Welcome to the second new series I am blogging this season, Runway de Waratte! A really odd choice for me all things considered, but it caught my interest and I figured why not branch out. This week continues the surprises as Runway backs up the progress a bit and shows us just how brutal the fashion industry is. Lets dive in!
Runway opened up answering a lot of questions/issues I had with the first episode. Such as how quickly it was moving, how they became professionals almost immediately, etc etc. I didn’t like how it seemingly skipped over all the hard work/amateur level stuff they could have done. So to see Tsumura’s age come in, how they won’t hire high schoolers and such, was nice. It sets up the end goal of the season, getting hired, and makes them actually work for stuff. Now I am still not sure what Chiyuki’s position in all of this is, as her father seems pretty adamant about not letting her model. He didn’t even lift her suspension until the 2nd half of the episode, but that’s also not terribly important I don’t think. No, the important thing is what Runway does from here.
For instance, I enjoyed how open the characters were with each other. How assertive Tsumura was when Chiyuki returned his dress, or Chiyuki about getting him to pursue his passion. I fully expected a sort of misunderstanding rom-com drama thing to happen here where they spend the whole season not talking to each other. So it was a pleasant surprise when Tsumura refused to take any of Chiyuki’s shit and instead confronted her on it. The same for Chiyuki being upfront about trying to manipulate him into taking the designer job. Still makes her a bit of a bitch, but she’s honest about it and her intents. Hopefully this sort of communication can continue throughout the series. Because romantic/dramatic displays from BS misunderstandings that could get cleared up in a single conversation are trite and annoying. I much prefer conflicts due to ideals.
Speaking of assholes, let’s talk about Hajime, because he may be my favorite character so far. The balls on this man, to just rip his own dress in Tsumura’s face for his fuckup. I figured he was stressed, with his show coming up and how his entire career rests on it, but damn. This guy is a personality and I am looking forward to how he pushes our leads forward. Because Runway makes it clear that this guy doesn’t care about either of them. If they screw up his dress, they are out. If they screw up his fashion show, they are out. They do anything he doesn’t like, they are out, and he won’t think twice about it. Hajime is like the personification of how brutal the fashion industry must be for Runway, and I think it works. We just have to see how he is after the show.
Speaking of how brutal the fashion industry is, that is something I wasn’t expecting from Runway. I assumed that it would just be one of those happy, feel good romantic dramas. But its giving a pretty serious representation of the industry it seems. With Moriyama the assistant collapsing from overwork/stress, or the blasé of the models in regards to showing skin. It makes sense and Runway doesn’t fetishize it in any way. Sure, there is the initial opening shock of it, since its from Tsumura’s perspective. But after that Runway just goes full frontal with it all, and I appreciate that. I am looking forward to seeing this more serious side of the fashion world, and gives me hope for Chiyuki’s story being a serious one.
On Chiyuki, I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting her to show up here. I sort of thought this fashion show would be Tsumura’s chance to prove himself, and it is. But I should have expected Runway would turn it into a duo sort of thing. After all, that is sort of the premise of the entire show. That said, I am not sure how much I like that. I do think that Tsumura needs to prove himself away from Chiyuki, though hopefully we get that later. Because so far the only real success he has had is with her specifically. I suppose you could point towards the outfit he made himself with the president. But I really wanna see more of his process, the creation of the dress, the details of making one. Afterall, Hajime makes a point of saying he designs dresses, not makes them. Show us!
Finally, I have to talk about the production, because Runway is not the best looking show. The colors are incredibly washed out in some places, and in general the designs seem very… light? It’s difficult to describe, but it feels like no one has weight. I prefer heavier line work, more saturated colors, etc. Hopefully we can get some of this in the actual fashion shows, a transformation of sorts, but as is its not particularly pleasing to look at. It’s a similar thing with the OST, which is just odd. I can’t remember a single track from it, it’s just a bunch of single instruments. Light piano, background strings, etc. Once again, I think its saving most of it for the fashion shows. But so far production wise, Runway isn’t very impressive.
So, all in all, how was Runway this week? Surprising to say the least. It dived in to areas of the industry I wasn’t expecting and handled its character conflicts surprisingly well. Hopefully it manages to keep this up for the rest of the cour. Because I am actually engaged in where this story is going to go, surprising considering the subject material. I think the main issues it needs to address now are the bland designs/art and basically the production surrounding said story. Also maybe slow down a tad, though I would prefer it move fast and exciting vs slow and boring. It’s a fine line to walk, and its leaning towards the safer side I think. I guess we will just have to see next week!
