10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Glory Line - Episode 14

Komari's backstory and his relationship with Midousuji motivate him to challenge Izumida for the intermediate sprint.

Line.14 - "Heart's Wrapping, Heart's Case"

Hmm.

Half the episode played out like conventional yaoi anime. Substitute homosexual erotic urges for Komari's compulsion and obsession to "touch leaping muscles" along with an older male grooming him to indulge such urges, and we're already there. Never let it be said that Yowamushi Pedal misunderstands a large portion of its fan base.

Anyway, it was all there. Komari was self-aware of how "different" he was and he needed to hide his abnormal urges. He had a strong mother figure enforcing conservative social norms. An older boy recognized his urges and seduced him into giving into them for a price. His outward appearance attracted an unfortunate woman which would goad him into baring the truth of his taboo attraction to this older boy. The older boy would require more and deeper instances of deviancy, including public humiliation to strip him of all sense of normalcy. All for the purpose of "winning" against a society that could never accept their methods of self-expression.

Everything in the above paragraph had no reference to sex, only to Komari's backstory and Midousuji's personality. Pretty good, huh? Here you go, fujoshi. This episode was for you!

I have to say, the wrapped up bento box was an amazing symbol and image to tie to Komari. The joke in the omake at the end sold it even better! Be afraid, Yamaguchi. Be very afraid!

Heh.

Here's what you need to know for the race. We've gone from 1000 meters to the sprint line to 100 meters. Half an hour for 900 meters...

Komari's backstory was told very well as a Boy's Love story. We're not told why he started obsessing over muscles at such a young age, but as I mentioned above, if you let that be the metaphor for deviant sexual urges (yaoi titillates by treating same sex relationships as illicit, because the genre is aimed at women, not well-adjusted gay dudes), then it doesn't matter.

Having Midousuji recognize deviancy and calling him gross right off the bat fit his personality to a tee. Of course, Midousuji only calls people gross if their desire for victory isn't "pure." You never see him calling Onoda, Manami, or Naruko gross.

Midousuji calls Komari gross, but Komari calls Midousuji beautiful... His muscles, anyway.

Ha! How many different ways can the author tell cyclists to "face forward?" Midousuji told Komari that he "wouldn't find anything facing the ground and bowing your head all the time."

That some heavy duty closeting. Komari wore fake glasses to hide his staring at muscles.

Midousuji's grooming technique fits his philosophy of cutting away everything that doesn't serve a "pure" path to victory.

Dayum! They even put in the desperate love confession in the rain. Yaoi!

Har. The kids at the track even put in the line about Midousuji not being a girl, so why would you want to "feel his muscles?" Yaoi!

Of course, Midousuji's grooming is just recruiting weirdos to ride bikes. "Catch me first, on a bike, if you want to touch my dancing muscles!" I think I would get slapped if I asked someone, anyone, to touch my dancing muscle...

Here's the cute girl that would have been degraded on Komari's path of destructive self-discovery.

And the seduction is complete. Don't just touch stationary muscles! Have an orgy at Inter High to touch dancing, leaping muscles in action! Calm down fujoshi...

Oh, reminder why Komari wears 29 on all his clothes. This can be read as two-nine or ni-ku. Niku (肉) is meat in Japanese. See? Komari doesn't want to touch muscles; he wants that man-meat! Okay, I'm going to have to stop this soon.

Komari comes out of the closet! Er, he unwrapped his bento box and opened it up!

And we're finally back to racing! Now we can talk about Izumida polishing his spear when no one was looking and... gah!

Still no mention of Fabian. Komari is going to have a surprise.

Ah, good. We had some good scenes with Fukutomi mentoring Izumida as a leader. Don't expect praise, because you won't get any. And if you need it, you can't be leader. Harsh, but true in management circles.

Obviously, Komari has not been taught how to sprint tactically. I'll talk about that in the next section.

And cliffhanger at 100 meters to go. Terrible, but expected for this show.

Ha! Nice joke in the omake for Komari's bento box. This Yamaguchi is too pure for the Kyoto Fushimi team.

And now Kuroda features in the end card. I guess we're really doing all the main characters.

Cycling Porn.

Lots of loving looks at Midousuji's De Rosa, Komari's Carerra, and Izumida's BH. There were a couple of Giant bikes at the track along with an Anchor. Also, just look at how long Midousuji's stem is.

Remember, this is the same frame he's been riding since before his mother died. He's just been putting longer and longer seat posts and stems to account for his growing body.

Now, let's talk about sprinting in the last kilometer with 4 or fewer riders. The winning tactic, especially if it's two up, is to make the loser go out front so the winner can attack him from behind. The one in front usually can't see when the all-out sprint starts, and even if he does, he still has to get his body in position to start his own sprint, causing a delay. If normal rules apply, Komari has already lost this sprint.

First off, he started his move too early. 300 meters out means a long time to hold a maximum effort. As long as Izumida is in his slipstream, which can extend to as far back as 20 meters, he can unleash his own sprint and pass the loser well before the line. But this is anime, so I don't expect normal rules to apply. I just want to see Izumida use Fabian again like he did last season.