Run with the Wind 風が強く吹いている — Anime Thoughts
| Genre | Sports, Inspirational, |
| Recommend: | Highly Recommend |
The one anime that I thoroughly enjoyed watching in 2019 was
“風が強く吹いている” (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru), also known as
Run with the Wind.
As the title suggests, it’s a sports anime adapted from a novel, one about running and the goal is to enter and complete the Hakone Ekidan (Hakone Marathon).
As far as sports anime/manga/novels goes, it’s perfectly ordinary which makes it so much more special and relatable.
There are no special powers, exaggerated moves or miraculous transformations by the characters. It’s all about hard work, training, determination, good running form, belief in yourself and your teammates, and support from your team-mates.
The two characters I love most in the anime/novel is Haiji and Ouji-sama.
Haiji, because he’s a really great guy who didn’t give up and persisted in his dream and goal, even when the odds were against him.
He’s a superb motivator and a great “coach” to the rest of the team, training them from scratch and understanding what running style is the best for each person. He also knows their strengths and weaknesses and never once did he give up on any of the team.
He had lost hope once but picked himself up and held on to his renewed hope and made his dreams come through. It was tough and lonely in the beginning but he never gave up and now has a new finish line he can look forward to.
Ouji-sama, is an inspiration to all of us out there and totally relatable.
Of all the characters, he had suffered the most, because as a bookworm/otaku, he almost never exercises. (sounds familiar?) Yet due to the support of his team-mates and his own will-power and training, he managed to improve his stamina bit-by-bit everyday and his timing for running.
This did not happen overnight, but through weeks and months of daily running, changes in running posture, and daily practice on the treadmill.
I really enjoyed seeing how all of the characters each grew in strength and gradually fell in love with running or rediscovering their passion for running.
I also really liked how grounded the story was. For example, these lines stood out to me the most in the series:
“Arrogance is in thinking that hard-work can solve everything”.
“We all run the same path but we arrive at different finish lines”
It’s actually pretty rare to see in Anime/Manga to acknowledge the fact that while hard work is important, sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s still always an advantage that “talent” has and who’s to say those with ‘talent’ did not put in their hard work as well?
However, these lines wasn’t said to discourage anyone but instead to motivate, because everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Only by fully understanding the gaps you have with the best and continuously working on your own strengths and weaknesses, then can you soar and achieve the very best you can.
The bonds that was forged through their training and running will forever guide their paths forward.
Thank you 三浦しをん先生 and the entire anime adaptation production team for bringing this inspirational story to us fans.
Highly highly recommend!
P.S: The OP/ED songs are really nice! Run With The Wind also introduced me to the talented Taichi Mukai (向井太一) who did both the ending songs for the anime series. Those two songs, “Reset” and “Michi” are really inspirational , nice and uplifting. Whenever days gets a little dark and difficult, these two songs never fail to give me a little hope and the strength and optimism to continue on. Check out his other songs too, you won’t regret it!
「頂点が見えたかい？」
Hakone mountains are?
The steepest in the world!
箱根の山は?
天下の険!
*All images in this post are from http://kazetsuyo-anime.com & https://twitter.com/kazetsuyo_anime
Run With The Wind is currently available on Netflix! ^ ^ The songs are also available on Spotify and Youtube.
To find out more about the anime/novel, you can visit these pages:
- Official Anime Website: http://kazetsuyo-anime.com
- Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/kazetsuyo_anime
- Official DVD/Blu-ray: https://tohoanimationstore.com/shop/c/c45
