He's willing to endure that, because The Junky Scorpion has exactly what he needs! What is that? A robot scorpion made out of parts found at the local scrapyard? That would be the best. Now I want one.
That's apparently what got Jonouchi there, which is what he tells the shop-owner when he's confronted about drooling over the most expensive shoes in the shop. Honda is horrified that he was dragged all the way there to shop for shoes, but Yuugi points out that certain shoes can get you a lot of street cred. This is actually true, at least in LA. There is a lot of violence based solely on the fact that the aggressor wanted to steal the victim's sweet runners, for real.
The shop-owner is annoyed that Jonouchi is even touching that pair, because they're not for sale. They are so rare and difficult to obtain that he's not inclined to give them up. Jonouchi is begging, but the shop-keeper just tells him that since there are so many people who want those shoes, he's not going to sell them to just anyone. The shoes on his own feet are so dope that there was a murder over them in the USA.
Is he trying to confess to a murder in his own round about way?
Jonouchi doesn't seem to have the patience to listen to the shop-owner's confessions or stories, and just wants to know if he's going to let him buy the shoes. I think when he said they weren't for sale, you had your answer, Jonouchi, you just didn't want to hear it. All the same, the shop-owner says he may consider selling them, if Jonouchi is willing to play a game.
Hey, that's Yami's schtick, you can't just snag his bit!
The boys all scoot away from the shoe and the shop-keeper, asking what kind of masochists he thinks they are. Though put off, Jonouchi is still considering it, because he's wanted those shoes for a long time. Yuugi and Honda see him still thinking about it and Yuugi tells him that it's too risky. Honda even offers to give Jonouchi his shoes, clearly not understanding the point of the sneakers Jonouchi wants.
With a battle cry of, "I'll show YOU!" Jonouchi shoves his foot into the shoe. Famous last words. Except they're not, because the clapping shop-keeper admits that he didn't really put the scorpion in the shoe, because it would have ended up leaving a stain. Jonouchi passed his incredibly sadistic and stupid test, so he gets the shoes... for the low, low price of 50,000 yen. Yes, Jonouchi is seriously going to spend about $400 on a pair of sneakers. That he'll probably get beaten up for later.
The shop-keeper warns him about this amidst he and his friends cheering, saying that if he wears them out, it's likely he'll be targeted by "Muscle Hunters" for them. They're really called that? Seems like they're setting themselves up for a very obvious joke with that name, but whatever, none of my business. The shop-keeper also gives Jonouchi some very innocuous advice about not wearing them on his bare feet before he leaves, and this is another of those panels that I'm pretty sure doesn't need to exist.
The trio leaves the store talking about the shop-keeper being just as rough as Jonouchi had heard, but Jonouchi is busy giggling about how awesome his new purchase is.
Jonouchi suggests they grab a burger, and his companions agree. Sure you can afford anything after spending that much on a pair of shoes, Jonouchi? I don't know, I'm a working adult and I would have been iffy about spending any more money after that. For MONTHS.
The boys don't notice, but they're being followed by some feet wearing very familiar looking footwear. It turns out to be three other boys, carrying... a tire with bolts and nuts sticking out of it? The hell?
Suddenly, the guy with the wrench is behind Yuugi and Honda as they call out to Jonouchi uselessly. They're attacked by two of the terrible three, while the guy with the tire kicks Jonouchi to the ground as he calls after his friends just as uselessly. From where tire-boy shoves Jonouchi, it looks like he should have landed on his front, with the bolts in the tire keeping it from rolling over. However, somehow Jonouchi ends up on his back as the hooligan pulls his brand new shoes from his feet, talking about how much he likes them.
Oh well, we've seen before how Takahashi tends to ignore physics, so it's not like it's surprising. Despite all three of the boys being beaten and bruised, their attackers insist on keeping them down, with a command to stay on the ground in addition to the punches and kicks. Eventually, the leader of the assault declares that he's taking Jonouchi's shoes, so he can just walk home barefoot. The shoe thieves walk away with their tire, wrench and Jonouchi's sneakers, victorious.
Jonouchi, Yuugi and Honda slowly sit up, asking each other if they're alright. No one reports any hemorrhages, but Jonouchi is bummed because he didn't get to wear those shoes long. Probably should have taken that shop-owner's advice and at least gotten out of the neighborhood before you put them on. Honda postulates that those must have been the "Muscle Hunters" the shop-owner was talking about, and I think they're probably on their way to the gym right now.
I told you that joke was obvious.
Jonouchi apologizes to Yuugi for his involvement in the scuffle, though Yuugi brushes it off. He's more concerned about how Jonouchi asks him if he can get home on his own. Jonouchi and Honda are going after the punks who took the shoes, because Jonouchi isn't ready to give them up. I wouldn't be either, considering how freaking expensive those suckers were. Yuugi says he'll come along, to which no one puts up an argument. Though Jonouchi does tell him not to actually get involved, and to just watch how he and Honda fight.
Cut to the arcade, where our antagonists have apparently decided to hang after getting their paycheck for a job well-done. No need to ask what that job was. They play around on the machines until Jonouchi shows up, looking like a badass despite all the wounds from the beating. He insists on all of them facing him, because he doesn't like sneaking up from behind like they do, and proceeds to punch one of them in the nose.
This guy begs Jonouchi to stop, because his nose is broken, but Jonouchi thinks this is a fair punishment for how he was forced to wear holes in his socks. Maybe Yami has been listening to Jonouchi a bit too much, and that's why he's gone overboard with that punishment in the Chapter 6. Honda jumps in to give another guy a bloody nose, with a declaration that the thieves were ten years too early to pick a fight with he and Jonouchi.
Once he feels their noses are crooked enough, Jonouchi asks where his shoes are.
Yuugi is horrified that these guys would team up with the shop-keeper to ruin Jonouchi's dream of... owning cool shoes. I don't know if I would call that a dream. I mean, I think it would be cool to have a door disguised as a bookshelf in a future home, but that's not really a dream either. Not sure what I would call it, but a dream it is not.
The puzzle glows and we all know what that means. Cut to The Junky Scorpion, in which the shop-owner is talking to the shoes he paid those kids to steal back for him, lovingly detailing how he frequently uses their presumed rarity to con people out of all the money they have. It's almost as if he has an audience who needs this information in order to understand his character motivations!
The shop-owner plays dumb, because he doesn't want word getting out about his scheme. He ignores the fact that if he does this to enough people, the word is eventually going to get out anyway. Someone WILL put two and two together and realize that you always seem to have a pair of shoes that you say are too rare to sell, despite having sold them before. You may as well cut the act.
No one takes my advice, and the shop-owner stupidly claims he didn't even realize he was holding them and hides them behind his back. He's conspicuous as hell when he turns around and pulls his pet scorpion from NOWHERE to put it in the shoe for realsees this time, without the string attached to its tail. How is any of this even happening right now??
He offers the shoe to Yami, knowing that if he grabs it, the scorpion will strike. Yami holds out a fist over the sneaker and drops some coins inside instead, and the shop-keeper is taken aback by the perplexing action.
The shop-owner wonders who the hell Yami is, the same question the readers are constantly asking themselves. Unfortunately, he won't ever know the answer. He goes from looking flabbergasted at this kid's nerve to giving him a smug acceptance of the terms of the game and adding his own that each coin is worth 100,000 yen. I'm relieved, because his adding terms that would be beneficial to him playing along is at least adding motivation, which is more than some of the other antagonists had to their consent to their respective games.
Though, I still think he's overlooking the fact that there's no way for the loser to make good on the paying the winner their cash. You know, fatal scorpion sting and all.
Yami says he doesn't want any money anyway, his only request being that the shoes be returned to his friend. The shoe is placed on a table between Yami and the shop-owner, with the shop-owner comparing it to a shark's jaws. Yami volunteers to go first.
Yami pulls out just one coin, and it's the shop-owner's turn. He puts up a front of confidence, stating he's the master of the scorpion, so it won't attack. I don't know, dude, it might hold a grudge for you holding it up by its tail from a string. The shop-owner must be thinking the same thing, because he's shaking as he sticks his hand into the shoe. He pulls out one coin as well, breathing a sigh of relief as he praises the scorpion for not stinging him.
The shop-owner knows that pulling out just the one coin from the shoe was a risk, and as Yami is taking his turn, he comes to the conclusion that he's going to have to get more than one coin a turn if he wants to win. After confirming with Yami that it's okay to do whatever, as long as you reach into the shoe and pull out coins, the shop-owner pulls a knife from a sheath on his belt above his back pocket and stabs into the toe of the shoe with it. He gives an insincere apology to the pet he presumably kills as he reaches into the shoe to scoop up the rest of the coins.
Declaring he's the winner, the shop-owner demands all of Yami's money. Yami points out that because the shop-owner's fist is wrapped around the coins, it's now stuck in the shoe, and some skittering noises coming from inside suggest that the scorpion isn't as dead as the shop-keeper had intended. Even as the shop-owner acknowledges the sound with a terrified expression, he refuses to let go of the coins and pull out his hand.
Never mind.
Yuugi relays the tale of how he went to the shop to get the shoes back and found the owner poisoned by his pet scorpion. Jonouchi, being surprisingly thoughtful, asks if Yuugi called an ambulance for him, to which Yuugi replies with an affirmative. Good deal, because now I can feel a little bit better about how this was yet another disproportionate punishment. Of course, I can excuse this one somewhat, because it was the shop-owner who actually set up the dangerous part of the game, not Yami.
Yuugi points out that there's a hole in the shoe, and doesn't know how it got there. Jonouchi doesn't mind, because to him it's like a badge of honor. Not really, because usually badges of honor come with stories, and you don't have one for this particular badge. No one is telling that story except Yami.
Jonouchi is proud of Yuugi for going to get the shoes all by himself, but that brings up the question of why. Jonouchi and Honda were with him at the arcade. Why didn't they ALL go to get the shoes back? Did Yami sneak out while they were still beating the crap out of the guys who stole them?
Like Honda, I just don't get it.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I liked most of it. I haven't had occasion to mention this before, but the physical fights that happen in this manga have so far been very realistically portrayed. No one looks like they're dancing or spinning or anything else ridiculous. It looks as rough and tumble as a street brawl should, and it was believable that the only reason the kids that came to steal the shoes won in the first fight was because they jumped Jonouchi and company from behind. I liked that the game at the end was partly set up by the antagonist, too, because that imbued a sense of his losing being due to his own hubris. Most of all, I liked that Takahashi is FINALLY showing some reasons for characters changing their minds. That's going to help me sleep better at night.
The things I didn't like were very minor in the grand scheme. The characters are still giving out some pretty painful exposition, a lot of the time when visuals could be used to show the reader just as well, if not better, what's going on. I think Takahashi may seriously underestimate the intelligence of his readers and their ability to figure it out without it having to be spelled out. Or, he may not have had a lot of confidence in his ability to show the information effectively without the exposition. I hope this changes soon, because it's annoying as hell.
Here's to next time, where the first half of a two-shot awaits!
This chapter was wild because at the end of it, Jonouchi's out of $400 AND his shoes are ruined so who really wins? Horrible. And I think this manga was written in the 90's so $400 was worth way more then than it is now, and I would still cry over that kind of money lol As always, everyone in this series is super-dramatic over trivial things, but I do like that the shop owner kinda set himself up for all of it. This particular punishment doesn't seem too over the top AND they actually call in help, so I'm thinking maybe Yami's character is toning down. I wholly agree on that note about exposition, but from what I recall, the anime wasn't much different, so I don't see that changing but there's always hope!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree - I would be devastated at the loss of that much money, because that's a lot of groceries! But like I said above, I probably wouldn't much care for spending that kind of coin on a pair of SHOES to begin with. No shade on anyone whose priorities are shoes, of course.
DeleteI've noticed to my chagrin that anime and manga for the most part does a LOT of unnecessary exposition. From characters yelling out their attacks to side-characters narrating everything that's happening, it's been a fairly widespread weakness to these mediums, because I feel like they don't fully trust the VISUAL aspect of them. It's really strange, too, because they don't come out of a culture that's particularly CHATTY, so I have no idea where it comes from. Perhaps a repression of saying what is meant most of the time?