Kinnikuman 354

After suffering for quite a while by taking multiple blasts, Ramenman has finally shut down the source of Prisman's Rainbow Shower! But though the main problem has been stopped, does Ramenman have anything left to finish the match?

Volume 33: The Enigmatic Choujin Hunter!!
Chapter 354: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (81): Regeneration! Ramenman!!

7.
Announcer: Ramenman has demolished Prisman’s Rainbow Shower storehouse with a Heart-Stabbing Tailspin Leg---!!

8.
Ramen: Good: with this, Prisman can’t bring out his Seven Capillaria Rays from his killer Choujin cannon---!!
(TN: Yeah, Ramenman refers to Prisman’s attack as a “Satsu Choujin Hou”, which literally translates to “Killer Choujin Gun/Cannon”)
Announcer: Prisman is down, severed from his Rainbow Shower, his ultimate trump-card!!
Suguru: Ramenman, Prisman has completely lost his fighting spirit; if you defeat him, it’s now---!!

9.
Suguru: GE!!
Suguru: Ramenman…!?
Announcer: Somehow even Ramenman who has driven Prisman this far into a corner, has run out of strength and is on the verge of going down---!!
Suiguru: What’s wrong—Ramenman, isn’t victory already before your eyes; you can do this---!!
Robin: Kinnikuman, it may already be hopeless for Ramenman…
Suguru: What!?

10.
Robin: For a living Choujin, Prisman’s Seven Capillaria Rays have strong killing strength to the extent of stopping the heart with just being showered in one attack…Ramenman’s body, which has repeating been bathed in the rays that indirectly passed through Prisman’s pipes several times, has completely been eaten into by the toxins of the Seven Capillaria Rays.!
Geronimo: …So then, that’s why Ramenman is going to die not striking a finisher to Prisman?
Suguru: Robin, isn’t there a way to save Ramenman; at least just a chance he can fight Prisman once more!!
Robin: …It’s not that there isn’t a method to save him!
Robin: We can perform a medical treatment in drawing out the toxins of the Seven Capillaria Rays from Ramenman’s body by the skill of a Choujin doctor if we temporarily suspend the match.

11.
Suguru: Bu…but then, those guys on Team Phoenix wouldn’t permit the match being suspended temporarily to treat Ramenman.
Robin: However, that is the only way to save Ramenman!!
Suguru: There isn’t another…a method to draw out the toxins of the Seven Capillaria Rays from Ramenman’s body without suspending the match!
Audience: UOOO
Suguru: Wh….what, is something happening!?
Suguru: Ooh, Prisman is getting up!!
Annnouncer: Prisman is recovering from his damage and getting up once again due to Ramenman not giving a finishing blow---!!

12.
Prism: Kyo—kyokyo---!!
Ramen: ………!!
Prism: I’ve come to not be able to fire my Rainbow Shower again thanks to my chest being smashed by you! But due to a sufficient amount of Capillaria toxins strangling your body to death, I don’t need my Rainbow Shower anymore.
Prism: There aren’t two characters for victory anymore: what’s left is just death!!
Ramen: Until I avenge---!!
Ramen: Brocken and Ashuraman’s enemy!!

13.
Ramen: I won’t di—e!!
Announcer: Ramenman carrying up Prisman into a Brain Buster!!
Robin: No, be patient. Ramenman, if you move your body now, then just that much of the Capillaria toxins will run throughout your body and hasten your time of death!!

14.
Ramen: Uh!!
Ramen: Su…suddenly the power in my body is………
Ramen: Escaping me…
Geronimo: L…look at Ramenman’s face! His skin is dry and even his hair is become that white…
Suguru: That Ramenman, has he opened Pandora’s Box~~?
(TN: The actual term that Suguru uses for what Ramenman opened is “Tamatebako” or “a treasure chest”, but it didn’t feel ominous enough so I modified it slightly)
Robin: The invasion of the Capillaria toxins in Ramenman’s body is quickly starting.

15.
Prism: Kyo—kyokyokyo: Ramenman, this is already the end for you.
Prism: Fall into hell, Ramenman!!
Announcer: Prisman has found an opening in the groggy Ramenman and escaped from the Brain Buster stance---!!
Announcer: Now Prisman is conversely taking Ramenman into the stance of a Back Drop---!!

16.
Announcer: As is, Ramenman has been thrown away to the inside of the jungle gym without the nail boards---!!
Suguru: Why don't you kill him easily by throwing away Ramenman by aiming for the nail boards; haven't you bullied Ranmenman enough yet---!!
Prism: Kyokyokyo--I thought of killing him easily but...doing this to my chest has changed my mind! I'm deliberately killing him through torment!!
Announcer: Well then, Ramenman's entire body has severely struck the floor of Osaka Castle---!!

17.
Ramen: Uuh.
Prism: Well, Ramenman, you'll come back with your half-killing damage! Climb up to here, since I'm going to torment you much more. Kyo--kyokyokyo.
Ramen: J...just now, even the god of miracles has deserted me......
Suguru: Ramenman, I'm fine even if you abandon the match, so sleep there---!!
Ramen: Am I touching something...?

18.
Ramen: Ho...how could this be: foliage is growing from the floorboard!!
Ramen: How...how could this sort of foliage come from a dead tree that has been taken down by humans to become this floor board!?
Ramen: It's energy: since some sort of energy is being exposed to just this floor board, life has been breathed into this floor board that should be dead, making this sort of foliage sprout up.
Ramen: However, from where within this jungle gym is this mysterious energy...just above this foliage in the top section of the jungle gym...

19.
Ramen: Can only be the rotating gondola!!
Ramen: I've got it: that rotating gondola is letting the foliage emerge in the floor board---!!
Ramen: If...if I can use that rotating gondola, I may be able to drive out the Capillaria toxins from my body.
Announcer: Ramenman has chosen a final battle with Prisman over abandoning the match----!!
Prism: Al--right, now I'll really send you to that world...

20.
Prism: Gya!!
Ramen: Go away---!!
Phoenix: That Ramenman: though his entire body is being invaded by the Capillaria toxin, how can he has that composed expression coming from somewhere!?
Ramen: Well, rotating gondola, return my dead body to my original young and energetic body like the foliage that has sprouted from the floor board.
Ramen: UOCHA---!!
Announcer: Ramenman somehow has released a roundhouse kick not to Prisman but to the top-section gondola of the jungle gym----!!

21.
Prism: Kyo---kyokyo: the Capillaria toxin has finally reached his head; he's come to not even decide to have a decisive showdown with me.
Announcer: And now Ramenman is jumping high in the sky aiming for the gondola!!
Ramen: Achi---!!
Announcer: And Ramenman is releasing all of the pipes, leaving the framework of the gondola!!
Suguru: Th...that Ramenman; what exactly is he intending to begin!!
Robin: Ooh---!! That's---!?

22.
Announcer: Somehow Ramenman has modified the rotating gondola into a pyramid-shaped frame---!!
Ramen: Energy of space, please rehabilitate my body.
Suguru: Owa--it seems a mass of unbelievable power is flying from the sky outside the castle towards the pyramid Ramenman is in!!

23.
Suguru: Ooh! Look there!!
Suguru: Ramenman's body, which was invaded by the Capillaria toxin and became worn down is returning to it's original young and lively body---!!
Robin: Right: I measure that Ramenman is rehabilitating his body using Pyramid Power---!!
Suguru: What's Pyramid Power...
Robin: It is said that when you place a thrown-away razor and food into a model pyramid and leave it alone, the razor seems to cut once again and the food will never decay. Is this that mysterious power?
Geronimo: This hasn't been completely actually proved scientifically...perhaps that pyramid shape has the power to absorb enormous energy scattered throughout the huge universe and preserve it...
(TN: A bit more background regarding this phenomenon: pyramid power is a pseudo-scientific phenomenon originally discovered in the 1930s by Antoine Bovis, a French hardware store owner who claims he discovered a mysterious force when in the Great Pyramids of Egypt that allowed for dead bodies to be preserved and claimed to have every sort of ability from preserving food and sharpening razors to increasing thought-power and sexual urges! There are even certain alternative New Age groups who believe in meditating under pyramids to gain the power of cosmic energy, including the religion Theosophy, who believe that this pyramid power originates and is tied to the being Maitreya, a master of Ancient Wisdom who is said to have ascended beyond all beings on Earth except Buddha)

24.
Geronimo: ...If he's doing that, then when Ramenman, whose body has been invaded by Capillaria toxin, goes inside that pyramid frame, the enormous universal energy regenerates Ramenman's body, becoming a substitute doctor!!
Ramen: Since the rotating gondola at the top section of the jungle gym was actually created with the base of the pyramid shape by chance, the foliage that emerged from that floor board was a phenomenon that occurred due to the gondola absorbing the energy of the universe, gathering within the gondola and this energy being exposed to the floor board...
Prism: Wh...what is this Pyramid Power? This thing will be broken by my power---!!
Ramen: The moth flying into the flame is you, Prisman.
(TN: Ramenman's expression here is "Tonde hi ni iru natsu no mushi" or "the insect of summer entering the flying flames", an expression that stands for a person flying into their own disaster. I think I used the right expression to keep the bug metaphor)
Prism: What!?

25.
Ramen: Backlighting Rainbow Shower!!
(TN: Yes, that is what Ramenman is saying: "Gyakkou" is "backlighting", akin to...well, the lighting phenomenon that occurs where one is illuminated from the back, akin to how Ramenman is summoning the Rainbow Shower)
Announcer: The Capillaria toxins that were haunting Ramenman's body are flying to the outside due to the energy of the Pyramid Power!!
Ramen: Well then, now realize the pain of Brocken and Ashuraman----!!
Announcer: Somehow the Capillaria toxins that were created by Prisman is conversely being showered on Prisman himself---!!

TN: Alright, poll time: am I the only one who has suddenly realized how many ridiculous, deus-ex-machina-style luck Ramenman has received since reappearing in this arc? Look, I do still think Ramenman is cool, but somehow him getting all these miraculous healing mechanisms after spending the last several years nearly braindead and wearing a "mask with a healing property made by the worst doctor in Choujin existence" is just getting really...really annoying! I mean the first time was insane enough: the magical tears of all the members of the audience revive Ramenman after he's been run over several times by Bikeman. The same Choujin who nearly died and was a vegetable for a period suddenly can be revived by magical tears...let's just put that aside for a moment though considering it's just absurd even for this series!

And now we have this: pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo about the magic powers of pyramids and how it suddenly has the ability to restore a Choujin who is dying from a power that is typically fatal to all Choujin. For this I actually have to set up a list so I can remember it all:

1. First of all: how the heck could this be dragged back out once again and finally given an explanation? A slight recap: while we did have "Pyramid Power" once before in Kinnikuman, it was actually in conjunction with Mister Khamen, who actually seemed to have this as part of his gimmick. Though Khamen is the Egypt-themed Choujin, his battleground was a pyramid-frame around a UFO observatory in Hokkaido, which makes some sense in that he could use it to draw in the "mystical energies" once you have an explanation as finally given here. Heck, considering it was night when Mister Khamen used his devination ability in that arc, I wouldn't be surprised if that was tied to Pyramid Power as well. But to finally draw it out again...let alone having Ramenman know about it perfectly...and to have it repel the power of Prisman's Rainbow Shower...suddenly I miss Mister Khamen. At least he used the power to float as a disembodied head.

2. Secondly: why haven't we seen more of this power other than these two fights? Considering that we have a race of being that used to fly through space...even flying through space like nothing for a simple race to and from the moon for a silly contest...why haven't we heard that space can suddenly restore and regenerate them? Heck, they could even use some sort of psudeo-science to explain what sort of energy empowers Choujin and tie it to whatever lead to the sun being part of the Capillaria catastrophe all those years ago, thus having Prisman know this as well regardless of the irony of the gondola!

3. Why are these "space energies" summoned by the pyramid suddenly the antithesis of the Capillaria Rays? Considering that the Rainbow Shower is supposed to be one of the deadliest weapons in Choujindom, wouldn't any Choujin that is "hit" just fly through space to clear it if they know about the space energy in general, not just "pyramid power"? Then again...of course Ramenman couldn't get hit "directly" or...instant death. (but death never stops anyone in this series...brain-damage, yes, but not death)

4. Am I the only one who had a vibe of Bowfinger when I saw the Pyramid Power the first time? So then...I guess no more Laker cheerleaders for Ramenman.

This chapter makes my head hurt (not to mention...how the pyramid randomly floats without a frame or even on the jungle gym when Ramenman uses it that way...HOW!?)...I think I need some Pyramid Power after this fiasco to clear my head.