Sassman Haiji-san returns.
The Show: I really love this show for its quiet moments of power, and it's obvious a lot of care and love were put into it. The episodes unfold so carefully and purposefully, causing all these little moments to pile up and climax in the most satisfying of pay-offs. It doesn't matter if the end result's an improved time figure or a favorable result at the races. Thanks to all these gradual changes, the desired impact's still delivered in the end.
The Ex-Teammate: Now we know why the red-haired jerk is such a little bitch to Kakeru. Doesn't mean I'll dislike him less, but at least he isn't acting out for such bullshit reasons.
The Punch: The real meat of the story and the culmination of Kakeru's angst and baggage. The coach was clearly abusive, but this is a real issue that wasn't exaggerated for drama's sake. As such, Kakeru's hot-blooded moment wasn't glorified and wasn't shown as anything heroic, and it's noteworthy how impartial he was about the whole thing. If this were any other series, the moment would have been dragged out and maybe even justified. But Run with the Wind isn't like many sports anime, and it's clear where its priorities lie when it foregoes highlight reels for subtle moments of character development.
That Kakeru thought the punch was a selfish move on his part was a little weird to me at first, but looking back on what we know about him so far, it really does make sense that he'd think so. Kakeru also suffered because of his coach, and it was just the coach's bad luck that he bullied that one runner too hard, giving Kakeru an excuse to explode. The coach was definitely in the wrong, but even after Kakeru did that, nothing changed and things got worse than before. There are real consequences for spur-of-the-moment actions based on hot-blooded impulse. It's why so many people are being advised against rocking the boat to maintain the status quo, especially if the needs of the majority outweigh the struggles of a few.
The Flashback: Really great artistic choice there to seamlessly splice the flashbacks with present-day events through the canned audio. I especially loved how Kakeru's flashbacks got progressively darker and grayer, until the pivotal moment, where everything snaps back into focus and bursts into color. All of that to show this is the part Kakeru remembers the most and the part that continues to haunt him to this day. Reminds me of that earlier scene in a former episode, which showed Kakeru trying to outrun his past. Run with the Wind's artistic game has been really on point, and all the creative choices have really helped make this show something special.
The New Team: I liked that Haiji convinced Kakeru to tell his story to everyone on the team. It really shows how no one here is a throwaway character, and it's also a neat way of avoiding any unnecessarymisunderstandings or in-team conflicts. Everyone here has Kakeru's back 100% and knowing this allows the show to focus on the things that really matter, like their run to Hakone Ekiden and Kakeru's personal battles.
The Development: It's understandable why Kakeru would cut himself off from everybody, if the one thing he took away from his experience was, "my temper is dangerous, it could ruin the team." Being a dick to the weaker runners doesn't just show how poor a communicator Kakeru is; it also shows his results-first mentality. If the runner can't run, then he's better off dropping out to avoid troubling the team - which was exactly what Kakeru told Prince before. In his mind, Kakeru truly believes saying this is the best thing to do - it saves everybody from getting grief and prevents him from exploding again to make things even worse.
But now, he's finally taking real steps to learn how fun it is to really run with a team, and not other rivals who want to overtake your top scores. He's also taking real steps to be more honest with himself, and to communicate more directly with his new teammates. He didn't really want to avenge his injured teammate when he punched his coach; he just wanted to vent out against his coach's selfish pressure cooker-style of "leading." Now, Kakeru's grown to really appreciate the way a team can come together and help each other out, which is why even a cheesy line like "thank you for believing in me" becomes incredibly heartfelt.
The Running: Oh, so that's what Kakeru's naked running form meant from before, ha. It's really all about the running with Haiji, isn't it. He couldn't care less what your background or personality are, if you can run so good, you give him a hard-on, then it's all over for you.