Kinnikuman 277

Just as Suguru prepared to abandon his title and duty in the face of adversity, the trust of Meat (and a strange glowing power with his face) has finally started to change his mind...but will he be in time to rejoin the upcoming Throne Tournament?

Chapter 277: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (4): Castle-Taking Battle!!

67.
Meat: The…dirty river became clean!!
Meat: Prince, that’s it. This power is proof you’re the Throne Successor that surpasses even the KIN Mark!
Meat: By having this power, you can quickly kick up those fake successors somehow!
Suguru: Meat, we’re going back: to Kokuritsu Stadium, where they’re waiting.

68.
New Choujin: (Left-to-right, top to bottom)
HEAVY METAL
THE HUNTER
MISTER VTR
HAWKMAN
KING THE 100 TON
MIXER TAITEI
CONDORMAN
LEOPARDON
PINCHMAN

69.
Announcer: We originally were planning to hold Kinnikuman’s Great King Enthronement Coronation here at Kokuritsu Stadium, but due to the trespassing of the disgruntled Five Fated Princes; we’ve hurriedly altered this to the “Scramble for the Kinniku Throne Survival Match”--!!
Announcer: Since the Scramble for the Throne Match is being held as a team competition, the participating players are gathering one after another from across the universe to the team leader they’re under at this Kokuritsu Stadium!!
Mariposa: Good, you’ve come!

70.
Mayumi: Uoo…That big idiot Suguru, where did he disappear to, throwing away the glory that he inevitably built up for 24 years?
Terry: Kinniku Daioh!!
(TN: Yeah, I know I keep saying “Great King” and yet kept the “Daioh” title, but when used like an ending like “san” or “kun”, then I keep it in Japanese)
Intelligence: Kukkukuku, well then, that Kinnikuman has seriously abandoned his right to Throne Succession…
“God”: Coming to that, only the remaining five will fight for the crown of Planet Kinniku.
Intelligence: Well then, other gods, we now are enemy comrades. Why don’t we become the power for the princes we recommended so they can fight?
Gods: Right.
Announcer: At any rate, all the teams lead by the Five Fated Princes are all present!!

71.
Zebra: Soldier, haven’t your teammates come yet?
Soldier: Well, I got disorganized; some extremely surprising members will enter later.
Soldier: Anyhow, that Kinnikuman, did he really run away?
Mayumi: M…Meat is looking for him now. We’ll wait a bit longer.
Phoenix: If my mom and dad say they’re waiting, they can wait forever!!...However, those who stand above people from here on don’t do so for the irresponsible beneath them.
Mayumi: H…hmm—wh...what do we do, mama……
Sayuri: I understand.
Sayuri: All of you, including Suguru, are possibly children who are descended from us. Therefore, we’re at a neutral position and are not going to be biased for just Suguru!!
Mayumi: Mama!!

72.
Sayuri: Whoever isn’t in this place isn’t my son. We will start the tournament with the remaining five!!
Announcer: Queen Kinniku has declared the opening now for the Throne Succession Survival Match—
Robin: Queen Kinniku, I can guess your pained feelings.
Phoenix: Well, mother, what will be the match method!?
Sayuri: Kakuteki, bring it.
(TN: Kakuteki, like all Kinniku clan members, is a meat dish, in this case from Korea)
Kakuteki: Right.
Sayuri: Here are five swords.

73.
Sayuri: Now you will take one each.
Sayuri: Aim it to wherever you like within the scope of this carpet lying beneath your feet and thrust it in!
Big Body: Thrust a sword into a carpet?
Mariposa: Hehe, doesn’t this seem interesting?
Mariposa: I’ll go at it.
Mariposa: Sorya

74.
Announcer: The flying Choujin Kinnikuman Mariposa has thrusted his sword from a magnificent leap into an area near the left edge—
Phoenix: I’ll go next!!
Announcer: Continuing, Kinnikuman Super Phoenix, flooding with intelligence, has placed it accurately near the center of the carpet--!!
Soldier: Sorya
Big Body: Ha—
Zebra: Dorya
Announcer: And in surging waves, the remaining three swords are thrusted one after another--!!
Announcer: Well, with that, the Five Fated Princes have all pierced their swords--!!

75.
Suguru: Hold on—there’s one sword left--!!
Zebra: Uwa
Mariposa: Guwa
Soldier: Wh…who is that!?
Voice: Ki…Kinnikuman!!

76.
Suguru: I’m not claiming I’m a prince with just my mouth anymore. I’ll kick you around with force to prove it.
Mayumi: Su…Suguru.
Sayuri: Suguru, I believed you truly would come back.
Sayuri: With the return of Kinniku Suguru, the swords of the Six Fated Princes have been stabbed into the carpet. The positions of each of your six swords you’ve thrusted into this carpet will decide your destiny.
Terry & Robin: OOH.
Suguru: What are you doing, mama--!!
Announcer: What is Queen Kinniku thinking? Suddenly she’s stabbed her own arm with a sword---!!

77.
Mayumi: Right, mama has planned to do this. Of course, this is an ideal battle method for the Throne Succession Survival Match.
Phoenix: Aah!! The blood that’s flowing from mother’s arm is…
Phoenix: Taking some form!!
Mariposa: Geee—that…form is………
Mariposa: The islands of Japan--!!
Suguru: Mama--!!
Terry: It’s minor anemia.

78.
Sayuri: Th…that’s the showdown method we’re holding from here for the six Throne Succession Candidates.
Big Body: Though she says it’s a showdown method, what can we do with just this?
Phoenix: Hold on…the positions the six of us have thrusted our swords in are four places: Kumamoto, Himeji, Nagoya and Fukushima. There should be some meaning to those four places.
Meat: Famous castles!! I really knew this since I love to travel, but these four points are places are with prominently famous castles of Japan!!
(TN: A little bit about said castles considering we’re going on a bit of a tour:
-Kumamoto Castle: Located in Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Kyushu, it is notable for its fortifications as well as it’s location of the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, one of the last major uprisings after the Meiji Restoration leading to the death of many former samurai, including former reformist Saigo Takamori
-Himeji Castle: Located in Hyougo Prefecture in the southern part of Honshu, it’s size and beautiful white exterior has made it both a Japanese treasure as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
-Nagoya Castle: Found in the city of Nagoya, it was an important castle of the city and notable for its huge “shachihoko” statutes on its roof
-Aizuwakamatsu Castle: the actual castle in Fukushima Prefecture in Northern Japan, it’s notable for being one of the grand castles of the area and the site of several sieges from the warring eras through the Meiji Restoration. BTW: there is a “Fukushima Castle”, in Nagano Prefecture, but it was burned to the ground in the Sengoku period by Takeda Shingen)
Suguru: So then, mama—we’re fighting in castles!?
Sayuri: Right: the appropriate Throne Successor Fight for all of you is to have a Castle-Taking Battle.

79.
Sayuri: Splitting Japan into West and East with a base in Osaka, the Eastern side will have Super Phoenix Team and Big Body Team fighting at Aizuwakamatsu Castle in Fukushima; the winner
Sayuri: Will march to Nagoya Castle, where the seeded Soldier team will be waiting.
Sayuri: Continuing, the Western side will have Kinnikuman Team and Mariposa Team fighting at Kumamoto Castle; the winner
Sayuri: Will march to Himeji Castle, where the seeded Zebra Team will be waiting.
(TN: Quick note considering this being a “castle-taking battle” and the mentioning of it: “Osaka Castle” is a raised castle in Osaka built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to be modeled but greater than the one by Oda Nobunaga and eventually becoming the headquarters of the Tokugawa Shogunate after conquered by Tokugawa Ieyasu; it remained the headquarters of the shogun’s forces through the Shogunate era until it finally falling during the Meiji Restoration)

80.
Sayuri: And the warriors of the team who has won through on East and West will be decide between each other at Osaka Castle, a building which resembles the palace of Planet Kinniku. In short, whoever controls Osaka Castle will control the throne of Planet Kinniku.
Soldier: Fufufu…so we’re aiming to be the feudal lord. This truly is a suitable plan.
Mariposa: It is.
Harabote: So by gaining the approval of all six, from here I declare the opening of the Scramble for the Throne Survival Match.
Harabote: Will each Choujin please scatter through the nation with these airplanes provided for use by the committee.
Announcer: Well, each Choujin is simultaneously boarding!!
(TN: Silly thought: while I get five teams needing to fly by three of the four planes, including Suguru’s side who are headed with Mariposa’s side…shouldn’t Kinnikuman Soldier just take a train from Tokyo to Nagoya since he’s…well…alone and waiting for a while?)

81.
Announcer: The Kinnikuman Team of just the duo of Kinnikuman and Meat are boarding the airplane!!
Robin: Ki…Kinnikuman.
Robin: We’re…sorry, Kinnikuman. We want to be your team mates if we could but…
Suguru: Nothing you could do. The two of you, who are in leaderly positions as the staff officer and chief of staff of the Justice Choujin Corp, don’t have a reason to help me…………….if only you didn’t have those medals on your chests
Pilot: Player Kinnikuman, please board quickly!!
Suguru: Got it!!
Suguru: Well then.
Terry & Robin: Good luck, Kinnikuman…

82.
Announcer: Well, the participating teams in the Survival Match are rapidly falling with parachutes aiming for their castles!!
Mariposa: Look, Kinnikuman, that’s Kumamoto Castle!
Caption: FUKUSHIMA—AIZUWAKAMATSU CASTLE
Announcer: Please listen to those cheers here at Aizuwakamatsu Castle in Fukushima! Already the Super Phoenix Team and the Big Body Team have arrived and are violently staring at each other!!
Caption: KUMAMOTO CASTLE—

83.
Announcer: Here too at Kumamoto Castle, just now the Mariposa Team and Kinnikuman Team have arrived and we’re lying eagerly in wait for the sound of the gong.
Announcer: Now, the match rules is a win-through match in the team style of judo and kendo, where the team who gets annihilated first will lose!!
Mariposa: Alright, prepare for battle!
Mariposa Team: RIGHT! RIGHT!

84.-85.
Hawkman: Advance Guard: The Hawkman!!
VTR: Second Guard: Mister VTR!!
(TN: Just a bit of knowledge: a “VTR” or a “Video Tape Recorder” is a reference for any style of video tape recording, including VHS or Beta. This doesn’t refer to any disc format like DVD or Blu-Ray)
Mixer: Main Body: Mixer Taitei!!
(TN: “Taitei” is “Great Emperor” or “The Great”, therefore it would translate into English as “Mixer the Great”, but since we keep all names in Japanese akin to “Akuma Shogun”, he will remain “Mixer Taitei” since it’s his name…though I don’t get the need for the “Kinniku fin”)
100 Ton: Second Commander: King The 100 Ton!!
Mariposa: General: Kinnikuman Mariposa!!
(TN: Considering the nature of this arc’s team match-ups, think of the style of the five as akin to a line-up of troops:
-Advance Guard (Senbou) = the advanced soldiers on the front usually used to test a force
-Second Guard (Jihou) = the front soldiers behind the advance soldiers and ahead of the main warriors, using the knowledge from the advance guard to weaken the enemy
-Main Body (Chuuken) = the main body of the troops
-Second Commander (Fukushou) = the “second in command”, thus the commander under the leader usually leading the main troops
-General (Taishou) = the main commander of all the troops and the ruler over everything that happens to his forces)
Announcer: And the ambushing Kinnikuman team just has the duo of Advance Guard Kinnikuman!! And General Meat-kun! This is quite a handicap---!!

(SCRAMBLE FOR THE KINNIKU THRONE ARC)
SPECIAL (NOT MISTER) VTR IV
KINNIKUMAN RETURNS TO THE FRONT!!

TN: Let me just start out with this: boy were those HUUUUUGE sombreros! You need HUUUUUGE sombreros to hide...well, a living blender and a massive 100 ton weight! (yeah, his head could fit and it would more be the cape to worry about but still...the sombrero has to be big enough so that the cape makes it seem like King the 100 Ton is normal) To tell the truth, for the most part this chapter was fun even though it was mostly set-up for the tournament as is. Though it's a tad tired that every single matter regarding Choujin on Earth has to take place in Japan...that can easily be explained away in this being a Japanese comic and the fact that it's taking place in castles makes it much cooler than stadiums or...fake mirrors of Mt. Fuji where everyone stands around with gaping mouths, so the castle-taking campaign is kind of cool. I also like Suguru's regained confidence: screw not being genetically related or not having any allies aside from himself or Meat, he is going to fight regardless! It's those sort of moments that make me like Suguru as a hero instead of his mopey moments like...well, most of the last arc. And of course, the revelation of the new Choujin on Mariposa's side is just the kind of weird, gimmicky Choujin we need...though considering that we need a whole lot for this arc, some more from that opening page may show up soon. (though I sort of think that Hawkman is a combo of Hawkman...and Condorman...though strangely he is no relation to the other "Hawkman" at DC who, by these terms, is probably a Choujin too even though he's either Egyptian or from Thanagar)

Most of my complains this time are more on the silly or stupid side as they generally tend to be. (pretty much...nit-picking) First of all, doesn't Kinnikuman Soldier seem a tad...strange? In the very first chapter we see Soldierman get infected by the "God of Brutality" and he's all "GRR, I MUST KILL KINNIKUMAN, ARRGH!!!" But now all of a sudden he seems a tad weird, not getting a magic team like the others and showing concerns that Kinnikuman isn't there...meh, probably nothing to worry about, I'm sure he'll be his evil, brutal self again when we get to his fight in Nagoya Castle. And speaking of Nagoya Castle...considering Soldier is alone and has to wait instead of going directly to fight or with a huge team (like Zebra has too), why don't we see him...you know, just leave Kokuritsu Stadium, hop on the next train to Nagoya and save time, money and fuel? At least the good news is we only saw three planes leaving (Suguru/Mariposa, Zebra, Phoenix/Big Body) so maybe that's just what he did. Then there's this: I just don't get how we have crowds and rings suddenly set up where the matches are considering that they didn't even know where the swords were going to be stabbed until they threw them and Sayuri did the ceremony. And don't get me started on the announcer screaming to no-one about Suguru and Mariposa skydiving to the castles...suddenly I got a flash of the first Power Rangers movie when that happened. (maybe Ivan Ooze will show up and replace one of the others next chapter, who knows) And finally...is it Kinniku Castle that's the exact replica of Osaka castle or the other way around? I sort of hope it's Kinniku copying Osaka...cause if it's Osaka copying Kinniku then...here we go again. (as if we need to get into the whole "Imperial tombs becoming giant keyholes to access Apollo Power again...)