Konjiki no Gash!! Chapter 79

**The True Hero** (真のヒーロー, *Shin no Hīrō*) is the 79th chapter of Makoto Raiku's Konjiki no Gash!!. This chapter was originally released in Japan as part of volume 9 on March 18, 2003.

## Plot

Gash is shocked and disappointed to discover that his favorite action hero Praying Mantis Joe is simply a costumed man who isn’t nearly as cool or strong as the character he was playing as. Not long after this discovery, he hears an announcement that the Praying Mantis Joe live show would be taking place very soon on the rooftop of the department store. At the actual show, Gash is happy to see Praying Mantis Joe on stage and assumes that what he saw earlier must have been his imagination. While Gash is enjoying the show, he turns back to see that Wife, Suzume, and Umagon are clearly upset over their disappointing purchases earlier that day. He then notices that many of the other kids in the audience are crying over being sold fake pear dolls like the one Suzume had also gotten. Wife also tells Gash that she was sold a small and fragile knife that was nothing like the one she wanted to get. Gash then gets the idea that they should all ask Praying Mantis Joe for his help with everyone's problems and everyone goes to see him after the show.

The man that was acting as Praying Mantis Joe is then put into a difficult situation as he sympathizes with everyone but feels he is too weak to do anything for them. He tries to apologize and tell everyone that he can’t help them and everyone becomes upset over this as they still see him as the real Praying Mantis Joe, especially Gash. Gash then decides that he will defeat the person who had deceived all of them and he and everyone leave to go find this person. The man playing as Praying Mantis Joe then takes off his mask and thinks about what had just happened. He still views himself as being nothing like the real Praying Mantis Joe but remembers that he used to be as optimistic as Gash when he had first started his job.

Later, Gash and the others eventually find the manager of the department store and they demand for him to exchange all the fake products that were sold to everyone. The manager however refuses to do this as he is more interested in making a profit than doing what is right. Gash and Umagon then decide that they’ll force the manager to provide exchanges by force and in response, the manager brings out his bodyguard to face them. Just before the two of them could take on the bodyguard, Praying Mantis Joe appears and tells everyone he’ll be the one who will deal with the bodyguard. Just as he says this however, the bodyguard begins to effortlessly beat him up without a fight. Despite this, Praying Mantis Joe gathers the strength to stand up and keep fighting as he explains that despite not being the real Praying Mantis Joe, he still has a strong sense of justice just like him. Just before the bodyguard charges toward him again, Suzume tries to help Praying Mantis Joe by throwing him a mop he could use to defend himself with but he is unable to grab it because of his costume. Wife tries to throw him a pumpkin that he can use but she ends up hitting him in the head with one which knocks him down. Wife then gets the idea to do the same thing towards the bodyguard and she hurls another pumpkin towards him which knocks him down as well. With the bodyguard unconscious, Gash and his group once again demand the manager to exchange all their purchases and he finally complies.

Some time later, Gash, Umagon, Suzume, Wife, and the man who was acting as Praying Mantis Joe are now outside the department store. Suzume and Wife are shown to be happy to have finally gotten the items they had wanted most and the man who was acting as Praying Mantis Joe thanks Gash for inspiring him that day. At home, Kiyomaro is annoyed with how loud Gash and Umagon were as they were watching an episode of the Praying Mantis Joe TV show. Kiyomaro tries to tell Gash that Praying Mantis Joe is just an ordinary person in a superhero costume but Gash argues that it doesn’t matter as the most important thing is that he believes in justice. Ironically though, it’s made clear that Gash is still somewhat disappointed about it.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Praying Mantis Joe
* Gash Bell
* Wife
* Suzume Mizuno
* Umagon
* Kiyomaro Takamine

### Locations

* Mochinoki City
	+ Takamine Residence
		- Kiyomaro’s Room