Hello. Did you miss me?
Despite their apparent deaths years back, Mondo and Tatsuma from Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko are back as the lead characters again.
Also showing up – that blonde haired girl from Harenchi Gakuen. The girl who isn’t secretly a ninja. You know, the one who is the template for characters like Gamia Q from Mazinger amongst many, many other Nagai heroines with the same haircut. For the life of me I can’t find any reference to her in English so I’m stumped on her name. More on Harenchi Gakuen later when we get to the arc that deals with the main characters from that strip.
And apparently there’s some Mao Dante stuff in here too, though I’ll be damned if I can find it!
Once again, as seems to be the way with Mondo & Tatsuma, this story takes all sorts of twists and turns, and could do with translating. Particularly as this is the first arc where the lady Violence Jack plays a significant part in the action. So take all this with a pinch of salt.
Mondo & Tatsuma find themselves once more caught between various factions. This time it’s a corrupt police force who are in league with a biker gang and the armies of the Slum King. They are arrested and taken to where the police enjoy torturing folks. Here they meet a dude with a scar on his face, who may be the chief in Mao Dante at a stretch, but I’m not sure. Oh and the girl from Harenchi Gakuen, who the scar faced guy is interrogating. The guys beat up their captors, steal the weapons and free the girl, with the pair taking their time to dress up as cops on the way.
Elsewhere we see Lady Violence Jack swing into town and get into a brawl at the local saloon. And the aforementioned biker gang is engaging the army of the Slum King. The gang are led by this big dude.
Learning that he’s now fighting on two fronts – Slum King on one side, Lady Violence Jack, Mondo & Tatsuma on the other, he returns to town and faces off with the femme-Jack. His gang persue her, only to run into Violence Jack himself!
In the meantime though, our heroes have got caught again, and so are tied up naked and whipped. Bondage is still equal opportunity in Go Nagai’s world! Eventually the Slum King’s army attacks the town and Mondo & Tatsuma convince the corrupt cops to let them out so they can help fight the army.
In the middle of the war, Jack and the biker gang leader face off in a fight that takes on a mystical element the pair becoming giants that fill the sky in a cosmic battle. All very Jim Starlin.
Needless to say, I have no idea what’s going on here. Then a berserk Jack attacks Mondo once again, this time just knocking him out.
This may be the first of the seinen era arcs that feels like the 70s material. This is mainly down to the shock material being kept to a minimum. It’s closer to the late 70s material though, while there’s some fantastic cosmic scenes like the one above, it doesn’t approach the pure cartooning energy of prime Nagai. In terms of understanding the overall series, this is one that could really use translating over the two gorey arcs we’ve had scanlated and the more recent strips.
NEXT! Iron Muscle! And the end of that Susano-OH storyline from the Dragon Fort chapter!