Have you ever seen this creepy balloon? Well, combine that nightmare fuel with The Little Engine That Could where several people all want to be Little Engine, and you get Yowamushi Pedal volume 12.
Inter-high continues, and with Fukutomi getting closer to the finish line with every second, the remnants of Sohoku (Onoda, Imaizumi, Naruko, and Makishima) must pull together to catch up. They are also entering the part of the course where climbing skills are essential, and even with two climbers, Sohoku is still facing an uphill battle. (Get it?) Meanwhile, Sohoku isn’t the only ones besides Hakone with their eyes on the prize.
Like some of the other volumes, this one puts a lot of emphasis on how amazing Sohoku’s first years are. Makishima and Tadakoro get some moments either during the race or as a flashback, but they, along with Kinjou, are or have already passed the torch to the youngest members of the team. I still wish there was at least one second-year on the team for those two reasons. If the manga continues on after the third years graduate (which is looking likely), we’ll lose all three senpai-kouhai relationships. We get to see this clearly in volume 12, including a hilarious side story between anime-loving Onoda and antisocial Makishima. So the loss of the third years spur Onoda et al to new heights here, and it’s hard to see how they’ll improve even more.
But maybe Watanabe will surprise me in the future, as for now, this volume is very good. First up and with the longest arc is Naruko, whose flashy style had to be combined with training to cover his weaknesses. Imaizumi gains a deeper appreciation for his teammates as he challenges Fukutomi head-on, and Onoda pedals and sings his way to protect him. Naruko’s section was my favorite, as I could feel both his and the author’s passion into making the audience have a good time. I feel like he’s a better version of Black Star from Soul Eater.
At the same time, Manami also proves to be an amazing first-year, and, like Onoda, he’s having a grand ol’ time in the race. He’s the opposite of Midousuji, who continues to be his lovely self. Seriously, that balloon captures him way too perfectly. I know it isn’t Halloween time just yet, but when I was reading, I half expected to find that balloon looming behind me. I do have to admit he makes a great antagonist, as I root for whoever his opponent is. For most of this volume, it’s Manami, so we finally get to see his natural talent. Midousuji does acknowledges him, so for Mr. Everything is Gross, you can imagine how impressive Manami is.
But while the manga is filled with good heart-pounding racing and lots of spirit, the lettering takes a hit. The second half of this omnibus mostly doesn’t have this problem, but many times in the first half the text is skewed so that it’s partially outside the dialogue bubble. It’s not as if the letterers were forced to have a slight part of a single letter on the border; there’s clear enough space so that it should have fit. Most of these instances are when characters are shouting, so worse case, the font could have been decreased slightly. It wasn’t constant, but it happens enough to be an annoyance.
An annoyance that this volume didn’t deserve. The Little Engine That Could is a classic, and Yowamushi Pedal volume 12 is also going to be an insta-classic for fans.