Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 068 Demon Lightning

Otherwise known as Shoop Da Whoop.

Better than this would be a bug lamp that the moth is drawn to and gets zapped accordingly. Just imagine Shoop Da Whoop there in a bug light cage, firin' his laser on moths left and right. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for something similar that will keep me laughing all day long. Make it happen, manga.

Can I talk for a moment about how I really like Haga's acting his age? Remember, he's fourteen, and many fourteen-year-old kids are caught between trying to act like the sober and mature adult that they want to be seen as by this point, and the child that they're used to being by the time they get there. I think his dialogue generally strikes that balance, so that when he gets to this point, I can believe that his excitement just got the better of him here and he relapsed a little bit into child-mode.

Haga is still laughing as Yami glares across the table at him. Yami thinks about how he managed to destroy the cocoon before the moth reached the ultimate stage, but defeating the non-ultimate moth is still something he's questioning. Oh, so the cocoon DIDN'T just burst on its own like I thought in the last chapter? My bad.

Anzu tells Yami to look out, like he's not already looking right at the damn moth, and Bakura admits that the moth looks awfully tough. Mai thinks about how Haga managed to turn the tables on Yami. Thanks for that totally needed reiteration of the situation, Mai.

Haga demands for Yami to acknowledge who's laughing now, as he points and asks if the fear of his moth shrunk Yami's tongue into his throat. Yami smirks and says that he was actually just picturing how he's going to swat that overgrown mosquito. Moths aren't even KIND of similar to mosquitoes, Yami. Do you even entomology, bro? Haga, meanwhile, is so caught up in his childish high on successfully summoning his monster that he doesn't take Yami's cockiness as anything more than a bluff. He sardonically says that Yami's threat is soooooo scary, and that he'd like to see Yami try to kill the moth.

Haga's expression suddenly becomes angry as he shouts that it's time to battle, and Yami tells him to bring it the fuck on from the opposite side of the table. Haga says that his turn allows the Great Moth to take flight, and somehow, Haga's intention to attack from the air is surprising to Yami. Yami, the moth has WINGS. Were you not aware of this? Haga chuckles, because none of Yami's land monsters can attack the moth while it's in the air, and Yami's only flying monster doesn't have the attack points to beat it anyway.

First and foremost, Haga announces that he's going to take out the beaver warrior and knight on his next turn. Yami doesn't like how that sounds, because Gaia is his main defense right now, and if he's taken out, Yami will lose. Haga shouts that because Gaia is earthbound, he doesn't stand a chance against the flying moth. Why did we need to access Haga's thoughts with this sentiment in them before if he's just going to SAY it to Yami now?

Yami draws a card for his turn, saying his move rides entirely on it. The card turns out to be Polymerization, and as though Yami told Haga this, Haga declares that Yami's new card is useless. He proceeds to command his moth to attack Gaia and the beaver. Sounds like a weird sitcom...

How much you wanna bet that he used Polymerization on Gaia and his flying dragon to make him fly? I don't trust Yami is actually surprised by anything anymore. He continues to lie with his face as his life points go down to 600 and Haga laughs about Gaia being dead. In the next panel, Yami is wearing a smirk again, asking Haga if he really thinks so. Haga follows the script of being GENUINELY shocked.

Yami holds up the Polymerization card, saying that Haga must not really understand what it does. Haga's eyes BUG out (hehe) as he looks at the card like he's only seeing it for the first time. To be fair, the AUDIENCE didn't see Yami play the card either, but we're also used to crucial moments not being really clearly represented.

Now, everyone, go and buy that card!

Haga growls, infuriated that Yami managed to combine Gaia and Curse of Dragon. Yami explains that the Polymerization card increased Gaia's power to match that of the Great Moth, both at 2600 points, so they can enjoy an air battle between two equally-matched monsters. Haga suddenly chuckles again at the sight of the monsters facing each other in the air, and then laughs maniacally.

Yami glares at Haga questioningly, who says he wonders if Gaia's attack power is really higher. Yami wonders what's happening, because as he and Haga look on, Gaia's attack points are going down one hundred at a time, which just tickles Haga as he describes the phenomenon. Yami asks himself why this could be so, and Haga graciously offers to explain.

You see, when a knight and a dragon love each other very much... the Great Moth's Hurricane can't just blow away the knight anymore, so it affects him with its poison powder which takes down his attack points instead. Nature. Yami stares open-mouthed at Haga as Gaia's points degenerate from the pollen. Haga tells Yami that Gaia and the dragon's stats will continue to decay if something isn't done. Yami sees that the monster's attack has gone down to 2100, too low to attack now. As he draws a card, Yami knows that any further drop in points will let the moth's attack bring his life points down to zero.

So, Yami slaps the "Magic Mist" card down on the table.

That is totally going to fuck up his hair!! Haga was just pretending to be upset by this, though, and in the next panel is yukking it up once again. He thinks he's seen right through Yami's plan of washing away the poison pollen with the mist, asking if Yami thinks he's super smart. Yami's actually thinking that at least the drop in attack points has stopped at this point. Haga calls Yami's trick basic and makes fun of him for that being the only plan he can come up with. Of course, Haga has to have the honor of taking him our in one blow, so he assures Yami that the poison pollen won't outright KILL Gaia. Isn't that a relief?

 Yami glares, because when isn't he, and watches as Haga calls out his moth's ultimate attack, "Moth Burning Death Tornado". I know I've asked this before, but who comes up with these attack names? Anzu calls out to Yami, but it's too late to employ the power of her feelings. Haga declares that Gaia is burnt to ashes by that tornado of fire. Jonouchi, Honda and Bakura's mouths are agape as Bakura asks if this really is the end. Haga seems to think so, as he's laughing about having beat Yami.

But he stops mid-celebration with his signature dumbfounded expression. Yami, with just 100 life points to spare, is smiling at him, agreeing with him that it is INDEED quite funny. Haga actually starts crying and his nose starts running as he asks what's so funny to Yami this time. I... actually feel BAD for this kid. For all his brattiness, the kid JUST got here, and now he's the first one who's going to be kicked out. That must SUCK, especially when you're the winner of another tournament in the same game.

Yami tells Haga that he fell for his decoying Gaia, and Haga is flabbergasted that the monster could have been a decoy at all. Now that it's Yami's turn again, he plans to attack Great Moth with another card.

There is so much badassery in that card. Haga isn't so convinced though. Nose still running, he's at least relieved, because Summoned Skull's attack is lower than that of Great Moth's. It appears if Yami attacks with him like he plans to, he'll lose.

Yami asks Haga if he's figured out the real reason the Magic Mist card was used, causing Haga's initial relief to shatter. He realizes that Great Moth is now wet because of the mist, and Yami says that Magic Mist is a great stepping stone to use the demon's power to its fullest because its makes the target more conducive to electricity and gives Summoned Skull a boost.

Not quite Shoop Da Whoop, but it does the trick. Haga is crying over the burnt carcass of his moth as his life points lower to 0. Yami just frowns, looking a little bored. What's wrong, Yami? Too cool to celebrate with your friends in the next panel? You little dickweed.

While Yami's friends are jumping and carrying on in his place, Mai thinks about how perfect his victory is to her particular plans. As Yami stands up from the table, Haga is mired in disbelief that he could have lost. Yami talks down to him by reminding him that the rules of the game dictated his defeat, after all. He grabs the star chips Haga brought to the island, saying that he'll take them now, and then unceremoniously makes fun of him for being the first person to lose all his star chips, considering he was only a week before the champion of Japan. Haga pounds his fists on the table instead of into Yami's face.

Okay, you need to take your ego down a notch, Yami. Go take a fucking nap or something, shit.

The next panel shows that just twenty minutes into dueling, Haga's picture has an "X" drawn on it with the word "retired" below. That's a lot nicer than Yami is being right now. Yami glares indiscriminately as he clutches his new star chips in his fist, knowing he only has seven more until he gets to enter Pegasus's castle.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I liked how the decoy of Gaia was properly consistent with the moves Yami made before, and Yami's panic at Gaia's loss of attack points made sense to how few life points he had at the time. It wasn't just another conveniently well-done acting job, he really was at the end of his rope, and he didn't know if he was going to make it to summoning the monster he really wanted to summon. It was a risk he didn't think he was going to have to take, and therefore it made sense for him to look as shocked as he looked when Gaia's points started going down.

That being said, the beginning of the chapter still followed the pattern of KT trying to fool the audience into thinking Yami was out for the count by making a more convincing than was realistic expression of surprise when Haga attacked grounded Gaia with the moth. I think in this case, it was part of the red-herring strategy KT had to not SHOW Yami playing the Polymerization card, because the audience wouldn't know if he actually put it on the table or not. It's not an actual red herring as much as it is just flat-out lying though. KT isn't leading us off on the wrong path by adding misleading information to the narrative. He's withholding information and drawing character expressions in such a way to tell us an outright falsehood. It's annoying and insulting to think that Yami is going to have to think of a way around a new obstacle when he anticipated the obstacle all along, or his opponent is presented as just an idiot who didn't know any better.

I mean, Haga was the national tournament champion. Portray him as the child he is all you want, KT, but don't try to tell me that he doesn't know shit about a card that Yami has, because he HAS to have come across it at some point. It's not like it's one of Pegasus's brand new cards or something.