Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 14 (Mai Kujaku VS Yami Marik)

This post will have some duel focus and mostly plot and character development, specially Mai Kujaku and Yu-Gi-Oh! lore.
We are still in volume duelist 18 (japanese print volume 25), the last part will end at the beginning of volume duelist 19 (volume 26 in japanese print), however the post will be quite long, the plot summary might be small or standard size though.

*:Dark Yugi's Point of View

Plot Summary:

The contestants about to play this match are already present and ready to start, Yami Marik unleashes the shadow game from his millenium rod and Mai still not knowing the danger, Mai's friends (Dark Yugi, Yugi from DY'POV*, Jounouchi, Anzu, Shizuka, Honda and Otogi) came to watch her match and cheer her on, at first Mai still feeling upset about the dream acts tough and Jounouchi responds that they still do it anyway, feeling moved, she let's it, Dark Yugi being the most worried sensing this duel will be a shadow game.
The duel begins with some attacks, Mai experiencing Shadow Game for the first time, she has a few mental shocks provoked by Yami Marik, Dark Yugi seeing this, he gives a piece of advice and Mai recovers thanks to his advice in how to deal with the shadow game, from here on out there is a lot of back and forth between Mai and Yami Marik displaying their sharpness, experience, wits and skills, it comes to a point when it reaches an impasse by Mai successfully "stealing" Yami Marik's god card through one of Mai's monster effect and summoning Ra, however Ra card is in a sphere shape emitting it's light that is neither in defensive or attack mode, Yami Marik reveals the text emitted by Ra's light is in hieratic text, only those who were taught this ancient language and the ones chosen by the millenium items can read the text and activate the card special effects and put into attack or defense mode, since Mai can't decipher and neither is chosen by a millenium item, she can't activate the card...since Yami Marik knows the ancient language and chosen by one of the millenium items, he can activate the card and he does...
While Yami Marik is preparing himself to attack Mai directly, Jounouchi gets on the Duel Arena in attempt to shield Mai, because if she takes it she would die, as the attack is close to reach them, Dark Yugi arrives to be the one shielding them and loses consciousness for a short while...


Key Points:

 

Mai is actually moved but tries to act tough for still feeling upset about the dream, Jounouchi at this time from the way he is phrasing:

"Sheesh! Stop acting tough for once! We know you're a real duelist...but more than that...you're our friend!"

It's hinting that he understands now the sudden tough act is related to her feeling upset about the dream and is trying to hide it, Jounouchi emphasizes being not just his friend but their friend, in other words, him and the others see her as friend and is the most important, by her expression, Mai understood what he meant and was touched and comes back acting tough but a little softer.

 

When Dark Yugi realises is a shadow game, he becomes instantly concerned and tell her to walk away now from the duel because in shadow game if you lose, you die, just as he states this, you see in the last panel, Jounouchi hears this and he immediately understands what it means since he experienced a shadow game with his friends and watched Yugi experience it in his fight against Pegasus...this one is more similar to Pegasus style but much more dangerous.

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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 13 (Battle Ship Break Part 2)

This post will be relatively small due to the break being small, but there is still some interesting things to observe before we go to the big match that is coming, the calm before the big storm...
This post will be covering Volume Duelist 18 only ( Japanese print volume 25, bukodan volume 15 or 16) and a little of Volume Duelist 19 (volume 26 japanese print).

Plot Summary:

After the duel was over, Jounouchi and friends were in the medical room to see if the mysterious man pretending to be Marik (Rishid) was okay, who they still don't know his name, they both felt compassion and sadness for this man being in coma and left alone by Yami Marik, Jounouchi then remembers and reveals how he stand up and won the match, being through a dream with his friends pulling him to get up, however he forgets to mention and setting as added detail, so Mai who considers Jounouchi as a friend and being sure they see her as a friend as well, so she asks Jounouchi if she was in the dream, Jounouchi feels awkward since she wasn't in the dream, so he explains why she wasn't being in a school setting and all, even though Mai understood and the way he explained had good intentions yet she couldn't help but feel disappointed and hurt...
Mai and the others go to the meeting to see who are the next two contestants to fight, right off the bat, it's Mai who is next as she going towards the arena still feeling upset about the "dream", so she acts tough specially to Jounouchi while the others tell her they will cheer her on.
When Yami Marik was in the medical room, who he already killed the doctor overlooking Rishid, he was about to kill Rishid with his Millenium Rod but is interrupted when is revealed that he is about to play a match...the duel is about to start...


Key Points:

Ishizu Ishtar already knew but at this point, a reader would think is because of the Millenium Tauk but since she is Marik's sister, she must have known way before she wore the Millenium Tauk, she implies only Rishid was the only hope that could stop from Yami Marik to take over...

 

I find it cute, the man they hardly know and since they heed he was a good person and worried being left alone, you see there is some growth in the group of how they display compassion, before it was in a righteous sense and now is more humble and kindness (Yugi's influence), you see Anzu and Jounouchi are the most worried about him, as for Anzu like Yugi, she doesn't like violence and fighting, Jounouchi for admiration and respect and wants to know his name, as for Dark Yugi questioning himself if the man was working for Marik, well for insisting in being Marik when clearly he wasn't, we can easily conclude it is the case but being sharp, he suspects there is more to this man and Marik, specially with the reveal of Dark Marik...

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions News: the release date of the localized version by Manga UK in DVD&Blu-Ray

As you all probably know, the movie was dubbed in english in the theaters around Great Britain (United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales) for a very limited time.
So to anyone who wasn't able to watch it and didn't want to watch with english dub anyway, the localized version by Manga UK will come out in DVD & Blu-Ray in 29th May 2017.

The common worries about it with these is will be only english audio and subtitles, but I confirmed on their Facebook Page, that there will Japanese Audio.

Available for Pre-Order (and if you don't have the movie Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time, there is a double pack version with the two movies)

 However I would be more worried for those who live in North America when it comes to Japanese Audio, because Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD's from NA, it only comes with English Audio and subtitles, while the European Manga UK version comes with Japanese and English Audio and subtitles, I think the fans of the series in America would prefer to have the same options as the European version has.
I tried to find the release date of the DVD and Blu-Ray, but no luck...
Best of luck, America!

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 12 (Jounouchi VS Rishid)

This duel will be long to analyse, since it starts appearing some Ishtar Family backstory, also it will be the transition from volume Duelist 17 to 18 ( volume 24-25 in Japanese print, possibly volume 15 or 16 in Bukodan), so expect something long (plot summary will be normal size), we will also get to to explore Ishtar Family backstory from Rishid perspective.

Plot Summary:

The duel starts tough on Jounouchi due to Rishid unusual trap strategy, many times Jounouchi almost falls down but credited by his fighting spirit and emotional support from his friends and sister, he stands up again and keep fighting and moving forward, which reminds Rishid of his past and then...

 We begin to dive into the Ishtar family backstory starting with Rishid, who was abandoned close to a well and the Ishtar couple decided to adopt him, the couple were trying to have a male baby, so he could become the heir of the main family of the tomb guardians, Rishid overheard it when he was 4 years old, one year later they had a daughter and they named her Ishizu (Rishid would be 5 years old), and Marik were born 4 years later (Rishid would be 9 years old), this is when it gets dark, there is special ceremony to the heir of the main family when reaches his 10th birthday, the father passes down the other half of the special conditions to restore the "pharaoh's memories" on his son's back and at a terrible cost, with a knife burning hot so it could leave permanent scars, after is done, Marik asks Rishid who should hate and is shocked seeing Rishid did something similar on his face to bear and share Marik's pain on himself, which somehow cheered Marik up to seal his hatred and swear allegiance to Ishtar family...

After the flashback is over the duel goes on without Jounouchi giving up even if he is in a pinch and in a situation where he can't get out of it, as Jounouchi realizes something important about Rishid, due to Rishid playing with dignity and fairly, Jounouchi sees through that Rishid isn't the real Marik, so Rishid to keep properly pretending to be "Marik", he is forced to summon the fake Ra god card, then a terrible accident happens, because the god cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! lore aren't normal cards being very powerful spirits in shape of a card and to a point they chose their wielders in a very selective manner, so the original from the real Marik's deck summons powerful lightning that hits both players in the field and they stay unconscious, Yami Marik is unleashed...
The referee states the first to stand up is the winner, Jounouchi while unconscious is having a dream at school with his friends and even Kaiba appears, it seems he was preparing for a tournament, trips in the floor and his friends help him get up and Jounouchi stands up and awakes as he wins the match then he goes to Rishid who is still unconscious, tries to wake him up and asks for his real name  and ask around who is the real Marik, then Yami Marik reveals himself and there is some revelations he makes...


Key Points:

Even though I find this scene very funny (Jounouchi's expression while his fighting spirit is flaming hot is hilarious), but Honda gives an interesting mention about Jounouchi's fighting experience, when his fighting spirit reaches this point and that he never lost a fight when he was this pumped however as Honda stated, fistfight isn't the same as duel, he knows in TCG you need luck, intuition, experience and wits to win.

Of course, as usual Mai is quite sharp...


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