Cool Shock B.T.
Cool Shock B.T. (魔少年ビーティー, Mashōnen Bītī, lit. "Devil Boy B.T.") is a one-shot manga written by Juichiro Hitsujiyama and illustrated by Yuta Matsutani, with storyboard composition by Ao Suzumemura. It is a modern reboot of the original Cool Shock B.T. series by Hirohiko Araki.
The one-shot was first announced on February 1, 2024 in the March 2024 issue of Saikyo Jump, and was published in the April 2024 issue of Saikyo Jump on March 4, 2024.[1]
Summary
The "wicked boy" is an infamous entity, talked about like an urban legend on the internet due to his craftiness. People online wonder about his identity and where he lives.
Koichi Mugikari is a first-year middle school student who has just moved into a new house. While looking around the neighborhood, he is confronted by a pair of older students, who try to extort money from him. One of them accuses Koichi of being distracted on the phone while walking. He claims that Koichi bumped into him, making him trip and break his smartphone. However, Koichi retorts that although he had his phone out, it was only because the other student had asked him for directions. The two students threaten to call the police, but a mysterious boy intervenes, taunting them.
Koichi recognizes the boy as a transfer student from his class. The boy makes a phone appear in his hand using a magic trick, asserting that he will be able to ruin both of the older students' lives with the video he recorded of them. He shows a frame of the video with some audio from the scene playing, revealing that Koichi had stopped walking to show one of them directions on his phone, while the other approached Koichi from behind and bumped into him on his own, deliberately falling down. The boy intimidates them, wondering what would happen if he submitted this decisive evidence of two prestigious students extorting money from their junior to the police. The boy says he'll let them off the hook if they leave and never show themselves again to either him or Koichi, so they end up running away. Koichi thanks him, surprised that he was even able to capture a video of the incident. However, the boy divulges that he wasn't actually a witness to the scene at all, nor did he record Koichi getting bumped into. In actuality, he used AI to generate a video to fool them after seeing that Koichi was being falsely accused.
Koichi narrates that the boy's initials are B.T., not wanting to say his real name. Since then, the two become friends. They talk more at school and learn where each other's houses are. Koichi invites B.T. to come over, but B.T. says he'll accept the offer next time. That night, Koichi's dad yells for him to wake up, as their house is on fire. The next morning, Koichi laments the loss of his new spacious house, standing in shock in front of its remains. An onlooker states that it's already the sixth house that burned down in the month. A burned piece of wood nearly falls on Koichi, but B.T. arrives and quickly leaps to carry him away. Koichi cries over his parents' hard work being lost; all that remains is his phone, but even that got half burned when he dropped it while running away. B.T. asks Koichi to lend him the smartphone, believing he could restore the data. After Koichi's dad returns and takes Koichi away, B.T. declares that he'll punish the arsonist. While he's researching, he's infuriated to find a video online of Koichi's house being burned down, gaining over ten thousand likes.
Koichi and his family stay in a vacant public housing unit that night, but Koichi can't sleep. His dad's cellphone suddenly rings. Koichi is about to wake him up, but sees him crying in his sleep. Koichi answers the phone instead, and the caller claims to be the police. They say that they caught the arsonist, but need him to confirm whether he recognizes the suspect in the URL they sent to the phone. Koichi clicks the link and is confused to see a livestream in front of the under-construction amusement park, "JPP Land". A person on the stream wearing a cap, glasses, and a bandana over his mouth, breaks into the construction site and starts lighting a bottle on fire. As he sets the place on fire, the arsonist mocks all of his victims who fell for the fake link to his livestream. He feels ecstatic imagining their despaired faces. Suddenly, the fire goes out, shocking both the arsonist and Koichi.
B.T. arrives at the construction site, revealing that he found the arsonist by hacking into the police data and the city's surveillance cameras. The man doesn't believe that a kid like him could hack, but B.T. discloses that the proof is shown in his stream, since B.T.'s face is digitally altered to show a mask instead, and his voice is altered. Thus, Koichi doesn't recognize him on the stream, but feels that he is familiar. The man tries grabbing B.T.'s collar, but his hand gets pierced by several hidden razors. Provoked, the arsonist takes off his jacket and grabs a pole, threatening to kill B.T. The latter runs away, leading the arsonist to follow him and tumble into a pitfall. Next, a Japanese pit viper bites his leg.
B.T. suggests that he not move, since the snake's venom could spread quickly and cause him to die if he isn't treated within 30 minutes. Exasperated, the man offers to pay B.T. 2 million yen if he calls an amublance right away. B.T. refuses, not being someone who can be ordered around with money since he spiritually considers himself a noble. The arsonist begs for forgiveness and apologizes. B.T. asks why he committed arson in the first place, to which the man reveals that he wanted to go viral. Even though he wasn't the one who posted images and videos of his previous crimes, random people always do and they end up going viral. He thinks of himself as an entertainer by doing so.
Disgusted, B.T. grabs the man's jacket, placing Koichi's phone inside its pocket and tossing it into the pitfall. Watching the stream, Koichi is shocked to see the boy hold his phone. The man laughs over B.T.'s mistake, revealing that he has a Polish Spirytus bottle with 96% alcohol hidden in his pocket as his trump card. He's planning to use it as a molotov cocktail and throw it at B.T., but the bottle is cracked, leaking alcohol on him. Moreover, the phone in his pocket suddenly catches fire. B.T. reveals that old smartphones can ignite from a slight impact, which is why they're forbidden from being checked in on planes. As the man is set on fire, B.T. believes he got his just deserts. Meanwhile, Koichi passes out after hearing the man's screams on the stream.
Koichi wakes up in the morning, wondering if what he saw was a dream, but he sees on TV that the arsonist was arrested. Thanks to that, his family's insurance is quickly processed and their house will be rebuilt. In the meantime, they can stay at a hotel for free. On the way to school, B.T. apologizes for ruining Koichi's phone due to his carelessness, though Koichi still doesn't believe that the person he saw on the stream was actually B.T. Nonetheless, B.T. was able to transfer all of its data onto a new smartphone, which he gives to Koichi for free. He asserts that he'll handle the negotiation for the insurance on the old smartphone so that Koichi gets a good deal out of it. As time goes on, Koichi takes part in numerous chilling incidents with his new best friend.
Characters
List of References
Similarly to Cool Shock Old B.T., the manga contains many references to Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. They can range from mentions to graphical nods.
- Page 1: The search engine is called "Giojole", referencing GioGio and JoJo.
- Page 2: The cover has a shadow of a hand on B.T.'s hair, referencing the tankobon cover of Cool Shock B.T.
- Page 3: Koichi's hoodie says "echoes" on it.
- Page 10: The back of Koichi's shoe says "JOSTAR".
- Page 12: B.T.'s outfit references his outfit in his final appearance in Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6.
- Page 13: Koichi's room has a poster of the egg form of Echoes, a Shigekiyo Yangu plush, a Sheer Heart Attack toy, an Aerosmith toy, a blanket that says "ACT", and a rug with Echoes ACT3's Stand stats.
- Page 18: Koichi's smartphone cover says LUCK LAND on it with the hand symbol.
- Page 23: The under-construction amusement park is called "JPP Land", referencing Jean Pierre Polnareff's dream of creating Polnareff Land. It's sponsored by the Speedwagon Foundation as there is an SPW logo beside its name.
- Page 27: The arsonist being ecstatic over his streaming fame references Akira Otoishi's face in Chapter 312.
- Page 36: B.T. using a venomous snake to bite the arsonist is possibly a reference to Giorno Giovanna using a snake to kill Melone in Chapter 507.
- Page 40: The arsonist's jacket says "Magician's R" with a symbol of a bird. Below it is an ankh like Crossfire Hurricane.
- Page 47: Giorno's ladybug brooch symbol is on a streetlamp. The "To Be Continued" arrow is the same as the one in JoJo.
In addition, a reference to the Baki the Grappler franchise can be found in page 33. As the arsonist attempts to grab B.T., it's revealed that the latter has hidden razor blades inside his shirt's collar as a trap. This is a reference to chapter 7 of the Baki series's second part, New Grappler Baki. In the chapter, the character Hector Doyle provokes the kickboxer Rob Robinson into attacking him, only for the kickboxer to be slashed by razor blades hidden inside of Doyle's shirt collar.
Author's Comment
Cool Shock B.T.Gallery
Saikyo Jump April 2024 Issue
Announcement in Saikyo Jump March 2024
Promotional Art
References
- ↑ Vish (February 2, 2024), "Cool Shock B.T. Reboot One-Shot Releases in March 2024", JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia.
