Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 035 Deathmatch on a Gameboard

Well, half-time is officially through. The show was a tad on the emotional side, for both protagonists and antagonists, but at least there wasn't a wardrobe malfunction for the FCC to complain about. Actually, I think the protagonists could have benefited from one particular strip tease that would have kept one of their friends by their sides, but there's no getting around the drama keeping on clothes has caused in this game. Funny, you'd think it would be the other way around.

Anyhow, back to the action!

That's the long of the short of this next match, yeah. Yami and Mokuba are glaring at each other, each with his own thoughts. Yami is ready to beat Mokuba so that he can have a go at Kaiba. Mokuba is determined not to let Yami have that go. They are both unwilling to budge.

Mokuba points at a capsule dispenser machine in the corner of the booth, telling Yami that they both will get their capsules from it, and that this one will be identical to the match they played before. Except for the giant board beneath them projecting real-time holograms of their match for an audience. That's a little different.

Deja vu aside, Yami agrees to get his capsules from the machine and turns the lever, which delivers him a Level One capsule. Mokuba, surprise, is thinking about how he's rigged the machine again to give him the strongest monsters while Yami will have to play with weaker monsters. That didn't work last time, Mokuba, what makes you think it will this time?

After a brief recap panel of the rules of Capsule Monster Chess and the board, Yami realizes Mokuba is pulling the same crap he was in their last match, because their monsters are so conspicuously unequal in power. It's not clear if Mokuba knows that Yami knows what he's up to, because he just instructs Yami to set up his formation, warning him that it had better be a good one. Yami ponders what a good formation to fight Mokuba would look like, noting two areas on the board where an ambush wouldn't be easy to pull off. A metaphorical light bulb goes on over his head.

Mokuba directs Yami to reveal the monsters in his capsules while Mokuba also reveals his. He seems awfully proud of his "W" formation of his five monsters, and calling Yami a shrimp as he shows it off. Kid, you are in NO position to be calling anyone a shrimp. When he sees the block formation Yami has set up on his side of the board, three in the front and two in the back, Mokuba laughs. He says it's pathetic for them all to be drawing together like the weaklings they are, and that Yami is just as pitiful. He really doesn't seem to see history repeating itself here.

Yami sweatdrops as he thinks about how Mokuba's monsters are too strong, and this will be the only strategy allowing him to put up a proper fight. Mokuba calls out for the start of the match, for the third time, I think, and the crowd gathered in the bleachers around them grows excited. The monsters are projected onto their virtual field below, and they stare down the opposite sides of the fields as if they were real.

Jonouchi calls out to Yami that he has to win. He knows Yami can't see he and Anzu, but he's showing his support as well as he can, very literally watching his back. Mokuba claims the first move of the game, moving his Armorzaurus forward the amount of spaces it can go dictated by the high-tech board that displays the moves that can be made. Mokuba points at Yami with an announcement that it's his turn.

Yami just crosses his arms and closes his eyes, saying nothing. Mokuba repeats himself, asking if Yami heard, and Yami says his formation is fine how he set it up. Mokuba is confused and angered by Yami's refusal to move a piece, thinking he must be planning something. Mokuba lies to himself that he's not at all worried about this nuh-uh, and he'll just invade Yami's side of the board and attack him, because he can't possibly be prepared for such a thing.

Nope, that unconcerned look on his face is just ignorance. He couldn't POSSIBLY see that coming. Granted, he could be taking a snooze. Yuugi has been through some exhausting crap today, and Yami is using his body after all.

As Mokuba's monsters move forward one by one, the audience around them exposits that while Yami hasn't made even one move so far, Mokuba's army of monsters is slowly marching into his territory. Jonouchi can't make heads nor tails of what Yami is up to either, while Yami holds that same pose. I would still think he's napping, except another sweatdrop has appeared on his face. The audience again narrates the panel, which shows Mokuba's monsters surrounding Yami's. Mokuba thinks he's won.

Sorry not sorry.

Yami's eyes suddenly open and he wordlessly picks out his Beeton to move forward. The audience are intrigued that he hasn't quite thrown in the towel, but Mokuba thinks he's a little too late, and commands his Armorzaurus to attack his Brain. No, really, that's the name of the monster. LMFAO.

Yami appears surprised, as Mokuba pulls a Billy Mays and says there's more! The Armorzaurus attacks another monster in the same turn using its special attack, rolling right over Yami's Toppo. Mokuba laughs, pointing out that Yami only has three monsters left. In the virtual board below, his monsters cower. Yami isn't ready to give up until the very end, though. Mokuba is convinced that he only needs Armorzaurus to wipe out all of Yami's monsters now, and so sends it after Yami's Mogrin next.

The hologram Mogrin looks afraid at first, but then grins at its attacker. It burrows into the field, causing surprise for both Armorzaurus and Mokuba, who narrates the Mogrin's actions as though that will make them any less true. Armorzaurus rolls right past the Mogrin and because it can't stop, its attack hits Mokuba's Megaton right in the face. Both monsters are destroyed.

Mokuba knows Yami must have planned that from the beginning. Yami patronizes him by giving him another "lesson" about how he should use fewer strong monsters and more with rare abilities, ending with telling Mokuba that he also only has three monsters left. Someone echoes this message, probably the audience, those sheep. Jonouchi is impressed with how Yami turned the tables.

Yami moves forward his Squid Ninja, despite acknowledging the fact that his monster is a Level Two that can't match the power of the monster he's attacking, Mokuba's Level Five Zoid M. He says that even a low level monster can defeat a higher level monster, though, as he silently asks the Squid Ninja for forgiveness. Turns out the special attack for the Squid Ninja is a suicide attack, blowing up itself and Zoid M.

Mokuba fumes over how Yami's monster took his with it, and Yami states that the road to a previously unheard of "evolution spot" has been opened up, with no monsters guarding it. Mokuba recognizes now that Yami sacrificed his other monsters to get Beeton to the evolution spot, and is looking pretty upset. He realizes that his monsters are too far away to stop Beeton, as Yami moves him forward. Since the "evolution spot" raises a monster's level by three, every square Beeton moves brings him closer to becoming the strongest monster. Yami keeps moving the Beeton, with no resistance from Mokuba until it reaches that square.

An eloquent defense of puberty, Yami! Wait, is that Yuugi behind you? Is this an analogy for Yuugi's transformations into Yami? Are we comparing the Millennium Puzzle to the evolution spot here? Because I'm not sure that really works. I'm pretty sure not just anyone can wear the puzzle and bring out Yami...

Mokuba can only watch as Hyper Beeton flies across the board at Yami's command and attacks his Namahaagan with its Horn Attack. Mokuba stares in shock and anger as he confirms this information through gritted teeth. The crowd is cheering against him now, declaring that he only has one monster left.

Now Hyper Beeton and Bigfoot face off and Mokuba mistakenly says that this next battle decides the game. Not if you win, Mokuba; have you forgotten about the weird Mogrin thing? Anyway, Mokuba is giddy because he knows that Hyper Beeton has a great attack at long range, but close range battles are not its forte, so Bigfoot will win.

Yami and Mokuba both call out for the monsters to fight, and they both throw down, looking like they just go right past each other at first. However, to Yami's chagrin and Mokuba's delight, the virtual Bigfoot looks back at virtual Hyper Beeton with a grin as it is destroyed. Mokuba is jubilant as he calls out the result and Yami grits his teeth.

Mokuba asks if Yami thought he had forgotten the last opposing monster, and judging by Yami's face, I'd say he thought that as much as I did. Mogrin pops out of the field below, and someone from the audience is just remembering him out loud too. Everyone has always got to be speaking whatever they think, don't they? Mogrin is right next to Bigfoot, and it growls down at the little guy as it quivers. Mokuba is stoked to win, and eager for Bigfoot to use his namesake on Mogrin. Mogrin can talk, I guess, shielding its head with little claws as Bigfoot's gigantic foot hovers over him and muttering that it's all over for him.

Anyone else reminded of Fist of the North Star?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaaaa.... Classic.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was generally bored, if I'm honest. This game was too similar to the last time Mokuba and Yami played it, right down to Mokuba cheating, Yami calling him a brat and laying his gaming wisdom out before him in a mocking tone. It made it seem like an identical battle, despite the different monsters and moves.

The only thing really new about it was that "evolution spot" part, which was obviously only there so that Takahashi could make an analogy to Yuugi evolving and becoming stronger too. It's occurred to me that Yuugi's transformations into Yami are not necessarily being referenced here, but Yuugi accepting Yami as a part of him instead. Either way, I think the "evolution spot" should have been introduced as a setup in Mokuba and Yami's first match, even if it was never used. The analogy would have been a lot less forced in that case. At the very least, it should have been introduced at the beginning of THIS match, instead of right before it became relevant.

Granted, I did like a small element of it. I thought that the reproduction of the game below them in holograms was a good idea, because otherwise that game certainly wouldn't have been much of a spectator sport. However, it was the only thing that made many of the moves possible in the game. How would anyone playing Capsule Monster Chess with a regular board and no holograms have pulled off the special move that allowed Mogrin to burrow into the board? For that matter, if you're only allowed five pieces to begin with, how does one end up evolving one of their monsters to something else at the "evolution spot?"

It seems to me that Takahashi ended up making the mistake of building the game and moves around what the holograms could do rather than what could happen with actual pieces. Without those holograms, this game makes no sense.