Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 018 Game Two

Riddles, illusions and Ushabtis, oh my! Yes, I'm as much of a hack as it takes to reference The Wizard of Oz, but that is honestly the best way I can think of to sum up the last chapter in the shortest way possible. It was pretty much nonstop tension, so a recap doesn't even do it justice. I'm looking forward to seeing if this chapter can top that one, but I don't know how the stakes can really be raised much higher. I'll settle for an equal amount of tension, because I'm not sure how they could be lowered either.

Unless, of course, Shadi turns out to be a hack inventor from Kansas who tells Yami he had a strong heart and access to the true power of the Millennium Puzzle all along.

We last saw Yami staring into a hole in the floor as what looks like two shining eyes stare back. He doesn't know what it is, but it looks huge, and he don't want nothing to do with that noise. He turns to run away like his flight response tells him, but a pair of clawed hands push up from the ground and wrap around his arms, holding him in place. Clearly, Shadi just likes restraining his victims in various terrifying ways.

A familiar looking crocodile head rises from the depths of the hole Yami was looking into, and Yami twists around to identify it as a monstrous monster! Well, what did you expect, Yami, a bouquet of flowers? Shadi tells Yami that he can't run away because this is the second shadow game, "Deadly Shinkei Suijaku." Yami is shocked at the declaration of a shadow game, and I don't know why. Again, what did you expect? Shadi said there would be multiples. Did you just forget?

Awww, Shadi, now you're just recycling punishments. Of course, Yami doesn't know that, so I guess you can get away with it.

Yami twists to look behind him again, noting the crocodile appearance of the creature and also that it must be another illusion. Shadi appears to read Yami's mind when he confirms out loud that it's an illusion, but it's not harmless. The demon will eat Yami's soul and kill him if he loses the game. Even though it's still pretty full from eating Kanekura's soul the previous day.

And here I was thinking you could have gotten away from pulling that trick twice. You never shut up, do you, Shadi? On the other hand, it's an interesting tidbit for the audience, because Ammit does look a bit bigger than when he devoured Kanekura. It also brings up an interesting question of how this illusion of Ammit works. When Shadi was judging Kanekura, he told Kanekura that his Ammit took on an appearance that reflected the contents of his mind room. However, he looks about the same here when summoned for Yami. Does the base of a crocodile demon remain relatively the same while small changes are dictated by the person for whom the illusion appears? And if it's just an illusion, how does it have the power to devour souls? Is the illusion just an image slapped onto the actual DEMON that Shadi summons?

Food for thought.

Yami knew all along that Shadi killed Kanekura, which is a lot more than Yuugi ever figured out. Shadi tells Yami that the only way he'll get out of Ammit's grip alive is if he gets the illusion to disappear. How does one do that? By playing a game of course! As Shadi declares that he will explain the rules, a grid of nine tiles bearing raised question marks appears at Yami's feet. Again, he narrates this as though there is an audience who needs all this information fed to them with a zooming airplane.

How the hell is he supposed to know if any of his guesses are correct if he can't turn over the tiles? Yami is panicked at this information, and to make matters worse, Shadi gives him a time-limit of five minutes until Ammit devours Yami's soul by default. Yami is staring open-mouthed at this seemingly unsolvable puzzle, until Shadi gives him a hint - the tiles reflect Ammit like a mirror. Yami repeats the hint in his head like a question, appearing not to understand at first. Shadi is yelling at him again, urging him to overcome his fear and solve the riddle of what's on the the underside of the center tile. Cool it, Shadi, seriously. You'd think YOU were the one with your head in a crocodile's mouth.

Shadi declares the start of the game, meaning the clock is ticking. Repeating the riddle and hint to himself again, Yami can't think of how the hint is enough to give him the solution. In fact, he's too scared to think much at all, except about how frightened he is. One of the statuettes representing his strength of mind cracks some more, which Yami sees with a look of shock. He reminds himself that if he loses his cool, Anzu will die. Since there are three of the statuettes holding her up left, he still has a chance, and he vows again that he won't let her fall. He has no choice but to solve the puzzle.

While Yami is agonizing, Jonouchi is still being chased by zombie!Yoshimori. He notes yet again how Yoshimori doesn't give up, his pursuit matching the enthusiasm of Jonouchi's own will to get the hell away from Yoshimori. Jonouchi runs around another bend, only to find he's cornered himself. Yoshimori is drawing closer when Jonouchi turns around and shouts at him to stop in various ways, including saying "Daruma-san fell down."

The translator is asking me to look on Wikipedia for what that means, so...

1. A person starts out as the "Curator" and stands at the end of a field. Everyone else playing stands at the far end (distance depends upon playing area selected). The object of the game is for a "Statue" to tag the Curator, thereby becoming the Curator and resetting the game.
2. The Curator turns their back to the field, and the "Statues" attempt to race across and tag the Curator.
3. Whenever the Curator turns around, the Statues must freeze in position and hold that for as long as the Curator looks at them. The Curator can even walk around the Statues, examining them. However, the Curator needs to be careful – whenever his back is turned, Statues are free to move.
4. If a Statue is caught moving, they are sent back to the starting line to begin again (or thrown out of that round, whichever way is preferred.) Usually, the honesty of the Curator is not enforced, since being a Statue is more desirable.

Jonouchi made a museum joke out of a children's game. I'm tempted to remind Jonouchi what happened the last time he mentioned the museum to Yoshimori, because even though I know those two things aren't connected, Jonouchi is still under the impression that Yoshimori has gone insane. Yoshimori stops chasing Jonouchi, though, so this gives Jonouchi the impression that maybe Yoshimori understands him. Jonouchi begins to monologue about how he's a man and he won't run away anymore, but stand and fight. Again, I'm tempted to remind Jonouchi what happened the last time he did that.

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

I think this is the first time I've EVER been yelling at the ZOMBIE not to go in that room.

Jonouchi sprays the fire-extinguisher he snuck into the room with at Yoshimori with relish, declaring that his deception is more than fair. Yoshimori apparently doesn't agree, because he rushes forward and knocks the extinguisher out of a swearing Jonouchi's hands. Jonouchi punches Yoshimori, but he recovers quickly and grabs Jonouchi's collar, pushing him toward a window on the far side of the room. Jonouchi twists his neck around to see this and seems shocked that Yoshimori would be trying to shove him out a third story window, and now I'm tempted to remind him of that time when Yoshimori tried to CHOKE HIM TO DEATH.

Jonouchi is so forgetful in this chapter.

Yes, way. Jonouchi reaches out and grabs the curtain in the window before he plummets to the quad below, but quickly realizes that the rings it's attached to won't hold his weight for long as they begin to snap away from the rod. He flattens himself against the wall on the narrow ledge below the window just in time, and happens to look up. He sees Anzu standing on the plank jutting out from the roof and wonders what she could possibly be doing up there.

As his attention is turned to Yoshimori reaching out the window at him, Jonouchi is beginning to question just what the hell kind of crazy shit is going on tonight.

This friendly reminder is turning up the heat on Yami. He knows that if he doesn't figure this out, both he and Anzu are doomed, so he goes over the rules of the game in his head once more. After mulling it over again, he finally realizes what the tiles acting as mirrors to Ammit means. The nature of the matching game means that there are four pairs of features on the monster and one thing that it only has one of, and that must be what's on the underside of the 9th tile. Shadi shouts that there are thirty seconds left to the game while Yami tries to think of all the things that are symmetrical on the body of the monster, and the one thing that should be on the center tile.

He starts shouting out those paired things, after which Shadi starts counting down from five. Yami knows what it is, but he is literally waiting until the last possible second...

The tiles turn over just in time to show that Yami was correct, with the center tile showing a pair of open lips lined with sharp teeth. The crocodile disappears.

Boy, why you gotta give me a heart-attack?

Shadi congratulates Yami on his clearing the second challenge, but says that the final game he's reached is by far the most difficult. Yami sweats in response.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? As much as I thought checking back in with Jonouchi would have broken up the tension, it was done in such a way as to escalate the action for him while still keeping a lot of the humor that Jonouchi's character embodies. I'm impressed with how going back to Jonouchi accomplished both passing time for Yami without making the reader bored, and giving the revelation to Jonouchi that something is not only terribly wrong with Yoshimori, but with everyone else as well.

I'm also impressed with how a simple matching game could be made so ridiculously terrifying. I mean the scanlator gave a translation for the name of the game, "nervous breakdown," which already makes matching cards sound more stressful than it normally is. I guess it wasn't much of a stretch for Takahashi with the material staring him right in the face like that. Still, it was a good job making the name match the game for once.

The next chapter promises the climax for this arc, the very last game. I wonder if it'll have something to do with skipping rope or other seemingly innocuous children's things.