okay, I will start with the beginning of the story...it's always important, for those who have been trying to follow the manga...
so here to start reading:
Yu-Gi-Oh! Mangá Vol. 1-7
Update (13/12/2018): Sorry for the late beginning of the first posts updates covering the first volumes, I ran into a lot of problems in these last months, moving and one of them being the SSD got broken from my pc, the recently replaced (to replace HDD that had before), to make matters worse, I can't recover any data that was on the SSD, that's right, the panels ensembles and plot summaries to update the first 5 posts went down the drain, I was almost finished (I was in the last volume on monster world arc), now I have to start over again with panels ensembles and plot summaries...
(this animated gif describes how I feel about this accurately)
Rewinding back to when I was almost finishing the panels ensembles to cover the first 7 volumes before, I noticed that I missed a lot of important key moments, so covering these 7 volumes previously when I started this project was about 5 posts and realised it wouldn't be enough, but I noticed a small problem, I can't really mix posts because of the dates, I started this around 2013 and we're in 2018, so I will update the 5 posts from 2013 and write 5 new posts covering the first 7 volumes as well but will be above the masterpost, so there will be times I will repost the masterpost of this project with the newly updated posts and new ones, long story short it will be a bit of a pain to follow but reposting masterpost so you can follow the right sequencial order of the posts, since the new posts will jump between arcs mixing with the older posts being updated....
I was able to enter in a specialised technical course (it can be called BTEC L5), so I won't be able to post with the same frequency as before.
Because the covering of the first 7 volumes will be around 10 posts (5 posts updating the older ones and 5 new ones following arcs), this post will be dedicated to the beginning, the first chapter only.
Sorry for the long update...
Update (08/08/2019): it's mostly solved the issues, now to go back, lots of trials and less time because of BTEC LV5 and it's essays, now I'm one month vacation, new PC, customized too to my preferences and needs.
Plot Summary:
It starts with Yugi Mutou as freshman in Domino High School (1st year in High School), he is playing Pop Up Pirate game by himself and his classmates invites him to play a sport game, but Yugi shyly refuses and remembers to finish a puzzle he has been trying to complete, but two of his classmates, Honda Hiroto and Jounouchi Katsuya interrupts him, they start to pick on him, Yugi tries to stop them but no success until another classmate comes in to interfere named Masaki Anzu and tells them to stop picking on Yugi, she hangs out with Yugi talking about the sport game to the puzzle with that revealing they have been friends since childhood, whom later they hang out at his house, Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku, an owner of a game shop tells more information about the millennium puzzle.
After Honda and Jounouchi left the class, they bump into a very tall student called Ushio whom plays as the hall monitor at school that even teachers fear him...when Ushio leaves, Jounouchi reveals he picked a piece of a puzzle from Yugi and throws from the window to the school pool, so Yugi wouldn't ever be able to finish the puzzle.
The next day, Ushio calls Yugi to show that he had beaten up Jounouchi and Honda as "punishment" for pick/bullying on Yugi as his "bodyguard", Yugi is shocked and tells him he didn't agree to any of this and goes in defence and shields them as Ushio attacks Yugi, Ushio threatens him in paying for his job as his "bodyguard", Jounouchi heard and watched all of this as Honda was knocked unconscious...
Yugi arrives home feeling quite down about the situation and finds himself in a situation that he doesn't have enough money and doesn't find another solution, so he tries to solve the puzzle, he comes close to finish but by missing one piece, as Yugi feeling down again, his grandfather Sugoroku comes to him with the missing piece and reveals it was a friend of his that brought whom asked not to reveal who he was, Yugi finally solves the puzzle, but something mysterious happens, a blinding light with eye shape lights up in his forehead, the next moment Ushio is called by "Yugi", who he quickly notices is not the same Yugi he knows, this "different Yugi" can be mentioned as Dark Yugi or "the other yugi" challenges him to a shadow game, if Ushio loses or breaks the rules, he goes through penalty game, Ushio breaks the rules, he gets an illusion of seeing money everywhere.
The day after, Jounouchi tells Yugi that they're now friends.
Key Points:
It's very noticeable Yugi before finishing a puzzle, he was very reclusive even though one of his classmates invited him to play basketball with his class, so he isn't mistreated by his classmates, he quietly refused mixing with his self-deprecating manner of talking showing his extreme low self-esteem and he says it upfront, which is a bit unusual, but in the panel on the right side, implies he had other intentions, Yugi does indeed feels his team would lose because of him, but used his own low self-esteem to avoid to interact with the whole class to not play a sport, it gives indicator he isn't into sports and doesn't perform well and take chances to play his kind of games, but confesses he would like to play his kind games with someone, he means by fewer people, he doesn't want to be playing with many people but to a much fewer number and other reasons...
A small detail to notice is his pop-up pirate game he was playing, he just finished the game, which implies being very skilled at games, plus it was at a start of recess and solved very quickly plus the way he avoided company with his classmates despite being invited.
This is when was first introduced the Puzzle Box with the millennium puzzle inside yet to be completed, but Yugi's monologue says some curious stuff about it...
"My greatest treasure is in this box, but you have to keep it a secret! This riddle is a hint! It's something that you see, but have never seen before! What do you think it is? The answer is..."
To me one of the curious part in his monologue is the famous "motto" of the manga series as a riddle being underlined is different from what becomes known over the course of the series ("Something you can show but you can't see."), I'm pretty sure it was something purposely said even in the japanese one, I suspect the same as a way to characterize Yugi in his way of talking in his monologue shows despite him being a freshman high school student, his mindset is still of a little kid close to his pre-teens...even in appearance wise, he looks like one...
Now going to the start of the introduction of the other characters will become quite regular in the story, Honda first pick Yugi's box and behind him is Jounouchi, who start to pick on him, it's probably only these two classmates who does it...
The drawings of the characters weren't straight as we are so familiar with, but we're getting there soon enough...the art is quite detailed though and more shadows and shading, now story-wise, it's starts with a normal day in high school for the freshman Yugi Mutou, playing one of his games, Bluebeard Attack, which is the game of
Pop Up Pirate game (if you're interested in the game, click the link), it's interesting to see Yugi has huge interest in any kind of games, for Character-wise, we can see Yugi self-esteem is quite low, it seems on the athletics field in special.
Here we have the first introduction of the puzzle millennium and... further emphasize the introduction of Jounouchi and Honda and then...
His childhood friend Mazaki Anzu, as we can notice they didn't have a nice start, we can tell it's implied Anzu many times defend Yugi, also during this time Honda and Jounouchi kinda bullied him and also not (I really don't consider as bullying, but as teasing and bit mean is more appropriate, my brothers do that a lot on me in this part but what Jounouchi does later can be considered bullying), if we see from Jounouchi attitudes, deep down he had good intentions, however not the right away...
I did like Anzu's demeanour at this time more because she was a bit more strict and later in the series she has gotten very soft compared to early chapters, how Yugi describes her is interesting and his history of friendship with her:
"This is Anzu Mazaki, She's been my friend since elementary school! She's kind of pushy, but she's really nice!"
Yugi is not wrong about her being kinda "pushy", because she gets too bold in certain cases like making "kinda pushy" advances on a certain character she starts crushing on in later chapters in the early volumes 😒 but then suddenly stops after a certain event... 😅, but she is still pushy even after becoming quite soft only when it comes to being firm and not standing to be quiet with her principles and goals, which makes her have an initial awkward character development, I find it interesting though and for those reasons she became a character that grown on me and eventually become one of my favorite characters after re-reading the manga a few times.
I want to make notice that Anzu quickly realized the golden box was special for Yugi and also interesting it impresses Yugi that when she scolds the Jounouchi and Honda and they run, as we see later, they could have their way if they really want to since they were actually former delinquents, to them this is playing around, also she is the representative of the class and doesn't hold back, but what she says to Yugi as an advice:
"Their head swell if you don't knock them down once in a while. You need to be tougher, Yugi."
What she is saying is not that Yugi is weak, but he needs to stand up to himself more firmly and be firm with them, not by asking them shyly.
Another quote to point out from her of why she isn't playing basketball with the class on recess and came to Yugi instead:
"All the guys here are like that. On the basketball court, I thought the guys were passing to the girls a lot...found out they were peeking when the girls made their shots! The jerks! Quit and came in! Never play basketball in a skirt!"
I know it might be being small, but I think is one of those details that reveals the kinds of intelligence a character might have, such how she was finding strange guys passing to girls, showing intuitive intelligence, because of the societal culture wise we grew up, in physical education we wear gym clothes for the subject, when there is co-ed game sport in P.E. class, rarely the boys passed to girls for whatever sexist reasons were, here we see them playing in school uniforms and the guys for their pervy reasons passing the girls a lot, to be honest is something Anzu should kinda predicted and there is reason why we wear gym clothes when practicing in most sports and exercises and in P.E., specially when she said to not ever play basketball on a skirt, since I was very young way before middle school, I learned I hated skirts, this is one the reasons besides not being practical at all.
As for Yugi's reaction and "imagined", Anzu suspecting already, well he is starting to puberty, this is normal, the difference is that he doesn't act on someone he feels attracted to sexually.
Regarding Yugi starting his puberty, even when he is starting it, as we see the way he interacts and later during the early volumes before he starts maturing, he is very childlike, innocent and pure, lot of the times he does act this way, but bit by bit he starts to be a more grounded person.
I think is cool to see she was impressed after she asked what was in the box and see it for herself, Anzu noticed it was some sort of puzzle and got curious and Yugi confirmed her suspicion being a puzzle, but here some of the interesting facts is that he says he didn't ever finished, so he doesn't know how it looks like, when is a puzzle, usually you have image of how it looks like to solve it, in this case there isn't one and it has many factors to be the case...
But let's start with learning that sometimes Yugi can be a little mean despite being quite pure and a little pervy...after mentioning the "old version" of the riddle theme of the series he adds something interesting...
"My family runs a game store, right?! We sell unusual games from around the world. Years ago I found this way back on a shelf covered with dust, so I took it for myself. This puzzle is a memento of my grandpa, so I like especially well."
This is some curious facts to be taken to account, such the location from where did Yugi found the millennium puzzle box, according to him it was on shelf way back, purposely hidden...I want to covered this detail much later, after I have completed the updates 100% but
is connected to the analysis I have made about prologue of Memory World Arc with my own theories.
Now as for Yugi mention as saying this memento of his grandpa, you would think is related to a deceased grandfather, but Anzu looking shocked being his childhood is kinda surprising she didn't knew so is implying that might not be the case...but Yugi treating as such is a bit strange, I'll approach later as to why...
This is the first mention on the location this puzzle found in a Egypt ruin by Yugi, however later in this chapter, more details involving this puzzle will be mentioned in this chapter and much later in the series...
But as later have been proven, it's not only Anzu who has good intuition and a sharp mind, these is some of the initial indicators of such him presuming that by solving the puzzle would grant him a wish with a belief that this mysterious puzzle might be magical, as if he sensed it and how he found it at which age...makes me very curious...
"Urk...are you laughing at me? that look? This is a secret...don't tell on me...I've only told you, Anzu..."
There is something a bit unusual, in this line, I want to check the full color japanese version, in this edition we see how he emphasizes that he only told this to her, not just because he trusts her, but also because there are things he only confides with her, in some cases for a long time (
update 05/02/2019:Yugi's future plans, Anzu always knew about it, but only told his other school friends in his last school year in Dark Side of Dimensions), implies has a crush on her and sees as someone who genuinely holds romantic feelings for to confide to this point until he felt ready to say it himself...
Yugi revealing that he has been trying to solve for 8 years, we know he is a freshman by this time, around 16 years old (you go to primary school in Japan is 7 years old, which means senior high school by 16), going 8 years back, he found and started this puzzle when he was only 8 years old and claiming as being "major hard", it seems he is used in solving very difficult puzzles, from his experience as a gamer, this one particularly is extremely difficult.
After this claim, during the whole early 7 volumes, those who knew of the millennium puzzle and what truly entailed were very impressed by him, some of them "omitted they were really impressed"...irritatingly (
update 02/02/2019: I'm looking at you Otogi Ryuji in DDM and Kaiba in Dark Side of Dimensions), which sometimes feel insulting his intelligence (a subject I'm very sensitive about).
The only thing he is keeping a secret is his wish, even after being realized, Yugi still conceals it, only one individual knows because was kinda part of the process...
Ushio, he kinda became an interesting character to me, in the manga series, he only appears in the first chapter and episode (plus the pyramid of light movie, I prefer to not mention any further) and doesn't appear again, he comes back in a spin-off Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Yu-Gi-Oh!5D's (which is a fan-favourite spin-off) as a supporting character, which is pretty unusual for cases like these.
As for his role in the manga where he appears only in this chapter, in early volumes are mostly episodic arcs before and intervals between the bigger ones (Shadi's, Death-T and Monster World arcs), it goes with a interesting start of a character debuts as the first antagonist but isn't the main one or very important, the more important ones are later (Kaiba, Shadi, Yami Bakura(the main villain of the manga), but is through his self-righteousness covering his self-interest kind of role to be a stepping stone friendship building between two characters.
Before going into more details about Ushio, I want to approach of Jounouchi being irritated at Anzu for interrupting him when he was picking on Yugi and wondering who is the bully who was scolded by her, he isn't completely wrong but also not right either as Honda kinda corrects him, what is truly bullying is something Jounouchi does after this scene, picking on someone can be to play around but isn't okay when is close to cross the line and immature.
Honda in his inner monologue brings interesting facts about Ushio when they bump into him:
"Jounouchi! Who do you think you're picking a fight with? That's that ogre of a hall monitor Ushio! All the rules at school! Even the teachers are too scared of him to say anything!"
It's curious seeing one student being feared by everyone and even teachers and inputs rules at school, however you can tell he is the kind of person who abuses power when he has it.
So Jounouchi took one of the pieces of the puzzle, the one with the eye of wedju, which seems to be one of the most important ones and Honda being impressed, the fact he took off is already bad even after picking on him, that
belongs to someone and with no intentions of giving it back from the looks of it, the next thing he crosses the line, to make it more annoying and frustrating, he perceived correctly and still took off and throw it to the school pool, this is really bullying, there is nothing about this action that teaches you "how to be tough", nothing, pick on him, I can almost let it slide, even thought there is better ways, but this isn't, it's just being plain mean. 😠
Now the part of the reason as to why Jounouchi and Honda initiates picking on Yugi and kinda of bullying him:
"Hmph! «treasure...!» He talks like a girl! that's what annoys me!"
It's one of the things that annoys me about Jounouchi's character besides underestimating capacities and strength of Yugi quite often, he has some sexist views, Honda doesn't really have it when you think about it and you see it later but he does think with his teen hormones and genitals, at this time he has some, but he evolves a lot more in the sexism part, Jounouchi around Battle City is when you see real character development about his sexist views by two female characters who become friends with him and influential (Anzu and Mai) not just Yugi and Dark Yugi.
As for how he talks about how Yugi talks like a girl, it's probably implying that Yugi's voice is a bit thin and being very soft spoken, which is kind of expected from girls not boys, societal expectations being pretty divided and this is in the 90s, nowadays is still good amount of that because of the toys and how clothes are divided in stores even in advertisement even nowadays is still like that...also to emphasize Yugi is a main character who doesn't follow the norm, the fact he wasn't interested in playing basketball and not following his classmates of his own free will, he could "fit in" by accepting these invitations, he isn't someone who follows the crowd.
Ushio is behaving as if he cares for the innocents and victims of bullying but from the way that even teachers fear him, something isn't right, such being Ushio takes advantage of Yugi being good-natured and being look alike being bullied and thinks Jounouchi and Honda as bullying Yugi, people have the perception in society that someone who is good-natured can be easily fooled and deceived, Yugi believes in Ushio's "good intentions" and the way Yugi denies as if surprised, Yugi doesn't see what Jounouchi and Honda as bullying except one thing that he doesn't know (the stolen piece on the pool) so he also believes in Jounouchi's "good intentions" (initially was probably that but he kinda became irritated with Yugi good-nature and soft-spoken from the looks of the key point above).
Also to note to what we have seen from seen so far, Yugi is very awkward when addressing people he isn't familiar with.
As we can see here, Yugi's grandfather is alive despite Yugi claiming the puzzle and the treasure box is a memento of his grandfather (Anzu gets a fright when she sees him due to Yugi's claim and seeing him alive xD).
As for initial impression on his character in these panels, he is a bit pervy to pay attention to her size of her breasts in front her and say it to a high schooler and a minor...just not okay and rude 😒(yeah, Anzu I would be creeped out too, this could be easily called sexual harassment), but the most interesting part of his character is after this.
The beginning of their presentation of Yugi's interaction and his grandfather is interesting about the puzzle he is trying to solve, specially Yugi response to his grandpa about still trying to solve the puzzle is very curious
"who'd give up?" because it shows Yugi is someone who is usually persistent as long he is interested and invested.
This is the most interesting part not only as a set up of the main plot of the manga series but also for Yugi's grandfather character connected to what actually happened, he explains the history and mystery behind the puzzle:
"The Millennium Puzzle is beyond human understanding! It's too hard for you. And it has all sorts of unsavoury rumours attached to it. The Millennium Puzzle was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. A team of british archaeologists took it out of a pharaoh's crypt in the Valley of the Kings. However afterward all those in the team died mysterious deaths... and the last one said with his dying breath...«The Shadow Games»..."
For anyone who doesn't know, Valley of the Kings are the location of Pharaoh tombs since New Kingdom period, the previous were in different locations.
Now going to what he says it was a team of archaeologists took it out from a pharaoh tomb, he is lying only about who actually took it out, but is true that it came from a pharaoh tomb, why I say he is lying, because now I'm updating these early posts after finishing my analysis of
Memory World Arc with the reveals of it's prologue, the connection between this misinformation to the real events, there is some debate if the author changed his mind when it came to explore his past, since the prologue contradicts this information in the introduction to the series, as I constantly link in this post to the
prologue of the Memory World Arc, to emphasize of how important it is, it's not really the case, even though in the anime Sugoroku tells the story of how he got millennium puzzle, but in the manga he never told him, because what Sugoroku did when and how he got the puzzle was technically illegal with no official authorization and accompanied by grave robbers/thieves...of course he would lie about this detail and say it was a team of archaeologists, but the fact he owns such a relic from a pharaoh tomb is already questionable of how Yugi's grandfather got it, I would presume the author knew about it since the beginning and this is some of it's clues to it, however the rumors of these mysterious deaths were true when they tried to reach the pharaoh tomb itself with his name - the treasure box with the millennium puzzle inside.
The fact this box and puzzle alone comes from a pharaoh tomb, it already hints the possibility of a spirit residing within, a pharaoh spirit in this case, since Ancient Egypt mythology about afterlife and the pharaohs tombs being where the pharaohs has their "eternal rest" and mummifying as a way to immortalize this idea.
Regarding the millennium puzzle, over the course of the series, I noticed an rather irritating problem ahead when it comes to solving the millennium puzzle from two characters who underestimate it's difficulty and with that underestimating Yugi, unfortunately I don't have the links to further prove this yet, so I will have to leave to a dedicated post, but is a problem I want to mention in the future.
Yugi's reaction to it, you can tell what captured his interest were "shadow games" because it shows that he captures what he interests him...
I want to quote what Yugi's grandfather spoke translating the hieroglyphs on the treasure box:
"They say the hieroglyphs carved into this box says this...«The one who solves me shall gain the powers and knowledge of darkness...»"
Knowing after reading the manga and my own analysis about the prologue of Memory World Arc, who he means by "they", in case you aren't aware in the prologue chapter, Sugoroku (Yugi's grandfather) he could read the hieroglyphs despite that he never learnt it which is odd but seems to be because he is connected to someone from the past to be able to read, I think in this case is the same, but to not open suspicions, he must be saying a lie that was the british team of archaeologists.
The next topic I want to touch upon this is whoever solves it will gain powers and knowledge of darkness, Yugi wasn't completely wrong about the "grant your wish" if translating to magical context, because when you believe something grants your wish, you're basing on the notion and suspicion is magical, right? also the fact is implying that you gain dark magical powers if you solve it, but seems that to Yugi...
"It does grant your wish! Now I'm really fire up! I'll finish it no matter what!"
Yugi seems to be ignoring the " gaining dark powers and knowledge" part completely 😑 or he isn't taking seriously and thinks is just to scare or challenge the ones to solve it, this is what I mean by childlike belief that a "magical artifact" will grant your wish...he can be quite naive in the beginning...
And the signs we see here when is clear he is a teen is how he interacts with his grandfather and Yugi can have a sharp tongue if he wants to with their bickering and shows their very close relationship and from Anzu's reaction, this is pretty normal between them...
But to me what is curious is the insistence of Yugi in calling the treasure box as memento of his grandpa when we see he is alive, I have a few hunches and guesses looking at his overall growth and his complexities, self-esteem issues, I will have to mention as inevitable as it might be, the absence of Yugi's father, in a interview with the author was revealed that his father worked overseas and away on business but he brings things for his son when he is at home, it leaves his role models to be his mother or his grandfather or both, but not close to his age specially as a teenage boy, it's possible that for him is the achievement of solving the puzzle as a symbol of independence, possibly the gaming department and no need of a role model anymore or believing genuinely if he solves it, his grandfather can be at peace, even though in the future he will see someone new as a role model that he can relate to more.
I feel so annoyed at myself for not mentioning this scene before, some of the reasons why I wanted to update the first posts plus renewing and revising with new posts about the early 7 volumes, moments I wished I had mentioned, so I kinda have been dying to write about it, it's Yugi's progress on the millennium puzzle here from when he says the following:
"Um-mm I always get stuck here..."
From what we have seen in the beginning of the chapter, it seemed like he never had progress, always at the beginning, but the statement of him saying "I always get stuck here", if we look at the progress is a lot and implies that he always progressed this far when he was young, but when he had block, he would re-do it to see and learn where he got it wrong, from someone that young who started at 7 or 8 years old and was able to get this far quite frequently, almost finishing it, it really shows how highly intelligent he is, but I think it took this long, it has to do with other special conditions besides intelligence (later is strong heart, but there is one it wasn't ever mentioned, the soul sealed in the puzzle is of someone who died when he was 15 or 16 years old, the age and puberty matters as well).
So Jounouchi and Honda get beaten by Ushio, he shows it to Yugi, Yugi being someone who hates violence and fighting as he mentioned (we can say Yugi is a pacifist, very similar to Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender), he was shocked, Jounouchi and Honda thought was Yugi's doing, Yugi made clear that there is no way he would want something like this, specially being someone who claimed by yelling that he hates violence to him, even after they get their "punishment", Yugi disagrees with this because he believes they didn't deserved it and Ushio went too far, he is someone who stays true to himself when it comes to his principles, no matter what, literally...I mean literally...even if it means making very difficult choices...(I'm referring to
Duelist Kingdom,
Battle City and
the end of the series).
Yugi considering them as friends despite picking on him (if he knew before this moment what Jounouchi did to one of his puzzle pieces, I suspect he would re-think this, that was just bad, he was one step closer to become a real bully), so I don't completely censor Ushio for finding Yugi strange from defending them and yet consider them as friends because I wouldn't, but then again this is me, but here is Yugi, he genuinely believed in their intentions to teach him to "man up" (but their method is toxic without realizing), Yugi isn't willing to sacrifice his pacifist principles in other to stand up for himself, so he chooses to attempt to be diplomatic (trying to solve problems without resorting to aggression or violence or intimidation but solve it with sensitivity) or being selfless, that's who Yugi truly is, someone who stays true to himself even if the toxic masculinity tries to demean it as a weakness shows strength of heart, character and individuality.
Yugi's strength type is shown here, the very underestimated and underrated type, selfless and kindness, it's from here it starts growing this kind of strength within Yugi.
As for Ushio, to extort money from Yugi as being his bodyguard against his will, it's showing his true nature using power, aggression, intimidation to control for greed using his "fabricated righteousness" to cover self-interest.
When Yugi shown his willingness to Ushio to be a "human shield" of Jounouchi and Honda, Ushio perceives as crazy, but even I wouldn't consider as crazy, because if is someone who picked on me, it's not okay what Ushio is doing and even making me pay for it, are you kidding me? that's just crossing the line, this is then real bullying, Ushio is the bully between bullies.
What I find most interesting in this scene is Jounouchi seeing all of this and his inner thoughts from shock to finally starting to understand Yugi's true nature, when he said he was against violence, he really meant it even if it means this act of selflessness, also deep down Jounouchi deep down he didn't hate Yugi and disliked him but it was something else and was related to him "being quiet like always").
"I made a wish on the puzzle...«I wish for friends»...Friends I can count on...! Friends who could count on me... No matter what!! Friends who could count on me...!"
I'm going to say I relate to this a lot, because I had this wish when I was younger, I was a lot more quiet and reclusive than Yugi (still kinda am 😶, but a little better 😗), there is the low self-esteem but added with my own other issues and my introverted personality (it made difficult to make friends, still does, because of how the world perceives introverts and favor extroverts more), besides if is a friend, it's someone who I can trust.
You can ask why would him who willingly doesn't follow the crowd even refuses when invited to play with his classmates and reclusive demeanor, besides he has a childhood friend but wishes for friends, you would think at first that he is kinda at fault for not making any effort by refusing invitations who takes initiative, I guess it means as in his last lines from the quote, he doesn't want to befriend with just anyone, it's someone he can trust and trust him back, why he isn't thinking of Anzu in this moment, I wonder and bugs me a little, but it's possible by this time he saw her as a childhood friend he has a crush on, with him starting to hit puberty...soon enough he will put her in his friendship circle first then as someone he really likes romantically (crush and like romantically someone is different, friendship is the foundation of any close bond - camaraderie, family, platonic and romantic).
(later key points)
When Yugi arrives home, he is very worried and stressed, because he doesn't have the required money Ushio asked as he quickly found out, he feels more depressed, so he instinctively continue with the puzzle, with the stress makes him start to complete the puzzle, with one missing piece of the puzzle, so close...
This kind of progress Yugi is having despite feeling depressed, some may think it has to do with the guidance of the puzzle to make this kind of progress all of a sudden...
"It's strange...solving the puzzle is easy today...even though I feel awful..."
That's the quote that could hint as such, but could hint the other theory that I pointed out about his age when he was younger couldn't go further, the reason for 8 years he was always stuck at the same certain point of progress as if there was a block and he would re-do it again the puzzle, now that he has the same original age of the spirit from when he died, not without it's problems, the time he became 16 years old, this is is around spring by the clothes and from the next few arcs timeline, indicates it might be the case, he was 16 since June 4th, it passed around 9 or 10 months, but is implied he plays all different kinds of games in middle way like in the beginning of the chapter and later chapters we see Yugi even though he is very intelligent, he doesn't focus on something for too long, he does seems to have problems of concentration (mine is worse, even when I make an effort is very difficult to do so for me) and same can be said to be easily distracted (same for me 😗, even though I'm not a quick thinker and fast learner like him), so there is Yugi's mindset of how it worked during this timeline into account, he does improves a lot in his focus, he is the kind of person once he is a bit focused or put mind into it, he can get right up there with ease.
I like a great deal about this scene, because of how close Yugi is with his grandfather and is adorable to see even at 16 years old when his grandpa shows the missing piece and Yugi gets so moved of relief and happiness that he jumps of happiness to hug him like a little kid when his grandpa buy an ice cream or toy, this is one of those examples I mentioned that he has moments that he behaves like a child in the early volumes.
About Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku is someone who can see a lot of potential and the only one who expresses genuine amazement plus excitement without being cynical and arrogant (I'm looking at you Otogi Ryuji (Dungeon Dice Monsters) and Kaiba (Dark Side Dimensions)) and is well aware of how difficult it is to solve it, which implies he tried before too...but he is quite humble to admit it was someone else who did it and encouriging but if you compare of how he was in the
prologue of Memory World Arc, he was quite a confident person, it shows he might have gone through a lot of growth to become this humble and has good understanding of the importance in being humble.
Jounouchi, Jounouchi, he has a flaw that he let's his pride to be the source of his stubbornness, there is another character who is like this as well (Kaiba), in this case, but is for a more hilarious reason...we'll get there at the end as to why he asked to not reveal his name...
The other interesting point here is on the panels on the right when his grandfather gives the money that Ushio is extorting, its a lot (200,000 yen translates roughly in dollars, 2000 dollars and euro around 1700 euro), for Sugoroku put it in hiding like no problem, it makes me wonder for a game store, when you can kinda tell it doesn't sell that much to be able to put that kinda of amount of money... I have my theories which will leave for a different thematic post...
Now going to the extremely important part, when Yugi puts the final piece on the millennium puzzle...
Before going to the extremely important part, I want to quote what Sugoroku inner monologue consists on the right panel corner...
"Ho Ho Ho...I'm amazed that he finished the millennum puzzle...but, that's my grandson... It's written in the book of the dead that the one who solves that puzzle inherits the shadow game.
He becomes the guardian of right and passes judgment on evil."
First I want to mention the first clues on something about Sugoroku and the true nature of the millennium items and it's past, starting with Sugoroku being amazed at his grandson and also expected no less from him being his grandson, which shows that he is not just a simple and wise old man game shop owner, it implies he is a "retired" big shot" on something, one of the few aware of his high intelligence.
As for the hints regarding the true nature of the millennium items and it's past starts from "inheriting the shadow powers and shadow games", just the mention of shadows games previous to this is the first clue.
07/08/2019: This is a special updated which bridges the last 24 posts dedicated to analysis of Memory Word Arc with this one, regarding the quote already hints at the "evil intelligence" and even the millennium puzzle doesn't escape from it either, you will get it from here towards the end and how it loses it in the puzzle...
This updated post will once again keep mentioning in this key point in particular,
The Prologue of Memory World Arc, due to it's importance and strong connection and also support as evidences with this scene, the "reset" Pharaoh Atem had, because as has been proven in
the memory word arc prologue, Atem before he was "yami yugi"/Dark Yugi as spirit of a pharaoh with no memories, before the puzzle was completed, Atem "Dark Yugi" had his memories until the puzzle was completed, it's like formatting your primary drive of a PC where it starts with nothing and you put your backup data bit by bit along the way on your newly formatted PC.
Another curious part is how Yugi becomes the host of spirit Atem, in comparison to Ryou Bakura and Yami Bakura, it's very different, also some curious ancient egyptian mythology intel I have researched, there is two eyes, Eye of Ra as the right eye which in symbology meaning is good luck while the other one is the Eye of Horus which means protection (and also royal power) as represented here and being "transferred" or chosing Yugi in offering protection and becoming some sort of "guardian" - host of the spirit of the deceased pharaoh, we can also suspect Atem was watching this whole thing until Yugi put the last piece, the light eye from the puzzle projecting to his forehead, would make sense the "formatting PC process", I guess would make sense as to why it happens after this Atem has no memories, because the pendant was broken into pieces by Atem himself, remember before Atem broke it, when was forged, it was shaped as a pendant, if someone outside were to "rebuild" the pendant by connecting the pieces like fixing something is broken, it's "starting from scratch", I might have make it sound pretty heavy, but that's what it happened, technically the millennium puzzle was pendant that was broken 3000 years ago, originally was "millennium pendant" until it broke and became known as millennium puzzle, the best metaphor for the "millennium puzzle is when you try to fix a broken vase with glue or paste, because you have to "fix" it like solving puzzle, even after fixing it, the damage of the broken vase is still visible, the glue or paste to "fix" and "solve" the vase is like pathways of a labyrinth in attempting to maintain and connecting the pieces which were broken. Did that sounded poetic?
I knew this part would be extremely long. 😒 (Key Point about this, extremely long and connect to prologue of Memory World Arc)
We meet Dark Yugi, known as Yami Yugi and the other Yugi, it was believed being another personality of Yugi, split personality, later in the series reveals it's more complicated than this..., which will be discussed when we reach it this moment...
So this "other Yugi", he looks a darker and sinister Yugi who starts a shadow game with Ushio.
Update (08/08/2019): There is some important things to add here, now with the analysis out of Memory World Arc and Duelist Kingdom, I can mention the evil intelligence, remember in prologue of Memory World Arc is proved he had his memories before the puzzle was completed, here is this moment, if we compare to how Atem was in the past in his time was alive is different from the one we see here because Atem has no memories, but the essence in his sense of justice and how they used millennium items on his time is still present in him from how he is currently behaving despite not having his memories but being more sinister and dangerous, we can assume that having no memories would making him to be susceptible to the "evil intelligence" influence in the beginning while his essence remaining intact (sense of justice in punishing evil doers who harms his host and sense of responsibility by protecting his host in this case).
The other interesting thing I find is Ushio realises quickly it isn't Yugi for acting and looking visually more sinister, besides it has grown some extra golden hair and bit wilder and his eyes are sharper plus upper and lower long eyelashes, the chin and mouth changes a little, the least subtle are definitely the hair and the eyes, even though we don't hear it, but the tone of how Atem/Dark Yugi is talking is different as calm and composed, implied to be a deeper voice.
The first introduction to shadow games, hmmm, if I have to say, it's a dangerous level, because is no illusion at all, the knife isn't, but even Dark Yugi is putting himself in danger too, so it's not a one-sided because even Dark Yugi had difficulties despite it was himself who set it up, but he does this a lot, due to his sense of justice, as he develops as a character, his shadow games become softer unless the individual crosses the line too far.
Ushio makes an interesting note about the "eye" in his forehead, because this is the first Atem/Dark Yugi is taking over and also summoning the dark powers of the millennium puzzle to give a penalty game, also happens everytime he is about to give a penalty game.
Update (08/08/2019): Another point to mention is what Dark Yugi says:
"This is only seen by those who «trespass in my soul!» Like those who hurt my friends and try to steal my money!!"
I find it really curious this part, because at this time, being humm "formatted", he thinks himself initially as Yugi or another personaliy of Yugi or sees himself as a guardian to protect his host and speaks on his behalf, in his essence of sense of responsibility and protective nature within within Atem/Dark Yugi.
The other thing I want to point out is the Ankh symbol on his right arm, it was there for awhile in the first volume, then gone, I wonder why, probably was a pain to draw from different angles and let's face it, during this time Dark Yugi's hair must have been a bigger pain from the style in the early chapters than it is today (it's still hard, once you practice a lot, it becomes less difficult).
This is when Dark Yugi gives the first penalty game to someone, Ushio, the name theme is Illusion of Avarice, it's amusing that he gives thematic names to his penalty games, the shadow game might have been sinister and dangerous but considering the result of Ushio's penalty game, it's actually quite soft, deep down he has always been a softie.
At this point being the First Chapter, we don't know much about him, we don't know why and how appeared, all we know is that once Yugi completes the puzzle, "another personality" appears, we don't know where this is gonna lead to...
It's curious how Yugi doesn't remember what happened when he finished the puzzle, those are already first clues that Dark Yugi/Atem and Yugi aren't the same person, at first one could speculate he created "an another personality", technically isn't possible, even split personality is questionable unless under special circumstances of trauma or abuse or other mental illnesses, it's visible Yugi didn't had any, just problems with self-esteem and shyness, it's amusing Yugi passing by not being aware at all to what happened to Ushio, feeling sleepy...
I find this scene of Ushio still inside of his illusion pretty hilarious with the students and making very funny comments as if Ushio has gone mad, well he kinda did xDD, then we think about him in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, we all know those penalty games Dark Yugi gives are pretty light and isn't for long, it means that this penalty game has given him a permanent lesson, but Ushio bullying and abuse of power wasn't completely gone as we see in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's in it's beginning, he improves himself in the crisis of damaged stadium being dedicated to his duty as security bureau officer, aiding the chosen duelists against Dark Signer, saving Mikage (have a crush on Mikage) and Yusei, eventually becoming friends with them, he came a long way, even Atem/Dark Yugi would approve.
Here is Jounouchi's own answer to the riddle as friendship, also means that Yugi's action has shown he is a real friend you can count on and wants him to count on him back (you know because he went to pick up the missing piece), Jounouchi kind of implies it was him who retrieved the missing piece, you can tell from Yugi's expression from shock to being moved and lively, I think Yugi must have caught on that it was Jounouchi who took the missing piece and give it back through his grandfather and keep anonymous, so that probably next day he would give this little surprise as his friend, Yugi is such a cinnamon roll, it's funny and a detail to take note that during this time Jounouchi felt embarrassed for saying something so corny and later to become proud of saying it about friendship.
See Ya Next Post and Update!!
, because the money I have save up won't last forever 😒... so it's more or less jungle around with these.
