Good news for fans of the
Yowamushi Pedal anime series. A third season has been announced, which will premiere in January. In addition, the spinoff manga,
Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike, will receive a film adaptation that will have a limited, two-week run in Japanese theaters this September. While the main manga follows first-year student Sakamichi Onoda and his introduction to competitive bicycle racing, the spinoff manga is a prequel that follows the early days of his senpai.
Wataru Watanabe's manga was first published in 2008 and the anime began airing its first season in 2013. The manga is currently ongoing in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shōnen Champion, with volumes collected and published by Yen Press. To date, there have been 45 volumes of the manga released. The first anime season totaled 38 episodes and covered approximately 12 volumes of the manga. The second season totaled 24 episodes and concluded in the middle of the 28th volume.
Sakamichi Onoda is a cheerful otaku looking to join his new school's anime club, eager to finally make some friends. Unfortunately, the club has been disbanded and he takes it upon himself to revive it by finding students who are willing to join. Without much luck, Onoda decides to make a round trip to Akihabara on his old, bulky city bicycle, a weekly 90-kilometer ride he has been completing since fourth grade.
This is when he meets fellow first year student, Shunsuke Imaizumi, a determined cyclist who is using the school's steep incline for practice. Surprised by Onoda's ability to climb the hill with his specific type of bicycle, Imaizumi challenges him to a race, with the proposition of joining the anime club should Onoda win. And thus begins the young boy's first foray into the world of high school bicycle racing!