Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 32

High over a cliff near the side of Mt. Fuji, Togashi has been thrown in over his head facing Hien, the aerial ace of the Gougakuren Sanmenken! But are his prided guts enough to survive both the dizzying heights and his agile opponent?

Chp. 32: The Great Chime Yell

102.
Togashi: UOO---!!

103.
Togashi: Uuh……!!
Toramaru: This is bad: the movement of that guy isn’t normal.
Momotarou: And Togashi can’t move his arms or legs either.

104.
Hien: Fufufu, you’re really a stubborn guy. How about if you rightly let your hands go and take it easy? That will release you from all your pain; eternal rest is waiting for you in Hades.
Togashi: Hehhehe, I’m not what you see, you gay guy…how my guts perform are different from someone like you.
(TN: Yeah, “gay guy” is “okama yarou” in Japanese…but I don’t want to call him an “okama” since it could either be “gay” or “transvestite” and it’s rather hard to figure which that is)
Hien: Fufufu, I understand. Those guts are waiting for me to tire…
Hien: But I can’t let that be. Therefore I can do nothing but take this match quickly.

105.
Toramaru: What are those strange things that guy took out?
Date: Fufufu, Hien’s special Kakushi Senbon.
(TN: “Kakushi Senbon” is a peculiar term. First of all, “Kakushi” is a peculiar kanji duo, with the duo separately being read as “Crane Beak”, but also have a reading usually together as “Tsuruhashi”, which translates as “pickaxe”. But since the reading is “Kakushi” and not “Tsuruhashi”, we should read this as “Crane Beak”. Secondly, the “senbon” is in reference to a needle pointed at both ends, commonly used for acupuncture. It’s probably better known as a weapon used by certain characters in Masashi Kishimoto’s “Naruto”)
Hien: HA---!!
Togashi: !!

106.
Togashi: Ugu!!
Toramaru: To…Togashi--!!
Hien: Fufufu, how do you like my Choujinken Ougi: Kakushi Senbon: they’re passing through your ganglion without a bit of deviation. No matter how many guts you have, you can’t use your right hand anymore.
(TN: “Ougi” is “Secret”, thus the whole thing translates into “Secret of Choujinken: Kakushi Senbon”. Further, the “ganglia” are a type of cells used for nerves, essentially leading to Togashi’s nervous system getting wrecked by the senbon)
Togashi: Wh…what………!!
Hien: Next is your left hand.

107.
Togashi: Guge!!
Togashi: Uoo……!!
Date: Fufufu, he’s ending it without a bit of care for him.
Momotarou: To…Togashi---!!

108.
Togashi: Don’t mock me—you dummy---!! Hehhehehe, I won’t die that easily.
Momotarou: Togashi……!!
Hien: Fufufu, he is surprising. However, can he hold out forever?

109.
Hien: Fufufu, this will make it easy: CHOUJINKEN: YOUKASATSU
(TN: “Youkasatsu” = “Hawk Talon Kill/Murder/Slice”)
Togashi: Huh…
Momotarou: Uh! This is bad.
Toramaru: It’s over if that cuts the rope.
Fuukai: It’s needless to worry: that rope is “Koukankou”, woven in steel. A saw can’t even cut it.
(TN: “Koukankou” = “Steel-Coiled Rope”)

110.
Voice: L…look—To…Togashi’s Lifespan Candle is getting smaller. At this rate, he’ll repeat J’s failure--!!
Matsuo: You…can’t be joking. That Togashi will die---!!
Student: So then if these things are fake---!!
Shura Oshou: He…hey, what are you saying? You’ll get cursed---!!
Onihige: Don’t get distracted, you fools---!! We should be steadfast facing the calamities of the youths! I shall put all of you in that training---!!
Onihige: Now, there’s only one thing we can do for them………!! Just do a yell of Otokojuku’s famous “Great Chime” for them to hear.
(TN: “Great Chime” is “Daishouon”, which literally is “Big Chiming Sound”)
Tazawa: ………………!?
Hidemaro: OTOKOJUKU’S FAMOUS GREAT CHIME……!!

111.
Commentary:
The origin was an incident in the Sengoku Period, when Takeda Shingen was engaging Uesugi Kenshin: in order to support distant ally troops waging a difficult fight when reinforcements wouldn’t arrive no matter what, a thousand soldiers of their own ranks lined up and released their loud voices all at once, sending out their appeal. It’s no wonder that it was said that it’s distance cured for around 25 kilometers and separated from them as far as 100 kilometers.

I digress, but there is a record that the yell of the double-great cheering corps of the all-Japan College Baseball team was heard from Shikuu Stadium to Ikebukuro in Showa 15 (1940).
-From “Inquiry of Sengoku Military Commanders”, Minmei Publishing

Matsuo: Ossu!!
Matsuo: So from here, myself, Otokojuku First-Year Matsuo Taio, will be rolling out a “Great Chime” yell for the effort of our sworn friend Togashi Genji.
Shura Oshou: Fuohhoho, what’s this stupidity? From here to the 5th stage of Fuji is 20km. You can shout with a large number of people, but it won’t reach him.

112.
Togashi: ………………!!
Hien: Fufufu, what exactly are you………!? You’ve bled that much…you really shouldn’t be conscious anymore, and yet you’ve yet to let go of that rope.

113.
Date: Fufufu, question time.
Date: Head of the Otokojuku First-Years, Tsurugi Momotarou: are you fine in letting yet one more of your friends die?
Date: You’ve done enough now. If you admit defeat in the “Kyoura Daiyon Kyousatsu” here and pledge to descend downwards, I will save his life.
Toramaru: Heh, is that beetle head saying something?
Momotarou: Fufufu, don’t say such stupidity. Togashi doesn’t have a reason to approve of such behavior. J is the one who died.
Momotarou: And thus, Togashi just won’t lose. He’s that sort of man.

114.
Hien: You monster--!!
Togashi: Ugugu………
Togashi: No, it’s getting misty in front of my eyes. Hmph, J…J…you’re laughing. You see that I look shameful.

115.
Hien: Fufufu, is this really what you call guts? I admire your tenacity. However, my hand is also quickly reaching its limits in holding this rope.
Hien: Let’s end this. My next attack will finish this!!
Momotarou: No, that Togashi is losing consciousness.
Toramaru: somehow his vitals have been taken out until now, but he’ll go down easily if he takes a straight attack now!!

116.
Momotarou: To…Togashi, wake up---!!
Toramaru: Wake up, Togashi---!!
Togashi: I hear Momo’s voice. And Tora’s voice…………he was on loan though. Oh, Matsuo…!? Tazawa and Hidemaro’s voices too. Strange, I’m sure this is Fuji……

117.
Narrator: These are the voices in his soul, which he shouldn’t be able to hear. However, within his dimming conscious, Togashi’s mind could clearly hear them.
First-Years: HURRAY HURRAY TOGASHI--!! HURRAY HURRAY TOGASHI--!!
Shura Oshou: Wh…what are these rough voices………!!

118.
Narrator: The screaming soul that sways even Fuji: OTOKOJUKU’S FAMOUS “GREAT CHIME”
First-Years: HURRAY HURRAY TOGASHI--!!
Hien: Die---!!
Hien: !!

119.
Hien: What---!!
Togashi: Fufufu, right, I don’t have a reason to lose. What I’m carrying is different from all of you.
Momotarou: T…Togashi—he’s stabbing at the same time as him, resolved to die as well--!!

TN: This chapter is probably a perfect example of the pure coolness and guts held not just by Togashi but also by the entire first-year corp of Otokojuku. It's sort of strange that when Matsuo, Hidemaro, Tazawa and the other first-years were left behind with the start of the "Kyoura Daiyon Kyousatsu", it seemed at first like they were going to pretty much be forgotten akin to a lot of the "side characters" in a ton of other shonen series. Yet by doing this epic massive "ouendan" cheer that literally goes into Togashi's soul, we see that their power through the Great Chime was able to inspire him to keep going, combining their own audacity with his own. Togashi of course stole the chapter in his tenacity, holding on regardless of losing his hand and nearly losing himself to the mocking of an imaginary J before his resurrection, but we know how he is. It's sort of strange though that of many of the characters, he is the only one without any real battle strategy or fighting style...Togashi for the most part uses his high tolerance, endurance and legendary guts to get through, proving you don't really need flash to survive. As for Hien...well, to tell the truth, somehow this chapter sort of proved he is good as a villainous character. Sure the "effeminite male" has been done before (and that he's following up Raiden, who was just cool in his fight with J), but he did pose a good threat through the usage of his various "Choujinken" abilities. Though one particular note of one ability: Hien uses senbon needles akin to the means of acupuncture...I sort of wonder somehow if that's where Kishimoto got the idea for Haku's abilities in Naruto as well, particularly how he used them when introduced to knock out Zabuza. (not to mention the fact that both Hien and Haku are effeminate males...) Sure it's hard to track down when certain abilities were first used in manga or in combat, but it is something to think about.