Episode 24

**The Free Traveler Apollo** (自由の旅人アポロ, *Jiyū no Tabibito Aporo*) is the 24th episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on September 21, 2003.

## Overview

A wandering bookkeeper and demon team find themselves in Mochinoki City after having spent some time traveling wherever the wind takes them. Their presence in town is eventually noticed by Kiyomaro as he witnesses them using a spell to save Suzume from a speeding car. Kiyomaro ends up running into this pair again later at the park and ends up being confronted by them just before he could quietly leave. Expecting for them to fight, Kiyomaro finds himself surprised when he hears that they supposedly only want to talk with him instead.

## Plot

On the outskirts of town, Apollo and his demon partner, Ropes, stand by to watch the moving clouds in the sky. After Apollo shares a few thoughts, Ropes hops off from Apollo's shoulders and eagerly runs off to the town ahead with Apollo keeping up just behind him. At home, Kiyomaro heads off for school ready to start the next semester until he notices the scratched off nameplate on Umagon's doghouse. He quickly fixes the name plate and continues on his way. When Gash comes over to greet Umagon, he sees that Umagon appears to be upset but doesn't know that it's due to the fact he wishes his nameplate reflects his real name.

At school, Suzume tells Iwashima and Yamanaka all about her trip to "Hong Kong" and all the things she had done there with Kiyomaro. After listening in to her story, Kiyomaro eventually notices Kaneyama, who appears thin to the bone due to spending most of his vacation frantically searching for a tsuchinoko. Meanwhile back home, Gash and Umagon find themselves being chased by Naomi which ends up leading them to crash and destroy part of the wall by the entrance to Kiyomaro's house. After witnessing this, Kiyomaro ends up heading out again to buy supplies to fix the wall.

Just outside after getting supplies, Kiyomaro notices Suzume calling out to him as she crosses the street. Just then, the crossing light turns red and Kiyomaro urges Suzume to get out of the street as a car begins speeding towards her. As he runs to save Suzume, he hears a spell being cast and soon finds the speeding car suddenly suspended in the air by ropes and hooks. On the other side of the street is Apollo and Ropes, who used one of their spells to save Suzume just in time. The two of them leave almost as soon as they have appeared briefly and Kiyomaro can't help but wonder who they are.

While walking back home with Suzume, Kiyomaro overhears the sound of a flute coming from the park and sees a group of children standing around listening to Apollo play music for them. Kiyomaro and Suzume stand off to the side just behind a tree overlooking Apollo's performance playing different instruments and music requests by the kids. Amazed by Apollo's musical abilities, Suzume runs home to grab some of her instruments in hopes of having Apollo play some for her. Now alone, Kiyomaro continues to observe both Apollo and Ropes while still feeling suspicious about them. As he ends up deciding to leave quietly before Apollo notices he's also a bookkeeper, Apollo abruptly asks Kiyomaro about the color of his spell book and soon shows him his own blue book. He then gets up and tells the children around him he has something to take care of and Kiyomaro already anticipates a battle will begin.

With his spell book in his hands, Kiyomaro stands anxiously waiting for what Apollo will do only to hear from him that he would much rather talk instead of fight. After laying out his cape on the grass he invites Kiyomaro to sit with him and it is there that they introduce themselves to each other. Apollo reveals to Kiyomaro how he has no personal interest in the battle to decide king and has been traveling the world freely before having to eventually settle down in his job back home. He met Ropes during his travels and since then he found himself involved in numerous battles against various people with demons who want to fight him. Despite this still, Apollo explains that he never once burned anyone's spell books since he never had any intention to fight to begin with. When asked about why he still chooses to be with his demon partner, Apollo replies saying he enjoys having Ropes' company. While his power can be useful at times, it's not really necessary for him as he only wants to be able to travel in peace with Ropes.

When Kiyomaro hears this, he thinks back to previous events and feels as though Apollo is much different than the other bookkeepers and demons he had met before but can't help but feel there's something more to him. When asked by Apollo about his own experiences, Kiyomaro goes on to talk about Gash and his desire to help him become a kind king. He then tells Apollo how he is thankful that they didn't have to fight in the park and prepares to head off. As Kiyomaro leaves, he ends up asking aloud if all that Apollo has been doing so far is really enough for him but disregards this and continues on his way. Before he leaves however, Apollo stops him and points out that to him it seems Kiyomaro has something that he doesn't and decides that he wants to battle him after all. He justifies this claiming that both their demons will disappear eventually and that they may as well get it over with. Kiyomaro is then seen storming home upset at this sudden turn of events. When he comes home however, he's greeted with the sight of both Umagon and Gash struggling to repair the wall that had been destroyed earlier by them. Seeing Gash appear desperate to repair the wall and upset that he can't do it leaves Kiyomaro to wonder if they have a chance at winning their upcoming battle.

Back at the park, Suzume sees that Apollo had already left before she had a chance to give him some of her instruments to play. Despite this, she finds Kiyomaro's bag of supplies he had bought earlier that day and decides she'll try to return it to him. Nearby, Gash sits under a tree alone sharing his feelings with the Vulcan 300 about how he feels he always seems to cause trouble for Kiyomaro and wonders if he should just return to the Demon World. Gash then hears a familiar voice who he initially thought was coming from the Vulcan only to then find out it's actually Shiori who was speaking to him. Shiori then asks Gash why he had been sitting alone crying and suspects he must have had some small dispute with Kiyomaro. She then sits next to Gash under the tree to talk about how she had also been coming to the park frequently ever since Kolulu had left. Eventually, Kiyomaro shows up at the park to find Gash with Shiori. Shiori exchanges greetings with Kiyomaro then turns to Gash to encourage him to keep fighting to the end in order to become a kind ruler. She then parts ways with the two of them as she has plans that day to go shopping with her mother. As they watch her leave, Gash tells Kiyomaro that he still remembers his promise to Kolulu and will continue to fight against all the odds for the sake of becoming a kind king. While Gash shows he's adamant on keeping this promise, Kiyomaro can't help but feel uneasy thinking about Apollo as an opponent.

At the quarry, as Kiyomaro and Apollo face off with each other with their demons by their side, Kiyomaro tries to tell Apollo that he is not there to fight and instead wants to talk. He then starts to point out Apollo's hypocrisy where he at first told him he had avoided battles and that they have no reason to force themselves to fight at all. Apollo responds saying that the only thing that had changed is that he had ended up deciding after all he wanted to fight and brings up the fact that Kiyomaro had been in previous battles up to this point anyhow. Despite Kiyomaro's protests, Apollo ends up casting his first spell, *Riguron*, which causes Ropes to lift up a large boulder in the air using grappling hooks. As Ropes holds this boulder in the air, Apollo asks Gash if he wanted to become king to which Gash answers that he aims to put an end to the demon battles and must become a kind ruler. Soon after hearing this, Ropes throws the boulder towards Gash and Kiyomaro where they then use *Zakeru* to destroy it.

Apollo, remaining calm and collected, casts *Riguron* once again. This time however, Kiyomaro destroys the boulder again with *Zakeru* before it has a chance to be thrown. As pieces of rocks begin to fall towards Apollo, Kiyomaro initially thinks he has outsmarted him as Apollo will be left open for attack if he chooses to use his spell to protect himself. Unexpectedly however, Apollo shows that this won't be necessary as he then begins to swiftly weave through the falling rocks without a scratch. He then catches a piece of rock in the palm of his hand and throws it with great force at Kiyomaro's book which causes him to drop it. As both Gash and Kiyomaro turn around to retrieve the book, they find themselves stopped dead in their tracks when they see Ropes right in front of their book prepared to attack if they make any sudden moves.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Apollo Genesis
* Ropes
* Gash Bell
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Umagon
* Suzume Mizuno
* Hiroshi Yamanaka
* Mamoru Iwashima
* Takeshi Kaneyama
* Naomi
* Hosokawa (Flashback)
* Reycom (Flashback)
* Renji (Flashback)
* Gofrey (Flashback)
* Seibei (Flashback)
* Fein (Flashback)
* Shinichi (Flashback)
* Eshros (Flashback)
* Eita Kubozuka (Flashback)
* Hyde (Flashback)
* Luc (Flashback)
* Robnos (Flashback)
* Shiori
* Kolulu (Flashback)

### Locations

* Mochinoki City
	+ Takamine Residence
	+ Mochinoki Middle School

### Spells by Appearance

* Riguron (Debut)
* Zakeru

## Manga & Anime Differences

* In the manga, Kiyomaro was never shown to be in school at any point and scenes depicting him leaving and and being at school are entirely filler.
	+ Similarly, other characters such as Naomi, Yamanaka, Iwashima, Suzume, Shiori, and some characters within flashbacks makes no appearance within any chapters the anime episode adaptation was based on.
* In the manga, Kiyomaro is seen helping a child with store directions before going to the hardware store. The child would eventually go on to cross the street haphazardly leading to him nearly being hit by a speeding car. In the anime, it would be Suzume who would nearly be hit by the speeding car.
* In the anime, Gash would run off and head to the park after Kiyomaro comes home to see that he couldn't repair the wall. He would then think to himself if returning to the Demon World would be the best thing for him before Shiori sits and talks briefly with him reminding him of his original goal to become a kind ruler. These scenes however are entirely filler as these events don't occur in the manga.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* In the English dub of the episode, Suzume gushes about her trip to "Hong Kong" as if it were a romantic getaway she had with Kiyomaro. In the original Japanese episode, she gives a more accurate summary of events.
* Mentions of the term "tsuchinoko" were changed in the VIZ localization of the episode to dinosaur.
	+ When describing what had happened to Kaneyama, it was originally explained that Kaneyama had spent most of his break getting lost trying to find a tsuchinoko. In the English dub, he had apparently found a real dinosaur and ended up being cursed by it.
* As Apollo plays various musical instruments for the children in the park, at one point a child asks if he's able to play *Kasabuta*, which is the first opening theme for the anime. This reference isn't made in the VIZ localization of the series.
* The onigiri that Ropes would eat and have his face pucker to the sourness of it is referred to as a clam and cheese roll in the English dub.
* In the VIZ localization of the episode, the laundry starch that Gash uses to try and repair the wall was edited and changed to saying it's glue.
* The flashback sequence for Kolulu that plays was originally silent in the original Japanese episode but would go on to be dubbed over in the English dub.