Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 038 Terror of the Blue Eyes!!

You know, up until now, I've been avoiding shortening the name of the Blue Eyes White Dragon to simply "Blue Eyes" because I would feel too tempted to make Frank Sinatra jokes with it. The parallels between Kaiba's personality and that of Sinatra made those jokes seem a little too easy, to be honest. But, seeing this chapter's title, I'm gonna say fuck it, that's license to make all the Sinatra jokes my little heart desires. Suck it.

Let's get ourselves back to Ol' Blue Eyes, shall we?

Yeah? Well you're awful!

Wait, no, that was a love song.

I got nothing.

Yami is freaking out, asking Sugoroku's spirit deck what he can do to beat Kaiba now. The crowd is convinced the match is over just like Kaiba, with someone saying that nothing can beat the Blue Eyes. Nor its compilation album "Nothing But The Best." Jonouchi and Anzu are calling out Yuugi's name like it's helping.

Kaiba points at Yami, telling him to draw a card and summon another monster for his dragon to beat up. Yami hesitates at first, but draws a card. It turns out to be an "Imp" which has no chance against the Blue Eyes White Dragon, but he summons it in defense. Kaiba commands an attack on the imp, describing its death as crushing, honorable and booming all at once. I don't even know what he's talking about most of the time.

Yami flinches at the attack. Kaiba lectures him, stating that if Yami continues to summon monsters in defense position, he won't be able to get to Yami's life points, but Yami won't be able to hold out either. Yami thinks that Kaiba's regrettably right, and that he needs to attack at some point. Kaiba demands that Yami summon another monster, and it doesn't matter which one it is. Still, Yami can't find one that's strong enough. He puts another down in defense position.

Kaiba calls an attack, but immediately takes it back as just a joke. He wants Yami to summon more monsters for his dragon to have some fun with. Yami thought correctly; if he doesn't have more than one monster on his side as well, then when Kaiba summons another powerful monster, he won't have enough to stop an attack.

Kaiba looks at the card he just drew and he's strangely frowning as he says the goddess of victory is smiling on him. I think the goddess of victory isn't really as invested in your relationship as you think she is, Kaiba. That's why she won't return your phone calls. He lays down his card with relish and Yami blanches.

Yeah, see, that one on the right is Sinatra, and the one on the left is Sinatra Jr. They're not roaring either; they're just crooning "Luck Be A Lady" and "My Way" respectively.

Kaiba lets Yami know that on his next turn, the two dragons will attack him with their tunes, and mocks him by reminding him how desperate the situation is for him. Yami is looking at his cards for something he can do, but he has to admit to himself that any monster he summons will just be destroyed on the next turn. He wonders if he's lost, just as Kaiba is convinced he's won on the other side of the table. The crowd are an extension of his thoughts, saying that he's got Yami in a corner. Jonouchi begs Yami silently not to give up no matter what.

Yami closes his eyes and a picture of Sugoroku in his oxygen mask pops into his head. His eyes snap open at the reminder of what he's fighting for. He can't give up when he's not the only one fighting this battle! He announces he's drawing another card.

The dragons let out some sad notes as they're trapped behind the swords, and Yami thinks he's in the clear for the next three turns. Kaiba growls, saying that his totally legal card is somehow unfair to play right now. Whatever, you little whiner. Jonouchi is ecstatic that the match isn't over yet and congratulates Yami on his play.

After a moment, Kaiba stops thinking like a toddler and smiles again. He says Yami is only delaying the inevitable, because what can Yami possibly do to turn the situation around in three turns? Yami acknowledges, at least in his head, that he can only avoid attack by the sealed dragons for three turns and that Kaiba is right.

Kaiba draws a card for his turn and puts the monster he drew down in attack position. He says the Blue Eyes White Dragons will still destroy Yami and encourages him to envision the spectacular defeat he's going to be dealt. Kaiba also starts the countdown to when the Blue Eyes White Dragons will have their gaming licenses returned be released from their prison, telling Yami to draw his last cards.

Yami stares at the dragons as they hiss at him, then looks at his hand. He only has one playable monster card out of the four he he's holding.

Yami, without any inkling that maybe these cards might be combined, closes his eyes and wonders if he's lost. An image of Yuugi emerges to give him a look of pity. He's standing in darkness feeling bad for that other personality of his when another apparition, this time his grandfather, fades into the picture behind him. Yuugi turns around to greet him, and Sugoroku asks what's got him so down. Grandpa says it's not like Yuugi to give up, and Yuugi admits that he doesn't know what to do.

This is another moment when I'm confused about what to think of Yami/Yuugi. They're clearly not the same person, because Yami can have experiences that Yuugi can't and vice versa. However, this interaction is treating Yuugi as though he's the one playing the game, when it looks like Yami has been making all the executive decisions. Yuugi also seems to be aware of this game in a way he hasn't with any of the others, like he's an equal participant. I'm not sure if I should read this as discontinuity or as a sign that Yuugi and Yami are connected on a more complex level than just sharing a body. After all, Yuugi said before that he beat Kaiba at the beginning of all this, and that could swing either way.

I guess only time will tell.

Anyway, Grandpa asks Yuugi what he did the last time he felt backed into a corner. At first, Yuugi is confused, but then he holds the Millennium Puzzle as he recalls completing it in a situation where he wasn't sure of the solution to his external problems. Sugoroku elaborates, saying he put together those pieces until it was finished. According to Sugoroku, everything in the world is connected, whether it's puzzle pieces or cards. Then he fades away again, leaving Yuugi to ponder this seemingly incomprehensible message. He looks down at his puzzle and wonders what the connection between it and cards could be.

Yami suddenly opens his eyes, deducing amidst the cheers of the crowd that the deck he's using must contain Exodia. Kaiba has grown impatient with Yami's inner reflection and demands that he draw a card already. Yami ignores him as he remembers that Sugoroku said meaningless cards don't exist, and that lesson should apply the arm and two legs that he holds in his hand.

Duh. I don't know much about this game, but even if I knew nothing, it wouldn't take a meditative talk with my grandfather to figure out that those cards were for the same monster. Slow as molasses that boy.

A flashback further elaborates that Sugoroku once told Yuugi that no one, not even him, has ever seen Exodia actually summoned before. Still the cards are in his deck, so that must mean that he has the rest of them somewhere in the deck too. Yami blurts out that he has the legs and an arm, already three of the five that exist.

Kaiba tells Yami he's had enough time to "beg for his life," which is a weird way to interpret his dialogue about already having three pieces, but okay. Kaiba commands him to draw a card again, and Yami looks a little out of sorts as he agrees. He draws his next card, which turns out to be the other arm of Exodia. He now has four out of five parts of the monster.

Kaiba notes that Yami is acting a little differently now, but he brushes it off as the flickering light before a candle sputters out, because nothing can possibly beat the Blue Eyes White Dragons he has. See, this is where that empathy and understanding thing I was talking about at the end of last chapter would have come in handy for Kaiba, but he's too far gone now. His next draw produces a Judge Man, which he puts on the field to attack Yami's defending monster and increase that "cornered" feeling Yami/Yuugi already addressed panels ago. Get with the program, Kaiba.

After Judge Man takes out "Louise," Yami sweatdrops and Kaiba reminds him that he has two turns left before the Blue Eyes White Dragons are released. Yami draws another card, the Black Magician, but its points don't match Kaiba's dragons. It can still attack Judge Man, though, and that's just what Yami summons it to do. Kaiba calls it useless struggling, but his Judge Man still falls to a bit of black magic, leaving him with 1000 points.

Yami tells Kaiba that he's not going to give up until the end of the game, no matter how desperate his situation may look. Kaiba just resumes the countdown, reminding him that it's the final turn before his dragons are free to sing again, and Yami's chances for victory are gone.

Crap, I didn't think about who the third Blue Eyes would be after Sinatra and Sinatra Jr. Uh.... Michael Buble?

Kaiba announces that the other two are also unsealed, so on his next turn all three of them will attack. While he's laughing maniacally, Yami thinks that it all depends on what he draws on this final turn.

So, what did I think about this chapter overall? It wasn't as chock-full of potential for Sinatra jokes as I thought, which is disappointing. That aside, the only part I can really comment on is the part where Yuugi is talking to his brain's version of Sugoroku, and I've done most of my commenting above already. I like to THINK these are hints that Yuugi and Yami aren't simply two people occupying the same body, that they're more intimately connected than that, because discontinuity is so dull. Also, Shadi himself speculated that perhaps Yami was a part of Yuugi all along, only awakened by the Millennium Puzzle, so that could be an explanation as to how Yami wouldn't be just a spirit possessing Yuugi occasionally. However, I've learned to be a little skeptical of the complexities this manga could offer. It would be nice if they were really complexities, but my gut tells me that maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.

I did like what mind!Sugoroku had to say about how there's meaning in things one might not expect. Things that might look useless at first glance may not have been combined with the right elements to bring out their full potential.

I think this message was a little obvious next to Yami's inexplicable head-scratching around those limbs though. I don't understand how anyone over the age of two couldn't have understood that they all went together once you had all the parts. Oh well.