10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 22

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 22

Onoda's first race. Nervous much? Plus, an actual villain in Yowamushi Pedal. Can they do that?

It's race day! Is everyone excited? Is everyone pumped?

Okay, that guy is helping you get pumped... Onoda, ever the socially inept otaku, is nervous in crowds, except in Akihabara. He needs a little help calming down. Makishima is there for him, and he even gets falling down out of the way by tipping over before the race even gets moving. Miki tells him to remember to have fun, and he's ready to go.

Of course there was some drama before we get to the start. Hakone Academy stands on stage for the team presentation as last year's winner, with climbing-no-ikemen Manami showing up late. It seems to be his thing. As the only first-year on the team, he gets interviewed first, right as he sees Onoda holding the promised bottle. He yells out Sakamichi, but the MC thinks he's answering his question hopes for the race. Sakamichi means hill road, so we finally get a joke out of Onoda's given name.

But then we get to the real drama. Midousuji, Imaizumi's nemesis, appears at the stage. Imaizumi has been looking for him in the crowd, and they finally get to glare at each other. First, he makes an outright declaration of his goal in crushing Hakone, right in Fukutomi's face, like he's a pro-wrestler. Then he laughs at Imaizumi for beating him in last year's middle school race by over 5 minutes. He did that by telling Imaizumi that his mother got run over by a moped and that the officials were looking for him because she died. Cruel. Unsportsmanlike. Liar. This is Midousuji. Gross and nasty, who calls others gross and nasty. I think the producers are trying too hard to make us hate him, even using zombie-like squishy noises to accent his movements.

Before he can provoke a physical response from Naruko, who was standing next to Imaizumi during all this, Kinjou lays a hand on his shoulder, as Fukutomi does the same to Midousuji. Fukutomi finishes what Naruko started to say, "If you're a cyclist, challenge each other on the road." Things quickly defuse after that, but the crowd of competitors now know how different Kyoto's Fukushimi school is compared to last year's team.

It's obvious the two patrons of the race will be Kinjou and Fukutomi. We'll also have a good contrast in rivalries between the gentlemanly nature of Kinjou and Fukutomi versus the blood feud of Imaizumi and Midousuji. The fujoshi will have the growing power of bromance between Onoda and Manami. It seems Naruko is getting left out of the story-telling, unless they focus on him and Tadokoro. Makishima has Toudou, of course. Everyone's OTP is established for the race! Fight-o!

This week's cycling porn features race prep, some other bike brands, and sponsorship.

Makishima explains to Onoda what the bib numbers mean. The last number refers to the team member's place on the team, with the number 1 going to their designated leader. The first couple of numbers refers to a soft ranking of how well that team did in the previous year's race, with the defending team getting single digits. Fukotomi gets to wear number 1.

Midousuji is riding a heavily modified De Rosa frame, an Italian brand. One of the other Hakone guys is riding a Cervelo, and Toudou is riding a Ridley. We've also got some tweaked race sponsor logos on the banner behind the stage. Subaru, Shimano, Powerbar, Vittel, Mavic, and Estathe are the brands I can make out. Sohoku is going with Calorie Mate gels and Powerbars for food. I can't believe this show hasn't got the actual sponsors to line up for product placement. Oh well. Maybe they're going for the subliminal logo effect.