Kinnikuman 387

Has time finally run out? Has Kinniku Suguru, the hero of Planet Kinniku and the defender of Earth, met his end in the face of the desperate pleas and desperate attacks of Kinnikuman Super Phoenix? Can even his reliable Burning Inner Strength and his trusted Friendship Power prevent this nightmarish destiny from being complete!? The end of the epic superhero wrestling saga has arrived!!!

Chapter 387: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (114): Kinnikuman Forever...!

127.
Announcer: The beating of Kinnikuman's heart has completely stopped---!!
Terry: Ki...Kinnikuman, who defeated brutal Choujin as a miraculous turn-around fighter no matter how he was standing at the edge of death until now, has...
Ramen: Di...
Ramen: Died...!
Mayumi: So...so then, the Fake Prince that had the seed of illnes in their heart as said by the Choujin Prophecy was Suguru~~~!!

128.-129.
(Title page...recollecting everything we've been through from beginning to end...dang, I'm going to miss these guys)

130.
Phoenix: I've...done it...
Phoenix: I had been continued to lose in influence to Kinnikuman, the Prince of Planet Kinniku, even with whatever I did due to being taken into a poor family with the child-mistaking incident while being born possessing a genius intellect and continued to experience hardships to the extent of detestability, but...bu...but here and now, I've pulled down Kinnikuman, who had rulled the Choujin World as a Fake Prince for 24 years, from the position of prince by my own hands, proving that I myself am the legitimate Prince of Planet Kinniku...!
Phoenix: Now I can state it in a loud voice! I amd the legitimate Prince of Planet Kinniku...the successor to Great King!!

131.
Announcer: The string connected to the Prophecy of Kinnikuman's fate, which was tied to a rope severed by Phoenix's Knee Drop, has come apart and the Prophecy is going into the torch---!!
Phoenix: Ha--hahaha...Here is the first decree of Great King Phoenix: Kinnikuman, you will apologize for your crime of deceiving the Choujin people for 24 years by the erasure of your existence---!!
Announcer: Kinnikuman's exsitence is starting to be erased from his feet---!!
Bibimba: No~~~he's saying he's unsatisfied just killing Suguru-sama and that he's erase even his remains---!!

132.
Intelligence: Merely erasing his existence isn't amusing...Please have Kinnikuman savor the execution method of having his existence erased while taking your Muscle Revenger, just like his brother Kinniku Ataru.
Phoenix: Ooh, that will be fun...!
Phoenix: Watch: this is the final appearance of Kinnikuman, the serious criminal----!!
Shizuko: Phoenixman, you're not the Prince legitimately descended of Planet Kinniku; you're just being deceived by an Evil God that's gotten into your body---!!
Phoenix: Mo...mother...
Intelligence: Phoenix, your parents now are Great King Kinniku and Queen Kinniku...who you see before you now is merely a poor old woman...do it...!!

133.
Shizuko: Phoenixman, this is an order of your mother: don't be rude any further to Prince Suguru-sama!!
Phoenix: Uuh......
Intelligence: Don't you positively want to shake off your dark past of 24 years!!
Phoenix: Uwaa~~I'm the legitimate Prince of Planet Kinniku----!!
Shizuko: N...no, th...that boy has completely sold his soul to the Evil God...

134.
Announcer: Kinnikuman's corpse is ascending rapidly due to the repetition of Phoenix's Head Butt---!!
Terry: I'm certain: this is the prelude to Phoenix's ultimate special technique: the Muscle Revenger, which buring Big Body and Kinniku Ataru to oblivion---!!
Ramen: He doesn't show mercy even to Kinnikuman, who has become a corpse...This is the dreadful Phoenix's tenacity in facing a match...!!
Phoenix: After they make sure that Kinnikuman's body will strike the iron pole of the corner with the Muscle Revenger and then he is completely annihilated, I'll be accepted as the winner of the match by the Tournament Chairman---!!

135.
Phoenix: Uh...my left-breast is in...in pain!!
Phoenix: Wh....what, there's an abnormal throbbing from the left-breast of me, the legitimate Prince!?
Phoenix: Goho goho...
Wolf: Ooh...Phoenix is coughing blood and is suddenly in pain!!
Shizuko: So...thus I did warn you...the Fake Prince is you, Phoenix...
Narrator: At that moment...the four sashes of light of Kinniku Ataru, Robin Mask, Geronimo and Neptuneman, who had become spirit lights having lost their bodies, destroyed the canvas and scattered into heaven...

136.
Robin: The stopping of Kinnikuman's heart and falling into an apparant-death condition, just like the Fake Prince as written in the Prophecy, is...due to the excess burden that hadn't been done until now to his heart, due his Burning Inner Strength, which boasts 70 Million Power, being imprisoned in the Great Evil Temple by Mixer Taitei and the Five Evil Gods in the first round and him continuing with these deadly struggles in the second round and finals with just his basic 950,000 Power...
Geronimo: Therefore, he never was the Fake Prince and doesn't have an innate inborn seed in his heart!
Ataru: Only a piece of the life of my little brother Suguru is being stolen by Phoenix! A majority of Suguru's life is the Burning Inner Strength confined in this Great Evil Temple---!!
Geronimo: Go in, everyone!!
Guards: Yo...you thieves!

137.
Guard 1: They...can't be...it should be impossible for living Choujin to enter this Great Evil Temple!!
Guard 2: Ri....right! Only spirits who don't possess substance like Choujin Gods can enter!!
Neptune: We can easily enter heaven because we're ghost Choujin who don't possess substance---!!
Geronimo: That's right! It's because our existance has been erased with the burning of our fated Prophecies.
Geronimo: Urara--
Neptune: Quarrel Bomber!!

138.
Geronimo: If we just can open the Burning Inner Strength, then Suguru will certainly be ressurrected...!!
Robin: Hold on, Kinnikuman!!
Ataru: Guoo

139.
Phoenix: With this, when Kinnikuman strikes the iron pole, Kinnikuman's comeback will completely never come to be!!
Announcer: Phoenix has caught Kinnikuman, who is trapped dissappearing to his knees, and is falling---!!
Neptune: Hurry: even if we release the Burning Inner Strength somehow, Kinnikuman won't be able to be revived with his body which it should return to annihilated!!

140.
Announcer: Kinnikuman's body is on the verge of having his head crash into the iron pole while being annihilated---!!
Bibimba: Suguru-sama...!!
Terry: Kinnikuman!!
Ataru: Guuu...
Neptune: Hurry! We won't be on time anymore!!

141.
Ataru: The wall has been opened---!!
Neptune: Uwa
Ataru: Uwa---!!
Announcer: Super Phoenix's complete victory is before his eyes----!!
Bibimba: I beg you...100 Justice Choujin, for the sake of the Choujin world, please let Suguru-sama have occur a miraculous turn-around place that he showed in competition against the Brutal Choujin, Devil Choujin and Perfect Choujin until now...!!
(TN: I think somehow Bibimba is actually begging not for the 100 Choujin in the audience...but the 100 Justice Choujin gods who rule the heavens with the 5 Evil ones)

142.
Narrator: At that moment, a miracle occurred in the Osaka Castle Panorama Ring!!
Terry: Ooh...one...two beams are shining through from a break of the pitch-black thunderclouds----!!
Meat: Uwa--a huge blazing mass is raining down---!!

143.
Bibimba: That blazing mass is in the form of Suguru-sama---!!
Announcer: That sash of light, whcih is in the form of Kinnikuman and is suddenly raining down from the heavens, is thrusting towards Phoenix and Kinnikuman, who are falling in the Muscle Revenger----!!
Evil God: Wh...what---isn't that Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength which should have been contained in the Great Evil Temple----!!
Phoenix: What!?

144.
Announcer: Phoenix has released the corpse of Kinnikuman from the stance of the Muscle Revenger, not thinking of the power of the flames that are in the shape of Kinnikuman---!!
Suguru: Soul Flow! Burning Inner Strength---!!
(TN: "Soul flow" is in Japanese "chuukon", with "chuu" being "pour" or "concentrated" or "flow" or "note", and "kon" being the Kanji for "soul")

145.
Mayumi: Ooh...his mind and spirit revived at the moment that mysterious flame entered into Suguru's body, which had already died out and become pailed---!!
Suguru: REVIVED! BURNING INNER STRENGTH---!!

146.
Terry: Ooh...Kinnikuman's Prophecy, which had fallen into the torch and burned up alongside the revival of Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength, has been restored!!
Suguru: Phoenix and God of Intelligence: you had been good to the point of confining my Burning Inner Strength in the Great Evil Temple, but having done that without managing it became your ruin!
Ramen: Ooh, Kinnikuman's legs have return to before!
Suguru: Sorya
Announcer: The revived Kinnikuman is repelling Phoenix with a bridge, which must mean he's putting Phoenix into the stance of the Muscle Spark---!!

147.
Phoenix: As...I expected, a Muscle Spark that contains the Burning Inner Strength...is different in force from one sent out with merely 950,000 Power...
Suguru: Pho...Phoenix!!
Phoenix: N...no...just this can't be gotten out of by me...
Suguru: Wh...what's with the timidness; return to the strong Phoenix once more and get defeated by my Muscle Spark!!
Phoenix: That's...impossible...it would be different if I happened to have the Burning Inner Strength...like you but.........
Suguru: Let's go, Phoenix!!
Phoenix: The...focus that is proof of the Fake Prince is gradually starting...to...annoy my left-breast...

148.
Suguru: 70 MILLION POWER MUSCLE SPARK!!
Announcer: Kinnikuman's Muscle Spark has perfectly ended Phoenix----!!
Phoenix: After...all that...in the end, Kinnikuman, I...was fated to not win against you.
Suguru: Don't die--Phoenix!!

149.
Suguru: Meat--place the snow-white cloak in the ring immediately!!
Meat: Got it...!
Announcer: The snow-white cloak, which has been already dyed with the blood of Mariposa, Big Body, Zebra and Soldier...will be completed as a crimson cloak of Great King Kinniku when dyed with the blood of Phoenix in the remaining place, making Kinnikuman the successor to the Throne---!!

150.-151.
Suguru: THIS LONG BATTLE, I BID THEE FAREWELL!!
(TN: I know it's an embellishment but I think somehow it deserved to be treated as such with all Suguru has been through in this arc...and all series I might add)

152.
Announcer: Kinnikuman has stamped Phoenix's head, which is covered in the blood, in the remaining one section that hadn't been dyed with blood on the snow-white cloak, completing the crimson cloak---!!
Harabote: The...count......
Suguru: That would be futile...
Harabote: Huh!?

153.
Suguru: He...Phoenix has had his life ended along with the God of Intelligence...
Announcer: Proving that Super Phoenix is the Fake Prince with his instant death by the Muscle Spark; at this moment, Kinnikuman has been decided the 58th Great King of Planet Kinniku----!!
Mayumi: Suguru----!!
Meat: Prince!!

154.-155.
Announcer: YOU'VE DONE IT, KINNIKUMA~~~N-----!!

156.
Choujin God: Kinnikuman......!
Mayumi: Ooh, the 100 Choujin Gods have appeared for Suguru's Great King succession ordination!!

157.
Choujin God: Kinniku Suguru...without shrinking even to the interference of the Evil Gods...you've done well in crushing the five liars. You have grasped the position of Great King of Planet Kinniku......
Choujin God: Phoenix, who was your final competition opponent, in particular...had you lose four of your allies by the Prophecy of your fates......
Choujin God: Well, you have the right as victor: now it's best conversely for you to cut Phoenix's Roulette String and burn his Prophecy......
Shizuko: N...no matter how bad he was, I ultimately can't endure the erasing of my son's corpse......

158.-159.
Suguru: Choujin Gods, I have competed with an endless number of Choujin that have been called "heinous" and "brutal" until now...from the start I knew I had to continue to battle them while matching their hatred and that all of these Choujin all truly possessed kind natures; besides possessing magnificent wrestling philosophies...Due to this, I have studied in various philosophies during my competitions from the Choujin I have competed against until now and, at the end of the competition, we would mutually respect each other, deepening our friendship without fail.
Suguru: From this Phoenix, I had been taught that this thing called "king" is what we become not to become a governor for personal glory, but for the interest of the people.
Suguru: In other words, all Choujin aren't connected by a blood relations, yet should be loved like family...
Suguru: Every Choujin who becomes elderly is respectfully esteemed as a grandparent or parent...

160.
Bibimba: Well, countless flowers are headed towards Suguru-sama...
Suguru: Face Flash!!

161.
Announcer: Aah, Kinniku Ataru, Robin Mask, Geronimo and Neptuneman, who should have had their existence annihilated by Team Phoenix
Announcer: Are being revived from four of the flowers that have taken Kinnikuman's Face Flash----!!
Suguru: We request teachings of veteran Choujin abundant in experience that are older than ourselves as older brothers and sisters...

162.-163.
Suguru: Face Flash!!
Terry: Ooh...now Brocken Jr., Buffaloman, Ashuraman and The Ninja, who were defeated by Team Phoenix and ultimately unknown to be alive or dead are being revived from four flowers!!
Suguru: We guide immature ones who are still making ends meet as Choujin wrestlers that are younger than ourselves as little brothers and sisters...
Suguru: And we love and sturdily raise the children who are just still finding judgement as our own children!!

164.
Suguru: This is how Kinniku Suguru came to be prepared to be Great King of Planet Kinniku.
Choujin God: Yes, you speak right, Kinniku Suguru. We had forgotten this preparation: loving all Choujin not connected by blood relation as your own family...!!
Suguru: Super Phoenix, from now on, you're important family as well!!

165.
Suguru: Face Flash!!
Meat: Aah...Prince is Face Flashing Phoenix's left breast which had been tormented just to that by himself...

166.
Shizuko: Ooh--Phoenix's heart has started to beat!!
Phoenix: I...I lost...Kinnikuman...forgive me...for what happened until now...
Suguru: There's nothing to forgive you for...
Suguru: Well, let's go home.

167.
Caption:
"FRIENDSHIP IS THE MATURATION OF A SLOW PLANT. IT MUST TAKE AND ENDURE MANY TRIALS AND DIFFICULT BLOWS UNTIL THE FLOWER WITH THE NAME OF FRIENDSHIP BLOOMS-----"

176.-177.
AFTERWORD: THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT, ALL YOU READERS: YUDETAMAGO

"We've done it---! Finally Kinnikuman, our heart's desire, has become a comic--!! I'm certain it's a best-seller already! If it can come to this, then we can dream that it won't just be a book, it will become a TV show...n, no, a movie, and they'll sell Kinnikuman dolls and candy in the town, and kids will have them and sing in a big chorus the Kinniku Ondo. And then we'll be really busy appearing on TV every week. Well...it was a dream...after all......"

That was the author comment for "Kinnikuman" comic Vol. 1, but it's been 8 years since then...the dreams that we conceived, one by one, became reality one after another, and finally "Kinnikuman" is known by everyone, maturing into a super-popular production.

If you think about it, Kinnikuman, the no-good Choujin who had no intelligence, power or techniques frantically faced veteran Choujin in succession and maturing together in mind and body is the form of us from our period of diligant application surely having debuted in the manga world humbly graduated from high school, overtaking our senpai mangakas and outdistancing them; and as such, we think that the rising power of intention of Kinnikuman and ourselves was transmitted to all our readers as enthusiasm, connecting it to the work's popularity.

However, even a work that is beloved by everyone like this has to reach it's end. The serialization had passed seven years, we've started to feel fatigue physically and mentally and even Kinnikumanseems to be showing fatigue from fighting villainous Choujin over these long years. We've come to receive many fan letters from all sorts of readers with "Kinnikuman is tired. He should take a bit of a break!!" and "Kin-chan isn't as cheerful as before with these consecutive mentally-straining fights", and we can't have that! So, with us instructing him to relax, Kinnikuman has been thrown opened from his battles and we've mutually reached the conclusion of our work.

Thank you very much, all of you readers, for giving support to Kinnikuman for a long time.
(End of Vol. 36)
(KINNIKUMAN: END)

TN: Well...it's been a long, strange and somewhat bizarre journey, but the time has finally come to say it: this is the end of the original, actual Kinnikuman, the series that started it all. And what a journey it has been, taking a crazy, loser superhero and turning him into the greatest hero and perhaps the greatest warrior ever known in his world...and probably in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump. And what a journey it's been, going from making ends meet hunting down Kaijuu to proving himself to the world in an Olympic competition, uniting the forces in a country not his own, reclaiming his title in a competition worse than the last which he only lost due to a technicality, defeating Seven Devils from the sky, 6 Knights working for a bizarre enemy, a tag-team claiming to be "perfect" and ultimately proving the royalty he was born into by surviving to the end against an assault by the gods themselves. And in proving himself, he made a lot of tough decisions but likewise made a lot of crucial allies that we can almost call "friends", from re-meeting his own parents and a small adviser, to an arrogant fighter from Texas who went from shooting at Kaijuu for money to his greatest tag-team partner, a noble Brit with a major chip that had to be knocked off his shoulder, a brutal man from China who was forced to go through his own trials and tribulations to be reborn as a true hero, a wise master abandoned from his home yet knowledgeable in skills that would ultimately turn him into the perfect warrior of mind and body, a killer female from a rival clan whom he inadvertently charmed and turned out to hold the emotions he couldn't show himself at times, the son of a nightmarish opponent who was nearly brought down by naivete but found his true heroism fighting for someone else yet with his friend's support, an arrogant fellow countryman who had to be humbled by Suguru fighting for the same country and both sharing the same land to protect, and a cold-blooded machine who had to rediscover the joys of fighting and emotion as opposed to just the efficient, fastest way. And as these tribulations became darker and more serious, allies and support continued to appear from perhaps the most unlikeliest of places: a power-hungry warrior who became so blinded by his own abilities that he had to relearn the facets of sacrifice (only to do it over and over and over again like a sacrificial god), a mere "human" who possessed the heart of a warrior so strong that he himself became one of them in the end, the embodiment of a spider-demon who had to reawaken and realize the emotion he was supposed to have been taught long ago, a "Perfect" warrior who forgot about his own way and followed blindly along a horrific path believing that it is the only one who accepts his power, another former enemy who taught tenacity to everyone in the midst of some bizarre mystical abilities and, most surprising of all, the re-emergence of a brother from his own past who wished to find a world of freedom yet bring with the responsibility that he himself had to be drilled to the point of breaking and leaving home. And along the way they all had to pass through some of the most colorful, bizarre and deadly forces...that could only be imagined, not merely created: from killer skeleton men to killer curry, from invincible wax to multi-dimensional control, from the depths of the ocean to the depths of space, from monsters made of sand to monsters made of living fossils, from manipulation of time to the utter freezing of time, from invincible bodies to no bodies whatsoever, and from every country known and even the depths beyond the reaches of space. Some became allies, other never did, and still others remained evil but seemed to still understand everything that had happened to them and still kept their way. Yet in the end, after all the bells have run and the announcer makes his final call, it was always the hero standing in the center of the ring, cheering triumphantly with tears and sweat, knowing that everything that had been done was for the good of the world and all those they choose to protect...this is the story of Kinniku Suguru...this is the story of Kinnikuman.

As I look and see the very last word on the very last chapter of the very last volume of this series, I just feel weird looking and seeing that this series, of all the manga series out there, finally has a complete run that has been translated. Heck...I just feel weird looking at the fact that Kinnikuman now completely exists in English...mostly because it's something I really expected to have been done way, way before I even started thinking about doing this series. Think about this: in many ways, Kinnikuman just seemed to exist in and around us in some ways way before many of the shonen and manga that we see popping up nearly every other day now in at least the United States. The M.U.S.C.L.E. toys that are so near and dear to this franchise have been known to the US since 1985 when Mattel first brought them over from Japan to try and make them successful alongside many of the other toy-lines that became prominent in the 1980s. Compared to this, fellow Jump series "Hokuto no Ken" (Fist of the North Star), which ran in the same magazine at the same time as Kinnikuman, had it's Streamline movie released on this side of the Pacific in 1986. Therefore, Kinnikuman, in a way, should have been known way before Hokuto. And similarly "Dragon Ball" also attempted to gain ground in the late 1980s with a failed pilot of the anime, but really didn't become prominent until the 1995 Funimation/Kidmark dub of the first series or noted/popular until the infamous 1996 DBZ dub with Funimation, Ocean and Saban. So basically Kinnikuman has had a base in the US well before two of the other major Jump series that really established modern shonen...yet Hokuto received some manga treatment and respect from many communities as well as a manga translation rather easily (for the most part), DB becomes a national phenomenon, and Kinnikuman...sort of petered out with the M.U.S.C.L.E. toys first wave.

Heck, even if it really didn't have the means to become more well known or even translated in the first run (then again maybe it also had a lot to do with the P.C. nature of the US tied with characters of prominence such as the Brocken Family), you'd expect maybe the second wave of major Kinnikuman coverage to finally allow for the original to get a full run. When Kinnikuman Nisei, the sequel series (with still a lot of weird moments but not as PC even with it running in an adult magazine mangawise), first started in the US in 2004 under the "Ultimate M.U.S.C.L.E." line, you'd expect it to start gaining prominence then. With the sequel series and more M.U.S.C.L.E. toys appearing, people would be flocking to TL this manga once and for all for everyone to enjoy. Luckily the US somehow did actually help the anime get an extra season that wasn't originally done in Japan and the Nisei manga did come over (well sort of with all of it's censoring at first)...but for all these years, the original story still seemed unfinished. People were starting to hear about these incidents with characters like Sunshine, Kinnikuman Soldier, Ashuraman and even someone as minor as Sneagator...yet aside from a few chapters here or there, mostly covering the Second Choujin Olympics and the Seven Devils, the story still wasn't complete. Meanwhile, many of the modern shonen mangaka such as Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto were using and adapting many of the lessons and the memorable moments of Kinnikuman for themselves and using them as part of their own stories. Yet...when people saw these moments, everyone treated them as "new": they had no real background of what came before and figured that it was essentially new to them not having the history or background of older manga series to read and appreciate the source that some of them adapted. Besides, with new series coming out and getting notice every few days, an older series really was the last thing anyone else really seemed like they needed...especially one like Kinnikuman.

I guess that's sort of where I came in: it was September, 2008, a bit over a year and a half from what I'm writing now. At the time I was in the midst of my major Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo translation project, a series extremely influenced by Kinnikuman...not just in having references to it all the time but in the series taking the Kinnikuman-approach in regards to creative character creation, where anyone and anything could literally be a character...and likewise be an active participant in the story. I was approaching a weird moment in Bo-bobo where the scans seemed to stop for one volume and I was forced to use my own volume of work in order to translate until I was past that volume and I could use scans again. With my translation situation, I sort of wanted to find a series I could do while waiting around until I finished that one Bo-bobo volume. Around Labor Day I sort of had this inkling of looking up Kinnikuman: I knew Toriyama World had done a bit and I sort of wanted to read it over seeing how much Bo-bobo made me interested in the Choujin saga. But it was around this point that I discovered the truth: yes Toriyama World did TL a chunk of Kinnikuman...but that was it. No one else had picked up this series, considered to be so important and crucial to modern shonen manga. I was astonished: how could all these other series be done and Kinnikuman, such a vital manga, still be incomplete in an English translation? At the time I sort of thought I was bold: I realized that if no one else wanted to do Kinnikuman, then I might as well do it myself. My original intention was just to do a full series run that would finally replace the Toriyama World scans and just allow everyone to read it start to finish...but that was shot down rather quickly when I met with the Kinnikuman fanbase in the US (through a board called LittleRubberGuys), who essentially were happy with the TW scans and just wanted me to start from the next major arc of the story: the Gold Mask. But somehow that felt dirty as well: why start at the Gold Mask arc when there is so much story that was just never done in the early part (a lot of the first Choujin Olympics, the America arc) that really should be clarified once and for all? So after doing four chapters at first from the start, I finally moved on to a project alongside my other translation works, starting from "filling in the gap" of the comedy, Choujin Olympics and America arcs, then moving on to finally do the arcs that most of the fanbase wanted. I still feel shocked and humbled that it was me of all people that did the series and that somehow it wasn't done by someone way more notable, famous or a big scanslation group that seems to do every other series under the sun...but somehow I'm sort of happy, mostly cause I have a lack of time to read manga and that translating allows for me to read and understand things better than just reading them.

I guess I am getting rather long-winded about all of this (well it is really my last chance to say everything I need to say), but I think there is one major question those who are reading this by chance or those who have been with me all this time could be asking yourself: why read Kinnikuman? With all the other options out there, why read a series that is now over 30 years old and that I myself have complained about some of the ludicrous, ridiculous and all-in-all dumb moments time and again in these afterwords after the scripts. To me, there are many important reasons as to why someone should try this series out or just read it somewhere amidst all the other manga out there:

1. This is one of the, if not THE, foundation for modern shonen manga. I know what some of you are wondering: why are you saying that? Well as I see it, this is probably one of the first shonen to really cross the line and do it's own thing in thematics and style. Prior to Kinnikuman, shonen seemed to be divided into several different "lines" that just seemed to really not be crossed: you have action series, comedy series, sport series, romance series...and never the two shall meet. Heck, even the art style seemed to be rather standardized between genres: the action and more series manga seemed to appear in a more serious or standard way, while the comedy series were more cartoony looking. Kinnikuman dared to be different, starting as a comedy but becoming more serious and action packed while keeping it's comedic, cartoonish look to it. In my head, this decision allowed ultimately for Toriyama to keep his own cartooniness he used for his comedy series Dr. Slump and use it for an action-epic that is Dragon Ball. And likewise, it is the Yudetamago style that would influenced all sorts of mangaka from Jump and beyond (notably Oda and Kishimoto), while allowing for series to grow and evolve and find their own path to telling a story as opposed to just being stuck one way due to art and another due to story.

2. It wrote the rules that would be fixed and grown upon later. The late 1970s and early 1980s were very formative years for shonen, particularly at Jump, which would take the style that had been developed by other magazines and make it one of it's own. Kinnikuman, alongside fellow series like Ring ni Kakero, Dr. Slump and even KochiKame helped write the rules that future shonen would seem to adapt and follow upon. Many of the concepts you see today started here and can still be seen in some form or another if you look closely. Furthermore, Kinnikuman was still so formative that it literally had the ability to get away with anything as an attempt to tell it's story...and in generality it could get away with it. Yes I complain about a lot of things in this series, from the Iron Sweat to the Muscle Prophecy to a lot of the random, suddenly appearing powers and abilities that just weren't there before. But in a way, Yudetamago were trying things, attempting to figure out what worked and what didn't. The ones that worked well would eventually be built upon when used by other mangaka and eventually become lifeforms of their own. But while it feels out of the way and strange to see anything and everything, remember this: Kinnikuman is essentially a base in a comedy series about superheroes, in particular Ultraman and Superman in the Silver Age. And considering there are things so utterly ridiculous that these heroes can get away with...then Kinnikuman (and likewise Yudetamago) can get away with it too. It's impossible for other mangaka today to do so with more well structured manga storytelling and way less randomness and WTF moments of that sort...but Kinnikuman can do anything if Yude just says the characters can due to when and how it was done.

3. It's still a memorable story with memorable characters and fights and situations regardless of the bullcrap: There are many story factors that I really cringe at in regards to Kinnikuman, in particular the growing parasitic virus known as "Friendship Power". In theory it really should be about the camaraderie of warriors...but somehow it just mutated out of control to the horrific moments and the all-out annoying mantra that it was in the Tag and Throne arcs. Yet if it weren't for this alliance of warriors who were "friends", then we wouldn't have a lot of the story that Kinnikuman is. Many of the fights would just be random fights and many of the fighters would just be more one-dimensional. It is the characters and the fights that drive the story and, in a weird way, "friendship power" allows for the interactions and the developments that we see from start to finish. It isn't the driving force of everything but it's just one of many ways that we are able to see these characters grow and change from start to finish. Probably the best example I have of this is Muscle Brothers/Stray Devil Combo: I really hated how Friendship seemed to ruin many aspects of the fight, but it drove the story and allowed for change and interaction both between Suguru and Terry and the two of them with Sunshine and Ashuraman. It allowed for the villains to become more developed...maybe way too whiny but at least be seen in a way that would affect them from then on. (with Sunshine more showing the real development in Nisei than really in the original after this annoying point) While I do hate the preachiness, it's still for the most part a good fight and deserves to be part of this story even with the way it was told. There are probably still other examples but the truth is this: whether you look at the fights on their own or in context, they all work out somehow or another and it all makes for a memorable, entertaining ride.

While I'm not quite sure I've said everything that I need to about the series as a whole, I do want to get to the final chapter itself so I can at least make a few mentions about it. All in all...it's a satisfying conclusion but still sort of incomplete. From what I've seen, the Throne actually grew less and less popular as it went on and was nearing the bottom of the magazine....combined with how tired Yude was at this point and the complaints that Suguru way way out of character and...you have this ending. It's still an ending that works considering that it does go back to the whole concept of Kinnikuman: that miracles do happen for good, heroic people and that good will always triumph over evil in the end. (well at least in a universe with superheroes) But...I sort of wanted to see Suguru authentically defeat the Muscle Revenger of Phoenix instead of just letting the Burning Inner Strength break him free of it. We know it isn't invincible (Ataru defeated it with Ninja's Loyalty-and-Betrayl at Will Jutsu), but somehow it would have felt more satisfying even if...this works too based upon past history. I guess I also expected more of Neptuneman's last Quarrel Bomber but...at least he used it one more time so it works. And as for the final scene...I really don't get why the 100 Choujin Gods really think it would work to have Suguru kill Phoenixman after all he did considering how he really was just disillusioned and needed to be smacked around a little bit and broken from the God of Intelligence's influence and power making him think he can actually defy his fate. And then of course there was that final speech...it's interesting to think of all Choujin as some sort of "family" somehow or another, but the way that he made comment about the "sisters" makes me wish there were more female Choujin of merit...besides Bibimba, but she spent most of this arc on the sidelines acting stupid and whining a lot, which at least is more than she was doing before. Heck, there was also the whole aspect of "older and younger brothers", but somehow saying "older brothers" with Geronimo emerging and "younger brothers" with the likes of Buffaloman and Ashuraman...it just confuses me. So...who is older and younger than Suguru anyway? And the whole flowers thing...yeah, random flowers appear and Choujin who were annihilated from the Muscle Prophecy...you know what, forget it. It's "happily ever after" so for this and this only, I'll just ignore that whole flower thing, even if somehow it's a tad prejudice that it's only those on Suguru's side that were brought back and not every Choujin who fought in the tournament. In fact, thinking it over a bit more, the anime version of the final chapter, having been done five years after this chapter was published, is way more complete in it's conclusion...well maybe it had Choujin Enma controlling Phoenix instead of the God of Intelligence...and the whole "Mari ends up with Suguru instead of Bibimba" controversy (heck it's a breath of fresh air to have Mari and Natsuko still around in the anime at that late stage considering Yude forgot their existence) but it just feels more complete, even to the point of Suguru actually celebrating with gyuudon with the whole cast at his run-down shack after winning the tournament. I guess if you can track it down, try to watch that after reading this chapter and you'll feel more satisfied with this "ending" than the Yudetamago version. (though now I want to see all the rest of the anime)

So with the last enemy stopped and Suguru finally reclaiming his destiny (which he had all this time), the book is finally closed on the original Kinnikuman series. It still feels strange it was me who did it...and that it was just me doing yet another "incomplete series" that had chapters done but not all of them as opposed to a start-to-finish run, but I'm satisfied with all I've done and I hope you are too. I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but I do wish to thank every last one of you, from those who have spoken to me to those silent investors who put their time into probably one of the most important and biggest franchises in Japan. I still have one or two Kinniku-related projects up my sleeve still (one to be released hopefully on Suguru's B-day of April 1st), but I really need a long, long break from this after all I've done. I've just completed a massive gap in Jump history in a year and a half so I think I deserve it. (not giving up manga translating, just Kinniku stuff after my one special script) Thanks for reading this series and, until we cross paths again, this is StrangerAtaru leaving you with one final thought:

"If a planet can be ruled by a pig, then it can be ruled by anyone, regardless of how powerful they are, how much friendship they possess...or whether or not they're the president of the local Gyuudon Lover's Club."

Mata ne.