Pizza and Pineapple.
Cheese and Chocolate.
Ice-cream-dipped French Fries.
This world is full of such seemingly contradictory yet surprisingly complementary combinations.
And as of this season – or, uh, a lot earlier, if you’re a manga reader – we can now
add “shounen anime and high fashion” to that list, thanks to the absolutely BRILLIANT
Smile Down the Runway.
Or, Smile AT the Runway, if you wanna go with the almost English in the official logo, like
those weirdoes who call “The Eotenna Onslaught” “Attack On Titan.”
Actually, I kinda prefer the Japanese title, “Runway de Waratte.”
It just rolls off the tongue real nice, y’know?
But I guess that wouldn’t be super marketable to an English language audience, and this
series is niche enough already, so it’s probably for the best that they trans- right,
supposed to be talking about the anime, not its title.
Anyway, Smile Down the Runway, or whatever I want to call it, is pretty friggin great.
It’s not the first anime to borrow parts from the shounen hype train and incorporate
them into a less traditionally masculine vehicle, but it’s one of the best I’ve seen by
far.
It gives me everything I want from a good shounen sports anime – the moments of intense
hype and triumph against overwhelming odds, coupled with detailed breakdowns of the real-world
skills and techniques that the heroes are applying, and of course, the loveable underdog
heroes themselves.
It’s got plenty of those.
But at the same time, it’s managed to deliver some truly gripping, tear-jerking moments
of drama and tragedy, that somehow hit with full force and alarming regularity without
ever derailing the… metaphor I already used in this paragraph.
GET IT TOGETHER GEOFF.
Say your mantra.
This video is sponsored by Bookwalker, Kadokawa’s official ebook store, where you can buy and
download hundreds of English language Manga and Light Novel volumes to read on your phone,
tablet, or PC.
That, naturally, includes Smile down the Runway, the entirety of which is on sale from now
until March 30th, for 50% off!
And if that deal isn’t good enough for ya, new bookwalker users can sweeten it by using
the promo code Basement when they check out to get an additional 600 yen off ANY order.
*deep, satisfied sigh* Feeling better already.
What I’m trying to get at here is that even if you don’t think a show about Runway Fashion
is for you, –you should give this one a shot.
Especially if you’re a fan of shows like March Comes in Like a Lion or Your Lie in
April.
It’s one of my favourite shows of the season and year so far, mostly because it’s made
me and yazy cry, like, A LOT.
But also it’s taught me a lot of things about textile work, and how the fashion and
modeling industries operate both globally and within Japan.
It’s really good at making fashion interesting, not just by pushing it through a filter of
tried and true shounen clichés, but by highlighting the things that are interesting about it.
The creative and practical challenges that arise in every step of the production process
from conceptualizing an outfit to sending it down the runway, and the unique and difficult
skills one needs to master in order to be an effective model form the backbone of the
series’ conflicts.
And it’s every bit as exciting to see the show’s heroes overcome those challenges
as it is to see the boys pull off a dramatic down to the wire victory in Haikyuu, or to
watch teenagers murder and assault people in most other anime.
Thanks largely to the strength of the heroes in question.
Smile Down the Runway has not one, but two plucky, underdog protagonists with big, seemingly
impossible dreams that they refuse to give up on no matter what life throws at them.
One of those protagonists is Chiyuki Fujito, a beautiful, headstrong girl with a passion
for modeling, who’s dreamed of representing her father’s fashion brand, Mille Neige,
at Paris Fashion Week for most of her life.
Having grown up in the fashion industry, and trained under professional models from a young
age, Chiyuki has poise, grace, intensity, and everything else a model needs to stand
tall on the runway… except for, the, uh, the tall part.
Chiyuki stopped growing at 5 foot 2, a good 6 inches short of the industry standard minimum
height for supermodels, and while there’s still plenty of work to be found for models
of her height and abilities, her dream of walking the Paris runway is cruelly out of
reach.
Chiyuki’s not the type to take “it’s impossible” for an answer, though.
She KNOWS she has the skill to stand with the best models in the business, and pushes
relentlessly, through failed audition after audition, to get her father’s agency to
recognize it.
And right when she’s on the verge of thinking about maybe giving up after another hundred
tries or so, she makes a breakthrough, with the help of a classmate who’s in a similar
boat.
Ikuto Tsumura is a boy with a passion for fashion, who taught himself how to make clothes
at a young age, driven by the simple joy of seeing his family and friends happily wear
his creations.
But passion doesn’t pay the bills.
And with his mother in the hospital, two brilliant sisters looking at bright futures in academics
and sports respectively, and one more – the cutest one, obviously – just starting school…
Ikuto has a HELL of a lot of bills to pay.
He hasn’t let that stop him from pursuing fashion design as a hobby, doing the best
he can with scraps and old clothes in the school sewing club, but once he graduates,
he knows that’ll have to end.
No respectable brand will hire an untested teenage amateur, and he can’t afford to
go to fashion school in order to earn the right credentials.
Fashion is a Rich Man’s game, and talent will only take you so far when you can’t
pay to play.
He catches a lucky break when Chiyuki asks him to make an outfit for her weekly audition,
which ends up going viral after a magazine photographer grabs a street snap of Chiyuki
outside the agency.
Inside, Chiyuki finally manages to impress her modelling senpai by wearing the SHIT out
of that sweater, and that’s enough for both of them to be given a chance.
But even after their skills have been recognized, the pint-sized model and poor fashion designer
have a long uphill road to climb toward their dream.
The series – rightly – frames the fact that Ikuto struggles to do a job he’s good
at and loves because he wasn’t born with enough money as being EXACTLY as bullshit
as Chiyuki failing because she didn’t grow her bones right.
Both are clear injustices produced by arbitrarily unfair manmade systems that need to change
because they suck.
And Smile Down the Runway’s biggest payoffs are built on the inherent satisfaction that
comes with seeing those seemingly insurmountable odds be overcome.
But – and this is key – nobody in the show does it alone.
Chiyuki is only able to work to her full potential as a model because Ikuto knows how to make
clothes that suit her body and her soul, and Ikuto’s clothes only end up on the gram
because Chiyuki knows how to ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ROCK THEM.
They both have impressive talents that are indispensable to their collective success
on the runway, whether they’re working with each other, or other skilled and passionate
individuals.
And the anime does a wonderful job of drawing those skills out.
In their first show together, both Ikuto and Chiyuki end up working for Hajime Yanagida,
a gruff but soft-hearted young designer – and former apprentice to Chiyuki’s dad – who’s
launching his own brand at Tokyo fashion week.
Hajime isn’t thrilled about pinning his hopes on a tiny model and an amateur dressmaker,
but he also isn’t in a position to turn down help, so he asks Ikuto to alter one of
his outfits for Chiyuki’s frame.
In the 15 minutes before the show starts.
Also the outfit hangs off Chiyuki like a parachute, and it’s made of really tough material.
So, no pressure.
Despite these challenges.
Ikuto bodges up a bold and beautiful outfit, one that takes advantage of its own cobbled-together
nature to create a stunning on-stage transformation.
But that outfit only makes it onto the stage thanks to the production crew’s quick thinking
in slowing down the tempo of the show, and that transformation only works because Chiyuki
is a fucking BOSS under pressure.
A heel breaking on stage would be an utter disaster in any show – let alone one meant
to launch a brand that’s being hyped up as “the future of fashion” – but when
it happens here, not only does Chiyuki catch herself and manage to walk the rest of the
show on that busted heel without anyone noticing, she owns and hides the fumble with a confident
– and controversial – smile.
Smiling on the runway is taboo – maybe you’re seeing the significance of that title now
– conventional wisdom holds that clothes look best on cool and confident model.
But then, it also holds that they look best on girls in very narrow height range, and
we already know that’s bullshit.
Ikuto’s playful, outsider artist design sensibilities and Chiyuki’s finely-honed
ability to sell confidence with every fiber of her being combine to turn a total accident
into a fashion statement so powerful that it moved at least one short girl watching
to tears.
Also me, watching her watch the show.
That girl, Fumiyo Niinuma, is an aspiring writer, currently stuck working for a fashion
magazine when her real passion is literature.
Fumiyo – being a shorty – always felt that fashion wasn’t for her, so seeing Chiyuki
up there made her feel welcome in that world for the first time in her life.
Chiyuki inspires her to work toward her own dreams as a writer, but also gives her the
confidence to try something new, and give fashion writing a real shot.
Smile Down the Runway – appropriately, for a show about fashion – revels in the emotional
catharsis that comes with being SEEN.
That moment with Fumiyo captures how powerful and moving it can be to see yourself represented
in a space or medium where you previously felt excluded.
Chiyuki’s passion comes from a desire to have others look past her appearance and see
the truly GREAT model that lies within.
And Ikuto’s entire drive to be a designer is rooted in a desire to see the fruits of
his labour being worn, and to see how people react to seeing themselves in his clothes.
Every hero and supporting character in this show struggles with circumstances and expectations
that pressure them to be something they’re not.
And they’re only able to overcome that pressure by banding together and helping each other.
The show’s antagonists, meanwhile, look out for themselves first and foremost.
One, unable to go it alone, caved to that pressure, and grew embittered after compromising
on her dream.
The other was lucky enough that he never really had to face that pressure, and as a result,
he overprizes his own skill, and diminishes the accomplishments of those who have struggled.
There’s a lot of complex and interesting character writing going on in Smile Down the
Runway, and few anime out there have managed to make me so thoroughly ADORE every member
of their cast.
Ikuto’s family is just… wonderful – his sisters look out for him just as much as he
looks out for them, but even as tight-knit as they are, they still don’t always see
eye to eye, and the familial friction between them makes for great drama.
Chiyuki’s dad is really harsh and stern with her, but you can tell from how he talks
about her that he DEEPLY cares for her, and wants her to achieve her dreams.
I think a lot of that harshness comes from wanting to prepare her for the vicious rejection
she’ll face elsewhere in the industry, and that he leaves the opportunity open for her
to audition as often as she wants because he knows that if the door is open even a little,
she’ll find a way to force her way through.
Naturally, those two central character are the most well realized of the bunch.
Ikuto has a quiet confidence about him that grows with Chiyuki’s encouragement and his
own accomplishments, while Chiyuki is more bold and brash, like your typical Shounen
hero.
She’s the Naruto to his…
Hinata?
Although that comparison doesn’t quite work at this stage of the story, and that’s kinda
great.
the thing I really LOVE about these two is that they’re buddies above all else.
Chiyuki says she sees Ikuto as a rival, more than anything.
Someone who pushes her to achieve her dreams as she pushes him.
The show has its fanservice scenes – it’s shounen, remember – that make it clear Ikuto
is ATTRACTED to Chiyuki, but also, she doesn’t really seem to be bothered by his gaze, and
in fact, she barely notices it, because she’s used to modeling work, and she doesn’t see
him that way.
At least not yet.
I can definitely see this growing into a really strong love story.
They do have good chemistry and good reasons to end up together, but I really enjoy how
things are between them right now – their friendship feels real, and its good for both
of them, and while it could go further, it doesn’t feel like it HAS to for their relationship
to be meaningful.
And that’s a nice thing that doesn’t happen often in anime, so I’m enjoying it while
it lasts.
As the show works its way into a tournament arc toward the end of season one, it introduces
an array of compelling rivals to test Ikuto and Chiyuki’s resolve, each with their own
believable personality and a strong, well-justified motivation to win.
And that’s not the only place where its Shounen side shines through.
See, in addition to knowing how to pose and walk, the truly great models in this series
have an AURA about them that brings whatever clothes they wear to life, which adds some
much needed ANIME FLAIR to what is otherwise a fairly realistic and down to earth depiction
of girls walking back and forth on a stage.
On the subject of realism, one thing you might have noticed about this show is the impressive
fidelity of its background art – the “Sets” have enough life clutter strewn about them
to feel lived in, and the materials that make up the show’s environments are rendered
in great detail.
Which makes sense – the show is about textile work, where the differences between fabrics
can and do have serious plot significance.
A lot would be lost were its world presented in a more abstract or cartoony style.
Because it’s so important to show the differences between materials, and the main way to do
that is by depicting how light hits them, the series also, by necessity, has absolutely
FANTASTIC lighting.
Which it leverages to enhance the mood of its hardest-hitting scenes, and to create
some absolutely stunning shot compositions.
And on top of all that – likely also out of necessity, given the physical subtleties
of modeling – the character animation is frequently expressive and lively.
Smile Down the Runway isn’t always a looker, sadly.
Some of its cut corners are pretty frayed, and it has a few really obvious seams showing,
but in the right light, at the right time, and from the right angle, it has more than
enough visual panache to take your breath away.
That is, if you have any left to take after all the sobbing you’ll be doing as you watch
it.
Sometimes for sad reasons – but even more often for happy ones.
This is a show about overcoming emotional hardships, and it wants you to smile through
your tears, just as its characters do.
I think that’s why it’s able to get away with being SO GOSH DARN FEELSY, while still
consistently delivering those FUCK YEAH! moments of pure Shounen hype.
Many shounen anime have struck gold by sticking to what works and “playing it safe,” but
Smile Down the Runway is proof positive – in more ways than one – that the bold and unconventional
will always stand out from the pack.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you should.
And if you haven’t read it yet – and gotten to appreciate all those gorgeous panels - remember
that until march 30th, the entire manga is on sale for 50% off on bookwalker.
And that you can use the promo code “Basement” when you check out to get an additional 600
yen off.
Links in the dooblidoo if you wanna hear more.
Lemme know in the comments below what other unconventional shounen anime are your favourites
and why.
And while I’ve got you here, if you’re looking for something to fill the time as
we’re all stuck inside because reasons, make sure you checkout my list of nice, long
anime to self-isolate with.
I’m Geoff Thew, Professional Shitbag, signing out from My Mother’s Basement