Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 093 Deathtrap Dungeon!

Booby traps are pretty standard fare for labyrinths, so this doesn't surprise me. Probably got some rolling boulders, pit of snakes, standard Indiana Jones junk. KT may even draw the parallel the whole length and throw a "cleaners" or an oubliette in there for good measure. Too bad this isn't going a corn maze route, though, because I'm really getting full swing into the spooky vibe of the season and the zombies in the last arc just didn't sate my appetite. Maybe a scarecrow? Please?

Yami states again that if he and Jonouchi can win this duel, they get to head to the castle. Jonouchi says he's ready to start when Yami is with enthusiasm. The chapter reminds us how many star chips they have versus how many they are betting, followed by some obligatory showing of the friends on the sidelines wishing them luck and telling them to kick open the door to glory (Anzu and Honda, respectively, with Bakura looking a little ill in between).

The brothers are smirking, because as the superfluous assholes of the labyrinth, they aren't about to let Yami and Jonouchi win. One of them shouts that this is a tag-team match and that the rules are life and death. Uh, those aren't rules. They're stakes. I shouldn't be surprised that these cave-dwelling nitwits wouldn't know the difference though. Yami acknowledges silently that everyone's life rides on this match because they'll be stuck in the caves until Pegasus decides to let them out, possibly never, if they lose.

One of the brothers (not sure if Mei or Kyu?) states that now his first turn is over, he can explain the special rules for this duel. Generally rules are explained BEFORE games start, but doing it backwards is cool too. He says that each of the four players starts with 2000 life points, but because partners' life points are tied to each other, if one of them loses, they both lose. Jonouchi immediately frets in his head that if he loses, he'll never be able to face Yami again. Not even when he's cannibalizing him because there's no food down in the caves.

What? Too much?

The explanation is continued, saying that the players will alternate turns between teams. Next come the rules on how to play in the labyrinth. The brothers encourage Yami and Jonouchi to think of the monsters as chess pieces, where the number of stars on their cards correspond to how many grid spaces they can move in a turn. Yami thinks about how you must have to win a battle to further your pieces in the labyrinth.

Woo! Now I know what to call each of these suckers!

Jonouchi nervously asks which door they head for, considering it looks like only one of them leads to the surface. Mei says that each of them will do their best to guard their door, because, as Kyu says, they ARE the gatekeepers after all. As long as their best isn't this:

Jonouchi indignantly shouts at the brothers that since they're only giving their opponents a 50-50 shot at life after the duel even if they're beaten, they should at least give a hint as to which door is the right one. They agree to this, saying that from this point on, one of them will always lie while the other one will always tell the truth. Yami glares ahead, though there's an exclamation mark above his head, so I guess he's surprised or something.

Not surprised my Labyrinth comparison needs some fine-tuning, though.

That's better.

Yami warns the brothers that their lie/truth stunt better, in itself, be the truth, and Mei tells him that it is. The irony of this is clearly not lost on Yami, who glares. After having established the rules of their conversation, Mei insists that his door is the correct door. Kyu jumps in and says that HIS is actually the correct door and his brother's lying. They both chuckle.

Yami continues to glare, cool as a cucumber, but Jonouchi is sweating as he wonders just which one is telling the truth. Then he remembers that he's heard a similar riddle to this one before.

Somehow I think that asking TWO people will complicate this riddle a bit, though. Jonouchi shouts that the brothers have to answer their questions, and the brothers agree to answer two from each Yami and Jonouchi. Jonouchi asks them to "take us to your town door" thinking that the honest guy and the liar will both point to the same door and they'll know who the liar is.

As he predicted, both brothers point over to the Mei door, and Jonouchi turns to Yami, asking if he saw. He says that KYU is the correct door and MEI is the liar, but... I thought they were the other way around due to the arrangement of the bubbles in the second set of panels above, showing the Mei explanation next to the right door and the Kyu explanation next to the left.

This is why I shouldn't try to deduce the writing in languages I don't know with the arrangement of bubbles, folks.

Anyway, both brothers smirk, and this causes Yami to wonder if this really is the correct solution to the riddle. Jonouchi asks Yami what's wrong and if he got it right, and Yami says that depending on how you look at it, Jonouchi's question is logical. But Yami is unwilling to take the brothers' words at face value, because he's pretty cautious. He's perfectly willing to smirk at them, though. That's not off the table. Jonouchi asks what Yami means, because they should have answered the question that way if one's a liar and one's telling the truth.

Yami tells Jonouchi that it's pretty dangerous to compare their situation to the honest town riddle, not least of all due to the fact that they're facing two villagers instead of just one. The claim that one always lies and one always tells the truth is in itself suspicious because if one of them is a liar, they should both claim to be honest. There's also a strong possibility that they're both liars, so Yami's not even certain there's a town at the end of the road, rather than a cliff.

Jonouchi is pretty impressed with this heavy monologue while both brothers glare, smirks having collapsed for the most part. Yami brushes all that aside in the interest in getting to the game, because he thinks he'll find the correct door regardless. He tells them to resume the game, and announces his turn, holding a card up dramatically. He knows they have no choice but to enter the labyrinth and beat their opponents.

After Beaver Warrior is done moving, Yami says he's all done with his turn. He notes the distance between his team and the Meikyu team, thinking that the battles will have to be done within the second half of the game once the monsters meet up. Grinning, Mei figures he knows what Yami is thinking and Yami is dead wrong. He promises to show Yami the terror of the labyrinth.

Come oooooon scarecrow!

Much to my disappointment, Mei plays polymerization in conjunction with Shadow Ghoul and merges the monster with the field itself. That sounds like cheating to merge a monster with a field, but since Yami was able to affect the field in his first duel in such a substantial way, I can't deny a field augmentation to Mei here. I mean, Yami just burned the field, and Mei is making the field into an active attacker, but the field WAS created with a card, so...

Yami is pretty alarmed at this turn of events, even moreso when he sees a shadow traveling along the labyrinth walls toward his Beaver Warrior. He knows the Beaver Warrior can't escape because of the shadow's fast approach when it closes in.

Oh snap, bro, that monster just DESTROYED your beaver!

Yami's life points go down to 1600 as he stares agape at the monster that is disappearing back into the wall. Thinking that the wall shadow moves as easily as a fish through water, there's no doubt in his mind that this is seriously bad for him and Jonouchi. Mei wonders if Yami sees now how fast his wall shadow can intercept intruders into the labyrinth, and how nothing can survive its claws. Both Yami and Jonouchi are caught within the beast called "labyrinth" and won't get out alive, according to him.

Yami glares on at the brothers across from him, probably thinking that they're overly dramatic idiots. Jonouchi looks at his cards, announcing that it's his turn. He plays Axe Raider in attack and a face down card, not planning on moving this turn because he can't attack what he can't see. He'll wait outside the labyrinth and attack anything that comes close. Yami believes Jonouchi's idea is a good one because they can avoid being ambushed if they stay away from the walls, and Jonouchi really hopes Yami understands his strategy.

In the background, Anzu hopes that Jonouchi doesn't do anything stupid, but Bakura says that with Yami backing Jonouchi up, they shouldn't worry. Honda hopes that's true, but he espouses the possibility that both opponents might gang up on Jonouchi at once in order to take him down quickly. Keep your fingers crossed they can't hear you from over there, dude.

Kyu states that it's his turn while he draws a card. He plays a trap card face down, which booby traps various random squares that will kill monsters when they step on them. Then...

Oh boy, did I ever call that one.

Too bad KT already used the kidnapped baby plot device, because he could have gone for an outright LIFT with this duel. Still, the Meikyu Brothers combined aren't even comparable to David Bowie, so I guess it could never be a TRUE reproduction, no matter what.

Yami says it's his turn, taking a look at a card he just drew. He glances at Jonouchi and Jonouchi glances back. After their silent communication, Yami slaps down the "Elven Knight" in attack. It could also be the "Celtic Swordsman" as the card says, but whatevs. Yami advances the Elven Celtic Swordsman Knight into the labyrinth, and Mei grins at how much of a fool he is for repeating the same mistake as before. Mei sics the wall shadow on ECSK.

ECSK stands surprised, or whatever the exclamation point above his head means. Mei thinks there's no possible way that the elf can escape the death blow of the wall shadow, and therefore it's dead. It pops out of the wall behind a pants-shitting ECSK, but Yami is perfectly calm when he states with a smirk that he's got Mei now. Mei's mouth is agape in disbelief.

Jonouchi explains that the Kunai and Chain immobilizes enemies when they try to attack, and he saved the card especially to help Yami. Yami orders his ECSK to attack, and it slices up the wall shadow easily. Mei grits his teeth as his points go down to 1700. Jonouchi, emboldened by his successful play, is raring to go further into the duel and labyrinth with his teammate. Yami smirks.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Disappointed by the lack of a scarecrow, for sure, but moreso by how much is similar between the movie Labyrinth and this duel. I was able to make far too many comparisons that were kind of spot-on, and that's not a very good thing, creativity wise. I mean, they're trying to get to a castle, they're going through a labyrinth to get there, they're facing a "cleaners" like tank, they're facing an IDENTICAL riddle of two guardians of doors who claim to always lie or tell the truth. It's not clear if KT was GOING for this, but I think there's too much in common with the movie for it to be coincidence, and it's only looking like a cheap imitation to me.

It kind of brings my conclusion from the last chapter a new dimension though. It's like KT watched Labyrinth, thought it was an interesting idea, adapted it into a Duel Monsters game, and then had to come up with a way to insert these guys into a tournament for Japanese kids.

Man, that's quite the creative process, isn't it?