Yuugi recognizes Marik with anger and shock, but Marik isn't interested in Yuugi's feelings toward him in the slightest. He tells Yuugi to butt out, because he intends for this to be the final round of a 1,000-year battle. Yuugi looks alarmed, turning to the invisible Yami hanging out beside him. Yami looks his usual impassive self (murder grin, how I miss you...), arms crossed as he says that he can't avoid fate. Yuugi shouts at Yami to watch it, because Marik has Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the god cards. It's difficult to tell which of them is tugging on one side of their shared jacket in the next panel, but I'm guessing it's Yami preparing to whip it off their shoulders in a dramatic way.
Meanwhile, Marik is speeding closer on his motorcycle, thinking about how he's waited a thousand years for this moment. If that number isn't just hyperbole and he and Ishizu are ACTUALLY that old, you'd think he would have learned a bit of patience over that lengthy period. He at least should have learned in the last 100 years of that to not go screaming down the highway on a vehicle while not paying attention to the road unless you want to be splattered all over the fucking pavement.
Yami glares at the body in front of him, which stares blankly back through bulging eyes. He jokes that Marik's doll has seen better days, and it's not the most dignified of bearers for a god card. Marik explains that his doll used to be a mime that went crazy when he killed his parents, locking his consciousness away, and apparently all his emotions and expressions with it. To Marik, the empty vessel he occupies is an invaluable weapon. Or maybe just a taxi.
Criticizing Marik for using his Millennium Item to brainwash people, Yami vows not to let him get away with it. Okay, two things: a. Marik's account didn't contain any kind of information that should lead anyone to believe he brainwashed this mime guy, just that the mime guy happened to be a convenient container that emptied itself long ago. b. I don't think You have ANY room to advocate against brainwashing people with Millennium Items, Yami. What do you think all of your little punishments with the puzzle have BEEN, exactly? Little hypocrite.
Marik launches into a long speech about how human minds are even more fragile than their bodies, susceptible what is read or watched and to being eaten up by their own imaginations. Some people think they even hear "God" (his quotes), and when his "charisma" and "dominance" (MY quotes) just happens to coincide with that image of god they have, they're really easy to control. Oh, gag me with a spoon...
Anyway, the power to dominate other peoples' minds, thoughts and memories is that of the Millennium Rod. Upon hearing this, Yami's face is... pretty much the same. Marik warns Yami that if he loses, the doll will kill him, as it is programmed to do. He claims that the doll will pursue Yami to the ends of the earth until he dies, not stopping until it catches him. The evil chuckle Marik gives him prompts Yami to smirk instead of be afraid. Yami has no doubt that the doll can catch him; it's just whether or not it can BEAT Yami that's the question here.
Marik is convinced he can, but he gives no reason as to why he thinks that. He just reiterates the plan to kill Yami, and then go steal Kaiba's god card too. Such a sophisticated plot. While he keeps booking it down that road on his bike, Marik fantasizes about the three cards giving him that coveted "king" title, freeing him from his thousand-year curse. He's real excited to be free finally.
Marik calls the start of the duel from his puppet's mouth and we're ready to get this show on the road. To make it all the more expedient, he also declares that he'll take the first turn and draw first and the doll does as he instructs. As if he gives a crap, Marik asks if Yami is ready. Yami glares.
The doll slaps a card face down on his Duel Disk and per Marik's grinning eagerness, summons Humanoid Slime in attack, which is just what it says on the tin. It's only got 800 points on it, and this makes Yami suspicious right away that Marik is playing it for anything but defense. Yami thinks that the move is some kind of trap, a good estimate given that face down card. And the fact that Marik is ending his turn so soon.
Yami declares his turn has come, quite unnecessarily, and proceeds to draw a card. As he adds what looks to be Gazelle to his hand, he peers over it and at the Slime. He knows he can't attack on this turn, buuuuuuuut he's willing to play a trap for a trap. He also plays a face down card, as well as Gazelle (2 for 2! I'm on a roll!) and with that his turn is done.
So Marik begins the trash-talk. He deliberates over whether Yami is being cautious or cowardly, for his lack of attack, and warns Yami that he won't be able to win like that. Again, Yami just glares. Sorry bud, you might have goaded Jonouchi into an attack with that bullshit, but Yami is just a TAD more conscientious than that. Marik tells Yami to at LEAST not eat it before he gets to see Slifer the Sky Dragon, chuckling. Then he announces his turn and has his doll draw a card for him.
Wait, what was that about a spell card?
It's polymerization! That's right, because when you have a tricked-out tapeworm, your first instinct should be to mix it with another creature altogether! What is that unlucky monster? Yami looks on in shock to see a new creature formed.
Yami's more concerned with the fact that it has 2200 attack points, and how Marik managed to make that much more powerful a monster on just his second turn. He closes his gaping mouth with a personal reassurance that a polymerized monster can't attack on the turn its summoned. Marik wastes no time in questioning that assumption, though, which makes Yami nearly shit his pants judging by how wide his eye goes in the next panel.
Marik points out the face down card that Yami clearly thought was a trap and reveals that it wasn't a trap at all. Yami's back expresses surprise through exclamation point before Marik turns over the card, which turns out to be "Quick Attack", another card that is pretty self-explanatory. Yami sweats knowing that the unholy fusion of worm and slime is now quick enough to attack him right now. Well shit.
Because a villain has just GOT to rub it in, Marik starts talking himself up as a brave soul who never fears his opponent's cards or waits until he's reasonably sure he has the upper hand before attacking. Except you DID, Marik. You waited until your monster was fused before you attacked, so clearly you've got a reasonable expectation that this will go well for you now rather than it did when it was just your slime on the table. I guess he's talking exclusively about face down cards, though, because he brings up that unlike Yami the coward, he's not made overly cautious by one on the opposing side. Yami is, once more, shocked and speechless.
The Slime Drake lunges for Gazelle the moment it's ordered to do so, but wait, is that the iconic smirk that no one's poker face should be good enough to hide so well up until this very moment on Yami's face? Why, yes it is! And Marik is now the one wearing the shocked expression. Yami explains that he knew from the moment the slime was summoned that it would be used in a fusion with another monster, because with this kind of trick one can summon a high-level monster without wasting a turn. Turns out he is also a card encyclopedia just like Sugoroku. Like grandfather-like possessed grandson... I guess.
Marik marvels in horror at the fact that Yami had realized he would polymerize, and Yami says OF COURSE he did, because the universe revolves around him. Okay, I added that last part on there. Anyway, Yami reveals his face down card.
Yami shouts at Gazelle to get at 'em while the two are separated, so it launches itself at the opposing side and stomps right on that slime. Marik's life points go down to 3300, and Yami asks him what's next, because he's probably already planned that out. Yami is confident that he's already planned for the move beyond that, though. I doubt he's planned for Marik to be weirdly PLEASED with this notion, though.
My money's on both.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? My first complaint is that it wasn't particularly visually interesting, despite the overlays of Marik on his motorcycle. It's weird that these panels reminding me that Marik is multitasking like a boss without crashing and dying aren't so much interesting as they are just... BUSY. Like too much is going on just to give the illusion of real movement forward with the plot. Which shouldn't be necessary because this IS the match between Yami and the bad guy that is the culmination of Millennia of resentment and rage, right?
No, this is just filler for Yami so he can earn more puzzle cards and get that much closer to the finals where he's REALLY going to face Marik. Again, KT is trying to keep us in suspense by continually restating that Marik is hot on Yami's trail. I would much prefer for him to continue being a face in the shadows until the actual match between him and Yami, with Yami fighting with stronger and stronger Rare Hunters until that point. This feels like a premature encounter with the boss character in a video game. There's no buildup, just the pull of a party-popper in front of your empty birthday party.
And I really shouldn't NEED to reiterate how annoyed I am with Yami's record of infallibility, but what the hell, once more with feeling. I am really sick to death of Yami's surprise becoming a smirk at impossible speeds every time it looks like he might have been bested. Especially when he really WAS here. Marik was RIGHT that he was being overly cautious and refused to attack until he KNEW that the face down card he saw wasn't a trap. If Yami was so sure that the face down card wasn't a trap, he could have simply attacked the slime without the hesitation he showed. As it stands, he actually cost himself time and effort when he could have just nipped the problem in the bud on his first turn. Why didn't KT have him do this? Because he needs to look clever by going to the edge of fucking up and pulling a cute trick out of his ass at the last second.
But Yami needs to ACTUALLY fuck up in a way that's difficult to reverse in order for me to give a shit. There needs to be a struggle. If there's no real disturbance in Yami's game, then I start nodding off. The thing is, this has happened before, but to the extent that it has taken up entire CHAPTERS with him just worrying and fretting. KT can't seem to strike a balance between some conflicting self-doubt resulting from honest mistakes and a few competent and thoughtful moves, at least not since Jonouchi's arc in Duelist Kingdom. A character either has to be infallible and occasionally overcome with crippling uncertainty for a chapter or two, or incompetent and impulsive while being overconfident.
All I'm asking for is just a little growth, alright? Just a little bit of conflict that inspires a character to change a bit. Is that too much to ask for at this point?
At least Marik is turning out to be something of an interesting person in his own right. He's got that superior attitude that you expect out of a villain, but he can actually back that shit up. It's clear that playing this game comes easily to him by how fast he is to execute a strategy, which is something I haven't seen from a villain thus far. Not even Pegasus, the creator of the game, was such a relaxed player when it came down to it. Marik just seems like the kind of person that everything just comes to, or the guy who always gets his way despite being the biggest dick imaginable. He even goes so far as to explain this away as some sort of resemblance to a god to a lot of the people he manipulates.
I think he may very well have the charisma he claims, because even I'm kind of endeared to him by his easy-going attitude. Just call me a Ghoul, I guess.
To be fair, he could have deduced that Humanoid Slime was meant for fusing while still believing the facedown card was a trap to preserve it until it was time to fuse.
ReplyDeleteI'll grant that, but it doesn't really take away from the general pattern of KT faking out backing Yami into a corner, only to say, "Syke! The tension I've built wasn't really there at all! Fooled you!" To me, that's what really irritates me about the scene, in the end.
DeleteYeah, I can understand that!
DeleteWhere did you get these scans?
ReplyDeleteThe scans of the full pages say at the bottom that they're hosted by mangafox, but who knows if that's where I actually picked them up. It's been a long time since I was getting the scans from anywhere but VIZ.
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