English Dub Review: Smile Down The Runway; “The Designer’s Capacity”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

A sudden downturn in Ikuto’s mother’s health forces him to change his course, a decision which in turn leads him to seriously evaluate his goals and what he’s willing to do to accomplish them.

Our Take

If you thought Ikuto’s sick mother, Yuriko, was simply a static background character just there to make Ikuto’s backstory slightly more tragic, then the beginning of this episode might come as something of a shock. Though even in light of the events in this episode, the amount of detail she’s given is still equivalent to that of a character who is essentially glorified set dressing. Throughout all of this, we’re never told specifically what her illness is, only that it requires extensive surgery and can frequently relapse. The vagueness of her condition is lazy writing and is more evidence that it’s really just a device to generate melodrama. 

With that said, the actual content of this sequence is fairly competent and emotional. Yuriko stubbornly and, quite frankly, foolishly putting off her operation until the Geika Festival further emboldens the selfless-to-a-fault character of the Tsumura family even further. And when by foolish, I mean very foolish. She put off the operation so that Ikuto could participate in the contest without having to worry about money. But once the contest was over, she would do the operation and get the bill then. So either Ikuto would win and have his high brought down low by medical bills, or he would lose and his low would be brought even lower. 

Regardless, her putting it off has horribly backfired and now Ikuto is not only saddled with a hefty medical bill, but he also has to balance that with participating in the contest. Understandably, this proves to be an ordeal that stretches Ikuto to his limits, forcing him to triage pursuing his passions and aiding his family. But that’s just the beginning of his troubles. 

Ikuto goes to Toh and explains his situation and why he has to quit working at his studio. Toh’s response, at first appearing to be generous and understanding, is shortly revealed to be emotionally manipulative. Toh’s offer to hire Ikuto as his patternmaker not only precludes that Ikuto won’t be participating in the Geika Festival, but he also serves it with a comment that decries Ikuto’s abilities and puts him down. Toh always had the glint of an ulterior motive in pursuing Ikuto, and this scene lifts the rug and reveals the filth underneath. Ikuto, like any reasonable person, gets upset with him and storms out for treating him that way.

And because perhaps Ikuto wasn’t already upset with being taken advantage of enough, Igarashi happens upon him on the street and offers him money as well, this time to discourage Kokoro from being a designer. Not only is this scene just more painfully obvious fuel for the melodrama machine, it kind of underplays the little character development Igarashi had in the previous episode. This just tries Ikuto’s moral patience even further, far beyond conventional limits. 

Ikuto, probably sick of everyone’s bullshit, cuts off all contact with his cohorts in the fashion industry and hunkers down with his family to earn money. Amidst all of this, he is still determined to strike the balance between this and participating in the festival, causing him stress which has been exacerbated by his recent experiences. This stress manifests in him lashing out against his unsuspecting sisters for petty reasons. We see Ikuto brought to his lowest point, slowly losing the ability to carry out basic functions.

But instead of witnessing him pull himself out of this hole by his own willpower, we find that what is undone by convenient melodrama can only be pieced back together by convenient sentimentality.

We hadn’t seen Chiyuki’s father, Kenji, in some time, so perhaps we should’ve been a little suspicious that something like this would happen when he called out of the blue. Chiyuki had apparently been experiencing her own set of drama and needed cheering up, but this was all just a cover. Kenji formally buying Ikuto’s design is great and all; but it really is a bit too convenient. Ikuto denied the offer before, but based on the fact that Kenji has now mass-produced it, he clearly really wanted it. Why not be a bit more adamant instead of going behind Ikuto’s back like this?

But admittedly, as clumsily sudden as it is, Ikuto does more than deserve this reversal of fortunes in his favor. Having his hard work from the first episode come back to pay off for him is justice appropriately served. And, like always, Ikuto is eager to pay it forward to Chiyuki. 

As positive as the final outcome here is, the process that brought us here has further mired the show in the realm of melodrama. Ikuto constantly makes this unbelievably shocked facial expression that is overly-exaggerated to the tenth degree, an effect only commonly seen in the anime medium. His eyes grow in size as his pupils shrink so sharply that it’s more like he’s getting stabbed than he’s receiving bad news. It’s supposed to emotionally upsetting, and it is, but it’s so horrendously overused that it becomes upsetting for an entirely different reason. I understand that Ikuto’s personality and the obstacles he’s facing condone this sort of reaction, but the execution of it all is so repetitive that by now it’s frustrating. 

What’s also getting repetitive are the obstacles themselves. The premise of this show is the struggles of passionate teenagers entering the vicious world of fashion. It’s expected that there are some tears as the characters run into sturdy walls. But it’s been the exact same handful of walls that persistently block the characters in the exact same manner. Their motivations have been questioned and broken down and reconstituted so many times it’s like seeing how the melodrama sausage gets made over and over again. 

The end of this episode is all about hope and the power of sticking to your values. I’m all for some newfound hope, but I’d appreciate it if this show found some new ways to test those values.