I finished reading Violence Jack some days ago (I’d say Nagai really did manage to create that epic story he had wanted) and decided to translate a part of the last chapter for whoever’s interested. It’s basically Jack explaining everything that has happened over the past 18 volumes and how it involves everyone and everything.
The translation is under the cut. Here’s a link to the whole thing if you don’t feel like reading it here. Do I need to warn for spoilers? Spoiler warning, obviously.
Once, Satan led the world to destruction…He manipulated demons, had them fuse with humans, and become devilmen one by one. He did that in order to lead the world to the final battle, Armageddon…
The world was destroyed, and the one who had challenged Satan to fight, Fudou Akira, died together with it…
Both demons and the Devilmen were destroyed!
Then, in order to return the Earth into nothing, the ‘Army of God’ appeared as a ball of light and changed Earth into the star it had been at the time of creation.
That was the beginning!
Satan, watching the Earth devoid of life, planned to revive it once more!!
God has the power of creation, the power to bring something to life out of nothing using his imagination. Satan was also this kind of creator god.
Satan first attempted to revive Kantou with Tokyo at its centre, and Kantou regained its original peace and liveliness.
However…to the misfortune of the people of revived Kantou…the image of destroyed Kantou had been strongly etched into Satan’s heart…
The image of destroyed Tokyo buried deep in Satan’s memories…called forth the earthquake to the newly revived Kantou!
That was the Kantou Hell Earthquake!
Kantou had become a merciless wasteland which recalled the fate of the world following Armageddon.
And yet, people strived to live.
They strived and they strived…
Satan regretted deceiving and killing his best friend, Fudou Akira, and destroying the entire population of Earth. His suffering had no end.
Those feelings of regret caused him to live a life filled with harsh ordeals. That was his state as a Dog Man. He erased his memories as Satan….
…and sealed his powers over the people and land of destroyed Kantou. He wished to live as a dog, less than a human.
The Dog Man was Satan’s good side tortured by regrets, but Satan’s enormous evil soul planned to rule Kantou as the Slum King and became the Demon King! In other words, Satan’s soul was split in two and lived in Kantou as two humans!
Was the good part of Satan, the Dog Man, going to be saved or would the evil Slum King grow and rule over Kantou? This was the conflict of Satan, who had wagered on his own heart.
The Slum King who tormented the Dog Man was also a manifestation of Satan’s regrets…
Satan tormenting himself was a manifestation of what was happening in his own heart….
Before he knew it, the complicated conflict in Satan’s heart gave birth to all kinds of people.
His wish to destroy the evil part of his heart, his evil other self, Slum King, gave birth to the strong enemies of the Slum King, Takuma, Tenma, Kaidou and others.
On the other hand, that part of his heart that wanted to have Slum King grow and revive him in his original form as the Great Demon Satan gave birth to the Dragon battalion, the mobsters and so on.
The King and the Dog Man. Malice and fairness. That wavering fissure in his heart gave birth to the Queen, Mondo, Tatsuma and others.
When the power of the Dragons started weakening, Slum King was divided even more, creating Zubaban.
Zubaban was also another aspect of Satan!
In contrast with Zubaban, the seven Honey angels branched out of Satan’s good side. The Honeys themselves were the last wager of Satan’s good side.
If the Honeys were able to save the Dog Man, Satan would regain his heart as the Archangel Lucifer, and not as the Demon Satan.
However, if the Honeys were to lose and he would return as the Great Demon Satan…this world would turn to nothing once again!
That is Satan’s intent!
Now the wager was lost by the good side and the ‘True Demon King’, Satan, has returned!
But I will not leave it like that!
I will not let the world turn to nothing!
The main cause he was unable to freely control the world he had created was because I prevented him from doing so!
Satan’s biggest mistake was reviving me! Even more, reviving me even stronger, as a being whose power is equal to the great demon Satan’s!
That was because Satan loved me…
Because the pain of killing me was too strong.
However! Whatever his reasons, my revival means I have to fight him!
Fun fact: Jack uses ‘watashi’, except for kid Jack, if I remember correctly, who uses ‘oira’ (as the link has it, it’s kind of dopey; Dororo uses it too, for example).
Fun fact no.2: in case anyone was wondering (no one was), ‘Demon King’ (魔王) and ‘Great Demon’ (大魔神) would basically be translated as ‘Demon King’ (so this one stays) and ‘Great Demon/Evil God’ which sounds rather silly in context, but makes sense when you compare it to ‘God’ ( 神).
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