Chapter 174 - Excess Massage

Title

Excess Massage (過多たたき - Katatataki) is a pun on the children's song "Shoulder Massage" (肩たたき - Katatataki).

First appeared in Shonen Magazine on March 18, 2009.

Page 3

3rd Years

Nozomu is supposedly in charge of the Literature Club, which supposedly has 3rd year students, so I'm not sure if Abiru's statement about him having no contact with the third years is entirely accurate.

Page 4

TV (Panel 5)

The TV says "Hilarious Entering Carpet", a mashup of two shows. The first is "Entering Gods" (エンタの神様 - Enta no Kamisama), and the second is "Hilarious Red Carpet" (爆笑レッドカーペット - bakushô reddo câpetto).

Cup (Panel 6)

The cup says "Strange!", which was apparently the kanji of the year in 2008.

Page 5

Pillow words (Panel 2)

Pillow words, or makurakotoba are figures of speech used in waka poetry, which serve the purpose of modifying a noun or name.

Ad (Panel 5)

The ad says "Come and look at it once - Last Paradise on Earth", referring in this case to North Korea. It's not technically the last paradise by any means, considering that it shares its government type with countries such as Cuba or Vietnam.

Excess-writing (Panel 6)

Excess-writing (過多書き katagaki) is a pun on 肩書き(katagaki), meaning "title" (such as Dr. or Professor) or "criminal record".

Page 6

Media's Propaganda (Panel 4)

The expression says "excessive writing", but the furigana for it read "propaganda".

Despair List

  • Foreign Japanese restaurants with "Tsukiji" in their names
    • Tsukiji is a famous fish market in Tokyo.
  • Gyoza "hand-made style"
    • Meaning they're made like their hand-made, but not actually hand-made.
  • The erotic game that says "you can cry"
    • Examples would be most of Key's works, such as Clannad, Kanon or Air.
  • Actresses called a "vegetable sommelier"
  • The actor called the "Yujiro of the 21st Century"
    • Refers to actor Yujiro Ishihara, who became a very successful and well-liked actor in the post-war period.
  • Movies that are "America's No. 1"
    • A lot of Hollywood movies are advertised in Japan as "America's No. 1" or "the whole USA was crying".
  • Tissues reading "Celeb" are OK.

Page 7

Interesting Comic (Panel 1)

According to Japanese Kumetan, this was a common tagline for a lot of manga in the late 40s and early 50s.

Page 8

Restaurant (Panel 1)

"This restaurant was introduced on 'Brunch'" is a reference to a TBS show "The King's Brunch" (王様のブランチ ô-sama no buranchi).

Signs (Panel 2)

  • We were introduced on Flower Friday Data-Land with a big echo!!
    • ハナ金データランド (hana-kin dêta rando), a show which was broadcast on TV Asahi in the late 90s.
  • Tokyo Worker
  • We were introduced on Mezayon
    • A mashup of two TV shows, TV Fuji's Mezanyu (めざにゅ), and Nihon TV's Oha!4 (pronounced ohayon) NEWS LIVE (おはよん NEWS LIVE).
  • Tokyo One Moment
    • TOKYO Isshunkan (TOKYO一瞬間), a parody of a magazine called TOKYO☆Isshûkan (TOKYO☆1週間 – Tokyo☆1 Week)
  • This shop appeared in an anime
    • Appeared in Zan SZS episode 5. In the magazine version (removed in the tankobon version), there's also a poster that reads "Natsume Yûjinchô".

Page 9

Cards (Panel 6)

"Asia" was originally "アジアの (ajia no)", probably a pun on the TV special, Asia's No. 1 Seiyuu. "Hilarious Showa King" is a nickname of Rakugo performer Hayashiya Sanpei.

Page 10

Cards (Panel 8)

"Sashisuse Soy" is a reference to the "Sa Shi Su Se So" of Japanese cooking - the most common ingredients found in Japanese cuisine. Sa is sugar (砂糖 satou), Shi is Salt (塩 shio), Su is Vinegar (酢 su), Se is soy sauce (醤油 shôyu, originally spelled せあうゆ seauyu in Hiragana) and So is Miso (味噌). On episode 79 of SZBH, Ryouko Shintani (Nami) asked Hiroshi Kamiya (Nozomu) what the "so" was, and they guessed things like salt (Soruto) or soy (Soi), before Kamiya said that it couldn't be soy because "Soi-sôsu" is shôyu, and already in the list. Kumeta brings this joke up again in Chapter 210 for some reason.

Page 12

Cards (Panel 1)

  • White Roberto Carlos
  • Matsuzaka II
  • Prince ○○
    • Fun fact! Kumeta used to be known as "The Prince of Dirty Jokes"!

Cards (Panel 4)

  • Dream General
    • Refers to the slogan for Kumeta's ill-fated series "Sun's Soldier Pokapoka", "From the Prince of Dirty Jokes to the Dream General '96". The manga ultimately failed to find an audience, and was cancelled in mid-1997, after running for exactly one year.
  • Akihabara-style
    • Akihabara is the main otaku district within Tokyo.

Cards (Panel 7)

"Rokumekan" is a reference to a building constructed in the 1880s to house foreign State guests while they were in Japan.

Cards (Panel 9)

  • Pepperdine University Graduate
    • A reference to DPJ member Junichiro Koga, who stated that he had attended UCLA. When UCLA said that he had never studied there, Koga replied that he had mixed up the acronym with CSULA which he had attended for about 18 months. Koga eventually graduated from Pepperdine University.
  • 15th Generation Juko-Principal
    • A reference to the main character in the long-running manga "Kaikisenban! Jûgorô", a principal of a Juko for Holland Studies.
  • IQ 400
    • A reference to a character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure who has an IQ that high.

Page 13

Big Magnum Kuroiwa-Sensei (Panel 9)

A manga series which ran in the 80s.

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