Runway de Waratte Episode 5 Discussion

Zarator said:
I honestly have a bit of a problem wrapping my head around how that manager dealt with Kokoro. I mean, in real life, if an employer absolutely needs a certain employee and can't afford to lose said employee, they would offer the employee a raise or maybe try to sweettalk them into remaining. They certainly wouldn't threaten them and treat them like crap the way this manager did <.< It honestly made her look kinda like a joke to me, and I really couldn't get quite emotional about Kokoro at all in that part.

cythraul said:
Gotta do it for that melodrama. Anime are rarely realistic economically.

Zarator said:


To be honest, I don't mind realism when it comes to comedy, but I kinda want realism for drama - especially for a show set in the real world like this one. I just can't feel sad for a character if I can't find the entire situation believable.

Also, Spice & Wolf was kinda realistic, economically-wise^^

WinterStar96 said:

I mean stuff like that really happens in Japan whether you want to believe it or not, especially when it comes to managing agencies.

(This is going to move away from the topic of the anime as a whole and more into the topic of managing agencies so feel free to delete or edit this post if needed, mods.)
I'm not sure if there are any articles in English or not but try searching up Yurina Hirate. She was an idol for the group Keyakizaka46 and she was the "center" for all of the songs they have released so far, reason being is that she had a huge potential as an idol. Her management agency treated her as a tool though, the reason why I say that is the one who chooses the center is the management agency.
She was always put in the center position whether she liked it or not and had no way of refusing. And thanks to that, her life as an idol became more of a torture than a dream. If you take a look at the pictures of what she first looked like when Keyakizaka46 was first created, you'd see she looks nothing like what she does in the more recent photos.
This is something I read from an interview with someone that used to work at the agency but basically she knew the adults around her needed her more than anything so she literally cancelled at the last second when it came to filming the MV for the groups latest song, literally forcing the filming crew to cancel the whole production on that day. When it came to appearing on a live TV broadcast to sing their latest single, she suddenly started saying she doesn't want to do it and didn't appear on TV, there's actually an image of show where the group is singing and she is clearly not there.
Basically she got sick of how the adults in that agency were treating her and well, she quit the group only a few weeks ago. Usually when an idol leaves the group, people consider it graduating but she literally told the agency she wasn't graduating, she was quitting and that's how she wanted them to announce it and that's how they did.
She wasn't sweet talked, she didn't get a raise, she was treated like trash and tried to destroy the group from the inside.

This is what happens in Japan's management agencies whether you want to accept that as reality or not. To us, it feels like fiction because we've never experienced it ourselves but in that kind of business, it happens, though is very rare. I mean there are agencies that don't do that because they're humane but it does happen. Anime and manga just show us that kind of stuff more than usual so it always seems unrealistic is all.

WinterStar96 said:


I mean stuff like that really happens in Japan whether you want to believe it or not, especially when it comes to managing agencies.

(This is going to move away from the topic of the anime as a whole and more into the topic of managing agencies so feel free to delete or edit this post if needed, mods.)
I'm not sure if there are any articles in English or not but try searching up Yurina Hirate. She was an idol for the group Keyakizaka46 and she was the "center" for all of the songs they have released so far, reason being is that she had a huge potential as an idol. Her management agency treated her as a tool though, the reason why I say that is the one who chooses the center is the management agency.
She was always put in the center position whether she liked it or not and had no way of refusing. And thanks to that, her life as an idol became more of a torture than a dream. If you take a look at the pictures of what she first looked like when Keyakizaka46 was first created, you'd see she looks nothing like what she does in the more recent photos.
This is something I read from an interview with someone that used to work at the agency but basically she knew the adults around her needed her more than anything so she literally cancelled at the last second when it came to filming the MV for the groups latest song, literally forcing the filming crew to cancel the whole production on that day. When it came to appearing on a live TV broadcast to sing their latest single, she suddenly started saying she doesn't want to do it and didn't appear on TV, there's actually an image of show where the group is singing and she is clearly not there.
Basically she got sick of how the adults in that agency were treating her and well, she quit the group only a few weeks ago. Usually when an idol leaves the group, people consider it graduating but she literally told the agency she wasn't graduating, she was quitting and that's how she wanted them to announce it and that's how they did.
She wasn't sweet talked, she didn't get a raise, she was treated like trash and tried to destroy the group from the inside.

This is what happens in Japan's management agencies whether you want to accept that as reality or not. To us, it feels like fiction because we've never experienced it ourselves but in that kind of business, it happens, though is very rare. I mean there are agencies that don't do that because they're humane but it does happen. Anime and manga just show us that kind of stuff more than usual so it always seems unrealistic is all.

Zarator said:
I think the example you make is noticeably different from what we see in Runway, though.

First of all, my complaint with the scene in Runway is not that they treated Kokoro like trash despite how much they needed her. My complaint is that, faced with Kokoro's desire to change jobs, they don't actually try to convince her to stay but, instead, treat her even worse. Which makes no sense if they needed her so much, as they explicitly stated - why would you basically try to mob your employee into quitting, if you need him/her so much?

In your example, there's no mention of how the management reacted to Yurina's decision to quit - whether they tried to actually convince her to stay in some way or not (I tried to look it up myself but all the references I could find are in Japanese).

Anyway, I sorta understand what you mean - but at best, it makes Kokoro's management agency look completely incompetent. It MAY be realistic, but it's hard to care for drama that is generated by several characters acting in obviously stupid ways, sadly.

The manager's attitude COULD make sense as long as it was basically glorified bullysm - trying to prey on Kokoro's psychological weakness. But as soon as it became obvious that she was supported by other people (i.e. when Tsumura entered the stage), any sane person would've tried to change their manners, because it'd be obvious to anyone that whoever's around the "bullied employee" would spur her to rebel and quit - which is in fact what happened^^ And EVEN THEN, you'd at least try to downplay the employee's importance for your business! I mean, that's like basic negotiation stuff^^

WinterStar96 said:

Sorry I'm a bit late responding.

What I was going at, was that there are managing agencies in Japan that care more about money than what their models/idols/etc. want and looking at how Kokoro's manager treated her, it was probably something along that line.

As to how Keyakizaka46's management has reacted, I can't say much there because there are no articles on it, probably because it's an inside thing. Though if you take a look at when they last released a song though, I think it'd be more than enough evidence that the agency has no clue what to do. Basically they used to release songs every maybe 3-4 months but at the moment, they haven't released anything for nearly a year, now don't get me wrong, the newest song is already recorded and everything, but because Yurina boycotted the shooting of the MV, they delayed it more and more. Now that Yurina is gone, well now they're stuck between a rock and a hard place, their ace is gone and even more graduated during that year.

I haven't read the manga or anything so I know nothing about Kokoro's character and whether her agency is a large one or not but, and I know this might sound silly but managing agencies that are popular or have a history of creating a large amount of famous people whether it be as a comedian, actor/actress, idol, so on and so forth, generally have this sort of unspoken rule to not mess around with those places because they have the power to get rid of the truth (Japan's outlook on hierarchy plays a huge part in this). Biggest examples that have had some big scandals lately have been Johnny's (huge male idol group agency) and Yoshimoto Kogyo (number 1 comedian agency in Japan), especially Yoshimoto though I won't go too far into it because it gets even longer from there.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that managing agencies in Japan is something that doesn't have set rules, they treat the people that are with them how they want and quitting isn't easy because it's all contracts, which are set for a certain period of time when they're first signed. After that period is over then you're free to do what you want, you can renew your contract or leave and live how you want. Another is to basically break your agencies rules/guidelines and have them discharge you but you get shunned from any other agency for the rest of your life if you were to do that.

Kimurah said:
Meh, this show is moving at neck breaking speed.

So many plotlines had been presented and have been tossed away like a bad salad.

* What happened to Yanagida's assistant that collapsed in Chiyuki's runway debut.