Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 066 The Trap

Oh, no exclamation marks this time? I think that's the first time since the end of the last arc that KT hasn't shouted at us! Oh happy day! I could sing! No trying too hard to convince the audience that the content is exciting. Finally it will stand on its own without copious punctuation trying to hold it up like bookends! The chapter doesn't need to struggle to live up to a promise it can't keep!

Never mind my own overuse of punctuation there. Nothing to see here. Carry on.

You mean I get to choose? Oh, this is a tough one... How about the Mirror Force card there? That one looks like a winner. Nothing like turning your opponent's attack right back on them, right? I'd use that trick every time.

Anyway, where we left off in the last chapter, Haga is throwing a fit because his Killer Bee is getting what it gave - death. After he's done freaking out, he admits that yeah, okay, the first battle was a draw. Yami just chuckles. Haga curses Yami in his head, wondering how he managed to figure out those new rules so quickly. Well, I mean, they're not that difficult to figure out. Despite my annoyance with how KT was so contradictory in presenting Yami's knowledge of it, I'm glad the final verdict was that he picked up the rule with ease. I would be pretty disappointed otherwise, considering how SIMPLE this rule is.

Yami, as though Haga had asked his question out loud (which he may have if there's still no rules about which bubbles mean what), begins to pontificate about how he came to solving the puzzle of why Pegasus was holding his tournament on an island. As soon as he sat at the table, he realized that the environment of the island consists of several "micro-climates", and the one the table currently occupied was what was reflected on its top. Well, I wouldn't use the word "climate" to describe these different environments, but I nitpick enough on terminology in this comic already.

Yami goes on to say that it makes sense that the monsters would get a power-up from their particular environment, and it would make a difference depending on where you chose to duel. A little map of the island is shown with five different habitats listed, and the monsters that get a boost in them. Yami concludes by saying that he knows Haga led him to the forest to give his insect cards an advantage. Fantastic, Yami, in typical long-winded fashion, you managed to explain why you knew something. Bravo.

Haga is done listening to Yami brag, saying that if his secret is out, they should just get on with it so he can turn the forest into Yami's grave. Yami doesn't say anything further, but smirks. Haga is grinning too, thinking that Yami is still unaware of the other effects the field may have on monsters. He calls for a restart on the battle, and we're back to square one. Anzu shouts generic encouragement at Yami, and Jonouchi tells him to just stomp on the bugs. Do you even know how this game works, Jonouchi?

Haga slaps down a new card.

Of course. Haga laughs evilly, as Yami looks at his hand. He reiterates the fact that 80% of the field is forest and the rest is wasteland, and is bummed that he doesn't have good wasteland cards available. He decides on a combo play, slapping down Feral Imp paired up with the Horn of the Unicorn card. Now his imp has a frikkin Narwhal tooth sticking out of its head and this pushes its attack power up to 2000.

For some reason that I'm sure will be explained at length later, Haga is grinning and chuckling. He initiates an attack after the call of battle, stating that Hercules Beetle attacks with a Scissors Boomerang. What is a beetle doing with a boomerang made of scissors anyway? Yami begins to call out his attack too, but finds the Feral Imp isn't responding to his commands. It is sliced by the boomerang, and Haga says there's one less imp in the world. Insensitive, Haga. What if that imp was my friend, you jerk?

Yami... scoffs? I mean, his face looks confused and shocked, but that's definitely the sound effect for a scoff... Haga points at Yami and does the math, stating that the beetle's enhanced attack points minus the true points of the imp are how many points Yami loses. He's down to 1350 points in the next panel while he wonders why his imp couldn't attack. Then he considers the possibility that the monster who gets the field advantage also gets to attack first.

Again, here I am thinking that this speculation is in Yami's head, but Haga responds like he heard it. Maybe I should just assume all words are spoken from now on? Haga tells Yami that his insects will always win the initiative in the battles, which means he had the clear advantage in this battle. But... your monster still had fewer attack points, so shouldn't it still have lost? Now it depends on who attacks first? This is getting farther and farther from how the original game was being played, and I'm acutely aware of how KT is tailoring rules for the game based on the holograms rather than actual cards. I guess that makes some sense in the case of this tournament, but I just keep thinking about the regular old poor kids who might want to play the game, but can't figure out a low tech way to do it.

It's apparent to Yami how the normally weak insect cards are formidable on in this environment, but then why would Haga have built an entire deck of them to begin with if they were so weak? Nothing anyone ever says in this comic makes sense. Yami's friends continue to shout encouragement to him from the sidelines, saying there's no way he'll lose to a bug boy and all that junk. Bakura talks about how he's SURE Yami has a strategy to hand Haga his ass. From within the booth, Haga reminds Yami it's his turn, and tells him to play a card.

Yami chooses a card from his hand and explains that he doesn't have one that can beat Hercules, so this one in defense mode will have to do. He ends his turn and Haga laughs that Yami is already on the run, and they both know who's going to win. Haga says that his next moves is his special combo.

Haga, you put a laser on a grasshopper? What are you going to do next? Demand one billion dollars from the world's nations?

Lastly, Haga adds the field advantage to his laser monster to raise it's attack points to a total of 2600. Yami is shocked, recognizing this combo as the one that won Haga the tournament. Haga calls his attack, and the Basic Bitch Insect blasts Yami's defense monster with its laser, leaving only a cloud of smoke. Haga says that's one down, and as Yami scoffs at the holographic smoke wafting past him, laughs about how Yami isn't even worth fighting.

Yami lays down another defense monster, urging his cards to hang in there. Grinning, Haga says that it's a waste of his time to take out his puny monsters, so he sets a secret card face down on the field. Yami wonders if it's a trap card, while Haga plans for it to activate the moment Yami calls out an attack, destroying all Yami's monsters. I don't know how he's going to attack with just monsters in defense, but okay Haga.

Yami knows it's too risky to attack, so he plays a face-down card himself. Haga guesses it's a spell card, and also that it's useless against him.

... How does this make you immune to magic cards?

Yami growls as Haga demonstrates how the longer Yami waits to attack, the more cards Haga will play to grow his insect army.

Not bad, but can they sing and dance?

Yami looks down at the field crowded with bugs in trepidation. He characterizes it as a full-on plague as he puts another monster in defense mode. Ha! Get it? He's still nervous to attack, though, because he'll be playing right into his hands. Haga asks Yami with another obnoxious point of his finger how it feels to be caught in his two-layer trap. Jonouchi wonders from the sidelines how Yami is going to get himself out of this hole.

Haga is already looking forward to Yami's funeral as a celebration. Will there be cake? Yami growls again as he draws a new card and lays it down, announcing that it's the Dark Magician. He's not very confident, though, because he knows he can't attack with him. He puts the magician in defense mode on the table, and Haga chuckles as he asks if that's one of Yami's best cards. He doesn't receive an answer, but he's so jubilant that he decides he's going to attack the magician first. Yami's expression isn't readable, but he's sweatdropping at least.

Haga commands his Basic Bitch Insect to attack the kneeling Dark Magician, and it shoots a blast. The magician is stoic while the blast approaches, but Haga doesn't notice this, yukking about the impending death to the magician. He suddenly trails off, though, as he notices Yami's smile from the opposite end of the table. He asks what's so funny, and I'm having deja vu. Yami says that if Haga called out his attack, he can't take it back now, and Haga begins to sweat. Yami asks him if he remembers the card he laid face down, Haga freaking out about his mistake in triggering the trap.

Called it! Haga screams about how his insect army has been decimated, and acknowledged that the first one to attack was the one who got a face full of trap. His points have been reduced all the way down to 450.

Yami mocks Haga by saying that he must have won the national tournament by sheer dumb luck, because he seems like the weakest player on the island to Yami. Ooooh, Haga needs to get some ice on that burn.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Lots of trash-talk, but not much else. Don't get me wrong, I like me some trash-talk, but this game is too arbitrary for me to be invested in how the players are psychologically affected by it. I've said before that I might have to learn the actual rules to the game in order to follow, but I have since been advised not to bother, given that the rules of the actual game and the rules in the manga are just not the same. All I would be doing is frustrating myself even more, and I certainly don't need to do that. There are plenty of internal inconsistencies without adding external ones too.

None that I could actively count in this chapter, though. At the very least, there was a new addition to the game that had only been briefly mentioned before. Trap cards were added in this chapter, but not much else of substance. The characters haven't revealed anything new about themselves or the world they're in, and Haga keeps repeating his smug/shock cycle at this point. He's already boring, so I'm glad he's almost defeated.

I can't help but be antsy for more clues about the puzzle and ring and eye. I'm with Bakura - those are the things I'm really on this adventure to get more of!