That definitely falls under the category of things that make you go “Hmm…”

I knew there hadn’t been any kind of announcement yet regarding Yowamushi Pedal getting another season (the fifth) before I watched this finale.  But even so, the feeling as this episode ended was quite different than what I was expecting – at least for me.  I don’t recall if a sequel announcement either came at the end or had already leaked in every case (I know it happened at least once) but I never felt any doubt on any of those occasions that another season was coming.

This time is different, for a number of reasons. I wasn’t even sure how to tile the post, “Series Review” or “Season Finale”.  First of all disc sales have dropped substantially, as is often the case with long-running anime franchises – though this one has a lot of financial pull that’s not tied in to disc sales.  Then there’s the fact that the final few moments of the episode were retrospective (and it reminds us just how much Onoda has grown on-screen) in a way previous finales have not been.  And that final eyecatch – “See you later”?  Well, you could hardly be more cryptic than that.  In the end I suspect a 5th season will come, because the Yowapeda franchise remains very popular, and this this is more likely than anything a breather for Watanabe-sensei to rebuild the manga’s lead on the anime for a year or so (right now there are about eight unadapted volumes, which is probably a bit more than two cours).  But I feel less confident than I ever have.

I can say this for sure – if this is the last season, that would really suck.  Not only would the anime be stopping right at the most crucial moment of the inter-high, but the season was really just starting to get good – the past few episodes have been vintage Yowamushi Pedal in a way most of “Glory Line” has not.  Everything in the Inter-high is still to be decided, and there’s a sense of genuine uncertainty about how it’s all going to turn out.

The first interesting development comes as Izumida announces that HakoGaku isn’t interested in competing for any of the secondary tags on the final day – they’re after yellow, and that’s it.  That might be a bluff (with Ashikiba as the squad’s ace, where does that leave Manami – apart from almost missing his start time due to oversleeping?), but not necessarily.  Meanwhile Kyoto Fushimi shows up at the start line only five minutes before the gun, with a surprise of their own – everyone has gone for the buzz-cut look.  That’s very Buddhist of Midousuji (never thought I’d say that), shaving as a symbol of giving up mortal desires.

As for Sohoku, the annual tradition of Onoda doing a faceplant before the race continues, this time as a result of a trio Onoda-taku cooing over him at the start line.  Aoyagai is nursing his wounds, which Miki-san has noticed, but pledges to race anyway.  Teshima reflects on how lucky a man of his minimal talent is to be in this position (he’s right of course) and Kaburagi is still dumb as a stump.  But the power trio all seem to be in pretty good form – especially Onoda, who soon after starting alongside Mizuta-kun soon leaves the poor sap in a cloud of best boy hime sparkles as he powers ahead to link up with Imaizumi as quickly as possible.

One of the best parts of all this is that Midousuji-kun has become the crowd favorite – out on the road they’ve taken to shouting “morph!” along with him – which I think is a delightful development.  I would be very curious to see how Chimera-kun deals with being loved instead of reviled for once – if I ever get the chance to.  And that’s the gist of it, really – there’s a lot of interesting permutations attached to the story at the moment, but who knows if we’ll ever see any of them addressed in anime form?  I think we will, but I don’t feel like fully investing myself until we know for sure (though there’s always the manga).

Taken as a whole, it’s probably fair to say “Glory Line” was not as strong as the first three seasons of Yowamushi Pedal – especially the first two.  Not enough Onoda-kun first and most obvious, but also too much Teshima, too many flashbacks, and not enough Sohoku generally.  All that makes me feel as if a fifth season, should we get it, might be a major step up – almost by necessity it’s going to be more focused on the elements of Yowapeda that work best.  I still feel an enormous affection for this series, and I believe it’s been extremely influential in Japan – both in the realm of sports manga, and in the rising popularity of cycling as a sport and labor of love.  I may not have been fully vested in everything that happened this season, but my desire to see the franchise continue is as strong as ever.

End Card: