Todd Blankenship
herms98.bsky.social
Todd Blankenship
@herms98.bsky.social
While the DBS manga remains on hiatus, next month’s V-Jump will include a special poster by Toyotaro celebrating the 10th anniversary of the manga’s debut (plus a DB Legends 7th anniversary card). But again, no new chapter next month.
May 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM
With Daima done and Kinnikuman between seasons, I’ll be taking a social media hiatus for awhile. Take care everyone.
April 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Next Season: finally putting the “Perfect Origin” into the Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc!
April 4, 2025 at 3:36 PM
It’s a bit simplistic, but does match fight results better than Chojin power levels. So far Seigi Chojin have the most wins, followed by Perfect (with most losses by far), then Akuma in last. But what can you expect? Besides Buffalo, the top devils have yet to enter the ring…
April 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
For the Perfect Large Numbers, Nemesis and Strong the Budo are both S (the only two so far), with the rest split between A (Polarman, Grim Reaper, Peek a Boo, Max Radial, Turbo Men) and B (Marvelous, Jack Chi, Dalmatiman, Marlinman, Crushman)…
April 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM
For the Seven Akuma Chojin, only their leader Buffaloman ranks as an A, while Springman/Blackhole/Atlantis are all Bs, and Ste-Casse King/The Mountain/Mister Khamen are Cs…
April 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
(Besides the overall letter grade, Chojin are also scored in five subcategories: starting at the top and going clockwise, these are: power, technique, speed, trickiness, and tactics)
April 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
You may recall how the Chojin Enma Gradebook has character profiles assigning the Perfect Origin Arc’s major Chojin with grades of C, B, A, and S for overall wrestling chops. The main Seigi Chojin mostly rank in at A, with greenhorn Brocken (and Pentagon) at B, and Geronimo a C…
April 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I’m not going to do individual episode ranks or grades this time around, but ep21 with its Warsman Begins adaptation is probably the overall best of the season. The early episodes had some fluctuating animation quality, but things seemed to even out by the end.
April 4, 2025 at 3:17 PM
And here we leave Season 2, at kind of an odd ending place. With one more episode they could’ve reached the end of vol.45 and a much better season-ending cliffhanger (imo), but if this was the price of adapting Warsman Begins, then so be it.
April 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Polarman’s eyecatch profile really hypes him up. As it says, at 72 million his Chojin power level is higher than his fellow Large Numbers members, with Nemesis second at 68 million and Max Radial third with 48 million (this is ignoring one exception, but never mind that for now)
April 4, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Prior to this fateful match, Wars made a point of shaving so he could look his best…which doesn’t seem to fit at all with the mass of machinery and nerves we eventually see. But in true Yudetamago fashion, the official lore remains that Wars can indeed grow facial hair.
April 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Wars being unmasked in the rain harkens back to the 21st Chojin Olympics (World Cup) finals. Upon learning that Kinnikuman’s face was really a mask, Barracuda (Robin in disguise) made unmasking the penalty for defeat. Kinnikuman won, and Wars’ face was revealed in all its glory.
April 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
The Pallo Special’s inescapable nature is compared to an antlion’s funnel-shaped pit trap, a favorite metaphor in Japanese pop culture. In the west, the main pop culture point of comparison would probably be the Sarlacc pit in Star Wars.
April 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM
(The joke behind the name OLAP is that it’s “Pallo” spelled backwards…which means it should really have two ls, but “OLAP” is the spelling used in the Nisei manga)
April 4, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The Pallo Special is named after English wrestler Jackie Pallo (Warsman learned this technique from Robin, so it’s appropriate it would have an English origin). In Nisei, Kevin Mask uses an inverted version called OLAP, which also seems to have been used by the real-life Pallo.
April 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Probably nothing sums up the overriding themes and general absurdity of Kinnikuman so well as a robot Chojin upgrading his friendship to “super friendship”
April 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Warsman’s upgrade to Super Friendship Mode features the same friendship equation from the Scramble for the Throne arc (shown during Wars’ intro in ep20), but with the new inclusion of faith (in the sense of trusting in others, rather than religious faith)
April 4, 2025 at 2:56 PM
As Ramenman alludes to here, he lost to Warsman during the 21st Chojin Olympics (World Cup) after Wars rather violently stabbed him in the head with his bear claw. To recover from this injury, Ramen had to wear a special mask, which was the birth of his Mongolman alter ego.
April 4, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.22: a great end to the Warsman/Polarman fight, and a somewhat abrupt but still good end to the season as a whole. See you again in Season 3! Whenever that is… #Kinnikuman #ep22
April 4, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Also, for ch.102 Gohan Beast has been redrawn to have pupils in his eyes, in keeping with earlier chapters and the DBS: Super Hero movie.
April 3, 2025 at 10:13 PM
And then there’s these guys…but Alien Peke and Bubul and Hyowtam seem to be newly drawn. Anyway, you get the idea.
April 3, 2025 at 10:12 PM
That’s why Arale is specifically the version from the 90s V-Jump manga, since Toyotaro did a series of drawings on the various V-Jump series either by Toriyama or based on his work.
April 3, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I thought DBS vol.24’s “Toriyama’s World Forever” image looked familiar, and sure enough it’s a collage of Toyotaro’s past drawings from his monthly “Toyotaro Drew It” column, which has featured many of Toriyama’s non-DB characters. Thanks to Magnificent Ponta for pointing this out.
April 3, 2025 at 10:08 PM
(And finally: the table of contents shows Popo remove his turban to display his horns, clearly inspired by Daima. And just like in Daima’s last episode, as an adult his head looks way too small without the turban)
April 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM