Prince of Stride: Alternative Episode 10: Stand Up – Because You Were There

“I…want to run with you.” *DRAMATIC MUSIC*

Ok by this point I think we all know that Riku’s problem is that he does not think that he can ever be as good an athlete as his brother, and so this emotional problem is ruining his running. We’ve known this problem from the very beginning, Riku always had a problem with Takeru because he reminded him of Tomoe and I’m just sitting here like “Ay dios mio why am I still doing this?” I’ve seen complexes like this in anime and TV shows before, and I’ve seen the same lesson be taught such as Riku’s case “Run for yourself and your teammates.” It’s a big fat DUH but of course Riku couldn’t think of that himself. Maybe I would have felt more for all of this if I actually liked Riku, but he’s just so boring. And it’s not just Riku, it’s the rest of the characters. Even Heath, sadly. I just don’t feel anything for these characters, I don’t relate to them. I’m just glad that Riku’s inferiority complex is gone for good…right?

Okay, so even though Takeru still reminds Riku of Tomoe, ever since the last episode with the stupid attempts at making them work together, well…they actually work together. At their practices, Riku’s times are getting slower than usual. Takeru volunteers to help Riku with his training, making him run during their lunch. He gives advice on his breathing, his posture, his starting, and all of that stuff. But even so Riku is still struggling because, oh boy, he still has the inferiority complex. Nana notices that Riku’s problems aren’t physical, but emotional, but Riku won’t open up to any of them and none of the teammates ask him what’s wrong, though I guess they just didn’t want to meddle with anything personal. Riku’s times are getting worse and worse, and then he decides to skip practice altogether.

Riku sits in front of a river or something under a tree and Asuma from Saisei sneaks up beside him and he shares a fried noodle bun he bought at Riku’s family’s bakery because Reiji-sama loves it or something. And to be honest the bun looked fucking delicious. Fried noodles on bread? Sign me the hell up, I want that. I love bread. I LOVE BREAD.

So Asuma mentions Tomoe and how amazing he is, and then the two get to talking to the personal stuff. How ever since Riku saw his brother running in a storm without knowing and not caring when he found out later that his club’s practice was cancelled, Riku saw that he could never measure up to his brother who’s too damn cool and crazy about Stride. So he gets into this schtick like ahh what do I do, who do I run for, I can’t do this, oh no. Asuma’s like um run for you and your team. Then he leaves with the bread for Prince Reiji.

A storm is about to brew and Heath calls practice off early but Takeru says he’ll keep running. Kuga says something about a storm not being so bad because it can mean change, and oh man we know where this is going. Riku is running where he was sitting and it starts raining, Takeru appears out of nowhere and they run together. But then Riku sees himself being left behind by Takeru, just like how with Tomoe. He stops running, tells Takeru to keep on running ahead of him, but Takeru stops, stares at him…says…

I…want to run with you.

AND AHHHHH NO WAY NO FUCKING WAY RIKU IS MAGICALLY AWESOME AGAIN. The two share a boyfriend moment and run together, seeing the other teammates ahead of them, making a finish line with their jackets tied together, and Riku passes Takeru and wins their little mini race. And all is well, oh my god no way. I never would have expected that.

If you can’t tell I’m being sarcastic. I’m done. I don’t care what happens now, there are only two episodes left, next episode is the semi-finals of the EOS against Saisei. Seeing how predictable this anime is I can tell what is going to happen and what will happen in the finale, which I will have the pleasure to write up first. So I’ll see you guys in two more weeks to give you a piece of my mind.

The only part of this episode I cared about was Reiji admitting that he ate four of those yummy looking noodle breads, thus ruining his diet. It’s okay Reiji everyone caves in once in awhile. But in my case, I cave all the time.