This was a very surprising week of Runway de Waratte. I fully expected it to be a disappointment, to somehow screw up its grand finale, for Ikuto to ruin it… and none of that happened. It was surprisingly good. Not flawless, but probably the best episode of the show yet. Why? Well let’s jump in and find out.
Now, before I get all sappy and praise Runway, I want to talk about what it could do better. Specifically I want to talk about the animation of this week’s episode. Because while what we got is fine, I can’t help but think it could have been amazing. Runway had a huge opportunity this week with Chiyuki’s dress changes and walks to really show off its source material and subject. It could have shown us the dress changes in real time, animating the clothes being removed and add. We could have seen the difference in how Chiyuki walks by how its animated, rather than just getting upper-body shots. Instead though, we just the same presentation as we have for any other scene in the anime. Instead of being an event for the series… it was just another episode. And while its a good episode, ultimately, I am a little disappointed.
As far as actual content goes, Runway did fine. Chiyuki and Kokoro are, as always, far more compelling than Ikuto and the show was engaging. The idea of taking the racks on stage and running the entire show with one model was inspired. It did a great job of addressing the issue of Chiyuki’s height with other models, while focusing the show around these two specific characters. Massively increasing the focus on Chiyuki where normally in a show, she would be 1 model among many. And while I wasn’t a fan of the outfits themselves, I am a very simple man on that front, the idea of “waku” (excitement) worked. It was a much better and well presented theme than Ikuto’s I feel, who ultimately kept it a tad to simple. If every show was as good as this one, Runway would be a very different anime.
My biggest complaint with this section actually has to do with how it was adapted from the manga. You see, I have recently read up on the manga to prepare for my final review and… oh boy. This cour is adapted ~70 chapters of manga content, with this episode alone doing 6 chapters. 6 chapters of content with most episodes only for 2-3, and it shows. Runway really had to rush Chiyuki and Kokoro’s relationship to fit everything into this episode. So much so that it actually had to cut a number seemingly important scenes. Such as the Professional Model commenting on Chiyuki as a rival rather than just this cute young kid on an amateur show. Or losing a good bit of the context of Kokoro’s relationships and such. It’s just a very fast paced and condensed episode.
And in making it so condensed, Runway actually messed up on the tone of a number of scenes I think. A primary example of this I feel is Kokoro and Chiyuki meeting in her apartment. As they are going over these dresses and the music is playing over it, it feels… more hopeful than it otherwise should. In the manga this was a much more threatening scene as their rivalry and relationship was not yet as established. It created this question of will they actually work well together, etc, leaving room for them to grow. Complete with much darker shading and the light. Meanwhile this scene just feels more like… a minor argument, it doesn’t really open up that question of if it will work. You just know from the start it will. And while that’s fine, it’s not great.
The last bit worth mentioning is actually all about Kokoro herself and her manager. This is another thing that I like, but could have used more time in the oven. It was sprung on us rather suddenly in my opinion. That said, it was a nice follow through. Making 2 of the same suit, giving one to her and wearing the other on the runway. Both following up her statement of models looking good in suits while showing how good her suit looks. Runway even managed to follow that up with the manager herself asking if she looked good, and regretting getting a yes. This was all good stuff that, had the rest of the season been good enough, could have made for a fantastic finale. Instead it’s just this good episode amidst a sea of mediocrity.
So all in all, how was this episode of Runway? It was pretty good, ultimately being let down by everything that lead into it. And while as an anime stand alone, its fine, compared to the original manga it just doesn’t stand out. My hope is that next week Toh’s performance can match Kokoro’s to make for a decent ending. But based on how little time we have had with him and how focused his character is, I am not seeing how Runway will pull that off. Maybe it’s just because of my disinterest in fashion, or maybe I shouldn’t have read to manga to catch up for the review. Who knows. But the further I get into this series, the more I see what could have been and am disappointed by what is.
