Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 045 The Terror of Thirteen!!

The thirteenth chapter was pretty terrifying, sure, but we wait until Chapter 45 to address the terror of the number itself. It does have quite a history of being somewhat taboo among some cultures, particularly Western ones. In Christian cosmology, Jesus's last supper consisted of thirteen individuals, one of which was to betray him, which may have started the Friday the 13th superstition among cultures deriving significance from Christian sources. Monks also had a hard time with thirteen full moons in a calendar year, so it was considered unlucky. The story of the Jersey Devil states that the devil was the thirteenth child of Mother Leeds, who cursed it as she was giving birth. The number even has an official phobia dedicated to it: triskaidekaphobia. What a mouthful.

Somehow, I doubt this chapter will have much to do with anything listed above, though.

Well, there you have it! Thirteen cards to each suit, and some douchebag is using those cards to leave hints to his bombs. But do you know what the most interesting part of this is? Do you see down there in the lower right corner of the newspaper cut off by the edge of the panel? Is that a reference to a department of some kind? A POLICE DEPARTMENT???

I thought they didn't exist! Everything in this comic up until this point led me to believe that Domino City, and possibly the WORLD, was devoid of any law enforcement! But they exist! They really exist!

.... Someone tell them to get their asses in gear and do their JOBS. Some poor tiny high schooler has been doing it for them for the past forty chapters!!

Anyway, Yuugi looks out from behind his newspaper, trying to get Anzu's attention so he can tell her more about the elusive bomber as she looks off in a different direction with a miffed expression. He notices this and asks her what's wrong, and she says that it's nothing, except that she doesn't want to be out until dark just reading the morning paper. I don't think it takes quite that long to read a newspaper, Anzu. She's irritated because she practically had to drag Yuugi out of his house just to have some summer fun, and that took long enough without him holding them up with his paper investigation.

Yuugi points something out to Anzu; an actual amusement park that is outdoors and not built to terrorize and kill them! Yuugi is happy, because this must have been what Anzu had dragged him outdoors to see. He's blushing as he thinks about what this might be, but the question is coming out as a stutter, because he can't quite get out the word "date." Before he manages to actually ask Anzu if they're on one, the lady at the ticket booth asks him if he wouldn't like an elementary school ticket rather than a high school one. Yuugi gets even more flustered, telling the ticketer that he's actually a high schooler despite how he looks, thank you very much, and he would appreciate it if she wouldn't be so rude. Anzu watches this exchange with a blush of her own and crossed eyes.

Yuugi jumps around like the little tyke he resembles once inside the park, asking Anzu which of the many rides they should go on first. Anzu looks at the sky to note that the summer sun is quite hot, so she suggests that they go...

To the water side of the park! All the better for Yuugi to ogle her. He so busy staring that she has to pull him along to get back in line for the slide, asking why he's stalling. He thinks that the card bomber doesn't have half the explosive power of Anzu's dynamite bod, practically comatose from viewing it. Where'd you get that comparison, Yuugi, the 1970's? And dude, be careful not to "explode" in that pool, okay? Other people have to swim there too.

Later, after they've had enough of the slide, they lay out on lawn chairs to soak up a little color. Yuugi peering over at Anzu as though he's getting away with something. Men. Anzu shields her face from the bright sun, but something else catches her eye. Yuugi sits up and it's not clear if it's the lighting or her imagination, but Anzu thinks he looks a bit like Yami for a moment. The illusion only lasts until some kid comes up to Yuugi and shoots him in the face with a squirt gun. Yuugi chases off the little brat, asking what that was for as he shakes his fist and the kid just runs laughing.

Anzu is perplexed at first, as she thinks that usually, Yuugi looks just like a child. She wants to see the mature, cool Yami instead, and wonders how she can coax him out.

No. No. No. This is such a bad idea on all levels. First, her thoughts about Yuugi are really disrespectful here. She's not satisfied spending time with Yuugi as a friend, and just wishes he would turn into Yami, which makes her no better than a "nice guy" type who pretends to be friends with women in order to make them feel like they owe him sex. Second, putting oneself in a compromising situation in order to get attention from someone is juvenile, petty, and disempowering oneself in the worst way. If Anzu goes that route, talking about how immature Yuugi looks is going to seem pretty hypocritical. Third, what if this guy doesn't do anything untoward and just wants to hang out and maybe grab Anzu's number? Is she just going to just make trouble in order to get Yami's attention? That's horribly unfair to this random stranger who did nothing wrong except approach someone who caught his eye.

Anzu is the WORST right now. I kind of hate her.

Surprise, being a horrid person didn't have the desired result, so she sulks as Yuugi pulls her toward a spinning ride. He pauses when he sees something strange and points it out to a puzzled Anzu. There are police - actual POLICE - standing around, and Yuugi wonders what they're doing at the park. One of the policemen tells an underling to get on the PA system and tell the guests to leave the park immediately. Another junior officer comes up to him and tells him that their search hasn't turned up anything suspicious so far.

The chief isn't convinced, though. The Card Bomber has used all his usual methods to point to the park as his next location, and the time he specified is ticking ever nearer. The chief knows there's a bomb in the park. The PA system crackles to life as per his direction, telling the guests there was something dangerous brought into the park, and asking them to follow the nearest officers to the closest exit. Odd that they would outright say there was something dangerous in the park, because usually they would just make up something not to cause panic.

Yuugi is concerned at the news, wondering if the Card Bomber could be there. He urges Anzu to leave with him, but Anzu is still mulling over what he just said about a bomber. Then she smiles and says this could be quite exciting and interesting while Yuugi asks her what the hell she's talking about, because they should just go home. Anzu can only think that this is the perfect chance for her to see Yami.

Anzu is acting like such an idiot here, I can't even. I just can't.

Everyone else is running for the exit, shouting that it must be that bomber and screaming while an officer requests unsuccessfully that they all remain calm. See? This is exactly why the park should have made something up and closed it down normally. Yuugi is looking to join the chaotic wave toward the exit, but notices that Anzu is missing.

Meanwhile, the police chief is reminded by an officer that there's only five minutes until the appointed time by the bomber. Just then, the chief's phone buzzes. He answers it as the head of the bomber investigation and a man on the other end taunts him with a promise to give away the secret location of the bomb soon, telling the chief that three people are in its direct range. The chief concentrates on the bomber's call as he begins to divulge that the bomb is...

Yuugi is running around the park, calling for Anzu. She answers him from bucket number 3 on the ferris wheel. She's actually HOPING he's worried at this point, and I don't have the patience with this shit to explain all the reasons why that's fucked up. All she cares about is the possibility of Yami coming out if Yuugi gets super worried. Yuugi calls up to Anzu as the police run up and note that there are people in buckets 1, 3, and 13. The chief growls before Yuugi tells him that his friend is up in number three and asks what's happening.

Instead of telling Yuugi to get out of the park while they take care of it, the chief goes ahead and tells Yuugi that there's a bomb on the ferris wheel. No wonder no one calls the cops in this city, they're the most incompetent and blabby officers to ever exist. What is Yuugi going to do with this information other than fret? He does just that, staring open-mouthed at Anzu's bucket.

The bomber is still on the phone, apparently, because he calls the chief the idiot he is as he asks if he brought the prop asked for. The chief confirms that he has the deck of cards, and the bomber proceeds to tell him that the ferris wheel will explode in ten minutes after a full spin, but he wants to give the police a chance to stop that from happening. He asks the chief if he wants to play a game in which the lives of the passengers are determined by his luck.

The chief growls, telling the police gathered around that the bomber challenged him to a card game and asks if anyone is really good at them.

That's right Anzu, with your persistent stupidity, you've gotten Yami to come out. I hope you're happy with yourself. It's also incredibly lucky that this police chief is so incredibly unprofessional as to let some random brat play this game in his stead, because otherwise Yami wouldn't have been doing a damn thing and would have been out and about for no reason.

Yami asks the bomber what game they're going to play, and the bomber seems hesitant to play with a kid at first. He gets over that pretty quickly and announces that the game Yami will be playing is called "Clock Solitaire."

Yami starts the game by turning over the card on top of the center pile and sees it's a 3 of spades. He slides it under the "3 o'clock" pile on the far right, face up. Then, he draws the card from the top of the "3 o'clock" pile, a 4 of hearts, and places it under the "4 o'clock" pile. From that pile he draws the 10 of diamonds, placing it in its proper place, then draws another 4 (diamonds this time), and notes that the "4 o'clock" pile now has two face-up cards in it. Eventually each point on the clock will be represented with four cards of each suit.

Yami wonders how this game relates to the bomber's plan as he plays. He draws the last 4 card and places it in its proper place, the first point on the clock to be assembled.

Well, I guess that answers THAT question. Flaming debris rains down on Anzu's bucket as it shakes. By her look of open-mouthed terror, I think she might be beginning to regret how stupid she's been until now. I hope she is, at least, and learns that seeing Yami is not worth putting herself in danger in the future.

Yami realizes that his completion of each pile sets off a bomb in each of the buckets. Curious: how did this guy set up these bombs? Did he go on the ferris wheel multiple times? Did he have accomplices that set up the bombs for him discretely in order to avoid being recognized by the person running the ride? Did he stand behind it and stick the explosives to the bottom as it rotated by? These aren't critical questions; I just happen to be interested in these kinds of things.

Yami reminds himself that Anzu is in the third bucket and growls, because her pile already has three cards face-up and only one more needs to be drawn in order to complete the set. Anzu presses a hand against her bucket window, silently begging Yami for help. Yup, she's definitely no longer having fun being self-damseled. I guess I should be grateful that she's not so thrilled to see Yami that she hopes the danger lasts as long as possible in order to keep Yami out and visible for longer. I wouldn't put it past Takahashi, honestly.

Yami thinks that he has to save Anzu, as the bomber who's still on the phone commands him to keep playing, asking if he'll be able to end the game. Yami deduces that the bomber has to be nearby in order to see the cards he's completed, and wonders where he is. On the ferris wheel, obvi. Probably in bucket thirteen, because it's another play on the title in addition to the number of card piles. Just a guess.

Continuing the game makes Yami sweat. Another draw completes the pile of eights, and the eighth bucket explodes accordingly. One of the officers is nervous that one of the passengers on the wheel will be blown up at this rate while the chief asks just how Yami is supposed to win. Yami has figured out that the only way to end the game is to complete the pile of king cards, since he started from that pile and has to finish with it. It's also the pile that represents that thirteenth bucket - isn't that interesting? He already has two cards gathered there.

As he continues to draw cards, Yami knows that if he draws the last three, Anzu's bucket will explode. Instead, he draws the last two and the corresponding bucket detonates. Yami growls in frustration again, but keeps the game going despite his pouring sweat. He draws another king card and is relieved that he only needs one more. But one of the officers announces that there's only twenty seconds until the whole ferris wheel explodes.

Unfortunately, the next card Yami draws is an ace, and he puts it in its proper pile before hurrying to draw the next card, hoping very much that it's the one he needs. Do these cards have a soul too? Dude! Believe in the soul of these cards!!

He did it! And look at that glare in Anzu's direction as she calls out to him. Oh, man, I hope he gives her a talking-to...

Seriously? That's it? No, "What the hell were you thinking running off to the ferris wheel while everyone else was being sensible by getting out of this stupid park you are the worst and how can I even trust you after this youcan'tpossiblyexpectustobefriendsafterthisbullshit!!!"

Apparently not, because he just turns around and suggests they get out of there. Before they actually leave, though, Yami addresses the chief, telling him he knows where the bomber was hiding. He tells him to take a good look at the passenger in the thirteenth bucket, because it didn't explode when he assembled the corresponding cards and he could see what cards Yami was assembling from his vantage point. He disguised himself as an innocent hostage despite how safe he was.

Called it!

After telling the incompetent chief how to properly investigate, Yami is seized by the elbow by Anzu, who tells him that they have to continue their date. He looks flustered by this suggestion, and I like to think it's because he's wondering how to tell her it's not him, it's her deathwish.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Well, I know how I'm playing solitaire from now on! Just if I have time to kill, not bombs to waste. I'm still very curious as to how the ferris wheel was rigged, in a frequent-watcher-of-various-crime-shows way. I know this isn't one of those, so I didn't expect to get an explanation of exactly how he did it, but I did note that there are possibilities, so my imagination is going wild right now.

As I said above, the police were so ineffectual and bad at every aspect of the job they performed here, I'm not really surprised no one thinks to call them anymore. The fact that their message to leave the park was so inept as to CAUSE panic rather than prevent it would have been enough, but they couldn't even solve the simplest of mysteries. I mean, I'm not a genius by ANY means, and I was able to figure out where the bomber was. Yami telling them at the end wasn't a credit to his intelligence so much as an indication to how ridiculously stupid the police are.

And then, of course, there was dear Anzu, whom I said I didn't care enough about to care about her interest in Yami in the last chapter that featured her. She was just cast as a girl, not a person, so I had no idea what to make of her as a character, and therefore her crush on Yami didn't have much substance. So, thank you Takahashi, because my opinion on her is no longer a mild disinterest. I know exactly what I think about her now.

She is SLIME. She has become persona non grata to me. Yami and Yuugi should reject her outright, because her behavior in this chapter was unacceptable and VILE. Not only did she deliberately accuse an innocent man of being a predator, but she put herself in danger to seek attention and fulfill some regressive "being rescued by a handsome prince" fantasy. If she pulled that shit with me, I would have told her in no uncertain terms that we are no longer friends until she can prove to me that she's grown up and not going to pull literal stunts to worry me anymore.

Of course, I don't even KIND OF resemble a prince, so I don't think Anzu would care about getting attention from me in the first place.

What bugs me the most about this, though is that my opinion on her didn't change because of new personal information about her and her character. She's still just a GIRL, with all of the most horrible stereotypes that come with the role. There's no individuality there, just a bunch of "women, amiright?" jokes that congealed into a curvy female form. I'm even starting to believe that Takahashi gave her a dance dream simply because giving her a hobby that was more related to the overall plot wouldn't have been girly enough, and we have to hit you over the head with the fact that she's a girl, right?

Ugh... shoot me.