Run With the Wind Episode Three Review: A Single Flower

Once again this review is peppered with comments from my young artist Hemlock-chan.

Warning: this review contains spoilers up to the end of this episode.

Disclaimer: All images have been screen captured from Crunchyroll and belong to their respective owners. I am using them to promote this show and will delete them if/when I am asked to do so.

Prologue:

We see Jouji’s sleeping face being gently tapped awake by the back of Haiji’s hand, who smiles broadly, and comments that everyone’s here. Here, being the yard in front of the apartment building. We see Yuki, who has his arms crossed tightly in front of him and eyebrows drawn tight with a pissed off look on his face. King looks displeased as well. Nico’s hands rest in his jacket pockets and looks like he’s suppressing a yawn. Jouji is still fighting to stay awake while Jouta is sleeping while standing, using Musa’s shoulder as a pillow. Shindo looks concerned at his friend while Musa just stands awkwardly. They are all wearing track suits and/or sweats except for prince who’s in jeans and a t-shirt. And the reason why they’re all so sleepy is it’s still dark out.

Hemlock: Haiji woke them up at the ass-crack of dawn to practice. Otaku guy (Prince) looks dead as hell, he probably stayed up all night reading manga and now he’s gonna suffer the rest of the day. Normally he’d be fine cause he’d wake up at a less unreasonable time but Haiji had other plans.

Lol. Takes one to know one, I guess ^_^;

Haiji (who gained the nickname Ogre in the previous episode) is unconcerned at the questionable degree of wakefulness and/or eagerness of his “team”. He tells them they’re running to the Tamagawa river as he wants to test their levels, the better to plan their practices in the future.

King stubbornly says there won’t be future practices. Meanwhile, Kakeru is doing stretches. He’s the only one who doesn’t seem out of place. Yuki points out that even after adamantly refusing to run he’s nonetheless joining their practice. The newbie replies it’s just for today.

Haiji tries to encourage everyone by saying that nothing beats breakfast after a run. He’s about to lead them out when Prince calls him back. He clarifies that the river Haij mentioned is five kilometers away.

Haiji is impressed with prince’s familiarity with the local geography, but essentially ignores him.

Prince doesn’t give up, and demands to know why they’re doing a 10-kilometer round trip first thing in the morning.

Haiji says “If you’re able to shout this much, you’ll be fine”. 

Hemlock: Haiji said he was shouting but he’s actually just wheezing.

• It’s true. Prince’s normal voice is actually quite low. If just raising it is this difficult for him, can you imagine how hard running is would be?

Impatient, Kakeru takes off. The twins are impressed with his speed. Haiji uses this as impetus for the rest but adds that they should maintain their own pace.

Hemlock: Haiji is the kind of person who is nice but also sucks. You hate him cause he’s annoying and insistent as hell. He’s really sabotaging everyone’s life and they didn’t know they signed up for this. It’s like:

Everyone: “When did we sign up for this sh*t?”

Haiji: “It was on the door.”

Prince is the only one left behind. He questions everyone dignity and sanity (as he should) for agreeing to this, and then gets blackmailed with folded cardboard boxes and the most menacing “innocent smile” ever as Haiji tells Prince “Go!”

• Basically, “Go run, or go pack”.

The opening credits start.

Act one

We see the twins lying on the grass near the river bed. Jouji (red track suit) says “Yay! I won.” When his older brother Jouta (blue suit) tells him it was a tie, he argues that he won by a hair.

Shindo and Musa arrive next, with the former telling the latter that he’s impressed by his stamina. The black man replies “This is the first time I wanted to go back to my home country.”

Meanwhile, on the road, Nico staggers and coughs. He stops to rest and sees Yuki laying on a grassy incline, close the river, I think. King is further away and is sitting on the ground near a garbage bin in the street.

• The characters here are shown in the order of their speed, I think, except for Yuki whom has arrived before Nico, as evident when Nico sees him after he reaches their destination. So Jouji is fastest, then Jouta, Shindo, Musa, Yuki, Nico, then King.

Finally, we see Prince who, rather than running, is more accurately swaying side by side on the road, gasping for breath every step of the way. He is accompanied by Haiji who is running closely behind him and offering words of encouragement. He is going along Prince’s pace, though, so as slow as the bookworm is, this means Haiji is practically jogging in place.

Hemlock: It’s funny how the most beautiful character is also the ugliest runner.

• True. He literally looks and sounds like a zombie, albeit a pretty one.

Haiji cheerfully explains to Prince the importance of physically experiencing the distance of five kilometers, when a butterfly flutters in front of them. It distracts them, with Prince reaching his hand out for it, but the tiny insect is faster than he is and flies away. Haiji watches this for a bit, before continuing his pep talk: “Surely, you’ll be able to run it.”  

• He doesn’t sound very convincing.

The scene changes to show that the two have finally reached the others. Only Kakeru is missing. The others are all exhausted but Prince is completely passed out, face down, in the grass. Haiji tells them cheerfully “Okay, let’s go back.”

One of Prince’s arms rises from dead. He says “I’m going back as a butterfly.”

• This was so funny.

Kakeru then passes by, running along the road above the riverside.

“Is he ever going to stop running?” the twins ask. Haiji smiles, pleased.

The runner joins them, and explains “Your body gets cold if you just wait,” meaning, he’s been there for quite a while, waiting for the rest of them to show up.

Haiji concurs. KK then turns to confront him.

“Do you understand now just how just how stupid your idea is?” He points out that the guys just barely managed to run five kilometers, while each section of the Hakone Ekiden race is over 20 kilometers. “That’s more than quadruple.” He also adds that they’d be racing against veterans who have spent years training. At Haiji’s unconcerned smile, he adds “We could train for ten years and still be behind,” before he runs back.

• It seems that Kakeru ran “just for today” to see how well the others would fare; to see if Haiji’s idea was at all feasible.  Looks like he’s decided its not.

Nico watches him go. King wonders just how insane Kakeru’s body is. Haiji chuckles, saying “He’s not wrong,” then tells the others to not worry, they’ll be ready in ten months, since that’s when the race will take place.

• I have no idea where Haiji’s confidence comes from, especially when faced with Kakeru’s hard facts, but it’s nonetheless admirable.  

The others look at him in stunned silence, and we move onto the episode’s title: A Single Flower

Act one

Back home, at breakfast, Haiji explains that the colleges that usually participate in the Ekiden have runners that can clear 5000 kilometers in 14 minutes and 30 seconds. When the twins complain that they can’t imagine that, Yuki does the math and tells them it’s less than three minutes per kilometer. King cries out that that’s the same time it takes to prepare cup noodles. Prince complains that King’s comparison makes it harder to imagine the speed.

Musa mentions that it’s inhumanely fast, to which Jouji comments “I bet there are lots of guys like that where you’re from, Musa.”

Musa calls him out on his prejudice, while Shindo comments that his high school’s long-distance race was just 3 kilometers. Nico is resigned, and says “Well, that’s how it is,” as if accepting the impossibility of the feat.

But Haiji is optimistic. He says while it’s not an easy speed to achieve, it’s not impossible if they do the training, and that they need to know what their goals are to be able to work towards them.

When Nico attempts to light up a cigarette Haiji takes it out of his mouth.

• Haiji taking such liberties here shows that he is completely unconcerned with the fact that Nico is his upperclassman. Rather than let Nico off with his resignation, he’s indirectly telling him that he’ll need to stop smoking. The older third year looks a bit troubled, maybe even a bit peevish, but doesn’t rebuke Haiji in any way.  

Haiji also adds that they’ll limit their goal to just the Ekiden, as that will make things easier.

• I was a bit confused here. Easier as opposed to what?

Kakeru, standing at the kitchen doorway, demands to know what the basis of Haiji’s claims is.

• My Japanese is baby level, but I’m pretty sure the word he used here is “lie”.

Instead of answering, Haiji asks if Kakeru isn’t eating breakfast.  

KK retorts that he doesn’t want to owe any favors, and leaves.

• For once, Haiji looks perturbed. I feel for him. It sucks to cook and not have everyone enjoy your food. On another note, I think he’s worried that KK refusing to eat shows that he’s becoming more, not less, obstinate. Maybe he’s also concerned for Kakeru’s health, since he knows the younger lad doesn’t have money to buy sustenance.

The next morning we see a frowning Haiji. The reason being that it is time for practice but Prince, King, and Yuki, haven’t showed up. Shindo says “They ran away”. When Haiji goes to wake them up, Nico informs him that Yuki went clubbing the night before and never came back.

• I think this was the first time we saw Haji show his displeasure so overtly. He must have thought that the others had gotten used to and accepted the idea of running by now. Come to think of it, Yuki and Nico were the only two that Haiji hadn’t tried talking (i.e. threatened, pressured, wheedled) into running. Which begs the reason, why? I think Haiji knew on some level that, since he ran in the past, Nico wouldn’t be hard to convince. Yuki, on the other hand, had been adamant from the beginning that he wouldn’t run. Did Haiji decide to then leave him alone hoping he would eventually come around to the idea? He probably thought it worked too, since Yuki did run with the others the first day. That might explain his disappointment here.  

Even Kakeru, as vocal he is about the absurdity of Haiji’s goal, is there. But, as usual, he is unconcerned with the others. As soon as he finishes his stretches, he runs off alone.   

As expected, he reaches the riverbed first when he hears the squeal of a bike stopping. Looking up, he sees it came from a young woman in a sailor uniform. Ignoring her, he starts stretching, when she suddenly cries out. He looks back to see that she is running down the incline to the river, and seems to have lost control of her speed. Catching himself staring, KK quickly turns away.

• I love Kakeru for this. The action shows an innate respect for women in general and makes him so likable.

Kakeru embarrassed

Once the young lady has safely reached the bottom, she turns towards Kakeru to ask if he’s a Kansei university student. He murmurs a yes. She goes on to ask if he’s a member of the track team. This time he looks down without replying. Finally, the girl asks him if he’s acquainted with Kiyose Haij. Here, the surprised Kakeru raises his head.

• You can almost see the question in his eyes. Who is this girl and how does she know Haiji?

After the episode break, we see that the rest of the team, except for Prince and their captor (er, leader) has arrived. Sitting together on the grass, they look at the girl with interest, and, in King’s case, obvious admiration.

Kakeru, on the other hand, has his back turned towards everyone as he coolly continues doing his stretches.

Kakeru playing it cool

When Haiji and Prince show up at the road, the girl calls out to him. He looks happy to see her and asks her about school.

She replies that she’ll go “After this. I came first thing, but no one was here.”

Haiji explains “We’re still slow.” The girl responds that when she arrived only Kakeru had been there, and that she guessed he was on the team as soon as she saw him. Kakeru, avoiding Haiji’s gaze, admits that he “couldn’t ignore her”.

Haiji smiles at this statement and I think, for the first time since the show began, his grin actually reaches his eyes.

Haiji thinking: “Aww, Kurahara likes her.”

• I can only describe this smile as being both fond and knowing. It’s like Haiji’s glad even the aloof Kakeru isn’t resistant to a sweet girl’s charms.

• While she and Haiji talk (we can’t hear what they’re saying) Musa suddenly recalls where he’d seen her. He tells the others that she’s the vegetable store owner’s daughter, in the shopping district.

• It makes sense that Musa, with his part time job at the butcher’s, would recognize her.

King instantly asks if they’re dating, to which Musa says is unlikely. The twins agree, seeing as she’s just a high-school student.

Before she leaves, the girl offers the young men words of encouragement, telling them to practice hard. 

They answer with a resounding “We will!”

Hemlock: A woman is the best motivation for men.

Image commissioned by Reviewbrain. Not to be shared without permission.

It’s a bit cliché, but it does seem to be the case for these men, at least.

Except for Prince. He’s once more passed out, face down, in the grass. We hear the caw of a raven in the background.

Poor Prince

The scene switches to a club where Yuki is using the fact that he’s a lawyer to chat up a couple of women. The adult setting is complete with drinks on the table and a cigarette case.

• The scanty clothing and heavily made-up faces of the girls here are a stark contrast to Haiji’s acquaintance whom we met in the previous scene. Her innocent demeanor and natural beauty are even more stunning in comparison with the women here. I think this difference is intentional.

• The fact that Yuki, whom we know hates cigarettes, is chatting up a smoker hints that he’s not picky when it comes to female companionship. Which could mean he’s only interested in the “no strings attached” type, as hinted by him not have returned home the night before. To be honest, I wouldn’t have guessed it. He seemed like a more seriuos person to me, so I could be wrong.

Just as he’s about to exchange numbers with them Haiji, with a big innocent grin, chimes in that he’d like Yuki’s number too.    

The next scene shows the two housemates walking home together. A furious Yuki asks his fellow fourth year if he’s wrong in the head. But Haiji can’t hear him; his ears are still ringing from the noise in the club. “It’s amazing, how can you stay there that long?”

• Or Haiji might just be conveniently pretending that he can’t.  

Yuki yells at Haiji that he’s wasting his time, he won’t run. He worked hard to pass the bar and plans on enjoying his final free year. He also says that since he doesn’t need to make connections with the housemates, nor is he interested in making memories with them, then he has no reason to run.

• Yuki’s reasons give insight to his character. Basically, he is a practical person, and only does something if he finds it to be in his interest.

Haiji, with his usually indifferent tone, tells Yuki that he has a reason: he needs ten people to run at Hakone.

At this Yuki angrily and rightfully points out that he doesn’t exist for Haiji’s purposes. The latter acknowledges this truth, but before Yuki can celebrate his win, Haiji adds “Then I’ll come with you. It’s only fair.” Since he’s asking Yuki to run with him, Haiji will then likewise go clubbing with Yuki. “It’s very important for teammates to understand and respect each other.”

Yuki deflates completely at this declaration.

• It’s no wonder. It’s not like Haiji will be playing the role of wing-man. Rather he’s probably just going to sabotage Yuki’s efforts at hooking up.  
• Trivia: The name of the club is Ai Ai, which basically means Love, love.

• The position of the two, on an incline with Haiji being at the top is symbolic.

• During this conversation the two pass by what looks like a movie theater. The posters look familiar but I can’t quite place them. I think they were chosen carefully, and if anyone can tell me what they alludes to I think that might deepen our understanding of the scene even further.

Checkmate

The third day, Yuki shows up to practice but declares angrily that he’s definitely finding a way out of this.

He is then greeted by the sight of the high school girl he hadn’t yet met. This time she’s in a track suit and on a bike. Haiji introduces her as Katsuta Hanako, and says that she’ll be helping them out.

• “Hana” means flower (though I can’t be 100% it’s what Hanako’sname means sure because I do not know what character is being used to write her name) while ‘ko is a common suffix used in girl’s names. If it weren’t clear enough before, we now know exactly what the episode’s title is referring to.

Hemlock: So Haiji’s going to continue his sadistic torment of his teammates.  

I don’t think they’ll mind too much now. The others are, for once, are all awake and prepared. They are stretching alongside Kakeru and let out an energetic “Hey!” at her greeting. Only Prince, surrounded by butterflies, is unmoved by her presence. Rather, if his t-shirt is anything to go by (it has “why?” written on it) he’s confused at the others’ change of heart.

The motivated team

Hemlock: Otaku prince standing, dead inside with no energy, while everyone else is enthusiastic is an accurate representation of me in social events. I’m adding him to my kin list. He’s gonna be near the top. 

Haiji delighted, states “It’s a grand sight when everyone’s here,” while Yuki, with a twitching eyebrow, looks disgusted at how easy the rest were to manipulate.

Kakeru, as usual, takes off before the others but this time Haiji stops him, telling him that he needs him to time the speed of the others. KK is oppositional, “Why me?” but at Hanako’s bemused gaze, he relents.

Everyone starts running. As they do, we get a monologue of the instructions Haiji had given them beforehand: they shouldn’t push themselves too hard just because they’re being timed, but he doesn’t want them to hold back either. He informs them that Hana-chan will watch over them to make sure they don’t. This bit of information seems to motivate King especially, whom we see putting forth quite a burst of effort. Meanwhile, Hanako can’t keep up with Kakeru’s speed, but manages to follow along the twins. The only person whose running doesn’t seem to be improving is Prince’s. He’s swaying along the road as usual, like a good-looking zombie, under Haiji’s watchful gaze.

At the finish line, the river, Kakeru, who as always arrived first, has taken everyone else’s times and is reading them to Hanako who jots them down in a notepad.  

Yuki takes this time to ask the others if Hanako is Haiji’s girlfriend. Shindo tells him “The details aren’t clear,” to which the would-be lawyer replies: “Being forced to run is already a human rights violation, and now he’s showing off his girlfriend?  Just how much does he intend to toy with us?”

Musa, comments that her presence, however, made one thing clear: King has hidden potential.

Yuki comments that while true, that this is sad. Shindo agrees, “No matter how you look at it.”

• They are referring to the fact that King did so much better after Hana showed up, and the fact that even as they speak, he is hanging around her as she and Kakeru register everyone’s times. It’s painful to watch. King just looks so desperate for attention here. It would be disturbing if it weren’t so awkward and painful to watch.

After Hanako leaves, Haiji tells the boys “Well, I wasn’t lying, was I? Work hard and women will approach you. It only took three days.” Both the twins and King are captivated by his words. The twins actually walk up to him, each clasping one of his hands in both of theirs.

They apologize for having ever doubted him. “We thought for sure you were tricking to us.”

Haiji smiles.

• It is a rueful smile, with a bit of endearment in it. Anyone (except the dim duo) should be able to identify it as him pitying how easy they are, even if he is grateful for that fact.

They continue, “But it was true! It’s only Yaokatsu’s Hana-chan now, but if we work hard!”

Haiji plays along, taking full advantage of the mood, and looks off into the distance “Look! On the other side of the road are more women than you can count!”

The two, with shining eyes, look in the same direction, and imagine an ocean of women.

“I’m so glad we attended college.”

• Could it be these two were actually in an all-boys school and that’s why they’re so girl-crazy?

Haiji puts his arms around them both in a firm hug, patting their backs, as they cry in happiness. He then tells them “Let’s aim for the top!” The two question what would happen if they actually won. Haiji responds, with a lascivious smile “You’ll have your hands full.”

The twins scream in ecstasy while Yuki and Musa lament how easily they blonde boys were taken in. Haiji then shouts “The mountains of Hakone are the steepest in the world!” to which Jouta states, excitedly, “I don’t know what that means!” then Jouji adds “But it’s so intense!”

• These two *shakes head while smiling* you can’t help but love them.

Haiji continues pumping them up: “The mountains of Hakone..!

“…are the steepest in the world!” they answer. 

They do this continuously. Shindo, watching them, smiles suddenly and tells Musa that he thinks he’ll continue training “for a while longer.” Musa is surprised at his friend’s decision. Yuki is still pissed off at how easily duped they were, while Nico asks Kakeru what he plans on doing. “I thought you were going to make him give up. Don’t tell me you’re on board now?”

• Now I know why Haiji never bothered convincing Nico. He’s already on board and is playing the part of a double agent. An accurate translation of his above statement to Kakeru would be: “Are you finally on board now?” Though I don’t know if KK realizes it or not.

He answers: “Yeah, right,” and points out that Prince can’t even finish running the 5 kilometer distance properly. “No one would believe him.”

Nico agrees, but nonetheless asks Kakeru, “So why is he so confident?” Kakeru has no reply.

• Maybe he’s recalling the question he posed the day before to Haiji, when he asked him what his basis was, for the claim that with training the boys can achieve his goal. It’s also a question viewers will repeatedly be asking.  
  

“The mountains of Hakone are the steepest in the world!”

As Haiji tells the others that it’s time to head back for breakfast, a red-haired runner in a blue track suit stops when he sees the group. His face is off screen, so we cannot see it, but he gasps in recognition when he sees Kakeru.

It is later in the day as we can tell from the setting sun. Haiji is at the Yaokatsu vegetable shop purchasing items from Hanako who asks him: “Did I do good this morning?”

• I wonder if Haiji is actually paying her to help out, like a part time job.

Haiji replies that it was plenty, since athletes perform better in front of an audience. Hana, innocent creature as she is, doesn’t seem to understand exactly how she’s influencing the men, but comments “It was really fun, though.” Before telling Haiij “I hope your dream comes true.”

• I don’t think he is. She seems to genuinely want to help out, so she’s probably helping out as a favor to him.

Katsuta, Hanako’s father, then chimes in and says that Haiji’s dream will come true: “He’s been waiting four years.”

• Here we realize that not only does the regular at the bath house know of Haiji’s ambition, so do some of the vendors (at least the vegetable shop) at the shopping district.

Katsuta then comments that Haiji must have gotten some good members. His daughter had told him that she couldn’t keep up with her bike. Hanako confirms this, mentioning how fast Kurahara was, and asks Haiji if he’s famous. Haiji doesn’t commit to an answer and tells her “I’m not sure.” Her dad then tells him that they’re excited for him and will help in any way they can. Haji thanks him with a huge smile.

• This is continuity that Haiji is actually well known and well-liked. It explains his confidence when he tells KK in the first episode “let’s go apologize” to the convenience store clerk, knowing that, if he’s with Kakeru, they’ll forgive him.

The rest of the team are all at the Tsuru-no-yo bathhouse. There, Shindo tells the others of a discovery he made: to run in the Ekiden they have to first succeed in the qualifiers for it. Nico comments that most people only know about the race itself. Shindo explains that only 20 teams run in the Ekiden, ten of which are seeded (were the top ten the previous year, and therefore earned the right to run). The other ten spots are earned through a qualifying race. The twins are excited to participate while realistic Prince says “we still don’t even know if we’ll be racing.”  

The discussion continues on the way home. Even the knowledge that about 50 schools run the qualifying race doesn’t dampen the twin’s spirits. “Haiji said we’re just getting started,”  

It is then that Kakeru, who had been listening silently the whole time, interjects.

“It’s not that easy. How hard do you think they practice to place in the top fifth? And not everyone can participate in the qualifiers. Each athlete needs an official record of finishing 5000 meters in less than 16:30 minutes, or 10000 in 30:00.”

• As he says this, we see Kakeru, clenching his hands into fists. Three makes a pattern so it’s safe to see this is a habit of his. The first time was when Haiji first brought up Hakone, and the second was when Haiji mentioned his high school.

Prince comments that these numbers are astronomical. KK says that these are the required numbers.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a couple of fast guys. Everyone needs to be running at a high level. An amateur who can’t even finish 10000 kilometers shouldn’t be aiming for that. Don’t you understand how reckless he’s being?”

• Meaning, Haiji.

Jouji murmurs a “Kinda”.

• King and Nico have interesting expressions on their faces. Like, although they recognize the truth of Kakeru’s words, they don’t like that it’s being said. Maybe because they finally started looking at the race as an actual goal?

Kakeru then says that since they understand, they should stop wasting their efforts. Here Jouta chimes in. “Actually, what’s your deal, Kakeru?”

The question makes him pause, mid-rant, in confusion.

Jouji continues his older brother’s line of questioning. “Yeah. What are you afraid of? You’re fast.”

At this statement KK recoils in shock. 

Jouta presses on. “Maybe you’re worried about us, but we’re the ones doing the work, so who cares?”

Jouji ends it with “run with us.”

“What are you afraid of?”

• I absolutely loved this dialogue. I felt like the twins were voicing my own questions. Being the same age as Kakeru, they are conversing as equals. And having straightforward personalities, they are cutting straight to the chase, not concerning themselves with politeness or subtlety. The others watch with interest. Especially Nico, whose eyes move from the twins to Kakeru to gauge his reaction. He seems to have some trouble formulating a response. At length, he finally says “I don’t work well with others.”

Hemlock: The stutter in Kurahara’s voice when he said he doesn’t work well with others was very well done and shows the existence of an inner trauma

• It also helps explain what Kakeru said to Haiji in the previous episode, “If I want to run, I’ll run alone.”

The next day, everyone has shown up for practice, but Kakeru isn’t stretching in his usual spot, on the floor at the far left of the group.

When Haiji asks about him, he is told that he left already. Musa says “we only practiced together for one day.” While the twins wonder if Kakeru’s still angry. Haiji, who wasn’t present for their conversation the previous night, seems bemused.

The missing Kakeru has already finished his run. At the river bed, he is sweating profusely and breathing heavily. It seems to have taken more out of him than usual. We see him have a flashback to Jouji telling him to run with them.

• This hints that his exhaustion is more mental that it is physical. Or maybe he put in more of a physical effort to deal with his inner turmoil.

Suddenly, someone calls out to him, “I knew it.” KK’s fixes his eyes on the guy in a blue track suit whom we saw watching him the day before. We see him through Kakeru’s perspective. The camera moves until it reaches the red-headed runner’s face. Kakeru’s eyes then widen in shock and/or fear.

“It’s been a while, Kurakara,” the red-head tells him, with a lazily sinister expression.

• We have now met the antagonist. I personally find the pacing to be fantastic, but others more impatient than I might have felt it was too slow.

Best Lines:

King: One kilometer in the time it takes to prepare cup noodles?

Prince: Where is your dignity? Where has your human dignity gone? We’re allowing ourselves to be forced to run without objection. Can we really call ourselves people?

• Wow. In 2021 this statement hits close. Just exchange (run) with (whatever crap your respective governments are dishing out).

Nice Touches:

• When Hana-chan was running down the slope, she was holding her skirt down.
  

• I liked how the “Day 2” and “Day 3”, respectively, were superimposed on the screen. Not only does this clarify the timeline of their practices but also puts the members’s reactions into a chronological perspective.
  

Grade: 8/10. It’s a good episode. Prince and the twins were hilarious. As was Yuki’s ire. There’s nothing wrong with it. But I just didn’t feel it warranted a higher grade. Maybe because the animation wasn’t as perfect as in the first episode. Maybe because there wasn’t much going on. Not sure. Thoughts?

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