Plot Summary:
In the previous post, Dark Yugi had arrived at one of the secret bases of the Rare Hunters Ghouls inside a card store, Pandora The Conjurer challenged Dark Yugi to a duel to test who is the true master of Dark Magician/Black Magician.
Pandora guides Dark Yugi to a duel arena and they start shuffle their own cards and then of each other with some little discussion about how you treat the cards by how you shuffle, Dark Yugi tells Pandora using shotgun shuffle damages the cards, when they put in their positions for the duel, shackles on their feet and a carbide tipped saw blade appears and rolling and advances as you lose life points, if your LP reach 0 then the player who loses the duel has their legs chopped and eventually die if no ambulance comes...
Dark Yugi is deeply affected by this game of death (will be approached in the key points) and the duel starts, it gets more intense, even some unusual events happens, when Pandora activates a spell card affects the whole field (inluding the opponent) is willing to sacrifice his own Dark Magician and other monster card to take away Dark Yugi life points, Dark Yugi could have used on his own Dark Magician, but Dark Yugi's Dark Magician shielded Dark Yugi on his own will, it's an unusual event and as the duel reaches it's end, it comes the debut of an iconic card in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dark Magician Girl/Black Magician Girl leading to victory for Dark Yugi.
Carbide saw blade is getting closer to chop Pandora's legs, Dark Yugi is free from the shackles and gets a puzzle card, Pandora had safeguarded a key copy, he is about to remove from his wrist with the duel disk, then Marik comes to his mind and removes the image of the key and feel of the key in his hand, Yugi takes over of his own body and saves Pandora, Marik introduces himself to Yugi (he is aware of 2 entities) and a very interesting conversation between Marik and Yugi.
After this conversation, Yugi finally reaches a decision...and Marik approaching Domino City on a boat.
Key Points:
I was patiently waiting for this chance for this key point to write about, look how Dark Yugi is reacting to this life and death duel, he was someone who mentally scarred others and killed a fugitive from justice (but his life was in danger as well plus the hostages, I'll give legitimate defense, the gun was pointed at him, it was kinda fair) for protection or fear of losing (Kaiba's duel in Duelist Kingdom), when he asks "is this fun for you?" and a little lower in his voice, in the panel hiding his face a little, and asks again in a clearer voice tone "I'm asking you, is it fun? A battle that kills people...", while hiding half of it as in deep thought when asks in the panel, then comes to Dark Yugi saying "Then I'll take you..." as he looks down in deep thoughts "...to the very edge of your life!" to Pandora.
I had to describe this scene in detail, because these panels alone show big character development on Dark Yugi part, the moments when he asks and hides his face and looks down a little, it expresses Dark Yugi may not speak of it or not show his deepest thoughts to the readers but by looking at the early volumes of what he has done to this duel, it reveals duels against Kaiba and Pegasus, specially the information about the millenium items having evil intelligence had a huge impact on him and he feels a lot of guilt and regret because this very duel it is mirrored at him of his shadow games but as he tries maintaining his sense of justice.
Dark Yugi has been realizing and slowly admitting recently since Duelist Kingdom, his sense of justice is flawed and so is his own self but is a big step for him to evolve and expand himself and so is his ethics like his pride evolved into integrity as I explained before in the duel against rare hunter exodia post , he is learning about.his own flaws, but does he hate himself for the things he did in past and had forgiven himself? I don't know, but one thing is clear, recognizing and learning from his mistakes, he tries to be the best of himself and keep his integrity.
I want to feature a post on Tumblr that inspired to write this section like I did about this Dark Yugi/Atem character development tumblr post of this scene.
If you want to continue read this post click "read more" below:
In real life, cards don't act on their will, but in Yu-Gi-Oh! lore it's different, because card games are part of the main plot, the spirits from stone slabs were reincarnated in form of cards in modern time, so in Yu-Gi-Oh! world they can act on their own will but on rare occasion depending on how strong is the connection between the player and its cards, but seems Pandora isn't aware of it either, someone didn't go to the Domino Museum Egypt Exhibit about the origin of Duel Monsters/Magic and Wizards.
Even though Dark Yugi is a bit theatrical and dramatic and very straightforward way of talking, he is quite correct in what he is saying, in a sense the manga series implies karma messages, well Dark Yugi suffered a bit and took time for him to understand, your actions and attitude might bite you back when you do something ethically wrong, it did to Dark Yugi and he learned it, so he speaks from experience.
I had to describe this scene in detail, because these panels alone show big character development on Dark Yugi part, the moments when he asks and hides his face and looks down a little, it expresses Dark Yugi may not speak of it or not show his deepest thoughts to the readers but by looking at the early volumes of what he has done to this duel, it reveals duels against Kaiba and Pegasus, specially the information about the millenium items having evil intelligence had a huge impact on him and he feels a lot of guilt and regret because this very duel it is mirrored at him of his shadow games but as he tries maintaining his sense of justice.
Dark Yugi has been realizing and slowly admitting recently since Duelist Kingdom, his sense of justice is flawed and so is his own self but is a big step for him to evolve and expand himself and so is his ethics like his pride evolved into integrity as I explained before in the duel against rare hunter exodia post , he is learning about.his own flaws, but does he hate himself for the things he did in past and had forgiven himself? I don't know, but one thing is clear, recognizing and learning from his mistakes, he tries to be the best of himself and keep his integrity.
I want to feature a post on Tumblr that inspired to write this section like I did about this Dark Yugi/Atem character development tumblr post of this scene.
If you want to continue read this post click "read more" below:
This section of panels showing techniques illusionists of cards usually uses (some of them doesn't use these cheating methods, in fact I think nowadays very few uses these techniques, what is used today is mentalist techniques), how Pandora damages the cards of the card game just to cheat really bothered me, I may be a little careless and an airhead plus being clumsy (I'm someone who can easily lose things... so in present I try to be more careful), but he damages them on purpose while others may damage for being careless, Pandora lacks sense of morality and ethics, he bugs me a little just by this for starters.
I truly disagree with Pandora with how he treats his deck and I agree with Dark Yugi to some extent (without the overly emotional part), even I have my own ethic code of how I play it, Dark Yugi, Yugi, Kaiba while Jounouchi is building his own, it shows some players have their own codes and some have none.
Dark Yugi is much less ruthless thanks to his last 3 duels in Duelist Kingdom (Mai's and Pegasus's duel affected him a lot about how he plays his cards as well even further, even before Duelist Kingdom he treated well, but recently with much more care), it has to do with his caring and emotional trait as well.
Dark Yugi is much less ruthless thanks to his last 3 duels in Duelist Kingdom (Mai's and Pegasus's duel affected him a lot about how he plays his cards as well even further, even before Duelist Kingdom he treated well, but recently with much more care), it has to do with his caring and emotional trait as well.
In this scene is an unusual event, seeing a card act on his will, but Dark Magician/Black Magician is kinda special case, because it's actually foreshadowing it's importance and the connection with Dark Yugi which is actually very important and will be revealed in the future, remember in the stone palette when Dark Yugi was a pharaoh and summoned Dark Magician/Black Magician, now what it means, at this point we can only assume might be related to his memories, if you read the whole manga, we all know who Dark Magician/Black Magician truly is.
Dark Yugi isn't fully aware of it yet but sees there is a connection to his past as well, since Dark Yugi used to summon him when he was alive.
I may not be a big fan of her like I was at the time it aired where I live and remembering loving this scene in the anime dub, but the the titbit Dark Yugi shares with Pandora and to the readers in this panel is actually foreshadowing again the last 7 volumes of the manga series, a connection to Dark Yugi and Dark Magician/Black Magician, she also has a role in the pharaoh's memories as well.
Even the titbit Dark Yugi shares above and this panel is not only connected to Dark Yugi past but also hinting at a future event in the series and "pharaoh's past event", they are clues by how Dark Yugi is connected to this cards.
In real life, cards don't act on their will, but in Yu-Gi-Oh! lore it's different, because card games are part of the main plot, the spirits from stone slabs were reincarnated in form of cards in modern time, so in Yu-Gi-Oh! world they can act on their own will but on rare occasion depending on how strong is the connection between the player and its cards, but seems Pandora isn't aware of it either, someone didn't go to the Domino Museum Egypt Exhibit about the origin of Duel Monsters/Magic and Wizards.
Even though Dark Yugi is a bit theatrical and dramatic and very straightforward way of talking, he is quite correct in what he is saying, in a sense the manga series implies karma messages, well Dark Yugi suffered a bit and took time for him to understand, your actions and attitude might bite you back when you do something ethically wrong, it did to Dark Yugi and he learned it, so he speaks from experience.
These sections of panels reveals a lot about the extension of the millenium Rod powers, not fully yet, as is well known, the five senses are 5 ways to gather information and powers of perception and all connected to the brain, so if Marik can mind control, it makes sense he can remove temporarily some Pandora's senses such this case vision and touch and plus memory which could trigger to recover the senses, we have seen Pandora being quite cruel but Marik can be even more cruel, not caring about the lives of his "servants".
Here is Yugi immediately taking over his own body to go save Pandora, before in the early volumes, Yugi would usually have blackouts and not remembering a thing about the shadow games, besides Yugi wasn't as ready to act on his principles as he is now, it started from Duelist Kingdom for real at the end of the duel between Dark Yugi against Kaiba, also the current and very strong bond between host and the millenium puzzle spirit kinda helps Yugi to take over more easily and quicker, there is other things I will discuss about this in future posts.
This scene is one of my favourites in the series, it shows Yugi's strengths flat out, one person could easily do nothing and let it play out even in a state of panic, Yugi was quite courageous and very impressive to act and react to the situation this quickly, dash to Pandora, taking the key Pandora was holding and open Pandora's shackles, how quick he is to act on his pacifist principles. but is progressing as well, I admire his courage to stick to his principles, it's not a easy thing to do.
Then Marik reveals himself asking Yugi "Now why'd you do that?", this small panel is really curious, it seems even Marik got a bit curious...his reaction and interactions to Yugi are the most curious to me...
The introduction scene of Marik to Yugi, one of the curious things about Marik to Yugi is how he always address Yugi is different from Dark Yugi, , Yugi is "the vessel" while Dark Yugi is "Yugi"...it's kinda irritating and rude, it's clear Marik "wants to dismiss" Yugi by calling him "the vessel" but he isn't really, so it's pretty weird, while Dark Yugi, the pharaoh spirit is "Yugi" as a way the one who Marik fully targets is Dark Yugi.
Marik didn't reveal his business with Dark Yugi was revenge but it does to the "vessel", nice try to "dismiss the vessel", I guess is because he is aware of Yugi's duty as the host of pharaoh's spirit and chosen by the millenium puzzle, he is not ignorant of it but acts as if he doesn't care when in truth he gives some importance...
Marik basically revealed the whole thing to Yugi about the necessary conditions, he reveals that is necessary to have the three god cards to regain his lost memories, not just collecting all the millenium items, the god cards plays as evidence he is the king who wields them, but also...
Marik is the real heir of the clan, he is revealing the other half of the conditions that was missing to the current knowledge of the protagonists (not even Yami Bakura knows it), the god cards being necessary to regain the lost memories of the pharaoh, this knowledge passed through generations, the problem is being apart of the world, how else they know it? by waiting? wouldn't be more efficient by searching for it?geez...
Marik didn't reveal his business with Dark Yugi was revenge but it does to the "vessel", nice try to "dismiss the vessel", I guess is because he is aware of Yugi's duty as the host of pharaoh's spirit and chosen by the millenium puzzle, he is not ignorant of it but acts as if he doesn't care when in truth he gives some importance...
Marik basically revealed the whole thing to Yugi about the necessary conditions, he reveals that is necessary to have the three god cards to regain his lost memories, not just collecting all the millenium items, the god cards plays as evidence he is the king who wields them, but also...
Marik is the real heir of the clan, he is revealing the other half of the conditions that was missing to the current knowledge of the protagonists (not even Yami Bakura knows it), the god cards being necessary to regain the lost memories of the pharaoh, this knowledge passed through generations, the problem is being apart of the world, how else they know it? by waiting? wouldn't be more efficient by searching for it?geez...
The scriptures and Marik's interpretation implies something else as well to who holds the duty to meet the conditions, who will be the pharaoh's legacy or successor, implying Yugi is the successor being chosen by the millenium puzzle.
It implies Yugi accepting and learn to embrace his duty and role as the vessel of the pharaoh with something for admiting Dark Yugi is a deceased pharaoh and is already considering that eventually it has to be himself Yugi to send the spirit of the deceased pharaoh to afterlife, because it's the kindest thing he can do for him, as difficult of a decision it is.
Yugi's expression was shocked about the existence of the god cards and not surprised being necessary, also Marik just further confirm his suspicions on who is the spirit of the millenium puzzle...
Marik literally reveals the whole thing to the "vessel", including informing Yugi about the "Silent Doll" who has one of the god cards (Osiris The Sky Dragon), saying he will fulfil the prophecy on his terms, and be the new king and successor of the god cards, you know that's not how things works...,I wouldn't call it exactly prophecy, just the necessary information to fulfil your duty as tomb guardians, I still don't get why he reveals the whole thing to Yugi, it really puzzles me, the only thing that I can get is Yugi is the vessel and chosen by the millenium puzzle which contains the pharaoh spirit and has the duty to restore his memories and sees Yugi as an obstacle or challenge to test him in becoming the new king?
Yugi just confirmed his suspicions officially, but to some extent he knew it from the start however need an official confirmation and fully acknowledges him and fully realize he is an entity of his own not only to pharaoh spirit (Dark Yugi) also to himself, which requires him reflecting on reaching a decision regarding the situation between the host and the spirit in the present and future...
This is one of my favourite Yugi moments (undecided as my most favourite because these panels and moment of reflection is a big turn to Yugi character development), it really shows when kindness is at it's strongest from Yugi, the reasons he takes the decision on fulfilling his duty are for very kind reasons, he doesn't wish a sad fate being a lingering spirit with his past unsolved and not remembering forever, though Yugi wishes for pharaoh spirit to stay with him forever, even that couldn't be forever, Yugi would eventually grow up and die as well and would be Dark Yugi in his situation forever, I think Yugi is considering this as well and making him acknowledge the pharaoh spirit is technically a deceased pharaoh.
The following quote:
" Even if remembering means we have to be separated...There are some things you just have to do!"
It implies Yugi accepting and learn to embrace his duty and role as the vessel of the pharaoh with something for admiting Dark Yugi is a deceased pharaoh and is already considering that eventually it has to be himself Yugi to send the spirit of the deceased pharaoh to afterlife, because it's the kindest thing he can do for him, as difficult of a decision it is.
Yugi finally reached his decision and accepted his duty and learning to embrace it, it's from here Yugi's strength comes in full bloom, there is more to his decision than what I approached in this post but will be written when the time comes that connects to this post.
To funny notice, here Yugi for the first and probably only time he refer Dark Yugi as his partner like Dark Yugi keeps referring him after Pegasus's duel (before this duel if you remember Dark Yugi referred to Yugi as "other self" while Yugi is "other me").
Of course, Marik, of course, Yugi lacks so much importance that you want to kill him later after getting rid of pharaoh spirit in your plans, keep pretending and trying to "dismiss the vessel" because even Yugi you can't fool (or else Yugi wouldn't wearing such a quiet and serious expression).
Another moment, we have seen Shadi, Pegasus and Yami Bakura (Yami Bakura is a slow process because that's his preferred style as mentioned when he dueled against Yugi in the Memory World saga) who goes for the kill when giving a penalty game, Marik adds to this list, many said Dark Yugi who mentally scarred others and only once for protection and self-defense (because against the fugitive, Dark Yugi was nervous but had to keep his poker face because the fugitive had a gun), it makes it look Dark Yugi is much softer on his penalty games because isn't for the kill really and it's usually temporary and are illusions, but to protect his host and his friends, it's for different reasons being more inclined to light than darkness.
I'll end this post with this picture.
See Ya Next Post!
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