10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - New Generation - Episode 18

The Inter High Race starts. Onoda and Manami promise to ride together in the mountains. The sprinters begin their contest for the first sprint line with Aoyagi and Kaburagi working for Sohoku.

Ride.18 - "The Swelling Aoyagi"

Heh.

Onoda started the episode holding his chest to feel how excited he was for the start of the race, but that was really for the audience to get their own hearts racing. Get excited! This race is about to go down!

Oh man. Naruko channeling Toudou because he's wearing #3. I miss that guy already. Naruko doesn't help since all his fans are broheims.

Speaking of broheims, the first part of this episode is to make sure we know who's paired up in which bromance. Aoyagi and Teshima have their Certain Victory hand holding. They'll need that for a little bit since Aoyagi the sprinter will have leave Teshima's side temporarily as he goes to war against the other sprinters.

But let's not forget the most important bromance now that Makishima and Toudou have graduated: Onoda and Manami!

Man, that's a big deal when the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN comes back into the pack to say hi.

They're still both shy guys around each other, but they're getting better.

See? I knew they were saving all the stuff that happened in those previous time jumps for flashbacks during the race. Like the seniors' last rides before they had to give up club activities to prepare for exams and graduation and then all of a sudden it was Spring and the new school year. Whatever could have happened during those cold Winter months? Oh, I don't know, like Toudou having a climbers' party!

I miss all those Hakone guys! Toudou made it seem like he called Manami and Onoda together for his own selfish reasons, but we know better. Toudou didn't really care about giving up his Mountain God and King of the Mountain titles away to either Manami and Onoda. He just wanted those two to ride together again before Manami's feelings hardened too much. Manami needs a little shove for most things, so Toudou was being a good mentor and friend to both of them. He really is one of my favorite characters in this story.

The flashback also explained how Manami got Onoda's phone number to tell him he was in Akihabara from a few episodes back. I love how this show pays attention to those little details so that Manami could give Onoda another water bottle to show the audience that Manami was back to his friendly oblivious self before the Inter High race started. Good story planning and good character development.

Ha! Toudou may be kind of dumb, but he's not crazy. He'd never ride in that cold snow!

Ah, no titles handed out that day. Too much snow at the top. They'll have to get those title where it matters: in official competition.

The third bromance needed us to join the support crew for a bit.

Hey, look! Girls! That never gets old.

Miki said the feed zone needed a woman's touch for some things. Aya said she didn't know how she could help. Ha. I'm sure she's going to give Onoda a little something as a way of saying "yo!"

Back to the broheims - Danchiku wanted to tell the advance crew to look out for his best friend Kaburagi. Koga, fitting his personality now that he's not competing any more, is sensitive and shows he's been paying attention. Danchiku can cheer for Kaburagi himself in the Kanzaki van.

And then, it was really race time as the first prize of the day was for the sprinters.

Woof. Look how big they made Doubashi riding next to Izumida. Looks like he already started up his cycling superpower.

This Kaburagi guy is hilarious. Since the training camp, everyone has been saying that his characteristics fit an all-rounder build, but he's been stubborn about playing the sprinter role. Then, in the middle of the race, after all the strategy has been done, he announced that he's now an all-rounder, so Naruko has to go with Aoyagi so he can go for the finish line. He's apparently forgotten that Imaizumi is pedaling right next to him...

Anyway, nobody listens to his nonsense and he gets sent up the road with Aoyagi. I can already see how the stages will play out, with Naruko beating Midousuji at something so he can go back to sprinting and Kaburagi having to take over the ace position for a while because of Imaizumi's incipient injury. It's all good. This story likes to lay out the pieces of the puzzle before it puts them back together.

Aoyagi can get big too, Doubashi. Watch out! Also, the title of the episode, obviously.

Kaburagi has lots of potential. Props to Teshima for letting Aoyagi test him in race conditions too. Keeping up with Aoyagi's full sprint slipstream and not even breathing hard is a good sign.

Ha! Naruko is itching for the sprint. But he's cool, he's cool. Not really. And neither is Izumida! Ah, I love these guys!

Nice. Both Imaizumi and Kurada had to calm their counterparts down.

The cliffhanger is how Aoyagi and Kaburagi are going to react to Doubashi's fierce glare which usually intimidates the other riders. Come on. We already know how this plays out. Kaburagi is going to be clueless and Aoyagi is going to be Quiet Guy senpai. That's just how the personalities of Sohoku roll.

Cycling Porn.

This week, now that the race has finally started, we're getting some good looks at the bikes during the neutral start and the opening kilometers. We've got Pinarello, Scott, Corratec, Cannondale, Manami's Look in a flashback, and a random guy riding an Anchor. Toudou's letter to Manami and Onoda (handwritten with a stamp and envelope!) said to bring cold weather gear like shoe covers, but the kids' shoes didn't have those covers on in the snow. I've ridden in snow. You want, at the very least, toe covers. Ah well. I guess the CGI guys didn't have the specs for that.

The omake had Toudou keeping a whole bunch of hot packs underneath his jacket. Sure, he's totally fine in cold weather. I miss that guy. But I love how this show brings back these characters every once in a while, like with Kinjou and Arakita. More like that please!

Next time, Doubashi asks Kaburagi how his toilet time went. Uh, I mean, we'll get to see how Doubashi's reputation as the Road Monster matches reality.