Cute, clumsy college student Ami Kurata is looking for a purpose in life. Though her best friend Aoi is an avid cyclist, Aoi's enormous road bike is too much for her to handle. But after seeing a stray cyclist on an adorable folding bicycle, Ami decides to finally give the world of cycling a try. Daunted by both the physical exertion and the cost of cycling equipment, she nevertheless refuses to give up her newfound passion for cycling and presses herself to the limits of both her endurance and her pocketbook. Together with her best friend Aoi, impish Hinako, matronly Yayoi, and perpetual wanderer Saki, she forms road cycling Team Fortuna and aims for the top (of the mountain course).
Long Riders! is a Slice of Life/Sports manga which began serialization in 2012, starting out in Comic Rex but later moving to Monthly Bushiroad in 2019. A twelve-episode anime adaptation by Actas aired in 2016 and became available for streaming on Crunchyroll in 2018.
Long Riders! provides examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The bicycles and occasionally their riders are all computer-generated, and it's always completely obvious.
- Adaptational Modesty: The first chapter of the manga has an extremely graphic panty shot after Ami trips on a loose stone. The anime removes it completely by focusing on her face.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ami calls her red folding bike "Ponta-kun".
- Animal-Eared Headband:
- As part of her family restaurant's bunny girl costume, Hinako wears a pair of rabbit ears.
- The Alpaca clerk wears a stuffed alpaca on her head.
- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Poor, poor Hinako. Not only does she have to wear a revealing qipao and deal with an overly-enthusiastic male clientele at the Chinese restaurant where she works, but her family owns the restaurant.
- The costumes grew more extreme as the show went on, leading many viewers to wonder how anyone who can call themselves a parent puts their teenage daughter in a bunny suit and sends her out to act as bait for perverts.
- The Big Race: It's about bicycling, so of course there's a big race. A two-parter, even!
- Bland-Name Product: WcDonald's. Doubles as Take That!
- Burger Fool: To cover the ludicrous costs of bicycle equipment, Ami resorts to becoming one of these in episode 4.
- Contrived Coincidence: Ami and Aoi have a habit of randomly running into future friends on bike trails.
- In episode 1, they meet Hinako and Yayoi on a bike trail near Ami's home before they discover they all attend the same college.
- In episode 3, they meet Saki cycling up a mountain during one of Aoi's family trips before it's revealed she's a friend of Hinako.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: In episode 4, Ami works at a maid café and becomes an immediate hit when she trips and spills plates everywhere.
- Cute Little Fangs: Hinako has one.
- Eyes Always Shut: Yayoi. It's part of her reserved, matronly charm. When she does open them though, it's usually in the throes of ecstacy… about bicycle maintenance.
- Fictional Counterpart:
- Ami works at a thinly-veiled version of "Denny's".
- Ami and Aoi ride on "Pontac"* and "Gignt"* bicycles.
- Heroic Willpower: In episode 6, Ami attempts Yobitsu Pass again. The last time, she was so weak she strained her leg and had to return home defeated. But this time, with months of experience under her belt, she declares, "I'm a different person than I was back then!"
- Idiot Ball: In episode 4, Aoi, Hinako, and Yayoi are apparently unaware of the concept of a Maid Cafe and have to puzzle out what it is like it's an underground cult or something.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In episode 7, Ami's sister Emi accidentally walks in on Ami giggling like a moron as she cavorts around in her brand-new team jersey. While Ami is frozen in terror and embarrassment, their mother uses some flowery koan-esque wisdom to basically tell Emi to forget she saw anything.
- Maid Cafe: When working at a Fictional Counterpart of Denny's just isn't cutting it, Ami elects to work at one of these. Her clumsiness and her cutesy attempts to bless customers' food with love make her instant hit and a target of mockery for her friends.
- Only Six Faces: The characters all have the same facial features, so their hair has to do all the heavy lifting in making them distinct. Unfortunately, Aoi and Saki have almost the same hairstyle in almost the same color, meaning it's nearly impossible to tell them apart at a glance. Luckily for your sense of facial recognition, the series ends just as Miya—yet another girl with shaggy black bangs—joins Team Fortuna.
- The Power of Friendship: In episode 5, Ami concludes that cycling by herself is boring and that she wants her friends to be with her, always.
- Shout-Out: The ending has a shot of Ami's bike flying in front of the moon.
- Slice of Life: Fits comfortably in the post-K-On annals of "cute girls doing Activity X cutely", with Activity X in this case being road cycling.
- Symbolic Wings: Ami gets a pair in an Imagine Spot in episode 5, when she rides her road cycle for the first time. In episode 6, she draws inspiration from them as she sketches their nascent team's logo.
- Technology Porn: In episode 6, the normally-reserved Yayoi gushes over the technical specs of a bike while the dismantled parts in question are shown. In the next episode, talking about a chain cleaner gets her so riled up she opens her eyes to reveal little hearts in place of pupils.
- Verbal Tic: The clerk of the Alpaca cycle store peppers her speech with "'paca".
- What Is This Feeling?: Whenever Ami's spirits are lifted by the joys of cycling, expect to hear from her interior monologue about what a life-changing experience it is.
