While I enjoyed previous seasons of Yowamushi Pedal, this felt like a slog to me. The entire season covers just the second inter-high race, so they are sure to drag out every bit as long as possible. Plot-wise, it is almost a carbon copy of the first inter-high, with basically identical strategies. The later episodes feel exceedingly slow, with flashbacks taking up the most of some episodes, and racers barely traversing a few hundred meters. Now, Yowamushi Pedal is a character driven story so flashbacks are great for fleshing out characters; however, by this point we already know the characters rather well and it is rehashing character attributes of the same characters we already have had in the first inter-high. Most of the old cast who have graduated will show up to cheer them on and pad it out with more character exposition. At some point, I'm just crying out, 'get this over with already.'
The music is superb, OP, ED, and especially the background music which serves to keep things hype, pretty much all of the time. It's probably the main tool for keeping things exhilarating.
The art and animation are good, as good or better than previously. The CGI is composited decently with the 2D stuff.
