Subject: _Koutarou Magaritooru!_ Character Guide, Part 3 A Hop, Skip and Jump Through the World of Tatsuya Hirota's _Koutarou Magaritooru!_ (Koutarou, Break Through!) =================================== Volumes 30 through 36 =================================== Character Guide Notes NOTE: [fa:v??] == First Appearance in Volume ??. [la:v??] == If the character warrants it, Last Appearance in Volume ??. [ls:v??] == Sometimes, a character will disappear for a while, only to surface again a long time later. Last Seen in Volume ??. Tsurugamine Gakuen -- The private high school that everyone attends, where a lot of the combat takes place. Is huge, and has everything one would expect of a school in a gag manga. (Outdoor cafes, huge clock towers, yakuza...) Fuuki-iinkai -- Morality committee, or decency league. This group includes Tenkouji and Mayumi, and a large cast of nameless minions (this is used in one gag, when two of the minions -- who commonly appear along with Tenkouji -- are referred to by facial features, because they've never been given names.) They usually keep the peace on the school grounds, but spend most of their time chasing Koutarou. Hage -- Baldie. The one word that Tenkouji absolutely despises, and the one that Koutarou loves to use. Nunchukus -- Shindou's favorite weapon, and one used extensively in Bruce Lee's movies: two pieces of hardwood connected together by a piece of rope. Dojo -- Training site for any form of martial arts. Gi -- Martial arts uniform. Ki -- Energy, as in the focused power of someone as they hit you. If they don't have "ki", the punch won't damage you very much (the punch will just bounce off.) Kiai -- The shout a fighter makes to help focus his ki during his attack. =================================== New Main Characters =================================== Gonzaemon Yonedara: A young runt, high school age but small. Very friendly country hick with a crew cut. His head is tougher than Shindou's, and he can easily out-perform nearly everyone he meets (he can stop Jason's punch, while standing on his tiptoes.) He starts out as a member of a dojo out in the sticks, but when he sees Mayumi on a video tape, he develops a crush, and sets off to proclaim his love for her. [fa:v30] [la:v36] =================================== Story Arcs =================================== Each major plot line covers several volumes, and usually begins with the introduction of a few new characters before the action kicks in. (R == Real story. o == Ignorable one shot.) Gags and start up Book 1 o Snake Bones and the Clock Tower Secret Book 2 -- 5 R Princess Kurara Book 3 -- 9 R War in Block D Book 10 -- 16 R To Get 4 Teammates for the AST Book 17 -- 20 R The All Sports Tournament Book 20 -- 26 R The Freak Show and the Pretty Boy Book 27 -- 29 o The Real Training Begins Book 30 -- 36 R Searching for the Lost Chord Book 36 -- 41 R (Lost characters: These are incidental characters that play a major part in some story arc, only to disappear forever from sight later on.) Nisemono Ooyamaneko Harry Nezumi: These D Block goofballs were last seen taking bets on the outcome of the elimination rounds of the AHSAST. No explanation for what happened to them. [ls:v24] Beni Bara: Trick question, as she reappears later. Tatsuya Yoshiokata and his sister: Another trick question. I'm not sure about the status of his sister yet, but Tatsuya surfaces occassionally later on. Hiromi and Kenji: Well, Kenji is in the hospital waiting for his eyes to heal, and Hiromi is with him. No word as to what happens to them afterwards, from what I can tell. [ls:v26, with a short reappearance in v36.] =================================== Volume Outlines, and New Characters =================================== Gosaku Inokuma: Kind of a country hick version of a pit bull. Leader of the Touhokunoukou high school karate club. He understands the importance of studying the enemy prior to facing him on the mats, but isn't that much of a martial artist. Easily angered, and doesn't learn when it comes to bopping Gonzaemon on the head with his fist. Volume 30: Shindou's One Blow disables Kaoru's shoulder, and the pretty one can't fight anymore. Shindou is declared the winner of the tournament, and there is much rejoicing. However, Kaoru pretends to want to shake hands with the winner, and pops Shindou in the "loosen up bowels" nerve cluster. Shindou would rather die than embarass himself in front of Mayumi like this. So, he is vulnerable to Shikato's offer of relieving the "pain" in exchange for a "condition." Kaoru can't believe that anyone else can perform his "Handsome Gentleman" techniques, and suddenly discovers that Shikato has caused him to crap all down his legs in front of his cheerleaders. Later, Shindou has to appear at the Ouendan HQ building to find out what the condition was (the building seems to have been constructed using the money from the sale of the ruby.) First, though, he pisses on the building, and tries to shit on the front lawn (Momo stops him, though.) Inside, Shindou has to defeat all of the Ouendan karate masters as a test. The boy isn't interested, until Shikato offers a pair of Yurie's purple panties as a prize. The Ouendan don't stand a chance, and it's down to Momo and Shindou (Momo won't let "Sensei Yurie" be humiliated like this without a fight.) However, Yurie and Mayumi arrive at this point, and Yurie reclaims her panties (which she bought, but hadn't been able to wear yet.) Finally, Shindou is told that there is a big National Tournament coming up in one week, and Shikato wants to train him to be able to perform "100 Person Attack". Shindou wants to leave, but the old man pops him in "that" nerve cluster, and Shindou surrenders. The following day, Inamori is surprised to learn that Shindou refuses to grab the chance of a lifetime -- to train directly under the old man for one week. Shindou hates the idea, but Shikato anticipated this, and had fitted the boy with a gold circlet on his head (just like Son Gokuu in the Chinese Monkey King stories (which is kind of a reference to Dragon Ball.)) The circlet can't be removed, and with the press of a button, Shikato can stimulate "that" nerve cluster, and cause Shindou to crap on command. Mayumi and Shindou are tricked into flying to Shikato's private island, a few hundred kilometers past the southern-most island of Japan. There, Shindou is expected to train in hiding. The "menu" includes outswimming a shark in the ocean, climbing trees with a rock tied to his waist, etc. The final task is to perform a kind of dance step routine in a special warehouse. Lighted footprints on the floor show what the next move is, and if you are too slow, or off by a few centimeters, you get electrocuted. But, since the reward is to sleep in bed with Mayumi (against her will of course) Shindou does eventually clear that stage. Meanwhile Gonzaemon is watching a tape of Shindou at the tournament, performing "Five Person Attack." He also sees Mayumi's cheerleading and falls in love with her. He sets off for Tsurugamine Gakuen. However, he runs afoul of the China Rose Gang, who tease him mercilessly. At the same time, Jason keeps trying to find out from Yurie where her "Darling" and the "Chicken Bone Girl" have run off to. Yurie trashes Jason each time. Then, Gonzaemon steps in and easily stops Jason's punch as he protects Yurie. Yurie is impressed enough to fly everyone to the island in the middle of Shindou's training. On arrival, Jason tries to kill Mayumi, and before Shindou can react, Gonzaemon has zipped in, stopped Jason's punch, elbowed Jason on the top of the head, saved Mayumi, and zipped back out. Yurie explains that she brought Gonzaemon here because the runt is so strong, she thought the old man should see it for himself. Shindou isn't so happy with this situation, and is even angrier when Gonzaemon asks Mayumi to be his fiance (she isn't so thrilled with this, either.) Gonzaemon is embarassed, but he's also proud of himself at having spoken his feelings. Volume 31: Kiyomasa Katou: Leader of the karate club in Kumamato. A dark-skinned teenager, with up-slanted eyes and very heavy eyebrows. Looks perpetually stupid, but was the winner of the previous year's Nationals. Kenbei Inushima: A raggedy-haired drop out, now trains by beating up gang members. Is as much of a pervert goofball as Shindou, but lives in Osaka. Is attracted towards Jun as Shindou is attracted towards Mayumi. Jun Masaki: A short Japanese high school girl with shoulder-length black hair, and bangs in front that give her a kind of cat-like appearance. Jun is the Osaka version of Mayumi. She also grew up next door to Shindou, before her family moved to Osaka when she was 5. At first, everyone takes this as a "crush by an elementary student", but Gon corrects them, saying that he is a junior in high school (16 years old) just like them. So, the China Rose gang strips Gon down, and are duly impressed (Yurie still says that Inamori is better-hung.) Shindou is so pissed at the boy's designs on Mayumi that he attacks. Gon feels his ki, and KO's him with a kick to the face. Later, Shindou recovers in some room in the house; Jason is on a nearby couch still unconscious. Mayumi was tending to him, so she and Shindou go to find the others. They arrive at the testing room just in time to see Gon easily complete the stage that Shindou struggled so hard over. Shikato decides to drop Shindou, and take Gon as his private student. When Jason finally awakens, she finds the CR gang modelling in bikinis (with lots of padding in the tops.) Jason wants to kill Gon, but relents on realizing that Gon wants the Chicken Bone Girl, which leaves Shindou free for Jason. Problem is, there was no reason for Shindou to stick around, so the helicopter flew him and Mayumi back to Tokyo. This pushes Jason over the edge, and she frantically tries to learn to swim in the remaining three days. At school, Tenkouji is edgy. The peace on campus, with Shindou gone, will be short-lived. Further, with the Old Man's extra training, Shindou will be an unstoppable pervert on his return. Problem is, Shindou is already back, being chased by many girls that all want their panties returned. Later, Mayumi explains that Shikato is training Gon; but Tenkouji and Momo can't believe that someone is better than Shindou. Momo wants Mayumi to tell him how this country boy can be so much better -- after all, she's Shindou's girlfriend, right? Mayumi trashes Momo and leaves in a huff. Shindou sneaks into Mayumi's room that night, to take some panties before he disappears into the mountains to train on his own. He is caught, but promises to return in time to defeat Gon (they seal the promise by linking pinky fingers.) While, on the island, Shikato explains that Gon, with training, can surpass Shikato's level. Yurie wants to know about Shindou, and the old man brushes the boy off as an error in judgement. Only a few people have been able to feel Shikato's ki -- Tenkouji, Kenji, Momo, and now Gon. In a flashback, right after Shindou defeated Anata, Shikato had decided to check the boy out. He'd exerted his energy at that time, but Shindou didn't notice it, being too busy watching girls change clothes in one of the locker rooms. Gon, however, can easily feel the old man's energy -- it is in the form of a raging tiger. Shikato concludes that Shindou is untrainable, while Gon is unstoppable. We now get introductions to a couple of other people training for the nationals. Kenbei is beating up an Osaka gang, to prepare to win the tournament and to win his reward -- a look at Jun's private parts (Jun says that the promise was just a kiss on the cheek.) Meanwhile, Katou is blindfolded and his ears are plugged, while he is attacked by team mates armed with spears -- Katou easily defends himself. And, Gon has mastered Shikato's 100 Person Attack. The three days pass, and it is now time for the tournament. Jason has learned to swim, and is happily working her way across the ocean (it'll take her 3 weeks to reach Japan. The rest of the group are flying back in the chopper.) Kenbei arrives in Tokyo, and hopes to get into a fight with a Hiroshima team that wants to cripple him before the tournament (he's trying to get Jun to show him her vagina to make him stop fighting, but Katou breaks things up first. Jun and Kenbei laugh at Katou's weird eyes (Katou's team is trying to keep Katou wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes.) Shindou is still missing, so Tenkouji and Momo get Mayumi to put on a long wig and gi, to fill in for Shindou until the boy appears for the first fight. However, Momo is driving the car to the tournament, and he's never had lessons before. He crashes the car, and the three of them arrive at the tournament in a police car. This impresses everyone else there, until Shikato and Gon fly in via a jet bomber. (Gon and Shikato immediately recognise Mayumi in disguise, but no one else does.) Momo and Tenkouji get to see Gon for the first time, and still don't understand why Gon is any better than Shindou. Also, Tenkouji and Momo both feel Kenbei's and Katou's killing energy levels, while Mayumi can't tell that there is any threat at all. The tournament starts with the first level eliminations, and Shindou is still missing (he's in the toilets, trying unsuccessfully to crap.) Outside the stall, the Hiroshima team is trying to harrass him. He throws turds at them, and when one Hiroshima team member sees Shindou's face, he calls off the attack immediately.) Mayumi needs to go to the toilet, and uses the women's room just as Jun is leaving a stall. Jun recognizes "Kou-chan" and the two go outside to talk. Leaving Tenkouji to guard the door for Mayumi, and he gets attacked by many angry girls. Jun and Mayumi finally recognize each other, and Jun promises to not give away Mayumi's disguise (Jun also says that at age 5, she'd had a crush on Koutarou, but not anymore.) Kenbei sees "Shindou" talking to Jun, and develops an instant hate for his rival. It is now time for Shindou's match, and the boy is still missing. None of Momo's or Tenkouji's men have spotted him, and Mayumi takes her chance to escape for the toilets. She is cornered by the Hiroshima gang, who want to cripple "Shindou". Just before he is disqualified for being late, Shindou flies through the air on a rope tied to the ceiling. (He'd put the rope up himself, earlier.) His match starts, and Shindou gets in an ippon blow to his opponent without ever moving from the starting line. He wonders now where Mayumi is. Jun is wondering the same thing, and she and Kenbei go searching the halls. Kenbei breaks down the door to attack the Hiroshima gang (to start negotiating a promise from Jun again) just as the Hiroshima gang is going to trash Mayumi (they've heard that the real Shindou is on the mats, but they still want to beat up the fake one, anyway.) Volume 32: Gensui Akaiwa: A pompous windbag, who just happens to be the head official of this tournament. Tall, slicked back gray hair, and looking very distinguished, he wants a nice clean tournament, with no rabble dirtying it up. He plots to prevent Shindou and Kenbei from making it past the Final 8 stage of the matches. Kenbei appears, and happily trashes the gang members (he's pissed to learn that he's helping protect Shindou) until one of them hits him in the head with a folding chair. Kenbei goes crazy at the sight of his own blood and he mulches everyone. On the mats, the real Shindou wins his match, and tracks down Mayumi -- she takes him to the men's room, where there are bodies everywhere. Jun and Mayumi try to explain why Mayumi is wearing a gi, but Kenbei doesn't care, and he wants to fight Shindou next. (Jun is upset because Kenbei is so uncontrollable.) The two of them attack (Shindou steps on one gang member's balls, making the guy sit up just as Kenbei rushes forward and makes Kenbei trip over the guy.) Kenbei and Shindou bump each other up a bit, and Kenbei shouts that he wants revenge, making Jun explain to Mayumi that Kenbei had seen Jun and Shindou (Mayumi) walking together outside (which is what bothers Kenbei so much.) As the fight is about to get serious, Shikato appears, and KO's Shindou with a wine bottle (if Shindou can't fight, Kenbei will calm down.) Shikato's bunny girls show up, and haul off the fallen gang members in a cage hung from a chopper (the girls wanted to take Shindou, also.) Shikato wants to use the gang members as training fodder later. In the halls, Shindou is still unconscious, and Kenbei brags to everyone else that he'll beat Shindou. Shindou had been faking it, and he sneak attacks Kenbei with a kick to the face. The fight is about to start up again when Kenbei's name is announced over the PA. He goes onto the mats, and easily wins 3-2 (he got in 3 fast ippon blows, then got 2 warnings for continuing to kick his man when he was down.) Meanwhile, everyone wants to know where Shindou had been all morning, and he explains that he'd been in the toilet, trying to drop a load. He attacks Shikato, demanding to know where the "go to the toilet" nerve cluster is. Shikato kicks that cluster, and Shindou has to run off right away (the cluster works well, too.) Mayumi claims that she'd forgotten to go to the toilet herself, and leaves to wait for Shindou to welcome him back from his long training. Gosaku gives up on bopping Gon's head with his fist, and starts using his teammate's fists instead. Gon is lost in thought, imagining Shindou in Mayumi's arms, and Gosaku props the boy's eyes open to focus on Kiyomasa (last year's National's champion, and the person that Gosaku is most concerned about.) Kiyomasa starts his match, and easily wins. Outside, Mayumi is trying to trash Shindou for laughing at the idea of her wearing a gi and long hair wig to imitate him. Then, the China Rose Gang is flown in by chopper. The transvestites have deep tans, and are wearing special one-piece cheerleader outfits that have padding in the breast area, and a special cut that disguises the presence of their balls. Shindou tackles Mayumi, and forces her to wear the same "high-leg" outfit (Mayumi trashes everyone, but still wears the outfit.) Gon hits the mats, and Mayumi is stuck with cheering for him. Gon uses 100 Person Attack to win his match, and Momotarou is furious at seeing the boy using Shikato's techniques (Momo is only willing to allow Shindou that priviledge.) Gosaku is stunned at seeing Gon performing so well, and he happily bops Gon on the head some more. Momo wants Shindou to destroy Gon, and gets kicked in the groin for being uppity. Out on the streets, the rest of the Ouendan radio in that they still haven't seen Shindou. Momo roars at them to return to the stadium. Gon is interviewed by the press, while Shindou argues with Yurie (she arrived with China Rose) to get her to wear the same cheerleader's outfit. Yurie refuses, so Shindou vomits on her street clothes. Yurie is next seen posing in the one-piece suit, and Shindou is a mass of bruises. Shikato wants to show Gon the power of One Blow, and he uses it on a thick-trunked tree. The tree shatters and falls over. But, Shikato collapses on the ground, and Gon runs in a panic to get Yurie to help out. But, when Yurie arrives outside, Shikato is missing. Inside the stadium, the Ouendan and China Rose are dueling with each other in cheering for Shindou. They start squabbling and miss Shindou's match (he wins with some flashy leaping kicks.) But, one tournament official is watching on, and he tries to disallow the hand-spring, tumbling, sweeping kick to the jaw that would give Shindou the match (same dance step that Shikato had taught Shindou in the warehouse.) The judges have to go along with the guy's decision, since this is Gensui Akaiwa, tournament president. But, while the attack is disqualified, it isn't a penalty. Shindou's opponent was KO'd, and Shindou still wins, 2-0. Sitting up in the stands, sweating and looking ragged, Shikato recognizes Gensui. Gon and Yurie locate Shikato, and Gon nearly kills the old man in his relief (rushing to hug the old man, and throwing both of them down the steps.) The tournament continues, and the four main characters make it into the final 8 (Hirota screwed up, and called it the final 16. He has to apologize for his mistake later.) Gon and Kiyomasa consistently win with 3-0 scores, Shindou keeps getting 2-0 scores, and Kenbei keeps getting 3-2 scores (2 penalities against him for behaving like his opponent is Shindou.) (In Shindou's last match, the floor ref goes against Gensui's demands to disallow the tumbling spinning kick attack, saying that it results in ippon blows. Gensui is really pissed.) Momo and Tenkouji try to understand Gensui's problem, and Shikato (hanging onto Mayumi's butt,) explains that 50 years ago, he'd used the exact same tumbling kick to KO Gensui in a tournament. Shindou has been marked as a student of Shikato's, so Gensui is holding his grudge against the boy (Shikato also forbids Gon from using 100 Person again, so that Gensui won't notice that Gon is also Shikato's student.) With the final eight decided, the tournament ends, to be resumed the next day. During supper at a typical Japanese hotel, Gon isn't enthusiastic enough over eating the delicious rice and burned fish (he's mooning over Mayumi,) so Gosaku calls in Super Doctor K to look the boy over. Shindou is throwing another super party at his dojo, and Inamori is already getting drunk. The group is showing off with stupid stunts for each other (Inamori puts on a kappa costume, and does a "Kappa spinning a plate with his penis" gag, while Tenkouji chops up the floor with his sword to do a "Spinning Kappa" gag.) And, Jun is trying to locate Mayumi so she can sleep in Mayumi's room. Kenbei is upset that Jun doesn't want to sleep in the love hotel that he'd booked for them. Mayumi isn't home, so Jun goes next door and finds Mayumi there. Jun and Kenbei argue until Shindou comes outside to see what Mayumi is up to. Shindou and Kenbei notice each other. Volume 33: Yoshinori Tokashi: A little guy with buckteeth, sun glasses, slicked up hair and an expensive suit. Is a karate master who sits in on the announcer's bench and heckles Gensui. Kenbei is horrified to find Shindou at the place that Jun has gone to, and Shindou is happy at seeing Jun show up. He still doesn't know who she is, and Jun isn't telling Kenbei what their connection is either. Kenbei is further horrified to learn that he's at Shindou's house, and wants to leave. Jun asks if Mayumi has told Shindou who she is, and when Mayumi apologizes, Jun makes her swear to not let Shindou in on the secret yet. In the meantime, Kenbei chases Shindou up on the roof, traps our hero on a ledge, and threatens to drip snot on him until Shindou promises to pay for the taxi fare back to the hotel. Shindou has no choice but to capitulate. However, when Kenbei learns that there's a big party going on inside, (to prepare for the big matches the next day) he decides to stick around long enough to pig out on the free food and sake. As the night wears on, Momo, Tenkouji, and Inamori drunkenly compete in "games of skill", that includes Kenbei trying to imitate Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Shindou takes the time to wash up, and interrupts Jun in the bath at about the time that Mayumi comes into to give Jun a towel. Mayumi trashes Shindou and throws him into the hall, but then gets drenched by Jun so that the two girls can bathe together. Jun tells Mayumi that she doesn't want Shindou to know who she is, because she still has a bit of a crush on him, and she really dislikes the hentei sukebe fight-loving Kenbei (adjectives that also describe Shindou...) Mayumi is shocked by this. Mayumi and Jun are further shocked when they later walk into the party to find Shindou el-blotto, winning the competition by lifting up a kleenex on the end of his hard-on. (That night, Jun has a nightmare about phallic monsters, and awakens to find that outside, Momo is hanging himself, and Tenkouji is trying to commit hari kari -- the two good guys are kind of remorseful over their part in the previous night's debauchery.) Jun was sleeping in Mayumi's room, and she takes the chance to look through Mayumi's photo album, only to find a huge number of photos of Koutarou. Jun gets the feeling that she may not be the only one who likes the boy. At breakfast, Kenbei and Shindou are still trying to out-do each other, this time by eating twenty bowls of rice each. When they get to the tournament site, they are interviewed on TV, but end up throwing up on the camera man. (The reason the TV truck is there, is that Shikato bought the TV station for this one tournament.) Akaiwa, having seen Shindou in action, tells his referees to do everything possible to make the boy lose. Meanwhile, Shindou and Kenbei are in the toilet, trying to out-stink each other. Outside, Gon tries to use one-blow on a tree, to no effect. But, he still thanks Shikato for giving him the special training, and runs off to the mats. Soon after, when Katou walks by the tree, it finally explodes (this means that while Shikato and Momo have the raw power to destroy trees with One Blow, only Gon has the ability to keep that power WITHIN the tree to destroy it.) The tournament continues, and Gosaku loses. In the locker room, he tries to bop Gon on the head for old times sake, and hurts his hand again. There then results a confrontation between Gon, Kenbei, and Katou. The TV interviewer is about to catch the energy on camera, when Shindou appears with Mayumi's panties on his head, doing a Kamen Raider imitation. He runs to the mats for his match, with the panties still on his head. When he does the Kamen Raider pose again, the floor ref slaps his face and berates him for not showing proper respect for the audience. To complicate matters, Momo's cheerleaders and the China Rose gang can't cheer for Shindou, since they're all suffering from hangovers. The match starts, and the gang notices that none of today's referees had been visible the day before. Things get worse when the floor ref signals to Shindou's opponent when to avoid Shindou's flying spinning kick to the back of the head (which was part of Shikato's dance training.) When Shindou tries to continue attacking, he receives a penalty for trying to strike the opponent from behind (very little known rule, rarely used before.)) Shindou realizes that something's up, and changes his timing enough to confuse the ref and thus KO's his opponent with a kick to the top of the head. Akaiwa tries to get the ippon blow DQ'd, but Shindou reminds him of when something like this had happened long ago. Akaiwa backs down, and because the opponent is unconscious, Shindou manages to win anyway. Akaiwa wants to DQ Kenbei as well, but he realizes that Kenbei has the best chance of beating Shindou in the Final Four's match. So, when Kenbei (who knows that the ref is cuing the opposition) gets in three fast ippons to KO his man and is going to get thrown out for not stopping when the ref tried to announce the first ippon, Akaiwa steps in and gives the match to Kenbei. Kenbei is then taken to Akaiwa's office, and they make a deal to defeat Shindou. As they're leaving the office, Jun sees them talking together. When Katou is heading for the mats, Shindou puts contacts on him, to make his eyes look more normal. Katou is furious, but his teammates think that it really is an improvement. Shindou's just doing this to rile Katou into fighting harder. At the same time, Gon wins his match with an ippon KO kick. Since Katou will be facing Gon, Shindou and Momo desperately want Katou to win his match and to go on to destroy the small boy. (With all of the shinanigans going on in front of the camera, the TV director is developing an ulcer, and is expecting to lose his job at the end of this assignment.) Katou wins off-page. Kenbei, Katou, Gon, and Shindou are now the last four fighters. Kenbei will face Shindou, and Gon is up against Katou. It's Showtime. Akaiwa sits in on the announcer's table with the TV reporter. He's not so happy at discovering that he has to share the spotlight with Karate Master Tokashi. The three of them do a little color commentary (Akaiwa degrades Shindou's mongrel style of fighting, while Tokashi hints that the best match is yet to come.) Kenbei and Shindou get on the mat to face each other, and Jun is wondering if Kenbei really is going to cheat. And, while the reporter and Akaiwa are arguing, Tokashi interjects that someone else had used the same techniques as Shindou, a long time ago. At that time, the other guy's oppenent got KO'd with one blow. The loser was a guy named Aka... Aka..., Aka-something. Akaiwa panics and changes the subject, while trying to figure out how Tokashi could know about that. Kenbei is praised for his professional demeanor, but the boy is really thinking that if he wins, he'll get to see Jun naked. Finally, the match starts, and the two of them go at it strong. When Shindou almost gets a blow in, the ref gives him a penalty for attacking after Kenbei stepped out of the ring. (A blatantly false call.) Kenbei doesn't like this kind of meddling in his fights, so when the match is re-started, he smashes the ref in the face (breaking the guy's nose and knocking out a few teeth.) Volume 34: Everyone is shocked, and Jun demands to know what's going on. Kenbei replies that Akaiwa is going to come over, and claim that it was an accident and that Kenbei won't get penalized. This proves to Jun that Kenbei is in cahoots with Akaiwa, but the old man is furious. Until Kenbei pulls out a tape recorder and hints that their conversation had been recorded. Actually, it's a bluff (the tape is one Kenbei uses for his studies) that the old man falls for. Even so, Akaiwa chokes horribly over having to announce to the crowd that the attack on the ref was not a foul. Further, Kenbei forces Akaiwa to rescind ALL of the rules for this match. (Ie -- this is another Shindou/Momo Death Match.) Akaiwa is mortified, but Tokashi is looking forward to this. As is Shindou. Again, as with Momo, Shindou attacks when Kenbei isn't looking. After all, "no rules" means "NO rules." The two of them fight full out, and Shindou uses the same over-the-chest throw that'd he'd used on Momo. But this time, Kenbei saves himself by ignoring the chokehold around his neck to do a handspring to keep himself from smashing headlong into the floor (Kenbei berates the attack as a child's trick, which sends Momo into a rage.) There's many pages of combat, and Shindou and Kenbei happily remove their gi jackets to cool off as they keep thrashing each other. Jun is watching Kenbei's gleeful face, and she realizes that the boy always looked like this when he was picking on Yakuza. And she likes him for it. Her cheers for Kenbei drive him on to fight harder, and Mayumi starts cheering on Shindou. Suddenly, they KO each other, to Akaiwa's delight. But, they recover again. However, the thought of seeing Jun nude pushes Kenbei on, and he destroys Shindou. Shindou is lying on the ground, lifeless. Momo decides that the only solution is to have Mayumi promise to give the boy a kiss if he wins. Mayumi refuses, and Shindou seems to be heading for a loss. Kenbei is shouting that Shindou can't be giving up so soon, just when he's having fun. Momo begs Mayumi, Tenkouji threatens her, and the China Rose Gang surface to goad her on. Finally, when Akaiwa is going to announce Kenbei the winner, Mayumi gives in, and Shindou recovers VERY fast. Kenbei is getting tired of screwing around, and demands that Shindou use his "secret" attacks now. Shindou speeds up, and turns on 5 Person Attack. Which is fine by Kenbei, because the Osaka punk has a very high-speed punching attack that can take out 5 people. Except that Shindou really used 6 Person, and the 6th one is standing behind Kenbei delivering One Blow. Kenbei spins around and gets a high-speed punch in to Shindou's jaw as One Blow hits him in the side. They both go down, then get back up. Unfortunately, by turning around in the middle of the punch, Kenbei ripped out all the muscles in his right bicep. He wants to keep fighting, but Jun rushes in and grabs onto his good arm and won't let go. She is in tears, saying that Kenbei will just destroy the other arm as well. Kenbei is surprised, because he's never seen her look so sad and desperate. Shindou has, though. Back with Jun moved away. He remembers who she is now. Kenbei melts, and gives up. However, he makes it clear that he's only doing this because of Jun, and when they get together again, he'll utterly defeat Shindou. Shindou is happy, and he wins the match (Akaiwa isn't so pleased.) Afterwards, in the hospital, both boys are getting bandaged up, but they still kick each other (because Shindou is now acting much more friendly towards Jun.) Jun has to explain herself, and she tells everyone that while she still likes Shindou a lot, she's in love with Kenbei (Kenbei takes this to mean that Jun wants to have sex with him now, as a warm-up for next year's Nationals. Shindou has to bop him on the head with a stool to save Jun.) Shindou remembers Mayumi's promise, and evades reporters to trap the girl outside to collect his kiss. Tenkouji and Momo appear with ropes and tie the boy up, so that the kiss will be guaranteed to land on his cheek, and not his lips. At the last moment though, Gon jumps in and prevents the kiss. He's jealous of Shindou, and won't let Mayumi kiss him, unless Shindou can defeat Gon in the next match. Mayumi agrees to this. Katou is talking to Akaiwa, and he's refusing to use padding. Katou and Gon will be fighting full-contact, with no rules, also. The fight starts, and Shindou and Momo are rooting for the weird-eyes guy. Katou gets a good punch into Gon's nose. Gon says that he's lucky (as he holds back the blood), since if they were fighting under normal rules, that punch would have been good for an ippon. Volume 35: Gon and Katou keep fighting, and Katou is getting more good shots into Gon's face. Katou had trained in a different style of karate, which improves his reach, strengthens his punching knuckles, and includes using a hooked-thumb Spear-Hand to rip the opponent's skin. However, Gon replies that the attacks only hurt skin, and not bone. Shindou is complaining that the fight is taking too long. Finally, Gon uses 100 Person Attack. Which is what Katou was waiting for. Katou closes his eyes and uses his specialty -- listening for the location of the real Gon. Katou launches a Spear-Hand and hits the real Gon dead-on. Dead-on the top of the head. Katou's fingers are reduced to shards, and the runt fires off One Blow. Katou flies into the stands, realizes that Gon is WAY better than him, and passes out. Momo and Tenkouji are upset that Gon won using the Old Man's techniques; but Shindou is pissed that Gon, a supporting character, got a full 30 pages worth of fighting in. The reporter asks Akaiwa for comments on the last match, and before the pompous one can get really rolling, Tokashi goes off to the men's room to dump a load. Outside, Momo and the China Rose Gang are trying to provoke Mayumi into offering a kiss to Gon, if Gon defeats Shindou, to ensure that Shindou will fight hard enough to take the championship. (Shindou doesn't want a kiss on the cheek now; he's grading up to a "deep kiss".) Things get out of hand, and Mayumi loses it and "sweetly" offers to kiss Gon if Gon wins. Momo is dumped into a wastebasket and kicked into the street by Shindou, and it looks like Shindou and Mayumi might actually be splitting up. Mayumi stalks off, and Shindou claims that he's not going to win to prevent Gon from getting the kiss; he holds up his little finger instead. The China Rose Gang leave him in disgust to cheer for Gon. Mayumi thinks that she's made a fool of herself, and when she hears Momo and his crowd approaching, she hides under a couch. Where she overhears one of the others describe Shindou's holding up his little finger. No one can figure out what this means. Meanwhile, Yurie is frantically driving to the tournament to save her old man, and Tenkouji finds Tokashi slumped against the wall in the hallway, breathing hard and looking sick. Yurie is outdriving a squad car in her haste. Tenkouji asks if "Tokashi" is ok, and when the old man tries to escape before his disquise is blown, he trips, falls on his face, and loses his wig in front of the priest. Meanwhile, Mayumi is looking at her little finger, trying to figure out Shindou's meaning, when China Rose grabs her and drags her to the ring. There, Momo and China Rose try to outdo each other -- CR cheering for Gon, and the 300-member Oendan cheering for Shindou. Shindou says that he doesn't need either of the two groups rooting for him. And, when CR tells Gon that Mayumi will kiss him if he wins, Shindou just glares. Gon thinks that this is a trick being played on a foolish country boy, and Mayumi is pressured into linking little fingers with the boy to seal the promise to kiss him if he wins -- which causes Mayumi to suddenly remember having done the same thing before with Shindou (when Shindou was preparing to go to the mountains to train for this tournament.) Before the promise can be sealed, Shindou throws Gon into the ring and they start fighting. CR wants Mayumi to cheer for Gon as well, but the girl is grabbed by the arm and dragged off. By Jun, who wants Mayumi to fess up (using the photo album as proof) to actually liking Shindou. Mayumi doesn't understand Shindou's feelings right now, but she follows her own heart, and rushes into the gym to yell out "Koutarou, Ganbare!!!" Which is a good thing, because Shindou is getting royally thrashed. (He had asked how long Gon has known Mayumi, and when the boy answered, "I first saw her 5 days ago," Shindou roared back that he's known her for 16 years.) Mayumi promises to make supper for Shindou if he wins, which is all he needed to hear to make a recovery. This makes CR happy, and they start cheering for Shindou again. But, Gon realizes that he's just getting in the way of a true friendship, and he starts to cry. So, CR starts cheering for him again. Shindou can't bring himself to hit Gon now, so he asks Momo to slap him and make him angry again. Momo is happy to do this, but Kenbei beats him to it (with a punch that would kill normal people.) Kenbei (bandaged up and supposedly confined to a hospital bed) is angry that Shindou would wimp out like this over the tears of a love-struck young boy. But, Gon decides that even if he can't win Mayumi over, he can still deprive his rival out of a supper. They start fighting again and Gon is still getting in the more devastating blows. Momo asks Kenbei about this, and the two of them decide that Shindou and Gon are using the exact same techniques, but those techniques were designed for a smaller person -- therefore, Gon is going to win. Akaiwa is happy, and claims that Shindou's karate is a sham, while Gon's is the real thing. He's especially happy with the flying kicks the runt uses, which he claims are more pure than any "strong punch." Except that Gon suddenly uses Shikato's dance move (Tumbling rush, into a handspring, to sumersault over the opponent and then kick him in the back of the head) which is what Shindou had been using when the ref kept stopping his match.) Akaiwa has the sudden bad feeling that the two fighters have the same teacher, and Tokashi (who's sitting back in his chair) says, "yes, those are my techniques." He removes his wig and glasses, and Akaiwa freaks. Gon missed with the first kick, so he does the move again, and Shindou realizes that if he spins around at the last minute, he can get a headbutt in. This works, but this IS Gon's "rock head" that he smashes into. With his own "rock head." Gon collapses, and Shindou tries the headbutt again, but Gon evades it this time and Shindou hurts himself on the floor. Akaiwa, realizing that if either boy wins, it'll mean that Shikato will be vindicated (Akaiwa is the one that had been hit with One Blow before, when Shikato had been DQ'd for not using Real Karate 50 years ago) tries to stop the fight. He sends in his personal bodyguards, but these guys lose their pants to Tenkouji's sword. Momo is pissed, and demands that he be given at least half of the bodyguards to fight for himself. The two highschool boys are doing fine until Kenbei asks the guards why they're messing with the interlopers instead of trying to stop the match (Akaiwa claimed that with both boys limp on the ground, that they had to be rushed to the hospital. But, they are both now standing and ready to fight again.) Two guards get on the mats, which is what Kenbei wanted. He slips free of Jun's grasp to very happily headbutt the two guards into unconsciousness. China Rose gets into the act and hits some guards with folding chairs. So, the 300 members of the Ouendan rush to join in. One guard asks Gosaku Inokuma why he isn't trying to save his teammate, and the pitbull, seeing the determined look in Gon's eye, elbows the guard in the chest. Gosaku tells his students to protect the ring as well. In the middle of this, Shikato is sitting at the edge of the ring, waiting to see how the match between his two students will end. So, Gon turns on 100 Person Attack. It is flawless. Shindou smiles. Volume 36: All 100 Gons rush forward. Only to face 100 Shindous. Shikato is the most surprised, but Akaiwa is the most horrified. The 200 fighters (actually, they're just moving so fast as to leave afterimages) are all over the mat. Finally, 1 Gon is surrounded by 3 Shindous. Gon is trapped, and hit with One Blow in the back. He drops to the floor, helpless. Shindou holds up his little finger, saying "I won." (Implied, "Like I promised you I would.") Mayumi is in tears, happy for him. The crowd goes wild, and even the bodygoards join in the applause. Only Kenbei (pissed that Shindou didn't consider him worth wasting 100 Person on) and Akaiwa (whose world has just collapsed) don't applaud. Gon apologizes to his teammates for losing, and Gosaku berates him -- the team captain is incredibly proud that Gon had done so well.) Gon is happy at this; his only regret is that he hadn't met Mayumi 16 years earlier. China Rose is about to sweep Mayumi into the middle of the mat to put her next to Shindou, when people notice that Shikato is unconscious on the floor. They rush to the hospital (Gon recovers quickly) and Momo screams at Tenkouji for not telling him earlier about the Old Man's condition. The doctor says that there is nothing he can do, and asks that everyone leave the room to give the old man some peace. Shindou refuses; he is Shikato's prime student now, and he isn't going to leave Shikato's side. Yurie finally arrives at the hospital. She finds everyone out in the walls, leaning up against the wall and looking devastated. She rushes into the hospital room, where she finds... A huge unko. Like Shikato had said earlier, he need to dump a load. And when he finally did, the smell knocked everyone out. 3 days later, Jun and Kenbei have returned to Osaka; Gon and friends went back home; and Shindou is zipping around campus on a skateboard, flipping up girls' skirts. He goes to the hospital, where Hiromi is still babysitting Kenji. Super Doctor K had been attending them, and Kenji is guaranteed to fully recover his eyesight. Hiromi takes the chance to ask if Shindou has proclaimed his love directly to Mayumi yet (the China Rose Gang had visited "her" earlier, and told "her" everything.) Shindou doesn't answer. Meanwhile, Mayumi is remembering what Jun had said. Then Shindou and Mayumi run into each other on campus. They are too embarrassed to say anything, and are saved when Momo arrives with Shikato's promise -- 1000 panties for the boy. Momo adds that the new dojo is finished. Shindou runs off -- the dojo was indeed completed in 3 days (designed like the first one he had, because he was comfortable with that one.) Mayumi sees Shindou looking so happy, and starts to say that she loves him. Shindou sees Mayumi looking so gentle and vulnerable and starts to say that he loves her. And, at this time, Jason-chan finally arrives, after having swum from the island for 5 days. She smashes into the dojo with her "darling." When the China Rose Gang come up with some sake to celebrate the new dojo, Jason grabs a timber and tries to kill them for having left her alone in the middle of the ocean. CR tries to escape to the island again, and Jason follows them. The dojo collapses. Tenkouji and Momo drop by, and comment that it now looks like Shindou will have to wait a full year to try to win the next tournament before he can be gifted with a new building. Shindou tells them to shutup. === This marks the end of Part 3 of the Koutarou Guide === ISDN information [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311390-6 C0279, 370 yen] -- 30 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311407-4 C0279, 370 yen] -- 31 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311429-5 C0279, 370 yen] -- 32 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311446-5 C0279, 380 yen] -- 33 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311464-3 C0279, 380 yen] -- 34 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311482-1 C0279, 380 yen] -- 35 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311501-1 C0279, 390 yen] -- 36 ==================================================================== -- Curtis H. Hoffmann Feb. 25, 1994