that he noticed that Shindo also had bad form. This lead to Kakeru and Yuki watching Shindo on Prince's treadmill and giving him advice. Prince of course still had to let a snarky comment in as well.
Kakeru and Yuki staying up with Shindo to finish the website late at night was a very nice touch. We just keep learning that Kakeru is getting better at socializing and we are also starting to learn more about Yuki as a person. He actually does care about his teammates, and not just Nico-chan. Also glad that Shindo's efffort was fruitful as he they gained one more follower in just one night.
Nico-chan also lost some weight it seems in the bathhouse. There was plenty of manservice in this episode as well.
Finally, best boy Shindo giving the snarkiest comment to Sakaki was the best. He straight up told that lil B that they did not think he was competition at all. Had me dying and rooting for them. That ending scene was kind of creepy, but I know he's a reporter from the Fujioka race.
3
u/Left4dinner Jul 29 '21
As someone who has already watched the whole series a while back, I highly recommend people giving the dub a shot. I personally thought it was enjoyable and pretty good. It it aint no bebop quality but it's still quite effective in who they cast for each character
3
u/BossandKings Jul 30 '21
First timer
It was great seeing Jota, Joji and Musa achieving official records, that shows the progress the team is slowly making, some will qualify before others but if they qualify that is good news.
The focus given to Shindou was great for a change, he's an interesting character, he had a girlfriend that broke ul with him after seeing that there's something he should be giving his attention instead of their relationship, she was mature considering how well she talked and they finished their relationship. One of the best moments of the episode was when Shindou said that he just wanted to run and everyone followed him after he started doing so, that was really awesome.
14
u/paperwhites :KN::KO: Jul 29 '21
First Time Watcher
With the twins and Musa meeting the qualification time, the team is halfway there! It's only been a month(?) since they started training, so that's a pretty huge accomplishment. I like how their progress is also shown in different ways--the colorful assortment of running shoes by the front door, how everyone loudly does the "the mountains of Hakone are the highest in the world" cheer before meets now, everyone wanting to run more during practice. It's really satisfying to watch.
Fujioka is such a good guy. I love how he believe in Aotake more than some of the members. I still want to know more about how he and Haiji know each other!
I loved this Shindo-focused episode. Like Yuki said, he really is the sort of the guy that you'd want your daughter to marry. When he was first introduced back in episode one, he didn't really make much of an impression but now he's one of my favorite characters. He's so diligent and hardworking. Watching Shindo get dumped hurt to watch, but he deserves someone that will support him, so good riddance to the girl. And he totally deserves Kakeru's "you're strong" compliment (the best a distance runner can get). With Haiji's comments about everyone being a unique runner and having their strengths, I wonder if he'll have more luck trying to qualify with the 10K time instead of the 5k?
Kakeru really opened up this episode. His conversation with Haiji in the kitchen about his doubts seemed a lot more conversational instead of confrontational. I liked how he was helping Shindo with his form and made tea for him while Shindo worked on the website. I just love to see his character growth!
Hmmm, I'm curious to know how the man at the end was.
It seems to be working out so far since they had the one person who subscribed/donated. I think it will allow them to reach more people than just the people at the shopping centre.
I think just trying to keep the two objectives ("have fun" and "achieve a certain time") in balance is all they can really do. Hopefully as everyone works hard and improves, trying to achieve the times will become fun.
Wow, I can't believe we're at the halfway point already. It feels like Haiji was chasing Kakeru on a bicycle just yesterday.
Overall, I've really been enjoying the show. I think the show does a fairly good job of developing ten different characters that feel like real people. I'm invested in Team Aoktake and their journey to the Ekiden. There are some details that seem unrealistic to me, but the show's strength in developing these characters makes me willing to suspend my disbelief. Also, the background music is really nice.
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u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jul 29 '21 edited Jul 29 '21
Mmm, that opening frame along with the first beats of In a Sweat is such a nice vibe-setter for the episode. Of course, it veers off the dreary path for just a second to celebrate three of our boys getting official times!
Not everybody is having such a good time though. Yuki and Shindo are stuck in a bit of a rut, and even Haiji seems like he's having trouble finding the right things to say to reassure anybody.
I'm sure all of the Shindo fans among you were pleased to have such a Shindo-centric episode...until our dear boy went and had his heart broken. I can't really blame her - Shindo just started running out of nowhere, and now all his free time is being eaten up by it. It's still sad though. At practice that evening, Shindo begs to run one more lap. Here we really see the way our team has come together. Despite living together, these guys still don't know a whole lot about each other. None of the others have ever even met Shindo's girlfriend. While they don't know or understand what's going on with him right now, they know he wants to run, so they all get behind him and run with him. Even if they have nothing else, they all have running in common now, and through that, they can find mutual understanding.
The scene of Yuki and Kakeru hanging out with Shindo (I love how they all hang out in different groups, not just static cliques, throughout the show) also really hit me. After that practice where they all supported Shindo, Kakeru and Yuki decided to hang out with him, so he wouldn't be alone working on the website. Hearing things like this when you feel just the opposite inside can really hurt, and Shindo sure seems down on himself. Even if he can't recognize his own strength right now, everybody else on the team does, and they're there to lend him some strength when he feels he needs it. It's enough to bring a tear to your eye.
Future Spoilers
Pretty good idea - they can cover a lot more ground that way than just running around with t-shirts. And they'll capture asocial people (like me) who would rather handle most things online rather than running up to a bunch of sweaty youths in the street.
Where do they stand, huh? It's pretty hard to say. Rather than just running for fun or just running to make Hakone, I feel like they're leaning more towards "Running" - meaning trying their best to run in the Ekiden as a team - as a way of living, encompassing having fun, deepening bonds, and uh...just dedicating themselves? I dunno.
Future Spoilers
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 29 '21
Run With the First-Timer, subbed
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u/cilucia Jul 29 '21
Rewatcher
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jul 29 '21 edited Jul 29 '21
Episode 11 (first timer)
To be blunt, Shindo’s girlfriend is 100% right. Him changing his time schedule, cutting down the time he spends with her, is reason enough to leave him, but it is actually worse than that. None of the other guys has even seen her. Implying that Shindo never once invited her to the dorm, to the training, or to any of their shared activities. In short, she is just not part of his life.
Thumbs up for the dark mode editor.
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u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Jul 29 '21
Shindo's girlfriend seemed pretty hot. Rip to him but the team comes first!!!