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.


If you want to continue reading, click "Read More" below:

 

Yami Bakura really finds Marik's circumstances very amusing, now here is the curious part in these two selected pack of panels, the first one Yami Marik "acting" overconfident but deep down as seen on the right side, he is actually worried about what strategies both of them cooked up, because we have to remember Main Marik and Yami Marik are the same person but in two halves, therefore the intellect are almost exactly the same...

As expected, Yami Bakura has an unusual way of play style, the way Yami Marik is observing his situation speaks up volumes that Yami Bakura dueling style is hard to predict, he looks like he is in a bad state but he is the one at an advantage and Yami Marik is cornered...since if he doesn't turn the tables on his next turn, he'll lose on Yami Bakura's next turn...

It's curious knowing that when a monster is special summoned, it can't attack in the same turn until the next turn of the player, since I don't remember much it was like that, now thinking through it was like this, to give a fair chance to the opponent.

Even Kaiba thinks it's a mystery to himself of how he can read since he never learned the ancient language and he doesn't even use and have a millenium item due to lack of interest in such magical artifacts, he is technically one of the chosen and the true wielder of the millenium Rod, Kaiba's connection to the millenium items and his attitude towards it is very curious and fascinating, he refuses to acknowledge this connection based on his principles about the past, present, and future plus his stubbornness, furthermore he has no wishes to have connection with it even if exists and shoved at his face.

Kaiba admitting to himself that Ra god card is a very overpowered card is a rare sight, especially about a specific effect that Ra god card has under certain conditions and the one thing they share in common with the other god cards are the condition necessary to summon them for three sacrifices.

We have confirmation about the extent of trap cards on god cards (most of them doesn't work) and magic cards only works for one turn...But as for the One-Turn Kill, the most powerful effect of Ra god card works differently with certain magic cards...

When Yami Marik thinks to himself:

"Only I can decipher Ra's special ability! keh keh...My other self never received the full revelation of the Millenium Rod..."

The fact he thinks that only him can decipher Ra's ability is pretty conceited now that Kaiba has already deciphered it, the puzzling part is he claims to himself is how Main Marik didn't get the full revelation but Yami Marik himself did, it doesn't make much sense, the way to take with it is that Yami Marik is a very sneaky split personality, remember he is still Marik but the split personality of the Main Marik, so technically Marik did but hence Yami Marik can take away for himself some memories of the main Marik, he must have "stolen" most of the information about Ra's abilities.

 

One-Turn Kill, as Yami Bakura stated before when a monster is special summoned it can't attack until it's next turn, but this Ra's special effect is a special case, it can ignore this rule, even when special summoned through monster reborn which only works for one turn in gods, what makes an exception to this god card in comparison to the other two is that Obelisk and Slifer wouldn't be able to attack in the same turn they're special summoned, while Ra god card with this special effect whenever special summoned can attack in the same turn and like Kaiba knows in  some panels above, it can destroy all the monsters in the field and can drop the opponent life points to zero depending on it's attack points based on the players life points, of course, it's not totally impossible to dodge or resist to it.

In the panel when Yami Marik becomes one with Ra, you see that wicked smile and eyes, there is a bit of the main Marik in there since Yami Marik is the manifestation of Marik's deepest darkness.

 

In this scene there is more meaning than it looks, Yami Bakura is very well aware that he can come back when he regains his strength because he knows he is an entity sealed in the millenium ring so he can come back anytime and is always inside the millenium ring, but I will explore in more detail in the Memory World Arc, why he is saying right here is quite right...

Yami Marik may look confident but the fact he adds "taming the darkness", he is pretty much admitting to himself that Yami Bakura is dangerous considering you can't get rid of him technically...

 

Yami Marik is lying a bit, remember Yami Marik is a half of the whole Main Marik, one cannot exist without the other but he is referring to the portion of Marik in Ryou Bakura, in moment of despair he will ask help for Ishizu, one would wonder why he didn't ask for her help sooner, right? we can assume it was because he felt too ashamed and guilty for what he did to his own father and of how he treated Yugi/Dark Yugi and co. to face his elder sister...

 

In the scene when Ishizu senses the main Marik calling for him and Anzu appears brain controlled by Marik, I think like Rishid, she can't be mind controlled either, so Marik can only speak to her briefly telepathically, especially now he is weaker and both have a strong bond.
She could see Marik clearly through Anzu it was Marik asking to save Rishid before Yami Marik goes to kill him, it shows he is that desperate and strong sense of urgency to save Rishid as his top priority in the current situation.

See Ya Next Post!