Chapter 5
? I counter that claim with Mirror Force!
In this and the following lines, Andou and Sagami have gone off on a tangent into a game of imaginary Yu-Gi-Oh!
? The likes of MAX Coffee shall never disgrace my refined palate!
MAX Coffee is a Japanese brand of canned coffee, notable for being notoriously sweet and the object of the main character of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected’s obsession. It might be a stretch to claim that this is a reference to that series, but considering its publication started one year before Supernatural Battles’s, I also can’t rule out the possibility.
? How do you react when the person you’re meeting arrives looking like an especially avant-garde Stand User?
Stand Users, as you might remember, are people with a particular sort of super power in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. More relevant than the powers in this case, though, is the fact that the author of JoJo’s, Araki Hirohiko, has an extremely unique and inventive sense of fashion that results in many of his characters wearing outfits that practically define the term avant-garde. Araki is, to the best of my knowledge, the only manga artist who can claim to have been part of a crossover exhibit with Gucci, and it really shows in his work.
? Plus, the word ‘doppio’ brings JoJo Part 5 to mind, so I just couldn’t resist.
This one’s pretty straightforward: Part 5 of JoJo features a fairly important character named Vinegar Doppio.
? My anti-home-invader techniques would put the Home Alone kid to shame!
This is another reference that I feel obligated to confirm was, in fact, present in the original text! Home Alone is surprisingly well-known in Japan.
? ...but on that day, it was all moumantai!
“Moumantai” is one way to spell a Cantonese phrase that more or less means “no problem.” As to why Andou would drop a word of random Cantonese into his internal monologue out of nowhere, it seems very likely that this line was inspired by Terriermon, a character from Digimon Tamers who uses moumantai as something of a catchphrase.
? She was facedown on her desk and fast asleep yet again, though this time her eye mask had “Sleepy Boy Technique” printed on it.
The Sleepy Boy Technique is a martial arts maneuver used by Jackie Chun, the alter ego of Master Roshi in Dragon Ball. The technique involves the user hypnotizing their opponent and forcing them to fall asleep. Whether or not it really counts as martial arts is a matter of some debate.
? I sped away, pumping my legs in perfect adherence to the golden ratio and sending Fenrir’s wheels into a state of the Spin!
The Spin is a concept introduced in Part 7 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure! It involves putting objects into a state of perfect rotation, which is justified in-universe with an explanation involving the golden ratio and the golden spiral that’s derived from it.
? ...or if I’d managed to invade DIO’s world of stopped time...
As noted in previous volumes, DIO is a JoJo character with the power to stop time. In this line, Andou’s paraphrasing one of DIO’s lines in Part 3, which he says when the part’s protagonist, Jotaro, manages to move while time is stopped. The line in question is extremely iconic among the Japanese JoJo fandom.
? Good grief, elementary schoolers are just the best!
In this line, Andou is quoting Hasegawa Subaru, the protagonist of Ro-Kyu-Bu!, a light novel series that got a shout-out back in volume 1 as well. And I mean, like, literally quoting him word for word. In the original context, Subaru’s line is in reference to elementary schoolers’ ability to learn and adapt at an incredible pace...but considering the overall content of the series, it’s kind of hard not to read a decidedly less innocent meaning into the line. Unsurprisingly, said less innocent interpretation led to the line turning into a meme on the Japanese side of the internet, especially on Nico Nico Douga.
? I don’t even care who I go after. It may as well be you.
Here, Andou’s paraphrasing Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter. In the original context, Kurapika’s threatening to brutalize a thug who holds him at gunpoint. As a side note, this is a very rare instance of a media reference that the anime adaptation of Supernatural Battles preserved in very explicit detail, even going so far as to reproduce the art style of the panel in which Kurapika says the line! I plan on going into more detail on the differences between the novels and the anime adaptation in a later TL notes section, but to make a long story short, most of the novels’ references were lost in adaptation.
? You shall address me only as the Knight of Knights!
This is almost certainly an intentional play on Night of Nights, a song from the incredibly popular Touhou franchise of bullet hell games.
? ...or Chifuyu got aged up by The Thankful Death!
One last JoJo reference for the road! The Thankful Death is a stand in JoJo Part 5 that causes its victims to age at a supernaturally rapid pace and eventually drop dead.
That’s all the references this time around! Thanks again for reading, and see you again in volume four!
-Tristan Hill
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