Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 343 The Journey of the King

I... I'm not going to lie. I'm kind of freaking out a little.This chapter is labeled the FINAL DUEL. The next chapter on the Viz website is just a small afterword from KT. I still plan on covering both Transcend Game chapters and Dark Side of Dimensions, as well as writing up an overall impression/final thoughts/general overview (including impressions from that afterward I just mentioned), so I'm not DONE with Yu-Gi-Oh just yet. but there's a finality here that is hitting me HARD in my sentimental core. Things might get emotional.

... Here we go.

Yuugi doesn't look the least alarmed faced with Slifer. Not even a little uncomfortable. In fact, this just validates what he knew all along, that if he were Atem, he'd summon a god. Granted, given what he'd been theorizing before, no doubt he thought it would be Obelisk, but validated he is nonetheless. Yuugi announces that he's now breaking the seal on that Sarcophagus card he'd played before. Atem seems taken aback at the comeback of that card, implying he'd forgotten about it, but I won't fall for THAT trick again! 

The box pops open to reveal it was holding inside Monster Reborn all along, bathed in light, much to Atem's sweatdropping amazement. Yuugi explains that because he put that card in the Sarcophagus, neither of them is allowed to use it in this duel, so since Slifer was brought back with it, its attack is negated entirely. Atem's own Monster Reborn card, the projection of it on the field anyway, starts to disappear in tendrils of digital smoke, while Jonouchi and Honda draw attention to what's happening to Slifer itself, mouths agape.

Not to mention he's defeated two out of three god cards with nary a problem. Frankly, it's the far more impressive feat here.

Jonouchi is aghast, commenting on how Monster Reborn could have helped Yuugi, but he sealed it away instead, while Honda reiterates how Yuugi COULD have used Slifer for himself and Anzu just stares with a hand over her mouth. Ishizu, however, looks on with a mild expression, secure in her certainty that Yuugi's message to the pharaoh is that the souls of the dead must not linger in this world. Yeah, tell that to the ghost on my ceiling, buddy. Ishizu thinks that at last, the king must travel to the afterworld, adding to herself that Yuugi's trump card was also his way of saying goodbye. 

With Yuugi at 1000 points, Atem at 2500, and Silent Magician still sporting 3500 attack points, Yuugi hangs his head slightly, mouth screwed up in a trembling expression. Atem, however, is looking straight ahead, the slightest of encouraging smiles on his face. Ryoji remarks on how "the other Yuugi" doesn't have any monsters for defense, Bakura adding that the duel is over if the Silent Magician attacks. Sugoroku is speechless, intent upon whatever will result. Anzu stares with overflowing sympathy to Yuugi, who is growling frustration over a tear emerging in his eye just out of frame. 

But Atem is still smiling at him, urging his friend and partner either aloud or mentally, to strike that final blow. Yuugi at last looks up, determined eyes brimming with tears, and commands Silent Magician to attack the other player directly.

During the flash, Anzu squeezes her eyes shut to block out the final move. By contrast, Jonouchi's eyes are wide open and his teeth clenched. Honda and the others are in various iterations of gaping, save Ishizu and Rishid, who are either more than prepared for this eventuality, or they're just a little bored. 

After a few more wisps of smoke clear around Atem and he stands up straight again, his life points have dropped to zero. He looks placidly on, but Yuugi dropped to his knees, sniffling miserably.

I'm not too far behind him, truthfully.

Atem walks over and gently says that Yuugi did it, he won, but Yuugi remains hunched and gurgling through his tears, not even replying. Kneeling next to Yuugi, Atem tells him to stand up, because the winner shouldn't be on his knees. He smiles, his hand on Yuugi's shoulder, and says he wouldn't CRY if he were him. Of course you wouldn't dude, because if YOU won the duel, you wouldn't be saying goodbye to anyone!

At last, Yuugi speaks up, stuttering that he's too weak, that Atem was his HERO, his GOAL, and he wanted to be strong just like Atem, and that's all there is to it. Atem assures him that he NOT weak, and he's always had a power that no one could beat. Giving Yuugi a soft smile (with the reader looking back at him through Yuugi's eyes, it should be noted), Atem informs him that he learned the power of kindness from HIM, his partner. 

Oh, I knew I wasn't too far behind Yuugi - the tears have begun. 

But Yuugi's tears seem to have stopped for the moment, as he looks up at Atem with astonishment.

HE'S SO BRAVE WHY CAN'T I BE????

Yuugi calls Atem his "other him" again, but Atem at last corrects him; he tells Yuugi that he is no longer the other him, and that Yuugi is no one else but himself. Atem declares that Yuugi Mutou is the only Yuugi Mutou in the whole world. They're two separate people, and they may as well acknowledge it. Though Yuugi still has tears in his eyes, he's no longer bawling, and he agrees with pep that he is his own individual person distinct from Atem. I wish I could say the same for myself. 

Atem turns now to the door next to them, and the eye on it glows in response. Ishizu explains that the Eye of Wadjet guards the door to the afterlife, and it's seen the truth of the pharaoh's soul through the Rite of the Duel they just did. She says that he's finally going to be welcomed into the next world after being lost in the living world for the past 3000 years. As if this is news to them, Jonouchi, Honda and Anzu are gasp and gape at this declaration. Guys, I know every moment of this process is a fresh knife in your guts, but come on, it's hardly SHOCKING at this point.

Ishizu instructs the soul of the pharaoh to say his name to the Eye of Wadjet. Atem looks up at the glowing carving, silent a moment. 

The door slowly opens, casting a bar of light from the great beyond over Atem as he regards it seriously. He's about to take a step forward when his friends call out to him, as YUUGI again, though he just got done with a speech about how he and Yuugi aren't the same. He stops dead anyway, looking a little shocked. 

Honda is now the one bawling, trying to stem the flow of his tears with clenched fists as he asks Atem if he's really going to go, if he REALLY has to go to the afterlife, and ending with a plea not to leave them. Jonouchi grunts through clenched teeth, he and Anzu both have their eyes closed as if not wanting to watch. Ryoji and Bakura look on in grief, one of them calling out to "Yuugi" once more. Yuugi's waterworks have started back up, Anzu is also starting to cry, while the Tomb Guardian siblings regard the scene with varying degrees of acceptance. 

As Atem continues to stand in the doorway's light with his back to them and Yuugi wipes his fresh tears with a sleeve swiped over his eyes, Jonouchi at last starts to cry too. Anzu hangs her head, but speaks up, first calling Atem "other Yuugi" before correcting herself. She says she knows he has to go to the other side of the light facing him, but she frets that he won't get to come back once he does.

Oh, sweetie, as long as there is a corporation that can profit off of him coming back, that is NO guarantee. ;)

Anzu wants to know WHY. She opines about how they've been friends for so long and now Atem is just going to leave, and she just doesn't GET IT. With his eyes shadowed by his hair, and a thumb in his waistband to insert some casualness into his grief, Jonouchi tells Anzu she doesn't HAVE to get it, she just has to ACCEPT it. And he wisely advises her to burn these memories of the time they've spent with Atem, the feelings, so that she never forgets. Anzu's head continues to hang, but there's an exclamation point coming from her - perhaps she's surprised at how sage Jonouchi is being at the moment, because Jonouchi encourages her to see him off to his future right with the rest of them. 

Atem's chin hangs low too, and he thinks on Anzu and Jonouchi. Anzu promises that she'll never forget anything about Atem. Jonouchi shouts "Yuugi" again at Atem's back, declaring with a grin and eyes brimming with tears all in one that Atem is always "Yuugi" even if he's king, and they'll still be friends even if a thousand years pass. Not even death does friendship part, apparently! 

Atem's eyes widen, and finally, he twists to look back, smiling in shared affirmation. Yuugi also smiles, also declaring that they'll never forget him. 

Hitchhiking for the afterlife.

As Atem walks, he silently thanks his partner and his friends. His jacket transforms into a cape, ankh earrings appear on his ear lobes, and he is decked out in the attire he wore inside the Memory World. Although, it strangely looks like he has socks on too...

Otherwise, a perfectly respectable outfit to meet all his former buds in the thereafter. 

The door shuts completely, and everyone kinda stands around for a moment, wordless in their grief. But a crack resounding through the chamber comes from beneath the Millennium Tablet and shocks them out of their momentary stupor, Jonouchi and Yuugi gaping at the tablet in alarm and the former wondering aloud what's going on. They all follow an encouraging cry to look at the tablet, deep cracks spreading into its heart from the edges. 

The group recoils when the tablet breaks apart entirely and caves in on itself, the golden items in it tossed out of their crumbling beds. Ryoji exclaims that the slab is falling into the depths of the earth, and Bakura motions for everyone to get the hell out of there. Indeed, the priceless Millennium Items fall into a pit beneath the chamber, and Yuugi hesitates for a moment, trying to draw attention to them as they disappear into the dark. Jonouchi and his granfather both grab him by an arm and urge him to get going, but Yuugi takes one more split second to bid farewell to his Millennium Puzzle. 

Ahh, how fitting that Shadi should be left behind at the crumbling door to the afterlife. Should I feel good or bad about the fact that he's staying in the living world? I mean, on the one hand he's not in there mucking up Atem's afterlife, and on the other he's free to keep mucking it up for the living characters...

The group runs up the stairs and out of the chamber as a couple of the columns around where the tablet was collapse as well, sending up a cloud of sandy dust. Once they're outside, they all stare at the entrance to the chamber, which has a little dust issuing from it in a somewhat final manner. No one's going back in THERE. Ishizu explains that since the pharaoh's soul has been delivered to the afterworld, the role of the Millennium Items is done, and the door to the beyond has closed for good. Imagine your purpose being opening a door for a ghost, lol.

The gang just zones out, staring out across the Eyptian dunes, Honda breaking the silence just to marvel about how that was it and Atem's just gone now. No one says anything in answer. They all gaze at the distant horizon, sun high over them as if Ra himself is looking after them. What do you know? We saw him one last time after all. 

Hold up, what are the Kaiba brothers doing here? Did they just show up, or what?

... Was a sequel coming all along???

So, what did I think of this chapter over all? Honestly, I'm finding it difficult to fully articulate my thoughts about this one, given that it's the final chapter. I definitely feel some melancholy, the water-works were going for most of the goodbyes, and the rest of the chapter was full of sniffles. But this was a very gratifying ending to me as well, because not only was the mourning vibe you got from the characters dealing with the departure of their friend palpable and REAL, the reactions were of a varied solemnity, but also there was a note of hope and wisdom in all of them that made it easier to process. 

Jonouchi was the best at expressing this; death isn't something you COMPREHEND so much as ACCEPT. It's difficult to wrap your brain around never seeing a loved-one again, but it's a reality for all of us that must be faced sooner or later. This is why cherishing those memories, again as Jonouchi said, is so important - they help us hold onto that person we lost while we process their absence, and even though we never quite get over it, it becomes easier to live with as time goes on with those comforting memories there to make us feel like the crossed-over are never REALLY gone. They've just gone on to exist in our minds and hearts exclusively, almost, in a much less overt literal way, sharing our bodies as we continue to go through life without their physical presence. Because Atem was always technically a spirit in Yuugi's body, this was already some part of the reality for Yuugi and friends, so it might be a little easier for them to cope knowing that their relationship with Atem already spanned many centuries and miles. That's part of the reason why Jonouchi's final assurance to Atem that they would still be friends no matter the time elapsed or castes between them rang so true. If they already touched each others' lives over thousands of years and enormous distance, what's a little more?

I'm not sure how to feel about most everyone continuing to refer to Atem as "Yuugi" through the chapter. He asserts that he is not the "other Yuugi" anymore himself, but other than Anzu, no one really corrects themselves when they're referring to him as "Yuugi", and Atem still answers to the name. I'm not saying that Atem should be offended by this or keep correcting them or anything, because we know they mean well, and "Yuugi" is how he was known to them for so long that it's understandable for them to keep using the name. Still, it seems to undercut the will expressed by Atem to assert that Yuugi proper is the ONLY Yuugi Mutou in the world now. He no longer has to share an identity with Atem, as Atem and he are separate and whole people in and of themselves. I don't know, it's not grating on me, just makes me cock my head in question as to what the point is in asserting this when everyone is still just going to call Atem "Yuugi" until the very end, lol!

I think Ishizu's analysis of how Yuugi was communicating the message that the dead must not linger in the living world by putting Monster Reborn in the sarcophagus was just a tad blunt for my tastes. It's kind of like having to explain your own joke and making it not funny in the process. But maybe that's just because I've made it my business to read into these things myself and I get a little annoyed when I'm not given the chance to come to my own conclusions. I think audiences are a lot more capable of interpreting a story themselves than is believed, especially nowadays, and handing them a blatant explanation holds something of a patronizing air. But, again, this is just me, and I don't think that the message conveyed is a bad one on its own. I just think it could have been conveyed with more subtlety is all. 

But it wouldn't be possible for me to gush enough about how PERFECT the goodbye between Yuugi and Atem was. Atem is gentle and encouraging as he implores Yuugi to stand proud in his victory, displaying the very power of kindness he tells Yuugi that he learned from HIM. It's not hard to believe, either, because we all remember that murder!grin he used to wear regularly - the guy seemed to kind of get off on being cruel to people who had shown Yuugi and company cruelty before. But he got mellower and more compassionate as time went on, nabbing himself great relationships with once-enemies like with Kaiba and Marik. Without Yuugi's influence, his strength of kindness, there might never have been reconciliation with these characters. Atem acknowledging that and SHOWING Yuugi just how powerful an influence he's been on him was a thing of pure beauty. I couldn't think of a better way for Atem to reassure Yuugi that he was going to be alright without him, and express the strength Yuugi possesses to be a positive force in the world. Just... wow. 

I'm only really confused on ONE thing: why was Kaiba in the desert there in the end? Was that just a projection of one of those with their stories regarding Atem, to imply that Kaiba was kind of there in spirit, or did he really just... show up at the last second? I don't have a CLUE. 

Anyway, stay tuned for the first chapter of Transcend Game!