Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.12-15 Part 7 ( Pegasus VS Kaiba & Plot)

Once again it will be summary, since it has a duel, so there won't be a transcription, but I will add the aftermath of the duel, which is more important, but I'll want to mention about a little of Pegasus characterisation in his duel which reveals already a bit about his backstory...so let's start it!


(Update |18/09/2018| : it will get a bit faster for now because there is less to do...)



Plot Summary:

Yugi and friends plus the finalists reach the stands for the spectators to watch the duel between Kaiba and Pegasus, Kaiba proposes to duel through a different system to substitute the battle box, the duel disk, Pegasus being manipulative claims for not being athletic enough to throw the duel disc and needs a proxy to use it for him, in the panel thoughts of Pegasus, he admits it would make it difficult for him to read the mind of his opponent, Pegasus suggests Mokuba to be his proxy and also revealing by this time he had sealed Mokuba soul in card (when Pegasus was blackmailing for first time, Mokuba wasn't yet had been sealed), Kaiba being against it, so if Kaiba not wanting fighting Mokuba, they would duel the way Pegasus intended in the battle box, Kaiba accept his conditions...
This duel for Pegasus is to buy more time and get Kaiba out of the way, he is just playing around, even in the duel itself plainly proves it, created cards exclusively for himself, Kaiba lost the duel and Kaiba also gets to be sealed in a card, Yugi and Dark Yugi both are pissed off at him, Bandit Keith even feels more irritated for reading the mind of the opponent and also creating powerful cards just for himself, Jounouchi find as cheating, technically Pegasus is cheating by taking advantage of his privilege as the creator.
After the duel, the finalists and the guests will have a dinner, once they enter the dinner room, Yugi and co, recognizes Shadi in one of the paintings by the side of another the painting of a beautiful woman (Pegasus's lost love, Cecilia), they're shocked seeing a Shadi portrait there hinting Pegasus must have met him in the past, figuring it must be related to how Pegasus got his millenium eye, Ryou since have never met Shadi is shocked but also further confirming his suspicions.
The dinner starts with a entrée as a soup, popping out is a replica of the millenium eye for each of the finalists deciding in this order who are they up against, 1st Duel: Yugi VS Mai, 2nd Duel: Jounouchi VS Keith.
During dinner, Honda asks Dark Yugi to also save Mokuba and Kaiba souls, Dark Yugi accepts the requests but indicates other problem, their bodies are locked and guarded somewhere in the castle, Honda thoughts reflects he will be taking care of that, night falls they go to their rooms to sleep, Honda starts his rescue of the Kaiba brothers bodies, Ryou passes by from "sleepwalked" by Yami Bakura who also visited mysteriously Shadi portrait..., Ryou helps to distract the guards, so Honda was able to enter the dungeons entrance, he found Mokuba's body but was caught by one of the guards andlater saved by Yami Bakura, then moves to Bandit Keith succesfully stealing Jounouchi's "Honor King Right" borrowed by Dark Yugi/Yugi (since Dark Yugi realized Honor King Left meant to be sealed inside the card), he gets caught by Yugi from exiting Jounouchi's room, Yugi starts inquiring but Keith punches him seeing Yugi standing up is about to punch him again, stopped by Jounouchi, protects Yugi, Yugi get's first aid kit treatment by Anzu, they have an important talk...





Key Points:

 

This situation of Mokuba being sealed in a card and Pegasus using Mokuba's "vessel"/"body" proxy to play on Kaiba's terms could have been prevented if Kaiba wasn't so prideful and so dogmatic on his views and didn't treated games in such a black and white manner, Kaiba could have saved him if he lost with dignity and gracefully, actually he had more chances of saving him, because after the duel, Mokuba wasn't still sealed in the card once he got the results is when he prepared himself to do so, because Pegasus would be occupied with watching duels, all it was up to Yugi and Dark Yugi to get Kaiba Corporation back to Kaiba, save his grandpa and to help donate for Jounouchi's sister eyes surgery operation, even Yugi and Dark Yugi burden would lessen a bit as well.
He should also have predictd Pegasus would find a way to not duel under Kaiba's own condition but his own.
Curiously in Pegasus inner monologue, he does admit the duel disk would put him in a disadvantage in not just by throwing the disk being a bit athletic but also the distance between the plays would make it difficult do the mind scan, he would be enable to but not as easily he have been doing so far...which shows even "mind scan" weaknesses...Kaiba wasn't far figuring it out.
Finally I had this thought I have been having out.


To continue reading click "Read More" below:

 

There is some interesting points about Pegasus I want to bring up...when Pegasus is about to show his cartoon cards...

The first 2 panels ensembles above reveals something interesting about his love for cartoons and how expressed here is connected to his experience of losing a loved one, for anyone who have watched the anime and read the manga knows he was traumatized by his loss of his lover Cecilia, when he says:

 "To this day, they run around in the little garden inside my heart...They never betrayed me...And they can never die..."

With a black background behind him and as he continues, the next panel shows some kind of darkness behind him, his darkness being connected through the cartoons and his lover related to death, this shows how deeply it scarred him but this messy? it's something else which will be discussed in the end of Duelist Kingdom arc...

How in this section of the manga makes Pegasus connected to the main story and his character?

 

I find this particular inner monologue Pegasus very interesting, it's about the players memories even in their subconscious, as a way for the author to explain to the readers as to why this tactic Kaiba is using from the card straight from the deck won't work on Pegasus as someone who can read minds even after himself confirming it, the reason why the tactic won't help Kaiba is related to between the subconscious and conscious of the mind, Pegasus knows when players assemble their decks, they memorize every card even if subsconsciously, it's seems is something he learned over time when using his millennium eye a lot, with this he knows every single card in Kaiba's deck and has counter-moves, which raises the question of how long has he been wielding the millennium eye?

 

Kaiba's biggest weakness and flaw being his pride and big ego, but also the funniest trait of Kaiba, you can be mad at me all you want, I still laugh hard at this, is funny(the pathetic toon part) and almost cute Kaiba attachment to his Blue Eyes, Pegasus recognises it and seems to be a bit moved, he was being sincere on this part, the few traits we can get from Kaiba besides being very prideful, arrogant and extreme, he is very sensitive, intense and hot-headed about his views.

 

I consider an interesting reference and info about Kaiba's deck being around mostly consisted of powerful monsters, making his deck being a power deck, mind you, it's the kind of deck I dislike the most, mainly cause Kaiba being about power in his strategy is  his greatest strength and so is his greatest weakness, Kaiba power deck also reflects very well his personality, views and beliefs about games, which is militaristic for the time being.

Kaiba is not just guilty, himself asking for "forgiveness" from Mokuba is not just from this time, but from previous times, the real Kaiba couldn't save Mokuba from the corrupted Kaiba (from Gozaburo Kaiba influnces) as the vessel/body of Mokuba was crying which I think it has to do with memory of the body without Mokuba even being inside his body.

Now here is a Pegasus inner monologue:

"If only you could have gone to heaven...you could have enjoyed a reunion...heh heh..."

...Did he intended to kill Mokuba after if Kaiba died in the helicopter? it does sound the case...

 

It's easy to tell who is more reserved and vocal about their emotions and thoughts, though both Yugi and Dark Yugi are very reserved in personality, but Yugi being shy and having a quiet personality is more reserved than Dark Yugi, on the other hand, Dark Yugi is way more vocal and expressive about his thoughts except for a few things where he is way more reserved, is it something he is aware of himself ? or hides it himself for protection? I could understand but does Dark Yugi do it for the right reasons?

I find interesting Dark Yugi speak up for Yugi most of the time, even after the duel with Kaiba, he seems even more angrier and his righteous personality shows up, an heroic trait, a cheesy one though.

Speaking about Dark Yugi, let's go a little further on him with a next few panels...

 

Dark Yugi/Atem, how can he be calm and intense  at the same time? Even Jounouchi feels a bit overwhelmed, it's kinda of mystery and cheeky, thumps up for his determination and being spirited, this scene is before the dinner.
It makes me wonder how it looks like he is not even thinking about his duel with Kaiba, not even a bit shaken regarding what could happen if he attacked, maybe even angrier at Pegasus, hmmm, I wonder or is being angrier and put blame at Pegasus just to crutch to make himself feel better, it's a possibility, with his ego and big sense of righteousness plus pride is very likely, sure Pegasus is at fault for forcing them to duel each other, but not for  Kaiba doing something stupid and crazy and Dark Yugi almost going for it if wasn't for Yugi.

As an honourable mention, I love and find it very funny how Anzu indirectly brings out of how much of a bad host Pegasus is, stating this is the first time they've fed them properly in this tournament 😂, thanks for Anzu not forgetting to bring up...

   
 

These panels I'm showing, Dark Yugi is pretty sharp in noticing Pegasus may not be fully related to Shadi, since the main objective of Pegasus of this tournament is to get Kaiba Corporation, Dark Yugi considered and acknowledges there is a connection to Shadi and Shadi is a connection to the other millenium items, as reminder to the readers and indicating Pegasus has connection and has a role in the main story despite being the main villain of this story arc (Duelist Kingdom) but not fully connected, then what role is it?
There will be a chance in the future to write when it comes...

This particular panels, they're foreshadowing the end of the Duelist Kingdom story arc, also hinting Pegasus will explain how he is connected to the main story of the series, I love these kind of main story foreshadowing, it shows how far Kazuki Takahashi was thinking ahead towards the end of the story, also once this story arc is done, the middle stage is coming as well...

 

We had some interesting characterization of Honda when he requests Dark Yugi to save Kaiba and Mokuba, since Honda feels he owes Mokuba for saving him in Death-T...

Honda is mostly right without it's flaws, yes, Kaiba was fighting for someone who is precious to him just like them, hypothetically speaking, if wasn't for Mokuba, would Honda still ask to save him or Dark Yugi save him? It's just their righteous judgement, the person has to be fighting for someone they love to even consider of saving someone if they did terrible things to you... even if Kaiba did terrible things to them because he's extreme, it's still no reason to let him die or decay, would be good to your conscience to begin with? besides doing this is considered negligence of someone's life and nowadays is considered a crime.
But Yugi would with or without Mokuba, he understands best being kind-hearted as he is and being someone who can't ignore someone's life in danger rather is friend, acquaintance or even an enemy or the most horrible person, Yugi understands preservation of life, this is one of Yugi's biggest strengths, people tend to underestimate it and view as weakness, I don't think is the case, it takes more character, conviction and courage to apply this belief, because it isn't simple, respect all life just isn't simple, someone who believes in preservation of life is an admirable and inspirational trait for me.

  

Jounouchi is the kind of person who holds a grudge, funny enough, Kaiba is the same in this aspect too, they don't forget, which isn't healthy, I'm someone who holds a grudge too, so I know, but here after Honda's request, Kaiba accepts but Dark Yugi was willing to do so even without Honda requesting for the way he was very vocal in his determination in defeating Pegasus and his sense of justice but Dark Yugi brings up an interesting problem, such about the situation of their bodies, nothing is guaranteed with Pegasus from they have seen so far, but says he can only help with cards, so Honda goes to his inner monologue that he takes care in saving their bodies, which means Honda has something in mind...

This particular scene is so mysterious and intriguing, even Yami Bakura knows him, one wonder what's their connection when you reach this part, for the first time, when is revealed at the last stage of the main story, making Yami Bakura the main villain. he is an very important character to the main story to not take it lightly like Shadi.

 

I think scene is very important in Jounouchi's character development, he was a bit of a delinquent and got into fights a lot in the past and is very good at it, he can easily beat Keith in hand-to-hand combat, he used this time around a little to protect Yugi, but the way he states in the last panel I mention, how he chooses to beat Keith for real in a duel, we can see recently he has been getting less often into fights, he currently only uses it to defend himself and his loved ones but prefers through a card game if there is an option, when is a battle without physically hurting someone, which is one of the main messages regarding games in the series from Kazuki Takahashi as the story progresses...Jounouchi, Dark Yugi and Yugi embody this message, but Jounouchi is done more bluntly because of his personality, bit by bit, Jounouchi being hugely influenced by Yugi, slowly coming to be against violence as well, so his character development is very interesting not just in cards skills, on a personal level as well learning from his friends (Yugi and Dark Yugi, Anzu and Honda).

  

Same for Yugi as it was in the previous post, I think this is one of the most important turn on his character development, when he starts deciding to be more active in the fights, finally Yugi is more conscious of being "sheltered" and doesn't like it, he does have some inferiority complex not just for Dark Yugi, Anzu and Jounouchi as well but more towards Dark Yugi, it seems when Jounouchi asked him why he felt so inferior really got to him (thank you, Jounouchi) and decides to become stronger, he can't stay this way forever, the current reason for now...I don't like these cliché in almost every shounen manga (to protect the girl he likes), but there is deeper reasons which wasn't explored yet by Yugi.
In my opinion, Yugi is already very strong (even I think his skills are on par with Dark Yugi or is already bit stronger) but he just doesn't have much chances to put into practice, to test it, to challenge and prove himself. Don't worry Yugi, you will have more chances soon!
Anzu's reactions to Yugi's confession about his current self are interesting, she blushes a little when Yugi admits feeling annoyed being always protected and helped by her and the others, a bit surprised by his decision and smiles, I think she feels a bit moved seeing him growing, from a childhood friend perspective is a sweet moment, peachshiping is growing on me everytime I reread it, very slowly (I didn't ship them for a very long time, for years in fact).

Lastly, it's very curious as to why Yami Bakura is helping Honda... probably as an attempt "to regain trust" or trying to pretend to be Ryou, but as we can see, Honda is suspecting isn't Ryou but Yami Bakura, you have to give credit that Honda is very sharp and what is the meaning of the expression "so dawn broke", it doesn't make much sense, I think is related to be kinda late since "dawn broke" means when the sun rises, to help him, still curious though...

See ya Next post!