10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 2

Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 2



Midousuji opens a gap between him and the other aces. Kinjou and Fukutomi close most of it up with 300 meters to go.

Heh.

Hey, 1200 meters to 300 meters is not so bad for this show. We still had to show flashbacks, and Midousuji had to think about someone finally calling him gross. Actual time for race situation: about a minute and a half for high schoolers.

Hoh. Kinjou got super serious. Zipped up jersey and sunglasses went in the back pocket. Watch out Fukutomi. He's strong.

Fukutomi and Kinjou get to have their rematch to make up for what Fukutomi did to Kinjou in last year's race during the second day. Lots on the line for both of them. Kinjou gets his second chance, and Fukutomi gets redemption.

The way Kinjou keeps saying, "We have a problem here" doesn't sound like he's worried about it. It sounds like he's about to have more fun in overcoming it to win.

Meh.



Midousuji's crazy turn to open a four second gap was dramatic and fit his abilities in handling a bike in unconventional ways, but the animation left out one major detail: countersteer. Midousuji is using his body weight to turn the bike in as small an arc as he can manage at the speed he's going at. At a certain point, if a body leans over too far, the tires won't have enough friction to maintain the turn.

I'm already ignoring that MIdousuji is maintaining his turn on the sidewalls of his tires, instead of the tread. He could get away with this on the track using racing slicks, but I doubt his team would use them instead of road tires.

So, to keep the bike from hitting the ground, the rider must apply countersteer to add a slight upward force vector. It's a very counter-intuitive idea, that to make a tight turn at high speed, one has to turn the front wheel opposite the direction of the turn, after one has already leaned over. Watch any MotoGP race, and you will see the motorcyclists use countersteer on their turns. At one point in the turn, we see Midousuji slightly turning his handlebars in the same direction as his turn. If he did this in real life, his back tire would have washed out, and he would have left a lot of skin on the road before sliding into the trees. Good idea, but slightly hampered by physics. This is a cartoon, after all.

Hmm.

Midousuji has finally let it all hang out for the final sprint. Kinjou's description of his riding style and strategy is apt: he cuts away anything that won't let him win, be it flesh or teammates. Midousuji was wrong about one thing: Kinjou and Fukutomi did not work together to make up the gap. There might be room for the others to get past him because of that small error in judgment. What will happen in the last 300 meters? Time enough for another freak move by Midousuji? Do Kinjou or Fukutomi also have a card to play they haven't shown yet? Strength versus Ruthlessness in the finale. I hope they don't take a whole episode just for 300 meters like they did last season for the first day sprint line. Unless Fukutomi starts screaming "ab ab ab," that's drawing it out too long.

Cycling Porn.



We've got some nice shots of Imaizumi's Scott, Shinkai's Cervelo, Fukutomi's Giant, Kinjou's Trek, and Midousuji's De Rosa. This show likes to see these kids keep giving each other pushes, but it doesn't happen that often in actual races. Most of the time you see someone put a hand on someone's back to let them know they haven't cleared their front tire yet, or to gently nudge them into a safe position alongside them in the peloton. But it's a good device to show the other guy is transferring his "feelings" or "spirit" to the other guy. That's not a bad thing in anime.