Stride is parkour plus distance running, which means every race is a puzzle the team has to solve together instead of individual heroics. The show builds seven distinct characters who actually want to be around each other, and it never mistakes comedy timing for character development. What makes this work is that nobody in the cast is trying to be the protagonist, they're just five guys and two recruits learning how to run as one unit, and that simplicity sticks with you.

Takeru and Nana have a problem: Hounan Academy's Stride club has shut down, and they want to bring it back. Stride is an extreme sport in which teams of six race relays through town streets, mixing parkour, free running and sprinting. The two first-years need a full six-person roster, and for now the club only exists under the shogi club. Their best shot is Riku, a speedy first-year who seems interested in almost every sport. He turns them down, saying Stride is the single thing he has no wish to do. Takeru and Nana refuse to give up and haul him into the clubroom to change his mind. If they can build a team, they hope to win End of Summer, the top Stride competition in Japan, and return Hounan's squad to its former glory.