10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 13

Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 13

Tadokoro buries himself to get Sohoku to the bottom of the climb with Hakone, but Kinjou may have suffered another setback. Season premiere.

Heh.

Is this Yowpeda ga Kill! or what? It's not like everybody is actually dying, but throwing out death flags and showing memorial montages makes it feel like it. At least we see the depth of feeling the characters have for each other.

 

Sohoku's team philosophy is different that Hakone's. It has to be, since they're a much smaller cycling program. Even a championship race has to feature a development program for the junior riders. Kinjou summed it up best when he proclaimed that Sohoku's jersey isn't complete unless the entire team is together. Fukutomi could respect that, but he doesn't think Kinjou is going to win that way.

 

We saw Hakone protecting Fukutomi and the climbers, with Shinkai doing all the work on the flats. The way Sohoku rode, with even Kinjou pulling with Tadokoro, the protected riders were the juniors and Makishima. That's the foreshadowing you need to see where the story goes on the climb.

One other bit of foreshadowing came the night before when Kinjou told his team not to be sad if the they lose a teammate along the way, but to carry their will to win for them when they're no longer there.

 

We got a nice reprise of the Human Bullet Train music when Tadokoro decided to turn himself inside out for the team.

Tadokorocchi, RIP. Well, take it easy to the line, anyway. He had a great last race. Wore the green numbers for a day, survived a bad day by singing anime songs with Onoda, and did his job by delivering his team to a good position on the final climb. Can't ask for more than that for a big man on the bike.

 

Are we not going to get Shinkai's death montage? Doesn't seem like they could fit it in next episode after showing that cliffhanger with Kinjou's knee.

 

Hmm.

As I thought, Kinjou's knee was going to factor in the decisive moments. Did he pull too hard to close the gap with Hakone? Would the pain have shown up again anyway during the climb? A bike racer can only shrug his shoulders and say, "that's bike racing."

 

Fukutomi's plan is pro level. He used up all his rolleurs and sprinters right before the climb and now has his two climbers with him without doing any work all day. He's looking strong (heh).

 

Meanwhile, Sohoku executed a similar plan, using their fast men to close a gap, and using up their main sprinter to get them to the bottom of the hill. Too bad one of those fast men was the designated leader, but theoretically Kinjou still had two climbers, a developing strong man in Imaizumi and a small sprinter in Naruko who can make it over hills if he needs too, or push a fast pace for some portion of the climb. Three of those guys are juniors, so they'll need a strong road captain whom they trust to follow orders. I've pretty much written off Kinjou. He's not going to win with tendonitis like that. There's much more story to tell to make sure Onoda and Manami face off in the finale. Come on, you know it's going to end up that way. I just need to find out how it gets there.

 

Cycling Porn.

 

This week's cycling porn is basically an homage to Tadokoro the Rampaging Human Cannonball. Oh, there's a slight commercial for Pocari Sweat in there too. Thanks, Makishima. And we got a final look at Tadokoro's Specialized frame. Tadokoro puts on a clinic on how to use a big man on a climbing day. Because of the geography, there was going to be a 2 kilometer stretch before the final slope. This was always going to be the place for a strong team with fast men still in the group to solidify a gap, close a gap, or run high tempo to wear out another team's riders.

 

The melodrama with teenagers losing their teammates along the way is not even thought about at the pro level. Depending on the course, the big fast men know their "finish line" is going to be far away from the actual finish line. Doing their job, dropping off and soft pedaling home is just part of the job. We can all respect Tadokoro's effort, but we don't have to be heartbroken about leaving him behind.