Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 6 (Battle City Tag Duel: Teamwork and Power of Unity)

The summary will be small since what is happening is a duel, but there is important moments to highlight, it's Kaiba character arc and development, the key points will have plenty to write...
Where we are in volumes, volume duelist 14 to 15 (volume 21 to 22 in japanese print version), yeah, we are getting closer to "that" duel (I'm looking forward to write my thoughts and observations about  "the duel", they're one of the four most emotionally intense duels (with Dark Yugi/Yugi VS Pegasus, Dark Yugi VSDark Marik and the Ceremonial Duel).

Plot Summary:

The duel starts off with Mask of Light going first then Dark Yugi and after is Mask of Darkness and lastly Kaiba alternate turns being a tag duel, they start being somewhat in trouble because the main characters's opponents have a good teamwork, Mask of Light focus on spell and trap cards and Mask of Darkness to summon, be the offence and defense.
Kaiba being a stubborn and prideful loner, refuses to teamwork with Dark Yugi and wants to defeat his opponents by himself, as they get cornered, Kaiba has no choice but to teamwork with Dark Yugi, at the beginning he misses the point but thanks to Dark Yugi he learns fairly quickly what teamwork is, once he understands it, Kaiba and Dark Yugi are on equal ground with Mask tag team driving towards victory on Dark Yugi and Kaiba side.
It's obvious the focus in this duel in terms of character development is Kaiba.


Key Points:

 

As much as I get Kaiba being more of an individualist (I'm one myself), I do understand Kaiba to some extent but isn't exactly for the same reasons, but I can acknowledge teamwork when is necessary even though isn't my style, which is what Kaiba learns in this duel about himself and teamwork, I can relate with him a little on this part.

Kaiba is missing the point in this duel having an individualist mindset and being single minded as well all his life, but there is reasons for it, not just Gozaburo and his parents's deaths plus their uncle and aunt that drives him to be extremely individualist, this tag duel teaming up Dark Yugi is one of the most important lessons to him plus the ones against Dark Yugi's duels.
By the way, I always laugh at the panel when Dark Yugi asks to team up with eye signal, Kaiba expresses his thought as the most ridiculous idea he ever thought or heard.

Another note to remember, when Kaiba's eyes are like this is when he is consumed by his ego, when he is actually thinking clearly is different from these panels above.

If you to continue reading this post click "read more" below:

 

Dark Yugi explaining to Kaiba why they are at a disadvantage, the most important key to win a tag duel is teamwork, their opponents has the key to win the tag duel, even though Dark Yugi knows how to teamwork very well (he has more experience, not just in a tag duel but also life experiences when his friends had to work together like Death-T, Hirutani, Monster World arc, etc) but Kaiba doesn't know how because he didn't learn it and didn't want to learn it (he could have worked together with the others against Pegasus and would have more chances in saving Mokuba, but no, pride got the better of him, *sigh*), let's say Kaiba at this moment is pretty much a noob when it comes to teamwork, you can see Kaiba considering teamwork.

 

If you think about it, this scene is actually very funny, when Kaiba claims he now understands the key element to win a tag duel, you see Dark Yugi hopeful and proud he finally gets the importance of teamwork, then Kaiba replies is about how well you use your partner, Dark Yugi reaction to this reply, his facial expression totally says "he didn't get it at all" (he probably wanted to facepalm at this moment), (laughs) and Kaiba claims it's just logic.

It looks logical, but has a fallacy Kaiba isn't realising it yet, in order to "use your partner well", there is something more is required...Dark Yugi shows it...

 

For you to supposedly "use your partner" well, you have to trust "the partner you're using", I think Dark Yugi not only pointed out kindly the fallacy of the logic to win the tag duel in a moment of decision making to make it a bit easier to understand for Kaiba and also give it back at him.
If you think about it, it's about trusting and guts/courage when it comes to teamwork with your partner or teammates to make a good teamwork, it doesn't change is a pretty risky and being a bold thing to do (to me it's scary  -.-) as Dark Yugi is showing.

Kaiba's rivalry bond with Dark Yugi can be useful once in awhile to win a match, this won't be the last time we'll see this after the tag duel, but there is more to Dark Yugi's suggestion in order for Kaiba to trust him by putting a little touch of rivalry, even Dark Yugi knows the right buttons to make Kaiba more motivated like Ishizu did, Kaiba not only learns teamwork but also learn a cognitive skill Dark Yugi has.

 

We already knew Dark Yugi was good at thinking ahead (the only one who surpasses him a little is Yugi), but this is the first time Kaiba realising this skill of his, it's only missing seeing Yugi, he will and will notice it as well soon, if we count the spin-offs until 5D's, the duelists good at this are Edo Phoenix from YGO GX and Fudou Yusei from YGO 5D's, it seems in YGO lore, duelists who are very good at thinking ahead tend to be the most skilled.

Dark Yugi claims his last move being the Power of Unity by combining their strengths, it's a constant theme in the series because of the millenium puzzle being the kind of power that represents, because in this situation sounds cheesy, I'll say true meaning of teamwork.

You can see and read in these panels which focus on Kaiba's thoughts, you can tell this power mindset comes from his life experiences that formed his reality, most recent being Gozaburo and before was the orphanage, then before were his aunt and uncle, right after his parents deaths, more specifically after his biological father death, he didn't had much of a choice but to rely on himself only to protect himself and his little brother Mokuba and now also his company, he never found anyone he could trust because he felt he couldn't and didn't need to, that's all he knew.
Now Kaiba is facing an adversity that depends on himself and his trust on his partner and your partner trust you back, to Kaiba, teamwork and unity and trust (except his little brother Mokuba) is mostly alienating to him, so he is learning something new in this tag team duel.

 

If he means by power of being alone, yes, power of unity is stronger than of being alone, but power of individuality, I think is equally powerful as power of unity and the same there is of will, decision, choice and determination, they can be catalysts of changes and provoke impactful events.

 

This is the moment when Kaiba acknowledges the importance and true meaning of teamwork, so it's strengths and potential seeing as power of unity, but he is still in his ego consumption mode...

 

Because his Blue Eyes White Dragon was destroyed, Kaiba's favourite card, as the way Kaiba is displayed, Kaiba isn't just consumed by his ego but also by his negative emotions such as anger and vengeance, which is why Kaiba can be wild sometimes (Jounouchi is similar when comes to some wilderness in his personality), Dark Yugi is the only one who is calm, so he asks Kaiba if he can get rid of his anger and vengeance, if he does he will then attack...
This also reveals despite Kaiba trying to "act logical", he actually is a very emotional person, someone who is strongly connected to his emotions.

 

Dark Yugi gives a very good piece of advice, which I agree 100%, anger and revenge are negative emotions, emotions tend to cloud your judgement if get carried away by them, even positive emotions can do it too if you get carried away, it's very important to be clean of them or let them flow like water, so you can judge or think more clearly, it's okay having emotions but don't let it control you or make you blind or consume you. like Dark Yugi is implying because if you don't think clearly and rationally, you're exposing your weakness, making it easier for your opponents or enemies control you, or hurt someone unnecessarily (even someone you care about), while Kaiba still shaken by his own emotions, Dark Yugi eye signals him to calm down, so he can see the best way to win.
Even this advice from Dark Yugi is also an advice from the author Kazuki Takahashi, taking chances to portray his messages, but also Dark Yugi's growth, if we remember Dark Yugi was once a bit more emotional, not as much Kaiba, now he is much calmer, because he learnt by keeping a cool head gives more chances to get through tough situations and save someone he cares or needs help, that's how deeply he was affected by Duelist Kingdom Tournament.

 

You look at the work of Kazuki Takahashi on Kaiba's eyes as way to make us see when Kaiba is consumed by his own emotions and ego to when he is thinking clearly, you see his eyes changes depending on his state of mind, in other words, Kaiba's eyes is a reflection of the state of his mind in the art of the manga, even Dark Yugi can distinguish as well.

Pfft, sorry, it's just funny, even Dark Yugi went a bit cynical about it, from his experience with his duel with Pandora, he expected the same from these guys as well, find a way to not die in case they lost, I'll even quote him:

 "Parachute, eh...? I knew you had some tricks up your sleeves. Some «Death Match» this turn out to be!"

 

Here is showing a nice contrast about their principles (in battle city break part 5 post will be explored further), they even discuss a little about principles, who with who I agree, hmm, I would say neither, I do get where Dark Yugi comes from, but to me depends on the situation, it isn't the case here for me, not in the sense of "crushing your opponents" like Kaiba but because the tag duel would feel uncompleted or unfinished and not gone to the end but to follow the rules of a game, what is the point of starting if you won't finish it or go to the end, I would still prefer to keep playing even if I was losing.

We know Kaiba principles (even though I think is silly), he acknowledges it was necessary teamwork in the tag-team but because he sees Dark Yugi as his biggest rival, he'll have to crush him and is his destiny...(I kinda find it silly as well, it will be approached in detail much later...).

See ya Next Post!
Merry Christmas!