Run with the Wind | Episode 8 & 9

Sorry I’m giving you guys a two-parter once again. Last week, I really needed a break from everything and thought Thanksgiving was the best time to do it. I think that was the right call I feel super refreshed and ready to jump right back into this. I will likely be writing up some more posts in the near future. I’ve got a bunch of ideas and I still need to continue my monthly blogger interview that was pretty much just a one-time thing. So, let’s jump back into Run with the Wind and see how our boys are feeling after that meet.

Episode 8

Before I talk about my thoughts regarding this episode, I did want to talk a bit about what I expected to occur in episode 8. I did something I usually never do which was watch the preview for the next episode. In that preview, the only thing I really got out of it was Kakeru was acting up and Haiji would have to do something. Well, this episode was kind of that way just happened differently than I expected.

After Kakeru runs off from the gang, we find him returning back home to find that everyone was celebrating. From his experience as a runner, he knew that the first thing you would do after a meet was to do a review. I totally understand that this habitual at this point and knows how effective that is to produce results in future meets. The issue is, these guys aren’t the kind of runners who walked the same path as him. They are all just happy to have gotten through and learn maybe this isn’t as bad as they thought it would be.  Unfortunately, Kakeru has an outburst after seeing how unprepared and nonchalant everyone is. I’m having a hard time trying to understand whether it was because he failed to win the meet or that his teammates were not willing to work as hard as he was.

When Nico goes to talk to Kakeru, he seemed to lighten up a bit since he feels that he finally found someone that may understand him in the group. We learn a bit about him when he was in high school and why he stopped running. As happy as I was to see Nico running more, I started to feel a bit concerned. Yuki tells Haiji about how hard he is working because of the fire that Kakeru lit under his butt. We as the viewers also get to put the pieces together as well. The possible connection to him not drinking water and barely eating to lose weight. That’s not the way to do it, Nico!

On the bright side, the twins are always around to bring up the mood a bit and Prince has really become a character with a large presence. As he is shopping for treadmills, you can see his urge to want to get better grow and grow. On the darker side, after a conversation with Haiji and Kakeru, Kakeru makes a request to Prince for him to drop from the team if he doesn’t beat his previous time. I practically yelled at my monitor at this point.

We also got to see Haiji upset for once mostly because he really needs to knock some sense into Kakeru that everyone is trying and speed is not a direct correlation to progress. Man, what an episode.

Episode 9

With this episode, we learn that Kaiji sticks to his guns and will not allow Kakeru to run in the next race. He only chose 5 runners. As much as Kakeru is upset about this. Haiji signed up the five runners in advance and there was nothing he would do about it. I was kind of taken by surprise on this. I thought it was just a power play to help Kakeru see the error in his ways. I also didn’t think you can only sign up a certain amount of team members.

As this goes on, it becomes more and more apparent that Kakeru is upset and throughout this episode and episode 8 you can see these bags under his eyes develop. He’s also not just upset that he won’t be racing but the fact that his speed is decreasing even though he is working so hard.

Haiji learns that someone was not eating after some detective work… I guess. He learns that it is Nico and casually chases him with a bento box while wearing an apron. Haiji always brings about some interesting scenarios. Nico only stops when he learns that Haiji has been secretly making sure that everyone gets the appropriate amount of nutrients in their food and has been doing it for years so maybe Nico was worried about nothing after.

Towards the middle of the episode, we get to the aforementioned track meet with our five runners. We get to see how much these guys have slowly caught the running bug. Especially the twins. They seemed to have recognized a correlation between soccer and running, looking at as a game. As our boys are running, those sitting on the sideline get to see how much these guys have progressed and you can even sense some level of jealousy that they aren’t out there.

Kakeru slowly starts to see how hard they are all working as the meet progresses. During the final lap, everyone cheers them on. These cheers from Nico, King and Haiji were infectious enough to lead Kakeru and Prince to cheer. These moments alone are why I watch this series. I was so happy smiling ear to ear when I saw this and it even made me want to just turn off my computer and start running myself.

As great as this episode was we got a cliffhanger ending that none of us wants to see. Our boy Haiji collapsed on the floor while talking to Kakeru and making fried rice for everyone. We did get a sign that something was wrong with him but unlike the other guys, we don’t really see any signs that he was exhausted or anything so I’m curious to know how hard he has been working to find him in this state.

AND NOW WE WAIT…

I’m really happy I waited and got to watch both of these episodes back to back but the suspense is killing me! I know Haiji will likely be fine but how dare they end it like that! I look forward to seeing where Kakeru goes from here and I also foresee some great amount of improvement from Prince with this treadmill. I just wonder how they are going to do it. Thanks for taking the time to read this and would love to hear your thoughts about these two episodes. I’m really bad at going around to other blogs and being communicative but I will try to change that this week. Have a great weekend!