Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 009 The Fanged Cards, Part 1

You see that "Part 1" tacked onto the end of the name of the chapter? I am so pumped for this! I've been anticipating this since I saw the list of Volume 2's chapters the scanlators were nice enough to include before the beginning of the last chapter. I liked the last chapter, don't get me wrong, but it could have used some expansion on the details that couldn't be fit into twenty pages. I'm looking forward to seeing what Takahashi can do with forty pages instead.

In addition to this being the first story that spans over multiple chapters, it's also the introduction of that card game that Yu-Gi-Oh is so famous for. Which also means the introduction of an anti-hero that everyone is duly familiar with. From what I've read, neither of these things were meant to be as big a part of the story as they ended up being, so it'll be interesting to see just how they go from minor to major in the chapters ahead.

Grandpa points out the pictures on the face of the cards and Anzu is impressed with the quality of the paintings, though put off by how some of them are a little disturbing. Jonouchi asks how the game works, and Yuugi explains that they're trading cards, but the cards do have attack and defense points for a reason.

There's no mention of trap cards here, but that's how it goes when you have to develop the concept of a game a lot more once fans start breathing down your neck about it. After all, from what I read, Magic The Gathering was at the peak of its popularity at the time this manga came out, and everyone was clamoring for any trading cards they could play with. Not that Magic isn't STILL popular. At the very least, most of my buddies in the US Navy tend toward it.

Being on a ship is boring.

Yuugi's grandfather explains that in addition to a range of strengths of monsters, Duel Monsters also contains thousands of cards that can get a little pricey, if you don't plan on being a homeowner. Yuugi blurts out that Grandpa has a very valuable card himself, which interests Jonouchi quite a bit. Grandpa acts like he's obligated to show them now, though he's grinning while he brings out "his treasure."

Why do you have to be smiling like that while you talk about how people have killed each other over this playing card, Grandpa? I know you're creepy, but I was hoping you could remain so in a way that's easy to make fun of.

Also, the Blue Eyes White Dragon looks a bit like a xenomorph.

That is all.

Anzu says she feels a bit solemn viewing the card, whatever that means, and Jonouchi is just thinking about how much it must be worth. He turns to Yuugi, suggesting they play the game at school tomorrow. Yeah, why LEARN at school when you can just play a game?

Jonouchi turns back to Grandpa, proposing to buy the strongest cards in the shop. Hold up there, Phillip J. Fry. Jonouchi, you bought a $400 pair of shoes in the last chapter. I think you should maybe take it easy on spending money. You're giving my little broke-ass heart some palpitations here.

You know who DOESN'T have a little broke-ass heart, though? The guy who walks into the shop amidst the clamor of Yuugi's friends to satisfy the yen signs popping up in his grandfather's eyes. Said grandfather greets his new customer:

Your... Your hair is so... NORMAL. I didn't think such a thing was possible but... Well, there it is, normal hair.

Yuugi identifies this normal-haired freak as Kaiba, right from his own class. I'm tempted to go back to some previous chapters and see if I can catch a glimpse of him, but then again, I'm not. Kaiba asks if they're playing Duel Monsters, to which the answer is a resounding YES. They invite him to play with them at school the next day, but he has to look at their cards to decide if they're good enough to join his country club play a card game with him.

After giving Jonouchi's cards a once-over, Kaiba carelessly tosses them back at Jonouchi, laughing about how much of a n00b he is. Kaiba brags about how he's Japan's national champion at the game, and has only collected the best cards. He tells them that until they've collected 10,000 cards, they better stand the fuck by.

Yuugi tries to calm Jonouchi down by assuring him that the two of them can still play together, but Jonouchi has his fist raised and is ready to prove he's at least good enough to beat the shit out of Kaiba. Kaiba don't care, focusing instead on Grandpa to ask if he sells cards there. Well, duh, what did you think they were clamoring to buy earlier?

Grandpa welcomes the dick who bashed his grandson's friends up to the counter, where the Blue Eyes White Dragon card is still laying. Kaiba catches sight of it and loses his shit.

Grandpa snatches the card away before Kaiba can grab it, but a stuttering Kaiba demands to see it again. After some hesitation, Grandpa tells him he can just look at it and hands it over. Kaiba is in awe, having never seen the card himself before. He notes the stats on the card, the strongest in the world (for now), and thinks that if he had it, he would be unbeatable.

You know, seems to me you're already unbeatable. Winning a tournament pretty much requires that you be undefeated among your peers. But, hey, what do I know?

While Kaiba is lost in thought, Grandpa grabs the card from him again, because he's had enough of Kaiba making love to the card with his eyes. Kaiba opens up the briefcase he was carrying on the counter and offers the stacks of cards inside as a trade for the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Yuugi, Anzu and Jonouchi are blown away by the contents of the case, but Grandpa isn't nearly as impressed. He turns down the offer, causing even more awe from Yuugi and friends.

Kaiba growls, suspecting that Grandpa knows the true value of the card, but asking why he won't trade for it anyway. Grandpa seems a little sassy when he observes that Kaiba wants the card an awful lot. He goes on to say that his motivation for keeping rather than trading it is simple: it was a gift from his gamer friend in the United States. Since his friend is so important to him, he would cherish the card even if it were a common crappy card, because it reminds him of the good times with his buddy. No regifting dickery here!

Grandpa ends his lecture with a patronizing statement about how he values his card higher than all the cards in the briefcase, and that's REAL strength in Duel Monsters. Kaiba snaps the briefcase shut and whips around, saying he understands as he storms out the door. Honey, those hollow words aren't fooling anyone.

Jonouchi is impressed at the ease with which Grandpa shut Kaiba down and Yuugi declares his grandfather don't need strong monsters to win. That's true, all he needs is a condescending tone and a sense of vague wisdom. That's all anyone needs, really.

The next day at school, Jonouchi is going to regret challenging Yuugi to duel. His zombie is wasted by Yuugi who draws a "Dark Dragon" card and takes out 500 of Jonouchi's life points. Jonouchi scrambles to check his hand for something that can challenge this new dragon, but finds nothing. Eventually he loses all his life points and laments about how he lost yet again. Yuugi cheers his win.

As Jonouchi gives up, talking about how he needs to get stronger cards, Kaiba lurks in the crowd watching. His opinion of Jonouchi's dueling isn't high, and he's convinced he's a full one hundred times better at it. He comes forward with somewhat more pleasant tidings for Yuugi, telling him that watching him duel is fun. It's not much of a lead in to asking if Yuugi has brought along his grandfather's cool rare card, but that doesn't stop Kaiba. He's pointing at Yuugi's bag expectantly.

I take back that comment about Kaiba's defensive parting words not fooling anyone, because Yuugi genuinely thought Kaiba understood. All the same, Yuugi did bring the card, even if he's not allowed to play with it. Why, Yuugi? What reason did you have to bring that with you, other than that the plot demanded it? What reason did your grandfather have to give it to you? He should have steadfastly REFUSED, considering he was the one who was pontificating about how some have killed over it.

Do you WANT your grandson to die???

Kaiba says it's fine, he just wants to look at it again. Looking at it last night meant he was too excited to sleep, so he used the time to devise a plan to snatch it. It's cool, guys, because he's in love with the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. TMI, Kaiba. TMI.

Yuugi is moved by Kaiba's love, and fishes the card from his bag. Kaiba compliments the beauty of the card as he reaches into his back pocket for the copy he's going to replace it with. He's more conspicuous than the last antagonist, who, if you'll recall, put a scorpion in a shoe! Kaiba should have had an EASIER time of being sneaky here!

It's no wonder that Yuugi notices something's wrong right away, because how hard Kaiba is trying to pretend everything's okay is really pathetic. He's shooting himself in the foot with his unnecessary blabber about how seeing the Blue Eyes White Dragon up close makes him remember why he loves Duel Monsters, and how he hopes Yuugi has fun playing. Kaiba thinks Yuugi didn't even notice, but if he hadn't walked away so fast and wasn't so deluded, he might realize Yuugi was giving him a disappointed look.

Jonouchi lies like a rug, because he forgets that he decided to quit playing earlier, and challenges Yuugi once more. Yuugi goes ahead and humors him, because Jonouchi needs that humor, bad.

After school, Kaiba announces to thin air that he's sure to win in his next tournament. He hears someone call out to him, and turns to find Yuugi waiting for him by the school's gate, looking his usual sheepish self. Kaiba lets out a nervous chuckle, asking if Yuugi is going home.

Look at that face. We're not even ten chapters in and Yuugi is 10,000% done with this shit. It's got to be hard on the kid to constantly have to deal with the beatings, the people taking advantage of him, people underestimating him, blacking out for hours at a time only to wake up not at all rested and being surrounded by carnage...

That last one is exaggerated. Trust me.

Kaiba is shocked, shocked I say! Yuugi says that he knows Kaiba switched it for a fake, but Kaiba deflects with indignation that he should be called a thief, and a play by play of the innocuous events he wants Yuugi to believe happened. Yuugi is not buying it, telling Kaiba he understands the difference between the real thing and a fake. Yuugi might not be talking about the card here, because when Kaiba says he doesn't know what Yuugi's talking about, he stutters like the terrible actor he is.

Yuugi is taking no more of Kaiba's lies, raising his voice. That card is important to Yuugi's grandpa, and if he doesn't bring it home, it would hurt both his grandpa and their relationship. Kaiba's denial continues as he unconvincingly says Yuugi is breaking his heart with this story, and tries to guilt trip him by suggesting that he's Yuugi's friend so he should be believed by default.

You have a very funny definition of friendship, Kaiba. Though, to be fair, Yuugi is palling around with people who were once his bullies, so anything goes, I suppose.

Kaiba yells that Grandpa's attachment to the card is just sentimentality, and because he's old, he doesn't know that winning is the most important thing in life. Seems to me that by virtue of his being old, he knows more about life than a stupid fucking teenager. You know, more experiences, mistakes, struggles, milestones? Those things that life is made of?

The transition is a tad weird here. In one panel, Yuugi is looking up at Kaiba in horror, and in the next, it's nighttime outside the school and Yami is chillin'. He makes a mental promise to Kaiba that he will end this bullshit with a shadow game and get the Blue Eyes White Dragon back for his grandfather. Usually we see Yuugi's transitions into Yami, but I guess that's not a thing here. I kind of miss it.

Looks like he called Kaiba there to duel, because Kaiba reiterates that fact while he and Yami are sitting on either end of the table with arms and legs crossed. Do they not lock up the school at night, or did Yami break in because he couldn't think of a better place to get this shit done? Kaiba doesn't question why they're at the school, just snarks at Yami about how he doesn't know what he was thinking challenging him.

Yami is cryptic as he states that the rules for their game are a little different this time. Kaiba is still clinging to his "nice" act, in spite of how often he's broken character, and says that should be fun. His thoughts reflect an arrogant assumption that his deck will win for him regardless, and once he draws the card he stole, it'll be all over.

After announcing the number of life points and cards per deck, unnecessarily, I might add, Yami declares the beginning of the game. Kaiba goes first automatically, which seems a little presumptuous of him, but whatever. He draws a Gargoyle, plays it, and is astounded when the Gargoyle pops right out of the card accompanied by smoke effects. Yami says it's a whole new game, but that's patently false. It's the same game, but with a fun party projection.

Yami attacks the Gargoyle with his Dark Dragon next, and it is a super boss.

Well, I can see why Yami didn't bother telling Kaiba about the new rules until now. He probably would have just scoffed and dismissed Yami as a crazy person. He should still do that, but for different reasons.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I thought this was by far the most enjoyable since the first. I felt like a lot of the previous chapters escalated the stakes too soon with antagonists whose motivations were a bit too flat. They were just bad to the bone and that's why they were picking on poor Yuugi and brought out Yami. Kaiba is definitely a bit more nuanced, much like the first antagonist. He's a shitty person, but only to the extent that he wants to have that card. You can see that his motivations are to be the best, not to simply be mean. The "I'm bad guy #435," schtick got a little old, so Kaiba is a welcome addition to my eyes.

Also, the pacing was good in this one, it didn't drag, and it certainly didn't skip any important set ups that I would have complained about in the past chapter. It was weird that we didn't get to see Yami come out this time, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We know how the transformation goes, so it's not needed at this juncture.

I don't know crap about the card game aside from the little I remember from back when I watched the show, which was some years ago, but it doesn't seem too terribly difficult to follow. At least, right now.

So, to conclude, there's a reason why the introduction of Kaiba and Duel Monsters revived this manga after a few mediocre chapters. It's the same reason why people began to request that Takahashi start writing more about them both. All I'm saying is that it makes sense to me now why the card games took over after a while.