Yowamushi Pedal

Yowamushi Pedal
First volume of Yowamushi Pedal, featuring the main protagonist Sakamichi Onoda
弱虫ペダル (Yowamushi Pedaru)
Genre	Sports (Road bicycle racing), comedy-drama
Manga
Written by	Wataru Watanabe
Published by	Akita Shoten
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Champion
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	February 21, 2008 – present
Volumes	34
Original video animation
Directed by	Osamu Nabeshima
Written by	Reiko Yoshida
Music by	Kan Sawada
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Released	August 8, 2013
Anime television series
Directed by	Osamu Nabeshima
Written by	Reiko Yoshida
Music by	Kan Sawada
Studio	TMS/8PAN
Original network	TV Tokyo, TVh, TVO, TSC, TVA, TVQ, AT-X
Original run	October 7, 2013 – June 30, 2014
Episodes	38
Anime television series
Yowamushi Pedal 2
Directed by	Osamu Nabeshima
Written by	Reiko Yoshida
Music by	Kan Sawada
Studio	TMS/8PAN
Original network	TV Tokyo, TVh, TVO, TSC, TVA, TVQ, AT-X
Original run	October 2014 – present

Yowamushi Pedal (弱虫ペダル) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Wataru Watanabe. It is published by Akita Shoten and began its serialization in 2008's 12th issue of the Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine. As of April 8th 2014, there have been 33 compiled volumes published. An anime DVD was released bundled with the 29th volume, released on August 8, 2013, and anime television series adaptation began airing on October 7, 2013.

Plot

Sakamichi Onoda is an otaku, an anime obsessive, who has just entered high school and plans to join the anime club. In middle school Onoda did not have any friends with whom he could talk about anime, games, Akihabara and other otaku things and is hoping he can make such friends in the anime club, but he finds out it has been disbanded. In order to reestablish the club he tries to find 4 other people who would like to join.

Since he was a little boy, Onoda has ridden his mamachari ("City Bike" AKA "Mommy Bike" in the anime) – a bulky bicycle with a step-through frame mainly used for short rides, such as for casual fun, to pick up groceries or to go to Akihabara every week to check out or buy otaku things. His fellow freshman, Shunsuke Imaizumi, a cyclist, while training, notices Onoda riding his mamachari up a steep road.

Shōkichi Naruko, visit Akihabara to get some Gundam plastic models for his younger brothers and he meets Onoda, who caught his attention because of the his cycling skill on the mamachari and later finds out they go to the same school. Later on, both Naruko and Imaizumi try to convince him to join the bicycle racing club, but will he?

Characters

Sohoku members

Sohoku is a hard-working team that acts as the main school in the story. Even when members face internal conflicts, they are all determined to win. Its team members want to improve in their own ways. Their training is often brutal, and may seem like survival of the fittest, but it dramatically boosts their skills. Some events they do are team traditions, such as the first year welcome race and the 1000km training camp used to determine the Inter-High members.

Sakamichi Onoda (小野田 坂道, Onoda Sakamichi)

Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita

Onoda is the protagonist of the series and a high school freshman. He is a member of the Sohoku High Bicycle Club and a climbing specialist. He is also evidently an anime otaku. He is quite shy and has a hard time speaking up for himself, but ever since meeting Shunsuke Imaizumi, his courage has been growing and has stepped into the world of bicycles. Although he does not have a lot of stamina, he is capable of riding with extremely high cadences even when climbing uphill. He is a natural climber and a fast learner who was able to learn the dancing technique in a very short period of time. To help him in his climbing, the team captain Kinjou assigned Makishima to mentor him in climbing who tells him to follow his own style when learning cycling. During the training camp, Kinjou switched his tires with an older pair to build his stamina and figure out how to use his gearshift. He also didn't tell him he gave him this handicap ostensibly in order to test him and see if he could figure out his bike on his own though perhaps so that Makishima would feel compelled to enlighten him and bond with the fellow climber.

Shunsuke Imaizumi (今泉 俊輔, Imaizumi Shunsuke)

Voiced by: Kōsuke Toriumi

Imaizumi is a high school freshman and a member of the Sohoku High Bicycle Club. He is an all-rounder and a logical thinker. His current dream is to become the fastest cyclist in the world. He has a fierce rivalry with Naruko, because of his sprinting abilities and his overall attitude, and sets his goal on Kinjou, who he currently sees as his biggest obstacle as Kinjo uses this as his mentor to push Imaizumi. He treats Onoda friendlier than his other teammates as he sees his potential and wants to see where Onoda's cycling career takes him. In the training camp, Kinjou took away his gearshift so he would have to rely more on his physical abilities than his technical skills and understanding.

Shōukichi Naruko (鳴子 章吉, Naruko Shoukichi)

Voiced by: Jun Fukushima

Naruko is a high school freshman and a member of the Souhoku High Bicycle Club. He is a sprinter cyclist from Osaka. Naruko is seen most commonly with bright red hair, along with a biking outfit. He has sharp, red eyes; not only that, he has a red, black and white jacket. He is also often seen in a tiger T-shirt. As a sprinter, he has a competitive nature, which he always gets upset when him and Imaizumi are locked in a race and he sees that Imaizumi beats him. He also gets this way with his mentor, Tadakoro, who he often tries to beat in sprinting. And on campus he's like a brother-figure to Onoda. Which he tends to tag along most, if not all the time ever since he saw Onoda's skills improve as a cyclist. In the training camp, Kinjou replaced his handles with the standard horizontal bar to limit his sprinting.

Shingo Kinjō (金城 真護, Kinjō Shingo)

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto

Captain of the Bicycle Club, Always wearing Sunglasses. 3rd year and an All-Rounder. Ace of the Club. While he appears to have a cold outlook on cycling, Kinjo always thinks of his team and their potential first. He always seeks to challenge his team in order to bring out their best. He especially wants to bring out Imaizumi's potential and skill as his mentor, he especially pushes Imaizumi to defeat him knowing his competitive personality would motivate him more than he would himself.

Yūsuke Makishima (巻島 裕介, Makishima Yūsuke)

Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo

3rd Year student of Souhoku High Bicycle Club. Makishima has long, green hair with red highlights. He has two moles on his face; one is under his left eye and the other is by his lower lip. Toudou thinks that when Makishima smiles, it is creepy and scary. He is also known the Peak Spider due to his unusual dancing technique on the bike. When Onoda, who he is mentoring in climbing, tries to copy this, he tells him that following your own style is much more important than to imitate a style that is uncomfortable.

Jin Tadokoro (田所 迅, Tadokoro Jin)

Voiced by: Kentarō Itō

3rd Year student of the Club. A rather large man with a hearty appetite. Despite his size, his is a Sprinter. He is affectionately called Old Man by Naruko, who he is mentoring. He also mentors Teshima and Aoyagi after seeing how much they've had to struggle during their first year.

Junta Teshima (手島　純太, Teshima Junta)

Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio

2nd year student of Souhoku High Bicycle Club and an All-Rounder. Teshima has black hair with perms and is an all-rounder cyclist. He is an outgoing cheerful guy and he is good at blocking. Despite being talent-less cyclist, he works extremely hard with fellow second-year Aoyagi to try to get to the inter-high race using their teamwork. In the training camp, he blew out his legs during the end of the third day in attempting to defeat Naruko, Imaizumi and Onoda and was unable to complete the 1000 km requirement.

Hajime Aoyagi (青八木 一, Aoyagi Hajime)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

2nd year student of Souhoko High Bicycle Club and an All-Rounder. Aoyagi has brown hair which drops down his left eye sometimes. A quiet individual who has a good fast pace. While he considers himself talent-less, he works with Teshima and devises a plan to make it to the inter-high race together. In a sprint to defeat Naruko, Imaizumi and Onoda, he blew out his leg forcing him to retire from completing the 1000 km requirement in the training camp.

Terufumi Sugimoto (杉元 照文, Sugimoto Terufumi)

Voiced by: Kōki Miyata

A first-year student of Souhoku High Bicycle Club, Sugimoto has a heavily parted black hair and a self assured smile. A self-proclaimed experienced cyclist of three years often giving advice to the other 1st years, his actual skills on a bicycle compared to the others are questionable at best though as he doesn't seem to have the pure talent that Naruko and Imaizumi have or the motivation to overcome challenges like Onoda has. He does have a pretty nice and even pace as a cyclist though. He failed to complete the 1000 km requirement of the training camp because he didn't want to cycle in the rain.

Hakone members

Hakone Academy is a well built team that claims to be made up of six aces, with many more ni reserve. Hakone Academy's cycling club is the largest in the country. As a result, the team has an incredibly difficult selection process. All the club members race against each other for the honor of wearing the team zekken at the Inter-High. Only the winners of each group (A through F) go on to participate. The groups are often divided so they will take up to 3 all arounders, up to 2 sprinters, and 2 climbers.

Sangaku Manami (真波 山岳, Manami Sangaku)

Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga

A first-year student of Hakone Academy Bicycle Club, Manami has dark blue hair coloured with yellow highlights in the manga. He is mostly seen in his school uniform or biking outfit. He is an easy-going and laidback. Manami also has a habit of being late and easily distracted by mountains. As a climber, he pulls nature to his side by using the wind, to surpass his competitors.

Jinpachi Tōudōu (東堂　尽八, Tōdō Jinpachi)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara

3rd year student of Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. He has dark violet hair, along with a head band. Toudou's signature pose is pointing his finger at others. At his first meeting with Makishima, he was told that wearing a head band is ugly. He has a cheerful personality, but can also become serious when climbing the peak. He calls Makishima "Maki-chan".

Juichi Fukutomi (福富　寿一, Fukutomi Juichi)

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno

3rd year student at Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. He has short, spiky blond hair and very thick dark eyebrows. He usually wears a serious expression, earning him the "Iron Mask" nickname. He has sharp, dark eyes and a thin nose. He is the tallest member of his team.

Hayato Shinkai (新開　隼人, Shinkai Hayato)

Voiced by: Satoshi Hino

3rd year student at Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. His hair is a solid, reddish color in the anime and is reddish brown with blue streaks in the manga. His heavily-lidded eyes give him a generally relaxed look. His eyes along with his thick lips are his defining facial features. He is often depicted with a power bar in his mouth or striking his signature "bakyun" pose.

Yasutomo Arakita (荒北　靖友, Arakita Yasutomo)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

3rd year student at Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. Arakita used to be a baseball player with a bright future, but he was unable to continue down this path due to an elbow injury. Feeling jaded, he decided to go to Hakone Academy, a school without a baseball club. He was disappointed and angry at the world and ended up lashing out at Fukutomi when they happened to meet. Fukutomi introduced Arakita to the world of cycling, and after a rough start, Arakita found his passion. He became a skilled, though quite reckless, cyclist who works well with Fukutomi. During the first Inter High, he worked as an assist to Fukutomi. After graduating, he began attending Yonan University, where he joined the bicycle club along with Sohoku's Kinjou.

Touichirou Izumida (泉田　塔一郎, Izumida Touichirou)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe

2nd year student at Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. He is the club's ace sprinter. He uses his abs to propel himself forward. His abs are named Andy & Frank, and they react to dangerous situations as a warning/reflex as demonstrated when Frank tensed up in reaction to the falling cones and Andy seemingly allowed him to brake a bit to narrowly avoid them. Izumida is known for his long eyelashes as well as his extremely toned body, which is the result of vigorous weight training in preparation for the Inter-High. He sacrificed his performance in other road races to create the "perfect body" specifically for this competition. He begins the series with his head shaved.

Yukinari Kuroda (黒田　雪成, Kuroda Yukinari)

Voiced by: Kenji Nojima

2nd year at Hakone Academy Bicycle Club. He is a climber. During his second year, he is challeneged by Manami for the club's final spot for the Inter-High roster.

Kyoto Fushimi members

Kyoto Fushimi, or Kyofushi, acts as the third squad in this series and is the wild card of the group. The team was built mostly by all-arounders and has never been an exceptional team. It's training practices are never shown, but other teams say they were a lot nicer in previous years.

Akira Midousuji (御堂筋　翔, Midousuji Akira)

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa

1st year student at Kyoto Fushimi High School. He is the clubs ace and is the only individual to have defeated Imazumi. He is unusually tall and has exceptionally long limbs. He first appeares with medium length hair. He has large, dark eyes and uniquely square teeth. He likes to bare his perfectly straight teeth and call things "gross." Midousuji has a somewhat sadistic personality, as he constantly attempts to cause others emotional distress in order to achieve his goals. He appears to particularly enjoy harassing Imaizumi, but anyone he races against becomes a target of his mind games.

Koutarou Ishigaki (石垣　光太郎, Ishigaki Koutarou)

Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima

3rd year student at Kyoto Fushimi High School. He is the club's captain and was the original ace before Midousuji's arrival.

Nobuyuki Mizuta (水田 信行, Mizuta Bobuyuki)

Voiced by: Chihiro Suzuki

2nd year student at Kyoto Fushimi High School. He has light brown hair and dark blue eyes. He is recognizable from his braces. Nobuyuki is first seen when Midosuji sends him to Chiba to find out which school will represent Chiba at the Inter-Highs.

Tomoya Ihara (井原　友矢, Ihara Tomoya)

Voiced by: Yukitoshi Kikuchi

3rd year student at Hyoto Fushimi High School. In previous years he has been known as being a sprinter. He questions if Midosuji's means are the best means for Hyoto Fushimi and gets beat up because of it.

Yamaguchi (山口, Yamaguchi)

Voiced by: Yuta Odagaki

2nd year student at Hyoto Fushimi High School. He is the only freckeled individual in the series. He s often quiet and listens to instructions, but when he speaks it's usuallly to say yes to Midosuji's commands.

Tsuji (辻, Tsuji)

Voiced by: Katsuhiro Tokuishi

3rd year student at Hyoto Fushimi High School. He tries to step in and stop Midosuji from beating on Tomoya until Ishigaki stops him from doing so.

Other characters

Tooji Kanzaki (寒咲　通司, Kanzaki Toji)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe

Older brother of Miki and the former captain of Sohoku's racing club. He was a sprinter. He runs his families bicycle shop and helps support Sohoku by providing their emergency vehicle and emergency bikes.

Miki Kanzaki (寒咲 幹, Kanzaki Miki)

Voiced by: Ayaka Suwa

1st year at Sohoku and a the manager of the bicycle club. Given that her family owns and manages a bicycle shop, she has been exposed to the world of bicycles and road races since she was very young. She is very passionate about anything that has to do with the sport. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has a slender frame and is of average height. Her straight hair reaches down to her waist, and she has bangs. She usually does not sport any hair accessories. She often wears Souhoku High's uniform which consists of a white blouse concealed within a buttoned up green jacket, a white and red striped ribbon tied around her collar, red and yellow plaid skirt, and black socks paired with brown school loafers.

Aya Tachibana (橘　綾, Tachibana Aya)

Voiced by: Megumi Han

1st year at Sohoku and Miki's best friend. She is a member of the tennis club and always questions Onoda on his bicycling skills.

Mr. Pierre (Mr.ピエール, Mr. Pierre)

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi

A staff member at Sohoku and adviser to the bicycle club. He is first seen during the first year race and later gives Onoda tips on how to gain additional endurance.

Miyahara (宮原, Miyahara)

Voiced by: China Kitahara

1st year at Hakone and class president of Manami's class. She has a crush on him but doesn't understand why he is always cycling or road races in general.

Kotori Himeno (Himeno Kotori)

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura

The main character of Onoda's favorite anime/ manga series, Love Hime. Whenever he needs to find a cadance to go faster by, Onoda typically begins singing the opening song.

Yowamushi Pedal anime

The television series premiered on October 7, 2013. Episodes are simulcast with English, Spanish, and Portugese subs on Crunchyroll under the series name Yowapeda to people in the United States, Canada, the Carribean, South Africa, and Central and South America. Season one covers how Onoda Sakamichi gets involved in the sport of bicycle racing and how he participates during his first year of high school in the Inter-High race. Season one lasts 38 episodes.

Opening themes

• "Reclimb" by ROOKIEZ is PUNK'D (eps. 1–12)
• "Yowamushi na Honoo" by DIRTY OLD MEN (eps. 13–25)
• "Be As One" by Team Sōkita (eps. 26–present)

Ending themes

• "Kaze wo Yobe" by Under Graph (eps. 1–12)
• "I'm Ready" by AUTRIBE feat. DIRTY OLD MEN (eps. 13–25)
• "Glory Road" by Team Hakone Gakuen (eps. 26–present)

Episode list

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No.	Title	Original Airdate

Yowamushi Pedal 2

A second season of the series has been announced beginning in October 2014. Season 2 will pick up where season one left off at and continue to follow Onoda, Naruko, and Imazumi as the trio continue to participate in the Inter-High. Depending on the number of chapters covered in the first series, this series will either start with Day 3 of their first Inter-High or will start with them trying to return to the Inter-High during their second year at Sohoku.

External links

• Official anime website Template:Ja icon
• Yowamushi Pedal (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia