10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 1

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 1

Can you climb a 20% grade on a 35 pound steel bike while singing your favorite anime opening song? Otaku power!

To say that I've been looking forward to this anime is an understatement. Putting two of my hobbies together, and actually doing it well, has me in a tizzy. I've been disappointed before. 2007's Over Drive was basically a Trek and Shimano commercial (seriously, branding was obviously displayed and they were listed as sponsors at the end of each episode), the main character was annoying, the plot didn't go anywhere, and their explanation of cycling tactics was incomplete at best and just factually wrong at worst. I still watched every single episode though. Yowamushi Pedal is a different beast altogether.

Instead of an artist type, we have an actual weak-looking otaku. Except, how weak can you be when you make the 90 km round trip to Akihabara on your bike just to save bus fare so you can buy one more toy? Yowamushi (弱虫) means "weakling." Onoda, our undiscovered climbing god, also likes to take the steep back entrance to school on his bike so he can sing his favorite anime songs at the top of his lungs. 20% grade, 35 pound bike, singing karaoke... No surprise that he's going to be recruited by the cycling club manager and be challenged by the new hardcore cycling freak. It should be easy to get him into the club too, since the anime club was disbanded for lack of members before he could join it.

This show is not a cycling commercial. The branding on the equipment, though drawn accurately, is slightly changed, just like how all the electronics brands are changed in other otaku culture anime. But you can't hide Shimano Ultegra compact cranks from me. Other brands represented, from clothing, to helmets, to bikes and components are: Specialized, Trek, Giant, Scott, Catlike, Pinarello, Cannondale, Giro, Colnago, Look, Corratec. Look, just look at the cycling porn:

Drools. Wipes. One thing I like: the kids are always leaning their bikes up against something, like we do in real life! It always bugged me in Over Drive when the kids would just throw their expensive bikes on the ground. Come on, come on! Not even pros do that (unless they're broken), and they didn't even pay for those bikes. There is already one pet peeve in this show, however, which will probably be used again and again, is this sparking thing to show they've changed gears dramatically. Um, if a spark comes off your chain while shifting, you have not been a good boy and lubed your components. Sparks only fly when you've crashed and your derailleur is scraping asphalt. Either way, not a good thing. Other than the sparks, I'm excited over this show, and now I have another anime opening song to hum as I climb my own hills.