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「炎のランナー -It`s just luck.-」 (Honoo no Runner: It`s Just Luck)
“Chariots of Fire -It`s just luck.-“
Episode 05 of Overtake! acts as a breather episode as Haruka, the Belsorriso guys, and other locals in Oyama take on a marathon scheduled to finish near Fuji Speedway. But even with the friendly competition, it provides an opportunity for the cast to learn about each other as they channel their passions, frustrations, and goals into their push forward.
NO WALK IN THE PARK
I appreciate how natural the plot progression for Overtake! is. Where rather than trying to speed through each characters’ storylines, they give us episodes like this that pull you aside to get you better familiarized with everyone they’ve introduced up to this point.
Surprisingly, this was Koutarou’s time to shine as his comical woes during the big marathon help us learn more about how he operates and how he meshes with other characters. He’s quick to discourage Haruka from humoring his dad’s interest in racing for marbled beef, and finds himself at odds with his friend Arisu. I’m curious how she’ll turn out because Koutarou urging her to let Satsuki know about her feelings might help her out considering how she hasn’t had much time to shine aside from being flustered by his charms.
Speaking of Satsuki, we’ve gotten far more from him in this episode as he uses the race to talk about his inspirations. It’s easy to understand his point-of-view knowing that his racing hero is James Hunt, the charming British F1 racer who won the 1976 German Grand Prix after Niki Lauda’s near-fatal crash and was the subject of the 2013 film Rush.
It’s no surprise to see how much significance Hunt’s cheery demeanor and his luck with the Nürburgring has on Satsuki. Considering how much of his personality is built around feeling entitled to the same luck and glory by virtue of carrying a positive attitude, Satsuki would have an unwavering ego built around how many opportunities he’s earned through his wins.
That’s not to say that Satsuki’s entirely selfish considering how his enthusiasm to join the relay race has him playing peacemaker with Haruka and Toshiki. Although tensions are at their highest between the two, Satsuki helps to extend the olive branch between the two of them by getting them to talk to each other about their part-time jobs. With Haruka and Toshiki as racers who bust their butts during the day, there is some potential for Haruka to want to understand Toshiki’s struggles as the two of them both juggle physically-demanding part-time jobs with their racing hobby.
Madoka has quite a good episode this time around too since he finally got to shoot another picture of Haruka. Luckily this time, it was him hugging Futoshi, so rather than capturing his loss and grief, it shows the familial bond he has with his team. It’ll be nice to see if using this particular shot would help to bolster Haruka’s reputation, especially with the promotional material he’s been a part of lately.