5 Best Anime About Cycling to Get You Interested
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Finding the best Anime about cycling is quite hard as the theme of Cycling in anime isn’t exactly a rare genre but there’s only been a few amount of solid Anime titles that focuses on cycling from the competitiveness of the sport and to the laidback casual atmosphere that cycling can also bring.
Most cycling Animes actually do a great job depicting the sports since cycling in Japan is pretty popular. A lot of people whether they casually or competitively cycle love the activity which every now and then an Anime director sees that it may be a potentially marketable theme in Anime. Here are the list of 5 Anime about cycling.
Yowamushi Pedal
Yowamushi Pedal is known as one of the best Anime about cycling that does an awesome job displaying the competitive environment between the players, the fundamentals of a cycling team, and other details of the passion towards the viewers about the enjoyment, stress and skills that cycling really is in the real world. Anime fans who love cycling should give Yowamushi Pedal as it’s one of the only Anime that represents the competitive side of the sports really well.
YowaPedal is about a low profile student named Onoda Sakamichi who’s a nerd that is passionate about Anime seeking to join a club in his high school with the same interest as his, but only to find that the club has disbanded and nobody is interested anymore. Surprisingly Onoda is unaware that he has a talent for Cycling which a member of the Cycling club notices later on, sparking a new profound meaning for the passionate Anime fan to try and transition in becoming a competitive cyclist.
Long Riders
Ever seen cute girls doing cyclist related activities in an Anime? If not, then here you go, Long Riders is an Anime and one of the first Anime to properly incorporate the cycling theme into a ‘Cute girls doing cute things’ concept. Just like Yowamushi Pedal, it depicts the themes of cycling, getting down to the details about Cycling and the bicycles involved which is enjoyable for any Anime fan who enjoys cycling.
Long Riders is more of a laid back plot driven Anime unlike Yowamushi Pedal that heavily resides into the competitive spirit of racing. Long Riders focuses on the enjoyment of long distance riding as the title implies while winning isn’t a priority but learning the ability to properly learn cycling and reaching the goal while enjoying it with your group of friends is the focus for the Main character.
Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitenshabu
Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitenshabu is another Anime that combines the cute girls doing cute things concept with the cycling theme, and does a good job in doing so for a slice of life Anime. Just like Long Riders, the Anime portrays a group of students that form a cycling club together, although their goal isn’t to be a serious competitive team, but to tour-around Japan, doing long-distance sightseeing for the overall fun of cycling together.
Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitenshabu came out a year after Long Riders did, and the Animation quality still up to date. Compared to Animes like Yowamushi Pedal, the plot doesn’t focus on the competitiveness of the sports but rather focusing on the relax and laidback environment of cycling, which you would expect from a Slice of life of cute girls doing cute things Anime.
Overdrive
Overdrive is a competitive cycling Anime about the Main Character that strives to be a top racer that aims for the Tour De France competition. Overdrive has a more serious take on competitive cycling where the MC experiences hardships along the way in striving to be the best racer.
Overdrive is an Anime released in 2007 with the animations obviously being outdated but I still think its bearable, enjoyable and worth the watch if you’re a fan of cycling, but for an Anime fan that is use to seeing modern Animation, it might take time adjusting.
Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu
Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu is a “forgotten” Anime Movie, it was released in 2003 where anime wasn’t a mainstream interest yet, and hasn’t gained much attention until then due to the outdated look and probably because it’s a non-mainstream classic. It was a movie directed by a Studio Ghilbi animation director named Kousaka Kitarou.
It’s showcases a Spanish Cyclist from Andalusia that participates in a multi-stage Iberian Cycling Race which is similar to the competitions like Tour da France, where his main role in the team race is being a support rider. The anime displays his struggles to strive for glory by wanting to abandon his supporting role due to the realization he might be dropped from the team soon.
What did you like the most? Comment down below.
Writing about Anime is pretty fun.
