Overtake! Episode 10 Review

Haruka and Kouya Return

Overtake! Episode 10 sees Haruka and Kouya both returning to the track. And, thanks to the time they spent together, they have a better understanding of what they need to do. But, what exactly is it they need to do?

For Haruka, he needs to go back to Komaki Motors and win with the team he calls home. Sure, Belsorriso is the team with which he has the best shot at winning. And, racing for them is the best option when it comes to furthering Haruka’s career in motorsports.

But, Haruka realizes that his career isn’t what’s important to him right now. What’s important is succeeding with the team he’s been with from the start. He doesn’t only want to win for himself. He wants to win for Futoshi and Koutarou Komaki, too. That’s why he turned down Belsorriso’s offer.

For Kouya, things are a bit more complicated. He needs to reclaim his ability to take photographs of people. And, while he knows he wants to take Haruka’s photo on the podium, that still seems a long way off. Not just because Haruka needs to win, but because Kouya still doesn’t seem ready.

Something else I want to point out is that Kouya and Saeko seem to have gotten closer in this episode. We saw Haruka reunite with Komaki Motors. So, are we going to see Kouya and Saeko get back together? It seems like their divorce stemmed from them not understanding each other’s feelings.

But now, they’re able to be more open with each other. This could be the start of a new chapter in their relationship. Or, they could decide that being separated is still for the best at this point in their lives. We’ll have to wait and see.

From Fuji to Suzuka

The racing parts of Episode 10 were a bit hard to follow. At the start of the episode, while they’re practicing, they’re at Fuji Speedway. But, later in the episode, for the race, they’re at Suzuka Circuit.

At first, I thought this was some sort of mistake because I wasn’t paying attention. I missed the part when the episode swapped over to Suzuka and showed the Suzuka Circuit signage. So, I was wondering why we saw the front gates of Fuji, but I could tell they were racing at Suzuka.

Well, as I said, I wasn’t paying attention. However, when I went back to check, I was still confused. Yes, the series swapped from Fuji to Suzuka and that swap was intentional. But, it doesn’t make sense within the context of a race weekend. Why did they swap tracks between practice and the race?

It’s possible that I don’t understand how Japanese F4 works. But, practice should take place on the same track as qualifying and the race, right? I mean, that’s how it works in every other racing category. There’s no point to practice if it’s not on the same track.

So, what happened here? My best guess is that the stuff we saw at Fuji was supposed to be testing, not practice. But, the series didn’t make that clear. In fact, it almost went out of its way to make it more confusing.

After qualifying (at Suzuka), Koutarou mentions how it went way worse than practice did. And, what was the “practice” session we just saw Haruka perform well in? The one at Fuji. We cut from Haruka practicing well at Fuji to him qualifying poorly at Suzuka. That’s the kind of stuff I expect from Drive to Survive.

Never Say Never

Alright, so we know Haruka didn’t have the best qualifying. But, how bad was it? He qualified in 14th out of 30, which, honestly, isn’t that bad. Sure, he’s not even in the top 10. However, we need to consider his team.

Komaki Motors is an independent team with a total of three members, including the driver. They don’t have much money. And that means they don’t have the tires, data, and other resources of the better teams. You’d expect a team like this to be closer to the back of the grid.

The only reason Komaki Motors isn’t back in 30th is because F4 is a spec series. All of the cars are basically the same. Teams can make tweaks to the setup, and that’s it. So, because of that, Haruka’s skill is able to come through and carry the car higher up the grid.

Anyway, after qualifying back in 14th, nobody expected Haruka to be able to win this race. Though, I’m not sure why they thought that was possible, to begin with. Why was anyone expecting him to be able to jump back in the car after a break and immediately score his first-ever win?

Of course, the title of the episode, “Never Say Never,” was a bit of foreshadowing here. Despite where he started, he managed to get all the way up to second before his tires gave out. If they had held on, he may have been able to take the fight to Toshiki.

But, from what I remember, this is a new record for Haruka. I believe this is the closest he’s ever been to the podium. So, it’s only a matter of time (there are two episodes left) until he reaches the top step.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Overtake! Episode 10? Do you think Kouya and Saeko ae going to get back together? Did the jump from Fuji to Suzuka confuse you as much as it did me? And, do you think Haruka will win next week or the week after? Let me know in the comments.

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The review of Episode 11 is available now.