I really don’t mind that the inter-high has come down to these two boys again.  They’re obviously the two best riders (though one always wonders what Midousuji could do it if eased up on himself a little and learned to work with his team).  They’re also both likeable kids who don’t pull any extraneous BS, and seriously enjoy the rivalry with the other.  It may not have the inbuilt drama it did the first time around, but it’s plenty exciting enough for me.  I just wasn’t totally thrilled with some of the detours along the way.

I also loved that opening sequence with Miyahara and Sakamichi’s mom.  Miyahara is adorable and SakaMama is just a hilarious jolt of energy whenever she shows up.  She has zero tact whatsoever and immediately starts in on Miyahara about why she and Sangaku aren’t dating yet (again, she recognized the cap).  Then that bit with Mom freaking out about forgetting her camera, having no idea that her “smooth phone” could also take pictures until Miyahara clued her in (though in the end all she got was a burst shot of some tarmac).

The main thrust of this episode, though, was really fleshing out Manami-kun more than he ever has been.  Miyahara was the vehicle for that, to be sure.  But we haven’t seen this side of him before (and neither had she).  Sangaku was totally devastated by his failure (as he defines it) at the last inter-high.  He didn’t get on his bike at all for a while, then rode himself to literal collapse.  It is a quite natural reaction to an experience like that, as Toudou says.  And he might be right, too, that it was too much pressure to heap on a first year, though that didn’t stop Onoda from winning.

We’ll never know how Sakamichi would have reacted had he lost, though it’s interesting to speculate.  I suspect not as badly as Sangaku did, since no one in the world expected Sakamichi – or Souhoku – to win anything anyway.  My intuition is that the narrative is setting it up for Manami to win this time by showing us that it would mean even more to him than to Sakamichi, but the tireless terrier pretty much lives to defy expectations.  And him going for a third straight inter-high (which I’m guessing has never happened in RL) would be just as compelling a series-concluding arc as a rubber match between he and Manami (with Chimera-kun as the total wild card).

Miyahara and Sangaku’s year of convalescence was compelling stuff.  The collapses, the gift, the message from Toudou to “just listen”.  It’s good advice – some stuff can’t be resolved neatly with words, and sometimes the best thing you can do for a friend is just be present.  I don’t know if that means he’s going to win, but it’s going to be rough on him if he loses.  Onoda-kun getting that jolt of adrenaline from Mom’s “Go after it, Sakamichi!” – and his resulting “Hai!” – was the moment of the episode for me.  She’s a great mother, and it’s obvious the two of them are extremely close.  Is she his secret sauce to repeat?  We’ll be finding out in two weeks, most likely.