- Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6: The Eerie Freckled Boy Incident
Manabu
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“
We're going to take your possessions one by one! We're going to drain all the money you have until your whole family's bankrupt. That's all we've always done... and what we'll do forever! HAHAHAHA!!
”
—Manabu to Koichi Mugikari, Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6: The Eerie Freckled Boy Incident
Manabu (マナブ, Manabu), also known as the Creepy Freckled Boy (そばかすの不気味少年, Sobakasu no bukimi shōnen) and later as the Creepy Freckled Old Man (そばかすの不気味老害, Sobakasu no bukimi sōgai) is a recurring antagonist of the Cool Shock B.T. universe. He appears in "Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6: The Eerie Freckled Boy Incident" as the main antagonist and later in the Cool Shock Old B.T. spin-off one-shot as the main antagonist again.
Manabu is a cunning and devious boy who purposefully lets himself get bumped by the Mugikari Family's car. Using their guilt, the freckled boy invades their house and exploits their generosity. B.T. develops a particularly bitter rivalry with him.
Appearance
Manabu is a little boy with a average constitution, and a round face. He seems to have the same size as Koichi Mugikari He's got unkempt dark hair. His most notable feature are his freckles in the middle of the face. He also happens to be missing several front teeths.
Manabu appears wearing a checked shirt in a diamond pattern and rolled up trousers. He also doesn't wear shoes. He then steals Koichi's clothes and now wears a trucker jacket with two breast pockets, a white shirt and plain trousers with a belt.
Cool Shock Old B.T.
In the Cool Shock Old B.T. one-shot which is set 60 years after the original series, Manabu has become an old man who is lean and a little smaller than B.T.. He is now practically bald, with a thin duvet remaining. Manabu still wears a trucker jacker but under it wears a shirt with a double circle motif, and a pearl necklace. His trousers have an arrow motif imprinted on them, as do his shoes who have black and white arrows imprinted under the soles. Manabu now wears round glasses and walks with the help of a cane, which hides a sword inside.
Personality
Manabu is a devious, greedy and violent boy who revels in exploiting others.
When he appears, the freckled boy seems to be an innocent and reasonable boy, although he shows an unusual high level of familiarity. As the Mugikari Family tries to get on his good side by welcoming him inside of their home, he quickly abuses their hospitality, from sleeping on the couch immediately after going in to devouring a large part of the family's dinner while complaining about the meat being to salty to Koichi's mother. He then steals Koichi's clothes for himself. In general, Manabu has a cheerful and friendly behaviour but it is only an act in order to approach his victims.
Manabu's unpleasant behaviour can be explained by the fact that he comes from a family of hustlers. Manabu cheerfully claims that they routinely infiltrate households, probably using Manabu as bait to catch the victims unaware and frightful of the consequences of having run over a boy. The family then uses the opporunity to force themselves inside of a house, intimidating the victims by playing the victims themselves, overreacting and pretending that the victims are assaulting them. This leaves the victims unable to do anything for fear of the police believing the story of Manabu's family. Manabu also happily says that he and his family will depossess the Mugakari of their possessions, threatening to leave them bankrupts, and gloats that his family will do so forever.
Manabu is also quite violent. When he manages to acquire Taro, Koichi's dog, Manabu tries to force Taro to do tricks for him and beats him with a tree branch when the dogs disobey, getting angry at the dog for "being lazy". When B.T. poisons his family and forces them out, Manabu also tries to get his revenge by attacking B.T. with a knife, though he fortunately misses his throw.
Manabu has a clever but devious streaks. He likes playing mind games and making bets with people, which is another way for him to con people because he's a cheat. For instance, he challenges B.T. and Koichi at seeing whose candy will an ant colony reach first, but he also has secretly sprayed the area with insect repellent to guarantee his win. This allows him to win Koichi's dog. Later, Manabu challenges B.T. to trace a special grid without lifting the pen or going over anything once. At the end of the story, Manabu reluctantly acknowledges B.T.'s own cleverness after realising he got baited into being run over by an ambulance.
Manabu is quite the big eater. He's able to devour a whole picnic, and also drink a whole 1 liter bottle of soda in one gulp.
Abilities
Intelligence
Manabu is a fairly intelligent and devious boy, coming from a family of hustlers and thus having an affinity with hustling, manipulation and cheating.
He demonstrates a good deal of cunning and is the only opponent in the series to beat B.T. in a battle of wits. By preemptively cheating and making B.T. drop his guard to bait him into a bet he was sure to lose. Likewise, Manabu seems to act as bait on a regular basis to help his family take over households through acting and deception, playing the victims so that the real victims feel they can't call the police for help.
Equipment
- Butterfly knife: Manabu possesses a butterfly knife which he uses once, throwing it at B.T.. Fortunately, he misses.
- Sword Cane: In the spin-off Cool Shock Old B.T., Manabu now possesses a sword cane, which he also throws at B.T. Fortunately, he misses again.
History
Cool Shock B.T.
Main article: CSBT Chapter 6
Not much is known about Manabu before his encounter with B.T., Koichi commenting on the mystery around the boy's age, upbringing, and school [1]. His close family is made up of 6 people total including himself, appearing very close to one another as they assist each other in their deceit[2].
Manabu is first introduced in the story pretending to the victim of an accident caused by Koichi's father while pulling out of their driveway. Worried about the boy's "injured" state, they bring him into their home, letting him rest and offering to take him to the hospital to which he declines. Once he's entered and secured the house, Manabu naps for several hours.
Upon waking up, he immediately intrudes on the family's meal and invites himself to join them, sloppily eating through most of their food, harrassing koichi's mother over the quality of the onigiri, and breaking the family's teapot. After hastily finishing the meal, Manabu recieves a phone call from his mother, to which he tells her all the great things about the house he's staying in before abruptly ending the call with no mention of returning home anytime soon. Later in the day, Manabu steals Koichi's clothes, now sporting a denim jacket and pants, white shirt, and belt. Continuing to forage through the family's fridge with no regard for asking permission, he continues to rile up and aggravate B.T., to whom he stares down smugly.
Meeting B.T. and Koichi outside playing with their dog, Manabu sets up a rigged bet between himself and B.T., the prize being the very dog they've been playing with. The game is to see which piece of candy (offered by Manabu) a nearby colony of ants will go to first when placed 30 cm from the entrance of the anthill. Before the game even began, however, Manabu made sure to spray insect repellant around the area where he predicted B.T. would place his piece of candy, rendering any strategy futile. Winning the bet, Manabu gains ownership of Koichi's dog.
After an undisclosed amount of time between Manabu winning the bet and the group entering the house again, the Mugikari family is met by a sudden ring at the doorbell. Manabu ran to the door to open it and the rest of his close family is revealed as they invade the house as well. When B.T. visits Koichi the next morning, Manabu and his family are still at the home, having stayed the entire night. Outside the home, Manabu continued to torment and abuse Koichi's dog, finally revealing the master plan of the family, to claim ownership of the Mugikari home and all of their belongings for themselves.
Later that evening after stumbling upon his family eating the dinner B.T. made for them, Manabu is told that the dinner his family consumed is poisonous blowfish, followed by his family getting incredibly sick all of a sudden and passing out onto the floor. Manabu calls B.T. a murderer and chases after him while his family is being loaded into an ambulence. Finally finding B.T. after following the sound of his whistle, Manabu pulls out his knife, ready to throw it at B.T., before suddenly he is suddenly hit by the same ambulance that came to pick up his parents. His dagger misses B.T. and he coyly reveals to Manabu that he never fed his family blowfish to begin with, and that he simply mixed in some cyanide into the meal. While being driven to the hospital, Manabu comments on B.T.'s undeniable cleverness with a seeming sense of respect.
Cool Shock Old B.T.
Chapters
Manga AppearancesChapters in order of appearance
Gallery
References
- ↑ Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6: The Eerie Freckled Boy Incident, p.9
- ↑ Cool Shock B.T. Chapter 6: The Eerie Freckled Boy Incident, p.25
