Cool Shock Old B.T. - Chapter 2
Two 90-year-old men, B.T. and Koichi Mugikari, travel to space on B.T.'s private COOL SHOCK spaceship. However, a mysterious bomber places two bombs on their ship, forcing them to figure out how they can survive.
Summary
The 90-year-old B.T. is introduced, sitting in a wheelchair looking out of his privately-owned spaceship, COOL SHOCK, and smoking a pipe. Koichi Mugikari reveals that the year is 2060. He points out that in the novel 2061: Odyssey Three, mankind had already been able to land on Halley's Comet, yet B.T. and Koichi have only just managed to escape Earth's gravitational field. As Koichi presents the current incident, their robot, Echoes ACT4, hands him an abalone risotto porridge it cooked.
While he's eating, the ship receives a transmission on a nearby monitor. Koichi knocks on the screen since the feed is initially fuzzy. A mysterious silhouette appears, greeting Koichi with his name and informing him that although he holds no grudges against Koichi, he planted two bombs on their ship. One of the bombs is by their escape pod, whereas a much bigger one, called "Old Virginia", is right next to their engine. The bomber tells Koichi to greet Old Virginia before he hangs up.
B.T. and Koichi head to the escape pod cockpit and see the first bomb. B.T. warns Koichi not to touch it, since it's likely a vacuum bomb. Koichi worries about B.T. smoking next to it, but B.T. doesn't care. He finds a note attached to the bomb, displaying a mini-shogi puzzle with the opponent's gold general piece on 3a, the opponent's king piece on 1a, the player's rook piece on 3c, and the player's pawn piece on 2c. Koichi realizes that the note mentions that there is a passcode, so they will most likely be able to disarm the bomb if they solve the puzzle. B.T. claims to only know how to play chess, so he lets Koichi solve the puzzle instead. Koichi has to get a checkmate within three moves. He quickly deduces that it's possible by moving the rook to 3a and promoting it, moving the king to 1b, and moving the promoted rook to 2b. B.T. then deciphers the passcode by imagining that the squares on the shogi board are like the keys on a numeric keypad, so the current placements of the shogi pieces would equal to "765" based on the order of the moves Koichi made.
B.T. inputs the passcode on the control panel attached to the bomb, successfully disarming it. The bomb gets crushed into the ground when it deactivates. Koichi is happy that they can now evacuate, but B.T. doesn't want to since they're having fun and there's still one more bomb left. Assuming the bomber was challenging him to a battle of wits, B.T. is determined to stop the second bomb and punish the bomber.
The duo head to the engine room where they encounter "Old Virginia", a large bomb that looks like an orange. B.T. assumes that the bomber went with such a huge bomb because of the engine room being the most durable part of the ship. Old Virginia displays a countdown timer with about eight minutes left. However, B.T. realizes that there is no way to disarm it, as the bomber did not leave any puzzle, buttons, codes, or control panel. Koichi suggests that they should head back to the escape pod or try lowering the oxygen levels in the room so that the vacuum bomb won't be able to explode, but B.T. declares that both solutions are impossible as they would take too long.
The elderly duo accept their impending deaths. B.T. apologizes to Koichi for showing a lackluster side of himself in the end. Koichi is shocked, as that is the first time B.T. has apologized to him in almost 80 years. Both of them laugh and share stories of all the good and sad memories they had together throughout their lives. Their memories include the following: B.T. helping Koichi put on a tie as children, young B.T. and Koichi taking photos, young B.T. and Koichi looking at Switzerland watch models, teenage B.T. and Koichi playing rugby, an adult B.T. giving a speech at Koichi's wedding, Koichi letting B.T. carry his son, B.T., and Koichi together at the release of Koichi's Cool Shock B.T. novel, Koichi surprised to see B.T.'s excavation of a Spinosaurus skeleton displayed at a museum, Koichi supporting B.T. at a magic show, B.T. comforting Koichi at a funeral, an elderly B.T. and Koichi posing in front of a Sherlock Holmes statue, Koichi and B.T. vacationing at Hawaii, and B.T. slicing an apple for Koichi while he's at the hospital.
Koichi mimics B.T.'s palm trick that he did during a magic show in Vegas. Afterward, he wonders what happened to the smaller bomb that B.T. disarmed. B.T. reveals that he brought the bomb with him, carrying it in his suit's pocket. The bomb is active again, due to a plan B.T. was saving as a last resort in case something happened. He declares that he isn't running away. Echoes ACT4 carries the smaller bomb to Old Virginia. As the robot squeezes the smaller bomb, it explodes and sets off the second bomb. At that moment, the surrounding oxygen in the air is consumed by the first bomb, creating a vacuum, which minimizes the second bomb's explosion. Koichi thanks Echoes ACT4 for its sacrifice. Despite both explosions, the first bomb is actually still unscathed, though it's no longer dangerous to them.
The bomber greets Koichi and B.T. on their monitor. He is disappointed that he couldn't hear them scream, but reveals that he's parked right next to their ship and will warp himself into theirs, determined to make them his slaves. B.T. realizes that the bomber is Manabu and predicts that Manabu will be the one screaming instead. Surprised, Manabu suddenly notices that his ship is about to collide with a meteorite. As he crashes into it, B.T. announces that he hacked Manabu's ship and redirected it to head to the oncoming meteorite.
Finally, B.T. declares that they need to follow that meteorite, divulging the real reason he invited Koichi onto the ship. He heard a rumor from his grandmother that somewhere in space, there's an ultimate lifeform floating around who could grant them eternal life if they recover it. Shocked, Koichi agrees to follow B.T. until the end of the universe, since they'll be best friends forever.
Appearances
List of References
- Title: The title is a pun based on Say Hi to Virginia using Japanese wordplay, as "Hag Senior" (バアシニア, Bā Shinia) sounds like "Virginia" (バージニア, Bājinia).
- Page 1: B.T. does the same pose on the cover as Cool Shock B.T.'s bunkoban volume cover.
- Page 2: The narration is almost the same as the first chapter's, parodying the introduction of Speedwagon at the beginning of Battle Tendency.
- Page 2: Characters and items are floating in the spaceship: B.T.'s ventriloquism doll from CSBT Chapter 3, a ball from CSBT Chapter 1, the Middle Ordovician period's Trilobite fossil from CSBT Chapter 5, B.T.'s cards from CSBT Chapter 6, Mikitaka Hazekura as dice, and Coco Jumbo.
- Page 3: The page layout references the first chapter's, as well as CSBT Chapter 2's opening.
- Page 3: Koichi bringing up the sci-fi novel 2061: Odyssey Three is a reference to Koichi Hirose starting the narration of Vento Aureo by mentioning the sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in Chapter 440.
- Page 3: Echoes ACT4 is an older version of Echoes ACT3, taking the role of Clyde from Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 4: The COOL SHOCK ship is based on the Derringer from Say Hi to Virginia. The page is the same as well, listing 2 human personnel, 1 robot, and that the ship is on autopilot.
- Page 4: Rolling Stones is floating above the ship.
- Page 5: Echoes ACT4 serves Koichi Tonio Trussardi's abalone risotto from TSKR Episode 6. Koichi also mentions the Trattoria Trussardi restaurant, praising Echoes as a good chef like how Hiroshi Takemoto praises Clyde.
- Page 5: Koichi's "Why do you think that is?" references Telence T. D'Arby asking Jotaro and Joseph why his brother never challenged him to a game from Chapter 235.
- Page 5: Echoes ACT4 peels an apple like Clyde in Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 5: Koichi says the porridge can be tube fed to him like how Hiroshi says the soup can be tube fed in Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 6: The fuzzy transmission and bomber appearing on the screen knowing Koichi's name is the same as Say Hi to Virginia, where the bomber knows Hiroshi's name.
- Page 6: Koichi's "Knock, knock" dialogue and pose references Joseph's dialogue from Chapter 53.
- Page 7: The dialogue and the bomb placements are the same as Say Hi to Virginia. Koichi imagining the explosion references the art of the first bomb's explosion with Hiroshi and Clyde.
- Page 8: The COOL SHOCK diagram is almost the same as the Derringer's diagram, including the length of 168 meters.
- Page 8: Koichi asking why anyone would plant a bomb on a vintage private ship references Hiroshi asking why anyone would plant a bomb on a regular cargo ship.
- Page 8: The first bomb is based on Sheer Heart Attack from Diamond is Unbreakable.
- Page 8: The "kachi" (click) SFX from the bomb is the same as the Virginia bomb in Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 10: Koichi says "Mukadotama!" (ムカドタマ) like Ninomori in CSBT Chapter 3 and the female scammer in CSOBT Chapter 1.
- Page 10: The vacuum bomb is the same as Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 11: B.T. asks if they used a road roller to fold the note, referencing the road roller DIO used in Chapter 263.
- Page 12: The "Pressure" SFX references when Josuke is hunting Bug-Eaten from Chapter 329.
- Page 14: When the bomb is deactivated, it gets crushed to the ground like Echoes ACT3 making Sheer Heart Attack heavier.
- Page 14: B.T.'s "Koichi, Koichi, Koichi, Koichi" references Prosciutto's "Pesci, Pesci, Pesci, Pesci" from Chapter 492.
- Page 15: B.T. says his "I'll make them pay! Pay what they deserve!" catchphrase from Cool Shock B.T. and Cool Shock Old B.T.'s first chapter.
- Page 16: The orange bomb is based on Oingo's orange bomb.
- Page 16: The "kachi" SFX is written in English like the Virginia's SFX was written sometimes in Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 17: B.T. calls the bomb "A Bombwork Orange", referencing the Weekly Shonen Jump title of Chapter 191, which in turn was referencing A Clockwork Orange.
- Page 17: B.T. saying the "most, most, most, most, most" references Lovers from Chapter 164.
- Page 17: Koichi getting annoyed about the bomber saying "Say Hi to Old Virginia" references Hiroshi's quote from Say Hi to Virginia.
- Page 18: B.T. says they'll have no choice but to bite the dust, referencing Killer Queen's third bomb.
- Page 19: The "NO! NO! NO!" and "YES! YES! YES!" references Telence's defeat in Chapter 237. Koichi's "OVER OVER" references Telence saying "ORA ORA".
- Page 22: The background characters in the funeral memory look similar to the characters at Joseph's "funeral" in Chapter 113 (Messina, Lisa Lisa, Speedwagon, and Erina). Iggy is also there.
- Page 22: In the memory of Koichi's book release, B.T. is wearing the clothes Dio wore in Chapter 1. Koichi is wearing a striped suit similar to the one at the end of CSBT Chapter 6.
- Page 22: B.T. and Koichi pose in front of a Sherlock Holmes statue because Hirohiko Araki has stated B.T. is like Holmes while Koichi is like Watson.
- Page 22: B.T.'s excavation of a Spinosaurus skeleton is a reference to CSBT Chapter 5.
- Page 22: Koichi has Toru's teddy bear on his arm while in the hospital.
- Page 23: Koichi and B.T. are wearing the same suits as Dio and Jonathan from Chapter 1.
- Page 23: Koichi and B.T. have a vacation in Hawaii, possibly referencing the setting of The JOJOLands.
- Page 23: Koichi and B.T. looking at Switzerland watch models is a reference to the pilot chapter B.T. "The Wicked Boy" where Fuyuko Nakagawa stole a watch made in Switzerland.
- Page 23: Koichi and B.T. play rugby in the same clothes as Jonathan and Dio at Hugh Hudson Academy in Chapter 6.
- Page 23: B.T. is carrying Luck and Pluck during his magic show.
- Page 24: B.T.'s dialogue is the same as Joseph's plan against Kars in Chapter 109.
- Page 25: Unlike Joseph, B.T. declares he's not running away. Koichi's pose is the same as Smokey's in Chapter 109.
- Page 27: B.T. and Koichi's fist bump is the same as Polnareff and Kakyoin's from Chapter 181.
- Page 27: Koichi says "Grazie, ACT4", referencing Joseph's "Grazie, Loggins" from Chapter 77.
- Page 27: The first bomb is still alive because Sheer Heart Attack has no weaknesses.
- Page 28: B.T. says Jotaro's "Good grief" (やれやれだぜ, Yare yare daze).
- Page 28: B.T. predicts Manabu's next line like Joseph.
- Page 30: B.T.'s grandmother knew about Kars floating in space.
Gallery
Trivia
- The title is a reference to Say Hi to Virginia (バージニアによろしく, Bājinia ni Yoroshiku). The plot and a lot of the dialogue parodies the original story as well.
References
- ↑ Vish (October 18, 2023), "JOJO magazine 2023 WINTER Releases in December With New Novels and Manga", JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia.