Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 017 Game Start!!

There are two exclamation points on this chapter, which says to me that it's double the trouble of the last! Or, the person translating is just as careless with punctuation as I am. Who knows? All I really know is that I'm itching for Shadi to get his ass handed to him again. This guy has done so many reprehensible and gross things in such a short amount of time that this will be the most cathartic victory for Yami yet. I'm ready! What you got, chapter??

I mentioned in the past two chapters that part of Shadi's motivation seemed to be pride, and this seems to be the most blatant of indications to that. In "The Man From Egypt, Part 2," Shadi began his explanation of how he was in Yami's brain with a LONG speech about what it is that he knows. He takes great pride in what he knows, so if his knowledge is incomplete, it stands to reason that he'll do whatever it takes to learn what it is he DOESN'T. So, Yami's defeating him was a double-whammy to his pride - not only did Shadi almost become lost in someone else's consciousness due to his cocksure invasion of it, he also never got to learn what he came there to learn, therefore leaving his body of knowledge incomplete.

He got it in his head that Yuugi heading in his direction in "The Other Criminal" was providence - another shot at learning what Yami's powers could be, but he couldn't go the direct route of trying to get into Yami's mind room again. He had to bring Yami into physical reality in order to set up a game for him, taking away Yami's home field advantage in their last encounter. This would be a much surer way of recovering his pride.

Of course, he's just as careless with others safety in reality as he was with his own in Yami's mind. The real life consequences of his pissing match with Yami don't seem to concern him, just as long as he gets what he wants. It's not like he doesn't understand that these other people aren't just tools to use at his own disposal, he's proven that much. He just doesn't give a shit. Has he been in the murder-those-who-piss-off-my-gods business so long that he carries that attitude with him even outside of work? Or has he always been like this?

In any case, Yami realizes pretty fast that he has no leverage in this situation and agrees to whatever game Shadi is proposing. Shadi rubs it in that if Yami didn't accept, Anzu would spend the rest of her short existence as a puppet. Then he announces that the game will begin at 8 o'clock on the roof, but Shadi needs ten minutes to set it up with the things in Yoshimori's office. He tells Yami to be there or be square.

No kidding. I think Yuugi was right the first time when he assumed Shadi was out of his mind. Yami wonders what Shadi is hoping to gain by learning his true power; if he and his family want to take it away and use it or destroy it. Not even Yami knows what the true power is, though, because it's in his one true room, suggesting that Yami doesn't have any more access to that room than Shadi did. Yami knows that the puzzle's specific power (like the key's ability to unlock minds) must be hidden somewhere, because it gives off pulses every once in a while, but Yami assumes it must be waiting.

There's one thing that Yami knows for sure, though, and that's Shadi is an enemy who needs to be brought down. He vows to play the game, win, and save Anzu as the clock strikes eight.

Good grief, Anzu just keeps getting treated worse and worse! Shadi is just intent on putting her in pseudo-suicide situations! Kinda makes me feel bad that I already used my Heathers joke...

Yami runs to where Anzu's lifeline is threaded through a cheap-ass chainlink fence along the roof, as well as the Millennium Key. The lifeline is made up of four ropes, each tied to an Egyptian figurine on Yami and Shadi's side of the fence. They appear to be the only things supporting the plank Anzu is standing on, which makes me wonder how little she must weigh in order for those fragile things to be able to stand up to her weight.

Shadi calls his game "The Weighing of the Mind." There also appears to be a fifth doll holding up the Millennium Key that we didn't see in the previous panel, visible as Yami is staring in shock through the fence at Anzu. Yami is pissed beyond all belief that Shadi would make Anzu part of the game, let alone put her life on the line for the sake of it. We all know that Shadi don't give a shit, though. Again, Shadi rubs it in that Anzu will die, but this time only if Yami loses the game. As Yami growls, presumably trying not to shout every single curse word in his vocabulary out of rage, Shadi says he wants to talk about the Millennium Puzzle before they officially begin his game.

He pontificates about how he has no idea how the puzzle came into Yuugi's possession, or how he solved it, but it wasn't a coincidence. Yuugi was chosen by the puzzle after three thousand years, just like Shadi and his family. Yami doesn't want to be compared to Shadi and his family, he just wants to know the rules to the damn game so Anzu doesn't have to walk the plank because the dolls holding her up break while Shadi is busy YAPPING.

Shadi observes that Yami is frightened, and Yami stupidly asks why he would think that. However, instead giving the obvious answer, Shadi says that he's afraid of the mysterious power of the Millennium Puzzle. He looks at the fence, telling Yami to look at where the game is set up too. One of the dolls holding up Anzu's plank is cracking. It shatters and the plank quivers as it loses some support.

Yami is sweating, thinking a completely unnecessary line about how the doll broke. WE KNOW. WE SAW. We don't need narration for this!

But didn't you say you wanted to talk to Yami BEFORE the game started, a few pages ago? I guess before that, he did say the game had started when Yami came up to the roof, so maybe Shadi was just fucking with him. And trying to cover up for the fact that he was really just talking Yami's ear off to waste the time it took for the dolls to naturally crumble. I'm not convinced that Shadi WOULDN'T cheat like that, given how many other evil things he's done.

Add "holding off on explaining the rules until opponent has already lost points" to that list of things Shadi has done to piss me off. This is a long-ass list.

Shadi goes on to explain that if Yami manages to break his statuette, the Millennium Key will slide into Anzu's hand and free her mind from his control. Shadi declares it's a game to see whose mind is the most collected and strong, which adds another level of unfair to the equation. Shadi, who has NOTHING to lose if his doll is broken, is telling a guy who is holding another persons life in his hands that he shouldn't get upset if he wants to win the game.

I know Shadi has no value for human life or suffering, but he has realized that the only reason Yami came out was to save Anzu, so he knows that Yami is going to be flustered. Therefore, by not putting up a bet EQUAL of importance to him, Shadi is essentially giving Yami the finger as he makes every effort to make sure Yami LOSES.

I swear, every time I think it's not possible for me to hate Shadi more, he surprises me by being that much more hateable. I don't know how he does it!

Yami repeats in his head that the stated purpose of the game is to find out which mind between his and Shadi's is weaker. He must not be thinking clearly, because if he was, he might realize that the game is set up in such a way as to make that purpose IMPOSSIBLE. But, hey, I give him a pass, because he realizes instead that Shadi is weighing Anzu's life against Yami's heart, making this yet another weighing of the heart ceremony.

I guess that makes Anzu Ma'at's feather. Appropriate, since she's apparently so light she can be held up with only three old crumbly statuettes.

Shadi announces the games shall begin now. Even though they already have, according to him, just a couple of pages ago. Can he just stop talking? Forever? Someone just take away his voice like he did Anzu's please. Yami wonders what the first test is that Shadi set up, while Shadi thinks at him, urging him to prepare for the first game. The roof beneath begins cracking.

These gross corpse hands grab hold of Yami's ankles, holding him in place, as Yami questions what they are. Mummies start clawing their way out of the ground and surround Yami. Shadi identifies this as the first game to test the strength of Yami's mind, and I notice that Shadi is strangely mummy-zombie free on his side of his chosen field. That dick.

A riddle? And one that apparently requires the visual pun of corpses crawling from the earth. I'm guessing Shadi couldn't think of anything more clever than this particular riddle and had to put out a terrifying red herring in order to obscure the obvious answer. It seems to be working, though, because as the mummies grasp at him, Yami is having trouble coming up with a viable answer. As he asks himself what the solution could be, his heart is beating hard, and another one of the dolls holding Anzu up cracks.

It turns out that Yami is cringing away from nothing at all. Shadi has cast an illusion with the shadow game, much like Yami has in the past, and the illusion forces his heart's weaknesses to the surface. Shadi can't imagine Yami hasn't learned that shadow games use those weaknesses against the players by now. Of course, in most of those examples, he was playing WITH his opponent, presumably running the risk of losing himself. The time he wasn't was when Shadi invaded his head and privacy, so it was necessary to set up a game for Shadi to play himself because of the obvious home-field advantage he'd have if he played too. So, Shadi, what's you're excuse?

Shadi thinks that if Yami is able to see past the illusion, he should be able to figure out the riddle. Fair enough, because I'M not dealing with a plague of walking dead, and I figured it out pretty fast.

I'm surprised he's able to concentrate at all, really, considering how those things are touching him. It's making my skin crawl.

He realizes that it's an illusion, but doesn't understand why it wouldn't disappear after he does. Yami worries that maybe this means his heart is weak, but also considers the possibility that the illusion will disappear when he's answered the riddle correctly. He closes his eyes and tries to ignore the nasty dead fingers grasping at him while he remembers the riddle, repeating it carefully. He figures out the visual pun, at least, with the corpses being what crawls out of the earth and him being the pillar.

He decides to reverse the riddle and try it from that angle, asking himself what crawls from a pillar to the ground.

You did it!

Shadi chuckles, stating that his riddle was only the first test, but the real challenge is yet to come. Yami just glares, but Shadi continues to brag that the next game is way harder, and wonders out loud if Yami will be able to stand it. In front of Yami, a hole starts to crumble in the floor, wider and wider. Two points shine from the abyss as Yami asks what they could be.

That poor bastard.

So what did I think of this chapter overall? My opinion here is pretty much the same as the last one. Not a whole lot of unneeded dialogue (aside from that irritating narration of what happened to the one doll), great visuals, and the chapter kept the tension running high the whole time. I wasn't bored for a single second, which has been the trend for this entire arc. It's had me on the edge of my seat a good 95% of the time, so I really can't think of anything to complain about.

I know I spend a lot of time ragging on Shadi, but that's not because I hate how he's written at all. I LOVE how he's written; he's amazing as a villain. I have so much fun just hating on him because of how disgustingly terrible he is to everyone. Kaiba may have cracked the mold for how bland and uninspired the villains for this series were at first, but Shadi just shattered it. He's not only a force to be reckoned with, but he makes you want to pummel him anyway, even though you know you'd lose. It's fantastic!

Let's see how far Takahashi can push this envelope!