DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

ANIME DramaRunway de Waratte

REVIEWS

• 

  BibleReadingBuddha

  92/100
  A Delightful Story of Coming of Age about a Poor Designer and a Short Model

  __ < Introduction >__

  Smile at the Runway or Runway de Waratte is a story about passion. It showcases human nature in such a way that is comparable to the beauty exhibited by clothes in runways.

  At every moment... everyone is wearing something. Because anyone and everyone is wearing something, the possibilities...this world... is vast and endless.

  Just like the vast variety of clothes that are showcased in the manga, there is an equally large amount of types of characters in it. All with different "clothes". Some are more charismatic than others, and some have more unique traits. Yet, all of them bring something new and passionate to the story, just like models in runways. Smile at the Runway is a story of a passionate designer and a passionate model who strive to do what they love despite the obstacles that they face. It deals with themes like whether one should prioritize his passion over family and friendship, talent vs hard work, and motives behind dreams. It is a very well thought and a great manga which is why I definitely recommend this manga to anyone who has had any experience with the themes above, or anyone who enjoys coming of age stories.

  

  

  ``

  __< Body >__

  Oh okay, I still haven't lost you. Great. Now I'll go full on on why this is well made.
  spoiler warning/disclaimer: I might get excited and leak too many details.

  For the moment I'll start with giving a brief overview of the characters.
  Its characters are all very likable. They reek of humanity. And no, I do not mean that in that they are all the most altruistic people possible. I mean that in the sense that they have aspirations, fears, and conflicts. They have dimensions and that is a valuable trait in stories and literature.

  Ikuto: Our main boy and character. Eldest brother of a family of 4 siblings. Sick mother. Financial status is dire because of medical bills and the lack of father. Ok, now that we've set the foundation I'll talk about how he is. Ikuto is very much like how you would expect an eldest brother to be. He always wants to be dependable without depending too much on others himself. Because of this he averts his eyes from what he wants to do and instead works many part time jobs to make sure his younger sisters can all do what they want to without having to worry about money like he does. He has a childlike love and passion for fashion designing and has always wanted to become one but couldn't say so because of his upbringing. However, through some chain of events we come to see how he is able to get closer to his dream step by step.

  Chiyuki: Our teenie tiny 158 cm midget model. Oxymoronic right? How could one possibly be 158 cm and be a model?? Models are based on their tall heights. Of course, she struggles with this as well throughout the manga. Most fashion companies won't even let you participate if you don't pass a height limit apparently (just like roller coasters). However, there are two things that make her interesting. 1) Her indomitable will and passion towards modeling and 2) her contrary upbringing. Midget-san was born into fashion. Her father is a renown fashion designer and she always practiced modeling and had various gigs when she was younger. The stage was completely set for her. Yet, her growth spurt stopped and she lost the most essential aspect of a model: a tall height. Because of this, she fell from a position of absolute talent and perfect upbringing to not being able to model because of her height. Ironic. However, she doesn't let this get to her and she stands tall against it all and acts as the stick that pulls Ikuto out of the quicksand that was suffocating him. They complement each other as people and both become small giants when they are passionate.

  I could go on and on about the characters (especially the perfect model who wants to be a fashion designer, or the grandson that has to live up to her incredible grandmother), but I must stop to discuss the themes since they are even of larger value.

  __< Themes >__

  Talent vs Hard Work: Especially in the arts and sports, this is a recurring theme. "No matter how I hard I try, I cannot beat raw innate talent". "She/he is gifted", etc. And there is a reason that it is so. Most art students come face to face with the situation a lot. "How come those that tried less are all higher than me?" One starts to grief and blame himself and his/her aptitude. This is a ongoing theme in Smile at the Runway. Models are those who are able to have good proportions and are tall since they have more stage presence. Because of this our female lead can't get a gig despite how hard she tries, and most companies will outright decline her just because of her height. Then people like ideal model-san appear. Those who have tall height and "talent". It's as if they can pull off modeling without all the effort all of us normal people have to go through to get results. Which brings us to the question of whether one is happier following his passion through hard work even if it is difficult or if it is better for one to work in what he/she is good at.

  Prioritizing passion over family and friendship or vice versa: This is mostly what happens with Ikuto. Even when he knows oh so clearly what he wants to do, he can't bring himself to do it because of his sense of responsibility and guilt when it comes to his family and friends. Most people will always argue that to get something, one will have to sacrifice something else. However, Ikuto tries to hold on to everything he values in a desperate way. This is extremely hard and should be near impossible to do but just like our charismatic female lead said, that is what makes Ikuto such a likable character. This manga introduces the common scheme of sacrificing things to achieve goals and exemplifies how it doesn't always need to be like that.

  There are also themes like determination, danger in passion, harmony between responsibilities and interests.
  

  __< Conclusion >__

  
  All in all, it is a great manga about a topic that I knew very little about. I didn't have any interest in runway fashion and modeling but the simple fact that this is a delightful story with so many parallels is the reason why I believe that more people should know about this manga and read it. Moreover, my biggest motivation to write a review for this manga was that there were no reviews for it and yet its average score was so low. A 60%?! Blasphemous. I had to prove them wrong. So yeah, do yourself a favor and read this if you like good stories. Cheers.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  cigaretteparfum

  44/100
  A lackluster fashion story that is mostly boring with characters that only seemed interesting for a moment.

  Here's a reminder:

  Art is subjective and other's opinions shouldn't dictate your personal enjoyment and affection of it.

  ---

  If Runway de Waratte/Smile Down the Runway was a good, or even great read for you, that's amazing! Am happy for you, truly. It's just not for me.

  My main problem with the story is I simply couldn't get invested in the characters. At first, I did. I was introduced to this girl who dream of walking on the runway during Paris Fashion Week but held back due to her height -- even the adults who previously supported her seemed to turned their backs and fired her from their agency. Then she met this boy with so little presence even his classmates forgot that he existed, but he's got a knack for making clothes and he once dreamt of becoming a fashion designer, but he dropped it because of his life circumstances.

  Shallow characterisation.

  Unfortunately, within the first couple of chapters, I was revealed pretty much everything there is to know about these two kids. Chiyuki is headstrong and she doesn't know what the meaning of the phrase "giving up." Those traits eventually rubbed off onto Ikuto who, after deciding that he will pursue his dream again, forgo pretty much any shame and restraint beneath his meek appearance.

  Then, that was it. I could hardly call the hardships and struggles they (moreso Ikuto, whom the story is mostly focused on) face as 'hardships' and 'struggles'. The story is linear in sense even the setbacks and dips in the graph don't have much impacts. The leads bounce back almost immediately, whether by their own resolve or -- more often -- by the support and extended hands of people around them.

  The conflicts are minor incovenience cosplaying as high-stakes problem at best.

  The stakes, when they even present themselves, aren't thrilling enough to be engaged with because there's always something to offset it. Mostly, the knowledge that was established pretty much from the get-go: Ikuto's level of skills is higher than almost everyone around him, and about on par with pros and prodigies who'd been under professional's training their entire lives. We also know that his skills, rather than be perceived as threats, are acknowledged as assets by his seniors. So regardless of the outcome, Ikuto wins all the same. Even if he lost, or got fired, or whatever else, there's plenty of job opportunities for him. His families are all supportive and don't present much obstacles to his dreams. There's never any sense of danger that "if he fails this one, he'll have to stop chasing his dreams." It's boring.

  It's a story that floats!

  My other problem with the story is how it feels so untethered to reality. Not this reality I live in; their own reality. It's hard to gauge the passage of time, whether from text, dialogue, or character's appearance and other context clues. We know the leads were in high school at the beginning of the story, then somewhere along the lines they graduated. When? Apparently Ikuto participated in numerous other fashion competitions after his first one (that was the only one presented as its own arc). When? How much time passed since one point until the other? The story follows a linear timeline, yet it's still hard to follow despite the lack of flashbacks or flashforwards that might mess up with the flow of time. That's quite the feat. Unfortunately, not in a good way.

  Another reason why I feel the story is so untethered to its own reality is the lack of worldbuilding. It's a story about the fashion industry, yet there's so little appearances of other fictive (or even real) fashion brands or modelling agencies that can present as point of comparison to grasp how important/unimportant or influential/uninfluential the agencies and brands the characters are involved with.

  The story makes several nods to street fashion, fast fashion, and ready to wear -- all three are aspects of fashion that're immediately accessible to the public and not as isolated as high fashion or haute couture, but they're barely featured in the story aside from being mentioned. Even after Ikuto is transferred to the branch in this brand he now works for that focuses on commercial fashion pieces, we learn very little about what's trending at that moment. There's discussion about bags and accessories during meetings for the next collection, but it's incredibly vague and doesn't say anything about the current fad -- such as what inspired them, who or what popularised it, how long has it been trending, etc -- or the people engaged with that trend.

  Another disappointment (though not as major as everything else I've talked about thus far) was that I went into the story expecting a dual lead going through different paths in the fashion industry: Ikuto, from the designing and producing path; and Chiyuki, from the modelling path. But Chiyuki was more of a supporting character than a lead, with her story and journey happening in the background whilst we focus more on Ikuto. I'd say Chiyuki wasn't even that important to the story aside from her nudge in the beginning that inspired Ikuto to pursue fashion designing again. Supposedly she was Ikuto's muse, but later on the lad learns to design and pull inspirations from other things that weren't related to her and not struggle as much. The romance aspect wasn't even enough for me to justify calling Chiyuki a second lead.

  Some positives.

  All right, let's try to balance the review by mentioning some things that I like from the story. Because it's not all bad, even if in the end I can't even push myself to finish it out of sense of obligation.

  The art is pleasing to look at. The high contrast between the lights and the darks, and the weights of the lines are two things I particularly like about the artist's style. It's very clean and seamless, and easy to follow even in the busiest panels.

  Chiyuki is an interesting character when she's allowed to react in her nonchalant, almost threatening way. That's probably why I liked the earlier chapters so much; aside from the story being more interesting in those parts, we also get a lot more indifferent Chiyuki.

  The dresses. It's a story about fashion so it should be a given, but the dresses. Yes. Absolutely. Love them. The designs and the concepts given behind them. Mhm. Yep. Beautiful.

  Adding to that last point, it was rather brief in the story, but I liked how they explained how designers get their inspirations. It's not particularly unique to Runway de Waratte nor is it unique to fashion designers, but I always like whenever stories relating to art make the note to acknowledge that inspirations are sought and gathered from multiple sources instead of something to be expected to come on its own.

  Conclusion.

  Runway de Waratte is a lackluster fashion story that is mostly boring with characters that only seemed interesting for a moment. It has some good moments and other good qualities about it, but not enough to keep me committed reading it through. It might be interesting and insightful to those previously ignorant to what goes on behind the curtains and how clothes are made, especially at large scale, but for me, it's just ... meh.

  Continue on AniList

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