10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - New Generation - Episode 7

Hakone Academy says farewell to its cycling team seniors at its Third-Year Send-Off Fun Ride. Izumida challenges Shinkai for the mantle of fastest Hakogaku sprinter. Toudou wants to take on Manami in the hills.

Ride.07 - "The Last Meet"

Heh.

Yaassss! I missed these Hakone guys!

Right. 120 km "fun" ride. Not with designated replacements being competitive with the seniors in their prime.

We haven't seen these guys much yet, just a little bit with Ashikiba, so this episode was kind of like the movie from last year, fan service in the original sense. We got jokes based on all the personalities we saw at the Inter High race and in flashbacks, signature moves and some new ones!

I'm so bro'ed out by all this brotastic bromance, I'm brofisting myself!

Fukutomi and Shinkai shared a brotastic moment, but the punchline was Arakita muttering madly about not getting sentimental. As if his friends would let him get away with that!

I said that I missed these guys, right?

Toudou got his own scenes too.

Kyaa~! Toudou-sama!

This ride wasn't all about the graduating seniors, though. Just like Sohoku facing transition issues, Hakogaku has some of its own. Izumida is showing some surprising leadership skills and his number two Kuroda is also quite mature. They make a good tag team and they show that off by slapping their hands to take turns in counseling Manami and Ashikiba.

The Minegayama Hill Climb already established Ashikiba as being kind of dense, and Kuroda showed that he's going to be a funny guy and take advantage of the goofy tall kid.

The main psychological issue for this new Core Four is Manami overtraining to make up for his loss against Onoda. He's desperate to make up for his failure and even offers to pull on the flats even though he's a climbing specialist.

I loved how Izumida tagged Kuroda in to deal with Manami in a light-hearted way. Poke in the ribs! Izumida is a serious guy with a sentimental streak, so he's not good at lightening the mood. But his buddy Kuroda is! This is good stuff to see how this co-leadership works. I'm bro'ing out again...

Manami only showed his old wings. Will he pull out his new wings against Toudou in the next episode?

I know that Sohoku's characters are the focus of this show, so from a narrative perspective, it's not surprising how long it took to address Onoda's issues of abandonment with Makishima. With Hakogaku, it's done in half an episode. Okay, so Sohoku has way fewer cyclists, so individuality is going to dictate how the problems are solved. For Hakogaku, the fastest are usually the mentally toughest since they have to vie for attention with 90 other guys. Having two first years in Manami and Ashikiba lets their team have a little maturation arc for the audience. Although, I don't think Ashikiba is ever going to be the brightest bulb on the team...

Shinkai Passes the Torch.

One of the coolest things about this new season of Yowamushi Pedal is all the references and continuity from the first season. The second season was all racing action with a little bit of Midousuji character development, but the character arcs for everyone else began in the first season. Izumida's idea of putting Hakone's numbering system on the new Core Four was a brilliant stroke of leadership on his part and great storytelling for the audience. Each of the numbers have significance and denote specific roles and recognition of talent. This is going to be cool to see how the rest of the counterparts act on these numbers.

Number 4 always goes to the fastest sprinter and it was a telling thing for Izumida to put it on his chest before he beat Shinkai to their practice line. This was good stuff. Aw, I'm brofisting myself again...

Ha! And Ha ha! Fabian! Izumida's pecs we knew were named after Andy and Frank Schleck, but to call his newly developed back muscle weapon after Fabian Cancellara... while all three were still on Team Leopard Trek... Aaaahhhh! It's too good! I love this show!

Shinkai kapow! and Izumida Ab! All is right in the world of Yowamushi Pedal. Although, that's twice we've seen Shinkai kapow someone and lose on the intermediate sprint line.

Next time, Manami faces Toudou in the hills. That scene of Manami sticking the number 3 on his chest and saying "I've got Toudou's number!" still echoes in my mind. I hope to see some significance brought out of this before we get to the aces' and their assistants' contests. I'm going to savor Kuroda facing Arakita.

Cycling Porn.

This week, we saw Hakogaku's blue Sidi shoes, Fukutomi's Giant, Toudou's Ridley, Arakita still on Fukutomi's old Bianchi, Shinkai's Cervelo, Manami's Look, Izumida's BH, Kuroda's Kuota and Ashikiba's Willier. The other teammates rode an assortment of Anchor and Cannondale. Hakone really concentrates on roller training. Shinkai's demon bumped Izumida in the sprint, but surprisingly Frank didn't warn him about any danger. Maybe Izumida has gotten bolder as a sprinter?