Kinnikuman 284

In a nefarious scheme cooked up by Mixer Taitei (with support of the Five Evil Gods), Kinnikuman has been separated from his legendary Burning Inner Strength! Is this the end of Suguru's fight to be king...and where is he anyway!?

Chapter 284: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (11): The Tearful Choujin Graveyard!!

28.
Announcer: Kinnikuman, who has taken Mixer Taitei’s Power Separator in the ring, has suddenly disappeared----!!
Audience: AAH…
Mixer: Please be glad, Evil Gods!! Kinnikuman’s power, which has been taken by my Power Separator, has already been magnificently confined in the Great Temple of Evil in the Celestial World.

29.
Mixer: Haha.
Phoenix: So, Mixer Taitei, we get where Kinnikuman’s power is, but where’s his physical body?
Mixer: I think it’s possible that that the power of the Power Separator was too much and blew away not just his power but his physical body too!
Mixer: I’m certain his physical body has now died in the depths of space!
(TN: Mixer Taitei uses the expression of “Mokuzu”, which is used to express a “death at sea”, therefore “uchuu no mokuzu” is a slight adjustment into a “death in space”)
Soldier: That man called Kinnikuman is pitiful…on top of his power being stolen; he doesn’t even have a corpse!
Caption: ENGLAND—CHOUJIN WARRIOR SCHOOL
Radio: HA—HAHAHA—
Robin: ……………
Robin: Un…forgivable……as Choujin who are in the same battleground, merely their act is unforgivable!!

30.
Robin: And even so, they’re Choujin warriors---!!
Robin: ………………I must go. This is in the middle of everyone’s class but…
Robert: Well, all of us are friends who are being taught in Robin-sensei’s class, but to go to save something when they’re really worried about it is true friendship!
Robin: Everyone………
Robin: Hold on, Kinnikuman!!

31.
Terry: Un…forgivable!!
Terry: These beings who are gods killed one of the prospective Choujin for their own selfish desires!
Terry: My achievements as a Choujin warrior for these ten years have lead to acknowledgment from many people and given me these medals as a Choujin staff officer……
Terry: But I’ll betray the hopes of all those people now; since the friendship with merely one man has gotten through to me…
Terry: I’m throwing away my medals!!

32.
Soldier 1: Hold on, Terryman!!
Soldier 2: Will you really do that; we are those that have been dispatched from the Choujin Committee to watch over you!!
Terry: Huh?
Soldier: You are in a neutral position as a Choujin staff officer. You cannot go to assist Kinnikuman.
Terry: Uuh…
Soldier 1: Ge
Soldier 2: Uh…
Soldier: Wh…what are you doing?
Dickie: Terry-sensei, please go quickly!!
Terry: You…guys!

33.
Dickie: Now please quickly go to save Kinnikuman-san!!
Terry: I’m in all your debts!!
Caption: KUMAMOTO CASTLE—
Meat: Hey, you’re all terrible. So I’ll fight you for tormenting Prince.
Mixer: Hey, I’ll deal with you later!!
Meat: Wa
Meat: Uuh…
Mariposa: Alright, how about we ascertain whether or not Kinnikuman’s power is safely in the Great Temple of Evil with the caretakers in heaven?

34.
Mariposa: Watchers of the Great Temple of Evil, has Kinnikuman’s power been sealed safely?
Audience: Kya—Lightning coming through the ceiling!!

35.
Watchers: Please relax, Evil Gods.
Watchers: All of Kinnikuman’s power will not be restored; it has been confined perfectly in the Great Temple of Evil!!
Watchers: Look carefully with your eyes and relax. Ha—hahahaha.
Gods: Hahahaha…
Meat: Aah!!
Soldier: Hahahaha…
Mariposa: With this, we shouldn’t have any worries…
Phoenix: Alright, with that, shall we Evil Gods now return to our five-man playoff?
Soldier: Who will undisputedly obtain the crown?

36.
Meat: I…I’m sorry, Great King, Queen.
Caption: OSAKA CASTLE—
Meat: I didn’t do anything and Prince ended up like that.
Mayumi: Don’t cry, Meat. Suguru doesn’t have a reason to say that he’s dead yet.
Sayuri: Right, Meat-kun. Suguru is a boy who was born with good luck. This time, I’m not mistaken that he’ll truly revive.
Meat: But…
Watchers: That’s…strange, how could this happen?
Mariposa: What’s wrong, temple watchers; did something happen?

37.
Watcher: We have to tell you this.
Watcher: Kinnikuman’s Burning Inner Strength should have definitely been 70 Million Power , but…the Power contained at the Great Temple is 69 Million 50 Thousand Power…in short, we’re short 950 Thousand Power!!
Mixer & Mariposa: What!?
Mariposa: So…so then, where did Kinnikuman’s 950 Thousand Power go!?
VTR: I…have to say this.
VTR: The whereabouts of Kinnikuman’s 950 Thousand Power is the…Choujin Graveyard.

38.
Mariposa: Mister VTR…
VTR: I…I saw it: Kinnikuman’s 950 Thousand Power is wandering around the Choujin Graveyard…
Caption: CHOUJIN GRAVEYARD—
Suguru: I’ve suddenly regained consciousness from taking Mixer Taitei’s Power Separator and lost my way in this place.
Suguru: But, what is this? These many tombstones…where am I…
Sunshine: FUWA~~
Suguru: Ge—Su…Sunshine.

39.
Suguru: Over there is Mountain, Junkman…and Atlantis!
Suguru: Weren’t all of you dead?
Suguru: Ge—that’s Brocken Jr.’s old man Brockenman. And there’s Watchman and Pentagon.
Suguru: Th…this here are only Choujin who have died at the end of a death match in the ring!! Wh…where exactly is this—

40.
Oni: Let me tell you: this is the Choujin Graveyard, a peaceful place where Choujin who have died in the ring end up after their struggles.
Suguru: So then, somehow I came here when I was killed by Mixter Taitei?
Oni: Hehehe…of course.
Suguru: I have many matters that I’ve still have left. If I died now, then Meat, whose been left alone, must fight a brutal Choujin opponent. Please, revive me!!
Oni: He…hey, that’s impossible. This is a world where you can’t ever leave once you’ve come here!!
Oni: Quiet down, you’re going to work here too.
Suguru: Uuh…

41.
Suguru: Ge
Caption: KUDAMOTO CASTLE—
Mixer: Ha—hahaha, speaking of the Choujin Graveyard, that’s a place which is said to be even more difficult to escape from than the 4th Dimension or a black hole. Even that Kinnikuman left with his 950 Thousand Power won’t get out of there.
(TN: Mixer Taitei refers to “4th Dimesion” and “Black Hole” separately, meaning it’s two different entities, not literally “Black Hole the 4-D Choujin”…which is both)
Harabote: Meat-kun, We’ll give him just 15 minutes. If Kinnikuman doesn’t return by then you, as the general, will enter the ring.
Meat: Al…right.
Suguru: Haa haa.
Voice: It’s not that there reasonably isn’t a means to escape from here…work seriously on this and they’ll make you graveyard manager from your work.

42.
Suguru: Warsman!!
Wars: I didn’t think I would meet you in this place, Kinnikuman.
Suguru: But can you truly leave from here by working seriously like this?
Wars: Whenever they approve of your work here, each time you get a sphere called a Life Ball. You can return to the world of the living once more when you’ve gotten four, but it’s odd how you get the balls: the earliest people get one is in a half-year, the latest in a hundred years.
Suguru: No good: even if I wait a half-year, the Earth Choujin world will get messed up by the Evil Gods.
Wars: Take my Life Balls. Unfortunately I only have three, but that will half-way open the door to the exit of the Choujin Graveyard.
Suguru: Bu…but, if you give those to me, you’ll…
Wars: I’m truly obliged to you for when the Six Devil Knights occupied my body…this is my thank-you gift for then.

43.
Suguru: Bu…but…
Wars: Go—Kinnikuman, if I can do it all over again, I’ll return to the world of the living someday. However, giving them to you is a for a battle where I can’t ask but to redo it.
Wars: So…so then, for the moment, borrow these balls---!!
Ony: Ooh, a deserter---!!
Wars: Screw Driver--!!
Oni: Gyaa—
Caption: KUMAMOTO CASTLE—
Announcer: Kinnikuman has five minutes left of the 15 minutes returning postponement!

44.
Suguru: This is the entrance and exit from the Choujin Graveyard!!
Suguru: I have to put the Life Balls into the 4 holes.
Suguru: Ooh—the tomb is opening!!
Suguru: No…but, since I only have three, it isn’t enough for opening the tomb!
Suguru: Ge—the tomb is opening again!!

45.
Wars: Go—Kinnikuman, I’ll handle the persuers!!
Suguru: Wa…Warsman!!
Wars: Now, quickly!!
Suguru: R…right.
Suguru: Warsman! You came to help without fail---!!

46.
(SCRAMBLE FOR THE KINNIKU THRONE ARC)
SPECIAL VTR VIII
KINNIKUMAN VS. MIXER TAITEI

TN: Another apology as I start with this entry: I meant to put it up last night, but with my celebration of finally finishing Urusei Yatsura (the TV version, still need to see the last three movies and the OVAs), I felt that was higher priority.

I guess I need to start this chapter with this: can someone explain to me what the heck just happened!? Look, I know what this is supposed to be: an attempt to sort of show what happens when a Choujin dies while fighting and (in some weird way) a retcon of how a Choujin who died comes back to life. But...somehow there are too many things I can rip apart on this "version" of Choujin afterlife. First of all, what the heck is the whole point of the Life Balls? Why would the oni who control hell (weird, I watch UY's final episode and this chapter has oni...Lum was really looking after me) give out a reward so easily that could help anyone down there escape? Yeah, I get the catch: it takes forever to accumulate four (sometimes a hundred years) and you still have to outrun them in order to get to the door, let alone that if you do get four and it's been hundreds of years...reappearing would seem so sudden and would end up alongside your descendents hundreds of years later where you'll probably find out the only thing left of your existence is a tiny etch with your name on it at an amusement park in St. Louis (yeah, I know I should have said the "Walkway of Glory", but you have to have been really important to even be there...). But why do something like that so easily!? Why give someone a chance to escape, whether in a few years or a few hundred years, when they're essentially dead and working? Do the Life Balls have another purpose to the oni and then "oh by the way, you can use them to resurrect yourself if you need to?" I know Yudetamago were probably like "well, you know how Choujin revive...let's just make up a reason now" and then snuck over and saw that their fellow mangaka Akira Toriyama had "magical wishing balls" (yeah, Dragon Ball actually had started at this point but it was only a few weeks old by now and was nowhere near even having it's own "let's bring a person back to life" wish that would get overspammed in that series) but this was just dumb.

And let's bring this technicality off: Warsman (well it was great to see Warsman again to tell the truth) had three balls by the time Suguru got down to "there"...and I think that based off his story that he was given them a tad too quickly and I'm not quite so sure if anything matches up! That's a simple matter though of mathematics and timing, particularly the "Yude time" that I complained about way back with the Mongolman revelation. Let's review then how it came to be: first of all, Warsman's "death" (well his latest one that lead to this) occurred back in chp. 224 (yeah, he was the first official taker of the "Cross Bomber"). By this point, it was chp. 284, 60 chapters after Warsman died. A typical year of manga chapters in a weekly magazine like Jump (without taking any breaks whatsoever) is 48; therefore if you go by that, then only 1.25 years have gone by since Warsman died. But...if Warsman died only 1.25 years ago, why does he have three balls? If it takes a half-year minimum to even get one ball (not even guaranteeing you will considering the fickleness of whoever gives out said balls and that the half-year is a minimum for getting a ball), then Warsman wouldn't have been dead long enough in "our time" to even get enough balls. And lets' not forget about "Yude time"...that sweet and ridiculous timing that goes on in regards to this series. As you remember from the last arc, the Tag Tournament took place over two days (give or take an minute thanks to that stupid "Superman time manipulation" the Perfect Choujin pulled near the end) At the start of the arc, we knew that very little time had passed since Suguru was having a celebration parade and all the Choujin who lost their masks were finally getting it back. It was around that time that Suguru was decided to finally become Planet Kinniku's king...now a little bit of time could have occurred between said parade and the infamous coronation ceremony where the Fated Princes showed up, but from the start of the Coronation Ceremony until now has been exactly the same day! (remember, everything happened at the stadium, then they immediately left for the first-round of the Castle-Taking battle) Sure So then, logically, only a few days had passed in the world of Kinnikuman leading up to the moment we're at now, and it probably wouldn't take a few days for Warsman to be awarded those balls. So then, if Warsman didn't have enough time in "our time" (1.25 years) and not enough time in his world (a few days)...HOW DID HE GET THE TIME TO GET THOSE LIFE BALLS!? So then here comes another thought: did Warsman...take some of them by another means? Did he somehow make deals with other Choujin or fight oni so he could have three balls by the time Suguru got them? Once again as I said before: it just feels like something made up on the spot to try and explain Choujin revivals but ends up feeling screwy...like most of this series' attempts to do something legitimate.

Next off: if this is how Choujin "revive"...then how do you explain some of the really weird things that the dead Choujin have done in the past? A few examples: the "Blood Bind" used by the Devil Choujin, let alone the "Hell Canvas" that deviated similarly that Ashuraman used...or the really weird stuff like Buffaloman reviving, sans head (since the Devil Knights removed it) and giving his arms to Terry? How in the world can these abilities somehow connect the "living" and the "dead" realms allowing for this stuff to "happen"? Heck, how could we even have weird stuff like Mongolman/Ramenman's "Spirit World Door" that allows for them to go between and clear them up? Is that yet another dimension between the living world and the dead world that they can go to?

And now for probably one of the biggest and stupidest parts regarding this whole concept of the Choujin "death realm": what was with all the weird floating Choujin at the beginning of Suguru's journey down there? I mean here we have Suguru, descending into the underworld and then...we have a bunch of random Choujin randomly floating around doing absolutely nothing. I mean, I could get if this was some sort of guarantee for what they considered as "evil Choujin"...but not every Choujin in there was necessarily evil. I mean, Pentagon was in that floating mass, and last we saw he had just taken a Muscle Docking with a "seemingly reformed" Black Hole. (dang, that must have been some Muscle Docking to have killed them) And as big of a jerk as Pentagon was, he doesn't feel the type to be floating around with the likes of Junkman or Atlantis. (I was going to say "Sunshine", but considering his whiny baby form last arc, he could have been "slightly changed) And then there was Teapackman: what the heck did he even do to merely be floating there!? Heck, don't you feel it weird that Warsman, the very Choujin who killed Teapackman (when he was much more brutal) is in the work-line trying to get back and more redemptive...while Teapackman is merely floating there? And then there was Watchman: WHY THE HECK IS WATCHMAN UP THERE!? What the heck did Watchman do other than peeve off Brocken Jr. to smash his face, to be up there in that floating cloud!? Then again...I think I figured it out as to what was going on: it was 1985 (yeah, it was literally 1985) and the Choujin of America were starting to go out of control to match the nature of a country ruled by Richard Nixon for so long...the Choujin officials on Planet Kinniku (considering that's where everything was governed) got wind of some insane schemes to use certain extremely powerful Choujin to use the power of certain Choujin with the means and abilities to do so to annihilate New York...fearing this, they were forced to seal away certain Choujin in their underworld to prevent them from coming back, including various 4-D Choujin (see Pentagon and Black Hole) to prevent a ruining of the space-time continuum, not to mention certain ones that they had heard were also in on the conspiracy (Atlantis was asked to provide a giant squid, Stecase King to provide a massive sonic boom that would mentally be controlled, Teapackman was providing refreshments at their evil Antarctic headquarters built on top of a sleeping Crystalman; Brockenman...just because he's a Nazi and they put 2 + 2 together and figured that the scheme was very similar to his own)...and then they realized that they had to stop the most feared Choujin of all, the one that would tell the time to when the annihilation would begin...so they were forced to find Watchman and put him up into the floating nothingness of ambiguity so they could prevent him from doing his part in the scheme...they really hadn't figured him until it was nearly too late, but as you all know: WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMAN!? (alright, I know it was all buildup to that one horrible joke, but I guess a couple side notes: first, yeah this chapter was released in 1985 like "Watchmen"...but that story stared later that year than when Kinnikuman was at this point [just checked: this chapter came out around January, 1985; Watchmen's story began in October, 1985]...let alone that the first issue of "Watchmen" didn't even hit stores until 1986 so it was all a moot point by then)

Of course with all those dead Choujin that were there in some form or another (including, for some reason, Oilman, who was on the ground barely visible just before Warsman reappeared), there were a few that weren't even there that basically were supposed to be dead. Let's start off with Buffaloman...or then again, let's not: he didn't die in combat so he probably wouldn't have come here like this. But do you mean to tell me that after all that crap that Dr. Bombe pulled to kill Buffaloman just to give Suguru a new arm, he's not even dead!? Maybe a better example of that would be Ramenman though: sure with him, he actually died in combat...but for some reason Warsman was there and he wasn't. Don't tell me after all that crap regarding the special mask that he had to wear "or else" that he would somehow survive all that!? Then there's Wolfman...but personally I want to admit that he literally melted into goo during the final battle with the Perfect Choujin and he's staying as such. Yet while the good guys are missing a few down there, there are a few missing among the bad guys as well...and I don't really mean reformed ones like Buffaloman. (or like Black Hole really should have been after that last arc...then again if it was Pentagon falling, I would understand better and he should have stayed there) I noticed Sneagator wasn't there, but it's hard to figure whether he would have been in "gator" form or "giant dino foot" form so he's exempt. I also noticed that, for some weird reason, The Ninja is also missing. Now I can get Sneagator being too hard to figure out which form to use, but why would The Ninja not be in Choujin afterlife with the other Devil Knights (not named Ashuraman)? Hmm...you know, alongside the weirdness of Kinnikuman Soldier, I think that the Ninja matter will be brought back up later for some reason or another...just a hunch.

Oh yeah, Soldier...you know with how weird he's been, this chapter isn't making things any easier. In particular, I need to bring up a bit of a translation/language problem I had with one particular line "he" said (though it could just be the God of Brutality since it was supposed to be the Five Evil Gods in Mixer Taitei, not the Princes literally themselves) A line he says early on as "he" is still on Taitei after Suguru's Burning Inner Strength has been taken away is “kawaisou”. Usually I don't have a problem with figuring out context, but in this case there are two words that can be used for it with different context: “pathetic” or “pitiful”. Dependent on the way the word was used, either can actually work dependent on who you think is saying it: “pathetic” has a ruder connotation that shows disdain, which obviously the God of Brutality (who is one of the "Five Evil Gods") would say about Suguru's state here. On the other hand, “pitiful” shows more potential of sympathy or pity, which with the weirdness of Soldier, would work just as well. Considering what we’ve seen and what is coming, either would really work now. We should assume that it is the Gods that merged with Mixer Taitei in the last chapter...but the problem with that is Kinnikuman Mariposa merged directly in the flesh and they mentioned that it was the Fated Princes that were in the arena, not the Evil Gods. But if it is the Fated Princes, it also sort of feels strange that Soldier, who showed a bit of concern for Suguru in the last volume (and who doesn't even have a team yet) for some bizarre reason would assist in taking away his Burning Inner Strength and is directly seen as part of a crowd of Princes laughing manically over this. (then again it could have been the other four and him echoing around it...I mean it probably had good acoustics in that castle...but who knows)

Alright, this was probably one of my longest rants in forever (but this chapter deserved it badly), but there was one great cool thing I did like in this chapter: the ability of the "Power" of a Choujin to retake form in the underworld allowing for them to have a new body when they revive. That way, regardless of how ripped up a body can get when they die, they come back good as new. Though it does tie to another really stupid bit: why the heck did the Evil Gods think that all of Suguru's power would be sealed away as if all of it, including his usual 950 Thousand Power is part of his Burning Inner Strength? If he didn't have his regular Choujin power, then wouldn't Suguru be essentially dead when sealed away...guess they didn't do their homework or were too obsessed they forgot about the base power not being part of Suguru's Burning Inner Strength.

Heh...I applaud anyone who read all the way down to this point to the end. I know I said ay too much this time but it had to be said with the stupidity going on. (though I wonder how many "puppies" it ranks on the stupidity meter) Heh...at least I'm still in a good mood for finishing Urusei Yatsura...Lum can make any of this nonsense better!

BTW: Almost forgot this amist all the other crap, but...where the heck did Terry get those medals? (at least the anime explained they were given to him at the coronation) Though in a way I did like him rebelling against his authority to finally team up with Suguru...and found it funny that Robin did the same and didn't have soldiers chasing after him, meaning he'll probably keep his school job when this Throne arc is over.