Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road | Episode 19
GingaDaiuchuu: I like the sense of coming full circle or bookending the series with the camaraderie between Onoda and Imaizumi. And it’s about time someone told Midousuji off like that.
Gildor: Setting the stage for the final battles. Looks like next week Imaizumi has a chance to get past his mental block of beating psycho-biker, or so I hope.
Onoda is now in a position to go after the win himself. I am interested to see how he will handle that.
bctaris: Imaizumi’s new zen state I think guarantees his superiority over Midousuji. In fact it kind of makes it all worth it–who knew just throwing “gross” back at him was all you needed to do? 
Actually, what is interesting in that was not that simple insult, it was Imaizumi saying that Midousuji’s strategy–his cunning and daring being key to his racing ability–was “by the book”, nothing special, or predictable. That’s what shows how over him Imaizumi is: he’s no longer intimidated by anything Midousuji does.
And then there’s Manami. I wanted to add something last time, but it’s just as relevant here: there’s something “wrong” about him. Midousuji’s simple. But Manami seems actually more twisted to me, the way they’ve written him. He was perfectly happy to be friendly and supportive of Onoda all along, as long as he didn’t see him as a threat. It’s been hard to tell when he’s been impressed or just ruthless, waiting or even eager to crush anything that gets in the way of his achieving his near-death pursuit.
Hitsugi Amachi: I think you’re right about him, especially with many of the ways they present him visually here: his smile suddenly disappears to be replaced with a menacing look. Midousuji, in the end, is just…kimoi (his favorite word 
). The way he ate was simply gross. Not frightening, not intimidating, just really gross, as he is with his almost complete transformation into a reptile (his eyes and tongue movement are pure reptilian).
But Manami is something different. The carefree “golden boy” on the surface, but possessed of a ruthless and powerful competitive streak underneath. He’s twisted…but the question is whether he’ll be underhanded in any way or not. That will be interesting to see.
Useless prediction time: it feels like Imaizumi will cancel out Midousuji at this stage. Fukutomi, “strong” as he is, might be more out of gas than we think. So…Manami vs. Onoda. Perhaps here is the final battle.
…
I’m glad that Imaizumi has finally thrown down the gauntlet. That’s it, Midousuji is not getting his way again. It was about time.
