10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Glory Line - Episode 1

After Manami took the Mountain sprint line, Hakone's ace-assistant pair face off against Sohoku's Imaizumi and Naruko. Season Premiere.

Line.01 - "The Final Phase"

Heh.

As I suspected from the previous season, we had to wait until Winter 2018 to continue the first day of racing. Thankfully, we just got a quick 2 minute recap of that last episode to catch us up, and it's back to the race.

One thing we didn't see last episode and they don't show it again this episode, is how Sohoku and Hakone reacted to Onoda flying past them on the climb to catch Teshima. Are we going to leave it to a flashback for Shinkai's little brother for the next stage of climbing?

Ooh. Subplot with feed zone complications. Kouga and Sugimoto have got to haul ass on their own bikes to beat the traffic jam. Looks like both of them got to "race" for the team this year.

Oh, let me use this first post for the first episode of the season for my usual shout-out. Look! Girls! The opening credits shows a lot of spoilerish scenes. Luckily, almost all of them will be in the first two episodes. But at least we got three girls already on screen for this shounen (and fujoshi) show. Maybe Class Prez (iinchou) will get a name this season, and we got our first looks at Miki and Aya.

Ha! Kaburagi is still an idiot. Aoyagi only has so much patience.

And ass crack!

I'm still digging this bromance between Izumida and Kuroda. Nice verisimilitude in that scene too. Izumida offered his palm to slap, but Kuroda is standing up sprinting in the drops. What to do? Elbow slap!

Quick flashback to Hakone and how Kuroda threw away his climbing legs to help the team. He always was an all-round athlete, so with two ace climbers in Manami and the younger Shinkai, it made sense from Izumida's perspective to give Kuroda a different role as the ace's leadout man.

I hope we get an explanation for Kuroda's rolled up sleeve at some point.

Hoh! Izumida's pecs felt a disturbance and Sohoku was right there beside them. He didn't say whether it was Frank or Andy that flexed. Maybe it was both of them? Dangerous and exciting to the opposing team at that moment?

We had seen hints that Naruko had gone back to sprinting, but he still wasn't using his deep dish wheels. Apparently, he had learned how to be fast on whatever terrain for short periods of time. That sounds like a leadout man to me!

Naruko is leaning against guardrails like Arakita. Fluttering speed because he rips his sleeves. Must be nice not to have to pay for your own jerseys.

We usually have spectators spouting stuff for exposition. We don't need somebody supposedly breathing hard in a race to introduce Imaizumi and Naruko for the first show of the season.

Stop talking about soft muscles. That Komari guy is going to get way too excited about it.

They caught the climbers soft pedaling it home. Onoda is totally paying the team back for how they carried him in last year's race. The riders in the back didn't know what happened after they saw Onoda pass them, so this regrouping must have been comforting.

Naruko and Imaizumi are still acting pretty loose with each other even though Black Cat Kuroda is up the road with his pudding muscles. Naruko says he's got two more gears. Let's see it!

Aw. This always happens on long descents to the finish line. Midousuji is hanging with the peloton but that Komari guy just smelled something about muscles. I have a feeling they're going to break out of the pack for Midousuji to contest the finish line with Akashikiba and Imaizumi.

Oh man. The omake scenes are still hilarious. Those graduated seniors were too easy on Manami, but look at us praise him for only being late 9 times this month. Doubashi just cannot even...

Cycling Porn.

This week's cycling porn showed off the usual bike brands with Naruko's Pinarello, Imaizumi's Scott, Kuroda's Kuota, Ashikiba's Wilier, Komari's Carrera, and Midousuji's De Rosa. I couldn't tell what those unbranded spare bikes were that Kouga and Sugimoto started using, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were Anchor.

Yes, they're still showing the sparking gear changes. Naruko's thumb shifting Campagnolo had the honors this week.

A quick note on Kuroda's "soft like mocchi" muscles. In competitive endurance sports, the terminology being used is "long muscles." You'll hear the terms of "lengthening" muscles being thrown around, especially in Pilates classes and what-not. For those who are not sprinters, supple and springy muscles are much better for full extension of the joints, blood flow, and glycogen storage. Muscles should only be hard at maximum contraction, but in an endurance sport, whether you're running or pedaling, that contraction won't be for very long. Limber, strong muscles make you faster and stay light enough for you to get over that hill.

Are we doing end cards for real this season, or are we just going to have variations on the same one like last season?