Yowamushi Pedal


Yowamushi Pedal is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Wataru Watanabe. It began serialization in the 12th issue of Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shōnen Champion in 2008, and as of March 2019, the series has been compiled into 63 tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation aired from October 2013 to July 2014, followed by a second season aired from October 2014 to March 2015, a third season aired from January to June 2017 and a fourth season aired from January to June 2018. A live-action television drama adaptation aired in August 2016. A live-action film adaptation is set to release in August 2020.
The first two seasons have been licensed by Discotek Media in North America in 2014, and the manga has been licensed by Yen Press in 2015. Several new mangas continue to be published.

Plot

Sakamichi Onoda is an otaku who has just entered high school. In middle school, Onoda did not have any friends with whom he could talk about his interests, and hopes to change that by joining his new school's anime club. However, he is crushed when he discovers the anime club has been disbanded due to lack of interest, and in order to reestablish the club, four new members must join.
Since he was a little boy, Onoda has ridden his city bicycle —a simple and bulky bicycle designed for short rides—for transportation and fun. A fellow freshman, and much more serious cyclist, named Shunsuke Imaizumi notices Onoda riding his mamachari and mocks him inwardly until he sees Onoda riding up a steep hill with little effort. Another student named Naruko visits Akihabara to get some plastic Gundam models for his younger brothers and meets Onoda, who catches his attention because of his cycling skill on the mamachari. Later on, both Naruko and Imaizumi try to convince him to join the bicycle racing club at their high school, Sohoku.

Teams and characters

Sohoku High School

Sohoku is a hard-working team that acts as the main school in the story. The team is characterized as being able to overcome internal conflicts and brutal training. For example, Sohoku hosts an intense and gruelling 1000 km training camp every year to determine who will advance to the main race of the series, the Inter-High.
;Sakamichi Onoda
;Shunsuke Imaizumi
;Shoukichi Naruko
;Shingo Kinjou
;Yuusuke Makishima
;Jin Tadokoro
;Junta Teshima
;Hajime Aoyagi
;Terufumi Sugimoto
;Koga Kimitaka
;Kaburagi Issa
;Sugimoto Sadatoki
;Danchiku Ryuuhou
;Gorizou

Hakone Academy

Hakone Academy is the country's largest cycling team, and claims to be made up of “six aces” with many more in reserve. During the first year of the series, it was noted to have 50 club members. Since Hakone is such an expansive team, the selection process of who does, and does not, go to the Inter-High is quite complex. To determine who has the honor of participating in the Inter-High, all of the members race against each other, and only the winners of each group, are allowed to participate. Furthermore, these groups are divided so that the team takes three all-rounders, two climbers, and up to two sprinters to the Inter-High.
;Sangaku Manami
;Jinpachi Toudou
;Juichi Fukutomi
;Hayato Shinkai
;Yasutomo Arakita
;Touichirou Izumida
;Yukinari Kuroda

Kyoto Fushimi High School

Kyoto Fushimi, or Kyofushi, acts as the third squad in this series and is the wild card of the main three teams. The team has a history as a strong team, where 1st year cyclists would go to become stronger. Its training practices are unknown, but other teams say they were a lot nicer in previous years before Midousuji joined the team.
;Akira Midousuji
;Koutarou Ishigaki
;Nobuyuki Mizuta
;Tomoya Ihara
;Noriyuki Yamaguchi
;Akihisa Tsuji

Hiroshima Kureminami Technical High School

Hiroshima is known to have no all-rounders, and 3 sprinters.
;Eikichi Machimiya

Supporting characters

;Touji Kanzaki
;Miki Kanzaki
;Aya Tachibana
;Mr. Pierre
;Miyahara
;Kotori Himeno
;Orson Kakigōri
;Fraser Yamakaji

Media

Manga

Yowamushi Pedal is written and illustrated by Wataru Watanabe, and the manga began serialization in the 12th issue of Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion on February 21, 2008. The series was later published in tankōbon format by Akita Shoten, with the first volume being released on July 8, 2008. As of December 2019, 63 volumes have been published.
On August 8, 2013, a limited-edition version of the 29th volume of Yowamushi Pedal was released with a bundled anime DVD directed by Osamu Nabeshime and produced by TMS Entertainment.
The manga is published in English by Yen Press in North America, who are releasing the series as two-in-one omnibuses. The first omnibus volume was released on December 15, 2015.

Volume list

Anime

The first season of Yowamushi Pedal, produced by TMS Entertainment began airing on October 7, 2013 on TV Tokyo. The second season, Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road, began airing on October 6, 2014 in Japan. A third season, titled Yowamushi Pedal: New Generation, was announced on October 6, 2015 at a film screening of Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie, which premiered on January 10, 2017. The fourth season, titled Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line, started on January 8, 2018.
In North America, Discotek Media licensed the first two seasons of the series within the region, and Crunchyroll simulcast the series on their service. Crunchyroll is also the master English licensee of the third season of the series worldwide. In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment acquired the home media and streaming rights for the first two seasons, and streamed the series on AnimeLab.

Theme songs

;Opening Theme
;Ending Theme
;Insert Song
Yowamushi Pedal: Re:RIDE and Yowamushi Pedal: Re: ROAD recap the first two seasons of the anime with additional new content.
Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie, which was released on August 28, 2015, hinted a third season. The film was released on Malaysia on January 7, 2016.
Yowamushi Pedal: Re:GENERATION is a film adaptation of the third season.
An anime theatrical film adaptation of the Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike spin-off manga premiered in Japanese theaters for 2 weeks, starting September 9, 2016. It tells the past of the third year seniors
There is an OVA titled Yowamushi Pedal: Special Ride. Chiba Pedal: Yowamushi Pedal to Manabu Jitensha Koutsuu Anzen is a collaboration ad campaign for bicycle safety.
In May 2019, Discotek Media announced the acquisition of Yowamushi Pedal: Re:RIDE and Yowamushi Pedal: Re: ROAD for a BD release on July 30.
A live-action film adaptation of the manga was announced and set to premiere on August 14, 2020, it is directed by Kōichirō Miki.

Mobile game

Yowamushi Pedal: Puchitto Racers is a phone app by Furyu available for iOS and Android, and functions as a collector game.

Television drama

A live-action television drama adaptation of the manga was announced in the Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine's 26th issue of 2016 and premiered on August 2016 on BS SKY PerfecTV!. The series is directed by Takayoshi Tanazawa and written by Kōta Fukihara.
A sequel premiered on August 18, 2017 on BS SKY PerfecTV!.
The series is also simulcasted with its Japanese broadcast on WakuWaku Japan in Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Mongolia.

Reception

Manga

The Yowamushi Pedal manga won the Best Shōnen Manga award along with The Seven Deadly Sins manga at the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards.
In 2017, Akita Shoten's Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine announced that Wataru Watanabe's Yowamushi Pedal manga had 17 million copies in print.