After throwing Onoda into yet another race, author Watanabe quickly wraps it up to let the manga say farewell to some of the third-year characters and set up one for a personal revolution.
Akishiba’s challenge to Onoda finishes in the opening chapter with some personal wrap-up in the second. I was glad to see this storyline kicked to the curb in straight order. It was unlikely our protagonist was going to lose anyway, but he definitely wasn’t going to lose with Makishima’s honor on the line. So after the usual loser depression, the omnibus moves on to its two big stories starring Naruko and then the Hakone team.
As an aside, the manga still has some lettering problems. Know it can be hard fitting those shouts and long explanations into boxes, but it’s still distracting.
Back to the story: I’ll talk about Hakone first. All the members of the school’s bicycle club participate in a ride. An allegedly friendly ride that predictably turns into a battle between the seniors and their underclassmen. New captain Izumida forms a four-person mini-team, and they each challenge their mentor and reflect on what that relationship has meant to them. It also serves as a way for former champs Hakone to declare they will form a stronger team and take the crown from Sohoku.
And Imaizumi tells Naruko they will lose at this rate. Although the second years are improving, Kinjou, Tadokoro, and Makishima just elevated the Sohoku team. So Imaizumi has an idea — well, he delivers it as a command, really: Naruko must give up being a sprinter and be an all-rounder. Naruko soundly rejects the idea, the thought bubbles inside him and leads him back to his home in Osaka. There he visits his old racetrack and faces off against a very familiar opponent.
I won’t spoil too much about this, as it was one of the most surprising moments in Yowamushi Pedal. Naruko’s path is all but decided here, but the manga ends before he returns to Sohoku with his answer.
Meanwhile, Imaizumi isn’t just bossing Naruko around. When fellow first-year Sugimoto brings in a potential new club member, his little brother, Imaizumi vetoes the younger Sugimoto from just joining in. Although Sadatoki passes the first hurdle, the fact he’s been trained by the less-than-stellar older brother means he’s not someone Imaizumi wants to have around distracting the team. Fortunately, Teshima recognizes that Sadatoki may be worth training after all.
A lot of sports manga only cover one year/season, so we don’t get to see the super rookies turn into senpai. Onoda is nervous about being someone to look up to, and he’s even more rattled to learn Sadatoki is a fan of his. With Imaizumi also tending to be strict, they both need some work to do on their mentoring skills. Teshima has proven to be a rather insightful captain already, and I want to see others rise up as well. Even though Yowamushi Pedal may never get to Onoda’s third year, in-universe, he and the other (current) first-years are going to have to lead the team. They need to be ready to do so.
That’s a little far off into the future though. Right now, their second year is just around the corner, and Sohoku, Hakone, and other schools are already preparing for personnel changes. I wanted a better farewell for the seniors, and although I wasn’t expecting so much emphasis on the other schools or some of the other developments in volume 15, all that led to one of the more entertaining volumes of Yowamushi Pedal.