Machio’s mentor, Harnnold Dogegenchonegger, comes to Japan to test his former student’s muscles.
Episode 9 – “Have You Seen God Before?”
Hmm.
Wasn’t there supposed to be a dramatic arc in Dumbbells starting this week? You know, with a dark backstory connecting Machio with Harrnold Dogegenchonegger, the musclebound American action movie star? Wasn’t it supposed to cover more than one episode with a real cliffhanger in between? Uh, did you not watch the arm wrestling episode? We had the same plot devices consistent with Dumbbells‘ comedy this week too. Even down to picking up another character. Jason Sgatham isn’t as cute as Zina, so it’s a good thing he’ll just be a visual gag prop in the background with the other muscle bros.
Also like the arm wrestling episode, this episode described the basic structure of a bodybuilding competition. I used to see these all the time on ESPN back when they didn’t fill the day with talking heads like cable news channels. Yes, young ones, just like MTV used to show music videos, ESPN also used to show actual sports all the time. How do you think curling got so much attention before each addition of the Winter Olympics? But I digress. The bodybuilding information was nice to have before the season ended too, because we’ve been seeing Machio say these things and do those poses without the proper context. Bodybuilding is the sport that he uses strength training to improve himself.
One other thing to note — I’m not a big fan of the localization of Dogegenchonegger’s name. Barnold Shortsinator doesn’t seem too much different than Harnnold Dogegenchonegger, qualitatively, but translators have a tough job in capturing the spirit of a pun in an obvious parody name. From Barnold, you can get Barnie, which is how they chose to translate Ayaka’s use of Doge-chan for a nickname. However, the bodybuilding contest was spelled out as the “Harnnold Classic” on its sign. There’s always a compromise to make in translations, and this was a noticeable one.
Heh.
Nice callback to the immigration officer who processed Zina’s entry.
Ha. Satomi remarks to Ayaka about the plot moving right along. I’m still loving this 4th Wall breaking.
Straight to the Exercise Video on back muscles. The important part of the rowing machine motion is keeping the back posture straight. That’s the actual focus of the exercise, because the arms and legs are using those back muscles as the fulcrum to push and pull against as they move the weight.
The Back Extension is one of those exercise where it looks like nothing is happening because the motion is so subtle, but it feels really hard.
Satomi can’t concentrate on Machio’s backstory of studying strength training in America because of the posing going on in the background. Akemi is going crazy again. Somehow, I think we’ll find out why he keeps doing these kinds of poses when Harnnold finally shows up.
Macho Man with a serious face looks so out of place.
Perceptive pecs… Reminds me of Izumida from Yowapeda.
Harnnold Has Arrived! Satomi is the pure normie in this macho situation.
Yay! Ayaka and Hibiki recognize their favorite action star.
Nobody else recognizes him. Satomi gets told he is NOT the Terminator. I love these combo names! The Last Action Predator. Conan the Red Bull. Twin Cops.
Akemi just loves his muscles.
Now we get backstory. Macho Man studied sports theory at an American university, met Harnnold there, and became his bodybuilding protégé.
Of course. This meeting is as inane as expected. Harnnold lost Machio’s phone number in an old phone, and Macho Man did the same. Thus ends the dramatic arc. Let’s get ready for fun stuff. Macho Man definitely held that phone wrong… Oh, there’s a bit of drama here, but it’s just fun competition stuff like the arm wrestling episode.
Hand Gripper Tutorial! Opening jars and outside faucets are a key selling point for the girls. Grip strength is important to develop alongside increasing weights during strength training. It’s no good to be able to dead lift a heavy weight if you can’t hold the bar for long enough.
Hand gripper test? Obviously, Macho Man will pass, but to what end? So dramatic! Well, that’s not surprising. Harnnold explodes his clothes too.
So, this is all to convince Macho Man to enter a bodybuilding contest in Japan? I can’t believe it took 9 episodes to get to this point, but we’ve been following the story of high school girls, not macho men.
Ha! Satomi’s normie interjections are great. Was the gripper lecture really necessary? Of course it was!
This is the most macho of machoness we’ve seen all season. Akemi is in heaven. I hope she doesn’t pass out from excitement. Oh Ayaka. Akemi doesn’t mean she’s come home to her house, she… you know what? Never mind.
The Harnnold Classic… It’s already a classic after creating the competition in one day. Also, another reason not to try and localize the character’s name to Barnold Shortsinator.
Oh, thank goodness. Somebody remarked about this “geisha girls” business. I liked the context being about Zina’s own spotty knowledge of Japanese culture… and geography.
Bodybuilding competition tutorial. Um, those Physique guys do not have permission to skip leg day. They still need to bulk up their calves.
Akemi is going wild! Well, yeah. Macho Man won. Big surprise. This is Muscle Wars! It’s just like Food Wars! With musclegasms (see Akemi) and stripping! Oh foo. It was just an illusion. The Akemi spasming part was real, though.
Ah. Harnnold just wanted to convince Macho Man to compete at the real world championship in Las Vegas, but Macho Man can’t go. He is a real Japanese-workaholic-man.
Jason Sgatham… Come on, that’s not even trying hard. At least we got another background character to riff jokes on. Hibiki is mad that a side character is trying to muscle in another catchphrase. Hustle-muscle!
The omake covers the back extension. It’s easy to do these wrong, so you really need to concentrate on your form as you do this subtle motion.
