Kinnikuman Episode Synopses

Chapter 1:
"Messenger from the Planet Kinniku!"
 

Opening - Guydon shop. Mr. Yosaku, the cook is making lunch and the Guydon Club is in session- and very hungry! As the cook tosses the beef bowls to them, we get our first good look at an odd looking man. A bald man with fin on his head, this man is dressed in nothing but a pair of red trunks and sporting a big badge and ribbon on his naked chest. He is very muscular and tall, compared to the others assembled at the counter.

He announces that it's time to eat and the club scarfs down the chow. The big man swallows his food in one gulp. Next on the agenda- Wrestling! The club members begin tussling around in the restaurant.

Suddenly, the show cuts away to the interior of a flying saucer. The alien within has been observing the big man and he decides to land the craft. Landing outside the guydon restaurant, the craft startles the pedestrians. The police, lead by Akaiwa, speed towards the ship, guns a-blazin'. The big man and his fellow club members run outside and are astonished.

Akaiwa holds up a wrapped box, but drops it as the space craft lifts off and hovers. Beginning the Close Encounters rip o-, I mean, homage, the space craft plays some music. The big man has grabbed a Yamasaki piano and responds in kind. Thus the duet of truly horrific music begins and everybody but the big man is on the ground whimpering with pain. Glass shatters.

Finally, the music ends, and the alien beams down to earth&

It's a little boy!

The little boy is excited and addresses the big man as Prince. Everyone turns and stares at the big guy, and he does the Who, me? gestures. Then they all start to laugh, including the big guy. Explaining that he's just a regular guy and the President of the Guydon/Wrestling club, he hands the little boy a business card.

Happy with himself, the big guy then breaks out into the 1st appearance of the Beef Bowl Song.

The little boy is furious as the big guy and the club wrestles each other again. In the meantime, the cops have departed.

The little boy starts telling the big guy the story about how these alien parents were traveling around in space with their baby boy. A pig somehow ends up on the ship, and the mama alien freaks out. The papa alien tosses the pig off the space ship, only it's not the pig he has tossed out! After getting abused by the mama alien, the papa blames her for having such an ugly child. The boy, showing the big guy a chart of the aliens family tree, the little boy explains that the man is actually named Suguru Kinnikuman and he belongs to a particularly heroic branch of the Muscle family. Goofy Moment

There's proof, the little boy continues. A birthmark can be found on every male of the Kinniku family. Suguru is confused and thinks the little boy is talking about the copyright brand on pencils made in Japan. Yosaku-san is very helpful, koff*koff, and accidentally allows a lit ember to roll into Suguru's shorts. Jumping out of them, Suguru finally is able to see the birthmark on his ass.

Meat says that the Princes father, King Daiou, is in need of his son. There's some goofy business with Suguru getting mad and eventually, we know that he doesn't want to leave Earth.

Meat gets mad and starts tossing machinery at Suguru. Suguru responds by tossing a truck at Meat. Finally, Meat flicks a switch on a remote control and a Death Match cage/ring pops into existence, complete with Monster! First appearance of Nakano-san, who does some odd costume changes, before settling down to the fight.

Suguru tries to run away, but can't escape. He tries to make himself look bigger, but all the muscle comes crashing down around his legs. Then he tries the Kinniku Beam and then the Kinniku Flash, but all it does is tickle the creature.

Finally, the creature catches him and begins squeezing the dear life outta Suguru. With no escape possible, Suguru makes painfully funny grimaces. Meat, watching, thinks that Suguru is finished.

But the monster, amused by the faces that Suguru is making, drops the man and begins laughing. In fact, he laughs so hard, he dislocates his spine and thus, defeats himself!

As Suguru is bouncing around the ring, ecstatic about his victory, Meat is like This is our hero? (E.G.)

A brief recap - This episode introduces Suguru and Meat. Suguru is a great, goofy guy who loves beef bowls and wrestling. He's also a big coward. Meat is a little boy who is going to have to be the grown up in the family . We also are introduced to three recurring supporting characters, Nakano-san, Akaiwa the cop, and the cook, Yosaku-san. Suguru's Mama and Papa make an appearance. (I might add that except for an occasional flash back and vignettes, Suguru's mom never changes her dress through the whole series. Never. On the other hand, the King comes up with some nifty costumes, but that's because he's a damn show-off. Well, at least we know where Suguru gets it from!)

The art is pretty crappy, but then, the manga art was crappy too. It could have been worse. Anyway, you can tell by the opening credits that the artwork will improve.

Chapter 2:
"The Man from America!"
 

Doc Nakano opens, leading to a scene at the Japanese Parliament. The Prime Minister is haranguing against Kinnikuman, while the members are goofing off.

They all go nuts against Kin.

Kinkotsuman makes his first appearance in the series, doing a little dance and bringing a monster to destroy Tokyo. As the monster rampages, Meat and Kin run out of the gyudon shop, beef bowl in hand.

Meat tells Kin to do something! And Kin agrees, complete with goofy moment of how to do it. Enraged, Meat and Kin engage in Rock, Scissors Paper. The monster attacks Parliament and the people inside are terrified, until one of them sees a familiar figure flying towards them. It's Ultraman!

Suddenly' he screams in terror. It's not the Japanese number one super hero, it's that big goof, Kinnikuman!

The parliament yells at the approaching Kin, screaming at him to go away. Kin doesn't hear them.

We see him flying by farting. The monster is distracted and throws the parliament building at Kin, squishing him in midair.

Suddenly, a pasty skinned, blonde man, wearing a cowboy hat, blue trunks, and gold stars on his shoulders appears. He fires a six-shooter at the monster, destroying it, and saving the Parliament.

Kin is surprised and then pissed as Terryman introduces himself and gets applause from the relived Parliament. Terry then presents them with a bill, which they gladly pay. A yen note drops to the ground and Kin tries to grab it. Meat jumps him and they tussle over the note until its ripped in half. Kin then holds up the ripped note. He then blushes and shows Terry a shoulder with the word Love and a heart tattooed on it. An odor emanates from him.

Terry is disgusted and turns away. He asks the PM a question ("Who is that smelly man?") and gets a negative response, which demoralizes Kin. Kin yells at the PM, that he IS a Muscle Man!

Everyone rolls their eyes.

The next scene shows Terryman being adored by the public, especially the girls. He is wearing a pretty white suit and eating a hot dog. Kin tries to imitate the look, but fails miserably. Somehow a suit apparently made up of upholstery fabric and rice on his face left over from the beef bowl is not very attractive to the ladies&

Kin goes off to sulk.

The next day, Kin is stuffing his face with beef bowls, already on his 11th. It appears that he is eating to overcome his depression, despite Meats protests.

Suddenly, Terryman appears! Kin is pissed, but asks for an autograph anyway. Terryman blows him off and shows Kin a badge that says Hero Kin goes into goofy moment mode, singing part of the beef bowl song. Terryman laughs at Kin but it's not in the spirit of good clean fun&

Suddenly, a monster attacks!

A little boy runs up the shack, pleading for help. Kin gets all shy and sits on the grass, saying that Terryman is the one to go to. Terryman looks down at Kin with a smirk. He then tells the little boy that he will help him&for money. This makes Kin mad.

The little boy breaks open a piggy bank, with only some loose change in it. Terryman is insulted by the pitiful amount and he kicks away the kid and the cash.

At that, Kin jumps up and tags Terryman with a blow to the jaw. Terryman rolls away, in that pretty white suit of his.

Meat is happy and yells something like, Good one Prince!

Terryman lands by the playground and looks up, a I just got pimp-slapped! expression on his face.

By now, Kin has gathered up the little boy's money and hands it back to him. Terryman is astonished that Kin is going to help the kid without being paid and yells at Kin.

Kin, in serious mode, simply states that heroism is its own reward EG. He, Meat, and the little boy fly off towards the monster, leaving Terryman looking foolish.

They finally locate the monster, which is being buzzed by the Japanese Air Force.

Kin chomps down on some garlic and grows to monster size. The Air Force switches its attack to him, to his disgust. The monster starts laughing at him, until Kin bites its shoulder. It then releases a man from its hand&It's the little boy's father!

Meat saves the man from a nasty fall, while Kin dukes it out.

As Meat, the man and his little boy watch, Meat is impressed by Kin's wrestling skills. T

erryman also shows up and is also impressed. Shucking the pretty suit, he runs towards the fight, six-shooter in hand. He yells that he is coming to help.

Next, we see Doc talking ( E.G. probably about that this is how the two men met and became friends). He and Meat start pulling at each others faces and the episode ends.

A brief recap: Terry is this popular stereotypical American, who steals Kin's thunder (as if there was anything to steal!) Kin gets all jealous at the attention, but realizes that in the end, it's not about the fame and money, it's about doing the right thing. And after he gets KO'd by Kin, Terry realizes the same thing. Terry becomes a much nicer guy, even though he still carries the six-shooter for several more episodes.

We also finally get to see the Kin residence. He has made a shack with a front that looks like his face. It is built onto a public restroom, which provides the rear wall of the shack. The walls are rickety and there is a broken window pane. The furnishings consist of a black and white TV, a small fridge, and a table top resting on the futon. A wrestler picture is tacked up in the corner over the TV. The place is cluttered.

However, I'm impressed that this poor idiot managed to hook up with a TV and fridge, not to mention electricity.

Also, it's the first appearance of Kinkotsuman, his theme music and signature dance when he is going to do bad stuff.