I don't think that's likely to happen, but I'm tempted to draw fanart to at least make the image tangible. Let's see if we can get an inkling of what he does get instead in future chapters. Commence!
Grandpa compares Yoshimori's grip to iron as he and the rest of the party try to pull Yoshimori off of Jonouchi. Yoshimori is just giggling like the idiot puppet he's become. Yuugi is still wondering what's wrong with Yoshimori to have turned him this homicidal and dumb. At the very least, he understands that Shadi is behind this, and looks at him questioningly.
Shadi is standing there watching the spectacle he caused, thinking at Yuugi as if Yuugi is going to hear his explanation about how he manipulated Yoshimori's mind room. In the room, he gave Yoshimori the purpose of attacking Yuugi's friends and bringing out Yami at all costs. Beyond that, Shadi doesn't know what to expect, but he is sure that if Yuugi can do nothing else, he'll summon Yami.
As Jonouchi's eyes begin to roll with his lack of oxygen and his fellows try desperately to get Yoshimori away from him, Shadi continues to inner-monologue like he's in a Shakespeare play or something. At first, all he wanted to do was his job of judging and killing the people who robbed the grave of the Pharaoh and leave, but since his curiosity about Yami led to Yami spanking his ass for invading the wrong mind, Shadi couldn't let it go. I knew it, I knew you were being a punk ass little bitch with wounded pride. He refuses to let go and just go back home, because he REALLY wants to see Yami once more to confirm that power for himself.
Yuugi is still yanking at Yoshimori's literal death grip on Jonouchi, though it's fruitless and Jonouchi is passing out. Anzu is thinking about how bad this is when she sees something out of the corner of her eye. It's a globe that she runs to pick up and smash across Yoshimori's face, apologizing to him as she does. A few of his teeth pop out. Unless that globe is made out of lead, I don't know if I believe it could have knocked out a guy's teeth, but okay manga.
Yoshimori flies across the room, which I also am having some trouble wrapping my head around, releasing Jonouchi. Jonouchi gasps for breath, coming to terms with his almost death. Yuugi congratulates Anzu on bashing the professor as Grandpa speculates that Yoshimori must be unconscious. Shadi just stares in shock. Why didn't he expect someone to do that? It seems like a pretty natural defense to pull.
Yuugi kneels next to Jonouchi to check if he's okay and he confirms he's breathing again, complimenting Anzu on her hit. She worries that she maybe hit him too hard, but my only regret is that she couldn't have taken a swing at Shadi instead. Grandpa and Anzu watch Yoshimori pop back to his feet again, reaching out to attack once more. He's still hell-bent on acting nuts, says Yuugi, as Jonouchi identifies him as a zombie.
Everyone follows Jonouchi's order to run in different directions to confuse the shambling Yoshimori, and Shadi knows that Yoshimori won't be able to accomplish his mission on his own.
Anzu tells everyone to be careful as if they hadn't already figured that out, and Shadi picks her out for his next puppet. He's probably just trying to get revenge on her for ruining his first one. Shadi is such a little bitch.
I suppose I should be grateful you didn't spoon-feed THAT incredibly obvious imagery to me, Takahashi.
Speaking of this not being where you would stop, what's with that weak-ass justification? She won't be like the professor in that she won't talk or have memories? How is that better? In fact, it sounds WORSE to me, and you describe this as lovely. You may as well have roofied her drink, since her beauty, silence, and lack of thought is what you list as important here. But I guess a roofie would have rendered her inert as well, and since your plan isn't to rape her, that wouldn't be useful.
He commands her to become a silent puppet, because the few things she's said so far are already too much for him. Meanwhile, zombie!Yoshimori lunges for Jonouchi again, who warns Grandpa of the action. Instead of getting out of the way, Grandpa jumps in front of the rampaging Yoshimori, trying to remind him that they're friends. Jonouchi tells him not to waste his breath because he'll only end up in Yoshimori's iron grip. Yoshimori does pause a moment, though, before punching Grandpa in the face and sending him careening across the room, hitting a bookcase. Yuugi and Jonouchi call after him, but he's knocked out. At least they can see he's still breathing.
While they're distracted by the hit to Grandpa, Yoshimori darts for Jonouchi again. Yuugi yells for him to run, and he decides as he backs up that he needs to protect Anzu and Yuugi by leading zombie!Yoshimori away from them.
Especially when he's holding yet another friend hostage.
Shadi made a tiny boy cry. I want to destroy him.
Elsewhere, Jonouchi is still running from zombie!Yoshimori.Yoshimori gets his speed on, which surprises Jonouchi, but he manages to avoid being caught. Now that he's far enough away from Yuugi and Anzu, though, he's ready to stop running and let Yoshimori have it. He rounds a corner and skids to a stop, fist at the ready. When Yoshimori appears, Jonouchi clocks him and he goes flying against a wall.
Jonouchi asks Yoshimori mockingly how he liked the taste of his fist, but when Yoshimori remains slumped, Jonouchi approaches with the genuine question of whether or not he's okay. He tells Yoshimori not to wake up, but mutters a small sorry as well, thinking about how despite the homicidal rampage, he can't really hate Yoshimori. Suddenly, Yoshimori looks up at him with a grin that allows yet more of his teeth to pop out of his mouth. Jonouchi can't believe that he's getting back up again, asking why he won't just stay down while Yoshimori gives chase once more. They both look like they're straight out of an old school Scooby Doo cartoon.
Meanwhile, Shadi is still waiting for Yuugi to bring out Yami as Yuugi grits his teeth. Multiple commanding thoughts are running through Shadi's head; he's apparently trying to telepathically tell Yuugi to hate him, and to be angry and sad, and to pass beyond his emotions, pass the baton... mixing metaphors like woah. When Yuugi can only stand there and stare, Shadi actually uses real words.
Although, those must have been the magic words, because Yami is on his motherfuckin' way!
Yami shouts Shadi's name like a warning as he poses in a showdown position. Shadi is smiling, having finally brought out Yami, and it only took threatening to induce suicide on the love interest to get him there. Yami glares at Shadi, and I like to think that he's imagining all the ways he could hurt him right now. Shadi announces it's time for their second game in as many days. Joy.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It was intense, down to its very core. The whole thing was basically the characters fighting for their lives, and I FELT it. This was another chapter that wasn't too heavy on the dialogue, which I'm always a fan of. Sure, there were a few lines that could have been taken out, here and there, but for the most part there wasn't a lot of unnecessary speaking. It was mostly action, which was what made everything that happened that much easier to connect with on a visceral level. The danger here was depicted very well.
Granted, it was broken up a tad there near the end with Jonouchi's ridiculous antics, but I can forgive that because it had to happen. When the experimental use of Yoshimori as a puppet didn't work out, he and Jonouchi had to get out of the way in order for the plot to move forward, and though it was silly, I don't see any other way for Takahashi to have done it.
If we have to spend a lot of time switching between the game and Jonouchi the Zombie Runner in the next chapter, though, I might be a little miffed. We'll see how it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment