Run with the Wind

About

1-Sentence Summary

A group of 10 university students, lead by Haiji Kiyose, some of whom have no experience running, try for the prestigious Hakone Ekiden, a relay marathon that puts 20 university teams against each other in a televised race that covers 200km in 2 days.

Reflections

As a fan of the 24 episode television series that is based on this book, I went into it with high expectations. Because I already knew the story and the characters, I mostly noted the differences between the two formats. Just like the series, I was drawn in by Haiji's drive and ambitions and the bromance between him and fellow runner Kakeru. I also love the technical information about running and the Hakone Ekiden and of course I also love the cast (even though the 10 main characters are not exactly equally developed in this only 450 pages long book). There is not much to say about the writing style other than it is solid.

The key differences between book and TV series:

• In the book, the characters are surprisingly willing to join Haiji in his goal to run at the Hakone Ekiden. In the TV adaption a lot of time in the beginning is spent getting everyone on board, which works well for the series as the viewer gets to know each character and their motivations way earlier than in the book. I dare say that due to this, the characters have even more depth in the TV series.
• After Haiji invites Kakeru to live in the dorms, Haiji does play it save by waiting for 2 weeks before revealing his goal to run in the Ekiden, which makes it less likely for Kakeru to leave at this point. Kakeru is generally not really opposed to running in the Ekiden. In the TV adaption Kakeru is confronted with Haijis ambitions on the very first night in the dorms, which causes Kakeru to immediately tell him that it's an impossible dream and he leaves right the next day (only to get dragged back in later).
• In the book, Kakeru's backstory is revealed (or at least hinted at) very early on, while the TV series omitts his backstory until 3/4 in. This makes Kakeru seem very unlikable in the beginning, especially because he keeps insisting that running in the Hakone Ekiden is impossible for amateur runners when everyone starts getting serious. Only when he himself gets serious about the Ekiden at the midway point of the series and only when he is confronted with his past, does it become clear that he was actually trying to look out for the others.
• In the book, the female lead Hana is a first year at the same university as the main cast and supports them because she has a crush on (both!) twins. In the TV adaption Hana is a third year in high school and supports mainly Haiji because she's known him and his dream of running in the Hakone Ekiden for a few years. This change was likely due to the unwillignness of the other characters to join Haiji's training at the beginning of the story, so there was a need to have a separate character that could emphazise to the others how important the Ekiden is for Haiji. Her character was generally more likable in the TV adaption.
• The book features a love triangle that I am absolutely not fond of. I generally do not like romantic subplots that mess with the main plot and unfortunately this applies here. While Hana did have romantic feelings for the twins in the TV adaption as well, it was kept very low-key and conflict free. In the book however, Kakeru also joins the love triangle which just creates some unneccessary drama - especially because everyone around him seems to be aware of this love triangle - except for Kakeru himself.
• One thing I really love about the book is a scene at the end of the first day of the Hakone Ekiden, where Haiji actually admits to Kakeru that he knew from the very beginning who he was (and that he had nowhere else to go) and that's the reason he invited him to the dorms and thus the Ekiden team. This is only hinted at at the beginning of the TV series. This confession actually hurts Kakeru to a point where he wished Haiji would have just kept up the lie that he chose Kakeru because of his love for running. But he quickly pushes that aside and they both swear to run to their hearts content the next day.