Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 11 (Battle Ship Break Part 1)

Sorry for taking long to post anything, I have been a little busy, because I moved to a new home, house to an apartment, it's quite tiring and I didn't had internet for a week and a few days more, but I used the days without internet to still write a draft for the blog in document text :p.
This post will be relatively small, compared to others, specially the plot summary, I will be covering volume duelist 17 (japanese print volume 24 and bukodan 14 or 15?)
The first semi-final break, it's actually quite small but the duel that is about to come will be huge (be ready for the next post...)

Plot Summary:

After Ryou Bakura to be sent to his room and being under medical care, Dark Yugi has a moment of reflection about the recent match with Yami Bakura, noticing similarities between them, feeling down about himself while Yugi heeded this, he recalls Dark Yugi their differences in their circumstances despite being almost the same which helped Dark Yugi's mind feel more at ease and they switch minds.
Yugi rushes to Ryou's room to see how he is going, there is an important discussion between Yugi and his friends about the recent duel and how intense it was for Dark Yugi, as the referee calls the players to go to the meeting room for the lottery who will be playing in the next match...
The next duel will be between "Marik"Rishid and Jounouchi...


Key Points:

 

In this moment of reflection, Dark Yugi thinks he is no different from Yami Bakura when it comes to protect their hosts, he starts to doubt himself and starts feeling a bit down, what he doesn't realize there is huge differences, Yugi points out their similarities which amounts to two same circumstances, two minds in one body and the spirit protecting their host, Yugi thinks it's a little different...

 

Reminding him that Yugi helps Dark Yugi of his own volition for himself to becoming more independent and stronger and for Dark Yugi to not spend an eternity in the puzzle.
However there is more differences that overlaps with the similarities, for starters Dark Yugi does protect his host because it's a responsibility he takes very seriously and guided by his sense of justice and this was before he knew he was a spirit who lost his memories, even though he knows he needs Yugi's help to regain his memories, his sense of responsibility as spirit guardian still remains and he doesn't do it selfishly and there is genuine care in protecting his host and respects his host decisions, while Yami Bakura, he only protected his host for selfish goals and doesn't care much for his host unless is close to die or when he can still be a convenient tool.
Next section of differences, Dark Yugi and Yami Bakura have very different personalities except maybe their big ego, conceited and tend to be overconfident, but how they direct these personality traits are different, Dark Yugi ego and overconfidence is usually displayed during duels, the conceited part sometimes but mostly bases on his righteous trait, while Yami Bakura is more egoistical.
The most glaring one besides the one Yugi mentioned is the bond between the spirit and the host is huge, Yugi and Dark Yugi case is a very strong bond because there was a lots of trust building to a point that they became a team and very close friends (if they were a tag team, I think they would be pretty much unbeatable), for Yami Bakura and Ryou Bakura case...Ryou is clear he is very attached to the millenium ring but not to the evil spirit that resides within, however Ryou only give in to him when Yami Bakura persuaded him to help his friends to get out of the maze in Duelist Kingdom, so he could take control over Ryou again...
Now as for this scene itself, I really like it, you see when Yugi reminded Dark Yugi what makes the difference in their case, cheered him up greatly and also when Yugi tells him to rest, you see the "heh..." with an expression of relief probably starting to realize he relies on Yugi's kindness and glad that he isn't alone in his quest to regain his lost memories.


If you want to continue reading click "Read More" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 10 (Dark Yugi vs Yami Bakura)

This post will make the transition from Volume Duelist 16-17 (Japanese print version from 23-24, Bukodan from the covers is volume 14?).
I'm getting closer and closer to finish it, even though I'm starting to write my thoughts and observations plus interpretations about the semi-finals, I went far, however even if I finish the whole manga series, I will re-edit the first volumes thoughts and observations, it needs some changes...
You may be wondering why I call one Dark Yugi and the other Yami Bakura, when both mean the same thing (dark and yami), it's a way to distinguish them better.

Plot Summary:

The duel between Dark Yugi and Yami Bakura is about to begin, when they shuffle each others cards, they share a few words before they play.
The duel starts, at first Dark Yugi and the audience underestimate Yami Bakura skills and looks like Dark Yugi is dominating the duel, but Dark Yugi is a bit suspicious since it were strange tactics putting in attack mode and not putting any defense and magic or trap cards...when these tactics were meant to mislead the player's judgement and make the player let his guard down bit by bit and it works well for Yami Bakura, from then on, Yami Bakura dominates the duel.
Dark Yugi is cornered through Yami Bakura strange tactics and unusual duelling style, the moment he turns the tables, Yami Bakura was able to turn around to his favour again thanks to a bit of Marik's advice, which leaves one option to Dark Yugi, to summon his god card, since monsters effects and traps doesn't work on gods cards and magic cards only last for one turn, the moment he is able to summon it, Yami Bakura is the one who becomes in deep trouble and Marik interferes suggesting to let Ryou Bakura taking over, who is severely injured so Dark Yugi would hold back and forfeit the match, it almost works but since Yami Bakura still needs his host to fulfil his goals, he chooses to take over to protect Ryou from god's card attack and tells Dark Yugi to attack.
The duel ends with Dark Yugi's victory and Ryou takes over and sent immediately under medical care.

Key Points:

At least Dark Yugi suspects that maybe have been for longer time, probably suspects since Duelist Kingdom when trying to solve the riddle of the doors, due to Yami Bakura help up a bit against the twins.

Now as for the friends, they should have realized way sooner, Dark Yugi and friends should have suspected just by the fact Bakura entered the tournament and how he got the duel disk in the first place for someone who isn't an active player in TCG Magic and Wizards, Yugi was the first to suspect it, though.

Jounouchi is half right and half wrong, let's say he is not being very clear, it's just from what he understands, the fact some people who have millenium items develop a split personality, I think he is referring the items containing evil intelligence, I say this because when someone develops a split personality, it's usually because of personality and mental disorders or traumatic experiences, there is a character who did truly develop a split personality without a millenium item...


If you want to continue reading this post, click "Read More" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 9 (Prologue of the Battle Ship Stage)

It's technically a break but is a prologue to the semi finals as well, also the breaks between duels will change a little in the sub-title from "battle city break" to "semi-finals breaks", I will cover the small break/prologue in Volume Duelist 16 (volume 23 in japanese print, Bunkodan would be between 13-14 at least according to the covers arts).
Another note, 3 sections of panels I will cover, I believe it will link to Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions movie about Kaiba and Yugi (who are the main focus of the movie), I haven't watch yet, I will only be able to watch when the DVD/Blu-Ray in Japan will come out in 8th March this year, where I live the movie won't be available in the cinemas, so I have to go with this method.

Plot Summary:

Just when Jounouchi puts back the Millenium Puzzle on Yugi, Anzu is back to normal but still in Marik's mind control, Dark Yugi has a moment of reflection and final thoughts about the recent events, finally the rest of the gang (Mai, Honda and Otogi with Shizuka) arrives.
Jounouchi is surprised seeing Shizuka with them and gets angry but more to himself because he felt ashamed of what he was about to do to Yugi while being controlled by Marik and still feeling a bit disturbed by the recent events, Mai and Honda scolds for his behaviour and attitude whose feeling like a failure as big brother, friend and duelist plus as an individual, Honda informs Jounouchi that his sister Shizuka is there to give him courage too to keep moving forward and play in Battle City Tournament and with this Shizuka takes off the bandages, the siblings finally reunited.
When Kaiba is about to go to his helicopter, he calls Yugi and tells something related to the discussion he had with Dark Yugi (which will be approached, I'm looking forward to it).
The gang leaves the pier with Mai's riding to Domino Stadium Construction Site, the meeting place of the tournament semi-finalists.
Marik and his servant Rishid have already arrived and they have an important conversation about the pharaoh soul and his memories along with the darkness sealed in the millenium items and the other special conditions.
Kaiba arrives and so does the gang, later other finalists are revealed to the main characters, one of them being Bakura through Yami Bakura and Marik, Marik to keep with his "revenge" plan, he still remains disguised and named Namu to the gang while introducing himself to Yugi, while Rishid plays the Marik's role, since the last contestant is taking a bit of time they enter inside a huge plimp called Battle Ship, then lastly the missing finalist arrives and the readers recognise immediately being Ishizu.
There is some conversation going on before they go to their room preparing their decks and take a break before the first duel.
The first duel of the semi-finals about to happen, it will be between Dark Yugi and Yami Bakura...

Key Points:

When Jounouchi is thinking in following quotes:

"Thank you, Yugi...You risked your life to save mine..."

You see Jounouchi seems to feel always in debt to Yugi's kindness and selfless, he isn't the only one...

"The life of some idiot who nearly threw away our friendship...into the bottom of the ocean..."

It says lots of things, the motion when he was about to throw the piece of the puzzle, deeply affected him and is an image and body motion deeply stuck in his mind, besides he's not giving himself enough credit, no normal person can break free from a mind-control from a magical artefact, it resisted well too, Jounouchi has a very strong heart, also it was Marik's mistake for controlling Jounouchi to throw the piece and made it remember what created their friendship along with the guilt Jounouchi felt back when they weren't friends yet in how he behaved with Yugi, guilt is a powerful emotion and feeling indebted to Yugi's kindness.

Now on Yugi's standpoint, we see in the panels that he is glad and happy that he succeeded in his plan and achievement, he gives credit to Jounouchi's amazing efforts to resist and fighting against Marik's mind control and self-acknowledges that was mostly him, learning to give himself a bit more value.



If you want to continue reading, click "Read More" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 8 (B!Jounouchi VS Yugi)

you will notice a slight change in some titles, the number more specifically, including the number of volumes I will be covering, which means I will be covering 7 volumes, and the finals will be 5 volumes, the last volumes duelist.
Now will be making the transition from Volume Duelist 15-16 (in japanese print version is volume 22-23).
Before getting to the summary, you maybe wondering about why I didn't include Dark Yugi in the title when he plays in the beginning and very little, since is mostly Yugi who is dueling, I thought it would be kinda pointlessly long title and Yugi is the main focus and Jounouchi, also the summary will be long,there is a bit of focus on the duel itself since they are very relevant and the post itself will be very long, as this duel is extremely important.
To be able to distinguish between the real Jounouchi and brainwashed Jounouchi, when is brainwashed I'm refering to as b!jounouchi and when is the real one is just his name.

Plot Summary:

The duel starts between b!jounouchi and Dark Yugi, Dark Yugi begins with defensive moves, trying to think of a way to how to free Jounouchi from Marik and get them both to survive from this death match, b!Jounouchi is attacking with banned cards that the ghouls has created and edited Jounouchi's deck being full of them, Dark Yugi tries to talk through, but affects very little and Kaiba is worried about their lives but is in a tight spot as well with Mokuba's life in danger.
Dark Yugi feeling very hurt, he starts listening to Yugi's voice, Yugi and Dark Yugi comments about the situation, Yugi suggests to duel against b!jounouchi, Dark Yugi at first is hesitant in letting him play but tells him if Yugi's life is in danger he will be taking over and they do Mind Shuffle.
As Yugi starts taking over, surprises b!jounouchi and Kaiba, he makes lots of very smart and bold but very risky moves driven by his faith in Jounouchi and their friendship to shake up b!jounouchi to weaken Marik's control and it's effective.
The duel gets more dangerous and Dark Yugi gets worried for Yugi's safety, he tells he will be taking over, Yugi refuses as response and explains his reasons and asks to just watch, removes his millenium puzzle to stop Dark Yugi from taking over.
The scene changes while the duel is happening, in Domino Station, Honda, Ryuji and Shizuka just arrived to where Battle City is happening, they meet Mai and she notices Jounouchi's sister and purposes to Shizuka that she will take her to her brother, so they have a ride on Mai's car to go to the Domino Pier.
The scene changes back to the duel, Marik starts making mistakes that affect strongly and shake up even more b!jounouchi  and weaken his control over Jounouchi, Yugi asks b!jounouchi to take care of the millenium puzzle for him, Yugi puts his millenium puzzle on b!jounouchi and it shake up b!jounouchi again when was about to throw a piece of the millenium puzzle, as the duel goes on, there is some back and forth, as Yugi tries to remind b!jounouchi of events which helps the brainwash gradually wear off.
The back and forth of the duel while is still on, Kaiba gets free from the ghouls and saving Mokuba, but even so is not enough, so Kaiba and Mokuba can only watch the duel.
Marik is having a difficult time to control b!jounouchi, finally Yugi provokes Marik to attack him and he fell for it, Yugi uses his last card to capture Marik's attack putting in a position that he can attack his opponent or himself and with this Jounouchi is fully back and to buy time to say his final words to his friend, Yugi makes himself drop his life points to 0 in effort to save Jounouchi and few seconds later Jounouchi does the same to save Yugi, so Yugi was saved by Jounouchi and Jounouchi by Kaiba, then Jounouchi puts the millenium puzzle on Yugi.

(sorry for being a bit long but it was much longer than this, that's how hugely important this duel is).

Key Points:

 

Reading what Dark Yugi is saying to b!jounouchi, there are words that doesn't affect him and others that it does, when he says "Don't you feel pain...in your duelist heart?", you see by his expression he is very sad seeing Jounouchi being controlled by Marik and b!jounouchi reaction to it as if mocking it, he feels more hurt so what he says makes it more clearer what he is feeling (it's actually kinda moving):

"The pain in my body...it's not from being burned by your cards...it's the pain of my sadness seeing you lose your heart as duelist!"

This quote, you can actually feel a little bit the pain of Dark Yugi, I don't fully agree when it says duelist heart, because what about the outside of it? so I interpret as the piece of his heart is a duelist, because there is more that defines Jounouchi outside of dueling, and you see these words actually has a small effect on b!jounouchi, since the brainwash of Jounouchi is to focus and prepared only for Dark Yugi, he will have less effect even if their bond is very strong, so it requires the right person to free Jounouchi...

(On a additional note, the art in this duel is quite beautiful, in this section, specially Dark Yugi, you can see Kazuki Takahashi put a lot of effort on this duel)

You can see in these 3 panels, Yugi still has some difficulties to reach Dark Yugi and Dark Yugi to hear Yugi during duels due to his ego and pride that blocks it, we have to remember even though he is a bit more humble now, it doesn't change his ego is still big, specially his "duelist ego and pride" because outside of duels, Yugi has no difficulty to reach Dark Yugi, this time around Yugi to reach him didn't took as long when it was against Kaiba and Pegasus, you see there is some progress in their connection between spirit and host.


If you want to continue reading this post click "read more" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 7 (Battle City Break Part 5)

We're getting closer to one of the most important duels in the series...but let's focus on the little break first before the duel.
We are still in volume Duelist 15 (volume 22 in japanese print version).

Plot Summary:

In the previous post summary, when Kaiba and Dark Yugi just won the tag-match against the Masked Ghouls, but as soon as the duel ended, Marik mind controlled Mask of Light and started talking to them through him, Kaiba was surprised as he noticed the voice was different and the body language was different and weird.
Dark Yugi informs Kaiba that it's Marik talking through Mask of Light, Leader of the Ghouls and owns the third god card.
Marik tells Dark Yugi that everything is ready for him to try to save his friends or not and to Kaiba claims Ra, the Sun Dragon is a god card more powerful than Obelisk...and leaves Mask of Light body, Kaiba and Dark Yugi discuss about this situation, as Mokuba appears in a helicopter and affirming that Kaiba's company has found Jonouchi and came to pick them up and take them to where Jounouchi is, their conversation prolongs in the helicopter as Kaiba tries to gather more info about Marik.
When they arrive at the location where Jounouchi is, Dark Yugi immediately recognises the place, the pier from when they went to Duelist Kingdom, once Dark Yugi reaches the ground, he sees Jounouchi but he looks different being already brainwashed/mindcontrolled, Dark Yugi isn't shocked but panicked and later is revealed to Dark Yugi that is not just Jounouchi who's been brainwashed, Anzu as well which comes as a big shock to him and feeling more fearful for his friends, Marik blackmails with Anzu's life for Dark Yugi to duel against brainwahsed Jounouchi (b!jounouchi) in a life and death match.
The duel is about to start...

Key Points:

I agree and disagree with Kaiba here, Kaiba acknowledges teamwork can be important but only when is truly necessary, let's say he will only use it as a last resort and still goes by his loner principles, and also you can only trust yourself and other people get in the way, to me depends, if it's you and the society, yes, it's best trusting yourself only, but if it's you and the people you care about and care for you back, I don't really see a problem, as  I think is important to be independent because you're still an individual, also Kaiba believes he is alone, when he really isn't, he has Mokuba and the current Kaiba Corp employees seem very loyal to him.

 

Their conversation gets more interesting from here, Dark Yugi being in a hurry and rightfully so to find his friends as Kaiba presents the place where it will hold the finals to Dark Yugi and Kaiba, Dark Yugi is reminding Kaiba that he should already understand why Dark Yugi is in such hurry, Kaiba knows since he fought to save Mokuba and his company and thinks about what he just said, but Kaiba being naturally inquisitive, he still has some questions about the subject...


If you want to continue reading click "read more" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 6 (Battle City Tag Duel: Teamwork and Power of Unity)

The summary will be small since what is happening is a duel, but there is important moments to highlight, it's Kaiba character arc and development, the key points will have plenty to write...
Where we are in volumes, volume duelist 14 to 15 (volume 21 to 22 in japanese print version), yeah, we are getting closer to "that" duel (I'm looking forward to write my thoughts and observations about  "the duel", they're one of the four most emotionally intense duels (with Dark Yugi/Yugi VS Pegasus, Dark Yugi VSDark Marik and the Ceremonial Duel).

Plot Summary:

The duel starts off with Mask of Light going first then Dark Yugi and after is Mask of Darkness and lastly Kaiba alternate turns being a tag duel, they start being somewhat in trouble because the main characters's opponents have a good teamwork, Mask of Light focus on spell and trap cards and Mask of Darkness to summon, be the offence and defense.
Kaiba being a stubborn and prideful loner, refuses to teamwork with Dark Yugi and wants to defeat his opponents by himself, as they get cornered, Kaiba has no choice but to teamwork with Dark Yugi, at the beginning he misses the point but thanks to Dark Yugi he learns fairly quickly what teamwork is, once he understands it, Kaiba and Dark Yugi are on equal ground with Mask tag team driving towards victory on Dark Yugi and Kaiba side.
It's obvious the focus in this duel in terms of character development is Kaiba.


Key Points:

 

As much as I get Kaiba being more of an individualist (I'm one myself), I do understand Kaiba to some extent but isn't exactly for the same reasons, but I can acknowledge teamwork when is necessary even though isn't my style, which is what Kaiba learns in this duel about himself and teamwork, I can relate with him a little on this part.

Kaiba is missing the point in this duel having an individualist mindset and being single minded as well all his life, but there is reasons for it, not just Gozaburo and his parents's deaths plus their uncle and aunt that drives him to be extremely individualist, this tag duel teaming up Dark Yugi is one of the most important lessons to him plus the ones against Dark Yugi's duels.
By the way, I always laugh at the panel when Dark Yugi asks to team up with eye signal, Kaiba expresses his thought as the most ridiculous idea he ever thought or heard.

Another note to remember, when Kaiba's eyes are like this is when he is consumed by his ego, when he is actually thinking clearly is different from these panels above.

If you to continue reading this post click "read more" below:

Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.20-26 Part 5 (Battle City Break Part 4)

Yes, there will be a lot of battle city breaks, because there is a lot to observe most of the time and we are still in volume duelist 14 (vol.21 in japanese print version).
The summary will be small and not much to comment, in this post and next one, Kaiba will have a bit more focus than Dark Yugi since Kaiba will be developing himself a bit due to his character arc.

Plot Summary:

We left off at Marik just arriving at the aquarium with Bakura seriously hurt.
Jounouchi and the others (Sugoroku and Anzu) leave the aquarium, they find a stranger (Marik) holding Bakura who is very injured in his left arm to the point he is very weak and about to faint, they get worried and all of a sudden they are ambushed by a gang of a young boy whose duel disk has been stolen by Yami Bakura (poor Bakura...), Marik shields Bakura to protect him and takes the punch instead (takes the chance to gain their trust), Jounouchi gets irritated and being good at fighting, "took care" of them easily.
Sugoroku takes Bakura to the hospital through a taxi cab, while Marik stays with Jounouchi and Anzu, he introduces himself as Namu, Marik starts to prepare to brainwash them...
Kaiba and Dark Yugi are beating a bunch of ghouls on the way as a tag team, ghouls warns Marik that they can't stop them anymore, so Marik calls a special tag team to go after Kaiba and Dark Yugi, self-proclaiming to himself that their decks serves to defeat god cards to buy time to brainwash Jounouchi and Anzu.
The special tag force starts going after them, one of them throws a device at Kaiba's duel disk as it blocks it's function and another one shows up who has the key to unlock the device and blackmailing them, Kaiba and Dark Yugi has no choice but to follow them...
They reach the top of a skyscraper, this special tag force introduce themselves as one being Mask of Darkness(MD) and the other the Mask of Light(ML), the tag duel is about to start...

Key Points:

 

Nice excuse, Marik...I feel so sorry for Ryou to be in this situation, I think it shows the difference between Yugi and Ryou as hosts, Yugi at the beginning of the series like Ryou at this moment, Ryou doesn't remember the times Yami Bakura was taking over, in Yugi's case he didn't remember until the time of Monster World arc, Yugi was able to be more gradually aware what was happening when Dark Yugi took over, it became stronger in the duel against Kaiba, Mai and Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom, to a point Yugi could decide whether to watch what was going on or not when he didn't wish to interfere strongly (ex: Anzu and Dark Yugi "date" and other instance), the same is for Dark Yugi (ex: Dark Yugi didn't watch Yugi reading the newspaper about Egypt exhibition and Ishizu, he didn't knew about the newspaper article), but Dark Yugi could do it for much longer time than Yugi due to building the millenium puzzle for 8 years had an influence.

There is another difference between Yugi and Ryou, the strength of heart, specially right now, Yugi is much stronger than Ryou Bakura, Ryou stagnated the moment he let Yami Bakura take over and manipulate him in his development, on the other hand, Yugi just kept evolving and still is, the more aware he becomes,..


If you want to continue reading, click "read more" below...