The end of the first day of the Inter-high is fast approaching. First, self-proclaimed ordinary guy Teshima aims for the upset against prodigy Manami. Then, Sohoku and Hakone once again battle, this time for the ultimate victory of day one. But this two-team race quickly becomes a three-team race!
Because of course Midousuji returns. Because how could readers survive without his attempts to be a Titan with Anya-style meme faces?
And if that sounds weird, well, I never want to hear about my bad puns again with “Toney Pusham-kun” being the name of a certain someone’s new special skill…
Yes, “weird” describes a lot of this volume of Yowamushi Pedal. True, this manga, along with many other shounen sports titles, are often on the bizarre side, but this one is definitely on the higher end.
Probably the least bizarre portion is the Teshima vs. Manami battle. Manami’s chain broke in the last volume, and most readers will guess how this turns out. Because of this, it’s rather anti-climactic, as it’s an ending that only works in fiction to add more drama.
The sports intrigue picks up as Naruko/Imaizumi challenge Hakone’s Kuroda/Ashikiba pair. Naruko is ready to make his Inter-high all-rounder debut, but Hakone doesn’t see him as a threat. Naruko and Imaizumi’s squabbling makes them more like a comedy duo rather than a racer duo, but they keep closing the gap in a back-and-forth with Hakone. As soon as Hakone begins to pull out all the stops, Midousuji and his partner, Kishigami the future convicted sexual perpetrator, changes the dynamics — in the race and the visuals.
Before this, there were times I felt like the art quality dropped a bit, most notably during the woefully underused storyline about Sohoku’s support van getting stuck in traffic jam as the riders head for the refreshment zone. Midousuji has always been full of crazed looks and exaggerated expressions, but dude is like an obnoxious wedding crasher who tries to photobomb every picture. He’s a Titan, he’s Venom, he’s got alien eyes, robot mouth — I can’t even describe all the crazed depictions of Midousuji here. In other volumes, we’ve seen him at least being somewhat contemplative, but here the closest we get is his occasional suppressing of laughter. Well, at least until he pulls out his latest move. You don’t have time to appreciate the rising intensity when Midousuji is trying to be meme-y.
As for abilities, who knew the way a shirt rips would be a part of a skill? And for another one, if even your close teammate is freaked out by your “switch”, yeah, it’s freaky.
I did have a few laugh-out-loud moments (Kaburagi trying to jump ahead of Aoyagi’s instructions), but Watanabe never capitalizes on these to help shake up the “I’m ahead!” “No I am!” feel for much of volume 20. Onoda does take a back seat for practically the entire book, and while I’m sure his fans may be a bit upset, I’m glad to see others take the reins.
Still, I felt things were off here. Midousuji comes across as too outrageous to take seriously, and it distracts from Naruko wanting revenge for earlier. A too-obvious finish for the mountain tag, and the back-and-forths between Imaizumi/Naruko and Sohoku/Hakone are rather repetitive. Yowamushi Pedal can and has done better, and despite setting the stage for a big three-way showdown, volume 20 is not a must-read.