Takara Fansubs Translation: Shippothekit
Takara Fansubs Encoding: Bader
Look up at the stars
An infinite number of scattered lights
Floating above the ring
Today rainbow-coloured sweat will fly
It's not bright tonight! My life
At this moment is only small
Like a lit firework
Our red faces flare up
I don't understand tonight! Now I'm
Suited for this lonely smell
Hit the waves and break them
Things like kindness have no meaning
Toru Rikiishi
I've returned from Korea.
I have same interesting information on Kim:
his childhood was plagued with trauma.
This secret about his past made the Kim you see today.
Good work.
Tell me everything on the way to the stadium.
You wanted this match between
Yabuki and Toru Rikiishi, is that it?
What's new here?
There's something that worries me.
Yabuki's weight?
Yes.
He was over the weight limit.
At the first weighing at 10 am, his weight exceeded the limit by 900 g.
He attempted to lose the weight until the last moment,
before the weighing at 2 pm.
He locked himself in a nearby sauna,
in the hottest room at 130 degrees.
And he took a laxative...
It wasn't enough.
He had blood taken to go down to 53.52 kg.
He weighed the maximum for the bantamweight category
and passed the weight test.
What a story! He's insane.
It's 3 pm exactly.
In five hours, he'll climb into the ring in that state.
Episode 23: The Burning Beast... And Ice
The match for the title:
Champion: Dragon Kim Challenger: Joe Yabuki
Eastern Bantamweight Champion
Kuramae Stadium
Joe Yabuki Dressing Room
This is my dressing room?
What class! There's even tatamis.
I could take a little nap!
Hey, Mammoth, why are there tatamis?
Because usually it's a room for sumo wrestlers.
I didn't know that!
I don't blame him... After fasting,
sweating in a sauna and having blood taken...
Gramps, what time is it?
Don't worry. You haven't even been sleeping 10 minutes.
It's 3:30 pm.
You still have lots of time before the match.
Oh really? I thought I was asleep a long time.
Joe, you must be hungry, right?
I know that it's an odd question for someone who's fasting.
You know, once the weighing is done
you can eat whatever you want.
You know that very well.
Come with me.
I was waiting for you to wake up. I booked the restaurant next door.
What? You not coming?
You kidding? I wasn't expecting that!
Good, let's go! Hurry!
Oh yeah... Nishi and the kids? Where are they?
We have time before the match,
they went back to the Bridge of Tears.
Ah, okay.
Is this the restaurant that you booked?
Calm down, idiot.
Just a small steak,
a cup of soup
and a small green salad...
A small meal like that,
a normal person would have it gone in 5 minutes.
This meal was especially prepared for you.
Take your time to chew and eat.
We have three hours before the match.
Try to take an hour to eat that.
If you eat too quickly after fasting for so long
you might vomit.
Yeah. I know...
I'll eat slowly...
Good...
I'll let you be. I have some things to do before the match.
Okay.
The steak is small but top quality.
It's delicious.
Thanks, Gramps.
Please don't accept any other orders from him.
Understood.
Thank you.
Time to eat.
It's good...
There are days where you can't even cry when you want to
And days when you can't even speak of your suffering
You can't see anything in the darkness
The dream you seek is invisible
All that you can do for now
Is keep walking forward...
Welcome.
Please, sit next to the window.
- Lemon tea, please. - Very well, sir.
Kim...
Can I talk to you for a moment?
Please, bring the tea here.
Very well, sir.
It's a small meal...
We're expecting a 12 round long match.
You've been fasting and barely ate. Can you last the match?
It's not enough but you won't last that long anyways
because you'll be on the mats in no time.
Your tea.
Thank you.
Finally...
Just before the match,
you're hungry and you're in a sorry state...
You haven't lived up to your hungry-boxer reputation.
Coming from the slums and the correction house,
you made yourself a hungry-boxer reputation,
a rare catchphrase these days.
But it's a big mistake, they say.
A true hungry boxer
doesn't panic over a weight problem.
What I say may seem contradicting but it's the truth.
They didn't tell me how talkative you are.
I don't know what you want
but seeing two boxers chat before a match
may raise some suspicion.
I don't care about that.
I'm going to be frank, Yabuki.
You play the young daredevil with high ambitions.
Only someone ambitious
can succeed in boxing, a hungry sport.
That's what you seem to say with your poise.
And that displeases me greatly.
Just get to the point.
What do you really want to say?
Do you know what I ordered when I came into this restaurant?
Yes. That's right...
Just the lemon tea.
I don't want anything else.
This morning, I ate three biscuits, a hardboiled egg
and some fruit.
That's all.
And after I've finished this lemon tea,
it's likely, certain even
that I won't eat anything else before my three biscuits...
tomorrow morning.
I've been on this diet a long time.
Twenty years... No, more than that.
My stomach can't take anything else.
It only has the capacity of a five or six year old child.
Of a child?
Have you ever been truly hungry?
Have you ever lived through a true hell?
A true hell?
Yes. War...
June 25, 1950...
My home country was divided in two at 38 degrees latitude.
The Korean War had just broken out...
At the time, I was 5 years old.
My father, a common soldier of the South, was sent to the front.
My mother and I were alone,
the war worsened day by day,
we tried to survive the hunger and thirst...
But one day...
My mother was hit by a bomb
and she was incinerated before my eyes.
I didn't even have time to cry over her death.
I had to flee from the rain of bombs.
I wandered around in unfamiliar places
in search of food.
But the houses, the fields and people...
Were all buried under rubble, smelling like death.
Everything was in ruins...
Despite that, I, who had just turned 5
and nothing but skin and bones, was able to survive for a few weeks.
It was a miracle.
But even if I hadn't survived,
it would have saved me from the horror that followed.
Food...
That afternoon...
some soldiers came into the area,
looking for a deserter.
They discovered a body with a broken skull,
by a small pool of water.
They killed him with a stone, not with a weapon.
This was done by a civilian.
He's still warm...
He wasn't killed very long ago.
Good. Arrest all the civilians that are hiding in the area!
What are you accusing us of?
We haven't done anything.
It's true. We've never seen this soldier.
Don't insult us...
We're just looking for a place to sleep.
Don't be ignorant! Who killed him?
I don't know.
- I have no idea. - Believe us.
Poor guy... He was a courageous soldier.
The soldier's name was: Seiren Kim.
He deserted for the love of his family
who were homeless and famished.
Hoping to save his wife and child,
he carefully kept all of his small rations
before running off.
He acted out of love for his family who must've died somewhere.
And now we've come to take back the food
that was so precious to him!
It was stolen so cruelly...
Unforgivable!
It's unforgivable!
All of a sudden, I vomited.
I threw up everything that I ate.
It's him!
It's the little pest that killed Kim!
In the remains, they found
pieces of biscuit that was distributed by the army.
Dirty brat!
Little devil!
Hey, stop! Stop!
Seiren Kim... Was my... my father...
I didn't recognize him. He was covered in mud,
and so skinny...
I never thought he could be my father...
What a cruel fate!
The Head of Unit was Colonel Sotatsu Gen.
Since then... I never eat more than my fill.
In fact, my body refuses to eat its fill.
The desire to eat...
No, the instinct to eat... is completely gone.
You're suffering from fasting?
When you have the chance to eat, you don't complain.
As for boxing...
Yes, the sport that inspires you great ideas...
is no importance to me.
With the gloves and the rules,
we're living in a peaceful world. It's nothing but a game.
I know that it's just a game, so I can make it
to the end of a match staying calm and cruel.
Now, I believe I understand
why you're so cold and named the Cyborg-Boxer.
You know nothing.
You'll understand me much better when the bell rings.
You're leaving? I just came looking for you.
We must prepare for when we get into the ring.
So? Did you eat well?
Yes, I did.
Thanks.
Eat well?
He didn't even finish!
It doesn't matter...
I don't feel capable of winning tonight...
Sad memories are hidden by your shoulders
You are walking alone in life
Now sweet comfort
Shouldn't hurt your back
Bitter tears overflow
Just pretend you don't notice
Bitter tears overflow
Just pretend you don't notice