That was a very strong episode indeed.  Not surprising, as it was arguably the most Yowapeda-poi ep of the entire season, which effectively means in played pretty much like one from the first Inter-high.  Seems like this show is best when the extra layers (and to an extent, characters) are stripped away and it just operates on the most fundamental level.  And when you have mostly Onoda, Naruko and Imaizumi squaring off against a monolithic HakoGaku powerhouse, Yowamushi Pedal doesn’t get much more essential than that.

That said, even the battle between Sakamichi and Shinkai Yuto is an entertaining one.  Yuto is flashy and odd, of course, as top cyclists (especially in this series) usually are, but by Yowapeda standards he’s relatively realistic.  What makes this battle work is the simple and fundamental contrast between these two riders which holds true right up until the moment they reach the front – Yuto is riding for himself, for the glory of the battle and to prove himself.  Onoda is riding for the team, because he knows if Yuto gets to the front significantly before he does, Sohoku is in even more trouble than they already were.

Thus, even though Yuto technically “wins” this battle it’s really, as Ashikiba-kun says, a draw – Sohoku simply prioritized linking up over a meaningless “race”.  But I’m not ready to say Onoda is right and Yuto is wrong in their approach, because (as I’ve noted) I think Onoda-kun is too unselfish.  In order to be as great as he (and maybe only he) can be, he needs to let his ego flower and start riding for his own edification.  In practical terms, even this draw is a victory for Hakone, because they have their remaining four riders steadily eating up the gap to the front while Sohoku is strung out all up the climb.  In fact Yuto was to some extent a sacrificial lamb – a decoy to tire out Sohoku’s best rider and scatter them even more.

It occurs to me that one option here would have been for Naruko and Imaizumi to attack on the climb, because the early stages of it were really the only time and place where Sohoku actually had a tactical advantage.  They had two riders there to one for Hakone and Kyoto Fushimi.  The problem is it would have been a horrendous gamble, an all-in prayer a long, long way from the race’s true finish on day three.  And those two had no way of knowing just how bad things had gotten for Sohoku behind them.  And, of course, neither Hotshot or Red Bean is a climber – the latter being a converted sprinter, in fact.

No, any way you slice it, Sohoku was always in deep shit here.  They’re carrying too much baggage – none of Teshima, Aoyagi or Kaburagi is up to the standard of any of the Hakone riders or Midousuji.  Even when the regrouped Hakone attacks Sohoku is split over whether to chase, or wait for “ordinary rider” Teshima to catch up so they can at least try with four.  It’s easy to blame Imaizumi for a poor decision here (I still don’t know why he’s in charge of the second-years, really) but I think Sohoku was damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

A couple of interesting things happen as the teams reach the summit.  Class Rep is there waiting for Manami-kun (loved that white horse bit), and he acknowledges her this time as he leads their attack.  Naruko says something very telling as he ditches his teammates to try and catch up to HakoGaku – “I can’t lose anymore”.  Naruko has lost every major skirmish he’s been in for the entire series, pretty much – he’s in a bad place mentally right now.  And, of course, KyoFushi finally makes their presence felt – they’ve been playing possum, like usual.  I do like the way even a freak like Midousuji can disappear into the scenery during these Sohoku-Hakone dramas, only to pop up again at a key moment – it highlights how Kyoto operate on a different plane than the more conventional rivals they’re doing battle with.

Yutomake:

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