By Wataru Watanabe. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Akita Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Champion. Released in North America by Yen Press.

The last volume promised we’d see a race, but I don’t know if readers were prepared for the race to take up the entire omnibus, which is to say two volumes of the original Japanese release. Given that it’s meant to be an endurance test to weed out those who aren’t ready for the big time, it makes sense. And, of course, it ends up showing off the character development of our three leads – Onoda discovers the joy of competition, particularly when he gets a real bike; Naruko realizes that he is not in fact top dog here; and Imaizumi finds a desire to win that had been absent in him for some time. In other words, this still manages to embody all the archetypes of sports manga in one handy volume.

Onoda is still the star, and we see him coming to terms with the fact that he can’t make it on pure guts alone – though god knows he tries, particularly when he gets his racing bike. There’s a lovely bit where he sees the car of team captains behind him (they’re there to pick up those too far behind and say they’ve lost) and despairs, but no, they’re here to give him his racing bike, which got stuck in traffic before the event. The team captains (and Kanzaki, who continues to boggle at Onoda’s raw potential, though this being a sports title, and an Akita Shoten one at that, I expect boggling is all she will do) also get to play Greek chorus along the way, explaining why *this* is the exact point that Onoda will finally run out of steam, only to be proven wrong time and time again.

Of course, he eventually does collapse – your male sports lead does not end up winning against the veterans in the early volumes. The course is designed to kill anyone who doesn’t plan on being a “cycling uber alles” sort, which means most of it is a giant hill. Onoda wins the race to the top of the hill, but that’s all he has in him. As for Imaizumi, there’s some lovely characterization here as he unconsciously finds himself riding as he did when he was a child (something noticed by Kanzaki, who was a childhood friend of his), and also overexerting himself despite knowing it’s not the right thing to do in order to efficiently win the race. Stoic types in manga are always at their most interesting when they go up against something that threatens their facade. It doesn’t necessarily have to make them emotional, but it’s good to see.

So now that Onoda has made a name for himself, to the point where even Kanzaki’s non-cycling BFF says that he seems to have more presence than before, what’s next? My guess is more cycling, and probably an intense training regimen. Are we too early for an inter-high meet? What does the author plan to do with the eccentric yet clearly intelligent and wily coach we’re introduced to? I definitely plan on finding out next time.

By Wataru Watanabe. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Akita Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Champion. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This upcoming year will see a bit of a renaissance in sports manga, a genre that has always had difficulty catching hold of readers in North America. Yes, Eyeshield 21 was finished, as was Cross Game, but for the most oart sports manga has been synonymous with “won’t be licensed”. A large part of this is that most sports titles go on for years, with volumes reaching Naruto or One Piece levels. But not selling like Naruto or One Piece. But we may be seeing a change. Viz has a volleyball and basketball manga due out in 2016. And at the tail end of 2015, Yen Press gives us Yowamushi Pedal (it’s untranslated to keep its large fanbase – I think yowamushi means ‘weak’ or ‘cowardly’), a shonen cycling manga that is almost a template of what the traditional sports manga is like.

Fans of Eyeshield 21 may find a lot of this familiar, in fact. Our hero is Onoda, a geeky otaku-type who lives for anime and rides his “mommy bike”, complete with basket on the front, to Akibihara every week to get the latest deals. The gimmick is that riding to Akibihara and back every week is 55 miles. On his little bike he’s had since elementary school. And he’s done this since he was 9. As a result, though he’s totally unaware of it, he has amazing natural skills when it comes to bike riding. As I said, folks may be reminded of Sena, who developed his running speed in response to being bullied every day. Onoda’s life gradually changes when he meets Imaizumi, a serious cyclist who will be playing the ‘stoic competitor’ role, and in the second half of this omnibus he meets Naruko, a loud hothead who would not really change much at all if you swapped the k in his name with a t, to be honest.

The art style is not really as polished as you might see in Jump, but it’s pretty decent, especially for a weekly series. (Compare this with Yen’s previous sports manga Sasameke, which I’ve lambasted before, and whose art was one of its main nonselling points.) But the main point of the series is the characters and the racing. Onoda associates sports clubs with the opposite of him, and to be fair he does lack the stamina that you’d expect a lot of cyclists to have. Getting past this mental block, and showing him how bike racing can actually be fun is the forward momentum of the first omnibus. Like many sports manga, we’re starting to pile on cast. In addition to the three leads I mentioned, we have the token girl in the manga, who works for a bike shop and gets to deliver the exposition; and a large number of guys already on the team we meet right at the end, some of whom will no doubt get fleshed out as we go along.

I anticipate Yowamushi Pedal will be one of those series where you need to double check the cast list on the internet as you go along. That said, most of the cast here is likeable (or sort of irritating in a likeable way in Naruko’s case), and you want to read more of Onoda’s journey of self-discovery – the goal of any sports manga.