10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 28

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 28

Onoda passes 100 riders, and shows us how legends are made. No one is happier than Makishima that he caught back up, even if he can't say it out loud.

Heh.

"Was that little guy singing as he passed me?" Oh man, this episode was my favorite so far! Everything we've seen from Onoda in past episodes was brought back. Finding his rhythm by singing the Love Hime opening song. Knowing he's got another 30 rpm in him to get rid of Midousuji. Crazy fast pedaling with amazing innate balance.

I loved it when Arakita claims that even if their second climber makes it past all the other groups on the hill, there's going to be one big pack that no proper cyclist can make it past. Lots of knowing smiles at that moment.

Leave it to Imaizumi to explain to Arakita, that Onoda may be many things, but he is not a proper cyclist. Makishima's smile is the biggest here. Nice. There are things he doesn't know he can't do, which is why he'll do them anyway. Like passing whole groups on the outside of a curve. Or other legendary moves.

After Onoda catches up, (did it start raining on my cheeks?) and everybody bro'ed out, Makishima shot out of the group to catch Toudou. It was quite telling that Makishima yells out "Sakamichi!" instead of his family name. He left it to Kinjou to express his gratitude, and not just for catching up, but for being their second climber, and letting him have a chance for personal glory. That was a satisfying flashback from Makishima's perspective to see Onoda's growth as a climber.

Geh.

Riding uphill on the lip of a gutter is reckless and not something a proper cyclist should do, so, naturally, that's what Onoda does. But when he's about to lose it, he shows the peloton what a budding legend looks like.

That's Kinjou level bike handling right there, but don't ask him to do it on purpose. He was hopped up on panic and nakama power, so fear had temporarily left the building.

Meh.

We get it. Midousuji is a bad seed. However, he proved a good foil to build up our pride in Onoda's skills and growing mental toughness. The animators keep adding weird things to Midousuji too, like this new chopping sound he makes with his teeth. I suppose it's all supposed to be part of the mind games he likes to play on people to mess with their rhythm, which is gamesmanship in itself. But come on, now. His pronouncing everybody gross is totally lacking in self-awareness. I did like that he had to let Onoda go because he has his own game plan, which included bottling up the main pack with his team, which left him grudgingly acknowledging Onoda's high cadence pedaling. "Gross, but not a mass-produced model." Just like him.

Hmm.

With Makishima headed up the road, and Onoda keeping tempo for the rest of the team, I figure we're going to have some broheim time with Makishima and Toudou plus Onoda and Manami. I need to take a break from all the stress Onoda put me through, so that should be a nice change of pace.

Cycling Porn

We've got some furious pedaling styles and some more bike brands.

We've got some more Pinarello's, Makishima's Time, Midousuji's De Rosa, and some Bianchi's and BH's in the main pack. We haven't seen Onoda's pedaling style in a while, so this was a good episode for that. We also see what the climbing tactics are for groups, which mainly boils down to spoiling a rider's rhythm. Whether you're in a breakaway, or climbing steadily, you have to manage your pain. Climbers develop their own rhythms and styles to rest parts of their legs while the other parts do the work. Rest, relax, rinse, repeat. If your opponent can spoil your rhythm, it makes it that much harder to get started again. The best example I can remember is when Carlos Sastre won the Tour de France with the Schleck brothers on his team. It all came down to the Alpe d'Huez climb in 2008 where the brothers locked down Cadel Evans as Sastre rode away from him.