Chapter 164 - The Round-Trip Prince

Title

"The Round-Trip Prince" (往復の王子 ôfuku no ôji) is a pun on the Japanese title of Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince", "The Lucky Prince" (幸福の王子 kôfuku no oji).

First published December 24, 2008.

Title Page

Game Board

  • The Meta-Group Goes 8 Steps forward
    • 米田 (meta) - the last two kanji of Kumeta. Supposedly applies to Kumeta, his assistants, and anyone else whose family name uses these two Kanji.
  • Happy Monday, hurry 1 turn.
    • The Happy Monday System isn't all that happy for mangaka, as that moves their deadlines forward by a day on weeks that a holiday occurs.
  • Even a dog…
    • Reference to the Japanese proverb "Even a dog comes across a stick when he walks", which is also the reasoning behind the joke with the dog that Mayo has violated with the stick.
  • You appear on SZBH, lose 1 turn
    • Maeda usually appears on SZBH in place of Kumeta after Kumeta's been invited.
  • End of Year - Friendship - Lose 1 turn
    • This phrase opened the broadcast of SZBH episode 64.
  • -Len
    • Part of a catchphrase for anti-piracy ads. The black, crying eye is also a parody of these commercials.
  • You draw for Magazine Dragon. No holiday.
    • Magazine Dragon is a Shonen Magazine special extra volume that comes out around Christmas/New Years. There was a special chapter of SZS that appeared in that magazine in 2008. (I believe it was the one with Kiyohiko).
  • Taiwan is nice
  • Traces are discovered. The fat is burned off one time.
  • Goku
    • Goku SZS
  • You're going back to Taiwan.
    • In the aforementioned radio interview, Kumeta apparently stated that he didn't want to go back to Japan.

Page 1

Poster (Panel 2)

New Year 2-F Sugoroko Meeting. Sugoroku is a board game similar to Snakes and Ladders played around New Years.

Page 3

Poster (Panel 7)

"Akkina" - A reference to a conversation that happened at a Gundam fan event. "Akkina" specifically refers to Minami Akina.

Announcer: Akkîna, there's one of the Gundam Meister Characters you would like to see the most, isn't there?
Akina: Yes. Err…. I would like to meet… Tieria Erde (voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya). Because I love him~
Uchida: Aren't you going out with him already, oi?
Kamiya: Are we going out?
Akina: That's a lie!? Lol
Kamiya: Please. Pretty please. (Read monotone from the script)

She "turned him down" and when later asked why by someone at yahoo.co.jp, she said it was because "he doesn't wear glasses". Kamiya also stated at some point afterwards that he acted the way he did was because he was "afraid of mass communication". It's speculated that Kamiya really did ask her out sometime before that exchange (lol 15 year age difference), and that some wit produced the script to tease him.

Page 4

TV (Panel 1)

"4 O'Clock Ciao" - A pun on the TBS talk show 2 O'Clock Ciao.

Stock Certificate (Panel 5)

The stock is for Studio Shaft. In full, it reads "Pani SHAFT Poni - Public Company SHAFT Stock Certificate - 100 Shares - Representative Director: KUBOTA Mitsutoshi." The hanko kanji read "Public Company SHAFT". The seal reads "Public Company SHAFT - Negima - Maria Holic"

Page 5

M&A (Panel 1)

Business-speak for "Mergers & Aquisitions".

Magazines (Panel 5)

Magazine on right: Shonen Sunday - Youth MAJOR
Magazine on left: Weekly Young Spiricci - Kitazaki. Pun on Young Spirits, a seinen-oriented magazine published by Shogakukan. Kitazaki is a friend of Kumeta's. In this chapter, Kumeta seems to be a little nicer towards Shogakukan, which may have been a signal that he was pushing to get Katteni Kaizo reprints ahead of Shonen Sunday's 50th anniversary. (Reprints eventually did begin in 2009/2010).

Page 6

Sign (Panel 2)

Hayashiya Kyozô is probably a pun on Rakugo performer Hayashiya Shôzô. Kyozô translates to something like "virtual image" or pretense.

Level 5-Death Spell

A spell from Final Fantasy. Instantly kills every character whose level is a multiple of 5.

Page 8

Despair List

  • Misdo's high-class stores
    • Misdo is the short name for Mister Donuts. They have an upper end store called "Andonand", which is supposed to be adult-oriented. Why there's a market for adult oriented donut stores is beyond me.
  • When you become a player-manager, it's hard to use yourself.
    • Reference to Atsuya Furuta, an all-star catcher who was named manager of the Yakult Swallows before the 2006 season. That season was easily the worst in his career, and he removed himself from the roster the next year.

Sign (Panel 6)

"Koku" is the name of one of the SZBH compilation CDs.

Page 11

Game panel (panel 6)

"The Manga World Shall Be At Peace - 1 Mass-Advance" - The "mass-advance" part refers to the fear of mass communication mentioned in the note for page 3.

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