10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 33

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 33

Tadokoro starts off badly. Makishima says they need to leave him behind, but Onoda refuses. The power of Love Hime begins to save the day.

Heh.

Squee! Onoda makes Tadokoro sing the Love Hime opening song! And how does he know the words already?! Okay, okay, it was just Onoda setting a good pace and recovery rhythm for Tadokoro, but still, timing the final attack on the refrain's ending was a nice exclamation point. Like I've said before, Onoda is going to turn this club into Anime and Cycling Club, emphasis on Anime.

Oh, man, the best part was before Onoda started singing with Tadokoro was when he asked him, "Hey, you want to pass that guy?" Hah!

Alright, the power of nakama and anime saved Tadokoro, but what will save Imaizumi's low morale? I don't think Kinjou's voice can go low and macho enough to give him a shot of otoko! power.

Not only was there good cycling scenes as we start the 2nd stage, but there were also lots of good reaction shots in the peloton.

My favorites were Aoyagi looking at the passing peloton with an exclamation point on his t-shirt, Makishima shoving a hand in Naruko's face to shut him up, and Midousuji being all pouty that Imaizumi doesn't want to listen to his stream of bullshit.

Hmm.

With that long descent before the flats, Tadokoro and Onoda should be able to make it past the big bunch. Naruko leading Makishima will have an easy time on the flats to catch up too. The problem is Imaizumi and Kinjou. If they can latch on to Hakone, they can save their strength if they don't take any turns pulling, but I think that Shinkai guy is going to make it pretty hard for them to catch on to their tail.

Midousuji really made up a detailed strategy, but you know he's still a creepy weirdo. He was wearing black gloves while pointing out stuff on the map to his team. That's just not normal. I mean, we already knew he wasn't normal, but we've got layers and layers of creepiness being laid down.

Heat exhaustion is no joke. Even if your body just wants to throw up everything you put in it, you still have to try, because some food and fluid will get in there. You have to do what Tadokoro did, which was just keep moving until you feel better. I think singing Love Hime at the top of your lungs helped a great deal too!

Cycling Porn.

With straight up racing action, with a bit of anime power-ups, we got lots of good pedaling action.

The CGI guys seem to know how to spell their modified brands consistently, which makes sense since they just have a bunch of bike models they need to program, but the hand drawn guys need a better editor. Speeializer? We see the other teams riding BH, Pinarello, and Ridley.

Even in high school races, they're cracking down on spectators pushing cyclists.

I used to scoff at people claiming that the guy pacing someone else up a hill provided some wind drafting, especially with how slow you go on some climbs. I thought that most of the benefit was just pacing and some psychology because you expect a slipstreaming effect. But no, there really is some wind protection going on, and on a hard climb, any little bit of help changes the force vectors and how much power you need to expend on a pedal stroke. For the pros, who go up climbs at 15 to 18 mph, when I would do it at 8 or 9 mph, that slipstreaming effect is much more noticeable.

However, having someone else set the tempo and rhythm for you also is a great benefit, and provides a sympathetic response so you can go a little harder for a little longer. That's why it's such a big deal to have even one more teammate on a climb, instead of being isolated. Your opponents are looking to spoil your rhythm, which will slowly sap your endurance.