Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 9 (Duel Tower Break Part 2)

Currently this little project is on volume duelist 23 (volume 30 in japanese print), now it's a break, but even this break before the duel between Dark Yugi and Yami Marik will be long, small summary but the key points... are long as well.

Plot Summary:

After Kaiba vs Dark Yugi duel is over with Dark Yugi winning, there is some discussion between them, what aided Dark Yugi to victory and Kaiba to his loss...Kaiba still feeling slightly irritated and bit down...and starts to leave and Dark Yugi realises that his friends were already for sometime, because Jounouchi didn't want them to disturb the duel so Dark Yugi wouldn't lose concentration, as they celebrate their victory but also wary for the next duel being against Yami Marik as Jounouchi warns Dark Yugi that Yami Marik is truly a sadistic opponent to the point is dangerous.
At the same time happens, Kaiba is about to leave the Duel Tower to activate the detonator to destroy the man-made island in two hours to give enough time for when the duel is over to leave the Akcatraz before it self-destructs and Ishizu is there waiting, both have a long conversation, Ishizu trying to persuade Kaiba to help Dark Yugi/Yugi in defeating Yami Marik, somehow he is convinced but not totally on Ishizu effort but a certain decision she makes if her brother can't be saved...

Key Points:

I have several views about this, this panel is expressing the main reason of why Kaiba lost, due to Kaiba attitude in winning based on negative emotions such anger, hatred and obsession, those emotions won't get you anywhere and clouds your judgement not just about games but life too.

However it always bugs me in stories like these usually seems to mean, you win because you were right and lost for being wrong, you know, black and white, but in Yu-Gi-Oh! is not really the case, just sometimes is the case, in this duel for example, it doesn't really what you usually see, it's like the duel between Dark Yugi and Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom, none of them were right being more desperate to win and afraid to lose but weren't wrong either fighting for loved ones, it explores moral conduct, dilemmas and emotions from a competitive perspective.

Dark Yugi's tendencies with his self-righteousness, he hold views a bit of black and white when it came to competition before, as he gradually learn and grown as an individual, in this panel does seem he is seeing things black and white, as I go further in the key points, you'll see it's not the case.

 

Kaiba is incredibly dramatic, it's okay Kaiba, you might not be crowned as king of duelists but you can be crowned as Drama King, it's more fitting...

In all seriousness, Kaiba does have a tendency in taking things too far, specially with his obsession, he does easily get carried away with his emotions, even more than Jounouchi, which is saying something, specially negative emotions mixed with his competitive trait, just isn't healthy, it would lead him to his fall sooner or later, this defeat will be important for him to learn something important...


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 8 (Dark Yugi VS Kaiba Part 2/2)

Now we're reaching the last part of this duel and make the transition to the next volume, Volume Duelist 22 to 23 (Japanese Print 29 to 30), now we're one volume away from going to Memory World Arc, it's definitively getting closer.
Now the posts publishing speed is coming back to normal, thank goodness...this post took so long to write (the summary may be small, but the key points aren't).


Plot Summary:

Kaiba and Dark Yugi still reflecting on the visions and coming to their own conclusions, the back and forth between them starts and both of them discuss about the vision and more, it reaches the point when it seems Kaiba is taking the lead, Dark Yugi driven to a corner...Jounouchi spirit appears behind him and given him an advice, that Dark Yugi and Yugi has given to Jounouchi before...Dark Yugi becomes inspired again, right after this, Jounouchi recovers from his clinical death condition, he is perfectly fine, even physically (remember it was mental damage, not physical damage), the gang are relieved he is alive and both will go to the top of Duel Tower to watch the rest of the duel, again Kaiba and Dark Yugi have a important talk about Kaiba's views...and ends in Dark Yugi victory.

(the summary is small, but there is many key points).



Key Points:

 

This scene, it's Dark Yugi slowly confirming and transitioning to acknowledge he is an entity and identity of his own, being separated as a consciousness of his own, differentiating from Yugi's own consciousness too (I think from here on out, he won't take credit of Yugi's decisions), becoming more determined in recovering his memories.

Kaiba's reflective thoughts are highly amusing sometimes, specially under mystical circumstances for what he has a sceptical attitude with, the flaw in Kaiba and probably most people who have such or similar attitude, such the sceptical and believers or religious have similar reactions and perceptions such being occult or magic or supernatural is something with no logical explanation, however where it differs is the attitude and chosen mindset, believers is being something beyond human comprehension, while scepticals is if there is no explanation, it doesn't exist and is just product of our own imaginations.

Due to Kaiba upbringing of high education from his foster father Gozaburo, his circumstances, naturally an individualist has grown to be sceptical, he is sceptical about trust too except for Mokuba, so he is struggling, to some extent he is right, it is an illusion but from someone's memory of this event, the memory is real but in shape of an illusionary world, from the looks of it, but there is more to it than that.


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 7 (Dark Yugi VS Kaiba Part 1/2)

As it insinuates in the title, this duel will be covered in two posts, because the events it happens during this duel is huge, last time I did with a duel of this scale was Dark Yugi and Yugi VS Pegasus (the difference is it was all in one post, back then I did say to myself, next time something like this happens, it will be in two parts), so there.
This duel is pretty long, the entire duel could fit in one volume if it could, but in this duel, the transition to the next volume comes in part two...that's how long it is...so we will be staying yet in Volume duelist 22 (Volume 29 in japanese print).
It took long to publish, lots of interventions...

Plot Summary:

After the little talk, Kaiba finding the site for their "ultimate duel" is too drab, so he activates a virtual stage, then they start their duel with lot of back and forth by testing each other and see who will be summoning their god cards first...When their god card are both in the field, it can be seen from the distance inside the battle ship of how huge these monsters cards are in size, Ishizu is watching while being at Rishid's side, Honda noticing, he grabs Jounouchi and holds him and puts him on angle so Jounouchi head is facing the window, in case he wakes up and sees this, as this happens, the ECG moved a little...
While Dark Yugi and Kaiba are in a position when both god cards are equal in power and attack at the same time making a huge blast and with this the Millenium Rod starts glowing on it's own plus the Millenium Puzzle, so Kaiba and Dark Yugi have an out of body experience, watching a memory of the pharaoh and the priest, almost everything looks destroyed, you see a priest looking a lot like Kaiba speaking to the Pharaoh, who looks almost exactly as Dark Yugi and both start summoning their ace monsters from the stone slabs, the vision ends, both of them are back with shocked expressions while holding their breaths from the intense experience, emphasising the importance of their duel was always meant to happen.



Key Points:

 

Kaiba really loves to go big...specially when it comes to his rival, created a virtual stage just dedicated to their duel to decide who will be "the ultimate duelist" -.-", good grief with this guy but serves to show how hyped he is for this duel in particular, so the site of the top of the duel tower is only too drab for their duel...not for others, his standards are so ridiculous...
It's clear to see where he sought inspiration, based in Rome Colosseum on the gladiators times.

Dark Yugi is getting hyped as well, figuratively thinking as what represents sword and shield, I do mostly agree, until it reaches pride, my usual problem with pride, well they are very intense characters when it comes to convictions and competition...(Kaiba is mostly intense in general).


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Unboxing : Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions DVD (Manga UK)

Sorry for taking so long to show this...it did arrive in 9th June from Amazon...

The quality is ok, from my smartphone, sorry for being, um, stretched...  I have forgotten to point something that I noticed only later after I have done the video, you can actually remove the cover, with the backside having Kaiba and his "alternative Blue Eyes White Dragon" and frontside being the cover and back cover (I'll scan it after I'm done with the Manga and start moving to Dark Side of Dimensions).

 

Before finishing this post, I would like to confirm to you that the subtitles are pretty fine and has with the characters original names and everything (I don't know about the english dub, but because I find it cringy, I didn't go check it. But I really like the cover, it's very nice, I don't about the Obelisk card though, so it will remain inside the DVD, wish would have been "Mahado" card, oh well.

To end this post, "Thoughts and Observations" about Dark Yugi VS Kaiba, will be divided in two posts/parts, take some time to be published, specially Part 1, since I still have visitors at my home.

See Ya Next Post!

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 6 ( Duel Tower Break Part 1 )

This time around is the rare occasion when a break makes the transition between two volumes instead of the duels making the transition, so we're going from volume duelist 21 to 22 (in japanese print is 28-29), which means 2 volumes to go before we enter the Memory World Arc...this "break" will be unexpectedly long...be aware.
Once again, it took a bit of time 😒 for the same reasons stated in the previous post, the next post will take time too...

Plot Summary:

The last summary post ended with Jounouchi losing consciousness, friends and Jounouchi's sister shocked and in distraught finding out that he isn't breathing, later they take to the medical room in Battle Ship, and not having any reaction, in other words, clinically dead...Shizuka was crying, Honda not believing himself , Anzu was shocked and depressed, Ishizu being comforting to Shizuka, Dark Yugi is so deeply shocked that he is in a contemplative state of mind and tries to find sometime alone to sort his emotions and thoughts in deciding what to do now, suddenly ...as he is reflecting and feeling indecisive, suddenly he feels Jounouchi's presence at his side and this presence disappears, then the millenium tauk given by Ishizu which was supposed to be weakened after her duel with Kaiba starts glowing and shows a vision of a future after the tournament he sees himself preparing to duel against Jounouchi...this vision has given him hope to keep fighting and moving forward.
Dark Yugi comes back to Jounouchi's medical room and puts Jounouchi's duel disk on his arm, who hasn't given up on him yet and is aware Jounouchi is fighting too, as he walks away on the way to his fight with Kaiba, Anzu feeling distressed about the current circumstances about their friends (Mai, Ryou and Jounouchi) follows Dark Yugi and both have a very important talk, when Dark Yugi reaches the top of the Duel Tower, Kaiba still waiting for their duel and have a little discussion, their duel is about to start.


Key Points:

 

For everyone is a shock seeing Jounouchi unconscious, specially friends scared for his life due to the penalty game being death...even Yami Marik is shocked but not for the same reasons as the others...Kaiba may look expressionless but looking at his eyes...hmmm is not shock...

The art in this aftermath is quite impressive, I love the work from Takahashi on this break.

How rude 😠 ! and conceited plus arrogant, the major flaws of Marik's personality right there, his realisation of almost losing to Jounouchi makes him throw up a little... but then again treating Jounouchi as if he is a peasant and himself as if part of some nobility, I think that kind of mindset is the disgusting one, Jounouchi may not be born a natural for this kind of things, but he worked hard for it and earn it.


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.27-31 Part 5 ( Yami Marik VS Jounouchi )

So we have reached Yami Marik VS Jounouchi, volume duelist 21 (in Japanese print is volume 28), wow...Memory World doesn't look so far off now.

The post itself will be long due to the importance of this duel, sorry for taking this long, lots of relatives coming and go simultaneously...


Plot Summary:

After they reached the top of the Duel Tower, the match between Yami Marik and Jounouchi will start shortly, there is some talk between Kaiba, Dark Yugi and Jounouchi about the following match...

The duel starts with Jounouchi first, when comes Yami Marik's turn, the shadow game will begin, there are some discussion and responses to this, right off the bat, Jounouchi starts to experience the same kind of torture in the ears Mai got it through, feeling more motivated to defeat Yami Marik.
Jounouchi gets to fight back against Yami Marik moves and the shadow game, so there is plenty back and forth with some Jounouchi comical flavour.
For two times Jounouchi was very close to winning against Yami Marik, mostly because he underestimated Jounouchi, the first time after with Jinzo turn on the tables on Jounouchi's favour and lastly because of the attack from Ra god card in phoenix mode to destroy all the monsters in the field and the shadow game, takes it's toll on Jounouchi's mental resistance, somehow Jounouchi can stand up slightly and has vision of the finals if he could stand up to the end of the duel, Jounouchi summons subconsciously "Gearfried the Iron Knight", when he almost sent his monster to attack directly Yami Marik, Jounouchi loses consciousness.


Key Points:

 

According to Yu-Gi-Oh! lore, normal people can't truly control a god card much less the Ra god card unless those who were chosen by the millenium items and tomb guardians, Divine attributes cards in this lore are special kinds of cards who chose their wielders ( reminder: the Nordic Gods in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, in its lore they're Divine attributes cards while outside of anime, in other words, OCG, they have different attributes being Dark, Light and Earth), I do disagree with the way Kaiba is phrasing of Jounouchi not being worth to touch a god card, I don't think these kinds of cards doesn't pick their wielders by their worth exactly, but more by connection and resonance, besides Jounouchi has a different kind of value, who doesn't need to be treated like a special snowflake like the gods cards are and do...

I think Kaiba can be a little hyperbolic when comes to games (or most of the time, xD), Ra god card special effects surpasses mortal thought...so over the top, but I do agree is overpowered.


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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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