Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.36 Part 1/3 (The Death of the King of Thieves)

This project has reached finally volume 5 of Memory World and will be divided in 3 posts, starting the first, there isn't much going on except the growth display in Mahado/Black Magician, but he isn't the only one and lore small details...
As for my current situation is still the same...problems might be brewing for my side (more personal) :(, but I should be able to cope with it.



Plot Summary:

As the pharaoh/Dark Yugi restored his fighting spirit and motivation to keep fighting thanks to Mahado/Black Magician clarifying a few things to Dark Yugi in what he needed to know, thief Bakura and his Ka took a powerful blow from Black Magician...but thief Bakura gains advantage again by using the millennium pendant(puzzle) and summoning another Ka to protect the Tablet where the millennium items were forged...the priests arrive the underground shrine except Akhenaden, with the priests aid and Mana, who came along as well to help, the chances to defeat thief Bakura has increased...while Akhenaden slowly climb down the stairs, he sees more vivid images of the ghosts like corpses coming off the ground as if his trauma coming back to haunt him...

Thief Bakura is eventually defeated by the priests and Dark Yugi excelent teamwork, not without a sacrifice on the way to his defeat, priest Kalim did die...suddenly the ones who die strangely turning into sand and Yami Bakura shadow spy appears...


Key Points:

 

Dark Yugi, have you forgotten?so why the surprise? he could do it before when he was fighting you last time and the priests...

What is strange at first is why thief Bakura relies on millennium pendant to summon a second Ka if he could use it with the millennium ring while his "main" Ka was active, but I think I know the answer, Thief Bakura's Diabond Ka absorbed the evil within the millennium ring and made him stronger, it was recent too to absorb all of it, it must have taken time (remember Mahado used for a long time his heka to seal away the evil within the millennium ring, so I suppose it would take time to absorb all of it), while the previous fight he already had his Main Ka active, so he used the millenium ring to summon a second Ka, so now thief Bakura depends on the millennium ring to keep the power boost on his main Ka, so he needs another millennium item to do so, it's not just using his own heka but the heka from the magical items as well, however to summon a Ka cost Ba, since he summoned a second one, he should have become considerably weaker, because it seems summon a second one cost more than the first summon, specially if is a strong one (the previous fight he summon Ka, it was a low-level one, so he wasn't easily tired but in this instance, he gets weaker a little easier because the one protecting the tablet must have a strong defense, so it would cost more Ba than a low-level Ka unlike he did last time...

 

Priest Shada is trying really hard and becoming more dedicated, but you know, it was kinda worth it, he went through it, because it made him becoming more conscious of his job and position as a priest, even though he followed through the idea about Ka-hunt that he feels guilty and regret about it and even more hiding from the pharaoh, but he did with more pure intentions than priest Seto (priest Seto was loyalty mixed with thirst for power to protect the throne and the pharaoh), he is actually pure-hearted person mostly, but he like any other individual, he is also fallible.


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I do quite like this scene, when the priests arrive, they are all relieved seeing the pharaoh even though he is hurt but priest Shada is more hurt for shielding the pharaoh, but to me what makes it sweet, even in afterlife, Dark Yugi refers Mahado/Black Magician as one of priests with all of them and the others quite happy to see him again, even priest Seto is happy to see him, you can't see well from here his small smile, but if zoom the panel on the right you can see it here (probably means he finally understood his intentions and recognised as Ba and Ka fused as he have seen with Kisara and his expression says "Sorry for doubting you" kind of expression), that's some of the small reasons I like this scene and Dark Yugi being stubborn claiming he is fine (he is not used or may not like it much having people taking care of and protecting him, he might perceive being treated like a child).

Here we have Mana with her Ka summoned by her that looks exactly like Black Magician Girl, Mana herself in resemblance was almost uncanny, so it was kinda obvious when she was first introduced, but is nice to see how much she has grown as a sorcerer, another detail to note, Mahado's Ka before he died we didn't see a face like we do with Mana's Ka, I guess it must be because his heka was mostly sealed to keep the evil on the millenium ring away, then when he fused with his Ka that we could see his face and also made him more powerful...Mana in the beginning before Mahado died, she was a bit laid back, then here we see she took the words from priest Isis to heart and kept her motivated to study more about magic.

 

Remember when I said the act of killing can be traumatizing, even if was by choice and decision, such is the case for Akhenaden, I hate him but as I said before he is a very grey character, characters like these are still capable of feeling guilt about their past actions and mistakes, but is more on guilt than remorse and regret as I mentioned before, he treated criminals with mercy because of guilty conscience.
The trauma is back to haunt him, since he has the millennium eye, he can see the ghosts more vividly, besides the ghosts have a stronger grudge and hatred against him since he was the one who use them as sacrifices to create the millennium items, his death or guilt won't ever make up for it, he doesn't feel genuine regret not even for betraying his brother, in my eyes he doesn't, because if he did regret, he would take responsibilities more seriously, he even asked a wish to the millennium eye for his son to become pharaoh, ...this moment is just reflecting his guilt and heavy conscience, I don't feel sorry for him and he shouldn't complain for someone with such heavy conscience...

 "Stay away...ghosts...ghosts of Kul Elna..."

He brought this upon himself from making preparations before suggesting to the former king, betraying the former king for omitting the cost of making the magical items and then the massacre of village of Kul Elna.

I find it curious and interesting that after the guard calling him out, we see there is nothing, then Akhenaden looks at the stairs and calms down for awhile but quickly he goes back to panicked and fearful expression, you can tell he is back to seeing the ghosts vividly again, it's all because of the millennium eye that is forcing him to see this ghosts more vividly, so he can't control the millennium eye, it's possible that since millennium eye is a piece of the sacrifices that had been made in order to create this items, so the ghosts of the sacrifices provoke a strong reaction to the millennium items, very interesting indeed...

 

Thief Bakura, that's what you get thinking that anyone will bow their heads just because you're fiercely determined, if the other side is just as much determined, the result can be pretty much 50/50, no exceptions and it was with priest Kalim giving his last breath until the end to successfully create a hole together with priest Seto, priest Seto also evolved even in teamwork, it's an impressive achievement coming from someone in nature is an individualist...

 

Now the hole in the shield of ghosts was created, making it a vulnerable spot, Mahado/Black Magician given thief Bakura a powerful blow and successfully defeating Diabond as now he is fading, when we think about it, it was mostly Mahado/Black Magician who severely weakened him while Dark Yugi and thief Bakura outsmarting each other, as we can see, thief Bakura is losing sight and consciousness with his visions going blurry and his Ba more or less gone, it means he is dying while trying to keep himself conscious and placing the items he is currently holding...

Priest Akhenaden has finally climb down the stairs and with Dark Akhenaden presence behind him, he does give an almost misleading thought...

"Bakura...You've served your purpose...The seven milllennium items...and their wielders...Now, at last, everything is in place for the ceremony to resurrect my soul..."

At first you would think Dark Akhenaden is for referring himself as Zorc or to Zorc, but in fact he is referring to when Akhenaden becomes Dark Akhenaden, this way he can restore his own powers as Dark Akhenaden in full from when he was alive (it's not really "resurrecting his soul", but from a bystander standpoint, it's kinda like "resurecting his soul"...so it is a little misleading...

 

For a world of memory, you would think that each death would mean the body just falling to the floor and no pulse, but here we see them becoming sand those who died, we can confirm priest Kalim and thief Bakura died, but is still strange at this point even for Dark Yugi is finding this strange then he hears a familiar voice saying:

"That's the rules. When a pawn is no longer needed. It disappears from the game...got it, Yugi?"

At a certain point of the events inside the world of memory started hints what have been implied bit by bit and now the hints became clearer..."shadow game", "war of memory", Dark Akhenaden sudden appearance and addition plus his power to turn back time, Yugi following his gaming instincts, hints that world of memory were recently merged with something and becoming a shadow game, which might make this war of memory mixed with something in becoming a game...

 

Then we see Yami Bakura shadow spy, I'll say I find amusing their interaction, Yami Bakura is more or less speaking with him very cynically and playfully addressing him from Yugi to "oh yeah, you're the nameless pharaoh", he is emphasising many things with this is that the others and enemies doesn't have much of chance but call him by the name of his host and also that Dark Yugi's true name is very important, but Dark Yugi's reaction to Yami Bakura shadow spy showing himself is very funny...

in his thought...

"Bakura!! Why is he here?!!"

The way is phrased is like an univited guest just came to crash the party, because he isn't surprised since Yami Bakura can be quite unpredictable (Dark Yugi became used to it), but also wondering how if thief Bakura died, why would Yami Bakura wandering around? we readers already know is because he is Zorc and not really thief Bakura, but Dark Yugi doesn't know it yet...only the gang and Bobasa knows... but he might start suspecting

What Yami Bakura shadow spy says to Dark Yugi is very interesting...

"How's it going? Seems like you've done a good job getting into character...but no surprise...This world of memory is based on your life...you've been through all this before, 3000 years ago..."

Yami Bakura is more or less implying that Dark Yugi is indeed inside his world of memory and also was made just for Dark Yugi, but the implications about "getting into character" and hinting "role-playing"...

See Ya Next Post!