Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 6, 2020

The concept of "running the race" holds deep metaphor beyond its literal meaning, often referencing an arduous, drawn-out task and the importance of a steady, consistent approach, with victory less about finishing first and more about finishing with distinction, pride, and purpose. "Life is a marathon, not a sprint," the saying goes, and such is Run with the Wind, a 23-episode Anime released in 2018 and based on the novel written by Shion Miura, first published in 2006. The series follows the growth of a collection of ten runners who bond off the track and gradually become a force on it as they train, at first reluctantly, to race in a prestigious collegiate relay. The show is sneakily engaging, offers several compelling character beats, and like its title delivers a breezy, accessible story that finds a good balance between lightly engaging narrative fodder and more compelling and deeply structured character and world drama.

At Kansei University, Haiji Kiyose dreams of running in the prestigious Hakone Ekiden relay race, but his dreams have been long dashed since his career was derailed by injury. For the past several years he's been clandestinely assembling a team capable of running the race, surreptitiously recruiting a random roster of ragtag runners who haven no idea that they're being manipulated into athletic pursuits. Haiji's work is nearly complete, and he finds his final runner and potential team linchpin in Kakeru Kurahara, a petty criminal whom Haiji discovers watching as he fled from a store after brazenly stealing a drink. Haiji talks him into joining the dorm and, with the team "assembled," drops the news that he's been manipulating their lives for some time. His announcement is met with reluctance, skepticism, and even dismissal -- most have reason not to run, and Kakeru doesn't appear to be game at all -- but after some coaxing and time to process, the team takes to the task and begins to train for the race, building chemistry on and off the race track as they work to will their way to an unlikely victory.

Run with the Wind's roster is comprised of a fun selection of characters, each unique in what they bring to life and the team, but similar in their gradual convergence into shared goals. They have been assembled to run the race, and they train to do so, individually and collectively, but more than the focus on the race the show is rightly concerned with building their relationships, watching them mature as individuals and as a group of friends -- a family, eventually -- off the track. Of course, bonds and chemistry off the track are likely to foster success on it, and to be sure the team doesn't just fall flat on its face. But that larger focus off the track is where this series, as well as the best sports films and sports-centric Anime series, find the most success and the opportunity for genre staying power. Indeed, the series thrives on the camaraderie between the runners. Their life away from the track is of more value than their pursuits on it, and that interconnectedness between real life and relay race yields a compelling story populated by agreeable characters.

Run with the Wind converges well as its story takes shape. It's a little slow out of the gate, and difficult to keep everyone straight: Kakeru's arrival is essentially a catalyst for introducing all of the other key characters in quick succession. They're all physically diverse enough to become familiar with them externally, but it understandably takes a bit of time for the internal depth to breach the surface as the team's cohesion slowly takes shape and the series finds opportunity to build them up beyond a name and a face. But as the series progresses and the ensemble roster takes shape, there's a tangible uptick in narrative grip and series flow. Compelling drama is born, fostered, and matured both on the track and away from it, both often playing hand-in-hand but with enough individual focus and character build to satisfy the demands of an ensemble cast with this much opportunity to explore roles in life and in the race alike.

The voice work, in Japanese and English both, is terrific. With an ensemble cast, with each character critical not just to the race but to the narrative drive, the collective voice chemistry is vital beyond the individual actor's feel for the character being portrayed. The voices compliment the characters remarkably well, exploring the range of emotions in all areas in which the series concerns itself, in the training and racing segments of course but also in the everyday living and the sometimes subtle, sometimes aggressive growth and character beats where the show truly finds its best moments and its voice, so to speak. The animation is good, too, nothing out of the realm of typical but it's polished and accomplishes much with character design and their integration into and interactions with the world around them.

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection's 1080p Blu-ray transfer is very good. The animation is sharp and its colors are bountiful and brilliant. The source animation looks excellent in all facets, whether static backgrounds or moving characters and other assorted components. Line definition is wonderful and clarity is superb. Viewers will note the various environmental components yield exemplary definition and will find characters to be well realized at 1080p, revealing facial details, hair, sweat, clothes, and other critical components with as much textural finesse as the source animation seemingly allows. Colors are invigorating, compliments of a diverse palette that boasts bold output as seen in environments, clothes, and all of the support elements around the dormitory and elsewhere. Tones are richly nuanced, with vibrant splash as necessary and subtle support as the situation warrants. The flesh tone demands are met well and black levels are impressively deep. Problems are few. Banding is unsurprisingly the most prominent bugaboo but it's generally seen in scant quantities, rendering even the image's toughest challenge mostly a moot point. A few other little odds and ends issues, like aliasing, are infrequent companions as well. This is another rich, well realized 1080p Anime presentation from Sentai.

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like many Sentai Filmworks releases, Run with the Wind: Complete Collection includes both native Japanese and dubbed English audio options, both in the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless configuration. Beyond the language differences there are not too many dissimilarities between the two tracks. As with so many Sentai releases, the track expands as far as possible and often makes use of every inch of front end real estate to produce the highest quality listen possible without any back or center channel (or subwoofer) support. Music is well spaced and of a high clarity; the opening title sequence is well realized for its Rock riffs and vocals alike, the latter of which image perfectly to the center, as does the dialogue proper in both languages. Making on-the-fly comparisons (which must be made through the pop-up menu; the remote's audio button won't allow for the switch to be made) reveals the Japanese track to be a little more aggressive and fully realized than the English, notably over that opening title sequence. Various effects are handled well with spacious engagement and quality detail and definition regardless of the track selected. Dialogue is clear and images perfectly well to the center in both languages.

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection contains the typical Sentai extras, all found on disc three. No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Clean Opening Animations (1080p, 3:04): The opening title sequence without text.
• Clean Closing Animations (1080p, 6:11): The closing sequences without text.
• Japanese Promos (1080p, 3:44 total runtime): Ads for the home video releases.
• Japanese Previews (1080p, 2:17): A handful of very brief previews for the series.
• Japanese Teaser (1080p, 0:52): A longer single preview for the series.
• Disc Credits (1080p): A handful of credits appear on the screen without leaving the main menu.
• Also Available from Sentai Filmworks (1080p): Previews for After the Rain, Tsurune, Cinderella Nine, and Clannad.

Run with the Wind: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Run with the Wind approaches first-rate Anime excellence with a compelling cast of characters, a good story, and excellent pacing. The show is just long enough to fully develop its numerous primaries and tell their individual and collective stories but not so long as to wear out its welcome. Quality animation and wonderful voice work both in the native Japanese and the English dub all add up to high marks for this series. Sentai Filmworks' Blu-ray is of typical quality, featuring limited extras but delivering very strong video and audio presentations. Recommended.