To be honest, I find it strange that I didn’t talk about Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike manga soon enough.
Why am I saying that? Well, it’s because of the manga being the sole reason that got me to write The Diary of Modern Cinderella and Twisted Destiny in the first place.
Yes, it’s true that both books aren’t about bike racing. But the fact that I chose Hakone as the setting for the story has a lot to do with me being so into Yowamushi Pedal at that time.
Putting that aside, I went to Amazon recently just to see if Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike was licensed in English or not.
I knew that the main Yowamushi Pedal manga was already licensed in English for quite some time.
But I wasn’t so sure about Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike, though.
Lo and behold, what greeted me at the search result page wasn’t even the manga in Japanese.
Instead, the search result that I got was the actual bike pedal!
Well, it makes sense since my search phrase had the words pedal, spare, and bike in it.
I admit that it’s not the first time that I came across such a wacky search result. But this one is by far the most hilarious search result I ever got.
And it’s something that I will remember forever.
What Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike is all about
Here’s the book description that I got from Manga Owl.
These are the recollections of a group of men who bet everything on their bicycles. The central pillars of their respective teams, the 3rd years. New stories revealing their pasts is about to begin!!
What got me to read the manga
Yes, I admit that the reason that got me to read Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike has a lot to do with me being a huge fan of Toudou Jinpachi.
I even went as far as buying the limited edition of the first volume of the manga with him on the manga on Animate website.
Of course, there was no way for me to buy the manga directly on the Animate website since they didn’t ship outside Japan at that time.
So, I have to resort to using a shopping service just to buy the limited edition manga on Animate.
I already shared my experience and tips on how to use a shopping service to buy any websites that don’t ship outside Japan right here. I even shared with you the Japan proxy service that I used in the blog post as well.
And for those who are curious, here’s the picture of the same manga but with a different book cover.
It was too bad that I missed the limited edition of Volume 8. Just like the first volume, there’s another limited edition of the eighth volume with Toudou on the cover.
But hey, I can try to find the used copy of the same volume and use the same Japan proxy service to buy the manga.
Just to be clear that I was falling behind with the manga. So, it may take a while for me to catch up with the latest volume.
What makes Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike worth reading
If you’re familiar with the main story in Yowamushi Pedal, then you’ll know that most of the characters tend to have their own backstory.
Sure, the third-year characters do have a backstory that seems to occur during the intense moment in the story for the most part.
But what we get in the main story is only the tip of the iceberg. If you want a more flesh-out story like how they got into the road racing and how some of them met, then you will only get that part of the story in Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike.
Of course, not only you’ll get to know the backstory of the third-year characters from Sohoku and Hakone Academy. But you’ll also get to know the backstory for Ishigaki and Machimiya.
Yes, it does look like Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike is only reserved for the diehard fan of the series.
But I will have to say that the manga is surprisingly good despite being a side story.
Personally, I find the main story somehow feels lackluster to me ever since the story moves on without the third-year characters.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that the story suddenly goes downhill, no pun intended, or anything.
It’s just that, the story seems so much fun with the third-year characters around.
And thankfully, we do get to see them again later on in the main story. But if you want to see more of them, then there’s no doubt that you’ll only get to see more of them in Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike.
What I didn’t expect when I read this manga
I never thought that the manga is going strong despite being only the side story.
Sure, the reason for that may have a lot to do with many people enjoy reading Yowamushi Pedal manga in general.
But I have a feeling that most of them are hoping to see the third-year characters once more rather than making them disappear and never heard about them ever again.
Well, what’s not to like about these third-year characters? Not only do they have a distinctive personality. But they’re also amazing too.
Even a few of them are helping one another to get out of the mess despite being on the opposing team.
Take Arakita for example.
When both Arakita and Onoda were stuck in the pack, Onoda reached out to him for help.
Sure, Arakita can outright refuse to help him because Onoda was in the opposing team.
But since both of them wanted to get back to their team and they couldn’t get out of the pack on their own, then they might as well help each other. They can get back to competing with one another once they’re back with their team.
I find it fun to see them interacting with one another despite being in the opposing team.
Yes, you see this a lot in pretty much any sports anime and manga. But Yowamushi Pedal is the only manga I know so far that continues even after the third-year characters have already graduated.
Who should read this manga
If you love any of the third-year characters as I do, then you will find the manga fascinating.
And yes, even to the characters that you may not have any interest in at first.
For one, Ishigaki’s backstory. Not going to lie that I don’t care about him. But reading about what happened to him before Midosuji joining the team is eye-opening.
Who would have thought that something tragic happened to him when he was only a first-year?
I’m not going to spoil you what happened to him at that time. You’ll need to see this for yourself.
Where to buy Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike manga
It’s too bad that the manga doesn’t get licensed in English as I write this. So, the only way for you to read this manga is to get them in Japanese.
The good news is the manga does have furigana. So, that should be good enough for you if you’re not good with kanji.
Sad to say that the early volumes of the manga are no longer available for sale, though.
The only way for you to get the early volumes of the manga is to buy them in used condition through shopping services like Buyee.
Over to you
What do you think about Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike? Are you interested in reading the manga after finding out about it on my blog?
Let me know in the comment below.
P.S Remember when I said that Yowamushi Pedal was the reason why the story in The Diary of The Modern Cinderella and Twisted Destiny takes place in Hakone?
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I'm an author who writes thriller and suspense light novels. But when I'm not writing a book, I love to blog about books that I enjoy reading. Some of these books also become the inspiration for my novel as well.
Most of the books that I talk about on my blog tend to be manga and light novels, with nonfiction books in between. If you're looking for interesting books to read, then you will certainly enjoy reading my blog. 