I'm more inclined to scratch my head at Zombire's backstory than muscles, honestly. That "death god" thing doesn't sound too... American superheroes don't generally come from backgrounds in pantheons, and if they do, they're gods like Thor or Loki. Not really death-gods. This sounds more like Death Note if Kira were a jacked sap.
Anyhow, Hanasaki realizes that he's ranting, and apologizes for how excited he became. Jonouchi and Yuugi both sport sweatdrops as they tell him it's alright to become excited. Just don't rip off people's heads, alright, kid? Yuugi mentions that the game shop his grandfather runs is selling figurines that have been flying off the shelves lately, and Jonouchi asks if there are any garage kits he could get. It's nice to get reminders that Jonouchi has outside interests. It makes him feel more real as a person.
Hanasaki invites everyone over to his house that afternoon to view his collection of Zombire merch and everyone seems really excited to go. You guys, I think I'm getting diabetes from how cute all of you are. You're just adorable.
When they get to Hanasaki's house and enter his room...
Jonouchi asks Hanasaki if he collected all of this stuff himself while he and his friends wander off into different corners of the room looking at different things that catch their eyes. Hanasaki explains that every time his dad goes on a business trip, he brings back something for Hanasaki's collection. The sweetness is too much! Yuugi picks up some gold figurines in their packaging and remarks that you can't get them in Japan. A woman with similar hair and glasses to Hanasaki comes into the room with a tray full of snacks for the guests.
She says they're Zombire themed eats imported from America, and while Anzu thanks their hostess, Jonouchi seems to question the very idea of Zombire snacks. Again...
Hanasaki's mom says that though he brought around quite a few friends, there's still one more that's extra special.
I guess that Zombire mask is a lot more intimidating than it looks from this side of the manga, but Hanasaki doesn't share his friends' horror. He asks his father if it's a REAL mask, which, since he's wearing it successfully, I don't understand why he's bothering. His father confirms that it is indeed a mask that he knew Hanasaki would have wanted. Hanasaki speculates that it must have cost a pretty penny, but his dad brushes it off, saying it doesn't matter as long as baby Hanasaki is happy.
I'm going to cry, this is so adorable.
Hanasaki assumes everyone was surprised by his father showing up in the mask, so he urges them to finish their tea, leaving them alone in his room afterwards. Jonouchi is amazed at how this house seems to be entirely Zombire-themed. Then something catches Jonouchi's eye; a Zombire garage kit like what he was asking Yuugi about before. He pulls it off the shelf as Anzu asks what he's talking about. Yuugi explains that garage kits are figures that have to be assembled from the parts in the box, designed by manufacturers. Jonouchi assumes that Hanasaki is probably too busy to put it together and decides he wants to do it for him.
Ho don't do it.
Jonouchi begins showing Anzu and Yuugi how he do with the kit: he bathes the parts in hot water, cuts off the excess vinyl, glues them together, and paints them with lacquer spray. Everyone congratulates Jonouchi on his assembly of the figure, but he deserves way more than that, because pulling the hot water, Exacto knife, glue and paint from his ass was nothing short of MAGIC. Not to mention how he managed to do all this in Hanasaki's room, without getting paint everywhere, AND in record time, because it couldn't have taken too long for Hanasaki to change into his completed Zombire costume and come back to the room.
Hanasaki screams when he sees what Jonouchi has done, just as Jonouchi screams at his second view of the mask. Hanasaki begins weeping, saying he didn't want anyone to put the figure together because he wanted it in mint condition in its box. Anzu tries to tell Hanasaki that his costume is really awesome, but Honda thinks the awesomeness is reduced by Hanasaki's weeping.
Later, as Yuugi and friends are leaving Hanasaki's house, Jonouchi apologizes for putting together the kit. Hanasaki has recovered by this time and tells Jonouchi it's no big deal, and he did a really good job with it to boot. Yuugi waves goodbye and Hanasaki and his mother walk back into the house, talking about how fun the visit was. Hanasaki's father hangs around outside, looking out at the retreating Yuugi and company. He calls out to them before they get too far down the street.
Turns out that Hanasaki is a bit sickly, and because his father is working a lot, he can't be there for him a most of the time. He thought for a long time that Hanasaki's only friends were the figures that he bought for him. Jonouchi assures Hanasaki's dad that Hanasaki is far from weak, and Yuugi agrees.
Hanasaki's father doesn't seem convinced, because he goes into flashback mode while repeating the phrase "get stronger" in his head. The scene is in a hospital room where Hanasaki is sitting up in the bed. He's stoked because his dad brought him another cool action figure from America, and his dad explains that its a Zombire figure this time, the strongest hero in America. Hanasaki asks if Zombire is really that strong, and after the confirmation, Hanasaki claims that looking at the figure makes him feel stronger too. His dad is overjoyed by this, saying he'll buy him a new Zombire figure every time he comes back from a business trip. Hanasaki is excited to build a collection of toys that make him feel better.
This is seriously breaking my heart. I've always had a soft spot for fatherhood themes in stories, and though my preferred sub-genre of this is fathers and adoptive daughters, I still get a really fuzzy feeling when I see fathers acting affectionate toward their children in fiction. It's my favorite thing in the world.
Ahem, anyway, Hanasaki's dad comes out of his flashback to find that Yuugi and pals have gone. He looks back at the house, where he can see the silhouette of his son playing in his costume in his room. Within that room, Hanasaki is posing, talking about how cool he looks. He quotes the slogan of Zombire, something about an urban canyon and tearing apart the night. That bit about tearing apart the night is particularly fascinating to Hanasaki, and he thinks about how at home Zombire is on the street at night. He thinks, dressed as he is, he should be able to be the same, since no one would recognize him.
Ho don't do it.
Hanasaki feels like a real live Zombire, and really strong, with contact lenses in and everything. No, seriously, the comic had to point out that he was wearing contacts, because I guess we would have gotten confused had we seen his face under the mask without glasses. Anyway, he jumps around past a shady guy sitting slumped against a wall and collapses on a park bench, thinking about how he could get used to sneaking out and wandering around at night.
Just then, he sees a couple of kids beating up on a third in front of him. He doesn't like the two-on-one dynamic here, and begins to take off, but then remembers that Zombire would never run away. He walks up to them and stutters that they should cease and desist with their violent behavior! One of the hoodlums asks who Hanasaki is supposed to be, and Hanasaki starts saying that he's Zombire before recalling that his name doesn't come until AFTER he wins the fight.
The kid in the ski cap jumps at him, threatening to kick his ass with his fist raised. Hanasaki flinches but thrusts his hands toward his attacker, and is surprised when Ski Cap Kid flies away from him. Headband Kid is next up to bat, pulling back his fist to avenge his overacting friend. He too flies backward with the lightest of shoves from Hanasaki. Both hoodlums declare that Hanasaki is far too strong for them and high-tail it out of there. Hanasaki stands bewildered for a moment.
He remembers this is the part where he's supposed to say his name and declares that he's Zombire, feeling pretty fucking cool right about now. Hanasaki seems really convinced that his costume has made him just as strong as Zombire, made him INTO Zombire.
Meanwhile, his dad is speaking with his attackers, who ask if that act was what he wanted. Hanasaki's dad says yes and holds out some money to the hoodlums, in exchange for the confidence they instilled in his son. Ski Cap Kid is stoked about their acting gig, since they got 100,000 yen just for playing pretend with Hanasaki. Wow, Hanasaki's dad really DOESN'T care how much money he spends on Hanasaki, does he? He tells the hoodlums he might want to enlist them for a confidence boost job once again.
Yuugi notes that these guys don't look very friendly as they ask if he knows Hanasaki. After a quick thought about how the hoodlums might know Hanasaki's name, he denies knowing their target. They can tell he's lying and back him against a wall while Hanasaki himself comes across the scene. He recognizes the bad dudes that Yuugi is now confronted by and is furious that they're still preying on the weak after their obviously fake defeat the night before. It doesn't look so much like their preying on Yuugi as much as trying to lovingly stroke his cheek.
Hansaki promises to protect Yuugi from these boys' inappropriate advances with his Zombire alter-ego.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I found the references to collections of nerd paraphernalia really fun, and the fact that Yuugi and friends went along with Hanasaki's hobby and validated him was a treat for an old dork like me. Also, as I said already, I'm a total sucker for fatherly affection in my fiction. It's too cute how Hanasaki's dad buys him these figures and supports his son's interests because they make him feel good. The parts in which they were shown bonding was like candy to me, and I devoured it. This chapter was like eating a CAKE, up until a point.
Because, even though I believed that Hanasaki's dad let Hanasaki get away with sneaking out, following him just to make sure he was okay, it was CRAZY irresponsible for him to pay other kids to pretend fight him. It was INCONCEIVABLE that he should tell these strangers where he goes to school. That is just so stupid, I don't even know how a grown man could have begun to justify that in his head. It had me thinking that Hanasaki's dad was the worst father in record time, and that's not an enjoyable way for me to end the chapter. I was floored by this turnabout in how I could perceive a character.
Not that this is necessarily a BAD direction to take Mr. Hanasaki. He does seem to blindly cling to the idea that turning his son into Zombire will make him stronger, and I can imagine that, in some way, he was aware of how much trouble he was putting his son into. After all, there have been dads out there who have taken the "sink or swim" approach to toughening up their boys ridiculously far, so it's not like it's unrealistic. It was just a shock coming from someone supposedly so sensitive to his son's fragility.
We'll see if he's learned anything about giving out his son's personal information in part 2.
Zombire would go on to become the monster "Zombrya the Dark" in the TCG. Also, I guess Zombire is supposed to be Spawn or Ghost Rider or something?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how Hanasaki would feel about the various Hero archetype monsters that wound up coming out. Maybe Hanasaki is secretly Judai or Edo Phoenix in disguise!
Also, yeah, that last "Ho don't do it" was very much a shared sentiment! He might as well have given those guys a list of his son's fears while he was at it!
I feel like Hanasaki would be super stoked to collect those cards, personally, since he's a collector already. I wish we had seen him more in the series, not just because I thought he would have fit really well into the arcs where strength is eventually defined by the tame card game hobby and treasuring one's monsters, but also because I'm worried about him not appearing again after a while. I'm concerned that Hanasaki Sr. definitely got his son murdered at some point.
DeleteApparently, in the GX anime, Hanasaki is fine until he's sent to the World of Darkness by Mr. T offscreen after losing a Shadow Game. Presumably that's fixed when Mr. T is defeated by Judai.
DeleteI'm sorry, you'll have to run that one by me again; you say Hanasaki dueled MR.T????
DeleteI was on the fence before, but now I have to. I have to see GX.