Chapter 6 starts with Haru facing off against Georco. And I hate Georco.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike a villain, but I don't hate him
because he's villainous and actively trying to kill our hero. That's
just part of what villains do.
I hate him because of the way he talks.
Did you ever have a teacher who wanted to prove he could talk to kids by attempting to use their slang, but was a few years behind what everyone else was saying? Or see middle-class kids who listen to rap music and then decide they're "ghetto" too, and try to act like it? Has your mom ever tried to talk to you using words like "swag" or "fleek" or whatever the hell it is those darn kids are saying today?
Georco sounds like all those people.
I
think that he's supposed to sound cool and "with it", or maybe it has
something to do with the way the manga was translated. Maybe "I've
peeped this cat before" sounds really cool in Japanese, instead of
something ripped from a 1920s gangster movie.
An annoying and otherwise forgettable one-shot villain is made utterly detestable because of his dialogue, and for a twist, it's not what he says, it's how he says it.
Georco has a Dark Bring, which gives him the power to turn into carbon monoxide. That's...actually kind of cool, now that I think about it. The way Georco's attack names are translated, though, seem weird. The first attack Georco uses is called "Toxic Gas Blast", because when you live in a manga, you always need to announce exactly what you're doing to your enemy. However, a footnote lets us know that the original name of the attack is "CO Heaven". That sounds a lot more bad-ass, if you ask me. So why bother changing it? It would probably help me take the character more seriously.
Even though his sword is broken, Haru can still use the power of Rave to make explosions. He can't hit Georco directly, so instead he creates an explosion to blow smoky Georco away.
Hang on a second. A thought just occurred to me. Isn't carbon monoxide invisible? If Georco really turned into carbon monoxide, why can we still see him? Because it seems to me it would be a lot smarter for him to just disappear from view and asphyxiate Haru. The kid was having a hard enough time with the fight when he could see Georco.
Anyway, Haru manages to get away from Georco, but isn't in good shape after their fight. In fact, he completely forgets to rescue Plue as he makes his escape. You know, the thing that made him break up the race in the first place. Okay, he's in respiratory distress at the moment, so I'll handwave this one. For now. What I can't forgive is how easily the mooks chasing Haru overlook him.
Haru hides under a desk where a girl named Elie is sitting. Haru's foot is clearly visible as Mook #1 approaches. Surely, our hero will have to find a clever way to get out of this mess and hide himself, or...
Nope. The thug gets told to go away, and...he does. Even though it's obvious to everyone that Haru is hiding and Elie has the physique of a stick insect, and is in no way intimidating.
How did I let them get away with this when I was a kid?
I hate him because of the way he talks.
Did you ever have a teacher who wanted to prove he could talk to kids by attempting to use their slang, but was a few years behind what everyone else was saying? Or see middle-class kids who listen to rap music and then decide they're "ghetto" too, and try to act like it? Has your mom ever tried to talk to you using words like "swag" or "fleek" or whatever the hell it is those darn kids are saying today?
Georco sounds like all those people.
 |
| #YOLO #BILBOSWAGGINS |
An annoying and otherwise forgettable one-shot villain is made utterly detestable because of his dialogue, and for a twist, it's not what he says, it's how he says it.
Georco has a Dark Bring, which gives him the power to turn into carbon monoxide. That's...actually kind of cool, now that I think about it. The way Georco's attack names are translated, though, seem weird. The first attack Georco uses is called "Toxic Gas Blast", because when you live in a manga, you always need to announce exactly what you're doing to your enemy. However, a footnote lets us know that the original name of the attack is "CO Heaven". That sounds a lot more bad-ass, if you ask me. So why bother changing it? It would probably help me take the character more seriously.
Even though his sword is broken, Haru can still use the power of Rave to make explosions. He can't hit Georco directly, so instead he creates an explosion to blow smoky Georco away.
Hang on a second. A thought just occurred to me. Isn't carbon monoxide invisible? If Georco really turned into carbon monoxide, why can we still see him? Because it seems to me it would be a lot smarter for him to just disappear from view and asphyxiate Haru. The kid was having a hard enough time with the fight when he could see Georco.
Anyway, Haru manages to get away from Georco, but isn't in good shape after their fight. In fact, he completely forgets to rescue Plue as he makes his escape. You know, the thing that made him break up the race in the first place. Okay, he's in respiratory distress at the moment, so I'll handwave this one. For now. What I can't forgive is how easily the mooks chasing Haru overlook him.
 |
| He's RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE. |
Nope. The thug gets told to go away, and...he does. Even though it's obvious to everyone that Haru is hiding and Elie has the physique of a stick insect, and is in no way intimidating.
How did I let them get away with this when I was a kid?
With that potentially exciting scene squandered, Haru takes a minute to catch his breath, literally, and talks with Elie. It turns out that Demon Card has a lot of power in Hip Hop Town and anyone who wants to leave has to pay a huge fee to Demon Card. This kind of makes me wonder at the implications of this for Hip Hop Town's economy, but that's neither here nor there. Elie tells Haru her plan for getting out of Hip Hop Town: she's bet all her money on the dog race. This...is very poor financial planning.
It turns out Elie's placed her bets on Plue to win the Battle Road race. Battle Road is essentially greyhound racing meets the Hunger Games.
Am I a bad person because I think that sounds kind of awesome?
It is decidedly not awesome for the dogs participating, because along with them attacking each other, there's all sort of traps set around the race track, like spears that pop out of the ground and explosions. Even though Elie claims that no dog has ever died on Battle Road, I'm finding that a little hard to believe.
Her reasoning for putting all her money on Plue? She's convinced that he's a bug who will fly at the end of the race. I know Elie's supposed to be a goofy character, but...really? He barely looks like a dog, how the hell did you look at Plue and decide he was a bug?
Haru wants to rescue Plue, but since Elie's bet everything she has on the race, she refuses to let Haru do so, and threatens to alert Demon Card thugs if he tries to stop the race. And so ends chapter 6.
I'm trying to remind myself of the MST3K Mantra: "Remind yourself it's just a show, I should really just try to relax". It's perfectly normal for goons to make bad choices and heroes to, likewise, make bad choices. It's what propels a story along. So I'll forgive the story for now, and try to enjoy its goofiness.
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