Hello lovely readers,
Just to give ya’ll a heads-up: This here blog post ballooned from what was going to be a short commentary about the anime Yowamushi Pedal into a full-on essay with lots of gifs. You have been thusly warned 😛
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Have you ever watched or read a series that progressively becomes more and more disappointing as it goes on? Perhaps you liked the original Star Trek films, only to discover that, in their search for God, something just wasn’t there anymore. Or what started so promising for season 3, Next Generation, has just piddled to blah. Today dearest readers, we are going to discuss one of the most disappointing anime I’ve seen in a while. What had began as a promising and exhilarating series about a school, a boy, and a bike team is now, as Midosouji would say, “Gross”
For those who may not know, Yowamushi Pedal is an anime based on a manga (or Japanese comic) written and illustrated by Wataru Watanabe. The basic setup is thus: First year, Onoda Sakamich, loves anime, and his one desire is to join the anime club in high school so that he finally will have friends to talk with.
However, when he finds out that the anime club has been disbanded because of lack of interest, he falls into despair until an unlikely chance lands him in the cycling club. Eventually, he finds himself thrust in the middle of the world of competitive road racing. Can Onoda handle the pressure of the world of road racing and the looming Interhigh, the national competition to determine the best team in all of Japan?
The first two seasons cover one year and one Interhigh, while the third and fourth cover the next year and the next Interhigh. Just so you know what I’m talking about 😛
What I appreciated most about seasons 1&2 is that there were memorable, likeable, and well-developed characters with clear motivations and surprisingly engaging action sequences. The fact that the story navigated the tropes of shonen anime with precision is a testament to the creators’ impressive ability to craft great characters and compelling drama, and I was super excited about the prospect of watching the continuing adventures of the Sohoku bike club starring the plucky protagonist Onoda and his friends.
Oh, how wrong I was…
*Note* the remaining bits of the review will have spoilers… you have been warned!
To put it bluntly, seasons 3&4 have been incredibly disappointing. Somehow the author (and from what I understand, the anime follows the source material fairly well) took all the good parts of year one, and turned them all into bad for year 2.
Part of that comes from the inexplicable change of focus from Sohoku and its riders to seemingly anyone else. While I understand that the subtitle of season 3 is “New Generation,” and it makes sense that the author would give new characters time in the spotlight in relation to the older. The problem is that the new characters are shallow and and uninteresting compared to the older characters, and they actually harm the ongoing narrative of the show. For example, in the beginning of season 3, returning characters Naruko from Sohoku and the antagonist of the previous Interhigh, Midosuji, have a race that has ramifications for the coming year. During the first day of Interhigh 2, they are alone in a dead-on sprint that was quickly turning into one of the highlights of the season.
As they near the finish line, Hakone Academy somehow manages to catch, and in a particularly bad case of a nonsense ending (in a series that’s full of nonsense endings), one of the new characters, Ashikiba manages to take the finish line. The victory felt unearned, particularly with the way that the narrative had been set up at the time. Ashkiba interrupted what should have been a dramatic finish just between Naruko and Midosuji. Had the race at the beginning of season 3 not happened, then Hakone’s out of nowhere victory might have been okay-ish, but with the way that the anime left the viewer out to dry at the end was highly disappointing. There’s a crass comparison that I could make right now, but my mother reads my blog at times, so I won’t do it 😛
Speaking of Ashikiba, we’re told that he and Teshima were friends in middle school when they encounter each other at the Interhigh. However, the author doesn’t really do much to show this relationship before the see each other. With Makisima and Toudou, they contact each other via cellphone fairly regularly (well, mostly Toudou), and their many interactions are indicative of friendship/rivalry. With Ashikiba and Teshima, when we find out that they’ve known each other since middle school and that they were once friends, I kind of shrugged. It reminded me of that scene in Attack of the Clones when Obi-Wan and Anakin are in the elevator on their way to Amidala, and they talk about adventures that we don’t get to see.
Just to remind you what I’m talking about.
From a storytelling perspective, it’s a terrible way to try and go about character development. While it’s true that expository dialogue can be an effective tool to move the story along, when it comes to character development, it sucks. It’s unfortunate, because the character interactions of Yowapeda are done so well in the first two seasons. The primary characters interact at some point prior to and during the Interhigh in ways that reinforce their relationships, so we see why each character reacts in certain ways, but for some reason, there isn’t the same consideration during seasons 3&4. Why isn’t there a chance encounter between Ashikiba and Teshima somewhere before the Interhigh to show their relationship? There is time to establish how stupendously uncomfortable of a character Komari is, when he and Midousuji infiltrate Sohoku’s training camp, but there wasn’t time for the captain of Sohoku and the Ace of Hakone to have a see each other somehow? There were a number of times during the first year when we got to see backstory between the characters and actual interactions prior to the first Interhigh which made the competition so interesting and intense.
It’s the bad storytelling, stupid manufactured drama, and uncharacteristic character behavior make what should have been an exciting season, dumb. What makes it worse is that the focus of the series by this point has shifted from Sohoku, and more importantly from Onoda, to Hakone and their merry band of jerks. I feel that the show has lost its way, its charm, and more importantly, its heart. Onoda was the primary reason why the first season was so successful; his character brought out the best in everyone, even those from outside of Sohoku. Now he’s taken a backseat in the narrative and seemingly unlearned all of the lessons he learned during the first Interhigh. I think back to Attack on Titan Season 2‘s greater focus on the side characters. Even though we got a deeper sense of characters who weren’t really important in the greater narrative of season 1, the show still made sure Erin wasn’t completely pushed to the background. While it’s true that Erin, Mikasa, and Armin aren’t the primary thrust of season 2’s narrative, they are still vitally important to the happenings. I’m not sure if Watanabe just couldn’t juggle the new characters with the old, or if it’s a fake-out for something in the future. Whatever the motivation, Yowapeda isn’t stronger for the shift in focus. Nearly every single time the main characters get extended screen time, the show picks up, and every time the secondaries dominate the story, the show drags.
Interestingly, one of the main offenders of this new story is the involvement of one of the returning characters from season 1. I have to ask, “What did you do to Teshima” *sad face* The anime presents Teshima in this season as a self-described tactical genius who manages to think everything through. He is essentially Sohoku’s Batman; he has no particular athletic prowess, nor some special super move, but he plans out everything… Except that he is kind of awful at this whole planning thing. So he’s a counterfeit version of Batman… um… GuyBat! That’s who he is! From the beginning, he made grave errors. From placing cocky freshman, Kaburagi Issa on the team after the freshman race before the training camp, and somehow forgetting all about Koga, a third-year who had ridden at the Interhigh during his first year. Luckily, Koga is an extremely likeable dude who puts team first above his own desires so there isn’t any forced conflict. Out of all the new characters, I would say that he is the best written and best characterized.
Holy smokes, that was a ton of writing, and that doesn’t address all of my concerns with the series. There are many other problems with seasons 3 and 4 than just the narrative and the characters. In a sad tumble into the dregs of Shōnen anime, the character’s abilities even further heightened than the previous seasons. Gone are the days when a character’s special move is to tuck in their jersey, or ride with metaphorical wings. Now characters will distort their bodies, and literally become doe-eyed. It’s a far stretch from the merely heightened reality of the first two seasons.
On the left is a special ability from seasons 1&2 compared to seasons 3&4 on the right. One is more or less grounded in reality, and the other is an abomination.
The most recent seasons of Yowapeda are so incredibly disappointing. What started off so promising has now devolved into blah. “Why, are you still watching it?” you ask. The first two seasons built up such goodwill with me that I still have hope that it will get better, and at least until the end of season 4, I’ll still be watching every week. However, I’m still uncertain whether or not I’ll continue on to season 5… At least “Abs” guy is a third year and won’t be continuing onward after this season.
Let me just be clear: I would be fine if Sohoku doesn’t win during year 2 if it happened within the service of the story. Having Sohoku lose so disingenuously is what bothers me. I cross my fingers that the rest of the story improves, or at least regains the joy from the first two seasons.
In any case, I hope everyone has a marvelous day!
Just remember this:
All the best,
Kevin
Adventures in Korea 