10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 26

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 26

Sohoku makes a splash in the peloton. The sprinters explain how to take chances. Onoda crashes!

Heh.

Tadokoro gets to share a nice moment with the Juniors in Sohoku van. Plus, he exchanges manly nods with Kanzaki to acknowledge all the hard work they've put in up until now. Men being manly, it's a beautiful thing.

The peloton gets their first shock of the day as some team out of nowhere trounces the favorites, and Sohoku gets to move up to the front as they are now the designated leaders on the road.

Naruko and Tadokoro's relationship reminds me of a young lion trying to knock down the head of the pride in any way he can: from reluctantly taking a water bottle, to not giving it back.

It's all good. We haven't seen a lot of the sprinters' training together since this show is really about Onoda, but I love the humor and friendly rivalry between Tadokoro and Naruko here. It also gives us a chance to see how similar they are when they both explain to Izumida how he was beaten. They didn't think about crashing when the cones flew in their path: they thought about the time loss if they didn't go straight through them. When Izumida protests it was just luck then, Tadokoro explains, he didn't think about the possibility of crashing, and neither did Naruko: they both thought about the possibility of getting past. If they crashed, they would deal with it after the fact. This is the difference between training and racing. Even the pros talk about using races to complete their training, because they have to practice using their fitness and strength in race situations. When you're training on practice roads, it's okay to worry about crashing then, because you might not make it to the next race. But when you're in the race, go for everything, because the big victory at the end is made up of all the small victories beforehand. It looks like Izumida needs to shut Frank up during a race, and just let Andy do the talking.

Big laughs from Onoda finally meeting Toudou. Made my day with commentary from Makishima too.

Best laugh came after the credits, though. Onoda may have joined the cycling club, but he is slowly but surely turning it into his anime club.

One of these things does not look like the others...

Eh?!

Midousuji ate a fly like a toad... we get it. We're supposed hate this guy. But, come on. Come on, now.

Geh.

Onoda crashes. And he starts panicking because he's fallen behind and can't fulfill the role of setting tempo for Kinjou and Imaizumi up the big climb of the stage. I'm not that worried, because he's still got his chase mode, and Manami also noticed he's missing. Still, we're going to get some major adversity for the next episode or two, and Captain Kinjou is going to make some hard decisions about his game plan. Onoda, fight-o!

Cycling Porn

This week's cycling porn features some bike brands, crazy pedaling, and the aftermath of a crash.

We see Sohoku take their turn at the front, Toudo's Ridley, more of Makishima's krazy klimbing style, another BH, and bikes and riders all over the road with Onoda trying to put his chain back on. If you're panicking, it's tough to put a chain back on a fallen bike. One could even lose the Tour de France with a fallen chain, but I guess you can get it back if the winner gets caught using clenbuterol... I wonder what Andy and Frank think about that.