Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.38 Part 3/4 (Rite of the Duel: Yugi VS Atem)

The most important duel has finally come and this project is near the end of this last volume of the manga series, it's pretty exciting that I have gotten this far...even more I'm recovering my original pace of posts...

You could assume I put Yugi VS Atem at random, but it wasn't, in this duel I always feel Yugi being the protagonist of this duel, Atem is an obstacle Yugi has to surpass in order to accomplish his duty as pharaoh's host...which has a more "hero-ish" feel to it.

Plot Summary:

The rite of the duel starts, there is a lot of back and forth between them since they are on the same level trying to surpass each other and is also more clear the difference in their duelling styles, the witnesses comments their duel, some undecided who to root for, others feeling neutral about, others hoping for the best for both of them and noticing they are both going all out and understanding the reasons behind both players for going all out, the duel ends with Yugi winning the duel...

(wow, that's the smallest plot summary I ever wrote...😆)

Key Points:

 

There is some interesting points in Atem's thoughts here 😮 and others not a fan of 😑...

"Partner...I thank you for taking on this challenge but I am a duelist!! No matter what the cost , I will put everything into defeating my opponent! That is my pride!"

I do like his first line of thought that he is grateful of Yugi taking on this challenge, a part of him deep down prefers the route to afterlife, happy he gets to duel against his partner which is a one of a kind chance and also moved that Yugi is taking seriously his duty and responsibility, the "but" following that he always gives his all to any opponent in front of him and is his pride (being one of his principles as a duelist would define this serious trait of him better than pride, honestly and more dramatically).

I won't quote Yugi for being similar thoughts when he was in a inner place to not see Atem building his deck, so I already approached that part, with one difference in Yugi self-talking that he has to be strong, but still bothers me the "other me" and the "never be free from my heart" as if he is immortal when it wouldn't be just that, Yugi knows this much, so is related more to his selfish wish while determined to do the right thing, so it's a mix of happy seeing Yugi being quite serious about his duty and duel while feeling determined to go all out.

Jounouchi and Honda being the ones in the gang (Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu) that best understand their situation by their expressions and struggle who to root for as Jounouchi comments:

"Oh man! I don't know who to root for...! If Yugi wins, the other yugi will leave us! If the other yugi wins, then nothing changes! we'll still be friends like always! But...but then Yugi will never stand alone!"

I like seeing Jounouchi understands and accepts the situation pretty well despite the struggles regarding the right thing to do, the attachments and also both being his friends, it's a tough call, but is curious that when it comes the right thing to do, he focuses on his worry about Yugi gaining his own independence and not always reliant on Atem, finally it irks me that Jounouchi is not even trying to call Atem by his name and instead "other yugi", it's just that to me there is no excuse anymore as passed 1 month for them to get used to...
I commend Anzu for trying to address Atem even in her thoughts by his name:

"Other Yugi...No...Atem...I want you to stay with us...I can't to see you go..."

Anzu was one of the most conscious at distinguishing (even to develop a crush on Atem) besides Yugi, Kaiba, Yami Bakura, Marik, and Ishizu that Yugi and Atem are two different people most clearly, that's why is least difficult for her than the gang (including Yugi) in addressing him by his name, even the readers and viewers of the anime thought as kinda obvious (that we didn't call as other yugi or other me but Yami Yugi), I find it very moving her growth of her friendship with Atem, it started from being her first crush to seeing him as a friend, a true friend while the little crush on him still there but starting to fade bit by bit.
Ishizu has a very neutral and understanding view about the rite of the duel:

"This trial will decide both their fates...because their two souls have always been joined in one heart...They are the only ones who can find the answer."

I like what she says here, from previous post we know what she thinks what is best for them since she always implied as such, but understands the bond shared between Yugi and Atem for sharing one body and wisely knows and has faith in them that they will find the answer what is best for both on their own and all of those who are witnessing and connected to Atem and Yugi.
I do like her so much, she is a very wise and mature independent woman who has such a deep understanding of life and death based on her experiences and staying faithful to her Egyptian culture and heritage.



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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.38 Part 2/4 (Preparations for the Ceremonial Duel)

I'm still recovering a little from the trailers of E3 of Kingdom Hearts 3, I'm still on the hype train, only now it's starting to slow down, but it seems is gonna take awhile to stop 😁, but I'm starting to recover my original pace.

Even though this last volume is divided in 4 parts and going into the 2nd part, but is the final set up and build up of the most important duel in the series, so is kinda of a big deal, specially when it comes to character development and story wise, it makes sense being the very last one.



Plot Summary:

After Atem fading from the world of memory, he goes back to his host's body with a festive reception from the gang and his host, Yugi, they discuss about the events slightly separate...
One month later, the gang and Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku, they are in Egypt after receiving a letter from the Ishtar family with a photo of a specific location and tell them to meet at the airport of Cairo city in Egypt, Marik and Rishid came a bit late to pick them up, it was initially supposed to go the other side of Nile River by plane but there was sandstorm, so they have to go aboard on a egyptian government ship from connections of Ishizu's work (since she has an important job position as Secretary General, Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities), as they cross the Nile River, they talk about the details of their journey in the quest of Atem recovering his memories and finding the true name of the pharaoh...the conversation goes to the reason why they are in Egypt, the reveal that Yugi and Atem has to duel each other as Rite of the Duel to not just for Atem go to afterlife...with these reveals there is some private conversation between Yugi and Jounouchi and him and Anzu before Yugi prepare himself for the duel...
Yugi, in his room to prepare his deck and himself for his last duty as the vessel of the pharaoh and being the one who solved the Millennium Puzzle, when he was finished, Atem came along and they have a brief conversation, then comes Atem's turn to prepare his deck and finished, the next day arrives with the gang waiting for Atem (and Yugi), they go to the shrine of the village of Kul Elna, all the millennium items (including the millennium puzzle) are put on the millennium stone slab by Atem, as he faces the stone slab and the door to the afterworld, the wadjet eye and the millennium items start to light up and behind Atem, there is two shadows reflected on the floor by the light of the wadjet eye...then Atem and Yugi separate themselves and go to opposite sides facing each other to start the Ceremonial Duel.



Key Points:

 

Here is a strange thing going on in here, Yugi didn't pick up his millennium puzzle that was in suspension and Atem came back to Yugi's body without relying on it, so it is a bit weird, it's most likely their bond as vessel and spirit of the puzzle becoming stronger, if we remember when the gang and Atem reunited in the world of memory for the first time, Yugi wasn't with the puzzle (which means Yami Bakura had already removed the puzzle back then, in fact when the gang were still in the maze, Yugi wasn't with his puzzle, so we can assume was from since then, remember how both Atem and Yugi could talk to each other with both wearing the puzzle in Duelist Kingdom against Pegasus), but I wouldn't think they can stay for that long in one body, since he exist in Yugi through the millennium puzzle...Atem still remains the same order when addressing them...



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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.38 Part 1/4 (Pharaoh Atem VS B!Priest Seto/Dark Akhenaden)

Wow, this project is finally on the last volume overall in Memory World Arc and the manga series, wow, literally the last.

Even though is on the last volume, it will be divided in 4 posts (4 parts), both will be long, I'm still quite happy about it while still feeling overwhelmed by Kindom Hearts 3 Frozen and Pirates of the Carabean trailers that did come out recently from E3, specially the end fof the Frozen one being hard to swallow... a lot of mixed feelings today...even for this post, the beginning I will enjoy writting about it but in half way through not as much (yeah, I dislike Akhenaden that much).
I have good news, my pc is back to me with a window 10 OS, I have only one complaint...HHD they replaced with was 111GB and that's not good at all for someone who usually needs a lot of disk space, the lucky part is having an external disk, but even so I don't like the idea to rely on it too much, borrow to my friend often and all the things I need most in my pc is in a external disc. it bugs me a lot and all of the music is there too (someone hears music a lot and has around 85GB of music, it's more than half of my current HHD, 😐)

Plot Summary:

After Zorc being defeated by Horakhty, Atem is glad the battle is finally over and won but is saddened by the ones who died in the process with the efforts to end and win this battle, Horakhty and Atem discuss about what aided them to this victory, then Atem express his gratitude to his friends for their efforts and sucessfully achieving in helping him and find his name, the gang and Atem talks about how to address him from now on as his name is also known to them.

Pharaoh Atem asks priest Isis and Mana about who else is left and priest Isis reveals priest Seto and priest of Darkness Akhenaden are missing for she hasn't seen them for awhile, Atem thinking of where they might be and starts to search for them and tells his friends is time for them to leave the world of memory as they don't belong to the timeline and promised that he will go back to them soon...while he searches for the missing people from this battle...

Priest Seto is mourning over the death of Kisara and diving in his thoughts and feelings for her, Dark Akhenaden is shocked by Zorc's defeat and starts to think now is only left his son Seto being capable to defeat the pharaoh, as priest Seto is emotionally vulnerable and still refuses to be a "king of shadows", so Dark Akhenaden kills himself in order to take control of his son's mind to force him to be king, Pharaoh Atem arrives to the scene too late, he sees priest Seto acting very strange and suspects is Dark Akhenaden controling priest Seto as B!priest Seto/Akhenaden challenges Atem to a duel of Ka for the title of king, the fight is on B!priest Seto/Akhenaden favour as the White Dragon is more powerful than Black/Dark Magician, Pharaoh Atem tries to speak to the real priest Seto inside, priest Seto is slightly moved and shaken, the White Dragon chooses not to attack Atem, then Kisara enters priest Seto's psyche and in form of the White Dragon banishes Dark Akhenaden from priest Seto'a mind.

Priest Seto recently free from Dark Akhenaden regains consciousness of his surroundings, pharaoh Atem and priest Seto discuss about the situation, as Atem starts to disappear revealing his memories end in that very moment and asks priest Seto to take his position as pharaoh, at first priest Seto wasn't willing but seeing the pharaoh starting to fade, he accepts the offer and taking responsibility to restore the kingdom to it's former glory.

Key Points:

It's something to take note, for Atem this wasn't a happy victory, despite the relief of defeating Zorc and being able to prevent the world to be swallowed by darkness be it in his past sealing himself and Zorc or as this moment officially defeat Zorc, it doesn't change the grief it gives when seeing the wounds left by a war or battle (independently be for conquest, expanding territory, protecting the kingdom) for the the people who died in battle, but here is a interesting thought of his regarding Zorc:

"A demon born of the darkness in people's hearts...Zorc Necrophades has been defeated..."

It can be confirmed Atem didn't perceived Zorc as an evil god but a demon who claimed as such and came from the darkness of people's hearts, initially technically didn't start as such but only as parasite spirit who benefited in deriving his hosts darkness expense, who were technically human, by simpler words, I would guess that he understood the concept how Zorc functions as similar concept to a parasite.

 

uuuh, what personal prounoun should I use for Horakhty, I think I'll use their and they (it can be considered a singular pronoun if people prefer to be referred as gender neutral or genderfluid sense), I think is sweet the god Horakhty speaking telepathically and softly being so moved by Atem's friends determination and also mentions those who died to protect him were all important, emphasising his friends being the true keys to victory...



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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.37 Part 3/3 (The Pharaoh's Lost Name)

Woohoo! Third and last part of volume 6 of Memory World and penultimate volume of the manga series and what nice way to end this volume, the title holds the clue. 😏
The PC problem still little news in how is going to be (the technician will see if replacing with another hard disk will work...since then nothing...)...which is a shame because I wasn't able to do something for this post specifically, I may do it later when I get a chance, the E3 is coming up (this portable 2GB RAM can't read live streams well at all, too many interruptions), I hope I can see the ones I'm interested the most to watch somehow at least...but more importantly, I hope my PC problem is solved before the end of June, so it can be on time for the reformulation and reorganisations of the early posts.


Plot Summary:

Vizier Siamun sucessfully summoning Exodia, it does resist for a little awhile to be sliced in half by Zorc, then there is a conversation between Zorc and the pharaoh, which also reveals what Zorc is...
As the priests, Mana, the pharaoh and Hasan resisting to his attacks and when the pharaoh is last on his knees, a group flying are approaching, the gang is arriving to the rescue, when they arrive, they stand in front of Dark Yugi on a protective stance, for awhile the gang fight against Zorc and they resist well Zorc's powerful attacks but their own attacks against Zorc doesn't do much damage and as Hasan is almost being destroyed and almost fading while revealing the face behind the mask of someone very familiar saying the only way to defeat him is with the pharaoh lost name, the gang tells they have found it but is on hieroglyphs and they can't read it, Hasan hints that they just have to transcribe or find a way for the pharaoh to see it...following this advice, Anzu notices Dark Yugi was still holding the cartouche necklace she has given him and she asks the gang to think of the hieroglyphs holding the pharaoh's name with the cartouche...
The hieroglyphs holding the pharaoh's lost name were successfully transcribed to Dark Yugi's cartouche necklace, Dark Yugi proclaimed his true name with this through Yugi's deck, Dark Yugi is able to summon the three gods and fuse them into becoming "The Creator God of Light, Horakhty", who defeated Zorc Necrophades.



Key Points:

It's really saddening and kinda touching that Dark Yugi did go run to Siamun, remember he did grow up with Siamun look over him when he was still a prince, Dark Yugi must have seen him like a grandfather he never had a chance to bond with (when he was born, his father was already a pharaoh meaning his grandfather from his father side was already deceased), but I still hold a theory that Siamun was Dark Yugi's grandfather from his mother side, remember high ranked officials are usually members of the royal family or few generations behind in royal family and there are cases the pharaoh or the prince didn't knew, if we look at their eyes, they are quite similar the size and the pupils (the shape of his eye is definitely from his father, the facial shape is mixed with father and mother, and the nose from his mother).



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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.37 Part 2/3 (Confrontation Between Father and Son)

It was difficult to come up for a title for this post, I'm not sure if I'm happy with the title I have given, since is about two important events that somehow differentiates from one another, yet connected.


Plot Summary:

After Yugi defeated Yami Bakura shadow spy successfully, there is some discussion about this between Yami Bakura and Dark Yugi, since Yugi and the gang are close in completing their quest, Yami Bakura desperately activates the third and last time he can use his special ability of controlling time and is "Natural Catastrophe", the gang starts to hurry up and determined in not leaving until they find Dark Yugi's true name... from their perspective looks like they might have not survived, Dark Yugi's fight keeps going against Yami Bakura as Pharaoh against Zorc, while this fight happens, Dark Akhenaden weakens priest Seto by attacking directly his spirit Ka and then kidnap his son...he teleports himself and priest Seto close to the palace, almost about to fall apart, priest Seto becomes worried about someone's safety, Kisara and goes to check on her and tries to get her to escape far away and confront Dark Akhenaden, priest Seto fights Dark Akhenaden to help Kisara escape, during their fight, they hold a important conversation and reveal, Dark Akhenaden attempts to force priest Seto into king (pharaoh) by giving him a god being the white dragon by killing Kisara and the other side of the fight, vizier Siamun summons Exodia with the Millennium Key from the already fallen priest Shada.



Key Points:

 

After Yami Bakura shadow spy being defeated by Yugi, he disappeared but the Yami Bakura took a strong blow, we have to remember the shadow spy is still a piece of soul of Yami Bakura that has been "banished" to the shadows (it's similar to hocruxes in Harry Potter lore), so of course he takes a huge blow and affects him a lot, it seems to have been a piercing one and seem to hurt quite badly in the heart...

 

As expected from Dark Yugi, he is good at catching changes of expressions and reading emotions of his opponents and enemies and quickly came to the right conclusion of his friends coming close to find his true name (he can do even of his friends, he knows the bit of a crush Anzu has on him, he could tell Yugi when he was being secretive that nowadays he already has good guess what Yugi is thinking about his situation as being pharaoh soul and Yugi himself as vessel, regarding priest Seto and the Ka-Hunt, he is very sharp).

Regarding Yami Bakura perspective on taking a strong blow for feeling a piece of his soul defeated by Yugi...

"I can't believe the shadow I sent into this world was defeated...! And by that mere vessel...!!"

Okay, this is getting me really annoyed with antagonists thinking because Yugi is the vessel of pharaoh soul, they think he is immediately inferior to Dark Yugi (except Otogi Ryuji), if he was truly inferior to Dark Yugi, then he wouldn't be able to solve and chosen by the millennium puzzle in the first place!! Obviously is on the same level and even a little bit better!! It makes me feel so angry for them not taking notice of something so obvious!!😡

Wow, Yami Bakura can be so arrogant too, by referring to Yugi as "mere vessel" who defeated his shadow, well if he wishes to go by that kind of conceited logic and as being Zorc himself, then the "mere vessel" defeated Yami Bakura's "mere shadow, mere piece of soul".😒



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