Kinnikuman 70

Suguru may have finally found a valuable ally in Terryman, but it may not be enough to make him take part in the tag championship! Will the former rivals come together to fight for the WSA?

Chapter 70: The Opening Ceremony

34-35.
Narrator: Texas—Houston. The 1980 World Choujin Tag Championship will be held today at the famous Astrodome, the world’s biggest indoor stadium, headquarters of the big-league Houston Astros.
(TN: Weird note: it’s sort of ironic that the Astros were mentioned here alongside their stadium, particularly since they made the NLCS in this year of publication in 1980…where they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. And of course, being a Phillies fan, I can’t help but smile. Oh, and they have had wrestling matches too, which of note due to the event which was about to occur)
Caption: Locker Room
Voice: That Kinnikuman. He went to Amarillo to meet with Terryman, yet according to rumors, Terry said that he won’t be able to participate in the match since it’s impossible to recover. So…so then, chairman, will we be absorbed by another organization if we drop out of the tournament?
Phreas: Nunu…! If this guy can think of this while playing sugoroku, then I should be able to woo him to stab their heart occasionally.
Chabo: This isn’t sugoroku. This is called the “Game of Life: High and Low”!
Caption: Game of Life
(TN: “Game of Life” is in reference to the famous Milton Bradley Game, also just known as “Life”)
Phreas: Fine then, Chabo. Our Association will do whatever we can to not drop out of the match!
Phreas: So now, you and I will do this…
Chabo: I don’t want to………
Phreas: Hey, prepare yourself, Chabo---!!
Voice: That won’t be necessary, Chairman!
Phreas: Ah.

36-37.
Phreas: Kinnikuman and Te…Terryman!!
Phreas: Ki……Kinnikuman, how were you able to persuade Terryman…
Suguru: Hehe—he turned around after a while, Chairman.
Suguru: We have no time. Let’s hurry up and go prepare for this match, Ha hahahahaha
Announcer: May I ask you please! For a big overview! We have one-hundred thousand spectators crowded her from around the world watching this Choujin Tag Championship!!

38.
Announcer: The on-the-spot will be me, Sylvester Suzuki, and the commentator is…
Tazahama: Tazahama, nice to meet you!
Announcer: I see the faces of each organization chair by ringside!!
Phreas: A combo of Kinnikuman and Terryman…
Phreas: Fufufu…
Harrison: Phreas, why are you grinning!!
Sheik: You said that the only Choujin you had was Kinnikuman, so why are you composed!?
Kinkotsu: Wh—at is with that forced laughter…

39.
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen…now for what you’ve long waited for…
Announcer: We shall have the World Choujin Tag Championship Opening Ceremony!!
Audience: Ah…it’s lighting up…
Sign: Player Entrance
Announcer: Now, in the Blue Corner, representing the Choujin Council, now enters Beauty Rhodes and John Steamboat: The Emperors!!

40.
Announcer: Ooh!! Their entrance theme is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5.
Announcer: How beautiful! How refined! What an appropriately gorgeous atmosphere to be called “Emperors”…Obviously of course they would use a Beethoven Piano Concerto.
(TN: The reference is slightly loss in translation, but, like the team name, Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto is known as “The Emperor”)
Harrison: You can do this.
Rhodes: OK!

41.
Announcer: Next, representing the Choujin Federation, now enters Skull Bozu and Devil Magician: The Most Brutal Combo in the Universe.
Announcer: Ooh…draped in black robes, they’re surely “Evil Incarnate” entering with their theme song of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”.
(TN: There’s a bit of strange context with this song that isn’t what you think. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky originally created the song, known in its original title as “St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain”. The more well known and popular rendition of the piece was a rearrangement of Mussorgsky’s work after his death by composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.)
Sheik: Kill!
Bozu: Yes sir.
Announcer: And now, representing Kaijuu is Iwao and Black Shadow: The Rugged Brothers!!
Kinkotsu: Do it Iwao-chan~~!!
Iwao: Leave it to me, master!
Announcer: Finally, representing the Choujin Association…!

42.
Announcer: Kinnikuman and Terryman: The Machineguns--!!
Announcer: Ooh! Their theme is “The Magnificent Seven”!!
(TN: The theme from "The Magnificent Seven" refers to the theme of the movie of the same name, made in 1961 as an American remake of Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai". It was written by American conductor Leonard Bernstein)
Audience: Terry--!!
Harrison: Wh…what!? Terryman!?
Sheik: I’ve heard that guy had an impossible recovery…...

43.
Announcer: Terry wasn’t dead. For a while, Terryman was rumored that he had an impossible recovery from losing his left leg, but now, here in front of us, he has revived like a phoenix!!
Audience: Terry--!! Terry--!! Terry--!! Terry--!!
Audience: Phoenix Terry--!! Welcome back, Texas Bronco—
Suguru: Really—it’s not fun that everyone’s got a big uproar of “Terry Terry”. (Grumble grumble)
Voice: Hey—Suguru. Don’t be so serious—

44.
Sayuri: You can do it Suguru.
Natsuko & Mari: Kin-chan--!!
Meat: Prince, Robin’s rooting for you too--!!
Suguru: Dad…mom~~~And everyone…
Suguru: O—K, for all of them, I will surely
Suguru: Victimize you two--!!

45.
Everyone: Dahahahaha--!! You’ve victimized your face---!!
Steamboat: Fu, well then, the mood of you idiots in this ring appears to be many!
Suguru: What!?
Steamboat: A pig, a gorilla and a vulture…this is really a zoo, Rhodes! Hahaha…
Rhodes: Fufufu…
Bozu: Hey, young one! Is that all you have?
Steamboat: Do you still have something to say, vulture!?
Eric: Hey hey, I’ll explain the match’s rules and clear the Written Acknowledgement Declaration!!
Suguru: Ah…you’re not E.H. Eric, you’re God Phon Eric!!

46.
Eric: The matches will occur as round-robin league matches; sixty-minutes per match.
Eric: Points will be 2 for a win, 1 for a tie and 0 for a loss…Finally, the team with the most points will win. The winning organization will have the right to control the American Choujin World, and the losing organizations must manfully affiliate with them.
Chart: (top/bottom, left/right): Kinnikuman/Terry, Rhodes/Steam, Skull/Devil, Iwao/Black
Side Comment: Win / Loss / Tie
Yudetamago: You can use the chart too everyone!
Eric: With that, I wish you all good luck.
Announcer: Next up, we will have the Written Acknowledgement Declaration from present commissioner Shigeo Nishimura.
Magician: Hey, that’s frank--!!
Nishimura: WA…
Magician: How’s that? The match starts when we enter the ring!

47.
Suguru: Owa…
Announcer: Ah—there’s a big brawl in the ring for the Opening Ceremony!!
Iwao: Hey hey, I’m not your opponent, your opponent is…

TN: I sort of have one major nitpick of the chapter: what suddenly makes this tournament the "world championship of tag-teams"? The match that is occurring is obviously a means to settle the power struggle in American Choujin organizations yet all of a sudden some of the announcements seem to make it bigger than that. If this was more like the Choujin Olympics maybe I could understand...but unfortunately I really have a hard time with that part of the whole concept. Outside that, it was a really fun set-up chapter, more akin to wrestling introductions and even with theme musics than anything we've seen prior. In particular, the team known as the Machineguns has finally been established in the series, one that will have great notoriety both in this and later tag tournies! Though I do have one question: do the Rugged Brothers even have a theme song? Couldn't Kinkotsuman and Iwao concocted something maybe to make it more like the others?