Shakariki! Review: The Cycling Manga That Climbed Hills Because Hills Were the Whole Point
by Mitsuru Soda
Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.
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Going up a hill on a bike is hard. Going up faster than someone else is the entire sport. The manga understood this completely.
Quick Take
- Mitsuru Soda's 18-volume cycling manga from Weekly Shonen Champion — Teru and the climber's obsession
- A foundational work of cycling manga in shonen, predating Yowamushi Pedal's later success
- Champion's commitment to genre-defining sports work in less-covered subjects
Who Is This Manga For?
- Cycling enthusiasts who want one of the foundational cycling manga
- Sports manga readers who want a less-covered sport done with seriousness
- Champion classic readers who want the magazine's underrated 1990s work
- Anyone who has felt the specific obsession with climbing as its own sport-within-sport
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Cycling intensity, occasional crashes, competitive psychology.
Suitable for most readers.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★★★☆ |
| Art Style | ★★★★☆ |
| Character Development | ★★★★☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★☆☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★★☆ |
Story Overview
Teru Nojima is a high schooler whose discovery of cycling — and specifically climbing, the discipline of going uphill faster than others — becomes his defining passion. The series follows his development as a climber, his joining and contribution to a high school cycling team, and his progression through competitive structures.
The structure is sports-manga conventional but the choice of cycling, and specifically climbing, gives it distinctive shape. Climbing is its own discipline within cycling — different physiology, different psychology, different race tactics from sprinting or time trials. Soda treats the discipline with technical respect that readers familiar with cycling will recognize and others will learn from.
The 18 volumes track Teru from beginner through serious competitor with the patience the development requires. Each level of competition introduces new rivals, new climbing courses, new tactical situations. The series' achievement is making climbing feel as cinematic as more-easily-rendered sports.
Characters
Teru Nojima: The protagonist whose obsession with climbing is the series' engine — his growth into a serious climber is the through-line.
The teammates: Each cycling discipline (sprint, climbing, all-rounder) gets representation in the team — the dynamic among them creates the team's identity.
The opponents: Each significant rival represents a different climbing style or psychological approach.
Art Style
Soda's art handles cycling action with attention to body mechanics — pedaling motion, climbing posture, the visual differences between effort levels. Backgrounds when racing emphasize speed and elevation; the courses themselves become characters in the matches.
Cultural Context
Shakariki! ran from 1992 to 1995 in Weekly Shonen Champion. The series predates Yowamushi Pedal's later boom for cycling manga and helped establish that the genre could work in shonen. Champion's editorial willingness to support less-popular sports genres allowed series like Shakariki! to find their audience.
Cycling has cultural prominence in Japan as transportation but historically less prominence as competitive sport — manga like Shakariki! contributed to building the cultural space competitive cycling has since occupied.
What I Love About It
I love the climbing focus.
Cycling manga (and cycling fiction generally) often defaults to sprinting or all-around racing, where outcomes are more easily dramatized. Climbing is harder to make exciting on the page — it's slower, more about endurance than spectacle, more internal than external. Soda finds the drama anyway. He shows what climbing actually feels like, what it costs, why people who love it love it. The choice respects the discipline by depicting it as it actually is.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Limited international awareness without translation. Among cycling manga readers familiar with the genre's history, recognized as foundational and a precursor to Yowamushi Pedal's later commercial success.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
A climb where Teru, late in the series, finds the resource that his years of climbing have built — not power, but the patience that climbing teaches better than any other discipline. The scene is internal as much as external, which is climbing's actual character.
Similar Manga
| Title | Its Approach | How Shakariki Differs |
|---|---|---|
| Yowamushi Pedal | Modern cycling manga with team focus | Shakariki is the predecessor that established the genre's possibilities |
| Over Drive | Same era cycling manga from Magazine | Shakariki is climbing-focused; Over Drive is more general |
| Capeta | Karting career narrative | Different vehicle but similar technical commitment |
Reading Order / Where to Start
Volume 1. The development depends on the foundation.
Official English Translation Status
Shakariki! has no official English translation.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Foundational cycling manga that established the genre in shonen
- Climbing focus gives the series distinctive shape
- Technical cycling content is rigorous
- Complete at 18 volumes
Cons
- No English translation
- Cycling knowledge enhances appreciation
- 1990s register feels dated to modern readers
- Niche-within-niche focus narrows appeal
Is Shakariki! Worth Reading?
For cycling enthusiasts and sports manga fans interested in the genre's history, yes — this is one of the works that built cycling manga in shonen. For readers without cycling interest, the technical specificity may feel distant. As foundational genre work, it earns its place.
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Physical | Japanese editions available |
| Digital | Available in Japanese |
| Omnibus | Collected editions available |
Where to Buy
No English release yet. That just means you find it before everyone else does.
*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.