Hiromi decides to ride a bike to her new high school but realizes she's forgotten how. A new friend helps and introduces her to her new town Kamakura. Season Premiere.
Episode 1 - "Entrance Ceremony"
Heh.
So this is what a cycling show with a budget looks like...
Mind you, Yowamushi Pedal has always looked great, but they couldn't shell out the money for bicycle trademarks. They accidentally left a couple of names in there, but only for one episode each. Calorie Mate and Specialized apparently don't approve of implied yaoi...
This show is explicitly selling road bikes to young women. They even have an infomercial at the end of each episode for the omake. Reminds me of Dagashi Kashi that way. I'll let you know what brands I saw in the Cycling Porn section, but there's none of the usual anime rebranding that's fun to decipher. Actual registered trademarks are everywhere.
This show is also an infomercial for the town of Kamakura They make it look gorgeous with the background art.
J.C. Staff is definitely showing off its 3DCG skills. It's not just the bikes that will get the modeling treatment.
Because of the slice of life premise and comedic moments I was reminded of the shows that did well last year like Dagashi Kashi, Flying Witch and Amanchu!. I don't know yet if this is going to be Healing Anime too like Flying Witch and Amanchu!, but I get the feeling it will be more like a more grounded Bakuon!!. Heck, even the main character Hiromi shares the same voice actress as Hane from that show.
Hiromi, a new transplant to Kamakura, decided to ride a new bike to school even though she hadn't ridden one for years. It really showed. She even forgot she needed to pedal. Luckily for her, she almost ran into Tomoe who offered to help her refresh her muscle memory. It was a good gambit for introducing our main pair and the hilly town by the beach.
MinaKama followed the plot convention from Amanchu! where the new students met their homeroom teacher on the way to school before they even knew who she was.
I usually don't do the waifu thing for anime seasons, but I just may make an exception for Ms. Shiki Mori. She cleans up nice too.
The pairing of Hiromi and Tomoe set the tone for the whole show based off their characters. Tomo-chan is going to be Hiromi's Captain Tomoe and Coach Tomo-chan for much more than just riding a bike.
Those Kamakura Black Kites are ruthless!
Ha! Hiromi had a second sandwich and she said she was going to put it away, in her stomach! That's good sit-com writing right there.
I saw a bear costume running around, so I thought maybe Kamakura had a mascot like Kumamon for Kumamoto, but it looks like it's going to be an eccentric character from the Cosplay Club.
Hiromi jumped from not making friends to hikikimori pretty quickly. Hear that otaku? Make friends and get outside doing stuff with them!
Mori-sensei had her own "Have fun!" speech like Amanchu! Her variation on the theme is being able to go anywhere. Like, say, on a bike?
Quick notes on the bike shop dudebro: He's my tribe! Caps not hats! And everything he said about the differences between chromoly, aluminum and carbon frames was solid.
Cycling Porn.
Figuring out the brand names is going to be easy for this show since the registered marks are all included. I saw Bridgestone for Hiromi's mamachari and the cycling club girls are going to be riding the various lady brands of Liv Giant, Cannondale, Pinarello and Specialized. I saw Japanese brand Anchor in there, which Hiromi is probably going to end up riding and Mori-Sensei rode NeilPryde, a Hong Kong based brand known for their windsurfing equipment.
I sympathize with Hiromi's problems with trying to pedal a bike without training wheels while learning to balance. I did that twice as an adult. I only learned to ride about 14 years ago on a friend's mountain bike and coasting was easy, but turning over those pedals consecutively was the hard part. The bike goes side to side when you do that! The second time I had to deal with learning to pedal was when I recently got used to pedaling my road bike without hands. Again, pedaling makes the bike go side to side, so figuring out how to balance the bike with just your butt pushing against the saddle was an experience. I suppose I'll have the same kind of feeling if I ever figure out how to pedal while doing a wheelie.
The Fun Stuff.
I just want to point out the dudebro cyclists. There are actually men in this show!
Hiromi and Tomoe make a great pair of friends. Even a random cat agrees!
See how nicely Mori-Sensei cleans up? And quickly too!
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Mori-Sensei told her girls that they can go anywhere if they set their mind to it. Tomoe insisted Hiromi practice riding her bike in the parking lot before she "goes anywhere."
These preview cards might be fun if they feature one of the girls with her bike each episode.
These End Cards are going to be fun in other ways, I'm sure.