Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road

Episode 21

Last week on Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road, all events took place with four kilometers to the finish line. This week, all events take place at three kilometers to the finish line. In order to fill the time, this episode was about one third flashback, two thirds new content. Over the last few weeks, the show has relied heavily on flashbacks and reiteration to build tension, but now it's just getting ridiculous.

The lightest and most interesting part of the episode starred Onoda's mom, a guardian so incompetent that she believes her son is out somewhere with his anime club. Now she's unwittingly popped up at the finish line of his race, thinking she was taking a bus to a Mt. Fuji sightseeing tour. The interaction between Mrs. Onoda and Miyahara, Manami's childhood friend and class rep at Hakogaku, shows a different side of the race than we normally get from characters narrating in the thick of it. For a woman who has no idea where her son is or what he's doing, Mrs. Onoda is pretty apt at describing Miyahara and Manami's relationship.

The title of the episode is “#91” and as you might have guessed, it's mostly about Midousuji, flashing back to his entire story up until now, including his visits to his mother at the hospital and his heart-to-heart with Ishigaki on the second day of the Interhigh. It's almost refreshing to see this more human side of Midousuji when what we're getting in the present is a guy ramming his face into somebody else's butt with such cerebral monologuing as “What is this sight? A butt? His butt?” Last week. I said Midousuji was addressing the elephant in the room when he headbutted Imaizumi's butt, because like it or not, this is a sport where people frequently have their butts raised in the air to cycle more quickly, and we're supposed to assume that this group of teenage boys just never notices or talks about it. However, after two episodes in a row, it's simply regressing into low humor.

Meanwhile, Imaizumi has his own story to tell through copious flashbacks of previous moments in the Interhigh, most of them so recent I doubt any viewer has forgotten. This one-on-one race between Imaizumi and Midousuji has dragged on for three episodes now, and it's starting to take its toll on the show's pace. Fortunately, the standoff ends here, though neither cyclist leaves unscathed. Imaizumi's predicament especially emphasizes all the things you can't plan for in a road race—it's not just about your own condition, and it's not fair. Fortunately, this is a work of fiction and I think it'll turn out OK in the end.

I don't usually save any review space for the after-the-credits scene, but what the heck was that? The choreography was like watching a bad Bollywood film. That isn't to say it wasn't the most enjoyable part of an episode weighed down with recaps and flashbacks and a completely unrelated (though interesting) scene between two side characters. There are three kilometers left in this race, but the show's pacing is going to make them feel like years.

Rating: C

Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.