Gunkan (軍艦; Captain Battleship in the U.S. dubbed version, Capitan Incrociatore in the Italian anime, Cañonero in the Spanish anime) is the first of the Maruhage Empire Four Heavenly Kings, under Tsuru Tsurulina IV. He is also Bo-bobo's former friend and sworn rival.
Profile
Gunkan
Status
- Created by: Yoshio Sawai
- Voiced by: Ryuuzaburou Ohtomo (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)
- Age: 27-28
- Date of birth:
- Occupation: Hair Hunter (Maruhage Empire)
- Titles: Heavenly King
Family
- Goisu (Younger Brother)
Appearances
- Episode appearances: 5 (Shadow), 10 (Cameo), 16-21, 31-33, 35, 74-76
- Manga appearances: 34-37, 39-40, 44-48, 85, 92, 162, 176, 179, Shinsetsu 40, 42, 51, 56, 72-73
Status
Gunkan is a man with a long black pompadour hairstyle and a white beard. He wears a green shirt version of Bobobo's original outfit with red lederhosen straps attaching to blue trousers with brown shoes. He and Bo-bobo share the exact same body build; a large upper-body build, and very thin legs.
Gunkan can be sinister, as he exploits Heppokomaru's weakness for Beauty, and has destroyed countless towns and his own fellow Hair Hunters. He also uses Bo-bobo as a scapegoat to blame his attacks on the Hair Hunters on the former. Being a hajikelist, he can be extremely random and weird at times. Gunkan also comes off as a liar, saying that Heppokomaru is the real villain, and even lying about the origin of his hatred towards Bo-bobo (a tale about their high school years, and another one involving giant robot versions of Bo-bobo and himself)! Despite all of these bad traits, Gunkan has been shown to have a sensitive and emotional side.
Powers
This regent-haired, white bearded fighter had also been trained in the "Fist of the Nose Hair" alongside Bo-bobo in the Kingdom of Hair, but turned against his afro-haired friend when Bo-bobo was chosen as the Seventh Master of the Fist of the Nose Hair by their teacher (a juice can) because Captain Battleship was not a citizen of the Hair Kingdom. Afterwards, he modified it to fit his own style, calling it the "Garyu Hanage Shinken" (我流鼻毛真拳; "Personalized Fist of the Nosehair"). It makes him the fourth greatest power in the Empire, (The stronger ones are Fist of Horrible Bloody Murder, used by OVER, Fist of Gorgeousness, used by Halekulani,and Fist of Object D'Art, used by Giga, respectively.) Though it may be a copy of Bo-bobo's Fist of Nosehair, it is indeed powerful enough to wipe out enemies easily. Gunkan mastered this art so that even his ducktail hair style can be used as a weapon.
While most of the attacks are his own, his ultimate attack, "Armageddon", has him calling up the Earth Defense Forces to attack for him. Like Bo-bobo, he can also fuse with his allies, but it results in an absolutely pathetic form.
As a Fist of Nosehair user, and possible hajikelist, he is bound to be a little weird (turning into an octopus, blowing up his own ship, having a bad knowledge of numbers). On a lesser note, his ducktail seems to be very strong, as it can support 13 people walking on it at once.
History
Background
Young Gunkan
Gunkan was the oldest son of an average family, born in the Hair Kingdom. When he met Bo-bobo for the first time, he trained hard in the Fist of the Nose Hair to be acknowledged. Gunkan wanted to be acknowledged because he wanted to have a purpose in his life. He and Bo-bobo were described as fierce competitors as well as close friends. Unfortunately, Bo-bobo was chosen by his master as the Seventh Master of the Fist of the Nose Hair because he was a Hair Kingdom descendant, despite being weaker than Gunkan. Because his pride was crushed, Gunkan decided to punish the Hair Kingdom. He didn't do anything when the kingdom was attacked, and was glad it was destroyed. Bo-bobo and Gunkan were become rival due to this.
Years later, the two rivals met again. Gunkan had just knocked out the last of the Fist of Nose Hair warriors (all of which had afros and sunglasses like Bo-bobo) when Bo-bobo himself challenged him. Gunkan had changed so much, that Bo-bobo did not recognize him; he had gone from being Bo-bobo's black-haired friend, to a large man with a white beard and a ridiculously large ducktail hairstyle. The two of them fought their battle using the Fist of the Nose Hair, ending in a draw.
A little while afterwards, he met a strange creature by the name of Flowerman. He and Flowerman became fast friends and with all Gunkan's time spent with him, he began to forget all about his grudge with Bo-bobo. But one day, Gunkan woke up to find that Flowerman had been killed by his worst enemies, the flower demons. Upset, Battleship immeadiatly killed the demons, and against Bo-bobo was once again realized.
Time in the Maruhage Empire
Gunkan's Empire
Gunkan, still upset at the Hair Kingdom and Bo-bobo, joined the empire to become its very enemy: a Hair Hunter. As Bo-bobo trained for 20 years to get strong, Gunkan worked his way up till he was one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Tsuru Tsurulina IV may have respected him, but Gunkan wanted more. To that end, he secretly plotted with his minions to control the empire. During those years he met Suzu, a blonde psychic who would be his second in command and destroyed countless villages. After destroying Heppokomaru's hometown Pupuu City, he had taken an interest in his shinken's ability to hide one's true strength. He had become the leader of a massive army of powerful warriors, still waiting for Bo-bobo to show up and be able to finally pay him back for taking what he thought was rightfully his.
He finally got that chance after Bo-bobo had taken down A-Block's leader Tokoro Tennosuke. Bo-bobo encountered Gunkan again after applying for a job at a local hair hunter recruitment station. Heppokomaru immediately reveals him as the one who destroyed Pupuu City, but Gunkan claims otherwise, saying that Heppokomaru is the villain. After the liar is finally revealed, Gunkan gets fed up and orders one of his assistants, Dollman, to turn Beauty into a doll. He picks up the doll and tells the rebels that if they ever want to see Beauty again, then they will meet him at his new base in Pupuu City.
Pomade Ring
Gunkan controlled his vast military forces from the "Pomade Ring", a sky fortress flying over the destroyed Puppu City (Heppokomaru's hometown). He forces the rebels to fight through six of his strongest henchmen, during which Bo-bobo was the only one able to defeat his opponent. This made Gunkan overconfident, and he began to celebrate with two of his henchmen. But during his celebration, he pushes a button that sends Pomade Ring crashing to the ground.
Once on the ground, he goes searching for Bo-bobo, only to find that Softon has sent him to train in Babylon World. To pass the time, he Softon and Heppokomaru decide to build a brick house, and he secretly tricks Heppokomaru into sealing Softon into the wall! When Bo-bobo finally returns, the two begin their showdown. Although Gunkan's powers are great, Bo-bobo reveals his trump card: the one nosehair move that Gunkan could not master: "Nosehair Alley". During the nasal hair onslaught, it is revealed in Gunkan's mind that he didn't mean what he said about the Hair Kingdom, and that he didn't want to rule the world. All he really wanted was Bo-bobo's respect. After the attack, Bo-bobo tells Gunkan that he is the stronger of the two. Gunkan begins to cry, and runs up to Bo-bobo to apologize to him, but Bo-bobo strikes him down for "crying like a baby".
Appearences throughout the series
The next time Bo-bobo and company saw him, he was unconscious, and had been scalped for his failure by OVER. After Bo-bobo defeats OVER, the castle comes crumbling down. Luckily, Suzu teleports him and everyone else out of the tower.
He later participated in the new emperor playoffs (up to this point, his ducktail had grown back. He and Suzu were both finalists, but LOVE and Crimson show up looking for strong people to sacrifice. He almost becomes the last victim, but Bo-bobo intervenes and switches Gunkan's unconscious body with a pig, thus saving his life. Though unconscious, he assists Bo-bobo in reaching the Reverse Maruhage Empire's floating warship (there is a button in his chest that makes his hair become really long).
Gunkan in Shinsetsu
Gunkan later appears in Shinsetsu, where he is shown unconsious (again) after a beating from Usui, Princess Chinchiro, and GURA-san the punisher. Afterwards, he and Suzu are forcibly moved to a Neo Maruhage Prison, for their failures to the empire in the past. He appears later on with Suzu, Dengakuman, and Giga to get revenge for being worked like a slave, only to be crushed by GURA-san.
At the end, he is shown attending Tennosuke's Hair Hunter reunion with Suzu.
Video Games
Ougi 87.5 Bakuretsu Hanage Shinken
Hajike Matsuri
9 Kiwame Senshi Gyagu Yuugou
Gunkan first appears at the top of C-Block right after the defeat of Kabeo. Gunkan lately appears again on the Train, along with the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Bakuto Hajike Taisen
Gunkan is a playable character, who can be unlocked if you beat the game 5 times and buy him in the shop for 5000pts.
Attacks
- Mermaid Lagoon (マーメイドラグーン)/Helicopter Hair Attack: Gunkan attacks with rolling nosehairs. Used against Bo-bobo's pet ducktails.
- Construction Fist (建築拳): Gunkan makes the enemy help him build a house and use another enemy as a brick. Used against Softon.
- Law of the West (西部の掟)/The Code of the Old West: Gunkan attacks the enemy with his nosehairs. Used against Heppokomaru.
- Bone Bone Going Fist (骨骨行く拳)/Welcome to Boney Island: Gunkan's nosehair suck the energy of whatever their attached to until there is nothing left, but the bones. Used against Bo-bobo.
- Armageddon (最終戦争): Gunkan calls the Earth defense forces to fire lasers at the opponent. Used against Bo-bobo.
- Ducktail Attack (髏苦漢命髪): Gunkan attacks the enemy with his ducktail. Used against Bo-bobo.
Video Game-Exclusive Attacks
- Ducktail Bazooka (リーゼントバズーカ):
- Blood Killer Personalized Nosehair Revolution (斬血我流鼻毛レボリューション):
- Western Scissors (西部のハサミ):
Trivia
- According to Purupu, Gunkan was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings. This is very subjective, as it took numerous episodes/chapters to reach Gunkan and then defeat him, and it only took one episode/chapter to defeat Purupu. Even further still, Bo-bobo was forced to recruit two enemies (Softon, and Tennosuke), and had to train in Babylon World to defeat him. In fact, it seems that he was the longest lasting of the Maruhage Empire Four Heavenly Kings in terms of arc time in the anime.
- Despite his reconciliation with Bo-bobo, Gunkan technically never changes sides, and does little to assist the rebels, aside from assisting them in reaching Hydrate's Yamiking, while unconscious. However, Bo-bobo does tend to encounter and help him out several times after their fight, including saving him from OVER, Hydrate and Gura-san.
- While Bo-bobo was weaker than Gunkan when they were chosen, being of the Hair Kingdom, Bo-bobo has the Hair Ball inside of him, so he may have had more potential than Gunkan; as Bo-bobo mastered the one technique that Gukan couldn't. Furthermore, Bobobo has the Nosehair Seal though it is unknown if Gunkan also has this.
- In Japan, his hair style is called a "Riizento".
- Originally, Sawai intended to use Gunkan as one of Bo-bobo's allies, but decided to use Heppokomaru instead.
- Gunkan seems to have more subordinates than any other member of the Four Heavenly Kings.
- After his defeat he never actually spoke except for groans.
