Kaze Fui Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 4 [Shadows That Don’t Fade]

Welcome one and all to Week 4 of Kaze Fui! This week we get some backstory, loads of friendship, and hints to old problems. Lets jump in!

In general, I once again enjoyed Kaze Fui. It manages a nice balance between the high emotions of Kurahara’s struggles and the light hearted interactions of the other dorm mates. In fact, I am quite happy with how much attention Kaze Fui is putting on the rest of the dorm cast. Seeing Akane with his friends, acting sociable and not just as a shut in, or Yuki and Masa eating lunch together helps reinforce them as people with their own lives away from Kurahara. It also makes them feel more important as characters, so their presence and opinions actually matter overall, instead of just how they affect our lead. Really, every episode that goes by I fall more and more in love with this cast of goofy college students. And I have no idea how Kaze Fui is making that happen.

I suspect it has to do with the, usually subtle, approach Kaze Fui has to exposition. For instance this week we got insight into Kurahara’s past with running. Instead of having Kurahara just tell Haiji in some yelling match, Kaze Fui chooses to show us. Show us how Kurahara was alienated by his coach. That he was so good at running that his coach placed him on a pedestal for the entire team. Telling them to be more like him, yelling at them when they don’t match up, then excluding him from any punishments. He forced Kurahara apart from the rest of the team, thinking it would motivate them to catch up and get the same treatment. Instead all he did was alienate and drive him away. This tells us that Kurahara isn’t afraid of competition, but rather teams. A lone wolf.

The way Kaze Fui showed us all of this was fantastic to me. The standout shot was no doubt Kurahara, quite literally it seems, running from his past and problems. Not only did we get lead in to it with pachenko and getting to see Kurahara during the moment he decided to steal, but the actual visuals were great to me. The coach repeating as he runs, always off to the side, like he can’t get him out of his mind. Sakaki, or Droopy Eyes as I called him, always behind him, eventually replaced by Joji and Jota, bringing it back to last week. The darkness even though it was the middle of the day. Both visually and thematically, I thought that this was just a great scene. Good job Production I.G.

Excluding Kurahara, as I mentioned earlier the other characters also got some time this week. The one who got the most though, and actually made me think it would be focused on him, was Akane. Not only does he continue to be the comedic highpoint for running, but he got a great speech about friendship at the end to. One that Kurahara needed to hear. What I liked about it though was the prep-work Kaze Fui put in so that it was justified coming from Akane. By showing us the Rugby team pushing him and his manga club off the lunch table first, the “social hierarchy”, Kaze Fui made us aware of the issue. Then hearing how everyone at the dorms respects his opinion and doesn’t care about, even embraces, his love of manga. It drives home what Kurahara needed to hear from a source that already learned the lesson.

As for what brought this on, let’s talk about Sakaki. I expected him to be your basic run of the mill asshole, and he largely is. But as far as his dislike of Kurahara, it’s not purely because Kurahara is better than him. His comment about finding friends in particular makes this clear. Based on their interactions in the flashback, it makes me think that Sakaki thought he and Kurahara were friends at some point. Yet external factors, the coach and such, drove them apart. It’s a much more human motivation than I was expecting, and his enmity seems focused on Kurahara instead of general asshole-ness. The fact that Kurahara apparently hit him at some point also makes more of a problem between than two, than just Sakaki. But the best part, our lead doesn’t want to let it stagnate. He takes his first step, hoping to see him again.

Narratively it looks like Sakaki is our first main antagonist, in a series that probably doesn’t need antagonists. I wager he will end the series as a friend of our cast, seeing he was wrong about Kurahara after this upcoming track meet. I personally hope that, excluding Kurahara, Haiji and maybe the twins, our cast loses this meet. They don’t need to win to qualify after all, they just need official times. That said I have absolutely no idea how a track and field meet actually works, so expect some exposition on that next week. I am hoping for some beautiful running animation and more quality time with Akane. Some exposition on Nico, who no doubt has running history, would also not be amiss. Still, we will have to wait and see.

So all in all, another good week for Kaze Fui. The focus is spread out, so it is able to drip feed us story on each of the characters. Choosing just a few each week to expand on. Last week was Yuki, this time it’s Akane, all the while using their personal stories to contrast with our leads. It’s a tried and true approach to a character drama, one of my favorite genres. I am still not sure what exactly is going to fill 23 episodes however, and Kaze Fui’s ability to keep people engaged for that long is my main question. With such a large main cast though, it has plenty of room for episodic stories and have high hopes it will work out.

What did you think of Kaze Fui this week though? Was Haiji’s motivation with manga quotes to weird for you, or perhaps you just don’t relate to Kurahara being “too good” at something. Let me know below!