A new key visual for the upcoming Yowamushi Pedal Season 5 anime series has been revealed.
The intricate artwork for Yowamushi Pedal: Limit Break depicts MC Sakamichi Onoda and his fellow cycling enthusiast Sangaku Manami.
Yowamushi Pedal: Limit Break — What we know so far
Just a couple of days earlier, the first PV for Yowamushi Pedal Season 5 was revealed alongside the OP and ED songs. The opening theme is “Keep Going” by Limited Sazabys and the ending theme song is “PRIDE” by Novelbright.
As previously announced, the Yowamushi Pedal: Limit Break release date in Japan is on October 9, 2022.
The anime is being produced by TMS Entertainment (Rent-A-Girlfriend) and 8PAN (Fruits Basket the Final).
The main staff is, as follows:
- Osamu Nabeshima — director
- Hiroyuki Horiuchi — animator
- Yukiko Ban — character designer
- Kurasumi Sunayama — script writer
- Yoshio Mizumura and Hiyori Denforword Akishino — mechanic designs
The returning cast members for the Yowamushi Pedal: Limit Break include:
- Daiki Yamashita — Sakamichi Onoda
- Atsushi Abe — Tōichirō Izumida
- Ayaka Suwa — Miki Kanzaki
- Daisuke Kishio — Junta Teshima
- Daisuke Ono — Masakiyo Dōbashi
- Hiro Shimono — Issa Kaburagi
- Hiroki Yasumoto — Shingo Kinjō
- Hiroyuki Yoshino — Yasutomo Arakita
- Jun Fukushima — Shōkichi Naruko
- Jun Fukuyama — Komari Kishigami
- Junichi Suwabe — Tōji Kanzaki
- Kenji Nojima — Yukinari Kuroda
- Kentaro Ito — Jin Tadokoro
- Koji Yusa — Akira Midōsuji
- Kouki Miyata — Terufumi Miyata
- Kousuke Toriumi — Shunsuke Imaizumi
- Mamoru Miyano — Takuto Ashikiba
- Megumi Han — Aya Tachibana
- Mitsuhiro Ichiki — Sadatoki Sugimoto
- Satoshi Hino — Hayato Shinkai
- Showtaro Morikubo — Yūsuke Makishima
- Tetsuya Kakihara — Jinpachi Tōdō
- Tomoaki Maeno — Juichi Fukutomi
- Tsubasa Yonaga — Sangaku Manami
- Wataru Hatano — Ryūhō Danchiku
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka — Hajime Aoyagi
- Yūichi Nakamura — Kimitaka Koga
- Yūma Uchida — Yūto Shinkai
So far, it hasn’t been decided when fans outside of Japan will be able to see the series, so stay tuned for future announcements!
Discotek Media holds the license for the first two Yowamushi Pedal seasons; Crunchyroll originally streamed the first three seasons for international audiences. Madman holds the license for the first two seasons in Australia and New Zealand and originally streamed the series via AnimeLab.
The first Yowamushi Pedal season aired in 2013, the second (Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road) — in 2014, the third (Yowamushi Pedal: New Generation) — in 2017, and the fourth (Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line) — in 2018.
About the Yowamushi Pedal franchise
The anime series is based on the eponymous manga (弱虫ペダル, Yowamushi Pedaru) by Wataru Watanabe, which launched in 2008 and is still ongoing. As of August 2022, the individual chapters have been collected into 78 tankōbon volumes. The manga is serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion under the Shōnen Champion Comics label. Akita Shoten is publishing the series.
Mangaka Wataru Watanabe started a spin-off series (Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike) in 2012. The manga has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion just like its counterpart.
Yowamushi Pedal is really a prolific franchise, spanning multiple anime series, films, a live-action drama, a video game, a live-action movie, and numerous stage plays.
The Yowamushi Pedal stage plays (16 so far, with another one in the works) have a longer tradition than the anime series since the theater version celebrated its 10th anniversary in May 2022!
The first stage play premiered at Tokyo’s Galaxy Theatre on February 1, 2012, and the 16th — Yowamushi Pedal: The Cadence! — at Tokyo Theater 1010 on July 5, 2022, and Cool Japan Park Osaka on July 16, 2022.
Yowamushi Pedal follows otaku Sakamichi Onoda who is determined to join the school’s anime club. Alas!, the club has been disbanded due to a lack of interest! Setting out to find four more members to re-establish the club, Onoda is spotted riding his bicycle by two fellow students, Shunsuke Imaizumi and Shōkichi Naruko. The two are impressed by Onoda’s cycling skills and plan to convince him to join the school’s bicycle racing club.
Just like the finest of the sports manga/anime — notably, Haikyuu!! and Kuroko’s Basketball that are celebrating their respective 10th anniversaries this year — Yowamushi Pedal is a thrilling ride that leaves no one unimpressed. Hopefully, we’ll get an international release date soon as the Japanese premiere date is fast approaching!