Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 288

Using his opponent's own self-destruction against him, Date has bled out the secret of Jinshou's sensory-deception attack. But just when you think the battle is finally over...the biggest, most shocking surprises have yet to be revealed!

Vol. 32: The Mysterious Unsui!!
Chp. 288: The Final Ougi: Bakushou Keihan!!

7.
Jinshou: GUWA!!
Hakuhou: Yo…you did it—Date---!! You…you defeated Shinkenji Ougi Mukyou Roukaku and defeated that Jinshou guy---!!
Chishou, Gishou & “Kennou”: ……!!
Monk: I…I don’t believe it: that Jinshou-sama is…………!!

8.
Date: With that, that’s match!!

9.
Edajima: Wahhaha, you’ve done it Date!! Do you see, Toudou!! We’re not giving you what you’d like!! Don’t mock Otokojuku’s power---!!
Toudou: Fuffufu, you’re soft Edajima!! This match hasn’t reached it’s conclusion yet!!
Edajima: What’s that----!!
Toudou: You think that I had the money, brought Shinken Temple to my side and had them fighting your pupils, but that is wrong!!
Toudou: Think about it well. Do you think I can move the high-prided Shinken Temple, who possesses the oldest history in Chinese Kenpou, with money!!
10.
Toudou: They have reasons why they must fight at all costs. They bet their lives so they can annihilate all of you of Otokojuku!!
Edajima: Wh…what!?
Toudou: Kukkuku, let’s watch their tenacity!! Now!!
Edajima: Nuuu!! To…Toudou, what exactly are you……!?

11.
Date: Don’t move. Just your life will be saved if you take treatment now.
Jinshou: Ge…get this out……!!
Jinshou: Nun!!
Jinshou: I…I won’t lose………!! E…even if this body rots, I must defeat you!!

12.
Date: ……!!
Pharaoh: Th…that guy, he….he’s still going to do it with that body? He…he has great guts though an enemy!!
Momotarou: Jinshou has already abandoned his life. Th…this Shinken Temple ultimately is somewhat different from our enemies up to now……!!
Jinshou: Fun!!
(TN: Like “Han” before, “Fun” uses a kanji, in this case one that typically translates to “air” or “atmosphere”)
Jinshou: I…I will show you. Th…the final Ougi in…in this world of Jinshou…!!

13.
“Kennou”: !!
Chishou & Gishou: !!
Monk 1: H…his last Ougi…!?
Monk 2: It…can’t be………!!
Monk 3: Ji…Jinshou-sama………!!
Jinshou: THIS IS JINSHOU’S FINAL OUGI: BAKUSHOU KEIHAN!!
(TN: “Bakushou Keihan” = “Bursting-Remains Tethering-Meal”)

14.
Date: Ha!!

15.
Jinshou: Nuoo!!
Pharaou: Wh…what is that!?
Hakuhou: That Jinshou is sending out a grandiose thing for his final Ougi, but isn’t this just merley brandishing his sword-hand recklessly?
Momotarou: No, you’re wrong………!! Concentrate your eyes closely on Date’s body and look!!
Hakuhou: Huh~~!?

16.
Hakuhou: Wh…what---!! So…some thing thread-like thing is twined around Date’s body----!!
Jinshou: That will be enough already.
Date: Understood. You’ve sealed my movements with a string that you drew out from the bandages on your arms along with your sword-hand.
Date: But this thin string is.

17.
Date: GU!!
Jinshou: You fool!! That’s Jinkou Wire, which has been sharpened to be like a blade!! Already you can’t make one movement!!
(TN: “Jinkou or “Jinkousen” = “Bladed-Steel Wire”)
Jinshou: I’ve got you, Date!!
Date: Gu!!

18.
Date: You’ve gotten me………!?
Jinshou: You truly not being able to make a movement in that stance means even you can’t do anything!!
Jinshou: I…I will tell you: Bakushou Keihan is the will of the gunpowder that I’ve accumulated in my body over these long years of training!! You’re going to be blown up, becoming a travel-companion to hell together with me!!
Date: What’s that!?
Jinshou: Now this is the only remaining method that I can defeat you!!
Pharaoh: Wh…what---Gu…gunpowder---!!
Hakuhou: Gu…gunpowder is stacked within Jinshou’s body---!!

19.
Commentary:
Bakushou Keihan…a once in a lifetime final Ougi with an objective of having an opponent as a fellow traveler when they understand their own defeat and are prepared to die in a severe Chinese Kenpou. The user of this Ougi mixes into their three dishes a fine powder of an indigestible-type of Bakuka Saltpeter from childhood and since then, until they become an adult, accumulate it little by little into their body. And then, at the critical emergency moment, they crunch on an igniting magnesium that they’ve prepared in their back teeth; it causes a chemical reaction to the gunpowder in the body and will have them explode together with their opponent.

Usually, they seal the movements of their opponent with Jinkou Wire as a means of uniting with their enemy. Incidentally even in the present, there is what’s called “Kayakugohan” for rice mixtures, but it goes without saying that it’s source is the gunpowder mixed into the rice by the afore-mentioned trainees.
- A Discussion with Morita Shinnosuke, Board Chairman of the Japan Akeboushi Hourai Martial Arts Organization
(TN: A couple things:
-“Bakuka Saltpeter” or “Bakuka Shouseki” = “Explosive-Fire Saltpeter”
-“Kayakugohan” = a rice dish usually mixing rice with chicken and vegetables. Ironically, “kayaku”, aside from being read one way as “gunpowder”, has another reading where it stands for “extra ingredients”)

Jinshou: Wi…with that, our lives has about 10 seconds left……!! We…well, you should start chanting your prayers.
(TN: The “chanting your prayers” is “Nenbutsu de mo Tonae”, with “nenbutsu” being the prayers sent to Buddha)

20.
Jinshou: Ei…eight seconds left!!
Hakuhou: Uoo, ca…can’t he come to do something, Momo---!!
Pharaoh: Wi…with that, Date will be blown up to be a travel companion for him---!!
Momotarou: N…no, there’s something strange. If…if this was from Jinshou, who is bearing these severe wounds now, Date should escape by force from that stance!!
Pharaoh: Wh…what!?
Jinshou: Si…six seconds left!!
Jinshou: !?

21.
Jinshou: Wh…what: we’ve reached this point and you have that calmed attitude!? Ha…have you already accepted this!!
Date: Wh…why haven’t I gotten up even a bit!! I say there is even a ten-thousand to one chance and yet
Date: Wh…why!!
Date: The answer should be known by you the best……!! My spear can’t kill a woman!!
Jinshou: !!

22.
Jinshou: ……!!
Momotarou: Wha!!
Souketsu: A…woman---!!
Pharaoh: Ji…Jinshou is a…woman---!!
Jinshou: Y…you idiot………!! Ho…how did you get that………!! Y…you shouldn’t have understood at all from my outward appearance and yet…………!!
Date: You’re always covering just your face!! In the midst of the battle, you’ve covered just your face unconsciously when I wage any attack with my spear.
Jinshou: !!

23.
Date: No matter how much training you stack on and close in being a man, you are a woman after all…!! That is a thing called the ways of women.
Jinshou: Y…you, because I’m a woman……E…even then, were you intentionally avoiding my vitals……!!
Date: This time, when you are reborn, do not choose the way of the fist. For a woman, there is the happiness of a woman.
Jinshou: Three seconds left!!
Jinshou: Two seconds!!
Momotarou: Da…Date---!!

24.
Date: NA!!
Jinshou: Fo…forgive me, Kennou!!
“Kennou”: !!
Date: Uh!!

25.
Jinshou: Gafu!!
Date: Ji…Jinshou!!
Pharaoh: Wh…what---!!

26.
Date: Ji…Jinshou……..!!
Date: ………
Jinshou: I…abandoned being a woman and forgot how to be a woman…bu…but, you acknowledged me as a woman………
Jinshou: A…and……I remembered the thing that is woman……

27.
Jinshou: Th…thank you, Date…I…I won’t forget you…
Date: Jinshou……!!
Date: You were a good woman……!!

TN: So...um...uh...well...um...uh.............

There really is nothing one can say after the end of...this. This chapter probably has one of the most bizarre, out of nowhere, insane, unexplainable revelations you could ever have in a series like this...and it's one that just completely took even me by surprise! I mean...COME ON: JINSHOU WAS A FEMALE AFTER ALL THAT!? THAT'S WHY DATE "WENT EASY" ON HER!? THAT'S WHY HE DID ALL THAT AND WAS OFF HIS GAME INSTEAD OF JUST KICKING HER BUTT FROM HERE TO KINGDOM COME!?

OK, I get there are many scenarios where women want to be like men and literally go through everything to hide their gender. I know as well of transgendered females and so on. But...this chapter makes no sense whatsoever regardless! The whole "Jinshou's a woman" revelation just comes in from out of nowhere, using some sort of attribute that, looking back, didn't even seem to show itself at all at any point in the fight! This isn't like the awesomeness of Gekkou being blind because...Gekkou being blind was hinted at way back in the Paaren Seiha with his main Shinken being called the "Walk-Style". (even if he doesn't seem blind and it seemed extremely situational) Now let me ask you this: did anyone see Jinshou "cover her face like a woman would" in combat at any point in this fight? Honestly, I didn't see it...at all! Jinshou acted like anyone else and did what any man would do at all times...and just suddenly changed perspectives at the end because of the whole "he's a she and now she can be talked out of killing Date". And lets not get started on the whole "women can't fight or use kenpou" bit, since Miyashita didn't even try until now and there are plenty of manga (well mostly after this era but even sort of attempts prior to him with one or two of the characters from "Hokuto no Ken" or "Saint Seiya") where women are strong and capable of kicking butt when they need to. The truth is that Miyashita never even tried to make females race relevant at all in this series (outside vol. 1-2 in the gag stuff) and just got way too much in the habit of drawing bishonen and crossdressers (like the one P - S fighter Date fought with the crows) that he has to make the only female fighter in this series as manly as everyone else with muscles and a manly face and everything.

I know there are many of you who probably love this plot twist in this fight, but somehow as a man who respects females (and certain kinds of females...well all kinds but...never mind), I feel offended by this chapter and this plot twist. It just came out of nowhere for shock value and was used in a way that just didn't...really feel right in my head. If you liked this, then more power to you...but I just feel so dirty and want to wash all this away...preferably with a Nube chapter but somehow I was forced to put that on hold for today to get through...uh...this. At least it's over now...