Friday, February 5, 2010

Rosario + Vampire II 27

Tsukune and girls take a trip to Hong Kong with the Wong siblings in order to fix Moka's seal.


This page was hilarious. Keep reading if you want to find out why.

Summary:
After the rosary fails to reseal Inner Moka, Fong Fong explains that the seal must be growing weak and needs to be fixed. Fong Fong then states that his family are experts when it comes to magical seals and invites Tsukune to join his family, but he is ignored by Tsukune and the girls. After Inner Moka confirms that Outer Moka is still intact inside the seal, Ruby suggest that they go see the chairman to fix the seal. However, Ling Ling interrupts and states that the chairman learned sealing techniques from Dongfang Bubai, the founder of the Wong family and the second Dark Lord, so the Wong family has more expertise in this area. The Wong siblings invite Tsukune and the girls to travel to Hong Kong with them to get Moka's seal fixed. Tsukune and the girls agree, and the next day the Wong siblings, Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, and Yukari take off from school grounds in the Wong's private jet piloted by Ling Ling. Ruby was supposed to go but she overslept, so instead she is investigating Fairy Tale's activities as per the chairman's orders.

On the plane, Tsukune chats with Inner Moka and comments that it'd be good that if both Mokas were one since both are important to him. Inner Moka becomes moody and goes to the next cabins to have a few drinks. While alone, Inner Moka chats with Outer Moka. Inner Moka is worried that hanging out with Tsukune and friends is making her soft and weak, but Outer Moka comments that Inner Moka is just becoming gentler and more open.

Suddenly, Inner Moka feels killing intent and notices a rabbit-like creature chewing on the wall of the plane. Inner Moka alerts the others to the intruder, but the creature shows itself to the others and rubs itself against Kurumu's breasts. Tsukune and the others dismiss the creature as a fun pest and Inner Moka goes back to drinking alone. Ling Ling is alerted to the commotion and wonders if the creature is an assassin, and lo and behold the creature (a gremlin) confirms that it is an assassin from Fairy Tale. The gremlin expands and splits off into many copies, and all of them starts eating the plane. Kurumu and the girls try to kill off the gremlins, but their attacks only succeeds in making more gremlins. Inner Moka joins the fight and blames herself for letting the gremlin roam free. Inner Moka bashes the gremlins, but fails to notice a falling cabinet. Tsukune shoves Moka out of the way but he gets hit and loses consciousness.


Kicking gremlins... on top of a flying airplane.... while wearing only a bra on top.
There is no doubt Inner Moka is bad-ass.

As Fanfan and the rest of the girls wonder how to fight off the gremlins, Outer Moka alerts Inner Moka that most of the gremlins are just copies, and the two Mokas agree to work together to find the real one. The gremlins chews a whole through the ceiling and the plane starts to destabilize. As the other hang on for dear life, Inner Moka climbs through the hole and stands on top of the plane. Knowing that the real gremlin is a pervert, Inner Moka takes off her shirt, and her sharp eyes notices only one gremlin looking at her. Inner Moka sends the real gremlin flying with a swift kick, and the rest of gremlins magically disappear. Thanks to Inner Moka's efforts, the plane makes it to Hong Kong, but Ling Ling doesn't have the instrumentation to land it, so the plane is sent crashing into a hillside while everyone switches to Fong Fong's flying serpent. Despite the perilous journey, Tsukune and friends have made it to Hong Kong in one piece.

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This chapter made me laugh. It's not that the story itself was funny. What I found hilarious was that the author chose to name the Wong family founder and 2nd Dark Lord as Dongfang Bubai. Looks like Ikeda-sensei (the author) has been reading Chinese martial arts fantasy novels or watching Chinese/Hong Kong movies. For those who don't know, Dongfang Bubai (东方不败, literally meaning "Invincible East" or "The Unbeatable One from the East") (aka "Invincible Asia") is a well-known villain from the very popular Chinese martial arts fantasy novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong, which happens to be one of my favorite Chinese novels. In the novel, Dongfang Bubai was the leader of an evil cult and he was the deadliest character in the novel. Fighting with a sewing needle and thread, Dongfang Bubai was able to maintain a slight edge against the hero and several other powerful fighters until a distraction allowed the hero to defeat him. The kick-ass name, strange weapon, and near-invincibility are some of the reasons why Dongfang Bubai is so well-known among the Chinese, and for these reasons I can see why the author would name the founder of the Wong family after him. There is a a slight problem though: in the novel, Dongfang Bubai obtained his powers by castrating himself. On top of that, Dongfang Bubai was also gay (maybe as a result of the castration) and acted like a woman. To name a Dark Lord and founder of a big crime family after a character who has no balls and prefers the same sex just seems... bizarrely funny to me. The connotations that come with the name just doesn't quite fit with the series. I don't know if Ikeda-sensei is doing it on purpose or didn't do enough research, but I just find it hilarious. A lot of people in Chinese manga forums are probably laughing, facepalming, or headdesking. On the flip side, Rosario + Vampire isn't the first series to name a character after Dongfang Bubai, since the character Master Asia from G Gundam is named after him as well.

Okay, I've wasted enough words talking about just a name. Back to the chapter, it looks like the fillers are over and we are back to the main plot. Fairy Tail has started moving again, and the story is also starting to explore the Wong family and their agenda. Perhaps even more importantly, this chapter also hints that Inner and Outer Mokas might eventually become one. Inner Moka is becoming less "icy" and more "tsundere" over the span of this series, and if the progress continues then eventually she'll be fairly close to Outer Moka's personality. The one who stands the most to gain from the Moka's merging would be Tsukune, who can't seem to pick between the two. First we'll have to see if Moka can get her seal fixed though.

Anyways, I'm glad Rosario + Vampire is picking up again. I'm looking forward to seeing the series' depiction of Hong Kong, and also Dongfang Bubai lmao.

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