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Crunchyroll Streams Yowamushi Pedal New Generation, Chiruran 1/2 Anime

Media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Monday that it is streaming the Yowamushi Pedal New Generation and Chiruran 1/2 anime as they air in Japan.

The first episode of Yowamushi Pedal New Generation premiered on Crunchyroll on Monday at 2:05 p.m. EST, and is available worldwide outside of Asia.

The series premiered in Japan at night on Monday, January 9 at 1:35 a.m. (effectively Tuesday morning) on TV Tokyo, TV Aichi, and TV Hokkaido. The show is also airing on TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, TVQ Kyushu, NBC Nagasaki, and AT-X.

The story of the original Yowamushi Pedal manga centers around Sakamichi Onoda, an otaku at Sōhoku High School. He loves anime and games so much, that he would ride his commuter bicycle to and from Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in a 90-kilometer (about 60-mile) round trip over steep slopes after school. Onoda's life changes when he encounters his school's cycling team, and he ends up joining the competitive sport of bicycle racing.

The story of the third season is set after the previous two seasons and the August 2015 film, and after the previous third-year students have graduated.

Osamu Nabeshima is returning to direct the series and Kurasumi Sunayama (Bakuon!!), who worked on scripts for the first two seasons, is taking over series composition. Yukiko Ban (Yowamushi Pedal movie) is designing the characters and Hiroyuki Horiuchi is designing the bikes. Kan Sawada is returning to compose the music. TMS Entertainment is again producing the animation. Takaaki Natsushiro is performing the opening theme song "Cadence," and singer-songwriter Saeki YouthK (Yūsuke Saeki) is performing the ending theme song "Now or Never."

The first episode of Chiruran 1/2 (Chiruran Nibun no Ichi) premiered on Crunchyroll on Monday at 1:35 p.m. EST, and is available worldwide outside of Asia.

The anime premiered in Japan on January 9 on Tokyo MX at 25:00 (effectively January 10 at 1:00 a.m.), and on KBS Kyoto 30 minutes later. The series will also air on Sun TV on January 11 at 24:15 (effectively January 12 at 12:15 a.m.). The anime will air from January to March.

The original manga is a "laid-back" spinoff of Shinya Umemura and Hashimoto's Chiruran: Shinsengumi Chinkon-ka (Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem) manga. The spinoff manga runs in the same Comic Zenon magazine as the main series, but instead follows the everyday lives of the members of the Shinsengumi, who are depicted in SD form. Umemura and Hashimoto launched the spinoff in May.

Fumie Moroi is directing the anime at LandQ studios. Mutsuaki Murata (Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, Love Live! School idol project key animation) is designing the characters. Mieko Ichihara (Chibi Maruko-chan, Maken-Ki! Battling Venus) is the art director, while Tomomi Murakami (The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, Spice and Wolf II) is in charge of color design. Toshitaka Kanda (Paprika, MAOYU) is director of photography. Kashiko Kimura (Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, Paranoia Agent) is in charge of editing.