Another note, 3 sections of panels I will cover, I believe it will link to Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions movie about Kaiba and Yugi (who are the main focus of the movie), I haven't watch yet, I will only be able to watch when the DVD/Blu-Ray in Japan will come out in 8th March this year, where I live the movie won't be available in the cinemas, so I have to go with this method.
Plot Summary:
Just when Jounouchi puts back the Millenium Puzzle on Yugi, Anzu is back to normal but still in Marik's mind control, Dark Yugi has a moment of reflection and final thoughts about the recent events, finally the rest of the gang (Mai, Honda and Otogi with Shizuka) arrives.
Jounouchi is surprised seeing Shizuka with them and gets angry but more to himself because he felt ashamed of what he was about to do to Yugi while being controlled by Marik and still feeling a bit disturbed by the recent events, Mai and Honda scolds for his behaviour and attitude whose feeling like a failure as big brother, friend and duelist plus as an individual, Honda informs Jounouchi that his sister Shizuka is there to give him courage too to keep moving forward and play in Battle City Tournament and with this Shizuka takes off the bandages, the siblings finally reunited.
When Kaiba is about to go to his helicopter, he calls Yugi and tells something related to the discussion he had with Dark Yugi (which will be approached, I'm looking forward to it).
The gang leaves the pier with Mai's riding to Domino Stadium Construction Site, the meeting place of the tournament semi-finalists.
Marik and his servant Rishid have already arrived and they have an important conversation about the pharaoh soul and his memories along with the darkness sealed in the millenium items and the other special conditions.
Kaiba arrives and so does the gang, later other finalists are revealed to the main characters, one of them being Bakura through Yami Bakura and Marik, Marik to keep with his "revenge" plan, he still remains disguised and named Namu to the gang while introducing himself to Yugi, while Rishid plays the Marik's role, since the last contestant is taking a bit of time they enter inside a huge plimp called Battle Ship, then lastly the missing finalist arrives and the readers recognise immediately being Ishizu.
There is some conversation going on before they go to their room preparing their decks and take a break before the first duel.
The first duel of the semi-finals about to happen, it will be between Dark Yugi and Yami Bakura...
Key Points:
When Jounouchi is thinking in following quotes:
"Thank you, Yugi...You risked your life to save mine..."
You see Jounouchi seems to feel always in debt to Yugi's kindness and selfless, he isn't the only one...
"The life of some idiot who nearly threw away our friendship...into the bottom of the ocean..."
It says lots of things, the motion when he was about to throw the piece of the puzzle, deeply affected him and is an image and body motion deeply stuck in his mind, besides he's not giving himself enough credit, no normal person can break free from a mind-control from a magical artefact, it resisted well too, Jounouchi has a very strong heart, also it was Marik's mistake for controlling Jounouchi to throw the piece and made it remember what created their friendship along with the guilt Jounouchi felt back when they weren't friends yet in how he behaved with Yugi, guilt is a powerful emotion and feeling indebted to Yugi's kindness.
Now on Yugi's standpoint, we see in the panels that he is glad and happy that he succeeded in his plan and achievement, he gives credit to Jounouchi's amazing efforts to resist and fighting against Marik's mind control and self-acknowledges that was mostly him, learning to give himself a bit more value.
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This is the first time Dark Yugi starts acknowledging he learned something from Yugi (he always did subconsciously), it was his kindness and sees as the greatest strength of all, I don't fully agree, not saying kindness is a weakness because it isn't, it depends how you apply between healthy and unhealthy, but I see more to practice kindness, you need to have a very strong heart.
More into the kindness as to why I mention there is a healthy and unhealthy manners to practice kindness, the way Dark Yugi and friends keeps protecting and shelter Yugi is unhealthy kindness and shows their caring natures but hinders Yugi's growth, while Yugi's kindness is healthy kindness because this very hard decision Yugi made to send Dark Yugi to afterlife, it's for Dark Yugi to not spend eternity in the millenium puzzle and for himself in becoming independent, which encourages growth for both sides.
Also kindness is more of an action or gesture, an active practice, kindness is a strength but is strongly connected to the strength of the individual who practices by how the person applies it.
There is more points to evaluate from Dark Yugi's stand point, he reflects he learnt something from Yugi, being his kindness which he knew he had this nature from day one, it was something he learnt from him long time ago before even this realisation, subconsciously, just how his penalty games became softer to a point he ceased to practice penalty games (it wasn't just the evil intelligence titbit, Yugi played a strong role on this one like the one against Kaiba as well), the learned lesson was always there, it took only this time around to finally take notice.
There is more points to evaluate from Dark Yugi's stand point, he reflects he learnt something from Yugi, being his kindness which he knew he had this nature from day one, it was something he learnt from him long time ago before even this realisation, subconsciously, just how his penalty games became softer to a point he ceased to practice penalty games (it wasn't just the evil intelligence titbit, Yugi played a strong role on this one like the one against Kaiba as well), the learned lesson was always there, it took only this time around to finally take notice.
What made it not notice this long, there is a lot of factors, there is his big ego and pay attention to Yugi in order to protect his host, he always knew he was strong, what's different this time around is he didn't knew before until this moment how Yugi stayed strong and kept growing.
When Dark Yugi continues on reflecting...
"One day...You will surpass me in every way...When that time comes..."
Just this Dark Yugi's thought, implies Dark Yugi is aware in some fields Yugi surpasses him, in other fields Dark Yugi is still above him and is sure it will surpass him eventually and suspecting after regain his memories, he will go to afterlife and has a hunch of how it will be done...at the same time starting to see as his future rival (building a silent rivalry) and sucessor...
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Jounouchi...every individual makes mistakes, besides it was Marik who made the mistakes, not you, he shouldn't take credit for Marik's mistakes for underestimating their strong bond and wasn't without lack of warning (Yami Bakura did), Jounouchi really undeservedly thinks low of himself, there are moments he is even more insecure than Yugi, which is impressive in a sense...friends have to lecture him, remember being true friends is not just giving pats in the back, it's also to scold them when they're thinking their friend is acting stupid or call out when they're wrong...
I love the fact Mai is speaking as a honest friend and duelist, as much I have a thing against pride, I agree pride is not something to throw away, but to swallow and transform into something better...
Those last Mai's words about pride really made him think and consider she has a very good point, it's the same as giving up after failing one time or few times, Honda does his part (the fact he wanted to smack him too is very funny), agreeing with Mai and added the other reason why Shizuka came is to give him courage to keep going, Jounouchi was surprised by this reveal as if he didn't thought of that way before...
The first three panels I want to mention is that Shizuka knows he has given more than enough courage and mention that Jounouchi did never told about the last tournament, it's curious, probably because he felt bad maybe since it was originally Yugi's prize however as Dark Yugi and Jounouchi didn't dueled in the finals of Duelist Kingdom, the prize can be counted for both of them, for Jounouchi is a bit hard to explain, so Mai did all the job as she witnessed his growth and effort he did for his sister together with his friends support.
Shizuka feels this time is her time to be courageous, sorry if I don't put all of them, simply because I focus on their dialogues, so she opens her eyes and the one who she sees first is her brother, so in compensation...
The art is so beautiful in this scene, the sketchy feel to create the light, shading and shadows in a sunset scenario.
This is one of the three sections of the panels I mentioned that I believe it connects with Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions between Yugi and Kaiba, just one small mention in comparison between the anime(japanese version) and the manga, in the anime Yugi calls Kaiba and Kaiba responds like this, but in the manga Yugi doesn't call Kaiba and is contemplating the ocean view from the pier, it's Kaiba who calls to Yugi and says this, to me the difference is glaring, because Yugi in the anime was the one who initiated while the manga is Kaiba, I think it's more telling Kaiba paying more attention to Yugi in the manga.
From Kaiba stand point to delve deeper what Kaiba means with:
«Yugi...Tell your other self...That you and your friends...have given me the "answer"...»
The question is what is the answer Kaiba perceived from Yugi and co.? It might not be the same as Dark Yugi, remember the riddle Jounouchi given to Mai about "something you can show...but can't see"?, Jounouchi's answer to it was friendship while Mai was your real self...their answers to the riddle were different.
We have to observe Kaiba's reaction to Yugi's last card, "Mystical Rift Panel" and the progress of the duel along with the conclusions it can be drawn from the duel, it's obvious Yugi would have won if he wanted to, he given himself plenty of chances to win when his loss was a choice and decision he made, Yugi's methods and dueling style is different from Dark Yugi and so they were more effective with very bold and smart moves in saving Jounouchi from Marik's mind control, if we look at Kaiba's eyes in this moment, we know is when he is feeling intense emotions heavily connected to his fighting spirit or when he is at his lowest point, in this case is fighting spirit, even though Kaiba mentions Yugi's friends, he emphasises Yugi a bit more, which means he still feels more comfortable seeing Yugi as rival, but is a silent rivalry growing... .
We have to observe Kaiba's reaction to Yugi's last card, "Mystical Rift Panel" and the progress of the duel along with the conclusions it can be drawn from the duel, it's obvious Yugi would have won if he wanted to, he given himself plenty of chances to win when his loss was a choice and decision he made, Yugi's methods and dueling style is different from Dark Yugi and so they were more effective with very bold and smart moves in saving Jounouchi from Marik's mind control, if we look at Kaiba's eyes in this moment, we know is when he is feeling intense emotions heavily connected to his fighting spirit or when he is at his lowest point, in this case is fighting spirit, even though Kaiba mentions Yugi's friends, he emphasises Yugi a bit more, which means he still feels more comfortable seeing Yugi as rival, but is a silent rivalry growing... .
Now how Yugi's friends enters in his "answer", he said in plural, which means he payed attention when Mai and Honda were scolding Jounouchi plus Jounouchi attitude related to Marik's brainwash on him also the "mind battle" against Marik and Jounouchi's sister, he must have learned friendship is not just happy-go-lucky and pats in the back when they're feeling down, sometimes you have to scold them and be honest.
Yugi's stand point, his sense of duty and responsibility is growing as the pharaoh's vessel which aids him in becoming more mature, wiser, vigilant and increasing his awareness.
Dark Yugi's stand point, when he means "For both of us!" (I don't ship them, btw, I fairly respect those who ship, so I don't perceive this scene this way), watching the recent duel, he must have heeded that Marik could have left Jounouchi to live, Marik's attacks were focused on Yugi for being the pharaoh's vessel and Dark Yugi being the pharaoh soul himself, I think his strong sense of duty and responsibility in protecting his host is what inspires and motivates subconsciously Yugi in becoming more independent and taking seriously his own role in helping Dark Yugi regain his memories and eventually send to afterlife (Yugi always thought it was just Dark Yugi's courage and strength).
We get to know Battle City arc main villain a bit more, but this bit is a set up of his full backstory that will be approached in the future, also we can confirm his main target is Yugi and Dark Yugi when he says "(...)taking Yugi's life.", you see his "revenge" has deeper roots however it isn't caused by the pharaoh as he believes...
Here is some summary of the Pharaoh past, however to anyone who have watched the last season and read the last 7 volumes of the manga series, what Marik is saying is mostly half-truth left in ancient texts, which is pretty common to happen, when you re-read this, you notice what he is saying is missing 2 details, which will be approached and this post will be brought up when I will be covering the last volumes that explore Dark Yugi's past and memories, also it reveals the scars on his back knows the location of these memories.
Even this scene is strongly connected to the main plot, also Marik has no idea from the looks of it that he is working with the very evil power that was sealed together with the spirit of a pharaoh he just mentioned.
Marik is a bit closed minded in thinking that if his mission as tomb guardian is accomplished, he doesn't have no more reason to exist so he has to die, but then this "revenge" doesn't really apply either, even though he asked Rishid if he lost to Yugi then to kill Marik, a bit twisted, but Marik at this time he has the same age as Yugi, in other words, he is a teenager, so he acts quite conceited and his overconfidence doesn't help much, he doesn't seem he hasn't consider an option after accomplish his duty as tomb guardian, he could create a new meaning and of his own, he will find this option, however will be later.
Regarding Rishid, you see he is holding something back from Marik...
This scene is curious, the fact Bakura doesn't feel hurt is telling that Marik is controlling Bakura since he can control the senses of whoever he is mind controlling, even Jounouchi and Anzu thinks it's a bit strange, while Yugi being a very sharp boy who can catch on details quickly and becoming more vigilant, suspicious Yami Bakura was controlling Ryou for a moment, the reason why he is finding it odd Ryou is willingly and excited to participate, not because he thinks he isn't skilled, it is just that Yugi knows that as both of them being gamers that Ryo is more interested in board games (specially tabletop rpgs) and not really into card games and more of casual player plus not the kind of person to be interested in competitions, he is finding strange this sudden interest...and connects it might have to do with Yami Bakura be up to something...
It's so weird and cringy seeing "Bakura" acting like this and feels forced as well, I say this because Ryou Bakura usually smiles for real is not in such a enthusiastic manner, is a bit more calm and collected and saying as a duelist, if you go to volume 13 duelist, he has a deck but you see is more in a sense as a casual player than a duelist (heavily invested fan), that's why probably Jounouchi and Yugi are finding strange this sudden interest in participating in a tournament...
Yugi is rightly suspicious of "Namu", being the naturally sharp boy he is, since Jounouchi is growing sharper, he starts becoming suspicious of "Namu" due to the events of how he got being mind controlled by Marik in the first place and also you couldn't get this far in the tournament by sheer luck either.
You see even with Anzu they're not really convinced, because they remember Anzu was mind controlled by Marik as well and wasn't really free from him like Jounouchi did, what's so interesting is that Marik mind controlling Anzu will be a essential device for Marik's character arc and development and will be constantly his backup plan.
I find it curious how Marik still haven't realised yet that as he mentions the evil mind inside him and couldn't get rid of him, which already implies he is pretty much the power of darkness sealed within with the pharaoh memories and soul, maybe because there is still other millenium items to check for himself, at this time seems to be that Marik doesn't have a evil mind in the millenium rod.
I feel so sorry for Ryou, he is constantly a victim and in such a creepy manner as well...
It's almost a good backup plan, the millenium ring, Rishid was probably for the time being with the millenium rod so the millenium ring could react to it and attempt to divert attention from "Namu" to "marik" (Rishid), Kaiba being someone with standards takes the bait by sensing his fighting spirit.
To be honest, I don't think he is good at playing the bad guy, even though his fighting spirit seems to be enough to convince them, but there is many different natures to behaviours which are distinctive from person to person, I don't even think Rishid plays well his own Master, because this "Marik" is of few words and strangely polite plus in a honourable manner, while the real one is the opposite...
This scene is so funny, I laugh really hard, it's clear Kaiba enjoys teasing Jounouchi, they're really like cat and dog, so funny, even though Kaiba calls him "deadbeat" duelist and then says average duelist, the fact that now he adds "duelist" is already showing his acknowledgement towards Jounouchi as a duelist, let's say he was promoted from deadbeat to deadbeat/average duelist, which is a compliment coming from Kaiba, while Yugi unfazed being so used to this kind of interaction between them and understanding what it means (Kaiba now recognises Jounouchi as a duelist).
This is the 2nd section of panels that I believe also it links to the movie Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions, because when he says "Yugi" only to the original Yugi and the mentioned the events, he is including Yugi and Dark Yugi, he's saying this to both of them, it shows there is rivalry towards Yugi which means he was deeply affected by how Yugi performed in the duel against "b!jounouchi", not just Dark Yugi, the difference is Kaiba has an obsessive rivalry with Dark Yugi because he was the first to defeat him, with Yugi is more silent but healthier.
Dark Yugi payed close attention as well, as to show it was really intentional left his god card out of his deck, since is built by Yugi and Dark Yugi, Kaiba must have noticed that with the previous duel, he is one of the few people who can distinguish between them very well.
Third section of panels that it's likely connected to the movie, I find this scene pretty funny, due to Kaiba's personality being intensively competitive and Yugi's reaction to it is something like this:
-.-" or this ^_^" or this o_o" - it's that funny, because Yugi is competitive being more free-spirited, others take it very seriously, from the most serious to a healthy manner: Kaiba, Dark Yugi, Mai, Ryota and Jounouchi.
-.-" or this ^_^" or this o_o" - it's that funny, because Yugi is competitive being more free-spirited, others take it very seriously, from the most serious to a healthy manner: Kaiba, Dark Yugi, Mai, Ryota and Jounouchi.
Yugi is aware is more to Dark Yugi than him, but knows is to himself as well, this is to emphasize, the silent rivalry between Yugi and Kaiba was always there.
I agree, you shouldn't hold back even if is a friend, by taking it seriously or do it for fun or both, taking into account each individualistic traits from each player, of course.
It's good of Kaiba being curious of Ryo Bakura skills, the others not putting into consideration his strange behaviour in this sudden interest in participating, recent events and how he got in when he is not an active player like Yugi, Dark Yugi and Jounouchi, they should have connected to Yami Bakura already, at least Yugi did...
It's sharp of Marik to heed that it won't be a normal battle and quite interested too, first is between two millenium items wielders and two spirits who have been sealed in the millenium items, both have hosts as well.
Ishizu being a very collected and intelligent person, she sees this duel as Pharaoh's soul first test and when was announcing for the meeting of the semi-finalists, she knew Dark Yugi would be facing him, she must have figure it out that Yami Bakura is the evil power sealed in the millenium items and knew Dark Yugi would have to use Slifer, since they play a major role even in the last 7 volumes in the series against the mentioned evil power/power of darkness.
For Dark Yugi notice Yami Bakura only now, it must be because he wasn't present when Yugi noticed it in the construction site, I say this since he was surprised, when Yugi noticed but he wasn't shocked due to DDD (Dungeons, Dice and Dragons) events, since Yami Bakura was present to give some "votes of confidence" to Yugi, these small details displays when he was more attentive to Yugi's surroundings and not...it's curious Dark Yugi refer to him as "that evil thing", kinda funny.
See ya Next Post!
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