Jungle no Ouja Taa-chan 27

With their life in Africa's interior, Ta-chan and Jane hardly ever get the chance to go to the ocean...unless someone offers to take them there!

No. 27: Mermaid of the Beach

82.
Jane: Eh—to the ocean!!
Helen: Yes: if we drive full speed for 2 days on a road that comes out of Cameroon, we’ll reach the Atlantic Ocean.
(TN: Though its coastal area is small compared to other African nations on the Atlantic, Cameroon does possess a coast on the Bight of Bonny, which is considered part of both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea. This coast area is considered by many today to be one of the fastest growing areas for tourism in the country)
Jane: The ocean—how many years has it been? But if I go in the ocean, I don’t have the perfect swimsuit.
Jane: Right: long ago, I just brought a mesh swimsuit that I wore in my Playboy days.
Helen: A mesh swimsuit; you used it in this poster…...that’s dreamy.

83.
Jane: How is it?
Helen: Is…isn’t it fine? It’s sexy.
Ta-chan: I’m home.
Jane: Sexy~~~
Ta-chan: It’s…its terrible: Jane has been caught in a net a hunter set up. Hold on!!
Jane: What are you doing: it’s my only good swimsuit!!
Jane: Right—I’m going to the ocean after a long time. At this time, I must precisely remember to swim.
Hippo: Bakafly.
(TN: The “Bakafly” bit is obviously a fusion of “Butterfly”, a notable swimming move, with the “kaba”/”baka” joke, in this case working how precisely due to the upside-down hippo in the design, which is how the “baka” bit usually ends up going)
Caption: Jane is an iron hammer.
(TN: The Japanese use the term ‘kanadzuchi’ or “iron hammer” as a term for one who is a hopeless or terrible swimmer)

84.
Helen: It’s good that you’ve learned to swim from swimming animals.
Ta-chan: Actually even my speed swim-style I had gained a hint from crocodiles.
Caption:
The Swimming Method of Crocodiles
1. Move your legs when swimming slowly.
2. Move your tail when swimming quickly.
Ta-chan: In short: while doing a typical breaststroke
Ta-chan: I move my penis when I swim quickly.
SFX: Puru puru
Editor: Amazing, that’s an amazing idea!! If we can teach this to the Japanese swim team, we wouldn’t have to dream about a medal in Seoul!!
Caption: My charge who loves the Olympics
(TN: Remember: Ta-chan started it’s run early in 1988…and it was around this point that the hype for the 1988 Seoul Olympics games pushed forwards at full speed, being held between September 17th and October 2nd, 1988.)
Tokuhiro: But in case of women, this technique is impossible because they don’t have penises.
Caption: Me, who worried about the number of gold medals for Japan.
Narrator: For that reason, the Ta-chan household departed for a sea-water bath.

85.
(TN: A couple of the next panels have some maps of Africa headed east to the Atlantic, which they do reach)
Narrator: In two days, Helen-chan flew with flight!!
Voice: Wa—we’ve finally arrived!
Jane: Dreamy—we came with persistence, but we’re here—that’s a beautiful sunset.
Helen: Where’s Ta-chan?
Helen: He’s crying.

86.
Helen: Ta-chan is looking at the ocean for the first time in his life. He’s moved.
Caption: Floral Egg Crab
(TN: The “Floral Egg Crab” (Atergatis floridus) is a notable poisonous crab actually found in the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic)
SFX: Zazazazaza…zazazazaza…
Jane: There was a legend that mermaids appear on this beach since long ago.

87.
Helen: A young fisherman who was shipwrecked at sea was saved by a beautiful mermaid. And further, the mermaid fell in love with the young fisherman…
Jane: How romantic.
Helen: Further, the mermaid wanted to meet with the young man and came to this beach day after day every day.
Ta-chan: Heh—there is a mermaid!!
Jane: No there isn’t.
Helen: While I regret this, mermaids are animals of fantasy. But there are living creatures who resemble mermaids.
Helen: The dugong.
Helen: Dugong raise their heads above the water and embrace their child at their forefeet when giving milk to their children. People who saw this appearance mistook the dugong for a beautiful mermaid.
(TN: The dugong (Dugong dugon) is one of the four living species of the Sirenia order and the only of the Dugong genus. Strangely, again, this animal only lives in the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic)

88.
Helen: But if you were to swim in the ocean, Jane-san, I may mistake you with a mermaid.
Jane: Ara, how dreamy.
Narrator: And so, the next day.
Helen: Well, everyone, let’s go—we’re going home.
Dugong: Dugon
Jane: Hold on!!
Narrator: The End

89.
8. Unhappiness
When I gather only stress when I have a proportion full of work…

Caption 1: Nakamura-san of Weekly
Caption 2: Suzuki-san of Super Jump
Caption 3: My Charge with Jump Comics
Tokuhiro: I was joking…

(TN: Remember: at this point, Tokuhiro was writing both Ta-chan for WSJ and “Fundoshi Keiji Ken-chan and Chako-chan” for Super Jump, not to mention “Jump Comics” are the ones who make the volumes and is tied to all the extra content in each volume beyond what’s in the magazines)

TN: There were some really funny bits this time around (LOL, "bakafly"...the hippo bits never fail to amuse me) and some really gross moments that make sense (Ta-chan's "swimming method"), which means it was Ta-chan as usual. I'm sort of lost, though, why we had to have the whole "mermaid" story considering that it was all just build-up to the end...the only excuse I have is that Jane sort of reminds people of how a dugong is supposed to be a "mermaid" as opposed to...well, a beautiful one that looks nothing like a dugong. But hey, as long as she doesn't try that mesh outfit in her current appearance again...