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.
I do understand her point since she is in the strong mood to play, but she still hasn't realised the danger she is in, if you notice Jounouchi's tone from the beginning to now, it's different, in the start is our typical cheering squad mode, now is more of a tone of concern since he is now aware is a shadow game and knows of it's dangers and also they know Mai is very prideful and stubborn, currently Dark Yugi is less prideful than Mai which to me is quite an achievement (in Duelist Kingdom it was the opposite), due to her prideful posture, Dark Yugi must be thinking something along the lines that pride isn't worth the price to give away or risk your life.
Yami Marik is crazy but...he is aware of Mai's weakness...pride and noticed since she never played a shadow game consequently ignorant of her danger as he stated, she will understand the dangerous situation quicker if she feel it herself, but the feeling of pleasure is a different story...that's just maddening and creepy...
The difference between Pegasus shadow game and Yami Marik's shadow game. Pegasus version drained energy, your life energy, while this case is in much higher stakes, you feel the pain of the monsters and same if is directly at you as well, even though is an illusion and the pain feels real...what is actually doing is...
From the shadow game creating realistic illusionary image of the wound provokes the pain and therefore creating mental wounds, deceiving sight and clouding your emotions, shadow game is technically a spiritual and mental game where life energy can't keep up with it's pressure and you need other sources...
Like Dark Yugi said, willpower is the most necessary source of strength, it has to do with strength of your own will, also he adds:
"Those illusions are created by the fear and terror in your heart!"
"Those illusions are created by the fear and terror in your heart!"
What Dark Yugi means is that those illusions serve to cloud your emotions, heart and mind in order to weaken the person's willpower, if you keep clear minded and willpower is the way to fight against the shadow game, in order words, besides being a fight against your enemy is also a battle against yourself.
I find this scene a bit touching, the moment she listens to Dark Yugi's advice and sees her friends watching and giving emotional support as if everything becomes clear to her, the illusionary image of blood disappeared seeing his advice worked, it's from this moment she understood the meaning having your friends encouraging you to keep fighting, it can inspire you in moving forward and adds a little more boost in your willpower, also she understands now why is so important for Dark Yugi and Jounouchi having emotional support from their loved ones.
Dark Yugi is displaying his insanely caring and protective nature when comes to his friends, you see he tries to not get carried with hatred and anger, because is difficult and feels awful to watch, because it isn't a physical pain but a mental pain in form of a illusion, specially when the spectators can't see or feel the illusions Mai is experiencing, you really can't do much...so one feel irritatingly powerless.
Mai's panels in this scene is beautiful, showing her beauty and her beautiful strong-willed eyes, the sketchy tone, I love how her eyes are drawn, even though I don't like her overall character design but I do like how her eyes and hair is drawn a lot and the kind of expressions she wears as well.
Mai is very stubborn and strong willed, the way she is phrasing it, she is asking Dark Yugi to respect her choice to keep fighting till the end no matter how much he wishes to interfere Yami Marik to stop this kind of duel with a shadow game that is mentally hurting her, it's part of her principle as a duelist and because she is also seeing this as a battle against herself and her own shadows, it's not just about pride anymore but to prove to herself that she can overcome them and herself...as a test of her willpower and mental strength.
I want you notice in these section of panels, Yami Marik's expression is that he was surprised she did stolen his god card and felt a bit irritated but didn't strip away his confidence for knowing the special requirements in using Ra god card... the other thing I like is that Dark Yugi and Jounouchi were quite excited, it's cute because you can see they were impressed by such a good and bold move, Dark Yugi specially since even himself isn't easily impressed, but doesn't change Kaiba is the hardest impress, even Yami Marik was fairly impressed...
You know, Dark Yugi is quite right because Yami Marik future duels which have been seen in the show and who have read the manga, he relies a lot on Ra god card, without it, he is weaker and acknowledging it was a good move on Mai part is a nice display of experience and skill, but Yami Marik is still confident about winning for a reason...
Now this is an intriguing scene, Kaiba knew Yami Marik would be next and was interested in him and his god card, why didn't he go watch in person from the beginning? I can't help but wonder...did he think Mai couldn't pull it off? or was busy to prepare for his match after Yami Marik VS Mai duel while paying attention since he is heavily analytical and dedicated in terms of preparation for an event or match (Death-T, his company presidency job) ? for him to come all of a sudden, this means he was impressed by the move but he has doubts, call it intuition, he has a good one, that much is known just from Duelist Kingdom, let's say it will be a good test to see if even skilled duelists can actually use god cards...to see it for himself...
It's interesting that Mokuba and Seto refer her with the name and surname, which is unusual from them, I guess it means he highly respects her as a duelist and being from the looks of it she is a fairly well known experienced and skilled duelist (or else she wouldn't be accepted to enter the tournament and come this far) and also being older than them but...there is someone older than Kaiba and treats this person by name...
Yami Marik despite being a little irritated by his god card being stolen but since he knows the special requirements to activate the card, so he is pretty confident Mai doesn't fill those special requirements...
This shows she is very smart however one should be wary of Yami Marik confident expression, he is sure she can't use or control the card for a reason that right now only him knows...it will be known to those who are present why even the most skilled duelists can't control this god card and only those to connected to millenium items can and something else as Yami Marik claimed...
Even though she isn't one of the chosen, but the fact she can pull it off a combo like this to summon a god card in one turn is very impressive...not any kind of duelist can put a move like this, it's a good display of how skilled and experienced she is, the boys getting pretty excited watching it, in fact this move will inspire other duelists who can use god cards to use similar move.
Hieratic text, I did researched a little before making this post and is true what he is saying about this specific text being taught to people of special status in it's time and the tomb guardians learnt it as well and the chosen and those connected to millenium items can read it with their hearts even if they never learnt it's language, now here is a contrast, Mai being someone who was never involved in something supernatural directly as she is now, she kinda represents the normal player perspective on a card game would have in such circumstances and she gives very rational responses but in Yu-Gi-Oh! lore, it's different, since these monsters were technically spirits that could be summoned through magic and being sealed in stone slabs, it's connected to the lore of Yu-Gi-Oh! world which will be more explored further ahead in this manga series.
The reactions of the duelists has to this new information about hieratic text is really fascinating because by comparing their reactions, we can have a guess about what they're thinking, Dark Yugi is the most curious, Kaiba by his expression from someone who is highly intelligent and knowledgeable thanks to Gozaburo, he already knows what hieratic text is, while Jounouchi being the most surprised and asked what it was, didn't knew, Mai had some vague idea because she was a Cruise Casino Dealer who went around the world since she wasn't really surprised, she must have heard of it, as for Dark Yugi that he was surprised and at the same time wasn't with the expression he wears and how his thought is phrased...it must have sounded familiar, by being the pharaoh soul, he must have learnt when he was alive and from a very young age, although his current situation having no memories, so it can be only vaguely familiar.
This little info related to Pegasus is very interesting, the fact the text in the God Card is in hieratic text is proof it was transcribed because Pegasus couldn't read it, what makes it more intriguing is at the time Pegasus wielded the Millenium Eye, one would think he could but wielding one is not the same as being connected to, which will be more explored later, the reason was revealed which again I will mention this interview , he was meant to revive the spirits from the stone slabs into cards, that was his sole role in the millenium items because he was a good painter and brainwashed by the millenium Eye.
Jounouchi was the most spot on, he was never afraid losing the card, now if he wanted Mai to summon, it wasn't from the start of the duel, but from the moment she stole his card, he was surprised she stole it and wasn't worried seeing that in the end he would have the advantage over Mai with the god card anyway.
Marik never revealed the location of the memories to Yugi and neither to Dark Yugi, but Yami Marik is, Marik might revealed only the other half of the conditions except for it's location, it's amusing how in the beginning he speaks so seriously and then laughs it off and reveals being the split-personality of Marik...
In other words, Marik has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and Yami Marik is the manifestation of it and it's PTSD (PostTraumatic Stress Disorder) of the rite of the tomb guardians among other traditions that the heir of the tomb guardians suffers which will be revealed in future posts at the end of the semi-finals...Only Rishid kept in check and tamed...
Yu-Gi-Oh!, specially the manga can get mentally and psychologically dark, very dark, it shows Takahashi-sensei did his research about it, seems to have an interest in this kind of cases in psychology and make it in fictional fantasy shape without shy away from it either and make it easy to understand as well, altogether showcasing the complexity of Marik's character.
This is the first time Jounouchi understands more deeply what kind of shadow game Mai is going through, it's a very dangerous kind, not on the same level as with Pegasus that Yugi and Dark Yugi had, it might be illusion but is a dark magical kind, for that reason...
He chosen to shield her from the attack even at the risk of being disqualified and severely injured, obviously Mai was super moved by his gesture and telling him to run but Jounouchi is stubborn as well, so insists in shielding Mai, this scene transitions from Mai perspective of him to Jounouchi perspective of her, Jounouchi reveals to the readers that this tournament weren't just for Shizuka and promise to Dark Yugi to fight him, there were other deeper meanings behind it that wasn't revealed to us until this moment, he still blushes a little around Mai even before the mention of the dream from her...
"Mai... The reason I entered this tournament... was so I could fight you once again...That's the only way I know...to let you know how I feel..."
One can think from Mai focusing on friendship and specially with Jounouchi, in Jounouchi there is something a bit more secretive, besides the huge respect he has for Mai as a duelist, the same can be said for as friend, but seems to imply there is romantic elements in their friendship, however it's subtly hinted as well that they don't wish for committed relationships either due to their past experiences, Jounouchi because of his parents failed marriage and Mai love to travel and experience as a casino dealer...I think they would prefer in a way is free from such burdens, probably.
This scene is one of the most touching in the series, even the art is amazing, the sketchiness traces to make the shadows and shading in order to create lighting effect in the middle of the night and dark fog...this is one of the reasons why I love manga, you can stop at one page or some pages just to appreciate the art which creates an important moment...
Dark Yugi as expected from his protective nature, he chooses to take the blow instead to shield both of them, it's the most distinctive trait from him, both surprised also at the same time not, more in a sense "are you crazy?!", we all know his positive traits which can be negative, they are heroic traits, even though when he was being protective, it tended to be in a self-centered manner, in this occasion is selfless, in fact I think this is the first time he is being protective in this form, not saying he isn't capable of selfless gestures, since he did twice when giving 1 of the 2 stars and 1 of the 2 cards in Duelist Kingdom to give a chance to Jounouchi to participate in the tournament to save Shizuka from going blind, but these selfless gestures was in order to support Jounouchi on keep moving forward, while this case is a first being protectively selfless, which is an example he is following from Yugi.
Dark Yugi's mindset in this scene is to not let himself get carried away with his hatred or anger towards him because he knows it won't get anywhere, instead he is taking all that hatred from Marik through Yami Marik and send this hatred of Marik (Yami Marik) back to the darkness, so he felt a bit of sympathy for Marik but doesn't change he still feels anger for what Yami Marik is doing and Marik did, but he is trying to not invest on such emotions, symbolically for saying taking on his back to bear the responsibility for Marik's hatred that came from the rite of the tomb guardians in Marik's back to keep the seal of memories to present to the pharaoh himself.
I will mention the art in this scene is gorgeous, the sketchy vibe from it...I love it. 💙
the others reactions, Anzu is to be expected, friends as well, but Kaiba is with a dark expression...I really don't know how to interpret it...o_o, not surprised he did this and probably think he was a fool for doing this...
See Ya Next Post!
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