Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.34 Part 3/3 (Memories Being Tampered)

We have reached the last part of this volume 3 of Memory World (Millenium World), we're getting closer to the end of this series, by the end of this month, it is very likely that I will start volume 4, however is divided in 4 parts, If I keep up the pace I have been making, I might finish it by the end of July or early August (I hope is the case because it would be preferable this way).
Battle City whole arc (except the prologue) and Memory World's image panels ensembles addresses has been updated.


Plot Summary:

Dark Yugi is very surprised seeing the gang (I refer to them as such, because it's easier), Yugi being pharaoh's host, he gives a bit of boost in Dark Yugi's Ba gauge to be capable of summoning Sun Dragon Ra and successfully defeats thief Bakura, Dark Yugi turns to his friends asking why and how did they get to where he is, their friends informs him about their mission...(the reason why they are in the world of memory).

With the success of thief Bakura defeat, something is starting to awaken inside the world of memory and priest Akhenaden...the darkness of priest Akhenaden starts to emerge in priest Akhenaden psyche, later revealed that is acquainted with Yami Bakura...then is revealed that Dark Yugi's memories have been tampered by Dark Yugi's friends and made an alteration of the true events in the past and the dark Akhenaden tells that he is about to take care of it...and he does by making the time world of memory going backwards...from which point we don't know...


Key Points:

 

He is very surprised that they're in the world of memory...

This scene might be a bit confusing at first to explain to yourself and understand because of their lines, to see where it connects in their words, let's start with what Yugi says to Dark Yugi first:

"Half of your soul is still with me...!!"

It's a very strange and confusing affirmation at first, because how can someone's soul half be within someone, with Dark Yugi next thought, best way to start to explain this is the world of memory being a dimension inside the millenium puzzle, both sharing a body and mind through the millenium puzzle, because of their very close and special bond between spirit and host, plus if notice as Yugi said this and give his boost, the millenium puzzle of Dark Yugi as pharaoh started to shine...then Dark Yugi thinks:

"I can feel it...the presence of my partner...the other soul within me!!"

That's a way of phrasing meaning just as Yugi, within Dark Yugi/pharaoh soul there is the other half of Yugi's soul, due to their strong bond, as for the presence, why they didn't felt it before Yugi entered and started to enter the world of memory, the before was because it was impossible for them to sense each other since they were in different dimensions, Yugi in the physical world then inside the maze of the millenium puzzle, when Yugi entered, there was a long distance gap between where they were in the city and the palace and Dark Yugi was always inside the world of memory in the palace, only time he sensed, it was only a little when Yugi and the gang were at the entrance of the palace but not concrete enough to be sure, now here in this moment, they feel it much more easily each others presences, because they were usually side by side, in a way is the reverse, before it was Dark Yugi was the ghost and Yugi being the host, in this situation, their roles seem to have switched (but didn't really).


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This is when Dark Yugi summons successfully the Ra The Sun God and Dragon, as we know, Ra in Magic and Wizards is the highest ranked card because of how overpowered the card is, here we see another example of why is the case, as spirit and Ka on it's own it can bring the day just by being summoned in the middle of the night...that's a very powerful spirit right there, even the citizens are very impressed, but thief Bakura isn't ready to accept that...

Here we see the true manifestation of priest Akhenaden and his darkness, but this priest Akhenaden is unusual case in front of the severely injured priest Akhenaden, from his shock we can assume this dark Akhenaden is what happens to him in the future..., his spirit sealed in the millenium items, being the world of memory to be inside the puzzle, is he another spirit sealed inside but the millenium puzzle? we get there when the time comes to explain what is actually happening...

 

We see thief Bakura being defeated, everyone impressed by this victory and Ra's light, but here a strange thing going on, if the intent of this world of memory is about Dark Yugi recovering his memories and re-experience his death, thief Bakura at this point is the main threat and as we have seen by this time with Dark Priest Akhenaden appearance, this isn't how it ends, specially with Dark Yugi's "sudden Ba Gauge and strength", there was an alteration, the gang bit unintentionally tampered the memory, technically they shouldn't have but later we'll see it did help a little bit but for different reasons that we'll see around volume 5...

 

It's something I have been noticing, when is in big moments like these, he does tend to fall himself a bit short sometimes by giving more credit to his friends and luck, he should give himself a bit more credit, he succeeded in protecting his citizens until he was last in his legs, he knew how he could beat thief Bakura before he was given a boost and chance to summon Ra, it's nice seeing him being more humble, another thing I noticed, he doesn't act as smirk and cocky as we usually see, the only time it was more healthy confidence and giving wisdom inclined in his his match with priest Seto, the other sides to him we have seen as he have been more involved in his role as pharaoh, some other sides that he must have been always there before he died, stubbornness (it's actually rare we see this kind of side of his, but in this arc it has been quite often), I think he isn't just recovering his memories but some personality traits where it was founded since he was alive and was left in his subconscious, he doesn't easily give up, it seems he was far more humble too, it seems when Dark Yugi was alive he didn't act cocky as much either, I wonder... (it will be approached in volume 5).

Dark Yugi has been so involved in his role as pharaoh and used to be called as such, he is taken a back being called by the name of his host, so...

 

What I find it amusing is that this moment for him is one of those, "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot it!", he was so inside of his role and also recovering his memories from the past before this point, his childhood to the current event, to him it feels strange that he shares someone else name, the name of his host, because he is also getting to know himself better and learning about his own identity too, not just as entity of his own, this is new and familiar (and unfamiliar at the same time) to him, as much his past (before he died) and present (from when the millenium puzzle was build), bit by bit fill in the gap between the aftermath of his death and when the puzzle was completed...

I love this scene, because I think is so sweet and cute seeing Dark Yugi interacting with the gang (including Yugi) like this, because last time they were in terrible danger , the irony is that this time around is also pretty similar, their chances to interact like this is so rare, Anzu is so happy, moved and relieved that she had the confirmation that Dark Yugi didn't forgot them (awww), Honda was the most moved and scared about it, again the same three blushing a little when Dark Yugi is confirming to them that he can see them, if we notice Dark Yugi is blushing a little because Honda is addressing him so directly asking if he can see them, I think for Dark Yugi feels a little weird and happy to interact with them like this without having to shuffle with Yugi to take over his body to talk to all of them...:)

I find amusing when Jounouchi says to Dark Yugi:

"Man! When I saw you all dressed like a king, riding a horse, I hardly recognised you...!"

Jounouchi, cute lie that he hardly recognised him when was practically immediate, Dark Yugi's hair is easy to remember and to spot it, because the "Man!" with that phrase, says you were really impressed and thought Dark Yugi looked cool (he probably related to movies with action happening in ancient times - I wouldn't be surprised if was the case), xDD.

 

Dark Yugi explains what became of him from when he first came to this world to become so inside and involved in his role as pharaoh, I like very much how he phrases too...

"When I first came to this world, I didn't know what was going on...I didn't know why I was the pharaoh...or the role of millenium items...but as time passed...I began to understand the position I was in... and my duty to protect this country...my country."

We know how it went, he was confused when he first came, so much information coming at him simultaneously, the fact when he mentions "as time passed, I began to understand the position I was in", it implies that as time passed he was recovering memories from his past to the recent events, of course, as he recovers, he feels the familiarity and understanding better his memories and therefore his own position as a pharaoh, I thought it was sweet when mention Egypt, Ancient Egypt in this case but in general as well as his country, it is his country where he was born and grew up technically, his birthplace and his duty to protect it as it's ruler from the time he was alive, that's what he has been learning about himself as identity of his own (he learned with time he was an entity of his own and not "the other yugi" as spirit sealed inside the millenium puzzle, while inside the world of memory, he is learning about his identity), with Dark Yugi, it gives a little deeper understanding about the diferences and connections between entity and identity plus neing the bridge in between.
Next up is what Yugi says to Dark Yugi giving an important reminder:

"When we first came here, we were told we couldn't touch or talk to anyone in this world! After all... this is your world of memory."

Yugi is pretty much saying this world of memory is still inside the millenium puzzle and this dimension is mostly made of his subconscious memories...Dark Yugi reaction thought was...

"My...world of memory...!"

If we remember when "world of memory" was first mentioned (by Bobasa), it was referred to him as "the world of memory" and not "his world of memory", he is surprised and made sense it was his world of memory with the process of recovering his memories, at first he must have thought "the world of memory" it was some dimension or world completely separate from the world(planet) as sort of dimensions records or something, we also must have thought it when first reading it, but from his expression it seems he wasn't very happy as if started to have a bad feeling that his friends might have tampered a little in his memories...but this time event being tampered will actually prove it was useful in the future.

When they reveal the main reason the gang are in his world of memory is to find his name as their mission, his real name...I find amusing his reaction to this, he is very surprised, but for them to go search for it, obviously he was very moved and remind himself of what he suspected in the first night since he came to his world of memory that he started to feel that knowing his own name must be very important , the most important part is...

"To us, you're «Yugi»...but 3000 years ago, you must have had a different name. Your lost name is hidden somewhere in this world..."

I emphasised what I underlined because I think is important to remember for future references as in the present, because Dark Yugi doesn't remember his name and neither does the gang or tomb guardians clan, archaeologists, historians since his name was scratched, so they give him the same name as Yugi, the name of his host and appearance wise they are very similar too (you could easily confuse them as siblings if they had their own bodies), plus they see him as "the other yugi" they know, the spirit sealed inside the puzzle, what one can wonder when the time comes for them to know his name, will they continue calling by "Yugi" or start addressing by his real name...?

I find so cute that he is very moved that they're willing to search for his true name despite the fact that it might guide him to afterlife and understanding it's importance...

 

Here we have this scene Yami Bakura shadow spy watching over, we have guessed because of the sudden boost in Dark Yugi and being able to summon Ra, it wasn't what really happened, here we have the confirmation of our bystander who by this time, he remembers everything, that the gang interference altered the true course of events while feeling irritated with thief Bakura as well, in this fight it was supposed to be won by him not the pharaoh, here is a weird thought of his...

"Well, don't worry... The High Priest of the shadows, Necrophades is about to make his move..."

About Necrophades name here...we have seen mentioned when it came to "Evil God Zorc Necrophades" and more commonly referred as "Zorc" while here is just Necrophades as high priest of shadows as if he got half of the name of this "evil god", in title, he must be a representative of Zorc...he says he is about to make his move, it's like he knows who is this individual...

 

To make easier who am I referring to for the time being between these two Akhenadens, the injured to reffered as priest Akhenaden and the rotted Akhenaden as Dark Akhenaden, we have to remember the entities walking and going through this world of memory is Dark Yugi as pharaoh blended in with his memories, the gang, Yami Bakura (in general) and this Dark Akhenaden, how he came to appear here in the world of memory during this time of story reading for the first time, we don't know for sure, we assume he might be another spirit sealed inside one of the millenium items, possible the puzzle, but nothing have been hinting at such previously, it might not be the case but coming from a different source that is unknown for now, from what we can observe he is in a shape of a corpse...Dark Akhenaden does say some interesting stuff when he claims he is Akhenaden and refers that his body has rotted away...

"Yes...or, to put it differently, I was born from the evil in your heart...I am you after you made a contract with the shadows which changed your physical form!"

It's not surprising being the darkness born from his heart if he is involved in the creation of the millenium items that from the sound of it, it was necessary sacrifices...but at this time we didn't know what it entailed in detail...he speaks also about that this "dark akhenaden" form is after he made a contract with the shadows, in other words is from what happens in the future to priest Akhenaden but also connected to the present in modern age (seeing it in a appearance of an rotted corpse...priest Akhenaden reaction to this reveal, there is no "?", which means he knows what it is and comes from, the meaning of "contract with the shadows"...

"A person's fate is not determined by their status at birth...it depends on the course of their life...some are humble, some are ambitious...good and evil, are two side of the same coin...we all walk the same road..."

This where is very interesting, Dark Akhenaden is quite wise for a villain (I hate him, mind you, but as a villain, he is a pretty good one, it's not often we see villains with wisdom), he even speaks of an ancient saying about life, fate, death and afterlife that is very well known, it rings true, he even speaks of reality and people not being black and white but is actually very grey "good and evil are two two sides of the same coin..we all walk the same road", it's very true, as I constantly point it out.


 
I may not have put a certain important scene but I will explain here, it's more or less, Dark Akhenaden explaining the situation to the priest Akhenaden, he makes strange claims such that the world of memory is true but also not because is made of priest Akhenaden/Dark priest and the pharaoh memories...which is strange to think about it about how come is his memories involved? if it was also made of his memories, Dark Akhenaden wouldn't appear really like this, but inside Akhenaden in the same way as Dark Yugi as pharaoh and not remembering anything as well, one could argue is inside his subconsciousness but I disagree, he does have access and other things for different reasons which will soon be explored, also priest Akhenaden knows about the pact with the shadows conditions too, which implies something what have been implying...
About this final battle he talks about, when we reach it is actually a bit different from the one shown in the panel, he is lying a bit here and in one of his claims...

 

Dark Akhenaden here is making strange claims...

"And then...At the end of the battle, the pharaoh will give his life to seal his soul into the Millenium Puzzle!! Taking my soul along with him...and breaking it into pieces!"

Again he is half telling the truth and half lie, if you have already read it, you may know this much or think what he is saying is confusing, it is bit confusing for sometime, specially when you reach volume 5-7 of Memory World, there is some contradictions in what he is saying, but then again I will explore in these volumes why do I think he was half lying here (where I think he is lying is that he took his soul with the pharaoh, it's not actually true), the break into pieces, certainly must have happened because of how it was found the millenium puzzle by Sugoroku, but the time when he did it exactly I'm not really sure, it will be in volume 6-7.

"In the shadows...3000 years passed, until in the modern world, one young man completed the Millenium Puzzle...using that boy as a vessel, the pharaoh's walked the earth once more...and collected the three god cards necessary to recreating the world he had forgotten."

What he is saying is mostly correct (the "using" part is going a little too far, Dark Yugi didn't ever intend to use Yugi for these sole purpose as if he didn't cared about his vessel, when we all know is not the case, it wasn't even using him but acting as spirit guardian/protector, once he knew about his forgotten memories, he took care asking permission to help him even when omitting about fighting for his lost memories but was true in finding himself (memories) - Yugi was suspicious of it anyway and still willing to help him because he understood it was important to him)...the "recreate the world he has forgotten" through the three god cards, he is not really correct, it was already made before or even the moment Yugi completed the puzzle as is implied inside the millenium puzzle (it's very likely it was before, by the way, it is related to Dark Side of Dimensions, expect me to mention Memory World Arc a lot when I go through thoughts and observations of Dark Side of Dimensions), this time  he isn't lying but basing on subsumption from Dark Akhenaden about the world of memory (he is partially wrong)...but isn't enough evidence to support about his half lies, it will be very complicated to explain.

 

Dark Akhenaden is well aware the world of memory is inside the puzzle but here is some interesting stuff...

"Right now...the memories of I, Necrophades...and the pharaoh are merged to create this world... If my memories gain control...then I will be reborn in the modern world!"

He is saying some interesting stuff, this time he isn't really lying, "right now" his memories are merged with pharaoh's memories, in other words, he appeared only recently in the world of memory, so he doesn't come from the puzzle but from a different source and method...since he is the priest akhenaden after he made the pact with shadow power and put millenium items in the stone slab, he can access without the parasite mind from yami bakura, which means he has already a strong connection to the millenium items in general(oen of the reasons being the pact with the shadow power) but not as powerful as Yami Bakura and Dark Yugi being the actual spirits sealed in their respective millenium items.

He even says if his memories gain control then he would be reborn in the modern world, he is implying this dark akhenaden is actually weakened but has a small portion of power over the world of memory..."this world" way of emphasising he seems to hint is not just a world of memory...it was initially, but since he merged with pharaoh's memories, his recent appearance, something more was added in...

 

Honestly how you're going to do that if he is already "trapped" along with his memories inside the millenium puzzle "forever" in a way (but also not)? anyway what he meant is he that he will defeat the pharaoh so he doesn't get the chance to afterlife and dark akhenaden will be revived and do the pact again in the modern world, I believe...-.-", he is such an annoying villain, Yami Bakura shadow spy appears, from how he is kneeling before, it seems he is under orders from dark akhenaden, but is it really? or is just pretending, as it can be noted, dark akhenaden despite being wise but he is full of ego...look at how dark akhenaden is present "over" the city, as if the sky is the entrance to "this world" of memory...

 

Here is how he is addressing Dark Yugi as if is nostalgic seeing the pharaoh,  then he says mostly big fat lies...

"My name is Zorc Necrophades. I rule this world of memory...I am the ruler of the shadows who controls the hands of time of future and past."

He might have a title of Necrophades, but he claims he is zorc (we know he is Akhenaden after the pact with Zorc (he is the shadow power, "evil god") and claiming he rules the world of memory but as we have seen in two key points before, he only does have a portion of control due his weakened state, so he is lying for the most part, as for his control of time, it is true to an extent...(because he make it sound as if is unlimited).

He is aware of how close the pharaoh spirit and Yugi are, it's kinda of adorable that even the villains recognise it (even their friends do), it's not just Pegasus, Marik, Yami Marik, as we see Dark Akhenaden, there will be one more villain...:D (in volume 6), he also speaks the meeting with his friends tampered with the memories, it is the truth, so...

 

We're seeing in these panels this display of power from Dark Akhenaden, making the time flowing backwards...but can he do it as many times as he wants to and whenever he wants to?

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