OP: “Boku no Koe (僕の声)” by Rhythmic Toy World

No question about it, Yowamushi Pedal is an old friend at this point.  “Glory Line” is its fourth season and I’ve been part of the peloton since the beginning – before it, actually, since I was predicting this series might have a chance to be a big hit when few Westerners had ever heard of it.  Yowapeda is the very definition of a crossover success, since it derives commercial value from strong manga and disc (though of course, not as strong three sequels down the road) numbers, but also from phenomenal merchandising sales.  Any series that’s big enough to cause a boon in its subject of focus – Go, Karuta, cycling – is a cultural phenomenon.

I wasn’t quite as big a fan of “New Generation” as I was the first two seasons.  The strength of this series is Onoda, Naruko and Imaizumi, both as individuals and as a trio – and they were largely secondary in the third season.  As well, the third year trio (especially Makashima) were missed, and TeshimAoyagi just didn’t have the charisma to pull the pack across the line.  Teshima has had his moment, and now I fully expect the focus to turn back on the best characters (and I include Midousuji-kun in that) in “Glory Line”.  If it does, I suspect this season will be very much on a level with the first two.

There was a two-month break between seasons (not as long as I might have thought, given how much the anime has caught up the manga), but the finale of New Generation didn’t feel like a finale and there’s really no sense that any time has passed.  In fact we begin right where the last episode ended, with Onoda-kun propping up the exhausted Teshima and the remainder of the Hakone and Sohoku teams jockeying for position as Kyoto Fushimi remains mysteriously absent from the limelight.

This is only the first day of course, and the king of the mountains checkpoint was not even the climax of that – there’s still the matter of who will claim the lead at the end of the day’s racing.  As Sugimoto and Koga ride like the wind to try and get the squad’s food and water to the feed zone (the road is blocked by a traffic jam) the nature of the first day’s spring becomes clear – Kuroda will be pulling Ashikiba for HakoGaku, and Naruko and Imaizumi giving chase for Sohoku (much to Kaburagi’s dismay.  Dumb as a stump, that one…).

What’s interesting to speculate on is whether this first day’s final sprint is a preview of the third day’s ultimate climax.  It’s less than clear who’s doing the pulling in the Sohoku pair – in theory, Naruko seems to be the designated finisher – a new all-arounder with sprinter’s speed – but Imaizumi hardly seems content to cede that role to him, and it’s Naruko who’s leading the chase so far.  And frankly, if it’s not Onoda racing Manami for the line (possibly with Chimera-kun involved in some capacity) that’s kind of a letdown for the narrative as a whole.

As for Kuroda, he’s the rider who more or less gets the spotlight dance in this first episode.  With his “mochi muscles”, Kuroneko (that’s kind of the FedEx/UPS of Japan) claims to be very comfortable in the role of the ace’s assistant, and very good at it too.  Maybe Ashikiba really is the ace for HakoGaku now but again – that just doesn’t seem to pack a real Yowapeda dramatic punch.  One way or the other Onoda and Manami have to be involved in the final sprint, whether it takes place at the summit of a climb or not – and if they don’t, Glory Line risks losing some of its dramatic punch just as New Generation did…

ED: “Carry the Hope” by THE HIGH CADENCE [Sakamichi Onoda (Daiki Yamashita), Shunsuke Imaizumi (Kousuke Toriumi), Shoukichi Naruko (Jun Fukushima), Junta Teshima (Daisuke Kishio), Hajime Ayagi (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), and Issa Kaburagi (Hiro Shimono)]

Ohayomake: