10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Glory Line - Episode 25 [END]

The kids get ready for the final day of racing. Onoda's memories of teamwork inspire him to work hard for his friends. Season Finale.

Line.25 - "Their Respective Starting Lines"

Hmm.

I don't really feel a need to remember anything in this episode because it will all be recapped when the next season starts, but there was one scene that concerned me. Towards the end of the episode when Onoda needs to catch up to Imaizumi quickly to match the pair of Yuuto and Ashikiba, Onoda's inspirational montage included scenes from every prior season too. Obviously, these were pivotal moments in Onoda's development as a competitive athlete, but they were also ones that formed the core of Sohoku's team ethic - "Sohoku rides best when we ride together."

What I'm concerned about is that the montage covering every prior season hints that we may have a long wait before the next season. Between the end of last year's race coverage in terms of anime seasons, we had to wait almost two years before the start of the next season covering Sohoku without the three senior riders. Here, we're in the middle of a race, which has always meant a wait of about 6 months, but that multi-year montage left me worried. Also, the manga chapters (which I don't read, so don't spoil me) just barely concluded the race a few of months of ago, so the anime would pretty much catch up at a very convenient time for a long break. Here's hoping I only wait 6 or 9 months for the next installment instead of two years.

Heh.

Huh? All of a sudden it's morning. What happened to Manami? Are we leaving his and Onoda's night time tryst, er, meeting for an important flashback?

Look! A girl! There was definitely a lack of Miki during this whole season, but we're in the middle of a race, so there's only so much you can do with her character as she sits in a van.

Aya is not a morning person.

Izumida doesn't make a very good subject for an interview.

Supposedly, he only cares about one number tag this day - the yellow one. Sure, we'll see if that holds up.

Where's Manami? There's only five of Hakogaku there. Oh, it's become a plot point.

He overslept. Onoda, you animal! Calm down, fujoshi.

Aoyagi has knee warmers on both legs. It's his left knee that hurts, so this is probably to keep it a secret that he has a problem with one of them.

Mama Miki counts the pain pills, you addicts.

Onoda has fans! Ahem, I mean, THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN has fans! And cute girls too. Who also think he's cute! Onoda can't deal...

Last year, Midousuji shaved his head and somehow found a dentist to fix his cracked tooth overnight. This time around, all of Kyoto Fushimi shaved their heads. Komari doesn't look happy and neither does Yama.

They showed the jerseys of the first three finishes, but they also showed Kumamoto and Hiroshima. Just like last year, Hiroshima will suddenly become important. No body part rubbing this time around, I hope. Fujoshi cry...

It's a good thing the Inter-High race does this grid start, or Manami would be in big trouble.

Ashikiba and Teshima are talking to each other with their eyes. Will that be significant on the third day? Teshima knows he's not air headed when it comes to bike racing too.

And they're off. Onoda quickly catches up after topping up on nakama fuel from Naruko and his own spank bank of memories.

Hakogaku is paired up, as well as Sohoku at the front. Midousuji is isolated, but Mizuta isn't that far behind. The End.

And we have the Big Three 2.0 for the end card. See you next January? Hopefully?

Cycling Porn.

Not too much in the way of cycling porn this week since we need to be all up in our feels as the show goes away. But at least we got a loving look at Naruko's Pinarello, Teshima's Cannondale, and the three leaders' bikes in De Rosa, Scott, and Cervelo.

About the only thing I can mention outside of the bike brands is how Onoda fell down just standing next to his bike, again. It's like a tradition with him now. He shouldn't feel bad. This happens to the pros too, even at the Tour de France.

Final Thoughts.

It's kind of hard to have final thoughts for an established anime in the middle of a story arc. Yowamushi Pedal has done this before, so it's not like the formula has changed. I will say that my favorite addition to the story is Special K. Team Sohoku had been missing an absolute idiot to play jokes off of. They kind of had one with Onoda as a pure geek who had no idea what competitive sports culture was like, but after becoming THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN, those kind of jokes simply went away. Enter Special K and his memo notes from the God of Orangina. Pairing him up with the taciturn Aoyagi has paid off in spades, and it's just a real treat to see the two of them in action.

I was concerned that the second race would become a rehash of last year's race. We had Onoda getting isolated and having to race through the pack to catch up again. We also had a sprinter get left behind and brought back to the front by the power of Love Hime. And even a senior rider has a knee problem adding to the drama of the third day. But the circumstances and even the characters involved changed up. Even the anticipated mountain rematch between Manami and Onoda got quashed two days in a row by race situations. This is all good, but it puts a lot of pressure on how all these character-based story lines are going to resolve themselves satisfactorily on that final climb to the finish line. Well, we all know it will come down to Manami and Onoda again. The fun part is in seeing how that happens. Just please let this next season happen in 2019 (or earlier? I can dream), instead of two years.