10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 34

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 34

Kyoto forms its train under Midousuji and challenges Hakone for the first sprint line. Hakone's ace sprinter Shinkai baffles Midousuji with his speed.

Heh.

Midousuji finally gets a little comeuppance. He's been able to rattle Imaizumi and even Izumida, but then Shinkai comes along and rattles him back. The show leaves the sprint line as the cliffhanger, so we don't know yet if Midousuji pulls an even more extreme sprint, but it looks like Shinkai isn't even going at full power yet as he keeps kicking away.

I like all these Hakone guys even more. Shinkai turned into a better and calmer sprinter after coming back from accidentally running over a rabbit and taking care of its pup. And Fukutomi, who we know grabbed Kinjou's jersey at the inter-high race that year, was still a pretty emotional guy himself. But after listening to Shinkai's story, he bent down and starting petting the baby rabbit. He turned into a calmer cyclist too. You can't hate a guy who likes rabbits!

Izumida still needs a little more experience not to be provoked and, thankfully, Shinkai calmed him down before taking up Midousuji's challenge. I liked how earnest he was in rebutting Midousuji's insinuations of weakness, and just said, "Enough, we talk with our legs." That's right! There's no arguing during a bike race, you just ride faster than the other guy. However, Midousuji's head games are effective. He even fooled Andy and Frank!

So far, Midousuji has accepted only the Hakone and Sohoku aces as his equals, because they exceeded his calculations in reaching the finish line at the same time he did. And he let Onoda go because he figured he'd blow himself up later anyway. But Shinkai calmly eating a Calorie Mate block while outkicking him makes no sense in his mind. Can't intimidate, demoralize, or ride faster than Shinkai? Does not compute in that freakshow head of his.

Hmm.

I would like Imaizumi to man up a little. He doesn't seem to have learned that you can't trust anything Midousuji tells him. When Onoda pulls Tadokoro back up to the other guys, Imaizumi will feel the relief that nobody's been dropped yet, but if he were stronger mentally, he would trust his teammates to do the best they can and come back. Kinjou told him that he needs to get stronger during the race, but that includes psychologically too. Pull yourself together, man. It's not like Midousuji told you they got run over by a car.

Next time we'll see if Midousuji pulls an even more extreme pose on his bike, or whether he just lets Shinkai go because the sprint has fallen out of his allotted plan. I'm leaning toward the latter, but you never know how the author will treat this spider monkey freak. Dark horse chances will be either Naruko or Tadokoro beating them both at the line. Hah! I'd like to see that!

Cycling Porn.

This week we've got some organized trains, more bike brands, more Calorie Mate, and some one on one sprinting action.

We see Shinkai riding a Cervelo, Midouji on his De Rosa, and the rest of the Kyoto team riding Raleigh. I don't know how the producers settled on Answer for the rebranded logo, but the font and frames are the same.

Both Hakone and Kyoto form neat pacelines, with the designated leader near the front, but presumably not taking turns in the wind. The flat portion of this course takes them near the sea again, so I wonder if we'll see some echelon battles later on.

With Shinkai keeping that Calorie Mate block in his mouth as he sprints, I'm surprised he doesn't choke on crumbs coming off it. Maybe he's so strong that he's still breathing through his nose as he keeps sprinting away from Midousuji? Shinkai only clicked once on his Shimano shifter, so that's why I thinks he's not even close to being at his top speed. He did take the wrapper and put it into his back pocket. That's a conscientious rider. We don't need more litter on the road. Midousuji is at his limit, though. He was in the big ring the entire time he was screaming at Shinkai.