Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 31
Three tied for first! Toudou likes Onoda's eyes. Tadokoro has a secret.
Heh.
Well, I'm glad they finished the race in the middle of the episode so we could have our post race moments.Is high school bike racing really like pro wrestling? I noticed the GC guys didn't say anything. Let the legs do the talking, amirite?
I think this would be me after all that effort.
Did you ever have a mutual crush when you were young, and then you found out there wasn't much to do except sit and smile at each other? Yeah...
Calm down fujoshi. You've got more stuff to get your motors running. Like Toudou shouting to the crowd about his "eternal rival," Makishima. Pretty much a public confession right there. But then he sets his sights on Onoda.
Well, Onoda's eyes are big, but I don't know how "nice" they are... alright, fujoshi, get it out of your systems. At least we know Toudou has "game," and he's earned his female fan club.
Geh.
I'm not sure how much power Midousuji can get into his back tire when his center of gravity is almost in front of his handlebars. That weird position might work on an incline, but on a flat sprint he's got a pretty weak normal force when he's pushing the back tire against the ground. The friction force is linearly dependent on the weight pushing down on the tire perpendicular to the surface plane. If he doesn't get his pedal stroke right, he could be lifting up his back tire off the ground. I can only assume he found a way to make it work.Meh.
I understand that breaking limiters and seals to unleash power is a big deal in Japanese culture, but Midousuji unwrapping his left shifting fingers so he could finally get into the big ring? Come on, now. Perhaps he did it as a demoralizing display, like he did with Imaizumi when they were in junior high when he made him think his mother got run over. Otherwise, meh.Hmm.
There's one obvious point of new drama, with Tadokoro having some kind of fever, or being in shock after the race. If he's got a stomach bug, then he won't be able to refuel and recover properly for the next day, or maybe even sleep, if he's up all night puking. He really should be telling Kinjou about it, because all three of them could figure something out, or make a hard decision like they did with sitting Makishima with pacing duties until Onoda could make it back to them.The other drama is happening in Imaizumi's head. Even though he worked so hard to deliver Kinjou to the 500 meter mark, he saw that he could barely keep up with Midousuji when he was spinning in his small ring. All that hard work since the last time he saw him, and he's not even close to his level. At least that's what Imaizumi's thinking. Never mind that he didn't save anything for the line because he was working for someone else. There's some fuel here for Imaizumi to do something reckless in the next two stages.
Cycling Porn.
We've got a good look at our race favorites' bikes and lots of good sprinting action.
We see Fukutomi's Giant, Kinjou's Trek, and Midousuji's modified De Rosa. I'm just glad the mangaka did not alter De Rosa into De Loser, although De Lose is bad enough. De Rosa's have a really low angled top tube, but with how long that seat post is, it almost looks like Midousuji is on a kid's version. Like I say, I can only assume this freak has made the frame geometry work for him. I have to mention though, bad form on all three guys for keeping water bottles in their cages to the line. Those should have been chucked before they got to the flat drag between the barriers.
Dunno, I thought that part about Midousouji unwrapping his fingers was a nice touch given that all the rest is just someone looking beat up then along comes the roaring, and suddenly it's third or fourth or fifth wind, ready to attain a new level of unprecedented power - it goes to show that he has to physically restrain himself from giving too much, too early.
ReplyDeleteConcerning his bike position, it's BONKERS, there's no way in hell he can shape his spine like a ferret with his head all the way in front of the tire! I'm not sold on the not-enough-weight on the rear argument though. You know: contact patch being narrow, power relatively low (plus these are kids), plus if his bike is really small, it'll be real short too which would offer greater resistance against lifting (although that also begs the question what the hell is he racing on? 650?) - And finally, you can lift the rear wheel even in not-so-aggressive position, it's a mistake I made too, you just learn not to do it because it's not efficient at all.
I can only guess when your whole tone is over the top all the time, the only thing that's left is being ludicrous. I know you didn't like Overdrive, and yes it has flaws, but, if I recall right, the actual racing was a touch more realistic than most of Yowamushi Pedal has had on display.
That said, my two recurring thoughts whenever Midousouji was in the picture were:
1. to catch up to the leaders on a 39 he's either spinning like crazy (and I was already facepalming when Onoda went for what looked a significant amount of time at a claimed 150+ rpm), or the leaders are slow as hell or maybe all of the above and the finish was somewhat uphill.
(1 and a half: how can he possibly be able to contest the final sprint with nobody to bring him out of the pack and nobody to lead him out? see slow as hell)
2. take a look at his stem, that thing can't possibly be a 140mm, and I don't think there's anything much longer on the market - must be custom made? wait, what about the seatpost then?
Now a tied-up finish sounds pretty unlikely to me and I'm not even sure it's possible according to the rules, but next week if YP wants to retain the weakest semblance of realism, Tadokoro will have to have trouble holding a wheel, IMO.
Last thing, do you also get a recurrent and scary Captain Tsubasa vibe there? these guys are sprinting all out, and yet they have plenty of time AND breath to actually talk (it's just not in their mind! they're flapping their mouths all the time)
Apologies for my being so spammy/wordy.
Yeah, there's a lot of talking. That first sprint line a few episodes ago had those three guys jawing so much over 21 seconds, they stretched it out to 24 minutes. Gotta love anime... Still, this is better than Bleach when a 5 second fight takes 3 episodes.
DeleteI've got to be wrong about the back tire normal force stuff, because sprinters are usually way forward, not to the degree that Midousuji is, of the back tire when they're in their launch. But seriously, it looks like Midousuji could just start doing BMX tricks on his front tire. The gross sound effects he makes as he contorts isn't disconcerting at all... No sir!
There's an old joke in this country about Captain Tsubasa: the field is so long you can see the earth's curvature ^^ Yowamushi Pedal... they're so freaking fast that time dilates..? ;)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, to tell you the truth I've been done watching fighting animes for a long time now (I might have watched the first Dragonball season on TV back in the day but that's it), the sole exception being Hajime No Ippo, but that's probably more of a sports anime, right?
AFAICT the theory holds that sprinters should be pushing their bars as far forward as they can possibly stand because that allows for greater power generation out of saddle, however there is always a host of compromises to be made, and I never bothered to check if this turns out to be true for actual pros and it might be hard to draw any conclusions anyway.
Oh my the sprint episodes! what was wrong with that guy intoning abu-abu-abu and talking to his own, named pecs ? :D Also mind boggling, all the time Onoda wastes after the crash. Then of course he has to pull the obligatory rabbit out of the hat, not simply catching up to the peloton (these guys must be watching daisies grow, I tell you), but to the leaders as well (and the way he does that) and then pull them along, too. Why not go ahead and win the race?
Right about the SFX, honestly with those blank eyes of him, I'm almost expecting it turns out he's actually an alien trying to invade earth; a Cornetto trilogy twist woulnd't be out of place :)
Awesome review!
ReplyDeleteI find that you ALWAYS have just the right amount of humour, heartfeltness, and cynical remarks about some of the more technical biking stuff. It feels like you really care about the characters and the plot despite being extremely knowledgeable about the sport, unlike some of the other road racing reviewers out there who only picks on the logistics the whole time and sucks the fun out of everything!
Bicycle porn gifs as nice as always. Really cool how you point stuff out that the layman might not notice, like how Arakita totally stole his captains Bianchi forever, and how creepy frog guy appear to be riding on a child's frame (are you psychic???).
Thanks for the kudos! I also don't get those guys who dump on an anime about cycling. Why spend so much time writing about something one hates? Unless one needs to be acknowledged for his cool detachment with ironic overtones. But how ironically cool can one be after watching ANOTHER 24 minutes of a Japanese cartoon? Those guys should just admit they like watching anything with spinning legs and wheels and want to see how an anime adds ki and chakra power-ups and the strange names of the characters' techniques. It's anime! Don't be embarrassed about like anime.
DeleteMost longform or episodic anime is character driven, and if one doesn't like the characters, what's the point in coming back week after week? I like most of the guys in this anime, and I look forward to watching how they'll react to the situations that get thrown at them. That it intersects with another of my major hobbies makes me giddy. I get to put on two of my otaku hats while I watch it. How great is that?