10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - New Generation - Episode 16

The first day of the Inter High Race brings familiar faces and sights but also tensions and doubts.

Ride.16 - "The Second Inter High"

Heh.

I just realized that we've got about 9 episodes left in this season and the 3 stage race has just begun. Judging by how narrative arcs go, I'm thinking we'll end right after the end of the first stage or on a cliffhanger for how it turns out. With no statement yet about when a fourth season would start, I'm leaning toward a finish line result with a quick epilogue.

Sugimoto has really gotten into his role with the support crew. Nice speech and all, but will he keep his eyes open for the finale? Well, until then, ask him anything! He's done this before, after all!

Oh hey, girls!

I swear, I'm never going to let that get old.

Aya was pretty funny trying to talk to Onoda like a normal person. Onoda wasn't having it. Not at all. He's still a socially awkward otaku.

This time around, Aya is going to be with us for the whole race instead of just the final stage.

Ha! Miki with the "ufufufu" because Aya admitted she wanted to see Onoda ride again. He is the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN, you know. Everybody likes a winner.

I liked how the media was still all about Hakone. The perception was that Sohoku's win last year was just a fluke. Teshima said they just have to win again to make them believe.

The Hakone guys are still solid. At least somebody in the crowd yelled out that Izumida grew his hair out. Maybe we'll get an explanation on that during the race.

Ashikiba forgot his phone charger again. No time for side trips to Akihabara. The Inter High is about to start!

They're still hiding the face of the new Hakone guy, but the promo already showed him to be Shinkai's younger brother and that he's a climber instead of a sprinter. I suppose the reveal is going to have some impact on the Sohoku guys.

Miki explained the tag numbers to Aya. This is a good exposition device. Last year, Onoda was the one who needed all sorts of things explained to him since he was a newbie and served as the audience's perspective on the alien world of road racing. Since we have no one on the team who hasn't been through all this stuff before, Aya is a good target for Miki's explanations.

We still had time for one explanation to be given to Onoda to get him topped off on nakama fuel: he gets tag number 1 because he's the returning champion. The 1 tag was usually reserved for the designated ace, but the winning team has some extra traditions it has to follow. Considering the course is going through a whole bunch of hilly regions, Onoda is probably going to be set up to win the whole damn thing again.

I've been waiting for this scene between Midousuji and Naruko. It was everything I hoped it would be!

Yasss! How you like that confidence Naruko showed you, Bokesuji (Idiotsuji)? The other kids on Kyoto's squad couldn't believe Naruko was just standing there not even registering Midousuji's weird "pressure."

Naruko is an all-rounder now, because he loves riding his bike and his friends more than he loves sprinting. Midousuji is going to come up with a plan to spoil his new riding style, but he has no info on it, so it's going to be a gamble on his part.

Midousuji is going to show us some new weird things again. At least he's still chopping his teeth properly.

I love this thing about Kaburagi's nervous stomach. Even his teammates said that he was in his "usual place" before a race.

This was a good time for Doubashi to play the villain against a younger impressionable opponent.

I'm not too fond of Kaburagi getting his doubts about Onoda rekindled so easily after he saw what he did during their training ride and during the training camp, but he is an inexperienced first year.

Kaburagi just doesn't know! He doesn't know what the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN did to get to the winning spot on the last day. He just knows what he saw in those final 2 km.

He doesn't know that the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN climbed a hill on the lip of a gutter to pass a whole peloton. He doesn't know the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN dragged the heaviest man in the peloton up a mountain to the front of the race. He just doesn't know what kind of rider the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN is. His teammates know that the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN is no "ordinary rider." Some of his opponents know it too. The biggest clue should just be that he's the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN. Flukes rarely happen like that on a stage race. A one day race, maybe, but not on cumulative time.

But Kaburagi is going to know soon enough. He's going to know it so hard!

We have a bit of time left for some more jokes, so I was totally digging how Imaizumi had a bunch of girls squealing for him at the team presentation but all of Naruko's fans were dudes. Get fired up y'all!

Manami is sooo going to be the reluctant Toudou. How did he think his little gesture was going to stop all those girls from screaming? His childhood friend isn't going to like this new development at all.

Cycling Porn.

There wasn't much in the way of cycling porn that we hadn't seen before from Tent City. All the bikes and gear were just there for getting warmed up, so I was glad we got to see Doubashi manhandling his Specialized S-Works. If he keeps bending his handlebars so badly from his strength, maybe they should just get him some titanium or carbon fiber. Or at least stick him on rollers instead of a stationary trainer. Rollers will make sure he has to maintain a smooth pedaling stroke if he's going to stay on it. I wonder if those broken handlebars will be some foreshadowing for how an intermediate sprint goes down.

Next time, the actual race start. Hopefully Shinkai's little brother leaves that anime mask on the bus.