Sakata no Kintoki was a 10th century general among Minamoto no Raikou's Four Heavenly Kings. Not much is known about this historical figure because, like with most Heian warriors, what's recorded about him is insane demon-slaying legends, and Kintoki's are the most unrealistic of the bunch.
His famous life story is that he's the son of a red dragon god and a mountain youkai lady, born and raised away from civilization in the heights of Mt. Ashigara. He spent his childhood doing normal non-human feral child things, like sumo wrestling bears and knocking down trees barehanded, so eventually, the locals imagined there was a mountain monster around and called it "Mt. Ashigara's Kaidoumaru".
His reputation spread to the capital and his later-to-be fellow Four Heavenly Kings member Usui no Sadamitsu came to the mountain to slay the monster, but what he found instead was just a feral child with super strength, so he took this Kaidoumaru to the capital and gave him the human name Shuumesuke no Sakata no Kintoki. Kintoki eventually learned how to live in the big city and became one of the Minamoto clan's generals.
Oooh, thank you for the explanation. That sheds a little more light on Maruo’s superhuman strength.
The Shounen Jump channel did an audio version of Chapter 2 too!
Edited by thuse on Jan 27th 2022 at 5:10:56 PM
Sorry for double posting!
Chapter 10:
Two words: HASHIHIME NOOOOOO-.
There’s something morbid about seeing Hashihime spill into coins and cash.
The Head of the Hydra
Maruo is really gonna need some kind of special weapon or something to take out Iceman here.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Good thing Maruo is living in a Shonen Jump manga, defeats like this will only make him come back stronger.
Chapter 11:
The Enma Syndicate may have gotten them and got Hashihime, but a talk with manga ought to do the trick. Now, they're all out for revenge, but first, a fight with the Todoroki Alliance...
Admitting you have daddy issues is first step towards healing. Great chapter. I got so invested in this main the past two weeks.
Ready to see true darkness
Alright, I definitely like Kirara now that she's done more than be arrogant while everyone else does everything, I just hope they don't overdo the vulnerability to the point of making her ineffectual.
This
is the Shonen Jump issue Maruo was reading, which sets the series in 1992.
If you're confused by the "subnade" part of "Shibuya Subnade", it's an abbreviation of "subterranean promenade" that's pronounced in English "sub-nahd".
Edited by thatother1dude on Feb 6th 2022 at 3:03:43 AM
I don’t think you have to worry about Urara, if the author’s previous work is anything to go by. Deciding to go all in on a power play was a great move.
I love how Maruo healed by simply reading a ton of manga.
Chapter 12:
Turns out Urara, Maruo, and Ten ended up with the Todoroki Alliance is to make an ally of them, and that turned out to be easy except they only pledged allegiance to Urara as daughter of the former chief and they aren't taking the likes of Maruo, so what's he to do, eh...?
Also, of course the 4 gangs had ties to the Enma Syndicate, and BOY KOTTON IS HOT AND RIPPED!!
Ready to see true darkness
Even with the catch of Kotton picking a fight with Maruo, him swearing allegiance to Urara so readily was anticlimactic. It's funny to imagine she could have gotten so much more power so easily if she just went to him first.
But then she wouldn’t have a stupidly strong lackey who likes to pick reckless fights!
Ready to see true darkness
The series is on break next week because the author has just now recovered from COVID.
I really like the bright orange on Maruo.
Now I'm curious as to how they'll render Kotton in a volume cover...
Sure, it might be a few months until another tankoubon, but I sure as hell am invested in this hot guy!
Double post for Chapter 13:
A duel starts between Maruo & Ten and Kotton and Wakku. It is here where we learn Kotton's true self: an Ittan Momen. It ends with our heroes nearly down... Y'ALL CAN DO IT!!
The punk with the engine-like innards was dope. Wonder how Maruo is going to get a hit in on that speedster.
How would a typical Shonen protagonist do it? Off the top of my head it usually a finding a pattern, waiting for a cooldown, forcing an opening by baiting an attack, or screwing with the battlefield.
There's also the trope where the guy lets himself gets hit til he gets used to the opponent's attack then dishes out the counter.
I think breaking the ground is the standard shounen move here.
Ready to see true darkness
The way the story emphasizes Kotton's speed, it must be sabotaging that somehow. Smashing the ground sounds Maruo's speed, but I half expect something even stupider, like "trick him into kicking Maruo's skull, which does more damage to Kotton's foot".
Chapter 14:
NOOO MARUOOOOO!!! Meanwhile, Ten's at his breaking point, but when his incompetence leads to Urara and Maruo getting dissed, he tows the line. Looks like next chapter will be on Ten.
Who’s Kaidoumaru?