Kinnikuman 252

It's finally happened: with one Cross Bomber, Mongolman has finally been revealed to be the Choujin ally Ramenman! But the question remains: why did he disguise himself all this time in order to fight with the Justice Choujin?

Chapter 252: Dream Choujin Tag Arc (44): The Reason for the Mask!!

125.
Neptune: Die--!!
Suguru: Burning Inner Strength—
Announcer: Pulled by the magnetism created by the Missionaries, Kinnikuman has entered as Mongolman’s follow-up---!!

126.
Announcer: Kinnikuman’s strenuous effort was in vain as Mongolman’s mask is ripped off---!!

127.
Terry: Ooh—so Mongolman’s true identity really is…
Brocken: It’s as everyone predicted……

128.
Brocken: It was Ramenman--!!
Suguru: ……………
Suguru: Ra…Ramenman.
Neptune: Budo, our dealings with the 20 Million Powers is finally over.
Budo: Yes! We’ve had our vengeance against the enemies of Screw Kid and Kendaman!

129.
Neptune: NUMBER ONE!!
Announcer: At the moment that the last of the 20 Million Powers, Mongolman had his mask ripped, the Hell Missionaries have moved their way into the finals--!!
Terry: ……………
Announcer: Thus the card of the finals of the Universal Choujin Tag Tournament will be a one-on-one match of the Muscle Brothers and the Hell Missionaries----!!
TN: Thinking it’s actually “universal Choujin” instead of “space Choujin” now
Suguru: ……………

130.
Neptune: Fufufufu…the entire audience perhaps was confident in the victory of the 20 Million Powers, but this is the world of true power!
Neptune: Continuing our Mask-Hunt from Robin Mask and Warsman, this time Mongolman was our victim; even the audience has realized a bit the difference between us Perfect Choujin and the other inferior Choujin……
Budo: Though all of the masks that we’ve harvested in our Mask-Hunts were clinging to the Neptune Cape on the ceiling
Budo: As we expected, Ramenman! You had resisted your mask.
Ramen: Auu…

131.
Budo: Ne…Neptuneman-sama, Ramenman is moving again!!
Neptune: What!?
Ramen: Auu…

132.
Suguru: Ra…Ramenman, do you want to say something!?
Ramen: Auuu…
Suguru: Your mask! Is it possibly your mask!?
Neptune: Right, he can’t talk about why he was wearing his mask!
Suguru: Ra…Ramenman, you haven’t completely recovered yet from the wounds you took from Warsman’s Bear Claw then!!
Suguru: Perfect Choujin. Loan me that mask for a little bit.
Budo: Ah.
Budo: Y…you!!
Neptune: Fine then! Why don’t we hear the howls of the loser dog!!

133.
Ramen: I…finally can show my true face.
Suguru: Though you’re body which was wounded by Warsman has been healed this far, why have you needed to go for the length of three years hiding your true face fighting as Mongolman!?
Ramen: I…I had wanted to show myself to all of you as my real self of Ramenman no matter what…………however, I had a reason why I couldn’t……………
Ramen: It started with the wound I took from Warsman three years ago at the Choujin Olympics: The Big Fight.
Ramen: I came to have a body that couldn’t go into the ring ever again, so I took a journey across my home of China to treat my wounds—
Ramen: However, even in China, which excelled in all sorts of medicine, I had become a vegetable Choujin. There wasn’t a doctor who would make my body move once again—

134.
Ramen: Every doctor gave up on me, and when I had become hopeless, I heard a story from a person about Mount Shuuten! Mount Shuuten is a place where people who had incurable diseases who were given up by all doctors finally end up.
(TN: Mount Shuuten, AKA “Shuutenzan”, is in English “Last-Stop Mountain” or “Terminus Mountain”)
Ramen: It was a mysterious mountain where people were instantly recovered from their incurable diseases when they came to there!!
Ramen: Remembering the laughter that gripped me, I took a gamble with the mountain!
Ramen: And then—a miracle happened!!

135.
Ramen: By my second day secluded on the mountain, the legs that the doctors all over China had given up on were moving!
Ramen: Within a week, my hands were moving too—
Ramen: Within a month, I could run!
Ramen: From then on, I who had thought that I would be an invalid steadily recovered my physical strength—a year later, my body which was roughly completely wounded before had returned to before—
Ramen: And thus, on the day I decided to live for the rest of my life on Mount Shuuten, I learned the news that Kinnikuman and the Justice Choujin were in a hard fight with the Seven Devil Choujin, lead by Buffaloman.
Ramen: Uuuh~~I’d be there if I could, I want to lend them my power!
Voice: You’ll die if you leave this mountain!!

136.
“Masked Cane”: You can have a life similar to normal people because you are breathing the special gas that comes from this mountain. When you leave the mountain, you will return to being your former vegetable Choujin if you don’t breathe in this gas.
Ramen: Bu…but, when I’m worried about my allies, how can I be a Justice Choujin without helping!?
“Masked Cane”: Right…Do you want to help your allies? I too had an era when I burned of justice like you…right, I’ll do something!!
Ramen: Who…are you?
Bombe: I am Doctor Bombe, a Choujin medical specialist! Until now these hands have healed injuries of thousands of Choujin.
(TN: No, you’re not reading this wrong: his name is actually “Bombe”, not “Bombay” as in the former name of Mumbai in India. “Bombay” is “Bonbei” in Japanese, whereas his name is “Bonbe”. BTW: “Bombe” is based on the German term for a compressed gas cylinder)
Ramen: So then, can you please let me leave this mountain so I can fight on the ground!?
Bombe: Right, I’ll do it!

137.
Bombe: This gas which floats on this summit that healed your wounds is created from these trees called the “Reimei Trees”, which grow around here.
(TN: “Reimei” = “Spirit Life”)
Bombe: I’ll make a mask out of the tree bark; if you always wear this, then you’ll be able to continue to breathe the components of the gas even after descending, allowing you to fight on the ground!
Ramen: Understood!
Ramen: And so, Doctor Bombe started his mask-making!!
Ramen: And thus, he created this Mongolman mask!!
Ramen: Ooh.

138.
Ramen: What a bizarre mask. By just wearing it, my power is quickly rushing forth!
Ramen: Thanks, Bombe! This will be good in rescuing Kinnikuman!!
Bombe: Are you happy, Ramenman? You can fight.
Bombe: You just have to wear that mask!! When the mask comes off, you will relapse into your former vegetable Choujin---! You’re a tragic Maskman--!!
Bombe: COUGH COUGH

139.
Ramen: From then on, I was Mongolman, the Mongolian Choujin, often appearing in front of you: once as a tag partner, another time a referee and then a rival like today!!
Suguru: The indications of Ramenman that I felt every time I met Mongolman were actually true!
Ramen: However, with the fun I had fighting on the surface, I had forgotten the words of Doctor Bombe: before I knew it I had a hunch that the old Ramenman was returning when I became an experiment for Neptuneman’s Cross Bomber, like during the Warsman fight three years ago…
Suguru: Yo…you were stupid forgetting such an important thing. You were really stupid……
Announcer: What emotion!! The entire audience in the arena is in tears with the hidden secret of Mongolman’s mask revealed here and now!!

140.
Ramen: Well, my story is over. Neptuneman, take off my mask!
Neptune: Hmph…that was a very interesting story, but it means nothing to us!
Suguru: No—Ramenman isn’t returning to an unspeakable vegetable Choujin ever again!!
Suguru: Uh.
Suguru: Ra…Ramenman!!

141.
Suguru: ……………
Suguru: Ra…Ramenma~~n!!

142.
Suguru: Yo…you…how dare you do a bad thing……
Suguru: To a good person like Ramenman~~!!
Suguru: I can’t forgive anymore!!
Terry: You’re absurd, Kinnikuman. How can your left arm challenge Neptuneman’s!!
Neptune: Budo, go for Kinnikuman’s left arm--!!
Budo: Haha—

143.
Neptune: Take this—
Neptune: Cross Bomber--!!
Suguru: GYAA~~~

144.
CHOUJIN DEADLY TECHNIQUE SERIES
15. ASHURA BUSTER
A technique practically using the Kinniku Buster, but the difference is Ashuraman uses his 6 arms take away the movement of his opponent’s body.

A Word from Ashuraman: I can’t explain it now. Anyhow, this technique can only be done by me. Its destructive power is greater than the Kinniku Buster.

TN: There are really a few things I could talk about with the release of this chapter. I could talk about the sad tale of Ramenman and how hard he had to work in order to get to the Justice Choujin side again. I could talk about the introduction of the interesting (but semi-convenient) Choujin medical specialist Doctor Bombe. (and how this obviously was a set-up for next time) I even could be talking about the obvious setup for the final battle between the Muscle Brothers and the Hell Missionaries. But instead, what I'll be talking about...is time. Yes, time, as in...how the heck could a year pass between Ramenman getting lobotomized and his reappearance against the Seven Devil Choujin? For one thing, there is little to no time really between the second Choujin Olympics and the arrival of the Seven Devil Choujin. The actual chapter where the Devil Choujin arc begins literally goes from Suguru celebrating his second straight victory to almost immediately facing Buffaloman and his cohorts. You could theorize that a bit of time did pass between the second victory (and Suguru's celebration) and the incident where the Devil Choujin return to Earth (after their prison was destroyed)...but it feels so instantaneous that we have little time to breathe before the event begins. So if it isn't in manga terms in their world...then what about manga in the real world? Ramenman gets lobotomized by Warsman in chp. 108, which is in the middle of the Choujin Olympics. Further, he last appeared in chp. 120 in the flesh at the end of the same arc. Meanwhile, the first "reappearance" of Ramenman (prior to his revelation of being "Mongolman") was actually in chp. 136. If you go by time from his lobotomization, it's 28 chapters between such...which give or take a few breaks is more like over a half year...not even a year! And if you go from 120, then it's more like 16 chapters...which is more like 4 months for the most part! So essentially...that doesn't work either.

Now OK, I know I'm nitpicking way too much about this matter, but think about it: for the most part, manga is rather good when it comes to time matters compared to...well, other media. Usually a series takes place within a certain "time period" (explaining why the characters for the most part remain the same and using time skips to explain changes), with very little usage of the infamous "time-locking" used a lot with American media. (it pretty much explains stuff like why Superman is eternally 30 and his origin must be moved ahead or rewritten every decade or two...or why Bart Simpson will never graduate 4th grade no matter how many last days of school he has...) Kinnikuman, though, seems a tad different in how it's depicted in regards to time: on some things, it tries to be more relevant to the current year on the calendar as if time is flowing and things are changing...but at the same time have these long arcs that last essentially a couple hours in our time. The former was more relevant way back in the gag stories early on, when Suguru and Meat were more living for the moment of their story being written. (which typically, being the gag arc, was 1979) Yet with the much longer arcs that came later, many of them take place in a matter of days...maybe even hours in the case of this arc. Yet even with the movement of time slowed in the terms of the story, Yudetamago is still somewhat knowledgeable regarding time in current terms and sometimes tried to tie time in on current status regardless of how much and how badly it screwed up the story itself.

Which brings us, convolutedly, back to Ramenman's "year later". Here's basically what happened if you can follow along: the year this chapter came out was 1984. The second Choujin Olympics occurred...in 1981. (trust me, there was a gag story that announced the year before that arc started) Assumedly, the entire Choujin Olympics happened early that year, including Warsman lobotomizing Ramenman. Ramenman then spends his "year" healing on Mount Shuuten...and here's when it gets weird. While the Seven Devil Choujin arc occurred pretty much almost instantly after the Choujin Olympics, Yude tries to cope with the movement of actual time (which they sort of want to keep) by now stating that it took place in 1982, around a year after the Olympics. (strangely enough, the Seven Devil Choujin arc actually did start a year exactly after the "1981" announcement...which may have been published in '80 but let us not nitpick) Therefore, if the Choujin Olympics occurred all around the same day when it first started (or a bit earlier), then you could technically make it that the Seven Devil Choujin arc began in 1982 exactly one year later...even if you still have to work out the fact that the arc began in our time the moment the Olympics began...and therefore you also must think out that the other arcs dont' exactly take place when they do in the "one after another" style that many manga use, which probably could make things easy in making the Golden Mask in '83 and this Tag Tournament in '84...but I think I've tired myself out in talking about the depiction of time in this manga so I'll just leave it as such: time was meant to be short but could be longer and Yudetamago just made us suffer with that this time around thanks to Ramenman.