Welcome one and all! This week in Kaze Fui we meet the final boss, Kurahara gets a reality check and our team runs their first track meet! Lets jump in!
To start off, I have to say I loved the feel of Kaze Fui this week. Vague, I know, but hear me out. Kaze Fui did a great job with the atmosphere of the track meet. Everyone stretching, running, preparing. There was an air of tension as we jumped between some competitors. It also built on our character’s a bit with how they all reacted to it. Nico seeming to feel at home, Musa panicking, and Prince reading. All in all, well done there I feel. Kaze Fui also shined this week with the running animations, the 2D ones at least. Crunchy-Roll dimmed the scenes a bit sadly, but what we got still looked gorgeous. Their long limbs flowed and their hair tossing in the wind as they ran was fantastic. It’s only failure was the wide-shot CGI, which detracted from a number of scenes. At least the characters worked.
Speaking of characters, there is lot’s to talk about here. Lets start with Kurahara before moving on to Fujioka, Haiji and Nico. For Kurahara an Anon in our chat mentioned, and I thought it as well, that for all his talk of reality checks, he was the one to receive one. We see throughout this episode how competitive Kurahara is. Blatantly starring at Fujioka, the number 1 runner, and trying to race for first place. In a stroke of cinematography Kurahara actually doesn’t start catching up until his view of the leaders is blocked by another runner. Making it clear to the viewer exactly what he wants, without words. What I got out of it was that Kurahara fears failure. That it is better not try, than try and fail. Always being praised for his speed, but knowing their team can’t make it. To Kurahara, victory is all that matters.
Kaze Fui also manages to fit this into Fujioka, our apparent final boss of the series. For someone who is supposed to be our antagonist, he is incredibly polite and thoughtful. Throughout the episode Fujioka treats everyone with respect, and seems happy that Haiji is back running. Not because he want’s to beat him, because I don’t think victory is Fujioka’s driving force. Of course there is some desire there, but I think Fujioka just loves to run, as does Haiji, and so they understand each other. Fujioka is happy that Haiji can come back. It ties back to Haiji’s question, “Are only the chosen allowed to run?”. Based on his leg injury, Haiji wasn’t “chosen”. Yet even this champion athlete thinks well of him and is glad he is back. I think Fujioka is the one who will change Kurahara, and is already motivating and giving him a goal.
Speaking of Haiji, Kaze Fui did something very clever with him this week. While he still needs some comeuppance, I think the groundwork for that was laid this week. We already knew of his injury, and we can surmise that it stopped him from running for a few years. Clearly he was a star athlete before that. Yet even now, after his leg is “healed”, a slight bump from another competitor made him wince in pain. Obviously there are still complications. This, combined with Kurahara’s obsession with victory, and other characters simple love of running makes me think of only one possible ending. Our team is going to make it to the Ekiden, somehow, and there Haiji’s leg will fail. He won’t be able to finish. Only for our team to, possibly literally, drag him across the finish line long after the race is over. A fitting end, I think.
As for our boys, our other leads, Kaze Fui gave each of them some nice moments. For example, Prince does exactly what I do at competitions. I find reading to relax me, to separate me from whatever match I am about to enter. It confuses a lot of my gym mates to no end. I also enjoyed the small details Kaze Fui gave to Nico this week. Every few minutes it would cut to him. Either he would be soaking in the atmosphere of the meet, or he would be looking on at the lead runners. It made me think that he was glad he was there. That he missed it in some way, and that Kurahara was inspiring and motivating him just like Fujioka did to Kurahara. I can’t wait to get more history on Nico, as he seems to have the most complex motivations outside our leads.
That isn’t to say Kaze Fui was perfect this week, though for all these coming gripes it sped by. I do wish it had used Sakaki more this episode. He was first introduced and built up as if his confrontation would happen here. But instead he is relegated to a scene built to introduce another character. I don’t mind to much, because I find Fujioka to be an good addition and a better rival, but the disappointment is still there. I can only hope that he will appear in a future meet before the Ekiden. As far as the actual running times go, they still beggar belief. Adrenaline, the day of a competition, can do a lot of things. You are able to push yourself farther than during training in the real thing. That’s just the nature of competition. But I refuse to believe Prince finished like that. It’s ridiculous.
So all in all, I really enjoyed this week. Somehow Kaze Fui managed to make running around a track 12 times engaging. No doubt this is do to subtly introducing us to the intricacies of running in a meet. Such as Kurahara challenging for first place to early, the mentions of pacing themselves and not gassing out early. Kaze Fui didn’t have Haiji explain all of this in some info dump before the race, but rather showed us via Kurahara. And what we were shown, aside from the wide shots, looked good. Production I.G. once again shows a mastery of muscle and body movements, because these lean bodies moved beautifully. Haiji stretching or the closeups of Kurahara struggling to keep pace, the sweat running down his face, just popped. It made the entire episode fly by, such that I couldn’t believe it was over when the credits rolled.
But what did you think? Is Fujioka a good final boss, or do you think we didn’t need one at all? How about the race itself, was the animation up to snuff or did the CGI ruin it? Let me know below and I will see you next week!
