Kinnikuman 253

As if not being in time to stop Ramenman's unmasking was bad enough, Suguru has paid an even bigger price as the Hell Missionaries take his left arm! And with the time before the final battle already counting down, is there anything he can do?

Chapter 253: Dream Choujin Tag Arc (45): Emergency Operation!!

145.
Neptune: Cross Bomber!!
Announcer: The Hell Missionaries’ Cross Bomber has exploded on Kinnikuman’s wounded left arm--!!

146.-147.
SPACE CHOUJIN TAG TOURNAMENT
SPECIAL REMINDER CHART

From bottom:
-MUSCLE BROTHERS
-4-D KILLER COMBO
-STRAY-DEVIL CHOUJIN COMBO
-NEW MACHINEGUNS
-CHOUJIN TEACHER-STUDENT COMBO
-HELL MISSIONARIES
-MOST DANGEROUS COMBO
-20 MILLION POWERS

Chart:
-MUSCLE BROTEHRS VS. 4-D KILLER COMBO
-STRAY-DEVIL COMBO VS. NEW MACHINEGUNS
-HELL MISSIONARIES VS. CHOUJIN TEACHER-STUDENT COMBO
-MOST DANGEROUS COMBO VS. 20 MILLION POWERS
-MUSCLE BROTHERS VS. STRAY-DEVIL COMBO
-HELL MISSIONARIES VS. 20 MILLION POWERS
-FINALS: MUSCLE BROTHERS/HELL MISSIONARIES

148.
Mayumi: Th…that’s Su…Suguru’s left arm~~!!
Everyone: Eeh?

149.
Terry: Wh…what happened to Kinnikuman!?
Suguru: Owa—it hurts—it hurts—
Neptune: Fufufufu, I’m sure. I see that it should be your own arm!
Suguru: Gyaaa—n…no! My left arm--!!
Announcer: This is a grave situation: Kinnikuman has had his left arm severed taking the Missionaries’ Cross Bomber---!!
Suguru: Owa—papa, mama, do something—

150.
Terry: Weren’t your competition opponents now Mongolman and Buffaloman? Throwing in an injury to Kinnikuman is a foul act--!!
Neptune: What are you saying? The foul one is Kinnikuman! He illegally trespassed into the semifinal ring, which hindered us--!!
Terry: Tournament chair!
Harabote: A…ahem, well, since I did help out Kinnikuman earlier, I’m going with Neptuneman’s legitimate self-defense.
Terry: But…that’s! Kinnikuman was merely flying in to rescue Mongolman……
Neptune: Hey, Great, if you don’t forgive us for that, then why don’t we settle this here and now!
Terry: You…got—it!
Robin: No, they’re provoking you. It’s impossible to confront them now with Kinnikuman in that condition…somehow we should postpone the time for the match!!

151.
Suguru: Wa~~~I can’t steadily hold gyuudon like this~~~!
Meat: Prince is dying—
Mayumi: A doctor, someone call a doctor~~
Terry: ……………
Terry: Chairman, can’t we hold off the final match until tomorrow so we can treat Kinnikuman’s left arm!?
Mayumi: Well, the schedule was that we were going to have from the first round to the championship in one day…thus, even if each of the matches dragged on, we will continue the tournament to the sunset at 7. That’s the regulation.
Harabote: Since it’s now 5:45, the sunset will be in an hour and five minutes! That will be enough time to continue the tournament.

152.
Terry: An hour won’t work! A Choujin’s life is hanging in the balance.
Harabote: But the tournament regulations…
Audience 1: Do they have time to postpone this?
Audience 2: Kinnikuman is pitiful……
Bombe: Clouds, gather to save these Choujin burning with friendship--!!

153.
Audience 1: There…it is—the sunset!!
Audience 2: It…can’t be! It was bright until earlier!!

154.
Mayumi: A doctor. Suguru should see a doctor—
Mayumi: Suguru—
Neptune: Chi…he has good luck!
Announcer: Due to the sunset rule, the finals of the Muscle Brothers vs. the Hell Missionaries will be carried over to tomorrow---!!
Neptune: However, remember just this! This cape where I place these Choujin Masks has two empty spaces left……
Neptune: Great, Kinnikuman!! Those are places where I will put both your masks!

155.
Robin: These three are in critical condition. Hurry and take them to the hospital.
Announcer: With the sunset, the match suddenly moves a day. A championship for the Muscle Brothers won’t be due to a red light change. Can Kinnikuman’s wounds really heal over this one night!?
Audience 1: This is the first that I’ve seen the faces of the Justice Choujin so lifeless…
Audience 2: Will this be the end of Kinnikuman…
Audience 3: The era of the Justice Choujin is over. We’re finally arriving into the era of the Perfect Choujin lead by Neptuneman.

156.
Voice 1: Please get off the road.
Voice 2: Out of the way, out of the way!!
Sign: SPACE CHOUJIN TAG TOURNAMENT

157.
Sign: CHOUJIN HOSPITAL
Bibimba: Suguru-sama—
Sayuri: It’s Suguru-chan’s favorite gyuudon!
Doctor: What are you!? No visitors outside the authorized!

158.
Voice: I’ll tear that off!
Doctor: You—in short, get out!!
Voice: Ura
Doctor: Uuh.
Brocken, Terry & Robin: Ge…Geronimo!
Geronimo: Yo, senpai!

159.
Brocken: I heard you were hospitalized for your near-death injuries you took from Ashuraman’s Improved Ashura Buster!?
Geronimo: Right, when I was taken to the hospital, it was a serious injury thrown out pettily by all the doctors…however, that’s when he appeared.
Geronimo: I’ve recovered this much!!
Doctor: Ooh!! What…a splendid suture. Who exactly could do such surgery!?
Geronimo: Ooh! The doctor is coming.

160.
Bombe: Ooh…Ramenman, you’re like this just because you didn’t listen to my warning…
Brocken: What is this old man suddenly coming in?
Ramen: Auu…
Mayumi: What did Ramenman say!?
Geronimo: He is Doctor Bombe!

161.
Mayumi: Wh…what? Then, this old man is that Doctor Bombe, called the No. 1 doctor in the Choujin World who had restored the vegetative Choujin Ramenman into Mongolman!!
Geronimo: And he’s the patron who took me too!
Mayumi: Please—Doctor Bombe. I want you to somehow return Suguru’s left arm to normal with your power.
Bombe: No matter how many people ask me, I can’t do a suitable Choujin operation by myself!
Bombe: But then, I am suitable for this Kinnikuman, who bravely sacrificed his own arm to help a friend in crisis.
Mayumi: So then, you’ll give him the operation!
Bombe: U—m, this is a worse injury than I even thought. Even with a good suture, the vital bone won’t let the arm move squashed like this…
Bombe: A bone! If only we can find a bone substitute, then I’m positive it will become as before. Somewhere or not, there has to be a strong material which won’t lose to any impact…

162.
Bombe: This horn is great!! Good hardness, good strength; this will be the bone substitute for Kinnikuman’s left arm.
Brocken: Hold on, old man! Buffaloman’s in a critical condition now. Why? In particular, Buffaloman’s Long Horns are naturally also his energy source. Taking them is the same as death!!
Bombe: Do you all have the same opinion?
Bombe: Ke, what you call friendship is pretend!
Terry: What’s that—
Bombe: If Buffaloman heard what you were saying now, he’d say that! If he could stand in the ring once more, even if he was part of another’s body, he wouldn’t regret it even if he threw away his life…would he!!

163.
Bibimba: L…look, Buffaloman-san who should be in a coma, has tears coming from his eyes!
Terry: We give up. In that case, you’ll tell us what to do with Buffaloman!
Bombe: Well we have little time remaining. All of you will get out until the operation is finished--!!
SFX: COUGH COUGH
Bombe: We…don’t have time. I’m already…
Bombe: Buffaloman, your Longhorn will never be useless!

164.
AN INJURED KINNIKUMAN
BEFORE THE FINAL MATCH!
CAN HE BE RESTORED WITH A MIRACLE…!?

TN: You know I actually wasn't planning on doing this again, but this chapter has forced me to continue on the thread of "time" started with the comments last time. As confirmed for the most part in this chapter by Harabote's commentary, the entire Tag Tournament from opening ceremony to...well, essentially the end of this chapter has occurred...in one day. Now think about it: this story arc, which by now is close to a year our time...mostly took place in one day. Alright, I probably am making another mountain out of a molehill with this, but it seems to further strengthen my thoughts with the last chapter regarding the distribution between "manga time" and "real time" in this series. I guess the best way to start this is to look back a bit regarding the distribution of time for the last several arcs...maybe even further if we can.

-As just revealed in this chapter, the Tag Tournament mostly has taken a day to depict...well OK, now it's "two days" but it's a really short amount of time as we can see. It essentially could take place some time after the Gold Mask arc...but considering that Ashuraman and Sunshine "steal the Justice Choujin's friendship" immediately, it really has to be enough time away that Suguru doesn't see them again until the tournament is announced. (it does feel immediate but it necessarily isn't so)
-The Gold Mask arc...was essentially one day. Everything from the Choujin physical and the stealing of the Gold Mask to the final defeat of Akuma Shogun happened one after another after another with no rest. For the most part there does seem to be quite a bit of time that has passed between the Seven Devil Choujin arc and the start of this.
-The Seven Devil Choujin arc...well for once we actually have an arc that took a bit of time, considering that it had to take place in 7 days from the moment Meat got split up until the moment that he was finally saved. But at the same time it's also the point things get more nebulous: the arc essentially starts the moment Suguru has defeated Warsman and celebrating his second Choujin Olympics victory (a victory in a tournament that included Ramenman's lobotomy) and the only real time when there could be any space is the period between when Suguru accidentally frees the Devil Choujin and the "Choujin Appreciation day" thing when they arrive on Earth. There could actually be time for the Devil Choujin to fly between their prison and Earth...yet at the same time considering that we see them staring at Earth the moment they escape, their flight is rather instantaneous...and that the series was still slightly in gag mode leading to Suguru being literally thrown from Earth to the space prison in the first place...it doesn't feel like that much time passed. (let alone let's not forget that full year which Ramenman said before was all it took between his journey to Mount Shuuten and the Devil Choujin invasion last time)

I know I really didn't make any more headway but the way that the series seems to like to run both at manga time and real time at the same time.

I really should quit while I'm ahead but I guess I have another major complaint that I need to air out on: Doctor Bombe and Suguru's arm surgery. It was no coincidence that the Choujin Doctor reappeared just after Ramenman mentioned him saving his life to save Suguru (and Geronimo I guess), so I guess it was somewhat foreshadowing but it did feel rather DEM in how it was done. (like him suddenly making the sky dark to eliminate the sun and end the competitions for the day) On the other hand...there was the crap about Buffaloman's horn fixing Suguru's arm. Let me ask this: why the heck does Suguru need a special surgery to fix his broken limb? As you've seen throughout this series, limbs of all sorts are ripped and broken off all the time, and many times the Choujin is still able to fight or move without them (remember headless, armless Buffaloman saving Terry?) or gets them readded to their body with little problem! So then, when Suguru finally has the same thing happen to him...does he need a special procedure that leads to Buffaloman sacrificing both his horns and therefore "die" just to save him? Alright, I do sort of get Buffaloman's horns being the source of his power and he can die without them (had to reremind myself that since he did die after losing both in the Devil Choujin arc)...but why does he have to sacrifice both of them...heck, why does he have to sacrifice them at all except to drive more of this "friendship" moral in our face that has been thrown about this entire arc!? OK, I'll probably do an entire rant about friendship soon enough but...this was just a very cheap way leading to build up tension for the end of the arc.

OK, I didn't quite hate everything in this chapter: I did like Neptuneman challenging Suguru's invasion of the ring (which really did nothing anyway since Ramenman still lost his Mongolman mask and was willing to lose it at that point) and that Bibimba has magically reappear (only to magically disappear soon enough) but there's just so much stupidity that I can't help but gripe.