Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 012 The Cruel Gang, Part 2

Is it time for part two already? When I said the one-shots were drudgery a few chapters back, I meant it. Though the stories are longer with the two-shots, I feel like they're going by a lot faster. It's an illusion caused by the more engaging material, I'm sure. There's a lot more going on in the two I've read so far, and I'm having no trouble getting invested in what happens. Not to mention, the stakes for this one are quite a bit more crucial to the main characters than in previous chapters, so I'm on the edge of my seat. Let's get it going.

Previously, on Yu-Gi-Oh! Yuugi and his friends race against time to get Jonouchi back! Jonouchi won't ever forgive Doofy Glasses Kid for hurting his buddy! He's surrounded by the gang, who will punish him for his betrayal, maybe even kill him! Will he escape? Will Yuugi and company arrive in time? Did Doofy Glasses Kid have some fashion sense knocked into him? Find out, on this episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Also, it looks like rain.

Jonouchi SAYS that the gang's plans to punish him are great, but the five to one odds don't actually look great to him. One of them throws the first punch, which Jonouchi dodges without even flinching. He knees his attacker in the face and punches him, but doesn't realize someone else has snuck up behind him. He's hit on the back of the head and is knocked off his feet while Hirutani looks on in disinterest. I swear, a bomb could go off in that guy's face and he'd have the exact same expression.

The gang member who bashed Jonouchi from behind encourages his fellows to help him finish beating the shit out of Jonouchi, and the sound effects are plastered over a panel that has speed lines overlaid on a picture of a... duct in a room? Not sure.

Once Jonouchi is restrained, Hirutani stands to order his lackeys to bring their misbehaving miscreant to what he calls the "execution grounds."

Are you guys serious right now? You were in an alley right next to the bar when Honda beat that guy up, and it took you this long to reach the entrance? How? Were you running in dramatic slow motion? How is time supposed to work here? Given how the events are presented, we have the gang member coming out of the bar, being beaten by Honda, and confessing why Jonouchi was in the gang now. Then Jonouchi starts some shit and is beaten up in the bar. Do these events overlap? Did the beating of the random gang member that came out of the bar last a LOT longer than I thought? Because if not, this isn't making much sense.

Anyhow, Yuugi is thinking about how they have to save Jonouchi when Honda tells them to stay behind in the rain. Yuugi begins to protest, but Honda rightly says he can't be preforming a video game escort mission with Yuugi and Anzu while he's fighting the boss. He reassures Yuugi that they're still friends, but he anticipates the fight to be a doozy. Ignoring Yuugi's call after him, Honda launches himself down the stairs with an announcement that he's on his way.

He kicks open the door, shouting that he's there to take Jonouchi back home, and finds the bar empty. Well, except for Doofy Glasses Kid, who was apparently laying there knocked out while his brethren took Jonouchi from the building. Honda shakes him by his collar, trying to wake him up, but birds are still circling his head.

Good question. Shouldn't you have seen them leave? You were right outside! The only explanation would be that there's a back door, but why would they have taken that instead? It's not like anyone's going to challenge them at the main entrance, considering how the last chapter had them kicking around that guy in the suit without anyone confronting them except Yuugi and company. Hell, this bar doesn't even seem to have a proprietor that could call the police on them! It's empty!

Where are the ADULTS???

Honda goes back out to inform Yuugi and Anzu that Jonouchi wasn't in the bar. Yuugi asks where Jonouchi could be otherwise, but Honda doesn't have a clue. He mentions that it looks like there was a fight, but other than that, he can only say things look pretty bad. Anzu says they have to find Jonouchi, and suggests they all split up to search the area. Honda agrees to this plan on the condition that if either Yuugi or Anzu find Jonouchi first, they have to come get him. He's not comfortable with the idea of either of them fighting Hirutani's gang.

That's very responsible of you, Honda. But how would they find you again after you split up? No one thinks about this, running off in different directions in search of Jonouchi. Meanwhile, off in some random warehouse...

Mordecai was less of a unrestricted smartass than Jonouchi. It's no wonder the pummeling continues after a pause from Hirutani, whose face is shadowed. Hirutani talks about how Jonouchi is the same as he always was, so hatefully similar to Hirutani himself. He reminisces about the good old days when he and Jonouchi were partners, with lackeys and cred. However, Hirutani could never keep Jonouchi in his place as his underling.

Were you partners, or was he a lower-ranking member, Hirutani? Make up your mind. Jonouchi understands that the only reason he's there is so he can be broken and Hirutani can exert his authority and dominance, but that end hasn't been accomplished just yet. He says their lesson was too light to even stick in his mind, though their faces definitely have, so he encourages them to make a greater effort. Hirutani tells Jonouchi there's more in store, a whole meal of all the pain he can eat. Jonouchi looks on in horror at the new tool they bring out.

No! Don't taze him, bro! The kid with the spiked head makes a move to offer Jonouchi a little sample of the electricity, but Jonouchi kicks him in the face before he can make contact. Spiked Head collapses onto his back while his fellow gang members advance on Jonouchi, one of them pressing a taser into his neck. Jonouchi screams.

Yuugi is running around in the rain, calling out for Jonouchi. He grabs the Millennium Puzzle and thinks if he wishes hard enough, maybe it will lead him to Jonouchi. I don't know why you would think that, but whatever. Yuugi wishes his hardest, prompting Yami to take over.

Back at the warehouse, the rain is coming down just as hard and pouring through a hole in the roof onto a random drum. The kid Jonouchi kicked earlier is lying in a puddle at the base. Jonouchi is still hanging from the rope by his arms, but he's limp and not fighting anymore. One of the gang members mentions to Hirutani that Jonouchi isn't even screaming anymore and his whole body is twitching, suggesting that they've tortured him enough. But Hirutani urges him to continue, though he is warned Jonouchi will probably die.

One of the gang members asks who Yami is, and Hirutani recognizes him as the kid who came to get Jonouchi in the last chapter. Another nameless punk punches Yami in the face while telling him their warehouse isn't a place for a child, sending him flying into a tire propped against the nearby drum. The henchman laughs at how weak Yami is for someone trying to save his friend.

Yami isn't listening as he picks up a metal wall shelf support and attaches his puzzle to a nearby chain. He challenges the gang to a game, and they look at him with confusion.

The greaser member of the gang laughs and assumes that Yami is bluffing. He prepares to switch on his taser to thrust it at Yami when Hirutani stops him. He explains that because Yami lured them into the rain and a puddle by letting the greaser punch him, they would get electrocuted if they used their tasers. Yami looks shocked that Hirutani managed to figure it out, and Hirutani laughs as he concludes that though the switch is their stun guns, they can still murder him with their fists. He declares that they won the game as his thugs advance on Yami.

Yami has a smile back on when he states that they still haven't found the switch that is so close to flipping, so they actually lose. Hirutani is confused once more, until he looks down to find Spiky Head waking up, with his arm propped precariously on the shelf support that Yami picked up before. Yami's puzzle is dripping rousing water on Spiky Head's face, and he's coming to. Hirutani shouts at him not to wake up, which of course has the exact opposite effect. Drowsy Spiky Head moves his arm just enough for it to fall down into the water.

Ouch.

Honda and Anzu run by the hole in the warehouse wall to find Yuugi kneeling by a conked out Jonouchi. No gang members are in sight. They race into the building, Honda asking what happened while Anzu expresses relief that Yuugi is okay.

Jonouchi comes to slowly, seeing Yuugi hovering over him. Yuugi grins as Jonouchi recognizes him and suggests that they go home. I happen to think an ambulance would be the far better option, but if everything I thought should happen in this story happened, Jonouchi probably wouldn't be electrocuted to begin with. Jonouchi sits up and grips Yuugi's shoulders in a manly almost-but-not-really-hug. This is truly a bromance for the ages.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? As per the standard set by its predecessor, this chapter was addressing some serious subject matter. Jonouchi went from being essentially blackmailed to being assaulted and tortured, all of which were dire situations for him to face. It was intense and emotionally evocative to see Jonouchi getting the taser to the neck, but it was even more so seeing him hang limp and semi-conscious from the rope. There wasn't a lot shown, but there didn't need to be. Switching between Jonouchi's torture and Yuugi's desperate searching, the scene carried so much more weight than shock value (pun intended).

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get past the fact that adult authorities were as absent in this story as they were in Chapter 6. It's conspicuous when people who could have interfered or even prevented a lot of the things that happened here are just MISSING. It was especially egregious in the bar. Where was the unscrupulous owner who let underage thugs in? Why were they allowing the gang use of this space? What were their feelings on the brawl that happened in the middle of the bar? Delighted, angry, indifferent? If they had been there, would they have called the police? Rather than deal with all these questions and come up with a plausible answer, Takahashi just neglected establishing the existence of someone in charge altogether, and it was the elephant in the room I just couldn't get over.

That makes the chapter split down the middle between a hit and a miss for me. It did what it was meant to do very well, insofar as the specific scenes the story was written around go. But when it came to depicting the realities surrounding the situation and the inevitability of an authority at least TRYING to crack down on the violence the gang was perpetrating, the details were just not there, and it broke my suspension of disbelief.

Although, there may be another explanation. With all this crazy shit going on in Domino, it's possible that people just don't make it to adulthood very often.

Well, that's a depressing thought.