Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 311

In battles of strength and endurance, Otokojuku has found itself in a dead-heat with Rakanjuku. But the next of the matches may be one not even the Otokojuku students may be ready for...well except for one exceptional idiot...

Chp. 311: A True Genius!!

105.
(Sakigake!! Otokojuku Famous Scenes (3))
Daiishin Paaren Seiha Ryuubon Teimou Fight
Hien vs. Senkuu
(TN: Well…this I think was more “we need Hien because he’s Hien” and not whether or not it was his best fight or one of the best fights in the manga. It was a good Hien fight, but I sort of like a couple others of his a bit more like his fight in the Daibukai with Neskhons of Pharaoh Sphinx. The problem is that most of Hien’s best fights seem to have him “get killed”, considering he “died” against Senkuu and he “died” against Neskhons…but which is better is probably up to you I guess)

106.
Kumada: Well, can’t we choose our next match---!!
Edajima: Fu, he’s become heated like this and I don’t know if even his blood vessels are disconnected.
Momotarou:: Ussu!!
Momotarou: Intelligence…Math, English, Science…!?
Card: INTELLIGENCE (Math; English; Science)
Hakuhou: Wh…what the----!!
Pharaoh: Ne…next is going to be a studying match---!!

107.
Kumada: Fufu: of course. Even if you have just much physical strength and guts, a student who falls behind in his studies can’t come to do anything!! Everything has to be combined to truly be a first-class man!!
Kumada: COME OUT!! KURIMOTO SHINNOSUKE!!
Kurimoto: Ossu, Principal.
Kumada: He broke through college certification in 6th grade of elementary school and took 1st place in the all nation student knowledge exam for three consecutive years!! With an IQ of 250, he’s correctly a prodigy among prodigies!! That is the participant player for our Fuun Rakanjuku’s intelligence match----!!
Kumada: Wahahaha, can’t you let out even a surprised voice!! Well, Edajima! Who are you sending out!!

108.
Edajima: Tazawa----!! Get out here!! You’re Otokojuku’s intelligence representative player---!!
Tazawa: Eh~m…me!?
Tazawa: Ossu, thank you for the nomination, Principal!! Your humble servant Tazawa will take your thought to serve you with all his power!!
Momotarou: ………

109.
Kumada: O—shi, first we’ll go from math!! The one who solves this numerical formula problem on this board first will win!!
Kumada: Start!!
Kurimoto: Worthless, that’s a problem for middle-schoolers.
Tazawa: Th…this is outrageous…!! Wh…why is there English in a math problem…….!!

110.
(Tazawa and English…yeah, this is not going to end well)

111.
Kurimoto: Solved!!
Kumada: Ooh, you’ve already solved it Kurimoto!!
Kurimoto: This is the answer.
Kumada: We—ll, is this correct!?
Kumada: Well! It’s exact--!!
Kumada: N~~!! What’s wrong with you~~!!
Kumada: Ooh!!
Matsuo: This…can’t be: Tazawa’s lost consciousness--!!
Shu Kougen: Water!! Put…put water in a bucket and bring them here---!!

112.
Kumada: Uwahhaha, next is English!! Make this Japanese sentence into an English sentence.
(TN: Considering that we won’t really see the full version of the English entry, I will translate it now to sort of understand what they are trying to translate:

“I love my dog. Currently, I am taking care of a dog in my home. Its name is ‘Gonta’. Its breed is a Shih Tzu. When I’m asleep, it occasionally chews on my head. Right now, I’m taking applications for a sweetheart. Wait for my phone number.

The only real note I have to give here is that the reading here for “Shih Tzu” is slightly off: in Japanese it typically has a reading of “Shiizuu”, but here it is read as “Shiizu”; however, I do believe that this was the intended breed considering its long history in China and/or Tibet)

Kumada: The time limit is five minutes!! Now write down your answer on the page I gave to you!!
Tazawa: I showed a terrible disgrace at math, but I won’t be as such now…!! Foreign languages in particular are my greatest specialty!!
Tazawa: English is already old hat. I will translate this into Italian, which is the most trendy now!!
(TN: Tazawa doesn’t really say English is “old hat” but “mou hurui” which is “already old”; but somehow I sort of wanted to emphasize how typical or “old” Japan’s obsession with English is)
Kurimoto: N!?
Momotarou: I…Italian……!?

113.
Kumada: I don’t care if it’s Italian or Mongolian!! At any rate show me the match!! Soryaaa, start!!
Kurimoto: !?
Tazawa: Oryaa---!!
Hakuhou: Oh---!! Tazawa is writing with amazing force!!
Matsuo: He…he perhaps may be for real.
Kurimoto: Fu.
Kurimoto: I’ve done it, Principal!!
Kumada: Uwahhaha, you’ve already done it though not even a minute has elapsed yet, Kurimoto!! Al—right, I’ll compare it with the answer!!

114.
Kumada: Magnificent!! Again you are perfect!! This truly is a perfect answer!!
Kumada: We~~ll, what’s the matter with the Italian!?
Tazawa: Here you go, for your perusal!!
Kumada: N~~!!
Kumada: Uuh, th…that’s!!
Tazawa: Perfect.
Kumada: Kuku

115.
Kumada: Uwahhaha, what is this!! Is…isn’t this just merely making the Japanese sentence into Romaji!!
Tazawa: Correct!! The capital of Italy is Rome!! That is Italian!!
(TN: The whole joke here is probably one of the funniest…but strangest ones Tazawa has done yet…but it requires a bit of set-up to understand. The key word of the whole joke is “Romaji”, which is known by many who study Japanese as the transliteration of Japanese words from the typical characters used for the language [Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji] into an English script. Further, the Japanese word for “Rome”, the capital of Italy, is “Rooma”, which can also be read as “Roma”. Therefore, Tazawa’s translation of the Japanese into Romaji makes him believe it is “Roma-ji” or “The Characters of Rome”. Thus, Rome links to Italy [being it’s capital] and thus making him think that writing Romaji is the same as writing Italian)
Kumada: Uwahhaha, that’s great!! Romaji is Italian---!! It’s…difficult to stop laughing at that!! Wahhahaha
Tazawa: !?
Hakuhou: N…no good, that’s what that was.

116.
Kumada: Fuffufu, what should we do Edajima, should we still continue this match!? Even if there is anything done by this fool any further, it will just be a final coat of embarrassment.
Tazawa: Fool…!?
Edajima: We’re resuming this match without your tired talking!! The guy who is Otokojuku Second-Year Tazawa Shinichirou isn’t a fool!! He is a true genius!!
Tazawa: Genius…!?
Kumada: We’ve reached this point and you’re still letting that out…………!
Kumada: Al—right, next is the science match--!! You’ll realize your social position with this----!!

117.
Kumada: Within this box are inserted every possible electronic parts including monitors, C batteries and computer ROMs. Use these freely and construct something!! This is the ultimate exam that demands creativity and originality, of course of scientific intelligence!!
Kumada: Anything is fine!! I will award the match by the quality of your work!!
Kumada: Al—right, start!!
Tazawa: Ossu

118.
Hakuhou: Really, What was the Principal thinking with Tazawa…!! Tazawa is the guy who should be the president of idiot students at Otokojuku and yet
Matsuo: O…on top of that, he’s a genius.
Momotarou: Fu, I don’t think such. That man’s eyes for seeing men is for real!! I’m certain in Tazawa is a prodigy of something as said by the Principal!!
Matsuo: Of what~~!?
Caption: Two Hours Pass

119.
Kumada: Al—right, that’s enough both of you!! First will be Kurimoto: what have you made---!!
Kurimoto: I’ve created a super-high efficient radio.
Kumada: Ooh…
Kurimoto: It gains the reception of stations throughout the world and, on top of that, you can listen to CDs on it. Of course, its tonal quality is pre-eminent.
Kumada: A…amazing: you really are a genius, Kurimoto!!
Kumada: Well—then, what have you!?

120.
Kumada: Wha!!
Hakuhou: Wh…what is th…that---!!

121.
Tazawa: This is the super-high efficient robot Tazawa #28!! It possesses an intellect equivalent to a human’s and follows any of my commands!!
(TN: The usage of the #28 here for “Tazawa 28-gou” is most likely in reference to “Tetsujin 28-gou” or “Tetsujin #28”, the title robot from the classic manga/anime known in the US as “Gigantor”)
Kurimoto: Fufu, how stupid: your mind really has done that somehow. The electronic makers of Japan, who have gone to be at the forefront of high-tech technology, still hasn’t made those thing and yet
(TN: It’s really strange to make a comment about this comment here, but consider this: this Otokojuku chapter emerged in 1991 when robotics was still rapidly emerging…and by 1999, Sony had released the popular robot dog AIBO…and by 2000, they had the most advanced humanoid robot yet known as ASIMO. While it’s difficult to measure the advancement in artificial intelligence for the usage of robots even by that point, the fact that robotics was a few years from some major breakthroughs in Japan with this comment being made in 1991 shows how far we’ve come since then)
Kurimoto: It follows any of your commands? In that case, quickly make it move.
Tazawa: Al—right, watch this!!
Tazawa: Go, Tazawa #28!! Strike that insolent guy once in the face--!!

122.
Tazawa: Wh…what’s wrong Tazawa #28---!! Move, m...move---!!
Tazawa: Wh…why won’t it move---!! Super-high efficient robot Tazawa #28----!!
Kurimoto: Fufu, how stupid.

123.
Kurimoto: There is a paper-thin difference between a food and a genius, but you are a genuine fool. A robot made by a fool doesn’t have reason to move.
Tazawa: Kuku
Tazawa: Please, Tazawa #28----!! I’m fine being called a fool--!! But I want you to move for me for the Principal who believes in me and my allies who are giving their support in me----!!
Kurimoto: Quit doing that, man who is bad at giving up. Manly acknowledge you’ve lost.
Kurimoto: Fu, what is this junk.
Tazawa: Uo, wh…what are you doing---!!
Kurimoto: N!?

124.
Kurimoto: Agya!!
Kumada: Wh…what---!!
Matsuo: I…it moved---!! The robot Tazawa made has---!!
Edajima: Fu, that is your power. Even Edison and Einstein weren’t called geniuses from the beginning.
Tazawa: Y…you’ve done it, Tazawa #28---!! You are a true high-efficiency robot----!!

125.
Tazawa: Guha!!
Tazawa: Ta…Tazawa #28……!! Th…that’s………!!
Student 1: Uwaaah---!! Tazawa #28 is running wild---!!
Student 2: Sa…save us---!!
Student 3: Ta…Tazawa, you are the biggest fool of Otokojuku after all---!!

TN: (continues to laugh hysterically at Tazawa's "Romaji/Italian" joke) Sorry...sorry, that's just one of the funniest dialogue gags this series has had in a long time. Then again, anything Tazawa does, particularly in screwing up foreign languages (or his own language) bares any mention of comedy for this series.

Well alongside that, this chapter really felt like a nice breath of fresh air for a manga that is so obsessed in battles of the physical, giving us a bizarre but fun mental/intellectual battle that actually highlights Tazawa, who is understated and typically ignored as probably one of the funniest and most interesting students of the manga. We sort of know from prior that somehow Tazawa uses his brains in battle and more or less seems to find ways to uses his intellect to get through a lot of the more strenuous moments (heck, the punchline could have been hinted at by the weird device he gave to Matsuo in the fight with the Americans) but it never really was highlighted as a focus outside a gag here or there prior to this chapter. Likewise, I did like his rivalry with Kurimoto, being the smug super-genius of Rakanjuku (I still wonder how all these super-athletes and geniuses end up at a school like this...considering Edajima usually gets the drop-outs and the abandoned students kicked out of everywhere out) and how Edajima actually gives faith to him regardless of how bad things got (like...the Romaji bit) Admittedly I would have liked to maybe have more of him and even a bit more of "Tazawa #28"...but with things as they were, we should be grateful the egghead got a match at all. (and that it wasn't bogged by some of the crap that Toramaru or Togashi got)