Subject: _Koutarou Magaritooru!_ Character Guide, Part 6


                  A Clomping Stumble and Pratfall Through
                  Tatsuya Hirota's _Koutarou Magaritooru!_
                                (Koutarou, Break Through!)

                    ===================================
                           Volumes 51 through 59
                    ===================================

                          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 ??.

                    ===================================
                             New Main Characters
                    ===================================

   Reika Kisaragi: Kenji's "not-quite" 70-year-old grandmother from China.
                   She is the one who originally knew "One Blow", and
                   accidently taught it to Shikato 50 years ago.  While
                   she looks very old and wrinkled normally, she can
                   occasionally use an ancient Chinese trick to recover her
                   former height and beauty (and she WAS very pretty.)
                   [fa:v50] [ls:v59]
   Shinshou Chin:  An old, distinguished gray-haired Chinaman that controls
                   the Chinatown in Yokohama.  VERY rich, with his own house
                   in the countryside 20 minutes away from Chinatown.
                   [fa:v51] [ls:v59]

                    ===================================
                                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
   The Trashmen Arriveth                      Book 41 -- 42    o
   Blasts From the Past                       Book 42 -- 45    R
   The White Rose: It All Comes Around        Book 45 -- 50    R
   The Chinese Connection                     Book 51 -- 52    o
   We Are the Koutarouz!                      Book 52 -- 56    R
   Horobi                                     Book 56 -- 59    R



                    ===================================
                    Volume Outlines, and New Characters
                    ===================================

Volume 51:

   Kyohou Chin: Shinshou's spoiled, gluttonous son (an only child.)  Speaks
                Japanese with a lisp. [fa:v51] [la:v52]
   Unja Ou:     Leader of a Hong Kong drug ring, and master of Snake-style
                kung fu.  Unja and Kyohou have teamed up to bring opium into
                Japan, and Unja has supplied the Hong Kong thugs that are
                guarding the Chin house.  Has a tattoo of a coiled snake on
                his forehead, and over his left eye.  Shindou thinks that
                this is an "unko" (coiled turd.)  [fa:v51] [la:v52]

   Reika is in Kenji's room with Mayumi, thinking that Mayumi is Kenji's
girlfriend, which is good because Mayumi is very nice and polite, while that
other boy was VERY rude.  The rude boy enters the room at this point and
gets another pachinko ball in the head.  (Shindou is still in bandages, with
one bandage over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.)  He challenges the
ugly old woman to shoot another ball at him, and uses the one in his hand to
smash Reika's attack right back at her.  Reika is surprised at this, and a
voice says "of course, he's MY student."  Everyone is shocked to see Shikato
standing there, and further surprised to learn that Shikato and Reika both
know each other.  Reika then explains that 50 years ago, when Shikato had
gone to China to study, he kept trying to see her when she was in the bath
or on the toilet.  She'd used One Blow to smash him up and away, until one
day when he'd picked up the technique and used it back at her.  She
developed a crush on Shikato then, at the time he'd decided to return to
Japan (with a pair of her panties.  After 50 years, he still has them.)
   Shindou hates the idea that someone could love a woman so ugly, and Reika
uses her "youth" trick to become 19 again (although her hair is still
white.)  Shindou and Shikato try to grab her breasts right at the time that
the trick wears off (she can only hold it for 30 seconds.)  Reika is
wondering why Shikato called her to the hospital, and he says that he wants
to return her panties.  He also wants her help to fight Tatsuya.  With
Kenji's pleading, Reika agrees to join them.
   Later, Reika and Shikato drive to Shinshou Chin's house to ask for a loan,
and they discuss Shindou's rude personality (in the trunk, Shindou keeps
sneezing as they insult him.)  But, Shinshou is apparently sick in a hospital
somewhere, and Kyohou is the one that greets them.  He treats Shikato and
Reika to dinner, but doesn't offer them enough money to fight Tatsuya.
Kyohou has heard of Tatsuya, and seems to be an evilly greedy man himself.
Shikato and Reika leave; they talk about the 10 thugs they'd seen guarding
the place, and Reika thinks that she could defeat them all in 10 seconds.
There was an 11th person, who may take longer.  During this discussion,
Reika uses her "youth" trick, and Shikato slips up under her Chinese tunic,
and between her breasts.
   Meanwhile, Shindou has entered the grounds (he tried to be polite to one
of the thugs, but accidently beat the guy to a pulp.)  The hero steals a
bunch of steamed meat buns from the kitchen, and while wandering through the
basement (picking up weapons from the armory there, and making a joke about
Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" movie,) he accidently discovers the secret
switch that opens the trapdoor to the hidden tunnel below the house.  Unja
and Kyohou discuss the presence of Shikato and Reika, and Unja thinks that a
spy was left behind to steal things from the house.  Kyohou discovers that
this is true, to his horror.
   Shindou goes through the tunnel, and finds bags of flour on rows of
shelves.  He also finds an old man chained up.  Kyohou and Unja appear, and
Kyohou accuses Shindou of stealing 20 meat buns.  The thugs are ordered to
attack the boy, but Shindou uses his nunchuks to recreate the Enter the
Dragon movie, and trashes them all.  Unja leaps in, and uses a spear to
threaten to kill the old man.  Shindou surrenders, and is beaten to a pulp
by Kyohou (NO ONE touches Kyohou's food).  When the boy recovers, he's been
chained up with Shinshou Chin.  Shinshou is saddened that Shindou has been
trapped with him, while his only son and Unja work together to smuggle opium
into Japan.
   Our hero isn't all that put out by this, and picks his lock with a paper
clip (that had been hidden in his hair.)  Then, Shindou remembers a scene
from another movie, and proceeds to cut up all of the flour and opium bags
and throw the powder in the air.  He and Shinshou hide in the big water jar
in the basement, and Shindou uses a pebble to break the lightbulb in the
room.  The resulting huge dust explosion blows open the metal doors at the
end of the chamber (Kyohou had changed the combination) and Shindou and
Shinshou escape.  Problem is, Shinshou's ankle was hurt in the blast, so
Shindou carries the old man down the tunnel for 20 kilometers.
   Two of the thugs were waiting for Shindou to escape up into the basement,
but were hurled away by the blast.  Unja is told what happened, and he takes
his men to the point where the tunnel opens to the surface.  Shindou and
Shinshou walk out through a secret door built into the fountain in Yamashita
Park (next to the bay in Yokohama; Curtis has been there several times)
(Shinshou's people had helped build the park.)  Unja leaps down from the back
of the fountain, and proceeds to fight Shindou.  Shindou's back is in really
bad condition from the beating Kyohou gave him, and Unja uses his Snake
attacks to inflict GREAT PAIN on Shindou's body.  (The thugs keep their guns
trained on Shinshou Chin.)  One of the first blows causes Shindou to lose
his voice.


   Volume 52:

   Kyohou is depressed at the growing fire engulfing the house, and his chef
tells him to relax.  The fat man relaxes and feels much lighter.  So light
that he flies away (attached to a cable suspended from Shikato's helicopter.)
   Unja is completely trashing Shindou, and talking in metaphors (implying
that this is just an appetizer.)  Eventually, Unja fires a strike to the face,
and reopens the cut on Shindou's nose.  The boy gets pissed at being
reminded of the fight with Tenkouji, and disses the "unko-yarrow".  Unja
decides to deliver the main course, and leaps up to finish the boy off.  This
is what Shindou was waiting for, and he strikes Unja in "that" nerve
cluster.  Unja suddenly needs to go to the toilet very badly.  He fights to
keep his bowels under control; preoccupied, he's vulnerable when Shindou
kicks him in the face and reduces his nose to mush.  The thugs are about to
shoot Shindou, when the helicopter flies up, and Reiko shoots pachinko balls
at them.  Reika becomes young, and proceeds to kick the thugs into oblivion
within 10 seconds.  She's very impressed to find that the 11th person was
the infamous Unja Ou, and that Shindou had beaten the guy, with a bad back
and after running 20 kilometers.  Our hero passes out, and Reika becomes
young again to kiss the boy on the cheek.  Shikato takes a picture of it.
Then, Shinshou Chin sees his son in the helicopter, and he takes a gun
to blow Kyohou's brains out.  At the last second, Shinshou says that he's
changed his mind, pulling the trigger to only shave the top of Kyohou's
head.  Kyohou faints (and presumably becomes a good boy later on; although
we never see him again.)  Shindou is taken back to the hospital again, and
when Mayumi sees the photo, she slaps the boy around a lot (the photo shows
Shindou's hand on Reika's butt.)

   On a nice hot beach, the Marionette girls are filming an ad for Shonen
Magazine, and other promotional items.  In front of the camera, they're all
sweetness and light.  Off camera, they bicker and insult each other.  All of
the fame and fortune is causing them to hate each other (each one thinks
that she is better than the others.)  Yoshioka and Kurosawa are at the
shoot, and Yoshioka tells them to take a break while he walks on the beach.
(Kurosawa's neck is still in the brace.)  Yoshioka sees Megumi's ghost,
beckoning him to enter the surf and join her, but he's not ready to die yet.
Then, Seagull comes up to kill him with a short-scythe attack (it starts to
rain, and the promo shoot is cancelled).  Tatsuya recognizes the killer from
Shinsui's office (Seagull had been standing invisibly in the room.)  Tatsuya
realizes that he can't hypnotize Seagull, and is getting ready to simply
fight (easily evading the attacks) when Kurosawa runs up to help.  The dance
teacher pulls off his tie, and uses his ki to turn it into a sword that he
thrusts through Tatsuya's chest.  Kurosawa plans to take over the school, and
team up with Shinsui.  Tatsuya is surprised, but still uses his fan to cut
off Kurosawa's head.  Kurosawa dies, and Seagull attacks with a "mole"
thrust (the scythe blade disappears under the sand to surface under the
opponent's foot; thus empaled, the victim is helpless as the other scythe
kills him.)  Problem is, Tatsuya has learned to ignore pain, and when his
foot gets impaled, he stands there and uses his fan to behead Seagull.
Megumi's ghost disappears, and Tatsuya walks a little ways before collapsing
from his wounds.  Someone finds him after the rain has cleared.
   At Shikato's mansion, the band is getting special training (Maa-chan is
learning how to break tiles with his hand, Watagase and Nomi are able to
kick the cigarettes from each other's mouths, and Shindou is burying his
face in the butts of all 100 bunny girl bodyguards (then evading the
machinegun fire and handgrenades afterwards.)  Kyou Otomi is the only one
that isn't showing progress.)  At supper, Shikato hides inside the roast
pig, and then announces that they've decided when to put on the show at
TVT Hall -- in one month, with the money for it coming from Shinshou Chin.
Shindou calls up Shinsui, and they trade insults until Chin takes the phone
and verifies that he's backing the upcoming debut.  Turns out that Shinsui
and Shinshou know each other, and they've been fighting each other for a
long time.
   The band trains harder on martial arts, and Kyou is in great pain at the
end of the day.  He happens on Nomi playing guitar, and they talk about
Nomi's problem.  Nomi has long loved playing guitar, but when he finally
appeared on stage before his high school classmates, he turned to stone and
everyone laughed at him (including his girlfriend of that time.)  Nomi came
close to giving up his guitar, but couldn't.  Since then, he's contented
himself with session work.  And, Nomi tells Otomi to take over for him on
stage.
   Shinsui taps some of his deadliest students to attack the band, while
Otomi finally breaks one tile with his hand (after ten years, he might be
able to break 3 tiles.)
   Shindou disappears to lay flowers on the spot where Megumi had died 47
days earlier, and Mayumi joins him (after 47 days, the departed spirit goes
off to be reincarnated.)  Chin and Shikato go to the airport to pick up a
couple more people, and they talk about how Chin's wife had died long ago in
a conflict before her 2nd child could be born.
   As Shindou is about to return from the river, he's attacked by Sonny
Black.  He thinks that "the Kapoera yarrow" has joined forces with Shinsui,
and attacks back.  But, the black drummer just wanted to surprise the boy.
Black and Steve Pie have been flown in with Kaiser (Kaiser insisted on
taking separate planes, much to Chin's disgust), to act as Watagase's
opening act.  With Kaiser playing guitar in the opening act, Otomi is free to
play in the main act with Shindou, Maa-chan, and Watagase.  Kaiser is a
little more friendly now, but he keeps putting on gloves before shaking
people's hands.  He and Shindou develop an immediate hate for each other,
and Kaiser keeps pulling a pistol on the boy.  The band performs in front of
Kaiser, Black, and Pie; the three are stunned at Watagase's vocals, and
Kaiser falls in love with her.  Before Otomi or Shindou can react, Watagase
has pulped Kaiser with her mike.

   Next follows Tatsuya Yoshioka's story.  Tatsuya wakes up in a hospital
bed, and is greeted by the man that saved him (he's the same one who had
been standing in front of Tokyo Dome with Tatsuya.  We learn more about this
guy later.)  When Tatsuya is sleeping, he gets bad dreams of his childhood.
   Tatsuya has a twin brother, Maya.  Maya and Tatsuya were both raised by
their father to learn the Senyouryou style of traditional Japanese dance
while using a fan.  But, while Maya was very good at the dance, Tatsuya was
better.  One day, Tatsuya was poisoned, and almost died.  Maya went off
to Tsurugamine school, and Tatsuya was declared heir to the Senyouryou
empire.  Tatsuya thought that Maya had tried to kill him.  One day, while he
was still recovering, Tatsuya was told by his father that he had a little
sister who'd finally been allowed to return to the house -- Megumi.  Megumi
tended to Tatsuya, and helped him get better.  Then, Tatsuya finally learned
that it was his father that had tried to kill him; something snapped in him,
and Tatsuya turned evil.  He used the same poison on his father (killing the
guy.  Tatsuya had a death mask made, and hung the mask in the house.)
   Maya returned to the household and found the mask.  He was going to
attack Tatsuya when Megumi stepped in to protect him.  From that point on
Tatsuya worked on his plans, with Megumi helping, and Maya had been working
against him.  Maya had taken the concept of "beautful dance" one step
further, though, and was now wearing a dress and make-up.   From here on,
Tatsuya has been known as the "White Rose", and Maya is the "Red Rose" aka
-- Beni Bara.

   Tatsuya plans to use the Senyouryou secrets to create a new empire to
control Japan.  Maya, having been isolated from their father's evil
influence, has become a force (albeit a vicious one) for good.


   Volume 53:

   Hitoshi Komuro: A cadaverous man with long, lanky black hair.  Wears a
           black suit, white shirt, and black tie.  Komuro is one of the
           Bushinkan's Four Emperors.  The other three members are (were):
           Yoshida, Seagull, and Yousui.  [fa:v53] [la:v55]
   Youko Tono: One of the Marionette girls, with short black hair brushed
           up and out to the sides.  Big black eyes, and a shy smile that is
           triggered very easily.  The shortest one of the group, age 17.
           [fa:v49] [first named:v53]

   At Shikato's mansion, the time comes for the big press conference, where
Kaiser will explain why such a great guitarist as himself will be opening
for a band of nobodies at TVT Hall.  (Kaiser, Pie, and Shindou go to face
the press at TVT Studios, with Reika hiding in the background.)  Kaiser has
trouble coping with the stupid questions from the yellow monkeys of the
press, but he does keep basically under control.  Shindou shocks everyone
with his floating ghost gag (he puts a tissue over his penis, and the
hard-on causes the tissue to rise.)  This forces Reika to hit the boy in a
nerve cluster that makes his body freeze up.  Eventually, Shindou is asked a
question and Reika has to release him.  The next question is "what's the name
of your band?"  No one had decided this before, and Shindou yells out "We
Are The Koutarouz!"
   Reika freezes up Shindou's body again, and leaves him motionless in front
of the press as the rest of the group goes home.  Later, Otomi and Watagase
take turns pulping Shindou.  Watagase has nightmares about coming out on
stage as the MC calls out "and now, The Koutarouz!!!"  Unfortunately, the
name was announced on live TV, and they're stuck with it now.  After waking
up from one nightmare, Watagase walks the halls to calm down, and happens
upon Nomi.  Nomi is playing guitar in one room, making changes to Kaiser's
arrangements.  Since the band is being pulled out from under him, this is
the only way he can still have an influence on it.
   Problem is, Otomi and Kaiser are both prima donnas, and they hate having
anyone tampering with their music.  The next day, there is a fight over
this, and while Watagase is trying to protect Nomi, saying that she likes
his arrangement, Nomi announces that he's leaving the band anyway, so it
doesn't matter what they do.  He goes back home.
   At supper, Mayumi serves a traditional Japanese meal, and Kaiser wants to
join in (while sitting at his own private table.)  Shindou tells him how to
eat natto (a truly disgusting thing.  Natto is fermented beans that have
become very slimy and sticky.  Usually, natto is eaten as a flavoring along
with a bowl of rice.)  Shindou has Kaiser mix soy sauce and hot spice in
with the natto, and then they slurp down the mess in one gulp.  Black tried
this also, and he's ready to throw up.  Kaiser's eyes bulge, but he pulls
his gun, and demands that they do this again.  Kaiser LIKES natto.
   The band looks like it may split up over Nomi.  Mayumi wants to know what
to do (Shindou keeps holding a porno magazine up so that it looks like
Mayumi's face is attached to the near-naked bodies in the mag) and listening
to a tape of their rehearsal using Nomi's arrangements.  Otomi is thinking,
staring at the moon, and Watagase is trying to piece things together with
Steve's help.

   At Akaiwa's estate, Shinsui and one black-suited minion are feeding the
piranhas.  One piranha leaps up to attack Shinsui's nose, and the minion
catches it by the tail.  Since there was no threat, Shinsui allows the fish
to return to the pond unpunished.  Yousui approaches them (having bopped a
few guards along the way.)  Shinsui had warned Yousui to stay away from his
fish (sometime ago, Yousui had teased the piranhas and Shinsui's pet tiger,
Miiko.)  Yousui has gained his grandfather's wrath (for many reasons,
including saving Shindou from the Black Practice, and for telling Shinsui to
leave the band alone just now), so the minion -- Komura -- is told to punish
Yousui.  Yousui tries to remember where he last heard Komura's name, and says
"Oh yeah -- you're one of the Four Emperor's.  That was a really stupid name
for us."  Komura attacks, and Yousui defends against the kicks and punches,
trying to remember Komura's favorite attack.  At the last minute, he pulls
his head back as Komura spits a bunch of little needles from his mouth.
Yousui takes damage around his good eye (his left eye is permanently dead
and covered with a patch) and it's quickly covered in blood.  But, Yousui
copies Shindou's "closed eyes" technique and easily evades Komura's attacks.
Shinsui and Komura can't believe this.  Komura takes a severe punch to the
stomach, and is about to fall into the pond when Yousui grabs him by the tie
and saves him.  This action is taken to be a sign of weakness, and Komura
attacks Yousui's good eye again.  Yousui just smiles, crushes Komura's
throat, and lets Komura fall into the piranha pond.
   The Koutarouz are flown in by helicopter to the TVT building (Shikato's
TV station) to rehearse in one of the auditoriums.  The rest of the band is
surrounded by armed bunny girls, but Shindou is left to fend for himself.
Because the boy had been training by burying his face in the bunny girls'
butts and then evading their gunfire, if he now gets within 5 yards of them,
they'll kill him themselves.
   In the TVT building, Watagase discovers that Marionette is also
practicing there (Shindou raids their lockers, and he and Shikato take turns
sniffing one of the girl's panties.)  Youko, one of the Marionette dancers,
sees Watagase and they disappear to talk.  Youko is friendly, until Watagase
asks how the Marionettes are getting along.  Youko evades the question, and
returns to her practice.  (Shindou wants Youko to sign her panties for him.)
Watagase starts to brood over whether she's going to change for the worse,
like the Marionettes have.
   After the Marionettes finish practicing, and are squabbling again, Youko
runs off to listen in on the Koutarouz practice session.  She breaks down
into tears, and leaves shortly after.  The band goes to Chinatown for supper
at Reika's restaurant, and they discuss the upcoming dangers facing them
before the concert.
   Shinsui gets a phone call while he is playing Shogi by himself.  Tatsuya
is on the line, and he says that he's far away, recovering from his wounds.
He tells Shinsui what piece to play next, and the old monster becomes
convinced that a mini camera has been stuffed into the suit of armor setting
behind him.  (Tatsuya also implies that with Kurosawa's death, there's only
one person that knows how to control Marionette.)  The conversation ends as
Tatsuya coughs up blood.  Elsewhere in the Akaiwa estate, Yousui is sitting
next to his father's bed.  Gensui just lies on the futon on the floor,
staring at the ceiling.  Gensui has lost a lot of weight and his beard is
un-shaved.  Yousui is gnashing his teeth over his father's condition.
   Shindou is trying to get past Reika to sneak into the room where both
Mayumi's will be sleeping; Reika kicks the boy in the balls, which is also
what happened to Shikato.  Watagase is talking to Mayumi about what had
happened with Youko earlier, and she's concerned about becoming cold and
selfish if they become more famous.  Mayumi falls asleep, and Watagase
decides to leave the room (to see if Mayumi is sleeping, Watagase tickles
her nipples.  When Mayumi wakes up, she's relieved to find that it's Shindou
who's playing with her body, and not Watagase.  Right after this, Shindou
gets trashed.)  They discover that Watagase took Mayumi's school clothing and
disappeared.  Mayumi now has to wear Watagase's rock outfit.
   Reika's minions lost Watagase when the girl left Chinatown, but Mayumi
suggests that the girl had gone to Nomi's apartment.  Otomi feels rather
guilty about this.  On the streets, Yousui is riding in a van with 4 other
members of the Bushinkan, and they recognize Watagase.  She gets to Nomi's
apartment at dawn, and is stopped by a very big, fat bunny girl.  Bunny Girl
#1313 has been assigned to watch Nomi, and she lets Watagase in to talk to
Nomi.  Watagase makes coffee (using half a jar of grounds, and no filter.)
The coffee is very bad, so the three of them go to a family restaurant for
breakfast.  Watagase confides her fear to Nomi, adding that she really likes
Nomi's arrangements.  Nomi looks like he's getting mad, but he's really just
trying to keep his cigarette smoke from getting into #1313's bunny tail
(she's standing beside their table.)
   Otomi, Maa-chan, and Shindou take a helicopter into Tokyo.  Otomi is
strapped into a parachute, given orders to pick up some sandwiches and a
porno mag from a convenience store, and then pushed out of the helicopter.
Otomi can't follow the directions on the map that Maa-chan dres, and he
gets lost beside a college campus.  Meanwhile, Nomi, #1313, and Watagase
discover that none of them have any money.  #1313 has orders to stay with
Nomi, so Watagase goes out to find a bank machine (it is now about 9:00 AM.)
She takes a shortcut by the college campus, and is attacked by two of the
Bushinkan men from the van.  She yells out "perverts!!!", which causes some
housewives to come out to the street.  Watagase tells one to call the police,
but the woman yells at the bad guy.  The guy kicks the housewife in the head
and she flies backwards.  The other villian says that the average response
time for the police is a little over 5 minutes, which would allow them to
kill her 30 times over.
   One villian punches with brass knuckles, and Watagase defends herself
with her purse.  Otomi heard her scream of "pervert", and he steals
someone's skateboard to race in to help her.  The board goes flying to hit
one guy in the knee, and Mayumi hairsprays the other in the face before
kicking him in the balls.  Otomi hits the first guy in the head with "a blow
that can break 3 tiles" and the guy turns around to deliver a blow that can
break 10 tiles.  Watagase KO's the villian with the skateboard to the back
of the head.  When Otomi is sure that Watagase is safe, he slaps her for
making him so worried.  She rubs her cheek, and finds blood on it -- Otomi
had scraped up his right hand pretty good when he shot the skateboard away.
   The bunny girls have reached Nomi's apartment.  Nomi, #1313 and Watagase
are missing; there's a dead body in another apartment, but it has no
relation to Yomi and company.  #1313 also left her wireless radio in the
apartment.  (During the morning practice session, Shindou keeps breaking his
drum sticks, which is taken as a sign that something bad is happening.)  The
police arrive and put Otomi and Watagase in a squad car (guess who controls
these guys?)  After Watagase bandages up Otomi's hand, the two of them are
delivered to Shinsui's estate.


   Volume 54:

   One of the bunny girls spots Nomi in the restaurant, and #1313 is berated
for not carrying her radio (the batteries were dead.)  Nomi is hauled into
TVT studios, where he's berated for letting Watagase go out alone, and then
told to tune Maa-chan's guitar (Maa-chan can't tune worth a damn, and it's
always been Nomi's job to do that.)  Shikato announces that the police have
picked up Watagase and Otomi, but the Superintendent says that they're not
his men.  Shindou rushes out of the room to go to Akaiwa's mansion to save
his two friends, while Shikato is yelling for him to stop.  Kaiser wants to
help by shooting the boy, but is bopped on the head by Pie's guitar, and the
gun is booted away before Mayumi's father can see it. Black attacks the boy,
and Shindou tries to kill him to get him out of the way.  Distraught, Mayumi
gets between them to stop the fighting; Shindou can't pull his kick in time,
and smacks Mayumi in the side of the chest.  She collapses, but begs Shindou
to come to his senses -- the boy is needed here to play drums.  (The scene
is very romantic, until Shindou's hard-on scares Mayumi away.)  Reika vows to
go save the two.
   At Akaiwa's mansion, Otomi and Watagase are checking out their cage, and
listening to the roars of Miiko -- a VERY hungry tiger.  Shinsui promises
that Miiko will eat soon.  Yousui and 4 more minions are in a van outside
TVT studios, waiting for their chance to get the rest of the band.  They
cruise around a while, and Yousui tells the driver to stop so that he can
take a piss.  Yousui cripples everyone in the van (broken necks, etc.), and
leaves.  Watagase is getting worried, but Otomi repeats Shindou's old speech
of "while you're still alive, there's still a chance."  Otomi is starving,
and he calls out for someone to get him food.  Komuro (covered in bandages
from his piranha bitings, has his right eye covered, and can no longer
speak) writes on a pad, asking for instructions, and Shinsui tells him to
give the prisoners what they want.  Otomi gets two trays of sushi, a
Fernandez FR-95S guitar, and a Mesa Boogie amp.  Watagase gets over her
funk, and asks for a karaoke set and another plastic cigarette.  The two are
happily jamming away when Shinsui sends for them to come see him.
   Tenkouji wants to go save Otomi and Watagase, but Shindou can't join him.
The boy has to stay behind.  Kaiser's opening set should last one hour, and
then Shindou will do a 50-minute solo.  That should be enough time to rescue
the prisoners and get them back on stage.  (Shindou REALLY wants to fight
Shinsui now.)
   It's getting time for the Koutarouz show to start, but the crowd is
worried about the police and riot squads that have gathered to prevent
another "Marionette riot" from happening.  Shindou stretches out, and Black
asks if he really can hold a 50 minute drum solo.  Shindou gives the other
drummer a sample tape of "the master of infinity" as proof that he can do
this.  Kaiser congratulates himself over looking so beautiful, and the
Kaiser Band goes out on-stage.
   Shinsui tells Otomi and Watagase that they'll die right after the
Koutarouz Band finishes playing.  Up in the rafters, Tenkouji and Reika are
waiting for their moment, while trading barbs of "old woman", and "hage".
(Reika had used her "youth" trick when she made a commercial for her
restaurant; Ten-hage, who hadn't seen the ad, can't believe that anyone
would want to watch such an ugly old woman.)  Kaiser finishes his Natto
Ballad -- a tribute to one of Japan's great foods.  Kaiser is acting as MC
(first time this has ever happened) and calls out "Greetings, Japan's Yellow
Monk...  Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming here tonight."  But,
before he can do an encore, Kaiser has to run off stage to eat more natto.
Steve is concerned about Shindou's ability, and Black happily lets him
listen to the tape.
   Miiko tries to attack Otomi and Watagase (they are all in the same cage)
while Tenkouji and Reika look on helplessly.  However, there is a sheet of
glass between the tiger and its food.
   The curtain goes up, and Shindou is surrounded by fog, and three large
gongs.  Shindou uses his long ponytail (with a baseball wrapped inside) to
beat out a tempo on the gongs (the audience is trying to figure out the
point of this.)  Then, some of Reika's men come out to attack Shindou (at
first with kicks, then later with real swords.)  Shindou uses the attacks to
let him go from gong to gong to maintain his musical pattern.  He gets
sloppy, and one man sweeps his feet out from under him.  (Black thinks he
can do the same trick, but with his bald head, it would have to be strictly
footwork.)  Shindou defends against the swords using an original Bishi Bashi
drumstick nunchuks (Bishibashi is happy for the advertising, but another
clerk is wondering who would buy drumstick nunchucks.)  Shindou smashes out
a rhythm piece on the drums while blocking sword thrusts.  Finally, the men
get tired and leave, and Shindou gets behind the drums to play for real.
   Shinsui traps "the two mice in the ceiling," and Tenkouji and Reika
descend to the floor, where Komura holds a spear to Watagase's neck.
Tenkouji throws his sword into the air in defeat.  In his helicopter,
Shikato uses Shindou's stage act as his signal to launch missiles into the
Akaiwa compound.  Piranha fly into the air and eat the guards; napalm bombs
set the buildings on fire.  The police Superintendent is happy to see
Akaiwa's house burn, and is now working with Shikato to get his revenge on
Shinsui (for the destruction of the Watase home.)  The explosions distract
Komura, and Reika shoots balls to break the spear, and maim people.  Tenkouji
grabs his sword and attacks Shinsui; the monster leaps into the air, and
holds onto the wooden ceiling slats with his toes.
   Shindou's music is getting everyone dancing, including Kaiser (who is
working on his 30th bowl of natto.)  Shinsui easily counters Reika's
pachinko ball attack.  (Outside the compound, Yousui is sitting in the van,
watching the mess unfold.)  Shinsui orders his minions to attack Tenkouji,
and they all get trashed.  Komura writes out that the hage is his, and
Ten-hage attacks him.  More minions attack Reika, who has turned young, and
she trashes them also (Reika wants Watagase to call her "Nee-chan", instead
of "old woman.")  Watagase's skirt flies up, and she accuses Otomi of being
a pervert.  But, Shinsui is using his remote control unit to open the glass
and release Miiko.  Reika tries to stop the tiger with her pachinko balls --
Miiko easily leaps up to evade them.  Otomi is trying to protect Watagase by
using his guitar as a shield, and Komura uses a whip to grab Tenkouji's
sword.  Before things can get much worse, the ceiling collapses, and a
masked woman descends to grab the remote control from Shinsui (the monster
flits to another part of the ceiling.)  Reika is surprised that someone else
could be in the rafters without her knowing it.
   Miiko attacks, and gets 3 throwing knives in the snout.  Tenkouji wants
to attack Beni Bara, but the whip around his sword stops him.  He lets his
sheath fly loose and attacks Komura with the blade; Komura gets the sheath
in the good eye, and collapses while still writing his speech out with a
magic marker.  Tenkouji has two questions for the masked woman -- have they
met before, and what is her name?  When Beni Bara had hypnotized him, she
wiped all memories of her from Ten-hage's mind.  She says, "yes, this is our
first meeting."  And, after debating whether to answer "Maya", or "Beni
Bara", she comes out with "I am Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon" (Tenkouji
doesn't get the joke, and complements the foreigner on speaking Japanese so
well.)
   Beni uses the remote control to free the two prisoners, and Reika
takes them to safety.  Tenkouji also escapes, leaving Ms. Moon to embed
knives in the baddies' arms and legs.  Shinsui is in the cage, trying to
comfort Miiko.  But, the tiger attacks him.  This time, there was a serious
threat, so Shinsui punishes Miiko by punching a hole through the back of its
head.  The monster licks the blood on his hand, and threatens Beni.  The
entire compound is in flames, and Shikato and Mayumi's father greet Reika,
the priest, and the two freed prisoners.  The helicopter is going to whisk
Watagase and Otomi to the concert, to leave the three men behind.  Tenkouji
is staring at the flames, waiting for S. Moon to come out.
   Inside, Shinsui is getting ready to kill Beni.  He explodes down beneath
the tatami floor and surfaces again to spear Beni.  Beni leaps out of the
way, throwing more knives.  This time though, Shinsui's concentration and
"courage" enable him to toughen his body and make him impervious to her
knives (Beni throws some more blades, just to make sure he isn't lying.)
However, Beni has more than one style of attack, and pulls her fan out.  With
a circular motion, she disappears, and the fan drops to the floor.  Shinsui
thinks that this is the same kind of trick that Tatsuya would pull, and
expects that Beni is still in the room, waiting for him to drop his
concentration.
   At the concert, Shindou is still blasting away and people are dancing
madly.  Unfortunately, after Kaiser's opening act, the audience is rapidly
tiring and sitting down.  There's still a lot of time to kill, and Shindou is
getting concerned, while Mayumi is upset at herself for having fun while the
other two are in danger.  But, a minion talks to Chin, and he talks to the
girl.  She signals to the hero that Otomi and Watagase are safe.  In the
helicopter, Watagase wants to leave to get to the Hall in time to change out
of the school outfit, and the bunny pilot tells her to wear the T-back
outfit that Shikato has supplied.  Otomi is watching the portable TV, and he
comments that Shindou's drumming has changed.  Shindou signals for Black to
come up just so that the Kapoera-yatz can listen to his true sound.
   Shindou gears up more, thrashing out an incredibly fast beat using just
his bass drum peddle.  Everyone is stunned at this, and Black is afraid that
all of that stress is going to make the boy's leg explode.  Shindou is
already showing signs of pain.


   Volume 55:

   (Next to the table of contents is a picture of the Koutarouz's first CD
    -- YOU are my HERO.  Maa-chan looks cool in a white suit, Kyou and
    Watagase are their normal selves, Nomi is wearing his mask and giving
    the finger to the camera, and a close-up of Shindou's face fills the
    background.  Apparently, this CD really did exist, and 10 copies were
    given away to Shonen Magazine readers as presents.)


   David Barnard: A blond CIA agent in his mid-40's, wearing a light-colored
                 suit and wire rim glasses.  Is a master gunsman, and is
                 embroiled in a variety of "questionable activities."
                 [fa:v48] [first named:v55] [la:v58]
   Shin Kebayashi: The Marionette's manager; has a mop of short black hair.
                   He wears a grey suit, white shirt, black tie, and glasses
                   with black plastic frames.  His eyes are very round, and
                   insane when his glasses are off.  This guy is much more
                   dangerous than he seems.  AKA -- M.M.  [fa:v55]
                   [first named:v56] [la:v57]

   The power from the bass drum causes Mayumi to feel like she is lifting
up and floating away.  Black returns her to Earth, and points out the sweat
covering Shindou's body.  The boy is in greater pain now, and Watagase tells
the helicopter pilot to rush to the Hall while she changes clothes (Kyou
wants to watch.)  Shikato is riding on Tenkouji's back, trying to look into
the helicopter as the girl changes, but Tenkouji wants to look at the
shadowy figure racing on top of one wall -- Yousui leaps to the copter as it
takes off, and catches an axel with his chain.  Tenkouji wants the guy to
stick around and fight, but Yousui just motions to one body propped up
against the wall.  Yousui had rescued his disabled father from the flames
before leaving.
   Shinsui is still trying to sense Beni's presence, while Shindou suddenly
suffers a nose bleed.  Black wants to take over, but Shindou throws a
killing drum stick at him to keep him away.  The boy uses a mental picture
of a naked Mayumi to help him concentrate.  Suddenly, Shinsui attacks to
spear Beni Bara in the stomach.  But, the illusion dissipates, and it's
Komura's neck that Shinsui has just crushed (Komura is now dead.)  Shinsui's
concentration drops and Beni, hanging from the ceiling, embeds 5 knives in
his arms and shoulders.  He screams.  Shindou is now playing the other drums
with his sticks, and Black wishes that the boy would just switch to a
two-footed bass pedal action.  Shindou's vision clouds, and the naked Mayumi
becomes ugly.  Maa-chan gets Nomi to tune his guitar, and then has Nomi take
Otomi's guitar to join him on stage.  Nomi panics.  Shindou's leg is burning
up, and the boy keeps thinking of Watagase's dream to become a famous
singer, and he believes that one leg is a cheap price to pay to see that
dream come true.  When Maa-chan takes the stage, Shindou throws drumsticks
at him to try to chase him off.  But, Maa-chan starts belting out a strong
bass-line.  Nomi is frozen to the floor backstage.  (There are 3000 people
in TVT Hall, and countless more watching on TV.)
   The helicopter prepares to land, and the spot is swarming with police --
all owned by Shinsui.  Yousui takes over, and they ambush the pilot. However,
as Yousui is checking whether his arms are ok after hanging onto the chopper
for so long, he suddenly starts pounding the cops into mush.  Shinsui
is hurting, but he's convinced that his men will storm the helicopter and
kill everyone in it.  Otomi and Watagase safely reach the stage, yelling at
Shindou, (both Mayumi's look ok, but Otomi is drawn ugly).  Shindou
collapses, and Black calls the "Master of Infinity" the "Infinite Idiot."
Nomi happily hands the guitar to Otomi, but stops at seeing Kyou's bandaged
hand completely covered in blood.  And, on the floor, Shindou's right leg
has turned purple and swollen up 4 times the normal size.
   Kaiser is happily looking at Shindou, Steve is berating Kaiser, Kyou
can't play, and Nomi can't figure out what to do as Maa-chan is stuck on
stage by himself.  Finally, Nomi puts a hood over his head, and joins
Maa-chan with a screaming guitar intro.  Everyone is trying to decide if the
masked one is Otomi, and just as Nomi is about to get under control, he
remembers Watagase saying that she likes his musical arrangements -- and his
leg starts turning to stone.  Maa-chan tells Nomi that the band has decided
to use Nomi's arrangement, while Black takes his place behind the drums. The
three of them wail away, and Watagase recognizes this as Nomi's arrangement.
She confronts Otomi over this, and the boy says that Maa-chan didn't want
anyone to tell her that everyone had agreed that Nomi's arrangement was
better than Kaiser's.  Kaiser pulps Otomi for this comment, and then lets
Watagase have her turn.  Watagase promises that she will never let her
personality turn bad (like the Marionettes' have).  With renewed nerve, she
drops her towel (covering the skimpy latex T-Back costume that Shikato
designed) and runs on stage.  Her vocals overwhelm everyone, and Shindou
recovers enough to be impressed with it.  Nomi recovers without freezing up.
   Watagase puts EVERYTHING into her song, and at the end, Nomi warns her to
plug her ears.  The resulting cheers from the crowd are absolutely
deafening.  Watagase can't believe it at first, but her dream has come true.
Shindou wants to look at the girl in the T-Back, but discovers that Reika is
putting needles in him to make the swelling go down.  The trick works, and
she drags the boy outside, where Yousui is surrounded by bodies.  The
assassin has taken 3 bullets in the back, and he wants to fight Shindou
before he dies (Otomi's hand is actually healed already; he'd just put blood
on it to force Nomi to go on stage.  It's not Yousui's bood; it came from
the nose bleed of a fallen bad-cop that looks like Hirota's editor.)  The
boy takes Yousui up on the offer, but his right leg is still tender.
Meanwhile, at the estate, Gensui (his right arm covered in needle marks)
finally gains awareness of the world.  He's weak, but does recognize Shikato
now.  Gensui finally admits that the match between Shindou and Gon had been
a good fight, and that Shikato's karate is better than his.
   Yousui is coughing up blood and is wobbly on his feet, but he won't let
Shindou talk him out of fighting now and he attacks with a punch that causes
signs over 20 feet away to fall over.  The punch intentionally only grazed
Shindou's arm, but it leaves a huge welt.  Yousui readies the next punch,
and Shindou prepares One Blow.  (Gensui's enemies are Yousui's enemies.
Shindou for destroying Gensui's will; Shinsui for drugging Gensui and
holding the man in part of the mansion.  However, Yousui wants to go out
with One Good Fight.  He's giving Shindou a chance to prepare for that.)
They attack, palm to knuckle, and Shindou is blown backwards into Mayumi and
then into the wall.  When they look up, Yousui is gently smiling, frozen in
position, dead.  Shindou is the only person who had ever blocked Yousui's
strongest punch.  Yousui is at peace now, and his spirit appears in front of
his father -- Gensui also attains peace and dies. (Shindou says that it
wasn't that the assassin liked killing, just that Yousui was addicted to
good karate.)
   Shinsui is standing in front of the TV, watching all of his dreams die as
Watagase sings on stage.  Tenkouji is inside the building, trying to find S.
Moon, and the fires around him remind him of the time back in the clock
tower when Beni had saved him -- he's about to remember who she is now.  At
the American Military Base in Yokota, a Navy helicopter delivers Tatsuya and
David Barnard to the air strip.  Beni tells Shinsui that all of this has been
a trap by Tatsuya, who is working in collaboration with the CIA.  Shinsui is
crushed to think that he was manipulated so easily as Tatsuya plotted to
give his beloved Japan to the Americans as a military staging base.
   Shinsui makes it to a hidden button, and triggers the bombs that he has
planted everywhere; he wants to take everyone in the building with him.
Shinsui dies in the blast.  Beni is protected, though, as Tenkouji throws
himself over her.  He takes a lot of shrapnel in the back, but can still
fight.  Outside, Shikato and Mayumi's father think that Tenkouji has been
killed.  Inside, some of Tatsuya's black-shrouded minions are standing by,
waiting to ensure that Beni is dead. Unfortunately, Beni's left leg was
injured in the blast and she can't stand on it.  She and Ten-hage use the
tatami mats to defend themselves against the wire snares, and they discover
a hatch in the floor.  Beni uses her knife to defend herself from other
throwing knives and opens the hatch to reveal a single-person bomb shelter.
   At TVT studios, Marionette is arguing between sessions, and Youko wants
to watch the Koutarouz concert on TV.  Except that their manager turns off
the TV and forces them back into the studio for their next session.  Youko
is starting to remember how nice life used to be with her now-ex-friends,
because of Watagase's music.  She just wants to listen to that music one
more time, and the manager intentionally won't let her.
    Watagase is wowing the crowd, and Otomi is preparing to join her on
stage.  The top of Shindou's head looks bald -- it's covered in little pins
that Reika used to keep the swelling down, but his leg is still huge and
dark purple.  Reika has been told to take Shindou to the hospital, and they
locate Shikato sitting outside one room.  Shindou crawls under a nurse to get
inside, and finds Beni Bara in the bed.  (Youko has slipped her leash
and is rushing to listen to Watagase's music.)  Beni explains that when
they'd found that shelter, she was going to KO Tenkouji from behind and
stuff him inside it.  But, he was expecting that, and Ten-hage used his
sword to disable her and protect her, instead.  That's the last Beni saw of
him.  Then, the fires died down, and the firemen found the hatch amidst the
charcoals and she was taken to the hospital by Shikato.
   At the Base, Tatsuya is making a phonecall to Shikato Hospital, asking
for "Mr. Maya's" room.  Behind him, Tenkouji is lying on a bed, unconscious
and wrapped in bandages (Tatsuya's minions subdued the priest and kidnapped
him while the fires were still raging.)


   Volume 56:

   Claus:          A black belt master of Greek Judo.  Looks like a blond
                   Russian, with a crewcut, and cauliflower ears.  One of
                   the first CIA guys set to kill Shindou.  His teeth are
                   made of steel, and he curses in Portuguese.  [fa:v56]
                   [la:v57]

   A nurse comes into the room, and asks for "Maya".  The group now
discovers that Beni Bara is Tatsuya's brother.  On the phone, Tatsuya
comments that it's been a long time since they last talked (back in Block D,
when Beni was disguised as the ugly cook in the Block's dining center.)
Tatsuya wants to have Beni and Shindou come visit him (with Tenkouji used as
bait) but doesn't want to see Beni unless she's healed from her ugly leg
wound.  When the two of them are healed, Tatsuya will let them know when and
where to be picked up.  Shindou grabs the phone and yells at Tatsuya, but
the evil one has quick reflexes, and he puts the phone next to Tenkouji's
ear instead.  Tenkouji is also used as a weapon (Tatsuya whispers "hage"
into his ear, and Ten-hage's unconscious raging yell threatens to split
Shindou's eardrums, and causes all of Reika's pins to fly out of his head,
and his leg to swell up again.)
   Tatsuya is planning on killing Beni, and his thoughts turn to the death
of Megumi.  But, he calls out for Barnard to enter the room.  The CIA agent
had been waiting behind the door, and is amused that Tatsuya is the first
person to ever detect him like that.  Barnard wants to tell Tatsuya
about what has happened to Marionette.
   At TVT Studios, the concert is still raging away, Kaiser wants to join in
on guitar, and Watagase sees Youko standing backstage.  Youko's head is
starting to clear, and she remembers when she and the rest of Marionette had
been close friends.  She cries.  Youko and Watagase try to talk, but Nomi
yells at the vocalist to get back on stage and sing.  Youko asks if it's ok
for the rest of Marionette to come watch Watagase's next concert, and is
told "of course."
    Barnard asks if Tatsuya still needs Marionette, and Youko returns home
to find her manager in the room waiting for her.  Youko gets scared as Shin
Kebayashi talks about Youko's having screwed up everything by going to the
Koutarouz concert, and that the rest of Marionette has been punished because
of her.  She yells for her friends, but there's no response.  Then, a tall
blond man sneaks up behind her and breaks her neck.  As she dies, Youko
thinks that all she wanted to do was to make her friends happy to be with
each other again -- what was so wrong with that?
   The next day, in Reika's Yokohama China Town restaurant, Watagase wakes
up, still feeling the rush from the night before.  Otomi is also awake, but
his voice is gone, from having sung backup during 10 hours of concert.
Watagase is happy with him, and gives him her plastic cigarette -- he's
embarrassed at the indirect kiss.  The rest of the band is passed out in the
main dining hall.  Nomi still has his mask on, and he's an arrogant tyrant
with it on; Watagase pulls the mask off, and Nomi starts apologizing for
everything in his sleep.  Then, Watagase notices the TV set that is still
turned on, and the news report of a gas explosion in a Tokyo apartment.
There was one victim, identified as Youko Tono, age 17.
   Watagase goes to the morgue, but Mayumi's father prevents her from
looking at the charred corpse.  She breaks down and cries, while Shindou,
sitting in a wheelchair in the doorway, has an expressionless look on his
face, and has destroyed the wheelchair rims with his hands.  Mayumi is
scared by Shindou's reaction.
   Later, Reika is using her ancient Chinese Arts to make Shindou's leg heal
quickly, while Shikato is visiting Beni Bara's room.  Beni is practicing her
Senyouryuu techniques to disguise her ki, and effectively become invisible.
Beni doesn't think that Shindou will be able to face Tatsuya, even with
Reika's help.  Mayumi keeps remembering Shindou's flat expression, and she
hates it.  When she finds him practicing later on, Shindou's right leg has
recovered, and he's in a very good mood.  He shows off his karate by using
one foot to kick an apple from Mayumi's head, while using the other foot to
lift her dress and pull down her panties.  Mayumi beats him up.
   Suddenly, in the hall, Tatsuya appears, saying that he's come to notify
the boy of the time and place to go to rescue Tenkouji.  Shindou's face goes
dead, and he immediately attacks.  Tatsuya uses very casual dance moves to
avoid attacks to his eyes and head, but one kick grazes his scalp and draws
blood.  Tatsuya is taking a bit of a beating, blocking kicks with his arms.
(Shikato and Reika are watching on, and they give away the fact that this is
really Beni Bara using hypnosis to disguise herself and to test Shindou's
abilities.)  Shikato says that this is the strongest Shindou has ever
fought, because the appearance of Tatsuya has caused the boy to fight Full
Out (just like Tenkouji had at the Marionette concert.)  Mayumi is afraid
that Shindou is going to get killed, while Beni thinks that she prefers
seeing Shindou with a smiling happy face.  To that aim, Beni uses her fans,
moving them in a circle, and disappearing.  Reappearing with a
full-body-flat-out kick to Shindou's face.  Shindou ducks to evade it, but
gets smashed in the cheek by a spinning tornado punch.  Beni thinks that
she's broken the boy's nose, but it was only a glancing blow.  Shindou
recovers and grazes "Tatsuya's" own nose.  "Tatsuya" uses woman's speech to
complain about her pretty face being messed up, and the illusion collapses
as both Mayumi and Shindou recognize Beni Bara, and calm down a little.
   Later, Beni is still pissed with Shindou, and the boy argues back that
the "fag" had been trying to beat up an invalid.
   A few days later, Mayumi is out on a shopping trip to get food for the
restaurant (which includes a live, large snake), and she's brooding about
Shindou's changed personality.  The hero sneaks up behind her and tickles
her with his ponytail.  He takes Mayumi on a date (they are both wearing
Chinese restaurant outfits, and he claims that this gives them a
"pair-look".)  Mayumi doesn't want to go on a date, but Shindou visits
Kenji, Inamori, and Momotarou (Souji Mitarai is still at the hospital that
Kenji is at, washing windows).  In all cases, Shindou acts very offensively,
while saying goodbye to them all.  Eventually, Mayumi catches on.  When the
two of them get to the empty site of Shindou's first dojo, Mayumi looks in
Shindou's shoulder bag and finds his karate gi.  She demands to know what
this means, and is told that the meeting place and time has been announced.
   Mayumi breaks down in tears and hugs Shindou in front of the two nameless
Decency League members (they wanted to know what had happened to their
leader, Tenkouji, but they get embarrassed and run away.)  Mayumi doesn't
want Shindou to go to get killed.  Shindou says that if he doesn't fight,
Mayumi will have to watch Sayoko weeping over Tenkouji's corpse, like
Watagase did over Youko's.  Mayumi doesn't care about that.  So, Shindou
tells her that he promises to return without fail.  He's never lied to her
before (actually, he's never had to eat rusty needles for speaking a lie)
and he's not going to lie to her now.  They link little fingers to seal the
promise, and Mayumi calms down.
   In a gym at the Yokota Base, Claus, with his Greek Judo, is busy
dislocating the shoulder of yet another sparring partner (the judo master is
pissed and yells at him for it.)  Tatsuya and Barnard are watching on, and
Tatsuya is told that Claus is one of the few people to go to Brazil to study
the form of Judo that had started up there, before taking it back to Greece.
Claus is a strikingly handsome man, but with badly deformed ears.
   Another day passes, and Tatsuya dreams that his father is telling him
something important about the Dance of the Puppets, but he can't make out
his father's words.  He wakes up, musing that he's had this dream before.
In the restaurant, Shindou dresses up in his karate gi, and lets off
foul-smelling farts because of the gyouza (pot stickers) he'd had for
breakfast.  Mayumi is standing in the hall, concerned.  So, the boy casually
holds up his little finger, and demands that there be niko dango (meat
balls) waiting for him for supper when he returns.  Mayumi calls out that
she'll make 100 niku dango for him, but the boy wants at least 200 (about 10
pounds of hamburger.  Reika thinks that 200 niku dango will kill ANYONE.)
   Mayumi's father, Shikato, Reika, and Beni Bara go out with Shindou to an
amusement park; it's still early in the morning.  Shindou complains about
everyone's sour expressions, and then a helicopter arrives.  Shin Kebayashi
is inside, and he beckons Shindou and Beni to enter.  The chopper takes off,
as Shindou farts inside it again.  Mayumi's father seriously thinks that
Shindou is going to get killed this time.
   The helicopter stops at the woods inside the Yokota Base grounds, and
Shindou has to leave.  The chopper takes off again.  Shindou is complaining
about being kicked out because of his gas attacks, when a big blond guy
(both he and Shindou are wearing their gi's) comes up and comments on the
boy also being a black belt (Claus always ends his fractured Japanese
sentences with "as you well know.")  Shindou gets irritated quickly, and
turns his back on the guy.  Claus takes the opportunity to twist the boy's
head around, and reveals himself to be Youko's killer.  Shindou's neck is
too flexible, though, and the boy recovers to pound Claus around the head.
It looks like Claus is down and out, but he also recovers, and announces that
he's going to be using Greek Jujitsu (Shindou hears it as "Grape Juice.")
Shindou promises to help Claus fix his long pointed nose, and attacks.  But,
Claus quickly gets the boy into a killer choke hold.
   On a wall of TV monitors, somewhere else, Barnard and Tatsuya are
watching the fight.  Barnard says "Game Over", but Tatsyua disagrees.
Shindou stands up, with 6'6", 286 pound Claus hanging from one arm.  Barnard
is stunned, and Tatsuya says that the new addition has just made things even
more fun, "isn't that right, 'new addition'?".  Behind him, Beni Bara is
standing, looking resolute.  It's been a very long time since the two of
them last met.
   On the monitors, Shindou is straining to throw Claus, but the killer
flattens his body out and they both fall over.  Shindou recovers first, and
kicks Claus in the face.  But Claus isn't fazed, and he keeps holding onto
Shindou's wrist.  Then, he rolls over and converts the grasp into an arm bar
that's quickly turned another choke hold.  From behind, Claus is holding the
collar of Shindou's karate gi, and pulling it tight to strangle the boy.
Shindou's leg is free, and he kicks up to nail Claus in the head again.
But, Claus traps the free leg, and strengthens the choke hold.  Barnard
thinks that it's over now, but Beni (who had been given a body check to
prevent her from smuggling in any weapons) is focussing her ki into her
scarf.  The scarf turns into a stiff sword which cuts a little into the CIA
man's neck.  Beni demands that the fight be stopped, or Barnard will die.
Kebayashi is told not to move, but the Marionette's ex-manager has already
leaped up and is standing on the ki-stiffened scarf.
   Tatsuya looks back at the monitors.  Shindou's face is purple, and his
mouth is foaming.  It looks like he's close to death.  Shindou's last
thought is of Mayumi, and his motionless little finger is glowing.


   Volume 57:

   Shindou is dreaming that Mayumi is standing in front of him, waiting for
him to kiss her.  Eventually he does so and gets a mouthful of needles.
Mayumi accuses him of lying to her when he promised that he'd return without
fail.  He recovers consciousness just as Claus thinks he's killed the boy.
Shindou reaches up to grab his own jacket and pull even harder.  The jacket
rips and Shindou elbows Claus in the knees and rolls free.
   In the surveillance hut, Tatsuya is still watching the fight on the wall
monitors, and Kebayashi cuts Beni Bara's ki-strengthened scarf with a knife
built into his shoe.  Kebayashi kicks at Beni's face, and she leaps
backwards, kicking the knife clear with her own toe.  Tatsuya breaks up the
squabble and they watch Claus challenge Shindou to a no-holds barred combat
called Vale Tudo (in Portguese.)  Thing is, Shindou's normal fighting style
is "anything is valid."
   Claus gets in the first attack, sitting on the boy's stomach and beating
up Shindou's arms.  Shindou removes his Chinese shoe-slippers and gets his
feet free to stretch up and grab Claus by the ears -- doubled over
backwards, Claus is open to a pair of fingers up his butt.  He recovers, and
they attack again.  This time, Shindou gets him into a necklock with his
legs.  Claus opens his mouth to reveal a set of metal teeth, and he bites
hard into the boy's leg.  However, Shindou suspected he might need something
special, so he'd taped a steel set of nunchucks to his leg.  Claus' teeth are
mangled, and Shindou uses the nunchucks to further rearrange those teeth for
Claus.  When Shindou says that one tooth is still misaligned, Claus blocks
his mouth with his arms, only to get smacked in the knee ("I lied.")  But,
the boy doesn't need the nunchucks, and he tosses them aside while
challenging Claus to attack him again.  Claus does, and Shindou uses a judo
throw to drop Claus on the ground and dislocate the villian's right arm.
Claus screams, but Shindou tells him to be a man and stand up to keep
figting.  Claus does, and shoots off a killer kick that Shindou catches and
turns into another throw.  The kneecap shatters and Claus passes out.
Shindou has avenged the deaths of the Marionette girls, and he picks up his
nunchucks to go looking for Tatsuya.  Then he returns and makes good on his
promise to fix Claus' pointy nose -- by mashing it into a pulp.  He's also
intent on keeping his promise to Mayumi.  Kebayashi is about to go out to
take his turn at the boy, but is a little shocked at watching Claus' nose
job surgery.
   Tatsuya turns on a speaker, and congratulates Shindou on finishing the
first stage of the game.  Shindou spots the camera, and whacks the thing
with his nunchucks.  Tatsuya announces that this is one big game; the winner
is the one who remains alive, as a dead player isn't able to keep playing.
Shindou says that if this is Super Mario, he wants to know who the beautiful
princess is that he's supposed to save.  Beni shouts out that Shindou can
save her, and the boy disgustedly wishes that there was some kind of reset
button for this game.  (Beni's not so happy with Shindou's put-down.)  As a
parting bonus for having cleared the first stage, Tatsuya says "the key
phrase is 'watch your feet.'"  Beni wonders about this, and Barnard answers
that this section of the military base used to be a Green Beret training
site.
   The first boobytrap Shindou steps in is -- a dog turd.  Which is right
next to the pit with wooden spikes at the bottom (Shindou stops his fall by
putting his hands and feet against the walls and pushing -- followed by a
strong fart.  The skeleton of a green beret guy is lying at the bottom of
the pit.)  He gets back to the surface and triggers more traps that get
more serious fast.  He suddenly understands Tatsuya's hint, and goes up into
the trees to travel.  The trees aren't trapped, but Kebayashi is waiting for
him up there.  Barnard's hidden video cameras have lost the boy, and Tatsuya
does a bit of fast calculating before saying that Shindou is in... this
sector.  Barnard is stunned at the fact that Tatsuya is really not much more
than a human super computer.
   While, back at Reika's restaurant, Shikato gets a phonecall saying that
Tatsuya has been located at the miltary base.  Mayumi's father is alerted,
and he rushes out with a bunch of riot police to storm the base.  And,
Shinshou Chin remembers where he'd last seen Kebayashi.  10 years ago, in
Chinatown in L.A., Kebayashi had been a professional assassin nicknamed M.M.
-- for "Monkey Murder."  Kebayashi mentally becomes a monkey, and has all of
the skills and speed of that primate.  But, when angry, M.M. goes berzerk
(when this last happened, the L.A. Chinatown boss was discovered afterwards,
completely dismembered and his eyes torn out.)
   M.M. attacks Shindou, and gets in a lot of good slashes to the boy's
chest and back.  Then, M.M. smacks the nunchucks up into the air (breaking
the steel chain), and has forgotten about them when they fall back down and
hit him in the head.  M.M. goes ape, and shreds up whole trees as he chases
the boy from branch to branch.  Shindou returns to the ground to avoid M.M.,
triggers a whole bunch of traps (VERY funny) and races back up to the safety
of the branches.  Shindou realizes that his only option is to stand with his
back to one large tree trunk, and close his eyes.  M.M. is confused, and he
embeds his hand into another tree to hang and think about this.  Barnard
yells out that Shindou is being stupid, and wants to know why M.M. doesn't
simply attack the boy and get it over with.  Behind his back, Tatsuya
signals to Beni that the CIA's intelligence is below that of a monkey's.
   M.M. jumps away, springing from several trees to launch himself at
Shindou's right side, only to get punched in the nose.  M.M. falls, but
catches a vine on one tree.  M.M. gets even madder, and tries the same trick
-- attacking Shindou's left side.  The boy kicks M.M in the chest, and the
assassin goes insane.  Tatsuya remembers this eyes-closed technique from
back in D-Block, and when his little sister died at Shikato's estate.  He
keeps watching.  Barnard doesn't understand what's happening, but is happy
when M.M. disappears to attack the boy from behind.  At the last moment,
Shindou spins around and fires off One Blow.  The energy goes through the
tree, and breaks M.M.'s nose and knocks out his front teeth.
   M.M. falls, catches himself again, but calls out for help as he's about
to lose his grip.  Shindou saves him, and Tatsuya turns on the speaker again.
Tatsuya asks why Shindou has saved the Marionette's killer, and Shindou lets
go.  He switches hands, grabbing M.M. again, and the killer has pissed his
pants.  But, this is just a set-up for the next trap.  M.M. triggers the
knife blade in his shoe, grabs Shindou's wrist with his other hand, embeds
the knife in the tree branch and pulls Shindou out and off of the branch.
M.M. yells "I'll send you to hell!"
   Then his knife blade breaks (having been damaged when Beni kicked it) and
both of them fall to the ground.  M.M. drops onto a landmine.  A whole bunch
of other explosives go off, and M.M.'s shoe eventually falls on the ground
some distance away.  The resulting black cloud causes Tatsuya to calculate
the odds of Shindou's surviving -- less than 0.001%.

                                 Game Over.


   Volume 58

   A dream of Shindou being dismembered makes Tenkouji recover from his
coma (he can't tell if Shindou blowing up is a good dream or a nightmare.)
The priest looks at all of his bandages, and asks where he is.  Later, he
overcomes the guard at his door, dresses up in the black suit, and arms
himself with a pistol.
   The Base Commander is looking out at the smoke rising from the jungle,
and he asks himself what the hell the CIA is doing out there.  Then he is
told that the Japanese Police Force is descending on the Base with a bunch
of riot trucks (Mayumi's father gets out of one car to piss against the wire
fence.)
   Beni is in shock, and Tatsuya's gentle gloating makes her attack him.
But, Tatsuya's Black Shrouded minions ensnare her with cutting thread.
Tatsuya says that he still has something to show her, which is why he
doesn't kill her now.  Barnard wants to know what's going to happen with
their deal, now that Marionette is dead.  Barnard thinks that the
arrangement with Tatsuya was intended to turn the Japanese people into
puppets that would allow "Japan 2000: Defcon 1" to be realized (A few years
ago, a CIA booklet was leaked, describing a plan in which Japan would be
turned into a combat zone in America's bid to destroy it's enemies.  The
plan would culminate by the year 2000.  Hence the name of the project.)
Barnard is heading the Project.
   However, Tatsuya just wants to unleash Horobi (Day of Destruction.)
The Senyouryuu school has a secret master plan that Tatsuya's father had
passed on down to him.  In this plan, the "bi" of Horobi means "beautiful."
Tatsuya intends to use his dance of the puppets to turn the Japanese into
insane monsters that will attack each other and wipe out the country. (Same
thing happened 1000 years ago, by one of his ancestors.)
   Beni tells Barnard that Tatsuya was right -- the CIA is dumber than
monkeys, and gives away Tatsuya's plan.  Barnard thinks that they are just
joking, until Tatsuya says that the partnership is over.  Barnard pulls his
pistol out, only to have his hand cut off by Tatsuya's fan.  Then, the boy
wills the hand to fly towards Barnard, and causes the gun to shoot once.
(In a hallway, Tenkouji hears the gunshot.)  Barnard calls the boy The Devil,
and cowers next to some large tanks of liquid Oxygen.  Tatsuya throws his
fan -- Barnard is decapitated and the nearest tank is sliced open.  Barnard
is frozen solid.  Tatsuya causes the agent to shatter, and comments that
this is a beautiful way to die.  Beni calls him The Devil, and her brother
corrects her, saying that the Devil was their father.
   In another flashback, Tatsuya relates that their father had tried to kill
him with poison, as a test for fitness to see if the boy could take over the
Senyouryuu school (Maya had run away and was not a valid candidate anymore.)
Everyday afterwards, his father would beat up Tatsuya for making even the
slightest mistake in his dances.  Afterwards, Megumi would bandage him up.
The two of them became very close, until the day that "dad" decided to start
teaching Tatsuya "the Dance of the Puppets."  To prove that the dance works,
"dad" revealed that from the very beginning, Tatsuya was under its power --
Megumi isn't a member of the family; she is merely a life-sized wooden
puppet (this was a lie, since she really is human, but "dad" had forever
warped Tatsuya from that day on, and this is why Tatsuya could so casually
allow Megumi to be killed.)
   Beni is crying at the end of the story, but Tenkouji is standing behind a
door, weeping uncontrollably (he denies it, though.)  Tenkouji berates
Tatsuya for continuing with "dad's" plan, and Beni for letting her brother
attain it without a fight.  This causes Beni to rally, and her ki races
through the threads and zaps the Black Shrouds.  Tenkouji is going to use
his pistol on Tatsuya (it's a great weapon, with great accuracy, but after
you throw it, you have to run over to pick it up again.  One of the Black
Shrouds steals the gun, and gives Ten-hage his sword back in exchange.)
But, it's still not a fair fight; with a sweep of his fan, Tatsuya has
propelled Ten-hage back against the wall.  Turns out that it's a
post-hypnotic suggestion, and Tenkouji can't overcome the fact that his body
thinks that there's a very strong wind blowing against him.  Then, Tatsuya
makes the mistake of implying that Shindou is dead -- Tenkouji's rage puts
his body under his control again.
   Tatsuya says that there's only a 0.001% chance of Shindou's surviving.
Ten-hage says that Shindou is like a cockroach.  Unless the chance is 0.0%
exactly, and he can see Shindou's dead face in front of him, it's a flat
guarantee that the boy is still alive.  Meanwhile, one of the Black Shrouds
is out picking up body parts.  There's a loose hand lying by Shindou's foot.
(It's not Shindou's hand, because the nail of the forefinger isn't black
with old nose pickings.)
    During all of this, Mayumi's father and the Base Commander are arguing
over whether Japan is trying to start the next war.  But, it's a battle of
boys vs men -- the Base has a lot of Apachees standing by.  Unfortunately,
Shikato arrives with a pack of state-of-the-art "Rooifaruku"s (I don't
recognize the name.  It sounds like "Louie-Hawks".)  Mayumi's dad continues
to piss on the disheartened Commander's leg.  The downside to all of this is
that Tatsuya was just waiting for the police to arrive, with all of the TV
trucks right behind.  Because, he wants to have the Dance televised on
national TV, and be guaranteed that most of the country will be watching.
   At the restaurant, Chin is watching the news, while Mayumi is making 300
niku dango to have ready when Shindou returns (Watagase's niku dango is the
size of a basketball, which she angrily smashes into Otomi's face when told
that the dango is too big.)  Tenkouji tries to kill Tatsuya with his sword,
but keeps hitting only after-images.  Very quickly, the villian's face loses
all expression and all hint of humanity as he begins the "TRUE Dance of the
Puppets."  Beni then realizes that the Black Shrouds are televising the
Dance with a TV camera.  She tries to stop them, but 9 Shrouds team up
against her (they stand on each other's shoulders, making three pillars of
three men each.  If Beni attacks the lowest one, the top one drops down on
her with a ki-strengthened towel.  Beni's ki-strengthened threads are
easily trashed.)
   Finally, out in the field, a Black Shroud tries picking up Shindou's foot
-- it's still attached to the leg, and the Shroud gets KO'd with a kick.
The Shroud's partner attacks with a cloth, and the rest of Shindou's body
comes up out of the dirt to trash the Shroud (the hand belonged to M.M.)
Shindou wants answers from the Shroud, but is only told "you're too late,
it's already started."  Shindou had almost died again, but as he was chasing
a pair of panties in his dying dream, the panties turned into the white
cloth used for identifying ghosts.  He was saved by having the Shroud grab
his foot and pull him back to life.  Then, a woman's hand beckons from
behind a tree for him to come closer (he doesn't want to, until a shapely
leg appears from behind the same tree.)  Shindou runs into another tree
while trying to get to the leg, and discovers that the tree is a disguised
entrance to an underground installation.  The hand and leg signal him to
continue, and to hurry (there's also a voice telling him to hurry, and he
thinks he recognizes it.  But, he's having trouble staying motivated,
because he's got 5 or 6 pieces of shrapnel in his chest, and he's coughing
up blood.)
   Across Japan, Tatsuya's transmitter overrides all the other stations,
the people watching on are quickly hypnotized, and they start thinking
"Horobi" (DESTROY).  (This includes Chin, and Tenkouji's 12-year-old fiance
Sayoko.)  Tatsuya seems unstoppable, until a form rushes forward, races up a
Shroud 3-man tower, and trashes them.  Beni embraces Shindou (the boy tells
her to GET AWAY!!!!)  Tenkouji is so happy (and Shindou is cracking jokes
about the Hage Mummy), he tries to kill Shindou right there, himself.
Shindou trashes the other Shrouds with Beni's help, and then stuns the
audience by putting Ten-hage in front of the camera and pulling down the
priest's loin cloth (Ten-hage is pretty well-hung.)
   Shindou demands to be allowed to fight the "Game's" Boss Character, and
demands that Tatsuya show himself.  Tatsuya turns around, having finished
his dance.  They prepare to fight.  Off to the side, a ghostly ball is
taking shape (Megumi), Tenjouki wants to join the battle, and Beni is
staring on intently, refusing to give Tenkouji's loin cloth back.


   Volume 59:

   Shindou expects to KO Tatsuya with one punch.  After several hundred
tries, he anounces that he's done warming up, and will get serious now.
Tenkouji wants to join in, but Beni unties his loin cloth and the priest
goes chasing after it.  Tatsuya decides to go on the offensive, and almost
cuts the boy's head off with his fan.  Meanwhile, Beni is using Ten-hage's
loincloth to choke one of the Black Shroud cameramen to find out if Tatsuya
had actually completed his Horobi Dance.  The Shroud essentially says "yes,
but..."  Before the Shroud can elaborate, Ten-hage grabs the other end of
the loincloth and almost breaks the Shroud's neck in trying to get it back.
The loincloth gets loose and flutters away again.
   Tatsuya keeps using a one-handed fan attack, stutter-stepping forward and
taunting Shindou over the boy being the one who is trying to escape now.
Shindou goes into One Hundred Person Attack.  Tatsuya simply kneels down
and puts his fan on the ground.  Beni explains that long ago, this form of
"showing respect for another person" originated as a form of self-defense.
When Shindou tries to get past the fan, Tatsuya strikes and hits the real
Shindou hard in the chest.  Another attempt causes the boy to be swept off
his feet.  A tentative poke with his toe causes Tatsuya to slice the boy's
shoe to ribbons.  Tatsuya effectively has a forcefield surrounding him,
within the radius of the fan on the ground.  Even a fart to the face is
blown back at Shindou by the fan.
   Beni gets the Shroud to explain that "But..." part.  Turns out that
Tatsuya's body is failing him by itself (it has suffered a bit of internal
damage by Kurosawa's tie, among other things).  Beni notices that her
brother is twitching a little bit.  Tatsuya stands and advances again.
Shindou holds his hand out, desperately trying to decide what to do next.
Tatsuya tries to lop the hand off with his fan, but the boy uses Beni's
trick of disappearing and going into a flat-out full body kick -- his foot is
where his hand had been.  Tatsuya avoids the kick, but gets whalloped by the
spinning Tornado punch (Beni is impressed, but gives the boy .01 points for
finishing the tornado upside down, on his head.)  Ten-hage explains that
Shindou can easily steal someone else's attack and use it back on them
(which is what Shindou has been doing all through the series.)  Ten-hage
puts his loincloth on (he farted on Beni to get it back) and is ready to
fight with the full power of Japan behind him, until Shindou points out that
the loincloth has "made in America" printed on it (it's a fake; he tries to
find the real one.)  Shindou is ready to deliver 9,999 more punches to total
a full 10,000, when Tatsuya recovers and comes up throwing his fan,
following it with a high kick.  Our hero sees a clear shot to Tatsuya's
groin, but it's a trap -- Tatsuya's supporting leg sweeps up in a "snapping
Dragon's Mouth attack."
   Shindou not only evades the two-pronged kick, but he immediately copies
it and clips Tatsuya in the corner of the eye, and following it up with a
fart to the face.  Shindou decides to name his new technique "The New Fart
Strike" (the translation is good enough for government work.)  On the
sidelines, Beni and Ten-hage are waging a tug-of-war over the loincloth, and
Beni has signed her name on it in lipstick.  Tatsuya is re-evaluating the
boy and turning more and more into a self-propelled puppet.  Shindou steals
another style, and starts copying Yousui's laid-back assassin's attitude and
punch.  The first punch clips Tatsuya in the good side of his mouth.
Shindou tries a pair of roundhouse kicks, but his leg is trapped as Tatsuya
pins it against his stomach with his arms.  Then, the fan finally boomarangs
back.
   Shindou can't move, and Beni's ankle prevents her from springing forward.
It looks like Tatsuya's final trap is going to work, when Tenkouji steps
forward and deflects the spinning fan; the Priest's collarbone is cut in two,
and the gash is maybe 3-4 inches deep.  The bald one says that HE'S the one
who's going to defeat Shindou -- no one else can.  He also tells the boy to
win, and then collapses.  Shindou visualizes Megumi's suicide sacrifice to
save him when Yousui was trying to kill him, and he spins up and around to
use his supporting foot to kick Tatsuya's left arm.  Tatsuya's arm breaks,
but the villian holds his ground.  Shindou's gone insane, and rushes he in
with a slow, wide haymaker punch.  Tatsuya pulls his other fan from his
sleeve, and prepares to sweep it up; Shindou's left arm will be severed,
Game Over.
   But, Shindou's punch zips in, and Tatsuya is vaguely surprised to realize
that the boy's punch is faster than his own fan attack.  Many fragile pieces
of bone turn to mush in the villian's cheek, and he goes flying backwards.
The remaining Black Shrouds don't know how to react to their master's
getting beaten like this.  Shindou insults the Bald One over making such a
stupid sacrifice, and Ten-hage gurgles out that he's not bald, he shaves his
head every day.  Beni is so glad that Ten-hage is still alive that she looks
between his legs to make sure that nothing else has been damaged.
   The fan, still flying around, swoops back in towards our hero.  But,
Tatsuya wants to determine who really is the best of the two of them, and he
throws his second fan to knock the first one out of the air.  Shindou is
trying to understand why Tatsuya, with a broken arm, two blood-filled eyes,
and blood trickling from both corners of his mouth, isn't feeling any pain
(thinking that Tatsuya is the rare person who is born that way.)  Tatsuya
stands, and walks in to kick and slap Shindou, and doing really serious
damage to the boy.  Beni is trying to figure out what is happening in her
brother's mind.
   Outside, the Base Commander and Mayumi's father are driving to one
warehouse, in a Base jeep.  The Commander asks if the Police Super likes to
drink sake ("a couple of liters worth, yeah"), and turns the conversation to
"I like sake, so that means I like Japan.  You like bourbon, so that must
mean you like America, right?"  The Super doesn't agree with this logic.
   Inside the warehouse, Tatsuya has finally become a pure puppet, and is
pulling off some great kicks.  As one kick comes in high, Shindou sweeps the
other leg out and up.  Tatsuya smashes down on his back.  Shindou is giving
up on the idea of delivering 10,000 punches, and is going to make this next
one the killing punch.  But, Megumi materializes, protecting her older
brother.  Shindou yells at her to get out of the way, and she stares at him.
Suddenly, Tatsuya coughs up a huge amount of blood, and lies helplessly on
the ground.  Megumi fades away.  Tatsuya thanks Shindou for bringing this
nightmare to an end, adding "Game Clear."
   In another flashback, Maya is in his room, studying, when he feels a pain
in his knee.  He runs outside, and finds Tatsuya sitting on a road, crying,
and holding a badly scraped knee to his chest.  Tatsuya and Maya both
remember this event, and Maya now realizes that the pain she feels in her
chest is actually Tatsuya's own (suppressed) pain.
   Mayumi's father rushes in, asking if Shindou is hurt, and the boy demands
that Ten-hage be put in an ambulance.  The Super can't get an ambulance in
time (so Shindou threatens to kill him), but Shikato uses one of his
missiles to blow open the wall of the warehouse, and then lands his assault
chopper (Shikato is watching a porno flick on his monitor, so he was
unaffected by the Horobi Dance.)  Shindou dumps Ten-Hage (who is still naked
from the waist down) on top of Shikato, and pleads with the Old Man to do
everything possible to save the idiot.  Shikato flies off.
   The Base Commander has lost his mind over the damage to his building,
leaving one soldier free to look around.  The soldier calls out, saying that
these guys in the Black Shrouds are all mindless zombies (The Shrouds have
been the Yoshioka Family's personal servants for a long time, and like
Megumi, can only operate when someone else is controlling them.)  Beni is
feeling the pain more strongly now, and she decides that there is only one
thing she can do.  She picks up Tatsuya's blood-soaked fan, and does the
Dance of Release (Relief, or Forgetfulness.)  Shindou props the villian up,
only because Megumi had intervened on behalf of the villian.  And, with the
TV cameras still on, Maya's dance is broadcast to every TV in Japan.
   Tatsuya's heart becomes peaceful, and he dies thinking that he, Megumi,
and Maya can all be together now.  At the Restaurant, Mayumi finishes making
300 niku dango, Otomi has also made a pile of meat balls, and Watagase
finishes one niko dango that is not only the right size, but also the right
shape (it's also hard as a rock, and causes cleavers to shatter.)  Mayumi
looks into the other room, and sees Maa-chan, Nomi, and Chin all watching
Beni's Dance.
   The Dance has another side to it.  Anyone caught in it's spell will also
forget who Tatsuya and Maya are (hence removing the evil influence of their
bloodline.)  A few days later, Beni, disguised as a nurse again, appears in
Tenkouji's hospital room to give the priest a second private performance of
the Dance.  Tenkouji refuses to let himself forget Beni, but the Dance is
too powerful for him.  Beni leaves the room just as Shindou arrives.  The
boy sticks his head up her dress, and Mayumi trashes him (apologizing to the
pretty nurse for the bad "dog's" behavior.)  Beni realizes that Mayumi has
forgotten who she is, and she silently says "goodbye" to Mayumi AND Shindou.
Shindou picks his present for Ten-hage up off the floor, and Beni reacts to
it.  Mayumi thinks that this is a sign that the gift doesn't make any sense,
and she complains about it, also.  But, Beni guesses that the Dance had no
effect on Shindou, and she resigns herself to being remembered by one person
after all.  The gift, three roses, are put in a vase in the Priest's room.
Tenkouji doesn't understand why those roses make him cry (one rose is Red,
one is White, and the Pink Rose represents Megumi.)
   We now get a wrap-up to the story.  Basically, Watagase has a crush on
Otomi (for everything he'd done for her), and the Koutarouz complete a 10
day concert at Japan Dome.  The rest of Japan is back to normal.  At the end
of the gig (with Black playing drums, Otomi and the Masked Nomi on twin lead
guitars, Maa-chan on bass, and Watagase doing vocals) Otomi takes Watagase
out to a quiet place to talk.  Otomi has to go back to L.A. to cut the second
recond with the Kaiser Band, and will then go on tour for 6 months.
Watagase is torn up, but she hides this and bops the boy on the head before
walking away.  Later on, Watagase and Otomi both slip into a funk, and can't
perform anymore.  So, after talking briefly to Nomi, Watagase flies to L.A.
Meanwhile, Kaiser has gotten pissed over the fact that the boy who had
out-played him is now churning out garbage.  Kaiser wants to drive off and
escape Otomi, until he sees Watagase walking towards his studio (Kaiser
kicks Mr. Savant in the back of the head to stop the car, and Savant swerves
to ram into a tree.)  Kaiser returns to the studio (looking like hell), to
announce that the Kaiser band can have it's twin guitar sound again, and
probably even have a vocalist (for 6 months).  Otomi and Watagase are
getting ready to latch up.
   In Japan, Nomi is frustrated over losing his band leader, and he decides
to drive his car a little too fast through a sharp curve.  He avoids running
into a tree, but does smash into a police car.  Nomi is given a 6 month
suspension of his license.  While, Maa-chan had taken his two kids (they are
on vacation from school) to a pro wrestling match.  At the match, Maa-chan
had gotten into a fight with one of the wrestlers -- now, his neck is in a
brace for 6 months.
   Nomi is visiting the invalid Maa-chan, as Shindou runs in saying that
he's free now to play drums any time, anywhere (he and Mayumi had gotten
stuck with 20 large boxes of piled up homework that they'd had to finish,
first.)

                                 ==========

   The last story is a one shot.  Mayumi is taking a fast bath, and she
finishes drying up when Shindou finally succeeds in escaping all of the
handcuffs she'd put on him.  Shindou is disappointed at not being able to
wash her back for her.  Then, her father comes home to say that "It's Done!"
   The Watase Family now has a new home (the old one had burned down a while
ago.)  (When they're moving boxes in, Mayumi says that Tenkouji had sent
over several boxes of stuff for them.  Shindou farts in one box, and Mayumi
bops him, calling him "Sarin-otoko" (the "Sarin Poison Gas Man."))  And, with
the help of the Base Commander, the new house even has a high-tech security
system protecting it.  If Shindou tries to get past the security system,
he'll get zapped.  Mayumi is happy that she can now bathe as long as she
wants, without having to worry about Shindou spying on her.
   However, Inamori had contacts with the construction company, and all
kinds of secret doors and viewports have been added to the house.  Shindou
sneaks inside to watch Mayumi bathe, but is interrupted by the Super coming
into the toilet room to brush his teeth.  Shindou KO's Mayumi's dad, and
puts him to bed.  Mayumi goes to sleep early, and Shindou almost rapes her
after catching sight of her panties.  But, she rolls over, he calms down,
and as he's tucking the blankets around her, Mayumi reaches up in her sleep,
and hugs him.
   Then, the front door security system overheats, and Shindou drags the
police Super out the door and they all escape just before the house burns
down.

         === This marks the end of Part 6 of the Koutarou Guide ===

It also marks the end of _Koutarou Magaritooru!_  The series is completed
with volume #59.  _Shin (New) Koutarou Magaritooru!_ starts up right
afterwards with volume #1.
   (Hirota thanks everyone for sticking with him for the last 12 years.  He
dates his signature with Nov. 1, 1994.)

         ==========================================================

ISDN information
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311878-9 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 51
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311908-4 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 52
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311935-1 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 53
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311965-3 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 54
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311993-9 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 55
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-312040-6 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 57
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-312059-7 C0279, 390 yen]   -- 58
[Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-312078-3 C9979, 400 yen]   -- 59

         ==========================================================


                                                   -- Curtis H. Hoffmann
                                                      June 22, 1995