Shintetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo 73

The world and all of it's hair has finally been saved thanks to Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and his wacky and insane allies. But with Tsurulina the 3rd gone, Namerou retired and the world finally safe, what's left for the afro warrior? Are there still battles to be fought to protect the Earth? The final tale of the insane hair-raising, Hajike saga has arrived...

(TN: Since this is the final chapter, I ended up putting an omake later in the volume first to get through it...it actually takes place before the invasion of the 23 Wards)
Bo-bobo Nosehair Theater #3: Torpedo Training

182.
Torpedo Girl: You've approximately reached your fundamental power-gyora. You've completed the second stage.
Torpedo Girl: FROM HERE IS THE REAL DEAL. WE'RE GOING INTO PRIVATE LESSONS-GYORA.
Don Patch: PRIVATE LESSONS?
Beauty: Who is that?
Torpedo Girl: Each of you respectively have a dispersion of weaknesses and techniques to your Shinken-gyora. This is a training menu for conquering them and using powerful Ougi from it.
Torpedo Girl: THEY WERE THOUGHT UP BY TEACHER.
Books (right to left):
HATENKO'S TRAINING
DON PATCH'S TRAINING
BO-BOBO'S TRAINING
POKOMI'S TRAINING
LET'S TRAINING: TENNOSUKE
Tennosuke: JUST MINE ARE MANY!!!

183.
Bo-bobo: EXCELLENT, LET'S TAKE THIS!!
Narrator: And so the 3rd stage of the training, "Torpedo-sensei's Open-Air Private Lessons", began.
Bo-bobo: I CAN'T LET GO, I CAN'T LET GO
Torpedo Girl: You're fine, because mother is leading you.
Bo-bobo: ABSOLUTELY. SLOWLY, SLOWLY.
Torpedo Girl: You're extremely superior. Teacher is particularly going to forge you with combat.
Pokomi: YE--S.
Torpedo Girl: DIE!!! YOU WILL DIE!! DIE BECAUSE IT WILL BE FINE!!!
Hatenko: I'LL KILL YOU, MASTER TORPEDO!

184.
(TN: I think Don Patch here is supposed to be Maeda Taison from "Rokudenashi Blues" by Masanori Morita, but don't quote me on that)
Don Patch: PARARARARARA
Caption: MENTAIKO
(TN: Reminder: "mentaiko" = salted pollack or cod roe spiced with peppers)
Don Patch: !?
Tennosuke: GYAAAAA, WHAT IS THIS!? WHAT IS THIS!?
Gaou: SUPER DODONPA
Beauty: Are they alright with this training...

185.
Caption: At that moment, Heppokomaru was...
Heppokomaru: ALRIGHT, THAT'S GOOD. (to himself) I've mostly come to have seemingly mastered Black Farts.
Voice: HEPPOKOMARU
Heppokomaru: !
Fish: I'M DROWING---SAVE ME. I CAN'T SWIM--
Heppokomaru: GO AWAY...
(End of Omake)

The Final Chapter (Shinsetsu 73): Sayonara Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

154.
Caption: Awana City
Hair Hunters: HYA--HA HA HA HA, IT'S A HAIR HUNT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR, A HAIR HUNT----RUN, RUN, GEHEHEHE
Yuki: SOMEBODY SAVE ME---
Caption: Yuki
Hair Hunter: THAT'S A FUTILE WISH, YOUNG GIRL. THERE ISN'T A PERSON WHO WOULD FACE A BLADE TOWARDS THE MARUHAGE EMPIRE IN THIS WORLD.

155.
Yuki: HAA HAA
Yuki: HAA HAA
Yuki: KYAAAAAAAAAAAA

156.
Bo-bobo: PARALILA PARALILA
Bo-bobo: HUH!!
Bo-bobo: HANAGE SHINKEN OUGI: NOSEHAIR VIOLENT FIST!!!!
Hair Hunters: GUWAAAAAA!!!!
Bo-bobo: What am I...that after-meal spasm that I usually get again...
Yuki: WHAT A SPASM!!
Hair Hunter 1: That guy...wasn't he my bike? (flashback) A new bike?
Hair Hunter 2: HEY YOU...COME AROUND!!!
Bo-bobo: REMNANTS OF THE HAIR HUNT CORP, DON'T MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR HAIR.
(TN: Bo-bobo's line here is really, really strange: he literally says "Kekagen Shinai", with "kagen" as in "an allowance for something" or "addition or subtraction")

157.
Hair Hunter 1: WHAT'S THAT AFRO!?
Hair Hunter 2: HUNT HIM DOWN AND KILL HIM---!!
Yuki: WATCH OUT, RUN
Bo-bobo: COME, MY PET!!
Hair Hunter: A PET!? ARE YOU STUPID? HYAHAHAHA, IS IT A DOG, A CAT OR IS IT A PARAKEET?
Yuki: EH?
Bo-bobo: HAJIKE FAIRY PATCH-NYUUDOU
(TN: I had to keep "nyuudou" here because it is a type of youkai in Japanese culture that has a bald head like a priest, who also takes the same name)
Don Patch: Did you call, master?
Hair Hunters: GYAAAAAAAAAAA
Yuki: KYAAAA, WHAT IS THAT CREATURE!!?

158.
Bo-bobo: THE SMALL FRY WILL DIE---
Hair Hunters: HONGYARABE!!!
Don Patch: THE LEAD CHARACTER IS ME---!!
Yuki: WHAT ARE THOSE PEOPLE...IT CAN'T BE THAT THAT MAN IS WHO I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR ALL ALONG...
Bo-bobo: AL---RIGHT, YOU'VE DONE WELL DON PATCH. IT'S YOUR FAVORITE BONE!
Bo-bobo: TAKE IT-----!!!!!
Don Patch: !!!
Don Patch: YOU HUMAN~~~I'LL REMEMBER THIIIIS~~~~!!
Bo-bobo: Well, shall we go?
Yuki: AH! HOLD ON...
Yuki: Are you, supposedly, Bo-bobo-san?
Bo-bobo: INDEED I'M A SQUID.
(TN: Alright, this is a funny gag that I decided to translate one way when it could be another: basically Bo-bobo says here "ika ni mo", which literally is "really", but he dresses up as a squid because "ika" is Japanese for "squid". I thought with the costume, I decided to fuse both meanings)
Yuki: UWA... (terrible)
Bo-bobo: DO YOU HAVE SOME BUSINESS WITH ME?
Yuki: ............Well

159.
Yuki: I'M CALLED YUKI!! PLEASE LET ME JOIN TOGETHER WITH YOU ON A JOURNEY!! I CAN'T TELL YOU MY REASON, BUT I WANT TO GO OUT ON A JOURNEY TOGETHER WITH BO-BOBO-SAN!!!
Bo-bobo: Eh---no way---
Yuki: PLEASE!!!
Bo-bobo: I'M PROPERLY AWARE THIS IS A SELFISH REQUEST BUT PLEASE!!!
Beauty: I can't tell you my reason, but I want to go together on a journey with Bo-bobo. I won't be trouble, please!!!

160.
"Creature": Du--mmy.
Heppokomaru: Hey, Beauty.
Beauty: What?
Sign: COOKIES PLEASE
"Creature": Bo-bobo's Weakness
Serviceman: SERVICE!!!!
Serviceman: GUO!!!
Heppokomaru: I've been wanting to ask you this all along since before...

161.
Heppokomaru: Why did you journey with Bo-bobo-san, Beauty?
"Long Face": Ah~~~that matter.
Beauty: ...It was to search for my big brother for one thing...
Beauty: ...But my real reason was.....................

162.
Beauty: I WANTED TO HAVE AN EXTRAORDINARY HAJIKE ADVENTURE.
"Giant's Shirt": IICHIGO
Heppokomaru: HAJIKE...BEAUTY?
Beauty: It was with all my might just going along with Bo-bobo and everyone, but it was extremely fun.

163.
Cat: KA--PE. Well that's what it is, don't cha think?
Heppokomaru: It was a real great journey. I'm certain we'll meet again...
SFX: SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN
Heppokomaru: !!
Don Patch: OH NO, I'VE BEEN EXPOSED
Beauty: Same as ever.
Heppokomaru: He's a guy who's like a bundle of energy.

164.
Banner: Drinking Place KARATACHI
(TN: A "karatachi" is a tri-foliated orange)
Sign: MASAHI DRAFT BEER
(TN: Masahi is a parody of the notable Japanese beer brand "Asahi")
Tennosuke: If I thought it was Bo-bobo from the coming of the Alumni Reunion postcard...
Giga: THEN IT'S FOR THE MARUHAGE-SIDE...
(TN: Moral of the series: Tennosuke is, was, and will forever be A-Block leader...no matter how much he tries to deny and forget it)
Sign: MARUHAGE EMPIRE'S 10TH ALUMNI REUNION
OVER: HU~~~H, WHAT ARE YOU WHISPERING? TALK, TENNOSUKE.
Tennosuke: UOOO, IF IT'S COME TO THIS THEN THIS IS COMFORT EATING. I'LL EAT ALL OF THIS ALONE---
Don Patch: ......
Don Patch: Shall I go to the next?

165.
Sign: HAJIKE GANG
Tombstones: (left to right)
-KANCHO-KUN #38
-KANCHO-KUN #51
-KANCHO-KUN #23
-KANCHO-KUN #56
-KANCHO-KUN #8
-KANCHO-KUN #42
-KANCHO-KUN #19
Don Patch: REPLENISHING
Bag: YOKOSEYO DEPARTMENT STORE
Kancho: STOP
Kanchos: WA--WA--
Kanchos: DEMON, DEVIL
Don Patch: FAREWELL.

166.
Yuki: PLEASE!!!
Pickles: ME...ME TOO!!
Don Patch: I'm back.
Don Patch: !
Yuki: AH...
"Samurai": COME ALONG.

167.
Yuki: ALRIGHT.
Bo-bobo: NATURALLY, YOU WON'T PICKLES.
Voice: NOSEHAIR MAN, IT'S TERRIBLE----!
Flags:
Right: MOTORCYCLE VEGETABLE ALLIANCE
Left: VITAMINS
Yuki: KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Bo-bobo: What's wrong? Carrot?
Carrot: PEPPER...HAS BETRAYED US.
Bo-bobo: WHAT'S THAT-----!!!

168.
Carrot: That Pepper, he was connected to the Hair Hunt Corp on the other side...he's steadily building a space fort. That guy is...building up a "Great Pepper Empire" that surpasses the (previous) Maruhage Empire. It's sick to the stomach.
Bo-bobo: THAT GUY!! I'VE LET HIM GO FREE THESE SIX YEARS BUT HE'S FINALLY SHOWING HIS TRUE NATURE
Don Patch: EXCELLENT!!! LET'S GO WASTE HIM!!!!
Bo-bobo: COME ALONG, YUKI!! THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG JOURNEY
Yuki: YES
Bo-bobo: I HATE PEPPER BECAUSE HE'S SALTY!!!

169.
Don Patch: SEE YA.
(End of Vol. 7)
(Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: End)
(Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo [the franchise]: THE END)

TN: I...I'm at a loss of words now. I mean...I never thought this day would actually come. I never thought back in 2008 when I first decided to pick Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo up as a means to "tell the story" as opposed to merely just let the anime end or let the manga remain a confusing mess to an English speaking audience controlled by the whims of others...that I would reach this actual point. Heck, with all the heck I've been through regarding Shinsetsu, starting it early in 2009, stopping it a few chapters in, then forgetting about it while deciding to pursue other manga...like...well, that series I shall not name right now...that I would ever reach it. But...well, here we are. As you have just seen, this is the very last, final, concluding chapter of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo...not just of the title called "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo"...but of everything and anything about the original run. (not counting any future version that could come out later) It feels very bittersweet coming to this point finally thinking about everything I've done to get here. I wish I could have said this was the greatest honor to have translated this just like I did with the original Bo-bobo and spoken about how brilliant Sawai's comedy is and how everything is as perfect as can be...but that would be completely and utterly blind to the truth. I don't like lying and saying things that aren't true regarding my manga experiences. Sure I may get over the top and go insane when things just go completely out of hand, but I do so mostly because I sometimes react that way.

Let me just be blunt about it: Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo...was a dissapointment of lost potential. The series is one that really shouldn't have been due to how complete and perfect the original was in it's style and it's situations. Sawai was at the top of his game with everything from the start all the way to the defeat of Bi-bibi and the end of pt. 1. It was the perfect blend of comedy and action and both homaged, mocked and used the cliches that make us love shonen manga so much. I'm not saying that Shinsetsu didn't have any of that, because it did. There were some brilliant moments in this series, really crazy bits that are just as memorable and classic as the original. The problem...well, it feels like Shinsetsu was all over the place with what exactly it wanted to do with itself. I think somehow or another that looking at the different phases of this part of Bo-bobo, you see several different phases of what Sawai wanted to do, whether it was his own decision, the editors, or just a means to survive with how it plummeted in the ranks from the start to the final cancellation. I guess the main way to go over where Shinsetsu went wrong...and right...is to maybe make a list regarding what happened, when and how it affected the series in general:

-The attempt to make the series more serious and plot driven: I think in some ways, Sawai was just trying to make the next step in developing his story after how well it had gone with the Under-Maruhage and the Hair Kingdom arcs. Obviously Bo-bobo is based on the insanity of the comedy, but to combine it with plots and story make it more intriguing. Unfortunately, there were moments that felt too over-dramatic even for Bo-bobo...like the first "Emperor Namerou" fight: there were times in that fight where I just wondered if I was reading the same series! I know people liked it but it just felt way too over the top in some ways. The other problem with the aspect of it being plot driven...is that it can't be as loose as it was before. All the elements have to be revealed instead of just playing it by ear and letting the story play out as it plays out. Which leads us to...

-Yononaka Namerou: The controversial new character that quite a few of you know I had issues with. It's simple: he never felt part of the universe in any way. Even when he was introduced, he just felt like a serious character who had goofy weird stuff (the tongue Shinken style, the "seeing people as scarecrows") as an attempt to make him seem like a Bo-bobo character. The problem with that is simple: all characters in Bo-bobo have goofiness or bizarre elements even when they're not quite goofy. OVER is a perfect example of this: even before his battle, we saw him as this horrible looking man with a massive pair of scissors as his weapon. He wasn't just a Hair Hunter, he was a monster to the extreme...and that was before we knew how sadistic he was and the whole "Torpedo Girl" thing. Similarly goes to Bibibi-bi Bi-bibi: yeah he's a massive boss level, but he's introduced talking to his daughters and is going out to dinner with them as Bo-bobo is destorying his entire control system! I never got any of that with Namerou...and it just got worse the longer he remained in the story, in particular when his "emperor powers" awakened and the whole "Tsurulina the 5th" thing. Namerou never felt like he belonged in this universe, not because he wasn't crazy but because his craziness felt forced. So then that should be a perfect segway into...

-Gaou: So...where did Gaou go wrong? How could a character pushed at the start of the series go from being front and center to...blowing away in the second-to-last chapter? I think the damage was mostly caused in the early appearances: Sawai seemed so obsessed with pushing him to be the next cute character (who actually did stuff) that he was just everywhere. Strangely Gaou did turn out to be a good character in his own weird unique way, but my guess is the damage was done by the time Tennosuke and the other members of Bo-bobo's forces finally came back around into the story. Those characters, obviously, are way more engrained into the Bo-bobo universe and everyone knows, loves and respects them accordingly...whereas Gaou was just pushed and forced in and my guess is paid the consequences when the fan favorites returned. I think somehow that Gaou would have been more respected and beloved if he was slowly engrained into the story instead of so front-and-center at the start. I mean, look at how Dengaku Man was introduced: he randomly appears when Bo-bobo initially invades Z-Block in a random and hilarious way, reappears a couple times, then has his battle with Bo-bobo that lasts a few chapters and is so weird that he becomes beloved and thus eventually joins the squad. Yeah, most people think Dengaku Man is "worthless" (outside how great he is at Hajike, which is his only power), but that's how mascots are made, not just forcing them. I'm not discouting anything against Gaou: he had some funny and great moments (the two best chapters are probably his flashback to his past as Tsurulina's pet and the Shinsetsu Bobopatch chapter where he's doing all the comedy while the fusion is managing Heppokomaru) but if he became a character as opposed to a gimmick, then maybe he would have become one of the more beloved members of this universe. So then, that brings me to...

-Pokomi: I'm torn on Pokomi because there are things I love about her and things that sort of drive me nuts about her. Bringing in a new female character is a smart move considering that the team mostly just has Beauty. (and Torpedo Girl...but she's just strange) Likewise, as we've seen with Denbo and Bu-bubu, magical-girl type characters are always good for comedy and weird stuff in a universe like this. Allowing for a younger female gives Beauty a character she can mentor that is the same sex and species as she is, plus makes her a tad naive to some of the weirdness going on. The fact she was related to Heppokomaru was a nice idea, in some ways giving him a reason as to why he wanted to fight the Hair Hunters in the first place (well...another aside from "save his home from Gunkan") And the magical-girl powers were awesome in some of the insane ways she used them. The problem that I had with Pokomi on the other hand...is that some of her aspects just don't mesh with the universe...and that sometimes she's made too smart if only to bring in the whole Namerou aspect. I think Pokomi's arrogance over power just got annoying in some ways, with her going on and on about not liking the weak and preferring only the strong. Sure it's a character trait and allows for her to side with Bo-bobo eventually, but it just got on my nerves with how she was with the power aspects. I don't mind that she and Namerou were connected since it actually had one means to give a bit of humanity to the idiot...but its about power on both sides: Pokomi is obsessed with the strong, Namerou only respects the strong...and the two meshed in a way that actually sort of worked...well sort of. There was also the similar problem she had with Namerou: when she's serious, she really doesn't mesh with the characters. Probably a good example of a character like this is Softon: he's probably about as serious as you can get in a Bo-bobo character, but the whole "poop" joke and a lot of the really weird stuff that comes from him makes him feel part of the gang. When Pokomi acts like a magical girl, it causes some creative attacks but that's pretty much it since...well, magical girls many times have wacky things going on anyway so it's hard to make her different. Sort of the fight with Gura-san keeps coming back to me in that aspect: we have Don Patch and Tennosuke running amuck with crazy magical girl jokes, but Pokomi just acts so serious and dedicated with the fight she feels so out of place...at least outside the "magical girl song" bit she does near the end which actually does feel more like a gag that worked in her favor. But on the other hand, there was the whole "academy" aspect: I can never really get my hands on why the heck Sawai would suddenly create "an academy of elites Pokomi's been at for years that the 3rd opened a few years ago"...when the 3rd only woke up during the Former Maruhage arc of pt. 1! Heck, prior to then, it just seemed like a "survival of the fittest" aspect where people who wanted to become Hair Hunters joined (see Don Patch's "recruitment interview" way back in vol. 4) and worked their way through the ranks (that's more like Tennosuke...I'm still shocked with how insane he turned out to be and infamous that he would work from lowly soldier during the Be-bebe & Hydrate flashbacks to A-Block leader) with the most powerful in the administrative circles. While I don't mind the idea of maybe a fast-tracking school for higher administrative positions within the Maruhage Empire, the fact that it was just taken as a fact of life and that Pokomi was there for years when it was supposedly set up by the 3rd...when, as I said, he just woke up recently (and don't bring in "the Maruhage Empire could have had it for a hundred years" since the Hair Hunts only restarted when Bi-bibi influenced the 4th to invade the Hair Kingdom and that was 20 years before pt. 1...and it's really hard to make any idea of what exactly the Maruhage Empire was like between the 3rd going to sleep and the 4th starting the Hair Hunt) OK, that was too much of a tangent but the fact remains: the idea of the academy isn't bad in theory, but stunk in execution, regardless of how it allowed for the space of Pokomi not being there. And speaking of which...

-Integration of the Old and the New: When Shinsetsu started, the Bo-bobo universe just seemed to feel way "different" compared to the classic part of the series. The "Fist of the North Star" homaging world was suddenly abandoned for various random areas of Tokyo that had some weird stuff thrown in here or there. Meanwhile, most of the characters that made the original Bo-bobo good and interesting...well, just felt like they were nowhere to be found. I just never got why Sawai seemed to abandon most of the ideas, concepts and characters that originally did make Bo-bobo such an epic series. And at the same time, things did feel really flat with many of the new stuff he did try: do I really need to go into the infamous and terrilbe "Service Girl" chapter? (all those pages just for a lame "Densha Otoko parody" with Serviceman?) I understand that he has to introduce a new cast and a new set of characters and villains for Bo-bobo to face, but why in the world did he seem to utterly throw everything good under the bus just to get there. And speaking of which...can someone explain why all of the great past characters who finally did show up when Sawai turned it around by the 23 Wards arc...just seem to hype the new villains? One of the fights I really didn't mind (since...well I'll get to it in a moment) but just watching classic characters like Gunkan, Giga, Suzu, the Former Maruhage fighters and such just be used as fodder with no resistance whatsoever to the new villains and just to be seen as a means to show Bo-bobo's strength and training compare to them...struck a nerve in annoyance after what we saw in the Under-Maruahge Arc where we had characters like Halekulani and OVER (yes...OVER, not Torpedo Girl) fight alongside Bo-bobo...yet here all we get is Hanpen who we knew could be coming due to the omake chapters with Tennosuke and Dengaku Man. Probably the only cameo I did like was Rice showing up at the Hajike battle...and I didn't mind Giga, Suzu and Gunkan attempting to take charge of things...but it just felt like they were all going to be fodder for the new villains and that no one was going to stand out and show they could keep at it like Bo-bobo's side did. And speaking of which...

-Villains: This is a mixed bag to me and not going to be completely negative like a lot of what I've been saying here. That's because for every stupid and arrogant villain, we got a good or interesting one...or an utter classic. Probably one of the worst offenders for the "stupid and arrogant" side is probably Babuu: from his name I sort of originally thought he was going to be tied more to Heppokomaru (due to that being something he says all the time in Baby Mode...and he did actually boss him around for a while), but he just never really had anything that made him interesting and just lived long after his purpose was done. The only reason he survived past vol. 2 is he was the 3rd scientist, that's how I see it. Porustoroi and Jobus had potential, but one was essentially smashed away in his first real fight by Bo-bobo...and the other was just a teacher and did nothing but train Namerou. I really can't talk about Tsurubinya because...well, he's tied to the Namerou story and it's mostly his fault that the story turned out the way it did. And while most of the 23 Wards villains weren't too bad, Gura-san was a bit of a dissapointment when he showed his real form. I thought he probably was much cooler in his weirder, hunchback form he was introduced in. (and most of his fight pretty much was just...weird) But just because I complain about those doesn't mean that there weren't good villains for the series in this arc: Plain-Bread-chan was probably one of the more hilarious minions similar to a lot of the great "food-based" characters, and the Elite Academy Heavenly Kings had a great fun battle with a lot of interesting teamwork. And the 23 Wards had the sexiness of Chinchiro-hime, who probably is one of the best female villains in the series, as well as the insanity of Usui, who is probably the funniest tsukkomi of any character I've seen, good or evil. And then there's the Evil Hajike Trio: Hiiragi had a lot of awesome potential and was really well executed up until his battle became a tad...strange (the whole "eels and swimsuit" issue), and while she really didn't contribute much after the start of the actual fight, Jati was an epic character both in being an "evil Beauty" and her insane "tsukkomi-Shinken". (the whole series is probably worth it for the chapter she destroys Babuu among other chapters) And Black Bo-bobo was probably as insane as the original with a darker feel...somehow it did get a tad confusing and tough to take when he fused to become Gemini Bo-bobo, but he was incredibly fun and in some ways out Bo-bobo'ed Bo-bobo. But strangely the best villain who actually was a "villain" and did the best actions of which to a point of reminding me of someone classic or epic...was Heppokomaru. His term as a Hair Hunter and his fight with Bo-bobo is probably the most emotional and epic fight he ever had. And this wasn't pretentious like some of the Namerou stuff but actual emotion because of how Heppokomaru developed and became who he was and that he had to bite the apple in order to become strong enough to face down the man he originally was inspired to be like. Everything about his development and ultimate redemption (becoming a baby and blasting the massive fart to destroy Kamara) was spot on from how it was done and, while he wasn't the craziest or most fun of villains like some of the others, he probably is as good as you're going to get in this phase. And speaking of villains...

-Tsurulina the 3rd: Probably one of the biggest mistakes Sawai has done in Bo-bobo at this phase was to keep the 3rd around as the main, ultimate villain of the franchise. I sort of get it why he did it, being he was the man who lead the Maruhage to it's greatest successes and was more of just an "evil" villain instead of an insane one or a wacky one or one we could have sympathies with. But unfortunately the 3rd wasn't anything more than that even in the Former Maruhage arc...and his getting Bi-bibi's Hair Ball was just a means to prolonge the series longer than it should have been. The 3rd is just so generic a villain that he never really came off to me as something more than "he's evil and hates humanity and likes to hunt hair". It didn't really help that he became the mastermind of the Neo-Maruhage and didn't have much to show for it except the trail of chaos Bo-bobo left in his wake. I guess in a way the 3rd is a representative of the "heavier plot" concept Shinsetsu was trying to get across at first, where we have a mastermind controlling everything and that he's pure evil and all that. (compared to the rule of the 4th, who just let his forces do what they want as long as they got the job done since he was trying to keep his wife happy...and somehow felt more successful even if it was less draconian) I know people probably like the 3rd, but unfortunately while I could tolerate him in the Former Maruhage arc (since he was asleep most of it and had such memorable minions), here his influence showed who he was...and I never really caught on and I'm happy he's no more. And with that...

-The Final Chapter: I know it took forever to get to this point, but I sort of needed to vent out all my feelings about Shinsetsu (well the ones I could get to) before getting to the final chapter of the entire Bo-bobo franchise. That's mostly because the final chapter...is just a perfect culmination of everything this series should be about: weirdness, insanity and the wild, wonderful world Sawai had created these last 303 chapters. What really got me with this chapter is that it brought Bo-bobo back to his basic roots: kicking Hair Hunter butt and protecting cute girls who sort of are forced to put up with this weird stranger. Heck, the feel of Bo-bobo fighting with nosehairs and running around as a motorcycle felt like something that was more at home in the early part of the series than the mess we had to go through in Shinsetsu, and that was a wonderful and good thing. This was the Bo-bobo I came to love: dressing up in squid costumes, having random guys pop up in his afro, and surprising and shocking Hair Hunters while making a girl confused as heck on what the heck is going on. Of course, it had to be a new girl because...well, this chapter had a wonderful summation of Beauty's adventure and that in a way she was finally satisfied with everything she had been through. Beauty's scene with Heppokomaru, wandering around through so many familiar strange sites that we all know by now, admitting that as strange as it's been, she has loved every minute of what she had been through. It's hard to say if Beauty always felt this way but her acceptance and understanding of this world shows that maybe she wasn't just randomly going out and going insane for no reason whatsoever. Tennosuke's scene was handled brilliantly, with him not even escaping from his horrible life even after finally getting out of Hair Hunting and pretty much trapped with a pack of wild wolves (well, OVER mostly but Giga, Halekulani, Gunkan and the others probably want their share of the former A-Block Leader who worked with the good guys all this time...and it's great to see cameos by the Prison-Murder brothers, the 5 Ninshu and even Purupuu, Lamune and Kinen...Lamune needed to do more, as did Ruby I say) at a reunion party. Heck, if Tennosuke didn't suffer, then it wouldn't be funny. I also like many of the other nods to the past: the Hajike Gang, Softon back to his "job" as field poop, the "Kanchos". But probably the most amazing and greatest thing about this chapter...is that it seems to finally acknowledge the importance and maybe even the protection Don Patch gives to this world. As a master of Hajike, Don Patch probably is the one who understands the insanity the most of all and is one who, like a Buddha, is completely free from all connections even if he is conntected to so many and can watch over and protect anyone and everything like a God looking down on his people. Heck, you could even think maybe Don Patch is a God who descended among men just to have a lot of fun in the process and see how many people he can screw around with. Yeah he has obligations and friends and connections preventing him from being a pure "Buddha", but the way he was used in this chapter shows he is just there for everyone everywhere, giving his own weirdness to those in need and hanging out with those he feels like when he feels like it. And the final scene just seems to bring everything finally full circle: the vegetable gang returns to pick up Bo-bobo just how they dropped him off at the start of the series and Bo-bobo and Yuki head off to fight an evil pepper while Don Patch finally sees his work done and breaks the fourth wall by giving us, the readers, the final salutation for over six years of support. In some ways, that is just the perfect ending to a perfect final chapter that...well, aside from the Beauty/Heppokomaru scene (which reflects their Shinsetsu appearances due to their aging), really could have taken place at the end of the original Bo-bobo...if Sawai wasn't obsessed with keeping the story going. As many faults as these last 73 chapters have had, they can't take away how incredible the ride has been and the good parts even during that phase of the story. Maybe we'll see them again, maybe their story really is over...well there is the whole "Don Patch was in Chagecha" thing but let's not get into that for the moment.

Well...I guess I'm as speechless now as I was when I started this entry. But this isn't the same as the anger of talking about Shinsetsu and all of it's faults. It's that...well, I feel like this chapter is closing the book on a phase of my translating career. "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo" was the very first series I did when I started working at Mangahelpers (the first series I TL was "Hell Teacher Nube" but that was back in college and I started that over) and it's been a blast bringing it to you. The whole ride, both the ups and downs, have been great to experience alongside with all of you and I'm happy to have brought it all out and exposed it to those who love and respect these types of series: the fans. Bo-bobo may never have the fanbase of other Jump series and may never be completely out there for people to experience...heck, it may not even be understood with how many people hate it and just goes "it's too weird, thus it sucks!" But to those who do get it, they have experienced a series that has placed a mirror right in front of Japan and the whole shonen culture and mocked it all the way to the bank while respecting it enough to use what it did do right. And preferably, I love a lot of this type of parody more than...well, other comedy crap in the US. I know I didn't start translating Bo-bobo until volume 3 (and there are still those who want me to do the first two volumes to be "complete"...though I may do the early one-shots), but happy to have done all that I have and hope that all fo you have been just as supporting on all that you've been through. I like to particularly thank those who have contacted me through the Bo-bobo project and bugged me to keep it going, particularly the period I wasn't doing Shinsetsu...or started it and never went any further...you know who you are. Thanks for reading this series and, until we cross paths again, this is StrangerAtaru leaving you with one final thought:

"As long as the Earth is protected by a guy who uses his nosehairs in battle and a sun-like creature that's insane, those peppers won't stand a chance...though I can imagine them becoming stuffed with random packets of tokoroten given to them by some strange wobbily man."

Mata ne.