Kinnikuman 310

Appearing as himself for the first time since the Choujin Olympics, Ramenman used little effort to take down Motorman! But though one member of Team Zebra is stopped, another is finally going to get the chance to get back at him!

Chapter 310: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (37): Terror! Thunderdome

8.
Announcer: With Ramenman’s Camel Clutch, shown after a long time, Motorman’s body has been torn in two--!!
Suguru: Ramenman……you’ve…become strong…
Robin: He’s even greater than when he defeated Brocken Jr. father Brockenman…
Bike: Watching this match of Justice Choujin is the first time I’ve ever shivered…
(TN: It’s sort of hard to make out the context: I am assuming he’s talking of just Ramenman destroying Motorman, but it could also be in reference to Robin’s comment about Ramenman vs. Brockenman in the first Choujin Olympics)
Zebra & Parthenon: He’s…a devil; that was truly the strength of a devil.

9.
Suguru: Hey—oldie, what are you doing? Shouldn’t you get up there quickly and declare Ramenman the winner?
Referee: Ooh, of course.
Referee: A victory for Ramenman!!
Announcer: The match of Second-Guard fighters Ramenman and Motorman was the shortest match in the tournament in merely 37 seconds, with Ramenman killing Motorman! Here and now was the revival of the instant hitman---!!
(TN: The “instant hitman” part was in Japanese “byou no koroshiya”, with “byou” being a “second”, since “a hitman in a second” didn’t quite work…I made it sound better)

10.
Announcer: Though with the trio of Meat, Warsman and Terryman defeated now, Team Kinnikuman has truly been healed by an aiding god with Ramenman’s come-back!!
Suguru: Hahaha, don’t go anywhere. Ramenman, never part us because you can’t be used anywhere else~~~!!
Bike: Zebra-sama, please leave healing the dishonor of Team Zebra to me!!

11.
Bike: Ramenman!
Bike: Finally with no one in our way, it’s time to settle things between you and me.
Bike: These wounds I’ve taken from you at the castle entrance earlier are still itching. I certainly will return my debts.
Announcer: A formidable enemy has already appeared to the revived Ramenman: here comes Bikeman, the Main Body of Team Zebra!!
Referee: Bikeman, Main Body of Team Zebra, please enter the ring.
Bike: Hey, before I do, chief referee, I’ve thought up an interesting match method so I can completely conclude my fight with Ramenman…

12.
Ramen: I won’t run from any match method: taking them is the style of Ramenman.
Suguru: Great, Ramenman, that’s being a man!!
Audience: You’re a Justice Choujin among Justice Choujin!!
Bike: The match method is…Parthenon.
Parthenon: Right.
Girl: Ge—something’s falling down—Hie---!!

13.
Announcer: Suddenly from the ceiling, a spherical wire-screen is falling down and wrapping around the ring---!!

14.
Bike: Well then, Ramenman, a typical square wire-screen deathmatch is fine, but a circular wire-screen is a nice thing too.
Ramen: …………
Bike: It’s called the Thunderdome Deathmatch!!
(TN: Just a silly reference: it could be either “Thunder Dome” or “Thunderdome”, but I made it the latter because…well, you’ll understand in a few more pages)
Announcer: Well, this is a Thunderdome Deathmatch as proposed by Bikeman; but what sort of match will this be?

15.
Suguru: Uwa—that Bikeman, he’s filling up his own body with gasoline from a provisional gas station outside the ring.
Bike: Parthenon, my opponent is Ramenman: a drawn-out match is inevitable. Fill me up with a full tank.
Suguru: Ooh—that’s scary~~~…it’s great he’s not my competition opponent.
Robin: Hmm—this worries me.
Suguru: What’s wrong, Robin?

16.
Robin: He’s completely changed from when he defeated Motorman…it’s as if Ramenman, who would brave through a fever, has a blank expression…
Suguru: No…now you mentioned it…
Robin: He’s worried………
Caption: TEAM KINNIKUMAN SECOND-GUARD RAMENMAN VS. TEAM ZEBRA MAIN BODY BIKEMAN
Audience: Well, the gong for the destined showdown in the ring of Ramenman, the Second-Guard of Team Kinnikuman, and Bikeman, the Main Body of Team Zebra, has rung---!!
Bike: Hehhehehe
Ramen: Aah, wire-screen, it’s a wire-screen…

17.
Bike: Fufufu, it’s slowly emerging, Ramenman: your wire-screen phobia!
Announcer: Roaring his engine, Bikeman he’s flying perpendicularly aiming for Ramenman like surging wave!!
Bike: Mad Max Attack---!!
(TN: And…that’s why I made it “Thunderdome”…BTW: the reason why we have these silly references for this fight is tied to “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”, the third of the Mad Max films which was released on July 10th, 1985, around the time this chapter was originally published, therefore making this another homage)

18.
Ramen: Hi—no, no—not the wire-screen---!!
Announcer: What’s going on in there: Ramenman hates the wire-screen stretched to it’s extreme around the ring!!
Robin: Right…
Robin: Of course: Ramenman was wounded in the top of his head from Warsman during the Choujin Olympics’ Big Fight via his Bear Claw in a Wire-Screen Death Match, becoming a vegetable Choujin. It was a bitter experience which wouldn’t have him enter the ring as himself these four years. Having this much of a wire-screen will have him display this abnormal of fear.
Suguru: That’s right: that Bikeman: on top of acknowledging it, he challenged Ramenman in a Wire-Screen Deathmatch. Unu~~he’s a thoroughly dirty guy---!!
Ramen: Uwa—someone get me out from here---!!

19.
Bike: By finally coming to fight as yourself without your Mongolman mask, within the pleasure you possessed, you weren’t subjugated by merely your fear of facing a wire-screen.
Bike: I won’t need to fully release my engine with this faulty Choujin.
Ramen: I’ve got you, Bikeman.
Announcer: Ramenman, who was afraid of the wire-screen until earlier, is running facing frontwards---!

20.
Announcer: And is throwing a Flying Kneel Kick to the base of Bikeman’s neck--!!
Bike: Y…you, you were acting until now.
Ramen: Looking at your body, I instantly thought ‘he’s a special Choujin who utilizes the power of an engine and has techniques that use instantaneous force.
Ramen: Therefore, if I were to stop just the engine, which is the life of your techniques
Ramen: I had to be read with that.

21.
Announcer: As if he’s pressing for an answer, Ramenman has instantly thrown as Fisherman’s Suplex---!!
Audience: Great---!!
Suguru: Ramenman has long ago conquered his old wounds he took from Warsman and his fear of wire-screens---!!
Ramen: Sorya!!

22.
Announcer: Ramenman has spun Bikeman’s body with an Airplane Spin and with that has flung him high into the air---!! And Ramenman is jumping as if he’s chasing after Bikeman’s back---!!
Ramen: Thunderdome Neck Tree--!!
Announcer: Ramenman is using the elasticity of the wire-screen, hanging Bikeman to death in mid-air---!!
Robin: That wire-screen that he had hated this far instantly being used as part of a technique is shows the genius of Ramenman, of course.

23.
Suguru: Great—Ramenman, as is you can end the match at once and we can leave the taking down of the remaining Parthenon and Zebra to you--!!
Announcer: Well, the slacking of the wire-screen that Ramenman is hanging on is struggling to rise with the power it had before, slowly strangling Bikeman’s neck!!
Ramen: Quickly give up, Bikeman. If you don’t, I’m breaking your neck!!
Bike: Fufufu…Ramenman, you were thinking I proposed the Thunderdome Deathmatch for you just because I was using your wire-screen phobia. Do…doing that shows you’re naïve…the ultimate reason I suggested this deathmatch is something else.
Ramen: ?
Bike: My reason is…

24.
Announcer: Bikeman is falling himself, leaving just his helmet at Ramenman’s feet---!!
Parthenon: Here, Bikeman.
Announcer: Aah, Bikeman’s body is…!!

25.
Announcer: Somehow Bikeman is like a real motorcycle!!
Bike: This Thunderdome is
Bike: My personal road!!

26.
(SCRAMBLE FOR THE KINNIKU THRONE ARC)
SPECIAL VTR XXX
RAMENMAN VS. BIKEMAN

TN: I know this has nothing to do with Kinnikuman (aside from a couple minor factors of this chapter), but I do want to talk really quickly about "Mad Max". It is rather weird that this Australian movie series of all of them would be suddenly referenced (not once, but twice) in a chapter of a wrestling series, but (while not talking about whether or not Mel Gibson is a capable actor) it is apparent the influence of the post-apocalyptic series on Japan during it's high period of the mid-80s. While I haven't seen them, I have heard how massive and important the "Mad Max" series was to late-70s and early-80s cinema, as well as it's importance and usage in pop culture, but it is a series that obviously had major impact on Japan. Just look at "Hokuto no Ken" as a major example: what would have been just a generic fighting series took a post-apocalyptic turn thanks to the influence of both the first film and "The Road Warrior", turning it in Japan into a shonen classic. But of course, with the influence the series has...and the fans that Yude probably are of it as well (or at least knowing it existed), it feels really weird they would particularly use the references to the movie...just as "Beyond Thunderdome" (what many consider the worst of the series) came out. I guess it was more or less the hope but I guess it's also the fact that they just had to take advantage of Bikeman to refer to it due to all the biker gangs in that universe and the whole circular cage motorcycle stunt shows use. (now just make sure they don't just bring out Bibimba wearing that Tina Turner wig...no, wait...nevermind)

Other than wondering of the merit of Mel Gibson films, this was a nice set-up to the whole fight, showing off not only Ramenman's return and his actual breaking of all of his fears and problems he had before (yeah, I sort of am happy the whole "wire-screen phobia" is finally dead), but also being a nice but weird showcase for Bikeman as well. As random as it was for Parthenon to bring out a gas tank to fill his partner up (I'll be getting more into "that" soon), the chapter just seemed like a whole 80s show-off with the cliffhanger of the bike Choujin referring to another (really overrated but still semi-cool) phenomenon of the decade...I really don't have to refer to it but let's say that if Bikeman just kept his wheels on him instead of just having his team keep them aside, he could be the Sideways of the Kinniku-universe! (yeah had to look it up, I'm not really into Transformers aside from having one or two and transforming them as a kid)