Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 046 The Evil Dragon Cards, Part 1

The mention of dragon cards in the title is making me nervous. Has Kaiba returned to the waking world for more unnecessarily complicated and cruel revenge? I hope not, because I'm not ready to meet that guy again for a while yet. I know he's supposed to be a sympathetic anti-hero at some point, but I'm not sure if I'm prepared for my opinion of him to be reversed just now. My head is still reeling from the downturn in my opinion of Anzu from the last chapter. No mas.

At least not right away. Sugoroku starts us off by showing the kids something rare - what he describes as a bullfrog game from ancient Egypt, that's essentially a race with points. It doesn't look like a bullfrog so much as a hippo, but maybe "bullfrog" is the official name, and it can take any shape.

Five thousand years is probably a good estimate for the oldest games that are still played today, like backgammon, but it's not likely that it was the beginning of game play for humans overall. That would be a crazy conservative estimate indeed.

The door to the shop opens, and Sugoroku greets a new customer that Yuugi seems quite surprised to see.

That hair has some serious volume, kiddo. Yuugi thinks that Imori's visit might be a good chance to get to know him a little, because he's never talked with him before. Imori explains that he wanted to come to the shop because he'd heard that Yuugi's family owned it and he had something to show to a game expert. Couldn't be that neat little package you have in your hands, could it? Yuugi and Sugoroku both look intrigued.

Imori sets the jar and box he has on the counter. Yuugi and Jonouchi lean in for a closer look, commenting on how odd and mysterious it seems, but Sugoroku adopts a look of shock as he thinks he knows what it is. Imori states that his grandfather collected games and must have brought this oddity over from China after the war, since Imori recently found it while rummaging through his basement. He was hoping Yuugi's grandfather would be able to identify it.

Yuugi says it doesn't really look like a game, and Jonouchi compares it to an urn instead. He picks it up and asks Imori if he can untie the string holding it all together, and Imori is cool with it, though he hasn't bothered to try himself. I don't believe that for a second, dude. Aside from your Addams Family glare, the FIRST thing you would have done as a kid sifting through things that don't belong to you is open the mysterious thing. I remember being a little shit like that too.

Jonouchi prepares to tug the string away, but Sugoroku shouts at him not to. Sugoroku apologizes for yelling at Jonouchi, but he explains that the seal shouldn't be broken as his hands hover around the jar resting again on the counter. He tells the kids that these are "The Dragon Cards," an ancient Chinese game that he's never seen personally before, though he's heard a lot about them. Yuugi, Jonouchi and Imori all appear perplexed.

Sugoroku goes on to say that if he's not mistaken, the cards were used to test Feng Shui masters' skills. Anzu asks if Feng Shui could better be called magic, Sugoroku neither confirming or denying this. He says that Feng Shui is an art that uses the energy from the surrounding environment and has a four thousand year history behind it, since China's first emperors. Anzu asks why there's a seal on the cards.

Jonouchi doesn't look very thrilled about this information, does he? Sugoroku hands the jar and box back to Imori with the express instructions not to ever open those cards, or the power of their darkness will be unleashed. And then, he'll have to hire a Feng Shui master to put everything back in balance again and it will be prohibitively expensive! That's just my interpretation of all this, anyway. Imori agrees not to open the sealed box and jar, as Anzu mutters that she's only more curious about what's in there now. Jonouchi glares at her, calling her stupid for wanting to curse them all.

Trust me, Jonouchi, that's not the dumbest thing she will have done within the past forty-some chapters.

Although, Anzu isn't the only person in the room who has a dangerous fascination with the old game.Yuugi is also wondering about what it would be like to play with those dark cards. Imori is grinning at the box and urn in his arms, thinking about those dark powers...

A few days later, Jonouchi and Yuugi are preparing to jump in the pool at school with enthusiasm. Someone complains to the teacher that Jonouchi is following them under water, and he is reprimanded, which is I think the first useful and just thing a teacher has ever been known to do in this school. Imori is just sitting by the fence, staring wordlessly at his classmates as they swim.

Jonouchi and Yuugi march back into the locker room afterwards as Jonouchi sings the praises of swimming in the summertime, how good it is for their bodies and eyes. Yuugi just says that it felt great. Thankfully, we're spared looking at Jonouchi's bare ass after he's removed his suit and is toweling off his hair by some other guy removing his pants in front of him. Yuugi is still in his trunks in front of a cubby when he notices that his Millennium Puzzle is gone.

A note has been put in its place, penned by someone who calls themselves The Messenger of Darkness. They demand that he come alone to Classroom C and tell no one about it or else he will lose the puzzle forever. Yuugi wonders who would steal the puzzle, and Jonouchi notices his forlorn expression. He asks what's wrong, but Yuugi says that it's nothing to comply with the note. Imori smirks from across the room.

Yuugi shoves open the door to Classroom C to find Imori sitting at a desk with something covered in a cloth in front of him. He says he expected Yuugi to come, which is easy to do when you steal something of his. The puzzle is now around Imori's neck instead, and he chuckles as he cradles it in his hands. Yuugi demands his puzzle back, letting Imori know that this is not a laughing matter. Imori doesn't move to return what he stole, requesting that Yuugi tell him it looks pretty good on him instead.

Usually if you have to say that you haven't been watching someone in a "weird" way, it's probably still pretty weird. Imori may not be sexually interested in Yuugi, but that's not the only STRANGE look you can give someone, you know?

Imori recounts an observation that he's made; Yuugi was weak until the dark power of his Millennium Puzzle augmented him. Yuugi just stares in shock, so Imori goes on to state that his grandfather left him some books about games, one of which was a book from ancient Egypt. At first, he wasn't sure how games and the puzzle connected, but he thinks he's uncovered the secret now. What he read in the book was that the one who solves the Millennium Puzzle would inherit powers of darkness and become a shepherd of such.

So, Imori's grandfather had this book lying around that came straight out of ancient Egypt and he could read it? Somehow? Did his grandfather have it translated? What's going on here?

Yuugi's mouth is still hanging open as Imori states that he has sworn to beat him in order for the Darkness Shepherd title to pass to him instead. As he uncovers the object in on the desk, Imori tells Yuugi he will have to accept the challenge and beat him in the game in order to get the puzzle back. The game, of course, is the Dragon Cards, which Yuugi has to gasp through a still agape mouth. Imori grabs the end of that string, prepared to break the seal.

Something like steam issues from the jar and box, and Imori says the darkness is being released with a grin. Yuugi is too late when he tells Imori to stop what he's doing and that he can't break the seal. Imori laughs, the smoke spreading around them both, saying that he read yet another ancient book about the Dragon Cards. How many languages does this kid know?? The book said that there has to be a shadow game after the seal is removed to prevent a curse settling on the land and all its inhabitants. Great, this little shit is more careless than Anzu was in the last chapter. Fantastic.

Imori identifies the jar as a Shin Tsuen Fu, which will eat one of their souls once the game is over to reseal the cards and pacify the dragons themselves. This is sounding less like a game for masters of Feng Shui and more like an internet demon ritual every second. Imori tells Yuugi that there's no way he can get out of this now as he opens the box with the cards inside. They sit across from each other at the table, Imori looking maniacal and Yuugi looking faint.

Okay, six cards for each player, they have to get three of the same card in order to get two dragons, and those dragons fight the two opposing ones to win. Gotcha.

Imori points at Yuugi and declares the game has started. He repeats that they each draw six cards as he draws his, but Yuugi remains silent, only able to think about how Imori stole his precious puzzle. Because he doesn't have access to it, he can't access Yami either, so he has to rely on himself in this game. Imori is thinking that he's studied this game from top to bottom, so he has the strategic advantage in this one and he can't lose, especially when he has the puzzle.

Imori announces that he's drawing a card and peers at it a moment, noting that he's already gathered two of the three level four water dragon cards needed in order to summon it. Out loud, he tells Yuugi he's discarding a card that he's deemed useless, and that when a card is discarded, it's placed in the pile face up. Imori compares this component to Mahjong, in which you can watch your opponent for a reaction to your discarded hand to figure out which cards they have. If that card was a card that Yuugi was hoping to draw at some point, Imori should be able to see that.

Assuming that Yuugi doesn't have a killer poker face, anyway. Judging by how he's sweating on the other side of the table, though, I'd say those chances are slim. Imori tells Yuugi it's his turn now, and Yuugi reaches out to grab a card with a trembling hand. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees it's a card that he can use, then he discards one that he doesn't need. With this play, Imori knows which elements and levels Yuugi's trying to gather already.

This was a VERY important rule for Imori to leave out of his explanation earlier. I guess it can be argued that it's obvious for each element to have a weakness in the previous one, but often "obvious" things are overlooked, especially if the elements we're talking about aren't literal.

Imori and Yuugi continue to draw cards and discard them while Imori chuckles. After a time, Yuugi announces that he's assembled the cards for two dragons and commands them to appear before him as he slaps said cards on the table. Imori does the same, and the ethereal smoke of their shadow game curls around them again with Yuugi staring at it, amazed.

Well, I guess Yuugi DID figure out that rule about elemental weaknesses all on his own. A little late though, and it looks like he's quite thoroughly fucked. Imori calls for the dragons to do their thing, some attack he calls "Water Drain" that looks a bit like a hurricane? Kind of? Imori declares that his water dragons beat Yuugi's all at once. It hits Yuugi that he lost with an expression of pure shock, and Imori tells him that as a penalty game, Yuugi's soul will be snatched. Yuugi begins to say something, but before he can get out more than one syllable, one of the winning dragons thrusts a fist into his stomach. It draws out what looks like a ball and retreats back into the jar with it. Imori doesn't NEED to narrate this, but he does it anyway.

Yuugi's body collapses onto the table with wide, blank eyes, and one arm extended out in front of him. Imori is gloating to what he thinks is a soulless body that he doesn't even believe can hear him, but looks down to see that Yuugi's hand had at some point grasped the Millennium Puzzle. As he wonders when this happened, Yuugi's eyes blink back the listlessness.

Oooooh, he did the thing!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It was really good! I like the fact that a game from another ancient culture that has a rich history was incorporated into this one, and a game that looks really cool to boot. This seems like the kind of game that I would really like to play, because it's not too complicated or too simple, seems very quick to play, and has a very organic and timeless lore behind it. The shadow game part isn't appealing, of course, but looking at the game itself, it looks fun.

I also really liked Imori. He's obviously a mirror on Yuugi - he's small, physically unimpressive, interested in a variety of games, and had a grandfather who was a bit like Sugoroku. He has a ton in common with Yuugi, which puts his comment about looking up to him in perspective. Imori is probably plagued with a lot of the same problems that Yuugi was in the first chapter, like loneliness and bullying. Imori sees how Yuugi's life changed so drastically when he solved the puzzle, seemingly overnight, and is bitter that something similar can't happen to him, until he comes across this game boasting dark powers in his deceased grandfather's basement. His grandfather left him a bunch of books too, one of which describes the Millennium Puzzle, and these things in combination set Imori on his current course. He's jealous that Yuugi was able to rise out of his situation, but more than that, he's fuming about how Yuugi is so special as to be chosen by this artifact to be a shepherd of darkness. He's driven by defeating Yuugi and proving that he's more worthy than him of the title, as well as reaping all of the benefits of this that he's seen in Yuugi's situation.

The end of this chapter was also very interesting to me, because Yami couldn't come out until Yuugi was touching the puzzle in some way. There have been instances where Yami has come out and then separated from the puzzle, like in the Cruel Gang chapters, so it's not as if he's attached to the puzzle indefinitely and needs contact with it all the time. He clearly only needs the puzzle to INITIALLY manifest. After that, he can maintain his presence on his own. This seems to support that thing that Shadi said way back when, that Yami is a part of Yuugi that just couldn't come out until the power of the puzzle made it possible to manifest both personalities. That's only how it seems right now, though, and only time will tell if any of this means anything.

And, last but not least, Kaiba did not return with his Sinatra-themed dragons in this part. What a relief!