Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 7 (Jounouchi VS Ryuzaki)

Update(25/07/2018): no introduction again...so I'll put with the update, still on the Hogwarts Express hype train due to the trailer from San Diego Comic Con of the 2nd movie of Fantastic Beasts (I'm very excited for this movie 😆).


Plot Summary:

Noticing Mokuba has gone, they're worried and suspect he was taken to Pegasus's castle, they can't do much unless they get more stars, since Dark Yugi has already six stars and Jounouchi only two, the gang try to help Jounouchi find a contestant but goes in vain since he is being accompanied by Dark Yugi, the participants feel intimidated just from seeing him right behind Jounouchi, as this happens, Mai just won the duel fairly easy and feeling bored, she takes a pause thinking for herself about her duel against Jounouchi and the riddle has given her, as she tries to find an answer, her thoughts are interrupted by Ryuzaki who challenges her and claiming he has already four stars then she shows she has 8 stars already, which means if she wins two more star chips and she gets to Pegasus's castle, her last opponent for these stars she wants to duel against Jounouchi but after some thought she asks Ryuzaki to duel against Jounouchi then she will duel against him, he reluctantly agrees with her condition.
As the gang having no success yet to find an opponent for Jounouchi, they meet up with Mai and Ryuzaki offering a willing opponent for Jounouchi, Ryuzaki, both bet two stars Ryuzaki easily takes the lead, eventually Jounouchi turns the tables, his first time taking a lead, it's over until Ryuzaki summons Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Ryuzaki and Mai already suspect Time Wizard is already face down, since it was a card that could beat Mai's deck, Ryuzaki suggests wager not just the star chips but also their cards such if Ryuzaki wins, Jounouchi gives his Time Wizard and if vice-versa, Ryuzaki gives is Red-Eyes to Jounouchi, Mai isn't liking this so Ryuzaki and Mai start discussing over it, Jounouchi surprised that his Time Wizard hold so much value to the point these fight over it, he gambles this card for his victory, it ends with Jounouchi winning the duel together gaining 2 star chips and Red-Eyes Black Dragon.



Key Points:

When the duel of Dark Yugi against the ventriloquist is over, Mokuba and the double agent disappears, they suspect they did go to the Pegasus's castle...I find the last two panels because of the sfx makes it quite funny, Dark Yugi with 6 stars is a "WHOOM" and Jounouchi with only 2 stars is "BOOM" 😀, what a funny transition...

 

The scene changes on focusing Mai duelling other person and win against him, we can see how deeply she was affected by her loss even though she doesn't want to admit it...to the point that she isn't even using her "aroma tactics" anymore and she is so bored (it's quite amusing too), as if she is going through grinding in a JRPG that sometimes happens to anyone who played it, in a way she is, since she is gathering star chips, even though she kept winning her next duels after losing against Jounouchi but also as if she feels something is a miss as shown in the panels ensemble on right thinking about the riddle that Jounouchi has given her, foreshadowing her character development, she can't get the riddle phrase out of her mind...however it will take some time, she will get her own answer, it's still not the right part to explore it...it will come later.

  

Ryuzaki appears to challenge her, but since she had beaten him before, she has no interest, then kinda boasts and reveals his current status being 5 stars chips while Mai of having already 8 stars chips, which is to show her level of skill is pretty much way above Ryuzaki, 3 stars above to be exact, when she fought Jounouchi, from 4 stars to 3 then jumped to five more stars chips, from 3 to 8 in 7 hours since she fought Jounouchi, it's very impressive and won 5 stars by playing half-heartly in a breeze, again is to say her skill is very close to Kaiba, Dark Yugi and Yugi, it's no wonder after the series is over, in spin-offs, movies and videogames, she has "legendary duelist" title like Kaiba, Dark Yugi, Jounouchi and Yugi.

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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 6 (Dark Yugi VS Player Killer "Puppeteer")

Update: wow no introduction gain, I just plain started the key points...😑, time to fix this...
I'm going to warn you, because I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd and watched the recent trailer of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald from San Diego Comic Con, so is happening as the same as it did with Kingdom Hearts 3 E3 2018 trailers, I am on Hogwarts Express hype train 😜.


Plot Summary:

The gang says farewell to Ryota as they leave and they comment how much they liked the guy, then they hear a kid being forced to leave the island by a guard because he has no star chips since they were stolen, Jounouchi attempts to solve this injustice, before they have the chance to find the thief,the gang sees the kid who he is trying to help is anyway forced to leave the island on a boat (not on a ship and not even the same they came from...😒), so the thief appears and was masked and seemed to be a kid, judging by his clothes and eyes, he looks vaguely familiar, Dark Yugi suspects already who might be and the kid challenged him  and he plays badly because he is using stolen cards and had the confirmation he was the thief (because of the stolen star chips and not wearing the duelist glove), due to not going well for the kid, he tries to steal Dark Yugi's star chips, Dark Yugi grabs the kid's arm and took off his mask revealing to be Mokuba, the gang was surprised and asked what he was doing in the island, so he explains his situation and the true intentions of Pegasus holding this tournament...the guard appears again and captures Mokuba to send him back to the castle when Mokuba was about to give back the two star chips he had stolen from Dark Yugi, on the condition of Dark Yugi retrieving his missing two star chips, he has to play against a special opponent who appears to be a ventriloquist - I'll call him a puppeteer to be faster, who pretends to be controlling a puppet doll possessed by Kaiba spirit and does shows he has Kaiba's deck, so the duel proves very difficult and some strange event happens and helps Dark Yugi winning the duel, Kaiba is recovered from his coma, leaving his mansion to go by helicopter to the island to save Mokuba and his company, but after Dark Yugi won the duel, the guard and Mokuba disappeared...


Key points:

Previously last Thoughts and Observations was about Dark Yugi duel against Ryota Kajiki, it was more of friendly competitive duel, they liked him, so far of the duelists they have met, he was very open and honest, not arrogant and very fair, in another words, he was a good person essentially, they liked him a lot as it shows in the panels ensemble above, I like him too, he is a very likeable character.

  

After some time passing by, Dark Yugi and the gang hears noise close by, it's a kid - duelist - who is being unfairly expelled and out of the competition because someone stole his star chips, Jounouchi intervenes and promises to help him and as a terrible altruist he can be sometimes...a compensation for helping him for 1 or 2 stars...(Jounouchi seems to sometimes have the kind of ethic looking for a reward when he makes a good deed...but he does eventually grow out of it).
The probably thief behind the shadows in hiding watching the gang...

If look closely at the first panel of the panels ensemble above, we can see half of the painting of a woman and painting of Shadi, we can confirm from here he met Shadi and probably responsible for Pegasus having a Millennium Eye, it should be interpreted as the people who marked the most in his life, Shadi and this mysterious woman, who we still don't know her name, the last 3 panels - we can see he likes reading cartoonish comics (probably about slapstick humour, the ones I really hate, I do however relate that I do react like this when I'm reading a book/graphic novel), he is an character with full of eccentricity to hide his secrets under this pompous character he makes himself of? his adoration for these cartoon comics may reveal himself more than it looks...




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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 5 (Dark Yugi VS Ryota Kajiki)

Update: Wow, it had no introduction in this one, I'm surprised at myself...😲, I have been giving updates with some new key points (sometimes is 5 and other times are 7, for now is going to be like this, when the lot of text starts, is where I'm going to have less work I think...😕).

Plot Summary:

Jounouchi is very happy for having won his first official duel in a tournament, Jounouchi and Dark Yugi feeling motivated but it gets in the way is hunger from Jounouchi and asks if anyone brought food, Anzu brings up how much of an awful tournament host is, Jounouchi starts to smell food and follows the smell, what they found is smoked fish still being cooked in the campfire, but nobody is around, so he tries to sneak in to eat the smoked fish, Honda joins in, the others unsure if they go along with it or not, however when Honda and Jounouchi are about to start eating, they are interrupted by someone who looks like a fisherman accusing the gang for stealing his cooked fish, both noticed and impressed he is also a duelist for wearing a glove named Ryota Kajiki, he lets the gang eat the fish he caught, Ryota tells his reason to be in the tournament and discuss about it.

After they enjoy the meal, Ryota challenges Dark Yugi to a duel. the duel starts with Ryota being in the lead somewhere he has the advantage, Dark Yugi faces difficulties in defeating enemies he can't see being in the sea and feels like fighting sea with moves by a sea expert...Dark Yugi eventually turns the tables and wins the duel, both saying farewell on friendly terms.

Key Points:

 

Okay, last post, Jounouchi won the duel against Mai, so after the duel, Jounouchi is contemplating his stars chips from his first victory against Mai for 30 minutes, it's pretty amusing and very funny, so his friends reaction of this 30 minutes of contemplation, his first victory was against Mai, who was a strong duelist, technically stronger than him, that's why he is this happy while most of the gang are  impressed Jounouchi actually defeated someone stronger than him being Mai.
It's another example, how much of a terrible tournament host Pegasus is, as the gang noted not having any restaurants and had eaten all the snacks, so they start to get worried about how there is no way to eat in a island.


 

It's quite troublesome, when you arrive at an island for a tournament and some naively expecting they would be  fed...this subject will come soon... but either way, he could have a bazaar for food, honestly or some sort of cafeteria/ canteen specially holding a tournament, it's just unreasonable and very lazy too...I do quite agree with Anzu, that's the logic you would come when going to a tournament and is lovely to see her calling out Jounouchi's sexist behaviour sometimes, which sometimes the boys are, let's be honest.
A detail to note which doesn't seems to point out in his "character profile", in this kind of thing, usually has "favourite" and "least favourite", but with Jounouchi there isn't least favourite, you would think is because he is someone who loves to eat and he doesn't food he dislikes, while here in the panels ensemble on the right shows "no mushrooms", since is known to be many of them being venomous, but since there is plants like that as well, it's possible he doesn't like mushrooms or suspicious.


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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 4 (Jounouchi VS Mai)

In this post about thoughts and observations, the stars will be Jounouchi, Mai and Dark Yugi.



Plot Summary:

After the duel of Dark Yugi against Insector Haga, Dark Yugi is now with 3 stars and Jounouchi with only one star, so next is Jounouchi's time to duel, Dark Yugi reminds him the rules and to make it work to his advantage and the gang advise him to fight a weaker contestant but then they hear a voice and laugh from a area close to them and recognising as Mai's laugh, Mai just won a duel and she already has four stars, Honda and Jounouchi are impressed by her progress in the tournament, the others more quietly impressed (specially Dark Yugi, Anzu and Ryou), she comes to them and have a small talk and challenges Jounouchi, everyone is surprised, Jounouchi was hesitant at first but willingly accepts and has Dark Yugi's encouragement as well.
The duel starts with Mai taking the lead and using her "psychic" tactics which distracts Jounouchi to be focused on the duel, when Jounouchi figures out her trick, he starts performing better during the duel, there is a bit back and forth, while showing Mai being the more experienced player, the duel ends with Jounouchi winning and leaving Mai with a riddle.



Key Points:

 

So Yugi/Dark Yugi has 3 stars chips and Jounouchi has only one, since he still hasn't duelled yet in the tournament,Ryou, Honda and Anzu are worried about Jounouchi that maybe he will not reach the finals for his sister because most participants in the tournament are strong, so it's harder to find someone to the same level as him, it's amusing the friends being more worrywarts than Jounouchi, Dark Yugi is just chilling, Jounouchi is focused but energetic (that's the way he is), they taking Jounouchi and his sister a little too pitifully and putting that kind of weight to Dark Yugi to help him, specially Anzu, but treat it as going blind is the end of world from their friends side (it's terrible and very scary the idea of going blind, if she did go blind, at the beginning would be very rough in getting used to it, the difference is that there 50% chance of preventing happening if the family has the necessary funds for it) , Dark Yugi and Jounouchi are dealing with it fairly better, because is have a fighting chance, better having it than none at all.

 

I like the cool reference from Jounouchi of the field spell card "Sogen", it's a pretty well known card and one of the classics when Yu-Gi-Oh! card games started being available to everyone, even in it's video games, for someone who is familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! gets the reference right away...

On topic about their the exchange between Jounouchi and his friends is interesting, we see his growth that Yugi have been teaching him quite thoroughly recently that Jounouchi understood the rules at a good pace, even his friends are understanding the rules and give good advices and Dark Yugi reminds that by now the other contestants probably know the new rules, after all many duelists watched Dark Yugi VS Haga...

Despite Honda advise to pick a weak one, even though in the previous key point stated all contestants being personally invited to attend the tournament must be strong, for himself thinks to pick a participant that Jounouchi's current level is closest to (beginner against a intermediate would be wisest).



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Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 3 (Dark Yugi VS Insector Haga)

Last post about Duelist Kingdom in the mangá, was the end of the prologue, now the tournament starts, Dark Yugi plans to take Haga first, for what he did to his exodia cards of his grandpa (I think he sees as his own grandpa, it's not only that, you see it soon, later after Duelist Kingdom) and making it Jounouchi dive to try to catch, we can tell from this and previously, Dark Yugi is a bit sensitive and a bit hot-headed (if you mess with his guts bit much), some flaws of his we will see from him in here, this will be how much we learn about Dark Yugi personality traits.

Update: Scratch that, it makes a very confusing introduction o.o, I have been starting to make updates my analysis posts about the Duelist Kingdom Arc to restructure it into the same structure as Battle City Arc and Memory World Arc.

Plot Summary:

They arrived the Duelist Kingdom island, they walk a little and participants and the gang in front of a castle gate and at the castle's balcony to welcome them and explain the rules of the tournament in a very "battle royale" fashion around the island and the time limit of the tournament is two days (48 hours) and the contestants who have less than 10 stars can't go to the finals.
After the rules been explained, the gang explores a little of the island for Dark Yugi follow Haga's trail and Haga challenges Dark Yugi to a duel, he accepts by betting his only one star and his life as Haga betting his two stars, the duel at first takes initial lead on Haga, but the moment he turn the tables, the back and forth starts between Haga and Dark Yugi, it's not only the gang watching being the first duel, the other contestants are watching too and among them is Mai Kujaku as a commentator for the gang being a more experienced duelist...the duel ends with Dark Yugi's victory and Haga having lost both his two stars is the first to leave the island.


Key Points:

 

Dark Yugi worried about Jounouchi in possibly getting a cold and apologising, so sweet and is not often we see him doing so, even Jounouchi was kinda moved because he responded with "Aww, this is nothing!" and he is right about what ticks him off in throwing Yugi's cards (more technically Yugi's granpa, specially being Exodia, I would feel so bad and irritated, because it was of someone close 😖).

Regarding what Dark said to him and now thinking that he will taking him down first, he means in literal sense, he is determined in putting Haga out of the tournament first.

Then Pegasus starts announcing the rules of the tournament, he mentions they have to use official licensed cards of the game, I find it interesting and then advices the other duelists if they aren't satisfied with their decks, they trade with one and another... 

 

It was a very high risk to begin with just from Dark Yugi giving away one of his star chips, which implied that they would have to use it in some way, with these conditions explained, Dark Yugi and Jounouchi have to win their very first battles, but then when we think Dark Yugi giving one star to Jounouchi of his own accord to give him a fighting chance, it's only logical and fair having these kind of conditions.

 

After Pegasus, explains the rules, and mentions the battlefield it's around the island, "battle royale" style, being around the island, Dark Yugi starts questioning by what meant by that, from a participant's perspective since a card game tournament just need a room filled with tables and not around a huge area such an island for a TCG Tournament and quickly comes to the conclusion is related to the new rules, this proves his quick thinking, I wouldn't call just quick thinking that he does.

On the subject about the rules, Pegasus says there is a time limit to be 48 hours, in other words two days and to enter the castle, the participant must have 10 stars and moving to the semi-finals.

But one can keep wondering with this many contestants, is it two days even enough? I don't think it is, from how treated his contestants of not even providing a sleeping bag and force Yugi into this tournament, something fishy going on, the tournament won't be that smoothly as Pegasus make it sound and is more to say about how much of a awful tournament host he is...

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Official V-Jump wallpapers

there is a good amount of Yu-Gi-Oh Wallpapers from V-Jump, there is plenty new ones, recently is Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal focused and now the current calendar wallpaper is of Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal...

pretty cool, huh? from the style, I can bet was Kazuki Takahashi himself or one of the artist(I'm pretty sure the art was the author)

Click Here to Download more in V-Jump wallpapers page

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.8-11 Part 2 (On Board to Duelist Kingdom)

NOTICE: You must have read manga Yugioh! Duelist 1. (if you don't have, you can read through my scan in the YGO Media, the first volume maybe some blurry in a corner and some cut in words, but it's readable, it becomes less blurry)

we stopped at some good amount of observation on Jounouchi character development.


Plot Summary:

After school, Yugi arrives home and finds an envelope stuck in the door with  cards inside...the gang appears at the entrance and Jounouchi reveals he also received a videotape of 8mm, asks if he can watch at Yugi's home since he doesn't have VCR, Yugi explains news about his situation about 5 cards he received as invitation cards saying the location being on a island called Duelist Kingdom and the meet up being at the Domino Pier to be on a ship, in order to the presented Tournament's location with some basic rules in other cards plus two honor cards (King's left (it's a blank card) and King's right (the prize money)).
After catching up with the recent news about the tournament, they watch Jounouchi's videotape, they were worried that it would be Pegasus but in the end, the person Jounouchi wasn't expecting to appear being his little sister Shizuka, she explains why she sent a video and her time to see his brother coming to a close, Jounouchi is feeling very down with this news and explains their situation, confesses his frustration on thinking he is not a good brother, then Dark Yugi takes over and cheers him up by giving one of the stars that came with glove from the package, so Jounouchi could have a fighting chance to help his little sister.
The day to come to meet at Domino Pier, Yugi and the gang arrive and and see a huge ship that will take them to the island of Duelist Kingdom, they see many contestants including the top and runner up in Japan and meet for the first time a beautiful woman, who is also a contestant and most of the boys (except Ryou Bakura) are amazed by her beauty, she introduces herself as Mai Kujaku and express her interest in seeing Yugi's skills for herself in the tournament...
The whole gang smoothly boards the ship, Yugi gets the chance to talk with the two top contestants from the national championship tournament, Haga and Ryuzaki,Jounouchi complains how everyone has to sleep common room with not even bunk beds, he is not the only one, Mai starts complain about how come there isn't a room for lady at least to take a shower with later revealed that the two top contestants from the national tournament gets suite rooms, so Mai uses her charms by getting closer to Ryuzaki, the runner up and is escorted to his room by Ryuzaki.
As Yugi and Haga continue their conversation then Haga brings his curiousity about Yugi's deck, specifically Exodia The Forbidden one and throws the 5 pieces of Exodia to the ocean and Jounouchi jumps to the ocean in attempt to save Exodia's cards but in vain, Haga leaves laughing claiming that now no one is a threat to him in the competition, Yugi launches lifebuoy to help Jounouchi back to the ship, while with Mai and Ryuzaki, she challenged him to a mini-game to see who could stay in the room and she won, she got his room.


Key Points:


 

I have to say, why didn't he had given the cards inside the package? It's a bit weird and creepy doing this way, specially seeing a sort of private or spy to leave the envelope and checking if Yugi picks up the cards, let's say is a bit unnecessary 😑, I understand is also a way to show Pegasus pays close attention in not just Dark Yugi but also Yugi.

 

The envelope given 5 cards, with the information about the tournament (the day, location, prizes), even though one of them is suspicious, such as the "Honor of the King" cards of Right and Left, the "Honor of the King's Right" being the prize money and "The Honor of the King's Left" being empty with "???", it's not difficult to guess what is for and it hints is not something good and shady, but who has saw the animated series and read the manga knows and who doesn't, knows well, what it is...

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