10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 18

Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 18



Midousuji and Manami challenge each other. Onoda catches them and shows them his plans.

Heh.

We knew Manami had wings, but that was quite a surprise to see Midousuji emulate him with his own disgusting purple ones. He too waited for a gust. While Manami waited for a turn on the road, Midousuji waited for a slight riser. Well done on both of them.

 

What a nice way to get a recap episode in the guise of Makishima reminiscing about Onoda. Onoda is the hero of the whole show, but he only remembers fun stuff like riding with his friends. He needs those friends to brag for him to the audience.

 

Onoda has two superpowers - he can keep raising his cadence another 30 rpm and he always follows orders. I believe I've seen him get to 210 rpm in this show, so I'd like to see that again. As for following orders, we've seen him do some crazy acrobatic stuff to rejoin his group after a crash.

 

I think I've finally figured out this "disgusting" code that Midousuji has. If you have a pure will to win, then you're not gross. If you have even a shred of ego, friendship, team spirit, then you're gross. Onoda is the grossest of all, because he just wants to ride with other people, which makes him smile.

 

Aw, Onoda had such a sad smile when he caught Manami and Midousuji. He was smiling because he would get to ride with other people, but he was sad because he had to follow orders. He had to stay in front of Midousuji.

 

I wonder if Onoda will follow orders all the way to the line to stay in front of Midousuji that he ends up winning the race. Hmmmmmmm.

 

Toudou may know how to throw game at a smokeshow, but he doesn't have any experience being on the receiving end.



Fujoshi swoon... Whatever you do, Toudou, don't sniff him! That way lies madness!

 

Hmm. They gave Kuroda different hair color. Maybe he looked too much like the braces dude from Kyoto?

 

Onoda knows it's time to stop mourning his dead friends (they're not dead), and time to get his game face on.

 

All the climbers like the plucky climbing otaku so much, they all call him Sakamichi. Except Toudou. He still calls him Glasses Guy. He just likes his eyes.

 

 

Hmm.

We didn't get a death montage from Makishima. Instead, we got a hero myth montage for Onoda. The story of Sakamichi Onoda from Makishima's perspective. From the first mommy bike race with Imaizumi, to the Freshman Welcome Race, through their training and the 1000 km training camp. We knew weren't going to get this kind of introspection from Onoda, because he truly thinks of his friends first. But somebody had to do it so we're not surprised when this dorky little guy all of a sudden starts making his bottom bracket glow. Manami did a little bit of reminiscing for Onoda's sake, but the kicker was making Midousuji do it too.

 

The advantage of having other people show us how strong Onoda has gotten, or at least their glimpses of his strength, is that we haven't seen what Onoda knows he can do. That leaves plenty of room for Sakamichi surprises before the end of the race. I'm getting excited like Manami, because I want to see how much better Sakamichi is than I thought too.

Cycling porn.



This week we get reacquainted with Onoda's lugged chromoly. Part of why we had so many people bragging for him this week is because we just hadn't seen much of him this season. We also get to say goodbye to Makishima's Time frame. And then we had the Look, the De Rosa, and the chromoly all in one frame. Squee! The bottom bracket on the lugged carbon frame of the Look is so iconic. It's easy to forget that very few bike companies were making single piece full carbon frames when the manga started. The larger brands like Trek, Cannondale, Scott, Colnago and Specialized were represented, but not everybody wanted to mass extrude carbon parts in Taiwan before hand assembly.