Runway de Waratte

Episode 9. showed, why is this anime in the category of shounen and in my opinion it is really a shame. I wanted to like this anime, but it is slowly becoming distanced further from my hand's reach.

The shounen likes to play into the cards of rivality and I think it is getting slightly noticable that this anime just forces it's characters to get into conflicts. And I just hate it that it is that way.

If you take for example similar anime about making clothes as this, categorized as josei, named 'Paradise Kiss', you can see the potential this anime could have... Well, maybe not...

To ... explain my reasoning 'Runway de Waratte' is not really about making clothes, but more about doing typical shounen stuff in a untypical environment and it is doing a great job portraying it. But. BUT.

Normal 'shounen' guy would not even consider watching this, just because it is an anime about making clothes, which it certainly is not. AND, anime fan who likes shoujo and josei like me is going to feel incompleteness coming from this show.

In the end, this anime is so far a good attempt at going to the different and more special direction than most newly aired anime. But, maybe, just maybe went to far...

This show is enjoyable, but somewhat plain. Throughout every twist and turn, the audience this is aimed at is pretty clear. This is a show for kids. It's about hard work and never giving up, which is a great message. Even so, if you want something that is truly meaningful and engaging, I'd say watch something else. This show is a shounen at it's core, despite being about fashion. The themes are right on the nose, the characters are likable but definitely plain. All I can say is that I was never surprised, impressed, or engaged with this show. It's not a bad show, just ... definitely not meant for me. Definitely give it a go if you want something inspiring and simple. Even so, I give it a somewhat lower rating because I didn't find it worth my time at all. Not to mention that there's not much to remember this series by other than it's interesting insight into the fashion industry (most likely not the most realistic).

Pros:

A decent handling of an actual friends-who-are-rivals situation; it is actually established that the main characters (Ikuto and Chiyuki) are kind to one another before their temporary rivalry begins, which is something many shounen anime fail to do (and yes, this is a shounen anime). I'm very appreciative of the fact that the show doesn't try to convince the audience that two characters who are shown to be nothing but complete assholes to one another are somehow friends. Ikuto and Chiyuki have a good rapport and are pretty supportive of one another - their rivalry is temporary and to advance their education/careers, and then they're ... friends again. Cool.

Also, without spoiling too much, I appreciated the realistic depiction of what would happen if a high school sophomore entered a competition designed for university students who've actually taken some classes on the subject of the competition.

It's funny, although mostly unintentionally. I'm laughing at it, not with it.


Cons:

The art is lazy and led to a weirdly vacant-feeling world. A distinct lack of background characters in pretty much every scene made for an unpopulated vibe. There were only a handful of backgrounds/sceneries/locations and none of them were great (copy-pasted racks of clothes, copy-pasted shelves of fabric, copy-pasted student desks...). Lots of panning still shots in lieu of actual animation. A lot of the clothing designs were really lackluster, which is bad when you have a series about fashion.

It's insanely melodramatic. Ikuto got his world rocked at least three times per episode by people making casual observations (Some Guy: "Yeah, this isn't fantastic, but you're 17 and you've never taken a design course, so that makes sense." Ikuto: [eyes widen, skin goes clammy, he grips his chest dramatically and the music goes DONNNNNNN]) and Chiyuki was panting like she just ran a half marathon every time she did her thirty second catwalk. And why couldn't Tsumura just quit being a model if she hated modeling so much? Because then there would be no drama, I guess. See above about this show being unintentionally funny - this is due to the melodrama.

There were a lot of unnecessary side plots. The mom being sick, the failed-model-turned-agent scorned, the girl who worked at the fashion mag, etc. So much of the plot could have been resolved if any of the characters at any point just said "no thanks" to all the unnecessary criticism/unwarranted life advice they received.

Everyone's favorite wholesome playboy Tanjiro takes break from seducing demon slayer gals to charming fashion designers and models by providing emotional support and encouragement then they really need it . Say what you want about him but he sure knows his way around women.

Jokes aside Smile down the runway is about talented but poor designer and a short model and their journey of becoming successful in their careers. Show does a good job of portraying its characters' desires , ambitions , regrets and accomplishments while presented with pretty animation and designs with some sprinkles of comedy. So why do i ... think this show is only worth 6?

Well while whatever show does, it doesn't do it poorly , I don't thing it does anything exceptionally well either . Whole 'Poor but talented protagonist who has ill family member who has been in hospital for long time' is so common and even overused, there could be a template where you only need to fill in character names and rest of story is written for you. So it would be more of surprising if show messed up such refined formula. What this means, all in all story is not really interesting. If you are some one who is new to anime it might not be that big of an issue but for me, I knew how whole show would turn up out early as episode 3. It could say subverted my expectations of what it was going to be but it never does, overall predictability of the plot ruins any sense of tension or excitement a viewer might have.

Regarding animation its more or less the same. Its clothes and characters are drawn well and you have some money shots, but I was never taken away or impressed by it I can't really recall any scenes if you were to ask me to and i watched this was 2 days ago. It is bit unfair to criticize the animation, it never hampered the show and it pulled its weight, but then overall story is not interesting enough to justify watching the show, you try to find other aspects of show which are worth watching the show for but unfortunately animation isn't one of them.

Overall music was pretty good I did find Opening and ending songs fun to listen to and in between tracks which accompany the show do a good job setting the mood and conveying the emotions characters are experiencing.

On final note Run down the run way has alot of same vibes as Welcome to the Ballroom but what ballroom did well but this show failed to do was get me interested into a subject. I won't pretend after watching Wellcome to the Ballroom I went started watching ballroom competitions but nether the less the show managed to convey rare and bit unusual topic in a interesting and entertaining way so that even some one like me, who never had any interest in ballroom dances, enjoyed it.
Meanwhile Smile down the runway failed to awoke same type of interests in modeling, clothes designing and creating. Maybe if it focused on those topics more intricately by closely following design process or was more informative and technical with sewing and different techniques associated with it, but as it is whole fashion and modeling seemed more like a surface level reskin to make it look like show was unique and interesting then in reality it was very cliche story.

As a summary I fail to see why I would recommend this show to anyone, it doesn't do anything interesting with topic its covering nor does anything new with 'poor guy big dream' trope. At one point I was thinking maybe it is aimed at female demographic but problem with that is that, show focuses very little on heroine compared to protagonists, not to mention most fan service features the heroine; its pretty clear who show tries to appeal to then it has a shot of Chiyuki doing a split in pink underwear while wearing red stiletto heels.

Ever since I was young I was interested in the fashion industry, especially Japan’s, so I was excited for Runway de Waratte yet didn’t hold my breath, and I’m glad I didn’t. This show has an inescapable essence of mediocrity. The cinematography is lacking and overtly boring. This doesn’t make the show itself fundamentally bad, because it’s not, but it doesn’t have any distinguishing factors to make it ‘good’. It kept my attention for the most part, and it was still enjoyable enough of a viewing experience, but it’s frustrating that it couldn’t go just that tiny bit further. The purpose of the show is ... to make you root for these character’s dreams, but I just wish they had given more of a reason to rather than ‘she’s short’ and ‘he’s poor’. A lot of the time the intended hard-hitting moments don’t hit at all because we don’t have enough knowledge of the characters to care. Something that doesn’t help with this is the constant ubsubstainted crying. It’s almost laughable how easily a character will fall to their knees like the worlds over so in term the moments that are meant to hit home, don’t. Chiyuki the female protagonist is pretty decently written, she’s incredibly hard working even when she fails constantly but she isn’t pinned as perfect, at one stage she’s quite jealous of another model. This is a good thing, a flaw! However Ikuto has no flaws to the point it’s genuinely irritating to go along with. The character writing certainly isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but like many things in this show it could use a bit more oomph. The most redeeming part of the series for me was seeing the inner workings of the industry, even if not overly deep commentary on it, it was interesting enough. You get a little look of life on both the modelling and designing side and that if anything is what will keep you watching. The last few episodes are disappointing, especially considering it was meant to be a pay off of sorts, but the rest surely sufficed. Despite being a mediocre show, there really isn’t much out there that covers the same environment, at least to my knowledge. So for that reason I’d still recommend Runway de Waratte if you have any interest at all in the world of fashion, just don’t expect too much.

Though I give this show a fair rating, it is not without its gaping flaws that greatly diminished my enjoyment. First off the show opened up with main characters that were not relatable from the get go (i.e. Chiyuki). Secondly the supporting cast arguably got more screen time and plot relevance than that wench Chiyuki. However, the show's redeeming quality in my opinion is the backstory and character development of Ikuto. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between his sisters and him in times of adversity and the normal "settle-for-less" choices he initially made in his mind when the odds were too greatly stacked against him. ... Despite all hurdles, Ikuto mustered enough courage to somehow persevere and that was honestly the only relatable and meaningful part of the show. Now onto the criticism. Enter plot contrivance and occasional twat Hasegawa Kokoro: you can't begin to even wrap your head around why she got more fucking screen time than Chiyuki until you get to the final few episodes where the lazy writing becomes apparent. The plot is what I'd call a trainwreck and Kokoro is the straw that broke the camel's back; the plot is basically the story of a top model and fashion designer (a.k.a Chiyuki and Ikuto), so why did Kokoro have to torch the main impetus of the plot by doing the jack-of-all-trades tapdance ffs (i.e. being a model AND fashion designer ATST)! The synergy between the Ikuto and Chiyuki was quickly snuffed out by her convenient insertion and screwed the main plot point, which was how Chiyuki would one day wear brand clothing made exclusively by Ikuto. Ikuto could've at least partnered up with Chiyuki to make it to the big leagues in Paris, at which point they could've parted ways to focus on their personal career growth. Well that is just water under the bridge. Ayano Toh would've been a much better antagonist if he was actually utilized properly instead of gettin' the shaft. Case in point Kokoro was an eyesore who could've been easily replaced or scrapped from the plot altogether. The plot being a joke aside, I loved the opening for the show and the animation was pretty good to portray the fashion world. I loved the VAs for Yanagida-san and Chiyuki's father particularly (i.e. Yami-san from Black Clover and Kakashi-san from Naruto, respectively). Overall, I would recommend this show to people who want some entertainment and a refreshing take on the fashion world but would not look forward to any great storytelling as it offers none.

tl;dr: An anime about pursuing dreams that’s somewhat messy but still hits some really strong emotional highs.

This anime is themed around fashion and modelling, but that’s really just the backdrop. Before I started this anime I knew essentially nothing about fashion and modelling, and to be honest after watching it I would still say that I know nothing about fashion and modelling. However, despite that, it was still really easy to appreciate the character stories of people trying to pursue their dreams as they’re pretty well written and have a unique feel to them.

Though it may not seem like it at first, the protagonist of ... this tale is Tsumura Ikuto, a high school student that has always loved making clothes and dreams of being a fashion designed. However, because he’s the eldest son in a family with a deceased father, a mother that’s constantly in and out of the hospital, and three younger sisters, he looks towards pursuing a career that’s much more immediate and realistically achievable. What pushes him into actually pursuing his dream is a classmate of his named Fujito Chiyuki. She’s someone that had always dreamed of being a supermodel and walking Paris Fashion Week, and when she was a child she seemed like a prodigy for whom it was inevitable. However, she suddenly stopped growing at 158 cm, which is far below the 175 cm that is essentially a requirement to being a super model. Despite that she remains determined to achieve her dream regardless of how impossible it may seem.

The two of them are constantly faced with rejections and difficult situations as a result of their dream, with a constant pressure to just give it up and pursue something else. They face a number of complications that put them through the ringer and make it feel like the world itself is conspiring against them with crazy coincidences piling up and bringing them down. Though at the same time, there are major lucky breaks that push them forward as well. Such writing could easily fall into the trap of feeling pretty forced or cliché, but here it manages to navigate that pretty well, delivering really strong emotional beats without getting trite.

There are other areas where the writing excels. For example, how it show cases the bonds between Ikuto and his family is incredibly well done with his sister Honoka especially coming across really well. But there are also areas where the writing failed completely. For example, everything involving Kizaki. Though I found more of an issue the areas where it didn’t quite fail but didn’t quite reach it’s full potential. The biggest example of that would be centered around Kokoro. She’s another character who’s doing her best at pursuing her dreams despite there being a lot standing in her way. And honestly, I found her to be an amazing character with a really well told story.

The problem is that she overshadows Chiyuki, which makes Chiyuki’s side of the story feel off. The way things are framed Chiyuki should be the deuteragonist of the story, but the amount of focus she gets feels equivalent to the amount that various other side characters get, or less when compared to Kokoro. The way the anime is structured in switching between the two feels strange because it feels like its emphasizing that she’s important, but doing it in a really rushed manner, which kind of makes it feel like it’s intentionally snubbing her. I’m not particularly a fan of her, but it still felt kind of strange.

Furthermore, she isn’t the only instant of this strange writing. There’s a lot of minor events here and there that one would normally expect to be shown to at least some degree that are skipped completely. For example, the second round of a competition is skipped over entirely and it just cuts directly to the protagonist listening to the rules for the following round. It’s easy enough to figure out everything that matters from context, but it still feels jarring. Another example where things are even more muddled is the end to the anime, where it feels like it jumps around a lot to try to give the anime that feels more like a proper ending. But in doing so it takes a lot of oomph out of the ending to the arc itself and leaves a much weaker final impression overall.

The art and animation are pretty solid. As mentioned, I don’t know anything about fashion, but there were a lot of interesting and nice looking clothes. The regular character designs I think also worked well in making characters stand out and fitting with their role in the story. The soundtrack was fine. There’s a lot of what would be called runway music I guess, but I’m not much of a fan of that it seems so it didn’t do much for me. The OP and ED are pretty solid in terms of audio and visuals.

The animation is fairly good. Runway walks are fluid and look very nice. Backgrounds are fine, but very good character detail, but it does lack from time to time. Characters have some depth, but I don't really find the characters are really all that likeable. Story is kind of interesting in that it tells the story of two characters whose stories at times intertwine. However, despite that being what is presented to the viewer at first, the show eventually just ends up almost entirely focusing on one of the two characters. The story also suffers from conflicting details occasionally, and also features characters that do ... nonsenesical things seemingly just to create a plot point. The pacing is alright, but there are several issues. One problem is episode 8 has a ton of rising action that climaxes and resolves all in the same episode, it feels very rushed. Otherwise the pacing is decent, in that it keeps your attention fairly well, but it also tends to shoe horn in details about the plot or characters and then use it as if it 30 seconds later, which makes the moment feel forced. Voice acting is farily average. It's unimpressive, as is the casting, but at the very least the voice acting isn't terribly grating. The soundtrack, while I'm not a huge fan, fits the runway music "genre" really well. The op and ed are fairly good as well. While overall a enjoyable anime with decent animation, but it is lacking in several areas. Things feel forced on a fairly regular basis, the story is not exactly what it sells itself to be, and the pacing is a little all over the place.The animation is fairly good. Runway walks are fluid and look very nice. Backgrounds are fine, but very good character detail, but it does lack from time to time. Characters have some depth, but I don't really find the characters are really all that likeable. Story is kind of interesting in that it tells the story of two characters whose stories at times intertwine. However, despite that being what is presented to the viewer at first, the show eventually just ends up almost entirely focusing on one of the two characters. The story also suffers from conflicting details occasionally, and also features characters that do nonsenesical things seemingly just to create a plot point. The pacing is alright, but there are several issues. One problem is episode 8 has a ton of rising action that climaxes and resolves all in the same episode, it feels very rushed. Otherwise the pacing is decent, in that it keeps your attention fairly well, but it also tends to shoe horn in details about the plot or characters and then use it as if it 30 seconds later, which makes the moment feel forced. Voice acting is farily average. It's unimpressive, as is the casting, but at the very least the voice acting isn't terribly grating. The soundtrack, while I'm not a huge fan, fits the runway music "genre" really well. The op and ed are fairly good as well. While overall a enjoyable anime with decent animation, but it is lacking in several areas. Things feel forced on a fairly regular basis, the story is not exactly what it sells itself to be, and the pacing is a little all over the place. 6.5/10