Television series
Runway de Waratte
A high school girl too short for the runway and a brilliant but struggling fashion designer team up to crash Paris Fashion Week anyway. Runway de Waratte is a gentle, earnest anime about ambition meeting reality—the kind that makes you believe in underdogs without ever feeling saccharine. For anyone who loves a solid underdog story with real stakes and genuine creative passion.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like underdog stories where stubborn ambition meets a sharp comic streak, and you enjoy watching clothes get made from scratch.
Skip it if you want glossy runway spectacle, since this stays close to two strugglers in classrooms and workshops and the glamour comes in small doses.
What it asks of you: It runs twelve half-hour episodes, so it moves in brisk, tidy chunks, and it wants you to stay with its ambition-versus-height problem rather than skim past it.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Your Name.2016
A beautifully animated romantic drama about two teenagers whose lives intersect across time and space. Like Runway, it's about young people fighting against impossible odds with determination and heart, wrapped in stunning visual craft.
But It's a very big emotional swing—the tone shifts dramatically in the final act. Some find it manipulative; others think that's the point.
Carole & Tuesday2019
Two girls chase a singing career on Mars against systemic resistance. It shares Runway's DNA: found family, creative passion as the plot engine, gorgeous animation, and an absolute refusal to let circumstance win.
But The show gets more plot-heavy and preachy as it goes on. Earlier episodes have better chemistry than later ones.
Great Pretender2020
A charming caper anime about misfits pulling off impossible cons. The same warmth, the same aesthetic pleasure in watching skilled people work, the same sense that friendship and skill can beat the system.
But It's episodic for a while before building serialized momentum. The opening episodes can feel slight if you're after a tighter narrative arc.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Runway de Waratte
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Michiko e Hatchin2008
Both are about kids with impossible dreams who refuse to accept the world's verdict that they should quit. Both use craft and creation as the path to dignity and belonging.
A raw, hand-drawn anime about a street kid and a runaway forming a family while chasing modest dreams. Incredibly moving and almost unknown in the West. The animation is loose and alive in ways Runway isn't, but the emotional logic—that impossible things can happen if you refuse to stop trying—is identical.
But The first half is darker than you might expect; it deals with real poverty and abuse. Some viewers find the ending too optimistic given the weight of what comes before.
More like this (7)
Hibike! Euphonium2015
A high school band drama that takes its art form seriously. Both shows understand that passion for craft—design, music—is a legitimate driving force, and both make that passion contagious.
But It's very much about incremental improvement and rehearsal. There's not much plot if you're not invested in the community itself.
Hanasaku Iroha2011
A girl working at a traditional inn learns craft, resilience, and the value of doing small things excellently. Same spirit: no shortcuts, beauty in work itself, found family, genuine growth.
But It's slower and more contemplative than Runway. The payoffs are internal and quiet, not climactic.
Chihayafuru2011
Three misfits dominate competitive poetry card-matching through obsession, strategy, and love. Runway and Chihayafuru both make niche crafts feel urgent, and both understand that teams of weirdos are unstoppable.
But The middle seasons drift from the core trio. It can feel repetitive if you're not invested in the mechanics of the competition.
Sora yori mo Tooi Basho A Story that leads to the Antarctica2018
Four high schoolers make a roadtrip to Antarctica feel like climbing Everest. The same infectious belief that kids with a dream and a plan can do anything, animated with the same visual warmth.
But The emotional beats are very deliberate and can feel manipulative. It doesn't shy from big feelings, which some find saccharine.
March comes in like a lion2016
A young professional shogi player finds meaning through the game and through people. Like Runway, it's about solitary craft becoming communal, and about finding worth beyond winning.
But It's melancholic and digressive. The pacing is deliberately meditative, and it won't rush to resolve anything for you.
Sound! Euphonium the Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day2019
Both celebrate the aesthetics of doing something well, and both understand that the real drama isn't in winning—it's in becoming good enough to deserve the stage.
A gorgeous, focused film about young musicians mounting their definitive performance. Two hours of pure craft-passion distilled to perfection. It's what a Runway movie would feel like—beautiful people making beautiful things happen.
But You probably need to watch the series first, and this doesn't push the film medium in any new directions. It's comfort food, not revelation.
The Midnight Gospel2020
Both are about young people figuring out who they want to become, and both argue that the becoming matters more than the destination. Both also trust their audience's capacity for genuine feeling beneath the surface charm.
A wildly experimental comedy-drama where a guy interviews fascinating people across dying worlds while his mom naps downstairs, learning about death, family, and meaning. Nothing like Runway in surface detail, but it shares the same quiet belief that connection and craft matter more than outcomes. Visually inventive in ways anime usually isn't.
But It's trippy, sometimes sloppy, and genuinely tries your patience. The final episode is about grief and mortality—heavy for a show that spent seven episodes being absurdist comedy. Very much not for everyone.
