Thank you for purchasing the 42nd volume! It has been decided that Mr. Jelly Belly Honda, my editor, will be leaving Gintama to embark on the great journey called marriage. I’m really glad that I can send him off safely. If he makes a mistake and loses a finger before the wedding, he won’t be able to wear a wedding ring, and that would be a trouble for which it would not be enough to say “Amen”! He would have to exclaim “Jesus!” …
That said, as I wrote on the flap of the book, I was asked to draw an illustration of the bride and groom to congratulate them. I said “leave it to me”, because this is the only chance I have to repay him for the fact that he had to shave his head because of me, but also because Honda’s future wife is truly exceptional: he once told me that he woke up in pieces after a Gintama deadline and found Monster Hunter 3 on his bed. She had bought it, on the sly, standing in line since 4:30 in the morning.
“Well, now I won’t have to sit on my hands waiting for the Gintama boards!”
Looking at him smiling sarcastically with a face similar to Yian Kut-ku*, almost like a chicken bone, my big sword exploded, “Imbecile! What you need to hunt for is not the monsters in the video game, let alone rare items, but your sweet bride! A very rare woman to find! Give me Monster Hunter and go buy a wedding ring by standing in line from 3:30 in the morning!”
After all, it’s thanks to me and Capcom. Honda is nothing but a hyena, he simply took the prey down from me and Capcom and made the best of it. I would never trust a guy like that with the last hunt, the “big catch”. Penetrating Yian Kut-ku and his bride with my arrow of the heart, turning them into yakitori**, is my last mission as a Happy Hunter!
*Monster appearing in Monster Hunter.
**Chicken skewers.
So I gladly agreed to do the illustration. It’s like… even though it’s a thoughtful bride, they’re a couple of fools who formed through a video game after all. She’s Yian Kut-ku’s bride, so I know very well that she’s similar to Congalala*.
“Well, leave it to a mangaka… I’ll draw Congalala as a golden Rathian*, give me a picture!”, I told him. But other than Congalala, it was a pretty bride like Felyne**, with glasses and a pair of socks. The photo showed the pretty Felyne and the clean-shaven Yian Kut-ku with a face like a stowaway, cheek to cheek, around the Disney Sea, as if shouting “Yeah”! I felt like hunting them down! By now it doesn’t matter how similar they look to Felyne and Yian Kut-ku, I can smash their heads with a big sword and reduce them to “Jelly Belly Socks”? I didn’t know you were like that, I thought they were a poor couple of Congalala and Yian Kut-ku, and I thought more of dedicating a flower to these two fools. Even when I heard about the Monster Hunter purchase story, all I could think of was Congalala standing in line at dawn, and I was even sure that she had forcibly stolen the game by throwing poop at others. That bastard! Even though it’s Yian Kut-ku, in which Village Vanguard shop did he buy the bride? And since he made her wait in line at 4:30 in the morning, in winter, what the heck kind of SM games do they play?
So I felt like ruining the wedding and asked Matsuo, my new editor, “Hey, do you think I could put poop in the bride’s hands?” He replied, “That’s right, it’s annoying! Gori! Uho! Uho!. It’s rather him, my Congalala-like “new bride”… Jesus!
*Monsters appearing in Monster Hunter.
**Monster Hunter character.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 116
QUESTION FROM LADY SADIST QUEEN OF CHIBA PROVINCE
In one episode, Okita’s older sister Mitsuba is getting married, right? And Okita says, “…there’s a guy who irritates me. Even though he’s my kohai, he talks to me like we’re on the same level. Also, he’s insolent…” You’re referring to Hijikata, aren’t you? Why was Okita his senpai at the time, but now he’s the commander of Team #1 and Hijikata is the deputy chief?
ANSWER:
Director Kondo is the core of the Shinsengumi, as well as the symbol, but the deputy chief has, venerating the chief, the actual running of the organization. And since it’s a continuous follow-up to the boss, Followkata was the most appropriate.
Okita is also smart, but not suited to leading others. He also specialises in fighting, so he was given command of the first team. He is the most dangerous of all. But both are important roles that are indispensable in an organisation.
Volume forty-two, the special “Sorachi and Matsuo W Congalala training” ends here. Forget curly hair, this man looks like he has pubic hair on his head… Besides being Congalala. On top of that, he was born and raised in Hokkaido, so I thought he was a copy of me. I thought I was going to die.
Anyway, he has a head that deserves a shave. But since it looks like a simple shave, I’m fearlessly conceding mistakes. And the first one I think I’ll make at Yian Kut-ku’s wedding, attending with a “W Congalala with poop on two hands” as my offering. Thanks for taking care of me so far, Honda!
New topic: “Thank you for your work, Honda”.
Yorozuya Shinigami 