Yowamushi Pedal

Sakamichi Onoda is a cheerful otaku looking to join his new school's anime club, eager to finally make some friends. Unfortunately, the club has been disbanded and he takes it upon himself to revive it by finding students who are willing to join. Without much luck, Onoda decides to make a round trip to Akihabara on his old, bulky city bicycle, a weekly 90-kilometer ride he has been completing since fourth grade.

This is when he meets fellow first year student, Shunsuke Imaizumi, a determined cyclist who is using the school's steep incline for practice. Surprised by Onoda's ability to climb the hill with his specific type of bicycle, Imaizumi challenges him to a race, with the proposition of joining the anime club should Onoda win. And thus begins the young boy's first foray into the world of high school bicycle racing!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Episode 1 was previewed at a screening in Tokyo on September 28, 2013. Regular broadcasting began on October 8, 2013.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Yowamushi Pedal
Side story:	Yowamushi Pedal: Special Ride
Sequel:	Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road
Summary:	Yowamushi Pedal: Re:Ride
Spin-off:	Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike
Other:	Chiba Pedal: Yowamushi Pedal to Manabu Jitensha Koutsuu Anzen

Kishio, Daisuke
Japanese

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Staff

Yamanaka, Kazutaka

Producer

Takemura, Ippei

Producer

Oono, Ryousuke

Producer

Takegawa, Shingo

Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "Reclimb (リクライム)" by ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D (eps 1-12)
	2: "Yowamushi na Honoo (弱虫な炎)" by Dirty Old Men (eps 13-25)
	3: "Be As One" by Team Souhoku (Sakamichi Onoda, Shunsuke Imaizumi, Shoukichi Naruko, Shingo Kinjou, Yuusuke Makishima, Jin Tadokoro) (eps 26-38)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kaze wo Yobe (風を呼べ)" by Under Graph (eps 1-12)
	2: "I am ready" by AUTRIBE featuring Dirty Old Men (eps 13-25)
	3: "Glory Road" by Team Hakone Gakuen (Juichi Fukutomi, Sangaku Manami, Jinpachi Toudou, Hayato Shinkai, Yasutomo Arakita, Touichirou Izumida) (eps 26-38)

Reviews

Nov 13, 2021

Albertomyc

Recommended

Yowamushi Pedal, what an anime!

I am going to be clear, I have watched several animes but this is by a considerable amount, my favorite one.

Let's start with the story,

To be honest, it is quite simple. It is just Onoda and his team racing with bikes. But this is not negative, it is absolutely amazing! The simplicity of the story allows you to quickly understand the different scenarios and enjoy the intensity of the anime. The results for every race are very distinct and you never really know what is going to happen. I believe that the wins and losses are fairly split. Despite ... this, there is some really interesting and profound parts of the story. For example, Sugimoto's evolution and the story of Koga. The author understands how to surprise and entertain you.

Story: 9

In terms of art, what can I say? It is just amazing! The character designs are unique and suit the story. You can clearly differentiate the characteristics of the numerous characters and hence, you quickly get to like most of them. The scenarios are just perfect. Each race has its own unique route which makes each of them special. The animation is sublime. In every season, the animation doesn't disappoint as it is constantly amazing. Even the CGI! I don't really like CGI but the one used in this anime is quite frankly amazing

Animation: 9

Sound, sound, sound. This anime has the best openings and endings ever made. Every single song within this anime is special. When listening to them, you will just feel joy. Whether is a high tempo or a low tempo song, it is always enjoyable. In addition to this, the OST and background music suits perfectly the series. There is some intense and energetic songs as well as more calm and peaceful songs. Either way, they are all almost perfect.

Sound: 10

For the characters I do not want to say much because I feel that you can't understand how good they are until you watch the series. The characters in Sohoku (Onoda's Team) have their own distinctive and representative personalities. All I can tell you is that you will like all of them. But also for the rest of the teams, there is tons of amazing character. To be more specific, you will like so much the rivals (Hakone) that sometimes you might want them. to win

Characters: 10

Regarding enjoyment, this series is the most enjoyable series I have ever seen. You won't be able to stop watching it once you start. There is such an intensity and such a mix of emotions that trust me, you will love it.

Enjoyment: 10

Taking all of this into account, I think that you can tell that you MUST watch this anime. It is an absolutely unique, enjoyable and breathtaking experience

Overall: 10

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Apr 10, 2023

titledefiant

Mixed Feelings

(This review is for the first 2 seasons of Yowamushi Pedal)

This anime is what happens when you throw all the typical shonen characters into an anime about road racing. It’s pretty hilarious at times. It might be a weird comparison to some people, but my experience watching this was similar to the Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Some (most) of the characters are complete stereotypes. They’re also mostly stupid. They say things that are either blatantly obvious or completely wrong like 75% of the time, the rest of the time they’re usually being stupid over-the-top. There were times when it was a little bit touching ... or exciting, but mostly I kept watching it for two reasons: 1) Funny. 2) I like cycling and it made me want to ride my bike real bad.

There are a lot of issues with this show. Yowamushi Pedal is at its best when the emphasis is on comedy, but it's not consistently comedic. There are times when the mood is meant to be more serious. Unfortunately, the story wasn't well-written enough to get me actually invested most of the time. (There are only a couple exceptions, which I can't share without spoiling anything.) There was a lot of potential for interesting character relationships, but none of them really get fleshed out very well.

I think the worst thing about this show was Onoda, the main character. He really doesn’t change much over the course of the show, save for maybe getting better at cycling, and even that isn’t really done very well. At first, you may feel a lot of sympathy for Onoda. I certainly was rooting for him. I thought the concept of an otaku joining a sports club was great. He starts out shrimpy and timid. The problem is, he stays that way the whole show and it gets old fast. I’d have to go back and watch, but sometimes I felt like it actually got worse as the show went on. (It might have just been getting really old.) He stutters constantly, has zero confidence, doesn’t learn from his mistakes, is unreliable, etc. and never improves even after facing circumstances that really should have taught him better. The other characters try to help him build confidence to no avail over and over again. I’m currently watching New Generation, and he still hasn’t changed.

Okay, to be fair, I otherwise did actually like the rest of the characters, though they were completely over-the-top and ridiculous. They might be trope-y, but honestly, a lot of the characters are legitimately like-able or at the very least fun/funny to watch. There are plenty of moments where characters subvert expectations. I liked a lot of the designs for the characters. They were all pretty distinct and the art style is pretty decent most of the time. Some of the opponents of the main team are basically designed/act like supervillains (ex: Midousuji) , which is amazing and hilarious for a sports anime. (And weird. Very weird.) In spite of how ridiculous a lot of the characters seem, the show actually does take the time to flesh quite a lot of them and their relationships with each other out via backstory.

There are a lot of flashbacks, maybe too much. They work pretty well most of the time, but I feel like it might have been more exciting to take us along on some of these stories as they happen instead of the constant flashbacks. Honestly, the story is the weak point of this show. It’s kind of all over the place and it’s not really clear to me what sort of journey the characters are supposed to be on besides winning the next race. I guess it’s all just about them relying on each other? But they basically overcome the same challenge over and over in that regard and that’s really mostly it.

It’s hard for me not to compare sports animes to Haikyuu!!, so I’ll just say this: I think one of the things that makes Haikyuu!! so great is the individual, unique journeys characters go on to target their weaknesses to improve. The characters legitimately grow a lot in measurable ways throughout the show, and we’re there for mostly all of it as it happens-- in sequential order. There is just as much emphasis on the struggles and failures as the successes, which makes the successes all the more satisfying. When and if substantial growth or struggle happens in Yowamushi Pedal, it’s hard to even notice because the story is too scattered in its focus and sequencing.

Characters changing their approaches or learning lessons is typically near-instantaneous. Or even worse, all the progress happens off-screen. To be honest, we’re lucky to even see progress via flashback half of the time. As a result, the few changes characters do undergo end up feeling underwhelming. Characters talk about how the challenge of races cause rapid growth, but that doesn’t change the fact that it would have been more exciting to put more focus on characters identifying and targeting weaknesses in practices leading up to said races.

The aforementioned lack of character growth and struggle really holds this anime back. There is just too much time dedicated to the (extremely drawn-out) races that could have been better used showing us how the characters were practicing to improve in the build-up towards the race. It would have made the actual races even more exciting and raised the stakes if we knew how hard the characters had actually worked and were able to see examples of them using their new strategies and facing their weaknesses “in battle.” It also could have been the vehicle for a much better, more cohesive plot. These kinds of things also probably would have been great for displaying the importance of teamwork, the whole theme of the show. It’s weird and unnatural (although those words could be used to describe this whole anime lol) to see characters change so suddenly right when it’s convenient for them to do so. It’s also weird when characters face the same problems over and over again, overcome them in the moment, and then continue to be the exact same and learn absolutely nothing moving forward. (Onoda)

The racing, tactics, and practice in this show is all just there as a vehicle for characters to act ridiculous, look ridiculous, and say ridiculous things. Oh and don’t forget displaying the power of teammates and rivalry. Can’t forget that. That’s like the whole schtick. We barely see anyone really struggle in this show except for background characters who are usually just in awe of or easily blown away by the raw natural talent of the main cast at every race. Usually struggles are overcome by just pedaling harder or believing in yourself or relying on your teammates or whatever. Yeah, it’s fucking cheesy. This show is about the power of teamwork. That’s the kind of show this is (and that’s how Sohoku rides. lol.) This isn’t really an anime you watch for the story imo. You watch it in spite of that for the funny or wholesome character interactions.

I don’t really have much to say about the animation or soundtrack for this anime, because I mostly found it to be completely average. There is CGI, it’s somewhat noticeable but not egregiously so. The artistic decisions are on the whole very tolerable, but not noteworthy. The character designs are good. There is strong and varied shape language depending on the character, most of which is well-executed. Everything else art-wise does it’s job and doesn’t stand out.

Ultimately, this show had a lot of potential as a concept, but could have been a hell of a lot better. That said, I recommend watching it anyways if you like sports anime, just for the humor and characters. There are a lot of moments that will make you cringe and the story is a mess, but the funny moments in this show are honestly worth it. I mean seriously, I can’t give anything away, but there are at least a few things you’ll watch the characters do in this anime that you’ll never EVER see in another sports anime. (Hime, hime….)

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Mar 13, 2022

lorolol

Not Recommended

So I've noticed no one has talked about how Yowamushi Pedal utterly fails to portray cycling as a sport, so that's what I'll briefly cover here.

As an avid road cycling viewer I have found it impossible to ignore how any real world logic and strategy was completely thrown out the window for this series, how the teams are fully organized 100% of the time during races, how no one drafts off of anyone who isn't their teammates(I especially found this straight up insulting) and how there apparently is no such things as break-aways or random attacks to try and push an advantage. This anime makes ...

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Poll: Yowamushi Pedal Episode 38 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jun 30, 2014	114 replies	by inveercique »» Apr 15, 3:45 PM
Poll: Yowamushi Pedal Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Feb 10, 2014	71 replies	by L-S-M-F-T »» Feb 29, 12:25 AM
Poll: Yowamushi Pedal Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 2, 2013	85 replies	by L-S-M-F-T »» Feb 23, 2:51 AM
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Yowamushi Pedal

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Onoda, Sakamichi

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Naruko, Shoukichi

Imaizumi, Shunsuke

Kinjou, Shingo

Tadokoro, Jin

Midousuji, Akira

Arakita, Yasutomo

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