>>2746844>Thanks anon. Too bad Kaze's info are so scarce.Yeah, sadly. Wish it'd have caught on more but I'm still glad I decided to give it a watch last month. And somebody seems to be translating the novel now at least. Comparing them might be fun. As for the manga, it doesn't seem that interesting but I'd still like to check it out.
>In the original draft or the actual book?Draft. In the book Kakeru gives up on Hana towards the end and later joins Haiji's works team, still wanting Haiji to show him what running is. The rest is open-ended.
The novel does seem to have some slightly suggestive scenes though like Kakeru wondering whether Haiji is bad in bed since he heard bad driver = bad sex and then later being perplexed when Haiji starts getting better at driving.
>>2746849>I wonder if it was a decision by the anime staff or the author herself.Probably the anime staff and their knowledge of Shion being a BL fan. She praised them for putting a new spin on the novel after all and I can see several reasons why they went that way. As you noted the love triangle/quadruple just robs screentime and Haiji is still endgame.
Moreover this way the ending is more uplifting and also a bit surprising for people who know the original work.
Before the "to me you're the best runner" talk novel Haiji tells Kakeru that he actually lied when he said that he believes in him. There's also Kakeru believing Haiji when the latter tells him that his knee is fine but in the anime he sees through his lie. So there's more of a sense of betrayal in the novel and Kakeru never finds the meaning of running while in the anime he and Haiji find their answer in each other and Haiji can keep on running into Kakeru's arms with the power of love and running autism.
