Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 4 ( Battle Royale )

Now starting the transition from volume duelist 20 to 21 (27 to 28 in Japanese print), It's about the battle royale happening to decide the matchup of the semi-finals, so I will focus on "true duelist" subject and it's influence on Jounouchi's character development plus slightly on Dark Yugi, Kaiba very little...this post will be a little big.


Plot Summary:

The judge starts explaining the rules of this battle royale and how influences the order of the matches and the matchups, basically if the player uses good strategy, they can choose the opponent they wish to fight.

There is a lot of back and forth in the battle royale, Kaiba focusing on attacking Yami Marik and Jounouchi so he can fight with Dark Yugi first before Yami Marik (because of Ra god card), Yami Marik is somewhat indifferent but will focus on Dark Yugi due to main Marik have wanted to kill him for so long, Dark Yugi is Jounouchi but displays in an overprotective manner, while Jounouchi is facing a dilemma between his promise with Dark Yugi/Yugi and saving Mai, through Kaiba provocations to Jounouchi and Dark Yugi, Jounouchi made his decision on focusing Yami Marik.
When Dark Yugi sees Jounouchi at a disadvantage, he feels undecided who to attack in order to keep his promise with Jounouchi until Jounouchi himself interrupts and tells him what he have learned so far and convince Dark Yugi to attack him and is aware he is the one who is at the most disadvantageous situation, with this it goes on Yami Marik going first in the gondola, then Jounouchi who sacrificed himself to be second to climb the gondola, lastly Kaiba and Dark Yugi.



Key Points:

I'm a little surprised that Anzu didn't notice, but Honda is unusual to say such a sharp fact, I can assume he understands about the overall on the subject of competitions, also he is quite right because the other two, Kaiba and Yami Marik will help Dark Yugi since Dark Yugi tends to be the centre of attention and interest among competitors and also the competitor can choose who they want to duel with or choose an opponent who they have a better chance of winning, so it's pretty much a big mind game as Honda says.

 

Jounouchi feels he is in a dilemma to choose between his first opponent to be Dark Yugi in order to keep his promise and Yami Marik to save Mai, to me is a bit difficult to understand why is a dilemma, because the two mentioned burdens doesn't hold the same weight, I would be okay if it did hold similar weights, but the truth, in this case, it doesn't, someone's life to save ( be it a friend or a stranger ) should be top priority over a promise with a friend...someone will unintentionally "help" cast away Jounouchi's doubts...


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 3 (Finals Destination: Alcatraz Island)

This will be the last post covering volume duelist 20 (vol.27 in Japanese print) alone, next post will be this volume and the next volume covering the Battle Royale.
In this post, Dark Yugi and Yugi plus Kaiba will have a lot of focus, so be ready, the plot summary will be small but the post itself there is plenty to approach in detail.


Plot Summary:

While Ishizu is helping Marik in saving Rishid, Kaiba is still analysing and studying in order to find and create methods to overcome Ra god card, Mokuba is concerned about Kaiba still not having started to sleep and discuss with his brother about where the finals will be held in a man-built island full of high-tech called Alcatraz Island, previously built and owned by Gozaburo Kaiba, the stepfather of the Kaiba siblings and previous president of Kaiba Corporation...
Yami Marik comes back to Rishid medical room and discovers Rishid is gone, meaning Marik through Anzu and Ishizu saved Rishid and hidden him on time from Yami Marik.
As the night still going, Yugi is having some difficulties to sleep and reaches the corridor of the two souls rooms between his and the millenium puzzle, Yugi is sensing something strange from Dark Yugi's room soul, it's the first time he is entering his room, he finds out that Dark Yugi's room soul is a maze and is deeply impressed by his room soul, Yugi hears Dark Yugi's voice from behind surprising him and moreover start discussing about Dark Yugi's soul room being a maze...and someone is eavesdropping their conversation...
As they're closer to reach Alcatraz, the night is over and the participants and cheering squad starts waking up, Kaiba claims to himself that he found a way to overcome Ra god card...
When they arrive Alcatraz Island and in front of them there is a tower which Kaiba named as Duel Tower, Kaiba reveals some details about his past related to Gozaburo Kaiba and Alcatraz Island, the participants and the gang walk towards the tower to see how the order and the matches will be decided.



Key Points:

In the same manner that was in previous posts showing moments of Kaiba vigorously studying and analysing Ra god card, even though Kaiba is very talented, extremely intelligent, you could even say, a prodigy but he is a hard worker and very dedicated to his goals, he is a very single-minded individual, which explains why he is intense about most things.

 

In these panels reveals what Kaiba Corporation previously was before becoming a game company, it was a company related to military equipment with a purpose of creating militaristic technology, Kaiba Seto, destroyed the former company to rise from it in order to create a new one, the kind which is linked to what he loves, games.
Mokuba mentions the Duel Tower which Kaiba built on Alcatraz Island as a symbol of  Kaiba Seto's decision of making as his own kind of company when he took over KaibaCorp...


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 2 (Yami Marik VS Yami Bakura and Marik)

Even though this duel isn't a tournament official duel of the finals, it's still not a selection of matches or the main matches.
I'll still be covering the same volume, vol. duelist 20 (vol.27 in Japanese print), there will be a little less focus on the duel, except maybe for the god card Ra, this will be a small post.


Plot Summary:

The Shadow Duel (as they like to call it) between Yami Marik and Yami Bakura is about to start, the rules in this shadow game are by each life point you lose, your body and soul are consumed into the darkness...
The duel dynamics, there is plenty back and forth since is between very skilled players, Yami Bakura is very close to win again, Yami Marik turns his tables around with the most powerful special power of Ra, Yami Bakura is defeated and leaves with a message related to what he truly is...while the main Marik being in such desperate situation when the part of himself was in Ryou Bakura disappeared, he came back to the part of him still in Anzu to ask his older sister for help to save Rishid from Yami Marik.


Key Points:

 

According to what Yami Marik is saying, there are special kinds of shadow games for those chosen by the millenium items...a millenium shadow duel (makes a cool name), if you think about the one Dark Yugi fought with Pegasus are these specials kinds as well, even though the duel between Dark Yugi and Yami Bakura is the only exception so far of not having a shadow game...even though they're both spirits sealed in the millenium items...

 

Again I'll say it, it's curious seeing two important villains to the plot clashing against one another, the other funny thing is that they're both sadistic and have the same kind of tastes when it comes to a thrilling game and both are excited for this kind of duel, their dynamics are very entertaining.


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 1 (Prologue of the Semi-Finals)

Okay, I have finally reached the finals of Battle City, it feels closer to the Memory World Arc now, I'll be covering 5 volumes from here on out, volume duelist 20-24 (in Japanese print is volume 27-31), I think these volumes will be a little challenging for me, since the main duels of the finals are long, specially Dark Yugi VS Kaiba and Dark Yugi/Yugi VS Yami Marik.
To make a proper prolog of the finals, this post will deal with the aftermath of the story of the tragedy of the Ishtar family.

Plot Summary:

After Ishizu told the tragic story of her family, everyone has a bit of talk about the future duels that coming the next day and it's revealed that when Ishizu lost to Kaiba, the powers of the millenium tauk was weakened since Kaiba changed the future result of the duel, the gang were shocked and impressed, Ishizu gives her millenium item to Yugi and confirms to him a part of the conditions of the vessel of the pharaoh and now she did her part in accomplishing her mission as a tomb guardian.
While the gang goes to their rooms, Anzu catches up to Ishizu to ask an important question to get an answer she is suspicious of...after this there is some conversation between Yugi and Dark Yugi before Yugi sleeps.

Yami Marik prepares himself to kill Rishid but suddenly his arm which he was using doesn't move because of the Millenium Ring power and reveals that Yami Bakura is back but accompanied by the Main Marik to stop Yami Marik in general and from killing Rishid, they challenge Yami Marik to a duel in form of a shadow game...before the duel starts there is a small discussion between Yami Marik and Main Marik.


Key Points:

This particular scene, it confirms the gang hasn't told anything to Yugi or Dark Yugi about Mai's condition, the ones who know is Anzu and Jounouchi, they probably haven't told the other two(Yugi and Dark Yugi) to not put them in a pressure, since they do tend to take responsibilities, especially Dark Yugi to save everyone.

Also, we see Jounouchi made a decision to be himself this time to save his friend, to not put this kind of responsibility on Yugi/Dark Yugi, and a part of him probably feels responsible for thinking that his dream has hurt her feelings.

 

This scene bugs me a little, the beginning of this section of panels, when Jounouchi tells Yugi that he hasn't forgotten their promise (to the both of them), Yugi's response is where it starts to bug me, even though I love his character (mind you, he is one of my favourites) and wish to become more independent, getting stronger, still has some low self-esteem issues which I'm fine with because he is progressing mostly on his problems, but seems there is a block for him to evolve further...

"Yup! Battle City isn't over until we have a real duel! The other me is looking forward too!"

This phrase can give multiple interpretations, so it's a little weird, there is a bit of selfish wish on clinging in referring to Dark Yugi as "the other me", even though he and the gang is well aware he is an entity of his own, he could refer to him as "spirit of the puzzle" or "puzzle spirit", maybe it feels too troublesome and want to keep this way while he is a vessel until he gets his memories and remembers his real name, there are other possible additional meanings as well, that being Jounouchi will duel against them separately, which is very likely, it's pretty normal Yugi speak on behalf of Dark Yugi and himself separately like this as participants and duelist, of course, Dark Yugi is attentively listening.

Shizuka, you can see she is a bit mischievous and likes to tease her brother a little like the gang, if you look at it, the ones who likes to tease Jounouchi the most are Kaiba (obviously), Mai, Anzu, Honda, Ryou Bakura and a little from Dark Yugi (in the ending of Duelist Kingdom arc when he insinuates he wants to duel against him in a teasing manner) and Shizuka, it seems Yugi is the only one who doesn't tease him, actually Yugi doesn't generally tease anyone due to his personality.



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