Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Episode 3

Oooooohhhhhhhh Kakeru is going to have to face the past a lot sooner than expected with the arrival of what looks to be probably a former team-mate from his high school days. I am excited for this development because I honestly wasn’t quite sure when we would get a glimpse into Kakeru’s backstory. It is likely this scar from the past is what made Kakeru have such a negative outlook and lack of faith in Haiji successfully achieving his dream, and this encounter will ultimately be the catalyst of giving Kakeru that much needed push to finally commit himself to Haiji’s team of misfits.

But before all that happened, Kakeru has taken a different approach in attempting to dissuade Haiji by wanting to prove a point to him and the others that Haiji’s dream is unattainable. Before they can even enter the qualifiers for the Hakone Ekiden, there is a preliminary requirement where each runner needing an official record of finishing 5000 meters in less than 16:30, or 10,000 meters in 30 minutes. Kakeru can’t understand how or why Haiji has so much faith in everyone, especially in Akane no less, who is undoubtedly the weakest one of the bunch (the poor guy, looked like corpse in the grass by the end of 5km!). However what Kakeru has underestimated is how many of them are becoming more interested and committed in competing in the race. But most of all, what Kakeru didn’t expect, was for them to turn on him, and bluntly ask him the sensitive topic, what is he so afraid of? And looks like we just might actually get an answer, or a clue about that next week!

This week the lot has begun their training of running 10km (5km to the Tamagawa river and back). Among them, Kakeru is the top runner, followed by the twins, Shindo and Musa. The rest who barely even made it to the river are Yuki, Nico and Youhei. Akane is dead last, with Haiji sticking by his side to monitor him.

Haiji’s crazy antics had me cracking up yet again (alongside Akane’s reaction to everything, was like icing on the cake), from stalking Yuki to the clubs to working together with Hanako, the daughter of the family who runs local vegetable store he buys from. Hanako is still a high school student, but she will be assisting them before and after school. In a way she has become their unofficial manager of a sorts, by helping time and build a record to keep track of their progress. Her presence also gives just about everyone (except for Akane) the much needed morale boost and enthusiasm to the training routine. Haiji was already able to secure the twins’ commitment by successfully duping them into the expectation that as they become stronger and more successful, they will be super popular among the women. I think what made the scene even more hysterical was the contrast between the rest of the members who aren’t duped by such promises, and the twins’ excitement and determination to reach the top.

Overall this was another entertaining episode, and I am liking how it seems they will be keeping track of the days of the training. Considering they have less than 10 months until the race, they time is in the essence, and it will be quite interesting to see how far they will make it— if they can that is. Among all of the members, as I pointed out last week, I am extremely curious about why Haiji has so much faith in Akane being able to past the preliminary tests that they need to do in order to even get the chance to place in the qualifiers. It makes me excited to see how much Akane will grow, and what his story will be. Remember, Haiji didn’t share any “special” reasons why he recruited Akane, but surely there must have been a good reason for it, considering with the way he is able to recruit people, he could have easily selected someone else.