Shintetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo 8

Realizing the continued threat of the Neo-Maruhage, Bo-bobo has decided to bring the old gang back together...but the beginning of this journey may be filled with twists, turns...and utter insanity.

Shinsetsu 8: Service Service This Week Too

134.
Narrator: Takadanobaba Station, 7:00 AM
(TN: Takadanobaba, formerly known as "Takata-no-baba", is mostly known as a commuter neighborhood of Shinjuku due to how many students travel here to travel through, to and from the area)
Sign: TAKADANOBABA
Man: THE TRAIN IS ALREADY TEN MINUTES LATE, WHAT EXACTLY HAS HAPPENED TO IT!?
Voice: The train will be arriving soon at track #4 platform.
Man 1: OOH, IT'S FINALLY COME.
Man 2: IT'S COME!
Sign: PICKLES
SFX: PI PI
Chanting: PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES PICKLES

135.
Men: YOU'RE KIIIDI---NG!! WHAT'S THAT---!!?
Men: !!? The person who has come as vanguard has suffocated! What does he want to do!!?
SFX: PI~~
Beauty: HEY...WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BO-BOBO, THAT'S DANGEROUS.
Don Patch: AH! THE TRAIN HAS COME ALREADY!!
Don Patch: It's the phantom train said to take people on a journey to search for their long-ago allies just once in their lives..."PICKLES TRAIN"!!! If this escapes, I won't have the chance to get on it ever again.
Caption: Dream Girl PATCHRIN
SFX: PUSHU--
Bo-bobo's hands: Door
Bo-bobo: AH!! THE DOORS HAVE SHUT
Don Patch: I'M ON TIME; FOR MY DREAM ADVENTURE...

136.
Don Patch: GYAAAAAA
Beauty: KYAAAAAAAAA!!!
Narrator: Ten minutes later
Beauty: ENOUGH---YOU WERE NEARLY ABOUT TO DIE!!
Bo-bobo: That's a result of setting out on our-style of ally search...Oh well...from here we're going to search for our allies of long ago.
Beauty: EH?
Bo-bobo: We'll start from Heppokomaru.
Beauty: HE-KUN
Don Patch: CABINET MINISTER FART
Gaou: Um...Whose Heppokomaru...?

137.
Bo-bobo: Heppokomaru is an ally who fought together with us a year ago. He's a kind-hearted boy who controlled Onara Shinken with hard work!
(TN: Reminder: "Onara Shinken" = "Fist of Farts")
Gaou: But how are we going to search for him?
Bo-bobo: Leave it to me. I've bought the latest in radar for today.
Beauty: RADAR?
Bo-bobo: IT'S THIS!!
Beauty: ..................It's just Don Patch.
Don Patch: THIS RADAR REACTS TO OUR ALLIES OF LONG AGO; IF IT ENTERS WITHIN 1CM OF MY RADIUS, IT WILL PERCEIVE IT AND NOTI---FY. (KUCHA KUCHA)
Beauty: 1CM!? THAT'S INSUFFICIENT!! WATCH AND SEE.
Don Patch: BUBBLICIOUS! BUBBLICIOUS!
(TN: Don Patch's reaction is exactly the name of the well known gum owned by Cadbury Adams)
Beauty: KYAA, WHAT?

138.
Bo-bobo: THIS IS...THE ALLY RADAR IS REACTING!! IS THIS REACTION PERHAPS HEPPOKOMARU!? WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO SOMEONE!!
Beauty: BUT THIS IS THE MIDDLE OF A TRAIN. HE SHOULDN'T BE ON HERE...
Bo-bobo: HE'S HERE!!
Beauty: EH!? I WAS WRONG, IT'S POSSIBLY HE-KUN...
Sheet: Serviceman

139.
Beauty: THERE HE IS---!! THE WALKING COMPULSIVE CRIME OF OBSCENITY: SERVICEMAN!!!
Train Man: WHAT ARE YOU DOING---!!
Serviceman: OH NO
Train Man: COME HERE!! WE'RE PUSHING YOU IN TO THE POLICE!!
Serviceman: YOU'RE WRONG, YOU'RE WRONG, THIS IS...
Serviceman: WR...
Serviceman: ONG---!!!!
Beauty: THEY WEREN'T WRONG!! HE HASN'T REFLECTED ON THAT AT ALL!!!

140.
Bo-bobo: WHAT ARE YOU DOING---!!!
Serviceman: GOBA!!!
Gaou: ...That's Heppokomaru...amazing.
Beauty: NO, YOU'RE WRONG! THAT'S JUST A PERVERT.
Bo-bobo: It's been a year, war comrade Serviceman.
Don Patch: It's what we've waited for: Service Time!! Exciting pic, exciting pic
Serviceman: Now this manga has become Pt. 2; I, who had felt we've fallen into a lack of service has brought with new service.
Beauty: WHAT!?
Serviceman: COME ON: PROPOSAL OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF...
Serviceman: SERVICE GIRL!!
Service Girl: Hello there.

141.
Bo-bobo, Don Patch and Beauty: WHAT----A WOMAN---!!!? NO, A WOMAN IS DANGEROUS AS USUAL---!!!
Service Girl: No, you're wrong...since I'm not as you said...it's fine...I'm really not like that at all...
Service Girl: Kya
Service Girl: AH AH
Service Girl: SERVICE!!!!!
Panties: BIG SERVICE
Bo-bobo, Don Patch & Gaou: PTT~~~~!!!!

142.
Don Patch: HEY----!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE, IS THIS AN 18-AND-OVER MANGAAA?
Service Girl: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!
Don Patch: I'M KICKING YOU OUT!!
Service Girl: NO, STOP!
Voice: St...stop this...
Don Patch: AH---!?
Serviceman: Dodo...doesn't the girl...ha......hate that...s...ssstop that.
Caption: Hyakushiki
(TN: Considering the geeky nature of Serviceman for this bit, I wouldn't be surprised if this was in reference to the mecha from Zeta Gundam, which is what the Hyakushiki was [a mech used by Char Aznable in Z Gundam])
Don Patch: HEY YOU!! HAVE PRETENSIONS OF BEING AN ALLY OF JUSTICE!? I'LL KILL YOU!!
Serviceman: AAH
SFX: BARARA...
Don Patch: !
Serviceman: AAAH, MY FIGURES...
Don Patch: WELL, MISS, LET'S GET ALONG.
Service Girl: PL...PLEASE STOP!!

143.
Serviceman: S**T...MY HERMES-TAN, MY HERMES-TAN HAVE TO BE PROTECTED, EVEN IN EXCHANGE FOR MY LIFE!!
(TN: This one nearly gave me a hard time but somehow I think I figured out what exactly Serviceman is refering to: in this "geek form", he has become the collector of OS-tan, which is a Japanese phenomenon where they end up personifying computer operating systems as human girls. However, the operating language that Serviceman is refering to is "Hermes", which has several computing references, including HTC TyTN (a smartphone with the codename of HTC Hermes), the Hermes Project (a C++/Python library of algorythms for higher-order modular finite element systems) or the Hermes programming language (a language developed by IBM and in use between 1986 and 1992. It is unknown by me which Serviceman has "tans" of...but none of them do have official OS-Tans that I know of)
Serviceman: Drunkards, let go of my Hermes-tan! You're my opponent. Come at me from anywhere----
Bo-bobo: HERE I COME--------(*v*)!!
Serviceman: GYAPAA!!
Don Patch's Window: Don Patch: Whichever this is, I'll love the film version: Exhibitionist Man
(TN: I think that Don Patch's comment here (and the whole scenario of the "geek and the girl" exhibited here) is all a reference to "Densha Otoko" (Train Man), a Japanese multi-media sensation about a geek who saves a girl on a train and subsequently dats and falls in love with her with the assistance of his friends on 2channel. Meanwhile, this further does seem to also suggest another link regarding the "Hermes" Serviceman was talking about before: "Hermes" is also a French Luxury goods company by which the girl from "the incident" expressed her gratitude by giving to him in thanks)
Gaou's Window: Gaou: Exhibitionist Man-sama, please let your love bare fruit.
Beauty's Window: Beauty: Exhibitionist Man...he can't do anything except raise annoyance.

144.
Bo-bobo: He has increased his skills in a year as well.
Beauty: That ends that.
Beauty: KYAAA, WHAT'S THAT?
Voice: KAKUSEI ONARA SHINKEN: FEBRUARY!!!
(TN: "Kakusei" is "Awakened" in Japanese, thus "Kakuesei Onara Shinken" = "Awakened Fist of Farts"; meanwhile, just like prior, I ended up translating all of Heppokomaru's "attacks" based on an English calendar for consistency: thus "February" is "Kisaragi" which is the second month of the Japanese lunar calendar)
Beauty: WAA
Beauty: Owow...What happened? That smell...
Beauty: !

145.
Heppokomaru: Everyone...sorry for that rough behavior. It's been a while.
Beauty: HE-KUN!! EH? WHY ARE YOU BEING ACCOMPANIED BY KEGARIMEN!?
Heppokomaru: ...Actually there's a reason: I've become leader of Neo-Maruhage A-Block.

146.
Heppokomaru: .........
Bo-bobo: ARE YOU SERIOUS---YOU'VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL, HEPPOKOMARU.
Don Patch: NOW GIVE US FOOD---
Beauty: NO, HE'S BECOME OUR ENEMY!!!
Bo-bobo: SERIOUSLY!?
Heppokomaru: BO-BOBO-SAN, I ACTUALLY HAVE A REASON...!
Bo-bobo: I ONLY KILL TRAITORS. THAT IS ALL.
Heppokomaru: !!
Beauty: HOLD ON, BO-BOBO: THAT'S TOO COLD!! THERE'S A FEELING THAT HE-KUN OBVIOUSLY HAS REASON!! LISTEN TO HIS STORY!!
Bo-bobo: I'm joking, Beauty. I believe in Heppokomaru...

147.
Bo-bobo: NOW, TALK.
Heppokomaru: FUGOGOGOGO
Beauty: HE DOESN'T BELIEVE ONE THING----!!!!
Beauty: STOP IT, YOU TWO: WE'RE ALLIES.
Heppokomaru: I'M NOT AN ALLY ANYMORE. BOTH BEAUTY AND BO-BOBO...
Heppokomaru: ARE MY ENEMIES. BO-BOBO, I WILL KILL YOU.

TN: I have a confession to make: there are several types of comedy that make every chapter of Bo-bobo a delight to read, from slapstick to puns to the homages and parodies and all out manzai insanity. The comedy just usually works together in such a natural blend (as well as with the dramatic elements) that it's rather easy to make it work out and give it the unique Bo-bobo feel. However...sometimes there are times where you begin to wonder if there is some types of comedy that is being way too emphasized over other types in the Bo-bobo universe. That pretty much felt into focus in this chapter when it suddenly just became some bizarre homage to "Train Man" that felt like it was going on too long. Yeah, I know Train Man was a cultural phenomenon in Japan and that there were all sorts of movies, TV shows and manga (not to mention the book) devoted to this crazy story, but somehow devoting most of this chapter to that one parody...just didn't seem to work to me. Somehow it felt a bit like the comedy of certain American shows I refuse to mention...and just didn't feel like the classic Bo-bobo of the past. Yeah, maybe it was mostly due to Serviceman (who is rather hit or miss himself) and the abruptness of certain factors (including the strange and sudden arrival...and abandonment...of Service Girl), but somehow the chapter was headed for a collision course...

And then we got to the reunion: Heppokomaru's return was just epic as was the strange situation that was faced by Bo-bobo's side with him initially wanting to say a reason but being forced to bring out his true killer intention when said reason was ignored...it definitely shows the duality of the situation: Bo-bobo wants to still be his friend but is willing to attack...and be attacked due to him being with the 3rd's forces! But...we'll get into that more next time.