10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Glory Line - Episode 8

Hakone and Sohoku each have a plan for the 2nd day of racing, but Sohoku faces adversity when a teammate struggles.

Line.08 - "2nd Day, Start!!"

Hmm.

I expected mirroring from the events of last year, but I didn't expect them to be so exact. The only difference between the two sprinters having a "No Day" was experience. Oh, a nomenclature thing here, a "No Day" in the pro peleton means your body tells you "no." Whatever you did yesterday, your body did not recover properly over night, and you asked it to race today, and it said, "no." Some things just make too much sense in the cycling world.

Last year, it was Tadokoro, and he knew immediately after the first stage that he was going to struggle the next day. He asked Makishima to keep it a secret, but then Onoda had to save his bacon by the power of "Love Hime". This year, Kaburagi did not have the good sense to collapse in private and kept his "No Day" feelings to himself. Unfortunately, as Teshima explained to THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN, the power of pettanko princesses will not work this year to rescue a left behind sprinter. Number 1 on your back marks your every move as covered, so we're going to have to wait a bit longer to see Onoda singing anime songs. Someone else will have to bring Sohoku back together, and that's going to be the God of Orangina!

Let me tell you, it tickles me how soft drinks become an avatar of sorts each year in this story. Last year, it was Arakita's "Bepsi" as the ultimate reward for bromance. This year, it's going to be Kaburagi sharing "Orangeena" with his memo pad God. I believe Aoyagi is up to the task!

Heh.

Kaburagi is all nervous. He's hiding something.

God is on his side. That's Aoyagi...

Aoyagi tamed Kaburagi! He's the Idiot Whisperer!

Ah. We're still doing that time staggered business for this high school race. The pros have learned that a bunch neutral start is the fairest way to start each day of a stage race, but Japan loves those stopwatches and GPS sensors...

No butt crack this time with Aoyagi holding Kaburagi back. I suppose he and his buddy only did criteriums and one day races with their racing club.

Teshima explained the route (nice tourism montage) and pointed toward a long downhill towards the finishing town. He didn't describe what the finishing course looks like after they pass through the town, though. Gotta leave something for suspense.

I'm still waiting to see how they're going to treat Kuroda as a plot point.

Teshima and Izumida are still playing chess. It looks like Izumida either wants to gauge their condition or put a hurt on somebody for later.

Ah. Kuroda did walk his bike across the finish line. It appears that the rules make it a bunch start for anyone who finished after a certain time cut.

Izumida is going to go back for Kuroda, but there's no way Sohoku is going to have an easy time following Onoda's wheel to the front. Shounen narratives just won't let that happen.

Oh. It's Kaburagi's turn to cause the drama. His legs are spasming and he's actually putting feet down on a climb. I'll talk a bit more about this stuff in the Cycling Porn section, but this wouldn't play out exactly like this.

Kaburagi didn't listen to God and follow Aoyagi's wheel. Sinner!

Ha. Whenever Kaburagi calls someone else an idiot, you can bank on that person doing the exact opposite of what the idiot Kaburagi determined. Aoyagi knows exactly what's happening with Kaburagi at this point.

It looks like Izumida's plan to shake out Sohoku's weakness before dropping back to pick up Kuroda is working out. Keikaku doori...

Wow. Hakone just passed Kaburagi stopped on the road.

Kaburagi is burning too many sprint matches just to keep up. It's a total "No Day" for him.

Wheelsuckers should be polite. I like how Doubashi doesn't mind Kaburagi throwing away his pride just to survive a race. That fits in with Doubashi's philosophy of the winner is the fittest.

Teshima blames himself for Kaburagi getting dropped, because he listened to all that advice from Kouga about what a solo first year goes through on a racing team. I'm not exactly sure it fits with Kaburagi's ostentatious pride, because he would be trying to hide his weakness anyway just from a personality standpoint, but it was a warning that Teshima should have been keeping track of.

Onoda wants to help, but he can't. He literally cannot because of the Number 1 on his back. The other riders just wouldn't let him pace a slower rider back to the front, plus he has his other duties of countering climbing aces on this long steady grind.

It looks like God will have to intervene. I mean, Aoyagi says he left behind some idiot and has to pick him up. This is the right move!

Ah haha! In the omake, Doubashi needs a lot of alarm clocks to wake up. Manami needs a little girl with glasses...

Cycling Porn.

This week, we got to see some helmets, some bike brands, breakaway tactics, officially crossing the line, calling out mechanicals, and starting up again on a hill. I wish I had a better eye for helmets, but the brands I made out are Onoda's Catlike, a lot of different Giro styles, a Bell, and maybe even a Cannondale. We also got to see a lot of bikes which we haven't seen since last season. Pretty much all of the sprinters' bikes, Doubashi's Specialized S-Works, Izumida's BH, Aoyagi's Corratec, and Kaburagi's Felt. The climbers saw some attention too, with Onoda's BMC, Teshima's Cannondale, Yuuto's Cervelo, and Manami's Look. No sparking gear changes this week, but we did get a spark from Kaburagi clipping into his Shimano pedal. Sigh.

Let's talk about Kaburagi clipping in on a climb. They made it look easy here, but it is not. If you're strong, and haven't redlined and bonked like Kaburagi did, you can be smooth as you clip in and crank the pedal arm, but otherwise, you should look like a bird with a broken wing trying to take off and fly. In my own experience, I've blown myself up on a 30% grade and had to recover. This meant clipping in and starting up again on a 20% grade... I felt panicked trying to get over that steep hump while thinking I was going to fall over before I redlined. I was even more scared of falling over from a standstill while fully rested. They never seem to capture that desperate awkward feeling in anime when people stop on an incline.