GG4 - Part 2

Ganbare Goemon 4 (English) - Ebisumaru

I'm a bit later than I would've liked in getting this up, but here it is. (Who would have guessed that I'd have LESS free time during a week where I have no exams?) Released on April 8, 2008, this video covers the Forest Area (Ebisumaru). It was great, although very challenging, to make a video that featured my favorite character in the series. Yes, these scenes laid the weird Kansai-ben dialect on very heavily, making it somewhat difficult even for native speakers of (Tokyo) Japanese to understand. Let's just get to the analysis...

Scene 6: Rivals from the Start

Ebisumaru: H-He looks just like me!
Obisumaru: Oh my--! Wh-What’s going on? It’s like looking in a mirror!
Ebisumaru: Except he’s got an ugly nose. It looks like botamochi...
Obisumaru: B-Botamochi?! Well, you look like a filthy tanuki, with the big gut jiggling from side to side and everything! I think I look respectable!
Ebisumaru: Filthy tanuki?! You’re the one with the big, fat, round stomach and face!
Obisumaru: Can’t you see that I have a beautiful face?
Ebisumaru: If you’re ugly, you’re just ugly! There’s nothing you can do about that!
Obisumaru: I can’t associate with the likes of you anymore! Just listen to this pig whine! Boo hoo hoo!
Ebisumaru: P-P-Pig?! Argh! You’ll regret saying that! I challenge you! I challenge you to a contest! I bet I can bring more girls back here than you!
Obisumaru: I think not! Very well, I accept your challenge! However, beautiful people only. Ugly women don’t count!
Ebisumaru: Are you stupid or something? I only like beautiful people, and beautiful people like me!
Obisumaru: Hoo hoo! We’ll see about that! When you hear the cow cry three times, you have to come back here!
Ebisumaru: Cow crying three times, got it! I don’t have much time, but I will return with beautiful girls!
Ebisumaru/Obisumaru: Humph!
---
Ebisumaru: Well, hey there, young lady! How would you like to come with me for a little while? Eh? Eh? Eh?
Girl: That sounds wonderful! I don’t have anything better to do, so I’ll go if it’s just for a little while.
---
Obisumaru: You didn’t run away, even though you can’t possibly win a challenge against me!
Ebisumaru: I thought you would be jealous if I brought back some girls.
Obisumaru: Well, let’s begin! Come oooon, referee!
Ebisumaru: I may not look like it, but I’m a regular ladies’ man! You’re just a small fry! A small fry! Ho, ho, ho, ha ha! (Oink, squeal)
Obisumaru: Aaaaargh! I lost! But how?! My p-p-pride...
Referee: Well done! Ebisumaru has won a special prize. We’ll give him the lovely ballerina drill!
Ebisumaru: Ooh! Ballerina? D-Drill? This is like a dream come true!
Referee: With this, you have amazing power! You can dig into suspicious-looking rocks or ground! Well, please accept it!
Narrator: Ebisumaru obtained the ballerina drill! The blue button lets you spin round and round and drill as a ballerina!
Ebisumaru: Whoa! This is so amazing! It fits me perfectly! Hee hee hee hee...
Obisumaru: Quit it! Help me!

First off: this is botamochi. A pretty accurate description, I'd say. And the tanuki, everybody knows what that is, right? It's the raccoon dog thingy that gives you money at the end of every level (well, actually, that's just a statue...), a type of spirit that causes a lot of trouble for Goemon and the gang. It's known for having a huge stomach and...well, I'll just give you a link.

Obisumaru (or an Obisumaru lookalike) apparently appeared in the towns of Ganbare Goemon 2 as the thief that would take some of your money on contact. So, although this may not be the first appearance of Obisumaru, it is his elevation in character status. Also, if I'm not mistaken, Obisumaru speaks with a Kansai-ben dialect, just like Ebisumaru.

Isn't it strange that Ebisumaru can just barge into a random woman's house, and the woman decides to leave with this strange man because she has nothing better to do? Well, this might be true simply by virtue of living where they do. The city where this scene takes place is known as "Nanpa City", and what Ebisumaru is doing could probably be considered a form of nanpa. Ebisumaru uses extremely charming (and surprisingly masculine) language while asking the girls out.

By the way, there's a no-risk trick to getting at least a couple of the pretty girls during this minigame, if you've got a good memory. Go into all the houses and take note of their inhabitants. I'm pretty sure the person inside each house doesn't change after the contest officially starts. Happy hunting!

Of course, I was apparently too dumb to successfully follow my own advice. The first house I went into had one of the old hags instead of the young girl, but I had started recording before going into the house. I was so shocked by my mistake, I stopped recording before she said anything. Luckily, she was the first lady I picked up, so removing her from the entourage wasn't too frustrating. True story. I just wish I hadn't stopped recording so that I could include both responses in the video.

In my opinion, these girls are wearing too much makeup. They look like ghosts...and they follow you like zombies, with the arms outstretched and everything. Kind of creepy.

Heh, Ebisumaru's life ambition is to be a ballerina, apparently. Kind of odd, but this is Ebisumaru we're talking about here. I guess it's not too much of a surprise. Also, he apparently oinks (squeals like a pig) when he gets excited.

Overall, this is funny, but I think I could have made Obisumaru sound more arrogant and such. Oh well. What's done is done.

Scene 7: Return of the Reflection Shuriken

Ninzo: Ah! Are you a ninja, too? How did you find this secret hideout? Well, since you’re here, I will give you my favorite legendary shuriken from when I was still young and healthy.
Ebisumaru: Ah! That’s mine! I lost it when I came to this star, and that’s made things tougher for me! I think that reflection shuriken is mine!
Ninzo: Eh? Th-This is yours? Oh, ho ho...Well, if you hit the wall, it’ll rebound off the wall and come back to you. Let’s see if you can do it and this is really yours!
Ebisumaru: It’s obvious! Thanks for finding this for me!
Narrator: Ebisumaru regained the reflection shuriken! This shuriken can bounce off of walls!
Ebisumaru: Well then, goodbye!

Notice the similarity in name between Ninzo and Kinzo. Related, perhaps?

As it is, this scene doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, and that makes me think I screwed up somehow. Why does Ninzo say that he'll give Ebisumaru the shuriken, and then he insists on having the Ninja of Justice prove that it's really his? And then nothing happens, but Ebisumaru takes it and leaves anyway. Well, that last one might be a bit easier to explain. My guess is that Ebisumaru just quickly snatched it up and decided to get the hell out of there. After all, his goodbye is shortened somewhat ("sainara" as opposed to "sayonara").

Scene 8: Eggs + Bombs = ???

Tsujigiri: A, ha ha ha ha! Welcome! Isn’t it great to play sports non-stop and work up a real sweat?
Ebisumaru: Thanks to you, I’m practically dripping with sweat!
Tsujigiri: Oh, is that so? Well, we drip with sweat every day because we’re carrying powerful bombs in our bodies. Of all things, seppuku...
Ebisumaru: What?! Seppuku?! That harakiri thing?
Tsujigiri: Oof, how could I let that secret slip?! I guess I have to fight you with my giant robot now! Well, I’m off!
Ebisumaru: Why do you have to do this? Well, what can you do. I’d better call Impact!

Da da da da da da da with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs...OK, I'll shut up now.

Here is the seppuku Wikipedia page. There's lots of interesting stuff there, so I recommend you take a look it if you don't think you'd get sick reading about something like that. Basically, the way it was described to me by my grandmother, was taking a knife, cutting your stomach open, and letting all your innards fall out. It's very slow, and very painful, and somebody would usually be waiting behind you to cut off your head after you're done actually committing seppuku. Seppukumaru's full name is Harakiri Seppukumaru, one of the many punny names in Ganbare Goemon.

Interesting...Seppukumaru's not the only one with a bomb. Does that mean the Tsujigiri have to commit seppuku as well to carry out their plan? We shall see.

So, that's about it, but I do have one thing to say before I go. I don't know who actually takes the time to read this, but if you do, I'm begging you to leave some sort of feedback for me somewhere. A lot of the people I've told about this think I should be getting paid for it. Now, I'm definitely not gonna ask for money, but some comments would be really nice. I know the Goemon fandom is pretty small, but there's gotta be more than just two or three people who are interested in this. It's not exactly encouraging when I go through the trouble of doing this and almost nobody seems to care. Thank you for your time.