Runway de Waratte – 02

OP Sequence

OP: 「LION」 by Ami Sakaguchi (坂口有望)

ED Sequence

ED: 「Ray of Light」 by Jae Joong

「プロの世界」 (Puro no Sekai)
“The Professional World”

Is it too early to get excited about Runway de Waratte? Maybe. But no matter. I think I’ll be boarding the hype train.

Following an amateur-ish and relatively light-hearted premiere, where Chiyuki and Ikuto go viral, we’re plunged straight into the deep end of reality. First off, Chiyuki’s father suspends her from Mille Neige for her dishonesty and realises that he’s unable to give a professional contract to an underage highschool kid like Ikuto with no formal fashion education or experience. However a second opportunity immediately presents itself in the form of an ex-employee who’s only just begun their fashion start-up: Yanagida-san, an extremely prickly person who instantly tests Ikuto before demanding him to leave. On the one hand, people might think that Yanagida was pretty nasty for having no patience towards Ikuto. And upon seeing Ikuto’s resolve, he acquiesces and allows the boy to have another chance. So it’s not like he’s a total asshole. Not to mention, Yanagida has just started up his new company.

First impressions mean a lot, his own career and future are on the line, so I don’t blame him for seeking to uphold the highest standards and quality when it comes to his fashion professionalism. In fact, I respect his level of perfectionism as integrity to his trade. Also, to have his model who he designed the clothes for flake out at the last moment and his lead clothes designer collapse from exhaustion is an absolute nightmare. And having to rely on two beginners with little to no experience in Ikuto and Chiyuki, for such a high stakes fashion event, it’s no wonder that he’s at his wits end and close to giving up. It’s cruel really, how years of solid effort and good work can be wasted through a sequence of catastrophically bad luck. Nevertheless, unlike him, I wouldn’t quite count the entire show out of the running just yet.

We know it best from what we’ve seen: our protagonists are two dark horses who might just surprise everyone. I find Chiyuki endearing because she’s a sassy and driven girl, reminiscent of a Haruhi Suzumiya, only she doesn’t feel anywhere near as overbearing and has something resembling a conscience when strong-arming other people. Ikuto comes across as soft. That said, one thing I really like about him is that he’s definitely got some backbone. He doesn’t let a popular girl like Chiyuki cow him into submission when she hits him with some extremely confrontational attitude, reacting with anger and calling out her selfish behaviour. These kids are two of the most likable characters from this season, and seeing how dedicated they are, it’s easy to root for them as they chase their dreams. Can they survive this sudden baptism of fire? We will see if they can claim a rightful spot within the ruthless fashion industry, and I’m excited to see the innovative solutions they’ll come up with in attempting to address all these ridiculous issues. Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading my post. See you next episode to find out whether they can turn bad luck into unexpected success!