Definitely not Hane. Definitely not Haruka, either.

Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu (Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club) is a blatant attempt to promote tourism in Kamakura as well as encourage more people to ride bicycles (read: buy bicycles and bicycle-type accessories). The show caught my attention because it stars Ueda Reina in the lead role, effectively making it Bakuon!! except with bicycles instead of motorcycles. Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu is not nearly as good as Bakuon!!, but it does have some real charm as an introduction to bicycling and to the Kamakura area.

Landmarks and potential attractions are all clearly identified, too.

I don't know Kamakura at all, but it's a cinch the various locales depicted in the anime are all famous tourist-friendly landmarks. There are a number of shots obviously framed in such a way that visitors will be encouraged to replicate them. As someone who once juggled a camera and an old PDA with a washed-out screen in Heidelberg trying to line up perspective and angles correctly, I can appreciate the thoughtfulness displayed here.

This shot might be more difficult to replicate than one of, say, the Buddha statue.

The bicycling portions are accessible and informative, doling out more advanced information as the season progresses. (There are also live-action instructional shorts at the end of each episode.) It does present cycling in an extremely positive light, compared to Bakuon!! which had a bit of fun with the potentially negative aspects of motorcycling. Really, Bakuon!! is just more fun overall, whereas Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu is more...pleasant? It certainly is a pleasant show, where everything is great and oh so nice. I don't mean it as a criticism, but this relaxed approach does seem to cap the upper limit as to just how good the show can get.

There was also a fair amount of anime tourism.

Super Cub is a great show. Or rather, Super Cub starts out as a great show, but is basically only all right towards the end of the anime. The reason for this is because Super Cub is at its best when it is about changing Koguma's life. Consequently, the best episodes are the ones where she learns more about the little motorcycle and discovers the new opportunities it provides her. However, the anime later settles into a more typical "girls really enjoy a specific thing" sort of show with various adventures. These episodes are still good, but don't convey quite the same sort of magic.

Carcinisation.

This also means the later episodes of Super Cub invite comparisons with other girls-on-bikes anime, notably Bakuon!!, Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu, and Two Car. In that regard, Super Cub isn't quite as compelling. This is partly because it's not just a Honda commercial in this environment, but straight-up Honda propaganda. It's fine, but I don't find it as interesting. The bigger problem is I also don't think Shii (the third girl) is interesting. Reiko, at least, is a nutjob. I do love me some nutjobs.

Go fast or stay home.

I'm inclined to believe Super Cub would be better as a much shorter series or as a collection of OVAs. I don't know how much more source material remains, but I'm ambivalent about it now. I'd rather watch a second season of Two Car. Objectively, it's admittedly not a better show, but it does have girls bitching each other out when they're supposed to be relying on each other as a team, and I enjoyed its parade of high-speed caricatures more than I enjoyed Shii lying in a freezing river waiting to die. P.S. Spoilers.