Dr. Slump Chapter 4
|
This page is incomplete. Kanzenshuu wiki team members are aware that they must edit this page to add missing information and complete it. |
|
|
| Dr. Kaijū | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| |||
| Premiered | Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1980 #08 | ||
| Sale Date | 22 January 1980 | ||
| Issue Date | 25 February 1980 | ||
| Chapter Data | |||
| Pages | Title; Pages 1-14 (Black and White) | ||
| Episodes | Dr. Slump: Arale-chan Episode 38 | ||
| Viz Publication | |||
| Title | Dr. Monster | ||
| Chapter No. | Chapter 4 | ||
| Release | 03 May 2005 | ||
| Translation | Alexander O. Smith | ||
| Editor | Yuki Takagaki | ||
| Collected Volumes | |||
| Tankōbon | Dr. Slump Tankōbon Volume 1 | ||
| Kanzenban | Dr. Slump Kanzenban Volume 1 | ||
| Big Volume | Dr. Slump Big Volume 1 | ||
"Dr. Kaijū" is the fourth chapter of the Dr. Slump manga series by Akira Toriyama. It was first published in Japan in the 1980 #08 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump.
Summary
A man with a cap, shades, mittens, and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth approaches the Norimaki house. He believes there must be money inside.
Earlier, the man had visited a bookstore for good little boys and girls. Standing next to a pacifiered baby reading a book, he was perusing a table piled with shop fare when he noticed a monster encyclopedia with salacious splash text: "Godzilla had a lover!?" The man rushed to ask the balding shopkeeper how much the book would cost. The shopkeeper put aside his girlie magazine, lifted his glasses to inspect the back of the monster encyclopedia, and then informed the mittened man that it would be ¥1,400. Distressed, the man flattered the shopkeeper, telling him that he resembled Alain Delon[a] and asking him to knock it down ¥500 or so. The shopkeeper defiantly clutched the book, sticking out his tongue.
Back at the Norimaki house, the man explains to the reader that this is why he needs money. Brandishing a sharpened kitchen knife,[b] he hides behind the mailbox to make sure the coast is clear.
In Senbei's lab, Arale is busy tinkering with a wrench. Senbei asks her what she is doing, and she informs him that she is making a spare face. She removes her own head and attaches her creation, transforming herself into a beautiful woman, from the neck up at least. Senbei falls over, then berates Arale, telling her that no middle school student looks like that. Arale is disappointed; she really liked the new face, but Senbei tells her to get out of his hair and go buy him some cigarettes.
Outside, the mittened man lurks with his knife, eyeing the front door. He is ready to intrude, but then Arale greets him from behind with an "N'cha!" He is startled nearly out of his skin, but then he begins to make excuses for his presence on her front porch. He starts to explain that he is lost, but then he realizes he is talking to a child. And then he gets a bright idea! He asks her if she lives there, and she tells him that she does, so he offers to take her shopping. He will buy her anything she wants!
As they ride away on the man's bicycle, he asks her whether she wants chocolate, or perhaps some tokoroten,[c] but Arale only wants Gamera! The bicycle crashes. The man checks on Arale to make sure she is okay, and explains he was not expecting her to say that. She asks him if he does not know of Gamera, but he says that of course he knows who Gamera is; that is why he is called Dr. Kaijū, after all.
At the pet shop, Dr. Kaijū fishes in his coin purse with mittened hands and buys Arale a little turtle on a string. Arale is disappointed; she thought Gamera would be bigger, but Dr. Kaijū assures her that he will grow quickly.
Next, Dr. Kaijū takes Arale to his home, a patched-up apartment complex called "King Ghidorah Mansion"[d] with security cameras all around. As he ties her to a chair, she asks him what game they are playing, and he tells her they are playing gangster, and to stop bothering him. He has to go out for a little while, so he tells her to stay there and be quiet.
Dr. Kaijū runs to a nearby payphone and looks up Senbei's number in the phone book. As he struggles to find it, trudging painfully through each syllable in the alphabet looking for the no in Norimaki,[e] Arale remembers that she forgot Senbei's cigarettes. She breaks out of her bonds and runs to the store, and by the time she arrives to give them to Senbei, Dr. Kaijū has finally found the number. He calls, and Senbei answers. Holding his nose with mittened hands to disguise his voice, Dr. Kaijū introduces himself, and asks after Senbei's daughter. Senbei tells him she is right there, and asks him to wait a second. Dr. Kaijū tries to tell him that he is wasting his time, but Senbei tells Arale that a "Dr. Kaijū" is on the phone for her, so she picks up and tells him that she forgot Gamera, so she will be right back. Dr. Kaijū is nonplussed.
Just then, Senbei realizes it is time for Arale's recharge. Holding a baby bottle filled with Robovitan A, he looks for her and realizes she is gone. He realizes in panic that if she runs out of energy, her cover will be blown.
Back at Dr. Kaijū's apartment, Arale retrieves Gamera, and Dr. Kaijū wonders how she escaped her bondage. She thanks him again for Gamera and tells him she is going home now. Alarmed, he tells her to wait just a bit; he just remembered that he has an errand to run, and can she watch his place for a little while? She agrees, and he thanks her, calling her "Mizore".[f] She corrects him, and he asks her to promise not to leave this time, but she does not respond. She is frozen, holding her turtle and staring blank-faced. Dr. Kaijū realizes something is wrong with Mizore...
At the Coffee Pot, Aoi tells Senbei over the phone that Akane has not seen Arale either. Realizing he is out of options, Senbei determines to use his genius for invention to find her. He quickly builds a robot K-9 dog,[g] marveling that he was able to do it in only one panel.[h] He gives the dog Arale's panties to sniff, telling it to find their owner. The robot dog wonders why it is sniffing a robot's panties, but at Senbei's urging, the dog runs in search of the prey. After a moment, the dog screeches to a halt, taking a break to pee on a wall. Senbei realizes he has outdone himself again.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, a doctor informs Dr. Kaijū that Arale has no pulse, so she must be dead. The nurse agrees, and they point the finger at Dr. Kaijū, who is overcome with distress. While Senbei struggles to keep the robot dog from getting distracted by an ornery cat, the doctor and nurse do a dance while Dr. Kaijū screams and begs Arale to live. Finally, the dog finds Arale at the hospital. Senbei pops his head in to ask if they have seen Arale, and then he spots her. Senbei watches in horror as the nurse affixes a white flag on her forehead, signifying her death.[i]
The doctor asks Senbei who he is. Senbei panics and tells him that he is the girl's father. Dr. Kaijū realizes his plan is foiled again. Senbei points to something in the distance to distract everyone and then shoves the bottle of Robovitan A into Arale's mouth and starts singing a nursery rhyme.[j] The doctor and the nurse look at him in confusion, and then Arale sneezes. She asks Senbei why he is there. Meanwhile the doctor has fallen over and started foaming at the mouth. The nurse catches him by the neck and wrist, checks his pulse, and pronounces the time of death.
Back at the house, Senbei tells Arale she is grounded. Some time later, Dr. Kaijū receives a little lizard and a note from Arale. She tells him she is sending this baby Godzilla as thanks for Gamera. She thinks that when they get bigger, they can fight each other. Dr. Kaijū holds his new friend up by the tail and smiles. He admires the lizard's toughness as it struggles to escape.
Weekly Shōnen Jump
Every chapter of Dr. Slump is accompanied by a comment from Akira Toriyama. Below is the comment accompanying the fourth chapter in the 1980 #08 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump.
ボクの愛車は、８人乗りのバン。でも、のる時はいつもひとり。アラレみたいな子いないかなあ。
My trusty car is an eight-seater van. But I always ride alone. I wonder if there's a girl out there like Arale.
Toriyama does not begin signing his comments until Dr. Slump Chapter 6 in the 1980 #10 issue.
Availability
This chapter has been released in numerous countries and languages around the world in both print and digital formats.
Japan
- Dr. Slump Volume 1: Arale Is Born! (Tankōbon; 09 August 1980)
- Dr. Slump Kanzenban Volume 1 (Kanzenban; 04 October 2006)
- Dr. Slump Big Volume 1:
- Aizōban (01 January 1990)
- Bunko paperback (18 July 1995)
- Digital (Kanzenban pages; 12 October 2012)
North America
- Dr. Slump Volume 1 (Tankōbon; 03 May 2005)
- Digital (16 April 2012)
Notes
- ↑ Alain Delon was a French heartthrob actor popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Viz substituted his name with Tom Cruise in the English adaptation. In Japanese, the flattery is supplemented by the address おにいさん oniisan ("big brother") rather than the typical おじさん ojisan ("uncle") used for men of balding age.
- ↑ This is possibly meant to be a Deba knife.
- ↑ Tokoroten is a gelatinous substance that can be used to make sweets. Viz adapts this as "lollipop".
- ↑ King Ghidorah is a famous kaijū, and the apartment complex is written in katakana as キングギドラ マンション (kingu gidora manshon). "Mansion" is typically used in Japanese to refer to apartment complexes or condominiums. Viz adapted this as "King Ghidra Heights".
- ↑ の no is the 25th kana syllable in the hiragana alphabet, and many of these kana have variations that are listed alphabetically under the base kana.
- ↑ Viz adapts this as "Aerial".
- ↑ 警察犬ロボット (keisatsuken robotto).
- ↑ Senbei's signature dramatic art shift is used here (following the single panel where the robot dog was built).
- ↑ This type of headdress is worn in some regions of Japan at funerals by close relatives of the dead, pallbearers, and sometimes also by the dead themselves.
- ↑ The song is Ame Furi, and the lyrics he sings are the opening line: あめあめ ふれふれ かあさんが (ame ame fure fure kaasan ga). Viz replaces this with the The Farmer in the Dell.
References
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||