#this was supposed to be semi realism but I couldn't stop realisming it

[otakween]

0-Sen Hayato - Volume 4 (Final volume!)

Ch. 33

-This chapter was pretty dull and hard to follow. They kept repeating the same phrases over and over again. Old manga is so wordy.

-The only thing I really got out of this chapter was that they used aluminum foil to confuse/blind enemies in WWII. I had to fact check, but I guess this was a real tactic. Neat.

Ch. 34

-Really struggling to keep my eyes open reading this. This chapter was particularly tricky because a lot of it was American POWs speaking in katakana which takes me twice as long to read as normal Japanese.

-I believe what happened in this chapter is that the Americans tricked the Japanese into sending their best squadron away so that they could attack the weakest squadron that was left behind. Although I found the chapter itself boring, it did have a good cliffhanger where one of the guys from the weaker squadron is like "this is my first dogfight!"

Ch. 35

-The Shiuntai continue to fail at life while the Bakufutai go "nyah nyah, we're so much better than you!" They were awfully chill about 16 men dying in this chapter, but what else is new?

-Hayato and Ishiki fight over who gets to comfort an injured love interest-chan (forgot her name lol). Before she passes out she let's them know that the King Satan airplane was responsible for shooting up their base. Feels like things are ramping up for a final battle. Only 7 chapters to go!

Ch. 36

-Ishiki makes a failed attempt at fighting the final boss of this manga "King Satan." I don't really get it, this manga usually sticks to semi-realism (except for that one wacky chapter about sharks) but then they throw someone named "King Satan" at you. I think this is the first time we actually see his face? They made him handsome lol

-There's a character named "King Satan" in another 1960s manga called Tiger Mask, so I'm wondering if there's a connection there. Is this a shoutout? (Hayato came out first, so maybe not)

Ch. 37

-This was like the "tough guys cry about their feelings" chapter. First Ishiki gets all hysterical explaining his defeat to Hayato and then King Satan breaks down when he reveals that he was BFFs with Hayato's dad before the war. The drama! It was kinda funny how Hayato listened to his whole speech and was just like "I'mma still kill you tho..."

-I forget what country King Satan's supposed to be from. I was kind of assuming America, but I have no clue. (Edit: Considering his plane says USAF, safe to say he's from America)

-This chapter was very shounen-y. King Satan tells Hayato that he's not ready to fight him yet and to come back after he's trained more lol. At least King Satan's men reacted realistically (they were like "why didn't he shoot him down??")

Ch. 38

-Some interesting developments in this chapter. Ishiki and Hayato finally decide to stop bickering and team up after Hayato loses to King Satan. Also, Captain Miyamoto yells at Hayato and tells him that war is no place for personal feelings and revenge (he literally says "kill your feelings which felt very Naruto/ninja-esque)

-Ishiki and Hayato practice dogfighting "for real" but find they're evenly matched so Miyamoto agrees to spar with them. Seems kinda insane to me that you would actually shoot at one another's planes just to practice, but IDK enough about warplanes to call the manga's bluff lol.

Ch. 39

-Captain Miyamoto gives Ishiki and Hayato a big speech comparing samurai tactics to dogfights. I just barely followed it, but the boys boiled things down to "we need to find out King Satan's plane's weakpoint." So they decide to take a P.51 captive so that they can examine it closely and determine its weaknesses. Makes sense. Never really occurred to me that airplanes would have weakpoints...

-IDK why the boys were so shocked that they couldn't beat their captain in a dogfight. Pretty arrogant of them lol

Ch. 40

-After a big struggle, the boys manage to take an P.51 captive to start their experiment. One of the big bosses also shows up and declares a new, dangerous mission for the squad.

-I thought it was weird that Hayato and friends kept yelling threats to the American pilot. Number 1: how do they even hear each other? Number 2: I'm assuming their threatening the guy in Japanese because they would have indicated if otherwise. Surely this random American soldier doesn't understand them? Ah well...

Ch. 41

-The squad seek revenge when they find out another unit was wiped out. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger with Hayato and Ishiki's airplanes falling apart as they're surrounded by enemy planes.

-This is the second to last chapter for the whole series...I really thought they'd be fighting King Satan by now, but I guess that comes next!

Ch. 42

-Well, that was an abrupt and anti-climactic ending...I guess they wanted a triumphant ending and they couldn't go much further since Japan lost the war

-So it's revealed that Captain Miyamoto was shot down and killed by King Satan and the gang grieves for about 0.2 seconds. Hayato leads the charge to go after King Satan's base for revenge and in the fight (which happens in the rain) King Satan shoots down and kills Ishiki too! Bold of the mangaka to kill off major characters like that, but war is war. Hayato finally manages to shoot down King Satan who goes down laughing...the end.

Thank goodness I've finally reached the end of this series. It took me FOREVER to read due to the tricky Japanese and a lack of interest on my part. That being said, I'm glad I experienced a part of manga history. Storytelling in general was just super different in the 1960s in the east and the west. Tricky for us with modern sensibilities to sit through. Of course the art was very different too. I think the art was the best part of this series. Lots of care and attention to detail went into the panel layouts and action scenes. I hope someone translates this someday for WWII and old manga enthusiasts (it definitely won't be me lol).