There’s a point in this episode where Yuto says to himself “It’s just before the finish line of the second day of the Inter-high.  It doesn’t make sense for me to be recalling this now!”.  And I just said “Yes – exactly!”.  Because 150 meters of road racing should not take three episodes, and because when you’re in the moment, you want to stay in the moment (or at least I do).  And what we got this week was basically an entire episode of flashback, with about two minutes of actual live footage”.

There is a sort of exception to that rule, though, and that’s where Midousuji is involved.  His flashbacks have always been the best in Yowamushi Pedal by far, because his origin story is the most interesting.  And the A-part this week was all Akira origin story, which not surprisingly made it some of the best Yowapeda of the season.  Yeah the guy is a total douche to his teammates, and he doesn’t get a free pass for that – but boy, is Chimera-kun a complicated fellow.

I’ve noted it before, but I find something rather admirable in Akira’s singular, obsessive focus on winning.  And that’s all the more true when you consider where it springs from – what he was before his mother left him and the world decided he was too much of a square peg to make an effort to get close to.  Tragic backstories are a dime-a-dozen, but there’s something about this one that rings true – it’s genuinely poignant.  Little Akira is awkward, uncomfortable in his skin and in life, but he loves and wants to be loved.  I can honestly say that winning the Inter-high probably means more to him than anyone else in the race, and that in itself sort of wants to make me root for him.

Yuto, by contrast, isn’t nearly so engaging a character for me.  He’s grown on me some, and there’s a lot that’s relatable in his story of a kid trying to free himself from his brother’s massive shadow.  But it felt like we’d pretty much already seen this week’s Shinkai flashback – there wasn’t much new in it.  That’s true with Chimera-kun’s too, but that story is just a lot more emotionally involving for me.  So now that we understand why everyone wants to win – can we get on with someone actually winning (preferably Midousuji)?

Omake: