Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 258

When your principal has become a floating captive in space, what do you do? Form a team with your old reliables...and a bunch of new guys with massive potential! But before you set off, you may need to settle everyone in...

Chp. 258: The Night Before Departure!!

169.
Togashi & Toramaru: TOUDOU GOUKI!!
Togashi & Toramaru: SOU KOUGEN!!
Togashi & Toramaru: PHARAOH!!
Togashi & Toramaru: GOBARSKI!!
Togashi & Toramaru: SOUKETSU!!
Togashi & Toramaru: SOU REIGEN!!
Togashi & Toramaru: HAKUHOU!!
Togashi & Toramaru: TOU FUUKETSU!!

170.-171.
Togashi & Toramaru: A…all of you are our allies from today……!! O….Otokojuku students---!

172.
Toramaru: Ho…how exactly has it come to this!?
Momotarou: ………!!
Hakuhou: Fufu: don’t be surprised.
Shu Kougen: There are words of “yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend”.
(TN: “Friend” here is rather peculiar: while using the same reading of “Tomo”, Shu Kougen reads it with the kanji of “senyuu” or “war buddy”)

173.
Souketsu: Because we don’t have reason to overlook the dilemma of a friend.
Momotarou: …………!! Th…thank you, al…all of you…………!!
Wan Taaren: Until Principal Edajima is rescued, I, Wan Taaren, shall be the acting principal and will take supreme command. Isn’t that fine!!
Wan Taaren: So then from here, we shall be facing towards tomorrow’s departure for the front and will hold an organization-forming ceremony which includes the meaning of welcoming the new students!!
(TN: “Organization-forming ceremony” is in Japanese “Ketsudanshiki”, which is literally a ceremony for the celebration of the formation of an organization…in this case the team headed off to face the Dark Tusks warriors)
Toramaru: An…organization-forming ceremony…………!?
Wan Taaren: Fufu: understand from my speech that I’m different from Edajima. In order for the feelings of fellow men to become one all over the place, the best quick and easy means can only be that.

174.
Matsuo: Wahhahaha: it’s sake, it’s sake~~~!!
Student 1: Kakkakaka: isn’t this being done by that oldie Wan Taaren!!
Student 2: Yeah: it can’t be that I couldn’t think that I would be drinking sake in public like this while in school.
Student 3: Tonight we’ll thoroughly drink up~~~!!

175.
Tazawa: Just a moment the—re! What are you saying n—ow. You’ve come to love me!
Hidemaro: Passion! An aphrodisiac with just this!
(TN: The song that these guys are singing here is “Kuchibiru Kara Biyaku”, a popular song by Shizuka Kudou released in January, 1990 where it took the #1 position on the charts)
Second-Years: You dummies! Don’t show those filthy things---!!
Togashi: Well, go with much more, Hakuhou. But then, you’re much more suitable with chocolate.
Hakuhou: Ke, what are you saying? I’m bottomless!!
Gobarski: Gahhahaha: don’t you have vodka? Don’t you!! This is no different than water to me.
Shu Kougen: Can you eat this? It’s smoked snow-mouse!!
Date: Show restraint on that………!!

176.
Toramaru: Hey, Souketsu, what are you doing making that last on your own!! You’ve got to show you can do something!!
(TN: Another weird conflict of reading and saying: Toramaru goes “yaru”, which is “to do”, but the kanji is “enjiru” which is “to perform”)
Souketsu: As you request………!!
Toramaru: Yo---!! I’ve waited for this--!
Souketsu: Toramaru, place that empty sake bottle on top of your head and stand in a place with the tree behind you.
(TN: The bottle that Souketsu wanted Toramaru to put on his head isn’t merely a sake bottle but a “tokkuri”, a sake bottle with an attenuated mouth)
Toramaru: Wh…what is this: are you doing this with a behavior of William Tell!?
Toramaru: I…I do have faith in your skill with arrows, but is…is this fine after drinking that sake!?

177.
Souketsu: Fu, ridiculous……!! Do you think my arts, which is called a divine skill, will weaken with this much sake?
Toramaru: ………
Souketsu: Don’t move even an inch!!
(TN: Souketsu states that Toramaru actually shouldn’t move a “sun”, which is a tenth of a foot or a bit more than an inch…but which you use, either “inch” or “sun” is up to you)
Toramaru: Ah…yeah, I believe you…………!!
Souketsu: RYOUZANPAKU TOUKYUUJUTSU: RENSHATEKI!!
(TN: Since it’s been a while since we’ve seen most of these characters [well outside the Meiou Island ones] fight, I guess I need to do the reminders like I did with the Otokojuku fighters. So then the basics we need to know:
-“Toukyuujutsu” = “War Archery”
-“Renshateki” = “Rapid-Fire Bulls-Eye”)

178.
Toramaru: Uooo!!
Toramaru: Hii!!
Toramaru: ………!!
Souketsu: Muu: seems I’m drunk after all.
Toramaru: Wh…what’s with “seems I’m drunk after all”---!! Y…you didn’t avoid me and my whole body would have become a beehive---!!

179.
Pharaoh: Alright, I’ll be next.
Tazawa: Pha…Pharaoh---!!
Pharaoh: This is the “Dance of Cleopatra”, handed down since ancient times by our Pharaoh Sphinx. It is a dance of gratitude that is said to have you live a thousand days longer if you see it. You should pay attention and watch this.
Student: Da…Dance of Cleopatra……!?

180.
Togashi: Wh…what is this bad-feeling dance…….!!
Student 1: Sit down! Are you doing that forever, idiot---!!
Student 2: Where is that a dance of gratitude---!!
Student 3: My life span’s been shrunk a thousand days thanks to that---!!
Tou Fuuketsu: So then, I’ll remove this bad taste!!
Tou Fuuketsu: Let’s snake, come-on!!
Togashi: Is this Tokyo Comic Show…!!
(TN: “Tokyo Comic Show” is a notable Japanese comedy duo made up of Shopan Igari (born Igari Seijirou) and Koiguchi Junichi)

181.
Raiden: By the way: what’s wrong with Momo!?
Hien: Now that you mention it, I don’t see Toudou either.
Gouki: What do you want to say………!!
Momotarou: Gouki……!! I welcome your entrance into Otokojuku! But about your father…………!!
Gouki: Drink……!!

182.
Gouki: I don’t mind. I, who was an abandoned child, was picked up by him and raised to become a tool in that he could trust in the most.....!! There is no blood relationship.
Gouki: And I never once thought of that devil who wears the skin of a human as my father. If you hadn't killed him, then, at any rate, I would have chopped him!!
Momotarou: ............!!
Gouki: Let's drink!! Our pl-ed-in-g cups!!
Momotarou: Umu: the sake tonight is all the more tasty.

183.
Gobarski: Uo---!! Don't you have anymore sake---!
Toramaru: Puha--I've drunk, I've drunk.
Togashi: Aah, I'm no good already too.
Toramaru: However, it's strange: the Principal is somewhere in this starry sky. He really is......!!
Toramaru: Please wait for us, Principal!! We certainly will help you out of this!!

184.
Togashi: N...N~~~!!
Matsuo: Wh...what is that ear-splitting-like roar............!!
Toramaru: Wh...what; l....look, it's a helicopter~~~!!
Togashi: An...absurdly huge helicopter for military use is in the sky---!!

185.
Voice: GOOD MORNING, GENTLEMEN OF OTOKOJUKU!! AS PROMISED, WE'RE VISITING TO PICK YOU UP FOR THE BATTLE OF SEVEN TUSKS FROM THE DARK TUSKS!!
Shu Kougen: Really, they're noisy guys from this morning.
Hakuhou: Aah, my head is still dizzy with this hangover and yet!!
Voice: WELL, THE PARTICIPATING PLAYERS SHOULD BOARD WITH SPEED!!
Momotarou: Fu, shall we go? It seems we don't have time to wash our faces.
Voice: You can't forget me!!

186.
Toramaru: Y...YOU'RE TOUGOU SOUJI----!!
Tougou: I'm participating too in this Battle of Seven Tusks!!
Momotarou: Nothing we can do about it. Even if you say you're coming, this isn't the occasion to listen frankly to what you're saying.

187.
Captions:
BATTLE OF SEVEN TUSKS
OTOKOJUKU'S PARTICIPATING PLAYERS:
GENERAL: TSURUGI MOMOTAROU
SECOND-IN-COMMAND: DATE OMITO
Captions:
HIEN
RAIDEN
J
TORAMARU RYUUJI
TOGASHI GENJI
AKASHI GOUJI
TOUGOU SOUJI
Caption: TOUDOU GOUKI
SHU KOUGEN
PHARAOH
SOU REIGEN
GOBARSKI
SOUKETSU
HAKUHOU
TOU FUUKETSU
17 NAMES IN ALL

Wan Taaren: I leave it to you: the fate of Edajima-dono hangs on all of you!!
Onihige: L...live and come back for certain!!
(End of Vol. 28)

TN: I was actually going to give an incredible and thought-provoking idea regarding how great this chapter is...but one page sort of nearly threw me off. I'll get to that page later but I'll do the pros first:

This chapter of Otokojuku honestly didn't just feel like a throw-back to the good-old days of the series. In a way, it as, considering it was wacky high-school hijinxs with a bunch of weirdo students and staff and antiquated traditions...only with a bit of sake thrown in for good measure. (good thinking there, Taaren...yeah, somehow he's the "cool principal" whereas Edajima was always "I AM THE PRINCIPAL OF OTOKOJUKU" and putting his foot down) But this chapter actually made me realize something I never really thought of before: the way that the new characters were blending in with the old ones and becoming "interactive" and "human" as opposed to fighting automatons was...well, a great strategy. This is the first time we've seen characters like these in a scenario that didn't involve killing one another, and seeing how they'd react with the drinking party was just fun, whether it was Kougen's smoked mouse and Gobarski's "this alcohol is too weak" comments or Souketsu's drunk arrow fighting...to just the weirdness of Pharaoh and even Fuuketsu's snake game! These characters actually feel relatable and like part of a large cast instead of just what they were before, almost like they were now part of the wacky Otokojuku family.

But then, it finally came to me. This wasn't the first time Miyashita actually did something like this in humanizing fighters or allowing us to know characters before they went out to the war front. Starting with Akashi's little "visits" with Momo between senpai and kouhai, we've seen these characters actually become relatable to the Otokojuku populace. It continued with J's silly moments during the start of the Kyoura Daiyon Kyousatsu arc (where he was the "freaky foreigner" attraction), with Toramaru's introduction in the same arc and even with little things like Hien's knitting or Date's revelation of emotion in the Paaren Seiha. Even if we hardly see these characters outside battle scenarios, these little moments actually let us see them in a way that we normally wouldn't due to the structure of Otokojuku. And it's through them that for the most part we get to appreciate who they are and how they fit into the scheme of things.

But before I abandon these thoughts, I just need to make one more realization: while all these characters before and now had this...the Third-Years never did. Jaki, the Shitennou and the Chinju Corridor Trio remained for the most part as mysterious and powerful upperclassmen, with no real periods of interaction between them after the Paaren Seiha and before the Daibukai. Sure we got a couple quirks or hints (the eccentricities of Baron Dino, maybe Manjimaru after he lost to J...even if that too was the Paaren Seiha), but they never just went anything beyond their battle persona or "their duty". While I nearly was about to complain about why they always felt so distant...I realized something: they were the super-seniors. The Third-Years were further ahead in the totem pole compared to the First-Year focus we had. They weren't just senpai but super-high senpai that had to be trusted and respected for their seniority. Sure you wish you knew what else they had, but I think now Miyashita prevented us from knowing little but their duty as Otokojuku students as a point of them being so senior that they just could never become close or personable like J or the Gougakuren...or these guys in this chapter. Does though make one wonder what Jaki did in his spare time though...

As for the one slight negative this chapter gave us: I don't quite know if I like the twist of Gouki not being literally related to Toudou too much. Considering how much of a big deal that was in the whole final arc and the climax of the Daibukai, to have his revelation of it just put a massive damper on what could have been interesting character development. I mean, Shiran was supposed to be the "adopted and trained monster", not Toudou's own (supposedly) son. (I also have one bit of complaint about Sou Reigen not getting anything compared to the other Daibukai newbies...but he was always the serious type even more than Souketsu)