Here’s something delightful to brighten up your Friday afternoon – a charming anime video from Japan called Hill Climb Girl, and what’s more, it stars Team Sky’s very own Bradley Wiggins.
Not only is the 2012 winner back riding the Tour de France – that’s a 2014 jersey he’s wearing – but his exploits on one of cycling’s most iconic climbs also provide inspiration for a high school student who idolises him.
She’s Hinako, aged 17, and every morning she races a boy from her class up the hill to their school, and she’s never beaten him yet.

The detail is superb, including the Rapha backpacks both youngsters tote to school, accurate down to the strap buckles, to the Rich Mitchelson Wiggo keyring – he gets a suitable credit.
We think it’s great, and we’d love to see more of this kind of thing.






















32 thoughts on “Hill Climb Girl: Bradley Wiggins stars in – and inspires – cool Japanese animation”
Story boards there but no
Story boards there but no video!
Click the link in the
Click the link in the penultimate paragraph 😉
Keeewwwl! Love a bit of
Keeewwwl! Love a bit of Japanese animation. With pro cyclists in. WOOF.
aslongasicycle
Give Yowamushi Pedal a watch as well!
Sideburns aren’t long enough
Sideburns aren’t long enough :))
omoshiroiiiiiiii!
omoshiroiiiiiiii!
ch wrote:omoshiroiiiiiiii!
So
So desu ne demo moto sugoi desu.
I must be doing something
I must be doing something wrong as I press play but nothing happens
FATBEGGARONABIKE wrote:I must
Same here.
Uwaaah! I want Japanese
Uwaaah! I want Japanese Wiggins to be my badass uncle! He’s so cool and inspiring!
On a similar theme, there’s an anime entire series on road racing airing at the moment (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1BxzwZLR74&spfreload=10). Maybe the sport is enjoying a similar surge in Japan as it is here. Or maybe not, I really don’t know.
love this it is fun
love this it is fun
Not much of a story but the
Not much of a story but the best bit of cycling animation I’ve seen since Belleville Rendezvous. =D>
michophull wrote:…
runs off to the dvd cabinet for some later on viewing 🙂
” まだ追いつける。諦めるな。”
Bradley
” まだ追いつける。諦めるな。”
Bradley Wiggins – 2014
Why is Sir Wiggo represented
Why is Sir Wiggo represented in an almost photo-realistic style yet the Japanese girl is portrayed in some unrealistic strange cartoon fashion?
Excellent animation, but…
crikey wrote:Why is Sir Wiggo
Seriously ?
Wiggins would have told her
Wiggins would have told her to be content to stay on his wheel and wait for the tt, though. She’ s riding like Joaquim Rodriguez with a Mark Renshaw headbutt thrown in.
THIS IS AWESOME !!! SO PERF!!
THIS IS AWESOME !!! SO PERF!!
Is that a preliminary to Sky
Is that a preliminary to Sky formally announcing a women team??
😕
I’ve seen Japanese animation
I’ve seen Japanese animation like this somewhere before.
I was waiting for a huge cock to jump onto the screen…..then he did =))
Whee! Go girl!
That was
Whee! Go girl!
That was lovely 🙂
Will be inspired once I’ve shifted this bout of flu…
Those having problems watching, the video vanished on my ipad but was fine on pc+firefox so may be a browser/mac issue?
That’s lovely. Liking the
That’s lovely. Liking the change up to get up on the pedals. And the ref above to Belleville Rendezvous is spot on.
Can we have a working link?
Can we have a working link?
For those who can’t get the
For those who can’t get the video to play, try the animator expo front page – http://animatorexpo.com – as the video is currently on there and plays fine for me (I can’t get it to play on the page linked to from the article either).
I think it’s only on the expo front page for a few days, so this might stop working as a solution soon.
Awesome animation and Wiggo
Awesome animation and Wiggo has never been cooler
Tried all the links
Tried all the links suggested, still a big black screen.
antonio wrote:Tried all the
Have you tried a number of different web browsers? That’s usually my last resort, and it often ends up working.
Quince wrote:antonio
Same as antonio then tried your suggestion, went from moz firefox to internet exp and it worked
THANX
If you’re wanting to watch on
If you’re wanting to watch on an apple device best to download the free app to watch the film https://itunes.apple.com/ja/app/anime-jian-ben-shi/id924812733?mt=8 as I think the video is using flash player on the studio khara site. Thanks!
I did get it but it seems to
I did get it but it seems to be aimed at preteens
Forester wrote:I did get it
Well, y’know, it’s a 7 minute short about riding up a hill. The animation’s charming, and you get to see Wiggins being super inspirational. In Japanese.
Super Inspirational Japanese Bradley Wiggins.
I don’t consider that to be time wasted. 😉
Anybody knows what 3D
Anybody knows what 3D software they used to produce it ? B-)