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Yowamushi Pedal Gets Live-Action TV Drama

This year's 26th issue of Akita Shonen's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine is revealing on Thursday that Wataru Watanabe's Yowamushi Pedal manga will receive a live-action television drama adaptation.

The drama will premiere on BS SKY PerfecTV! in August. A special behind-the-scenes program will air on the channel in July.

The same issue also announced that the 45th compiled volume of the manga will ship on June 8.

The manga centers around Sakamichi Onoda, an otaku at Sōhoku High School. He loves anime and games so much, that he would ride his commuter bicycle to and from Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in a 90-kilometer (about 60-mile) round trip over steep slopes after school. Onoda's life changes when he encounters his school's cycling team, and he ends up joining the competitive sport of bicycle racing.

Wataru Watanabe launched the manga in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine in 2008, and the story inspired stage plays, two television anime adaptations, and a spinoff manga, Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike. A third TV anime season has also been green-lit and will premiere in January. The Spare Bike spinoff will also receive an anime adaptation with a two-week run in theaters this September.

The manga has also inspired two anime compilation films, as well as an anime film with an original story, the latter of which opened in August 2015.

The manga series has more than 15 million copies in print. Akita Shoten publishes the manga in Japan and shipped the 44th compiled volume on March 8.

Yen Press has licensed the original manga for a release in North America. Discotek Media has licensed the two anime seasons on home video.