Halloween Jiangshi Night Episode 3 Part 3

Li Chou starts up another narrative flashback right off the bat. He talks about that day (or night I suppose) the moon hung beautifully over the mountain. He roared at it, though there was no one around to hear him.

Li Chou talks about how he once thought that he had a talent at poetry that could change the world, yet there stood his fallen form. But when he thought about it, he had always carried on as such before he even turned into a tiger. If he put out his best efforts, his flaws would be open to criticism. As such, he always bragged that he wasn’t trying his best.

He thinks of the last line of his associated original poem, which in Japanese looks like “I could not scream out long, as all I can do is howl.” The direct Chinese verse seems to go differently. But anyways, Li says he thinks it’s appropriate to how he is now.

A voice calls out, and it turns out Li Chou’s friend recognizes his voice. Li reacts by jumping and hiding in the grass as he doesn’t want to be seen after his transformation. As he peeks at his friend who he sees is standing on the main road, he sees that the splendid future he’ll be heading for will continue on. Li thinks of it as the path of humanity, the path one ought to take.

He looks back upon his own form and thinks that he’s always been repeating the same things. He had always been using his talent at poetry to make excuses for his own mistakes. He wasted it on making up pretenses and fabrications. And yet every time he made mistakes he couldn’t hide, he strayed from the path he had taken until then and pretended it didn’t happen.

Whether it be a government official or a poet or simply as a human, he never stayed and eventually left. He did so because he always wanted to be someone who never made mistakes. He wanted to be his ideal self, like how children would dream up their ideal heroes. He wanted to whine and howl safely in a place where he’d face no reprisal. In which case, it only makes sense that the tall grass be the place where he’ll die. The same goes for his tiger form.

Li Chou then denies those thoughts and says that no matter how far he’s fallen he still feels like he has something he needs to do. He doesn’t know what that is though, so he howls as he feels like at the darkening moon. It was then that the rainbow road opened up for him from the sky. Li went for it in a daze. The last thing he heard then was, “Li Chou!? My friend! Where are you—“

Narration takes over to say Li Chou disappeared from his home world and was guided to Tokyo. Flashback ends as we then pick up from last time as everyone present reacts in shock to Krampus’s suggestion to do an improv tokusatsu hero show. Your reaction runs along the same lines, although C is instead just asking if Krampus just wants to do one.

In any case Krampus is a bit embarrassed and says that was the best idea he could come up with. Yule apologizes since he wasn’t expecting that idea and needed time to process it. Shirou doesn’t have anything to say, but Behemoth speaks up to ask what a tokusatsu show even is.

Krampus realizes he should have started from there and says he just zipped past it since he got used to Yule becoming familiar with toku shows too. Harlot says she knows about them too as she’s started watching Kitchen Rangers and got all the seasons.

You and Krampus are shocked by this, but Harlot takes it in stride and says that she’d do anything to make children happy. Also her mom friends have been talking about it as a must have item. Krampus notes that she’s closer to someone in the program’s target audience than he is.

Harlot says she personally likes the mega kitchen battle setting they have. She especially likes the Mega Calorie Beam that turns defeated monsters giant sized. She’d love it if they could squash the heroes like that but the way they always lose annoys her. On a side note she doesn’t care for the giant robot battles.

Krampus says Harlot’s a villain fan and mentions that recently villains have their attractive traits added. He’d love to talk more about it all, but he knows there’s no time for that. Since most people don’t know what tokusatsu is, Krampus thinks the best place to start is with History of Special Effects. You either complain that will take too long, ask him to go with an abridged version, or say you’re interested.

In B he’s dismayed and says the history is totally important to understanding the greatness of it all but agrees to explain more on whatever people ask about. In C he’s happy to hear that and invites you to marathon last season’s 53 episodes with him this winter break in his room, though Shirou cuts in to say to save it for later. In the meantime, specifics should only be gotten into when asked.

Narration skips over Krampus showing everyone an intro to toku shows video he might have edited together himself. After that’s done Krampus realizes he just showed everyone some Top 10 Awesome Toku Scenes video he picked up through his hobbies. He’s so embarrassed for geeking out that he feels like dying.

Tetsugyuu enjoyed it nonetheless and likes some heroic axe wielder he saw. Shirou seems impressed and says he feels a deeper understanding for such things. Kengo gets a sense of nostalgia as he says he used to watch these shows a lot until *somebody* made him read. Touji says he remembers seeing something like this when he was younger and compliments the swordsmanship.

Benten doesn’t seem that impressed and pushes for things to move on if the explanation is done with. She then asks how a toku show is supposed to relate to the current incident. Krampus points out to all the tropes and customs like the drama and the recognizable patterns and the impact of team battles.

Harlot twigs onto Krampus suggesting that they put on a show themselves and play out the parts, which she’s not enthused about. Benten says she’s not opposed but wonders if the crowds will go for it.

Shirou believes the direction can work and brings up that there aren’t that many ways to change people’s cognitions of the jiangshi to make them actors. He then asks if the idea is to frame them as battle mooks. Krampus confirms it and compliments how well Shirou is acting as advisor in glasses. Shirou points out that glasses shouldn’t have any relation to anything.

Krampus then talks about how battle mooks in tokusatsu shows are usually the minions of monsters and the boss level enemies. A common plot is to have them go and make a mess of some sort of public event. He goes into a tangent about how the monsters tend to design themselves after the event they go to disrupt, but Yule cuts him off from going too far off track.

Anyways Touji starts going over the main parts to cast for the toku show idea, and Ryouta thinks it’ll be great. Gouryou says getting the public involved is key to a hero show and supports the idea. Tetsugyuu asks if taunting opponents and talking like an awful person is good enough. If it is, then he can help even if he can’t act.

You either agree to let him do that, comment that he’s confident in doing stunts, or say his costume and stuff should be good. Tetsugyuu says he’ll do it and mentions that the officials in his home world did him dirty. Kengo then asks if he might be too rough to play a hero. Krampus says dark heroes are a thing, but if the goal is to get the kids to like him then Tetsugyuu might be better off a villain.

Tetsugyuu is fine playing either part and says it doesn’t matter much in the battlefield. Harlot offers to play a villain too. She says she’s not confident she can act well, but you say she should be fine if she acts as she always does. She takes it as a sign of faith in her on your part and says she’ll do it.

Krampus says cool boss villains are popular with kids, and those with unique charm to them tend to have figures that sell well. Harlot confirms that she’ll do it for sure if it’ll make kids happy. Almost everyone starts feeling hopeful, and Li Chou’s expression is noted to be slightly changing.

Li Chou starts expressing doubts and complaints about his festival being hijacked for a toku show. After a moment of silence he yells that most of the visitors have already decided that this is a failure and that nothing can be done now. You either try to talk to him or stay quiet.

Li Chou starts talking about how hard he tried to make things a success this time and how he tried to get to the point he could say he changed. He knows what he’s saying is embarrassing, but he doesn’t want to do anything anymore.

Krampus starts talking to Li Chou and says he understands him. He detested things that embarrassed him back then and still does now. Krampus then tells Li that he wants to be a hero like in things meant for children, even if he looks frightening. He knows it may be a childish dream done for his own ego, but he knows.

If even one person were to laugh at Krampus’s dream he’d feel like dying. That said, he feels like it would be the same for anyone who had a dream they wished for with all their heart. There’s plenty of people who won’t understand that dream, people who would scorn or laugh at it. Tetsugyuu and Harlot go quiet at that.

Li Chou can barely muster up a response as he calls Krampus a liar and asks why he’d do a show if he’s so embarrassed. There’s going to be so many people looking at him after all. Krampus tells him the answer is dumb and simple: he only focuses on one person. As he says that he looks at you from the side, which you notice.

Krampus then elaborates that he has a friend, someone who would never laugh at his blunders or his embarrassing dream. Li Chou seems to have some trouble trying to understand, and Krampus says that as he thinks of them, other people start coming around to cheer for him and seeing him.

Krampus admits that the amount of people cheering for him might drop if he fails, but his friend never will. That’s all there is to it. It’s not like he’s that mentally strong. Li Chou doesn’t respond, so Krampus says it’s thanks to them that he feels he can do the hero show. You then speak up and ask Li Chou to help you guys put the show on.

Li Chou snorts and accuses you of wanting him to use his artifact. He says all it can do is to make people think what they’d already be inclined to believe. Li then starts blustering that people think of him as a weakling who lies all the time and says his power isn’t that strong to be able to do something in this situation.

Benten tells him it’d be fine for him to not use his artifact to his surprise. Tetsugyuu gets annoyed and tells him to come along, and that if he doesn’t want to use it then whatever. Harlot points out that Li never used his artifact that way when her street show happened, even if he did for the gym. She agrees that he doesn’t need to use his artifact if he doesn’t want to, swearing upon her pride that she’d never force him to.

Gouryou says that a hero show will need a director and narrator. He figures Li Chou would be best for the narrating, but if it comes to it then Shirou can handle it as well. Krampus says there’s other things missing but the show itself seems sustainable.

Li Chou sparks up a bit as he protests that this is his festival. You either call out his name, put your hand out slowly, or quietly watch him. Li agrees to do the show saying that doing nothing would be even worse. He glares at Krampus and says he’ll show that he can do the same things as him.

Li Chou then brags about being experienced in looking away from reality and covering up his shame. He declares won’t stand for any more shaming of his festival. You can then say you’re glad he’s agreed to help one of two ways or start rubbing him on his head.

In A he seems embarrassed that you said that but compliments you for not looking down on him. In C he’s taken aback and tells you to stop trying to take advantage of the situation. In any case Tetsugyuu starts calling Li by name instead of just Tiger Dude. Harlot compliments Li’s determination and says she’ll need to step up as well.

Krampus says you guys have to do your best because this is a made up scenario, otherwise some people won’t buy into it. If however it looks like a real hero battle is breaking out and you guys have the ability to shift perceptions that much, then things can change. He says it’s because pro actors put in their all in tokusatsu shows that people are drawn into them.

Behemoth then speaks up since he has something on his mind. Since you guys are doing a hero show, who’s actually the hero? Li Chou decides it should be the one who knows the genre the best, and Krampus is shocked by this suggestion.

Harlot points out that Krampus’s King Yama costume doesn’t really translate well to hero that protects children. Gouryou says it shouldn’t be a problem if Li Chou can come up with an explanation. Li initially protests this, but then seems to remember something. Whatever it is, he thinks it can work.

Krampus says he’ll do the hero part on one condition. He agrees that his costume doesn’t fit that well with his intended part, so he wants at least one more person to look the more traditional way. He says the most popular sentai heroes tend to be sword users. You either ask about having one more hero, try to turn it down for being so sudden, or pretend you don’t fit that description.

Kengo says you guys do have someone who fits the part perfectly, and Li Chou says the one who keeps preaching at him ought to put their money where their mouth is. Everyone else unanimously agrees you should do it as they look at you.

Scene shifts over to Sanat Kumara, who is now standing on top of the Kaminarimon alone for some reason as he watches the chaos unfold. He looks on unflinchingly as if waiting for something. Suddenly his phone rings, and when he picks up it’s Gouryou on the line.

Gouryou greets Sanat Kumara, who is in turn surprised about the call. Gouryou says that things are looking up after having gotten away from all the mobs, and he seems to be aware that Sanat left Hanuman and Nezha alone thinking they’ll be fine. Then he decides that’s enough teasing compliments.

Gouryou then asks Sanat Kumara what he thinks of the conclusion Li Chou has come to. Sanat asks what he’s really on about, so Gouryou says he was wondering what he thought about Li trying to smooth things out since Sanat is a more direct type.

Sanat Kumara says that whatever path Li Chou decides to take, all he can do is watch over him. But if Li is only doing so to run away from difficult things, it’ll catch up to him eventually. He declares that no matter which path anyone takes, there will be unavoidable hurdles to bring on pain and growth.

Gouryou notes that those ‘seem’ appropriate given Sanat’s position but questions how true it is. Gouryou lived his own life always keeping things under wraps and going down the unmapped pathway. He’s also surpassed those hurdles and walls by acting in ways no one else taught him to do. What he’s getting at is that he thinks that would be alright too.

Sanat Kumara doesn’t respond, and Gouryou says ‘their’ creed is that there are as many paths as there are people. And by they, Gouryou means the Asakusa Taoshis. On that note the episode part ends.