Hell Teacher Nube 212

Appearance doesn't define a person, but it is part of who they are. But when someone is asked to change their appearance, is it truly complete? It may when a youkai tied to changing appearances is involved (and a certain set of pigtails)...

#212: Beautician Youkai Kamikiri

178.
Hiroshi: (singing) Bunga Donga Bungadon, today we're having curry. I am the school-lunch emperor.
SFX: Gara
SFX: Gui
SFX: Dobashaa!

179.
Hiroshi: Oww, oww, hoot, hoot---
SFX: Basha basha
Hiroshi: You dummy--what were you thinking
Kyouko: I...I'm sorry. My pigtail was caught...was it hot?
(TN: Weirdly Kyouko refers to her hairstyle here as "osage", which is an expression for "wearing hair in a braid". But since it's more like long pigtails than braids, I adjusted the wording)
Hiroshi: You couldn't come to that--it was curry, curry---! Why--did it come to this? This is the main dish of the once-a-month school-lunch emperor~~this will anger His Highness Nube too~~~
(TN: Even with all of his "lunch emperor" talk, Hiroshi ended up calling Nube by the title of "Denka", which is "His Highness")
Hiroshi: Really, why do you have those pigtail things, cut them! Having pigtails these days; how weird, weird! (Even Sai*r Moon has ended a long time ago!)
(TN: Just to remind you of this, the release of this chapter was in 1998; by which time the Sailor Moon manga and anime had both ended in early 1997)
Kyouko: ...So...so then. They don't suit me?
Hiroshi: Ah--they don't, they don't. They're just--out. They're out---!
(TN: The "out" here is Hiroshi going "dase, dase", which is a short version of "dasai", which is Japanese for "out of fashion" or "unsophisticated")

180.
Kyouko: Understood, I'll cut them. It'll be fine if I cut them!
Hiroshi: Yeah.
Voice: Eh?
Katsuya: You're cutting your hair!?
Miki: That alright? They're your trademark, Kyouko.
Noriko: Nube-sensei, say something.
Nube: It's a trivial quarrel. Any~~how, they'll settle down immediately again.

181.
Miki: Hiroshi
Hiroshi: Ke! Cut those things.
Kyouko: I have no choice---N?
SFX: Choki choki (snip snip) | Sha sha | Chaki chaki

182.
Nube: Youki...?
Miki: Ama--zing, he's like Vidal Sassoon.
(TN: Though mostly known for his hair-care products, Vidal Sassoon is a well known beautician himself of London, most famous for creating the modern "bob" haircut in the 1960s as well as the "Geometric perm" and his hairstyling of figure skater Nancy Kwan)
Nube: Look, his hands seem like they've integrated with scissors...I can say that...
Voice: Is it really integrated!?
"Beautician": Finished.
SFX: Cha
Woman: Well, is this me!?
Nube, Kyouko and Miki: Ooh~~~
SFX: Pachi pachi pachi pachi (clap clap clap clap)
Girl 1: Amaz--ing
Girl 2: Beautiful---
Girl 3: He's a genius...
Nube: You are...a youkai.
"Beautician": ...Seems so.
Nube: Don't you have evil intentions?
"Beautician": ...I don't; I have a license.

183.
Kamikiri: I am the youkai Kamikiri. I've lived since the Edo period...I am a youkai who can merely speak of a talent for only cutting hair...
(TN: "Kamikiri" easily translates into "Hair-Cutting", thus he's the "Haircutter" youkai")
Kamikiri: ---This me fell in love with one human woman twenty years ago. The woman saved her bank savings for I, this mere hair-cutting youkai, and made me study abroad in Paris to make me a true hair designer...when I had returned to Japan, I started a journey, having promised that I would cut that woman's hair first...
Kamikiri: But fate is cruel. When I had returned...the woman had already left this world with a serious illness...
Kamikiri: Since then, I had been searching for a woman that resembles this woman while cutting hair on the streets...so I could fufill my promise to the woman...
Miki: Dats a nice storii~~~
(TN: The mispronounciations are intentional on Miki's part)
Makoto: You're ex--tremely good, but stop posing.
Nube: His body seems weak.

184.
Kamikiri: ...For this reason, how about all of you? I will not charge you.
Kyouko: That's exactly great. Can you cut mine?
Miki: If this is for first, I'll have it too!
Katsuya: Me too.
Makoto: Me too.
SFX: Dodododo
Kamikiri: ...Then from you.
Noriko: Eh, ah, OK.
Miki: Kii~~~~in spite of you being Noro-chan~~~!
Kamikiri: --So then.
SFX: Sha

185.
Kamikiri: Since you have a personality that's too quiet, it's best you become a bit wilder.
SFX: Choki choki choki
Miki: Well! You've come to be shaggy, and yet in spite of being Noro-chan. (Brazen~~~)
SFX: Giro
Noriko: Shut it--you. You're always, always speaking, you chatting woman!
(TN: The "speaking" here probably isn't the best translation but Noro-chan ended up saying "ee", but I didn't know if she was saying "iimasu" short or just "ii" or "fine". I ended up the "speaking" mostly because I could see Noro-chan snapping at Miki's talkative personality)
SFX: Gui
Miki: Hi---!

186.
Miki: Wh...what was that...just a moment, you! Make me wild too!
Kamikiri: You're a tad too calm. Please become a quiet girl.
Miki: !?
SFX: Choki choki choki
Miki: Ara
Miki: Thank you very much for that.
SFX: Peko (bow)
Noriko: What are you, hahahaha. From today, you're--Noro-chan's follower--ya--y in spite of being Miki---!
SFX: Poka poka
Miki: Aah. Understood--

187.
Kyouko: Wh...what's going on!?
Nube: Hm--m, I say the hairstyle changes the person but...that's his youryoku.
Makoto: Ya--y, I want to have a hairstyle of a sentai hero.
Kamikiri: Since you're too childlike
SFX: Choki choki
Makoto: I've hidden just my number of years.
(TN: Somehow Makoto's "number of years" line here is a tad awkward but it's obvious he's hiding his age with his "more mature" appearance. The reason of the translation is he ended up saying "toshi no kazu", which is literally "number of years")
Miki: Well. (A dandy...)
Noriko: Ahahaha
Katsuya: Make me into Sorimachi.
(TN: The "Sorimachi" that Katsuya mentions here is Takashi Sorimachi, an actor notable mostly for playing toughs. His most famous role, which he would do later in '98, was ironically the lead role of the live action drama "Great Teacher Onizuka", based on the shonen series from Kodansha's "Weekly Shonen Magazine")
Kamikiri: You
Kamikiri: Should emit your almightiness in sports.
Katsuya: This is youth---!
(TN: The "youth"/"seishun" comment Katsuya is yelling is a typical expression used a lot in many old movies and dramas which seem to overemphasize the glory of "youth" or "youthfulness")

188.
Nube: Hey you, don't make toys of my students! Don't you have evil intention after all!
Kamikiri: Well, without speaking those solemn things, teacher
SFX: Choki choki choki
Nube: Ah, hey!
Nube: Ha--haha, that's--right; take off those solemn things! Take it off! Life is happy, happy Jamaica
SFX: Shaka shaka shaka
Kamikiri: Well then...next is...
SFX: Era...
Kamikiri: Mu! Y...you are...
Kamikiri: That face...and that hair...!
Kyouko: ?
Kamikiri: Ooooh

189.
Hiroshi: ...Can't be...Kyouko is your woman that died...
Kamikiri: Yes, she resembles her...of course her age is different but
Kamikiri: This is her photo.
Hiroshi: ...Well, it's not like she doesn't resemble her but...
Kamikiri: This isn't some question of her looks, the key is her hair...If her hair quality is just like hers
SFX: Boso...
Kamikiri: If I use 100% of my youryoku, I can change even her face, not to mention her personality, by just changing her hairstyle.
Hiroshi: What's that!? It can't be: he's going to completely change Kyouko into his own woman with his youryoku...
Hiroshi: Nube, he's...
Nube: Ah, that's right. That's pleasant.
Hiroshi: Chi.

190.
Hiroshi: Hey Kyouko, stop.
Kyouko: Huh?
Kyouko: What? You said to cut it.
Hiroshi: Wrong, he's going to make you into someone else.
Kyouko: That's fine, I'll be someone else. I'll be someone else and comple--tely forget about you.
Hiroshi: Dummy, you're wrong! If I cut these out-of-fashion pigtails, you'll...
SFX: Pashi
Kyouko: I'll cut these out-of-fashion pigtails.
Hiroshi: Do what you want!
Kyouko: I'll do what I want.
Kamikiri: ......

191.
Kyouko: I'm fine. Do it.
SFX: Ni
Kamikiri: Power from the ancient times of my hair-cutting family. Dwell within these scissors.
Kamikiri: And revive
Kamikiri: My beloved person.
SFX: Basha basha basha basha

192.
Hiroshi: That's not Kyouko! It's as if she's truly someone else with a different attitude...
Kamikiri: Junko-san...
Kyouko: Kamikiri-san...

193.
Kyouko: I've wanted to meet you...
SFX: Hishi...
Hiroshi: ......!!
Hiroshi: Waaaaa~~~
SFX: Da!
Hiroshi: Return Kyouko to normal---
SFX: Bakii
Hiroshi: Return Kyouko's pigtails to normal! It isn't Kyouko without her pigtails. I, I...

194.
Hiroshi: I...Kyouko's pigtails are...no...Kyouko including even her pigtails...all is...Kyouko...
Kyouko: Hiroshi...
Hiroshi: Yes.
Kamikiri: How confusing. Even if I changed the form of appearance, I didn't the spirit of her memories.
Hiroshi: Th...that so?
Kamikiri: Who I love is Junko, the only one in this universe. No matter how her form of appearance resembles her, no one can be that woman's replacement...Now I have merely just fufilled my promise to that woman...

195.
Kyouko: Since...my hair will grow again.
Hiroshi: Ye...yes.
Kamikiri: That's fine.
SFX: Sha sha
Hiroshi: Eh!? He grew it!?
Kyouko: So then, he freely can at will if it's hair on the head.
Hiroshi: As expected of a youkai.
Hiroshi: ---So, what do we do--with them?
Kyouko: Well...
Noriko: Gahahahaha...
Nube: Amore~~~
(End of Vol. 24)

196.
(Yeah it's from the end of the final battle with Zekki...but with the end of the volume, it's nice to see it again in this volume itself)

197.
Zashiki Warashi: Best Regards for Volume 25.
(TN: It's somewhat sad that we haven't seen too much of this little youkai since her third appearance...but then again Zashiki Warashi doesn't have too much left to appear with in the series. She'll probably cameo here or there between now and the end, but as it stands she'll just be cameoing. Heck, if you want to see more Zashiki Warashi, I suggest looking into the Izuna spinoff...she at least has a bit of prominence there too!)

TN: Somehow this is the one piece that fits this chapter perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uil_moZTQk (come on, the youkai is essentially if Tim Burton's defining character went through a shoujo manga to become more a weak bishonen character...though he doesn't look like Johnny Depp at all!)

I know the simple way out of this chapter is easy: just go to a normal hair salon or make Kyouko keep her hair but bring it into something that wasn't pigtails and she'd be perfect and in line to not bugging Hiroshi. (heck, remember the long-hair with barette appearance she had back in Vol. 9 for a few pages of a chapter? That would have been a different style without cutting it) Of course, even if you think as such in logic...it was still a fun chapter and interesting to see how things developed regarding the youkai and, furthermore, the further development of Hiroshi and Kyouko (as if they needed more) The chapter shows that both Hiroshi and Kyouko are sort of complex in figuring out the other and trying to figure what one wants from the other, as demonstrated through the whole "hair" situation and how it played out. As rude as Hiroshi was towards Kyouko at the start, the reason he seemed to want her to change her style seemed to be less about pigtails being "not cool" but just his aggravation on the dangers of having them, particularly with closed doors and curry. While he could have been less argumentative about it, it was more just a means of trying to bring safety and protecting the food while likewise protecting Kyouko. (though she probably could have put them underneath her hair protector if she didn't want that snag to occur) Likewise while Kyouko seemed to show an upset fashion in wanting to change her hairstyle, but even so decided to go through with it because...of well, Hiroshi. It's tough to say if she did it because she wanted him to like her or just to be stubborn and defy him like a "take that" towards him, but it is a general concern towards him and about how she thinks her own appearance could end up driving him away, even if long pigtails...are just hazards with doors. Where Kamikiri came in is just his desire to bring back Junko, whom he saw in Kyouko and made him believe that he could bring her back through Kyouko and a bit of adjustments to her face and personality. Regarding how it ended, though...it is sort of weird: we saw how "permanent" and "defining" the personality changes were with Kamikiri's power with everyone else, yet somehow Kyouko was able to break the spell after Hiroshi took her hair. It does seem a tad strange...but not that strange compared to the bizarre way the whole incident with the clam girl a volume back. At least here Kyouko could break the spell on her own and more or less did it at her own free will...whereas the cooking chapter ended because of a stupid fluke by the youkai enhancing Kyouko's cooking. I know the chapter really should have been dealt with differently but considering it was an interesting chapter and worked even with it's weird parts, I'm not going to complain. (as for all the changed personalities for everyone else...well I did like Noro-chan finally beating up Miki after all these years...and Nube the "happy-go-lucky rasta singer"...maybe he should just stay that way)