Series: Kick of the Gods — the daily-life manga of ANCHORAGE, a kickboxing gym with 4 locations in Fukuoka, Japan.
About this episode: Episode 10, first published in Japanese on July 4, 2014, under the title "⑩ 鷲崎健太☆イメチェン大作戦" (Kenta Washizaki's Great Image-Change Operation). Kenta shows up with a changed, spiky hairstyle, and Ryota jokes, "Super Saiyan?" Then Lord Shiva appears and asks Ryota to lend him the shower. Ryota explains that Shiva is Hinduism's popular man — Lady Parvati, Lady Sati, Lady Durga and Lady Kali are all his wives — and Kenta swoons. The punchline: Kenta vows to grow his hair long in admiration of "Senpai Shiva," while Ryota wonders what has got into him.
Panel 1
- Lord Shiva: “Ryota, could you lend me the shower for a bit?”
- Ryota (estimated): “Are you a Super Saiyan or what?!”
- Ryota (estimated): “A man just silently wears shorts.”
- Ryota (estimated): “Ah! Lord Shiva, d-d-d-d…”
- Narration box (kept as in the original): “Kenta came with a changed hairstyle”
Panel 2
- Ryota: “Lady Parvati, Lady Sati, Lady Durga too — Lady Kali too — they're all Lord Shiva's wives.”
- Ryota: “Lord Shiva, Hinduism's popular guy!”
- Kenta: “Who!? Super handsome!!”
Panel 3
- Lord Shiva: “That'll put people off in Japan, so don't say it too much.”
- Ryota: “Right. Sorry.”
- Kenta: “S-sooo cool!♡”
Panel 4
- Kenta: “I'll grow my hair long…”
- Kenta: “Senpai Shiva…”
- Ryota: “Huh? What's up, Kenta?”
- Free writing (kept as in the original): “(blank, dazed sound)”
Notes
- The outside title "A Little Admiration for Senpai Shiva" tells how Kenta feels here: a slight admiration for Shiva, whom he now addresses dreamily as his "senpai" (senior).
- Lord Shiva makes his first appearance here. In Hindu mythology he is the god of destruction and regeneration, and Parvati's husband — drawn with blue skin, a trident, a tall topknot and a snake scarf.
- The yellow narration box in Panel 1 ("Kenta came with a changed hairstyle") and the free-written "ポー" (blank, dazed sound) in Panel 4 are kept as in the original in the image, following the practice of earlier episodes; their translations are given in the dialogue above.
- The speakers of "Are you a Super Saiyan or what?!" (Panel 1), "A man just silently wears shorts." (Panel 1) and "Ah! Lord Shiva, d-d-d-d…" (Panel 1) are estimated from tail direction and position, as noted in the dialogue above.
- "A man just silently wears shorts." parodies the beer-ad copy "a man silently drinks Sapporo" — with shorts as the punchline.
- Kenta's "S-sooo cool!♡" renders "バ…バリカゲー!♡": "バリ" is the Hakata intensifier ("very"), and "カゲー" is Kenta's excited slurring of "かっけー" ("cool"). The heart shows how smitten he is with Shiva.
- Panel 4's "Senpai Shiva…" is a literal transcription of "シヴァの先輩…", translated idiomatically as a dreamy address to Shiva as his senior.
- This is an archive episode from July 4, 2014, from the very start of the series.
Original Japanese version: https://www.anchorage.asia/manga/882/
Next episode: Ep. 11 — Every Day Is Training
Visit us in Fukuoka: ANCHORAGE kickboxing gym — trial lessons for visitors available via our inbound booking pages (Klook / ActivityJapan).