Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 106 Another Kind of Courage

The kind of courage it takes to face oneself and the limitations we are prone to? Or maybe the courage to confront those parts that don't appear to be limited in the ways we would prefer? Or perhaps the courage to tell that dick next door to stop hammering on his walls like he's trying to knock them down. I mean for fuck's sake, this is an apartment building, and some of us are trying to sleep at 2 am, you know??

Was Kaiba the real winner in that duel with Yami? I don't know if getting to face this douchebag is something to celebrate over...

Then again, Kaiba doesn't look like he's celebrating any more than anyone else here.

Well, Keith, I know it might be difficult for a dude who tried to seal several CHILDREN in a cave so they could rot to understand, but most of us aren't really capable of even tangentially causing someone else's death.

Jonouchi yells Yuugi's name, and leads the charge up the stairs to kneel next to his weeping buddy, asking if he's okay. Yuugi groans, sniffling that he couldn't keep playing, knowing the possible consequence of Kaiba's death. Jonouchi asks quietly if this means Yuugi let Kaiba win, but Yuugi is too distraught to confirm this. Anzu recognizes that Yuugi stopped Yami from continuing his attack, because the match was getting out of control.

Yuugi sobs that he's scared of this game and his other self now. Anzu hangs her head in despair. She kneels next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling sadly, though telling him he did the right thing. She winks at him and tells him not to cry because he's a boy, ain't he? Of all the characteristics of Kagome Higurashi you could emulate, did you have to emulate the mildly assholish one? Goodness girl, let that boy have his cry!

Kaiba how? How do you manage to make me want to hug you and strangle you at various intervals?

Kaiba tells Yuugi that if he had been ruthless enough to push him off the side of the building, he would have won, and it was the most foolish thing he could have done to worry about the safety of his enemy. Yuugi looks sheepish, but doesn't say anything. Jonouchi is more than willing to yell at Kaiba that Duel Monsters isn't about murder. Kaiba retorts that ALL games are about conflicts between to opposing sides, and that includes cards, chess, wars. Jonouchi doesn't appear to have a comeback for this assertion, despite the fact that the former two examples there are clearly designed NOT to have the massive loss of life that the latter does, and aren't generally played to settle arguments or fight over resources.

In fact, equating all three of these things just makes me want to pull a Kelly from the Liam Show and betchslap the dumb out of you, shetbag.

Kaiba says that God gave people a single chip called life to engage in games in this world. What a fucking waste, God, GEEEEEEEEZ... Kaiba says that when he threw his chip of life on the board, Yuugi exposed his weakness and lost. Anzu, however, takes him aback when she yells at him that HE lost the game.

I know you are, but what am I??? Sorry, that line took me back to kindergarten for a second. Carry on.

Anzu tells Kaiba off for comparing peoples' struggles to games, and insists that what games are REALLY about is facing oneself no matter how tough things get, keeping up the fight. She says that Kaiba bet his chip of life like it was nothing, because when he realized he was going to lose he didn't have the courage to keep living after that, meaning he actually lost to himself. Kaiba growls, totally OWNED by this girl.

Anzu, why can't you be as cool as you are when you're facing Kaiba ALL THE TIME? I would love you so much!

Yuugi stands as Anzu finishes her ownage by saying the moment someone gives up that chip, they've lost. Jonouchi also reminds Kaiba that Yuugi SAVED Kaiba's chip when he was going to throw it away.

Kaiba groans a moment, but eventually just dismisses all of these words as the howl of losers. He tosses all of his ten star chips in the air and declares he's taking them. Jonouchi tosses Yuugi's Duel Disk back at Kaiba, telling him not to forget his cup ramen thing. I still have no idea what he's getting at with that comparison.

Honda puts his hand on Yuugi's shoulder and discourages him from giving up just because he's lost half his star chips. Bakura steps up to say that there still have to be duelists on the island that he can win chips from, so there's still time. Jonouchi certainly doesn't plan to give up until Yuugi has ten chips again, and looking at all his supportive friends surrounding him, with him all the way, Yuugi is grateful.

Oooh, looks like SOMEBODY is in a mood. Kaiba shouts back at Yuugi that he'll leave Pegasus's corpse for him to duel, which I guess I have to admit is a pretty cool parting line. Yuugi glares at Kaiba as he heads toward the door, where he's gestured into it by Vlad the Hair Impaler. Kaiba and Vlad pass Keith leaning on the wall while they head inside, and Keith claps for him. He's applauding the ass-kicking show Kaiba put on. Kaiba puts a smirk back on his face, expressing his surprise that prize-hunting hyenas managed to make it to the island.

Keith isn't fazed by the insult, letting Kaiba know under no uncertain terms that he'll be the one to defeat Pegasus and take the prize, though he doesn't know if rich boys like Kaiba really care for prizes anyway. He wants to ask Kaiba a question, and Kaiba pauses to hear it. Keith recalls Kaiba's line about God giving everyone a chip, asking if that chip is worth the same for everyone, rich and poor. Smiling, Kaiba says that's more a distinction the hyenas figure out in searching for their next meal. THIS comment gets under Keith's skin, because he frowns and grits his teeth, silently calling Kaiba a spoiled brat. But, he follows Kaiba inside, because he reckons it's about time he got himself in there too.

Foot up on the fringe of the parapet, Jonouchi shouts at all his friends to look.

Yup, they're definitely getting inside. Vlad the Hair Impaler inserts the ten chips from Kaiba into the fancy star chip lock on the gate into the castle and it deactivates. The doors slowly open for Kaiba, who lingers on the threshold for a moment. He steps into an opulent entryway with columns and an intricate vaulted ceiling, but he doesn't pay attention to any of that. He's too busy silently telling Pegasus he's coming.

Why does everything that boys says sound GAY?? I am ROLLING!

Jonouchi shouts that the sun's almost set while they run back down those hated stairs to the castle and he urges Yuugi to follow him. Jonouchi don't give a shit if they cross either participant or superfluous asshole; he's ready to snatch their chips regardless. But before they can get too far down the damn stairs, Vlad the Hair Impaler is back out to tell them smugly that they're too late and Yuugi is disqualified.

But he still has five chips? Yuugi looks over his shoulder at Vlad in surprise, and Vlad points toward the horizon, telling them to look. Jonouchi and Yuugi gape at where Vlad is indicating, described to him as the boat taking away all the rest of the duelists except for him that lost their chips. Vlad the Hair Impaler declares that the four finalists for the tournament have already been decided, in other words.

Jonouchi asks Vlad to repeat himself in shock, but Vlad says the first of the finalists is Keith Howard instead, causing the visceral gritting of teeth from Jonouchi. Yuugi points to Jonouchi as a person who also has ten star chips, so Vlad has to acknowledge him as a finalist as well, and Vlad concedes this point.

Yuugi breathes a sigh of relief and turns happily to Jonouchi to tell him he did it, but Jonouchi doesn't look too happy about this as he broodingly thinks about Yuugi NOT getting in. Honda asks if Kaiba is the third finalist, but Vlad the Hair Impaler says Kaiba is actually a special guest of Pegasus and not participating in the tournament. Then... why did he just duel for chips back there? Seems like an odd thing for a non-participant to do...

Vlad tells them that the third finalist came earlier, but they went off to bring the fourth back with them.

Well shit.

Jonouchi looks at his glove with its ten chips for a moment before he thrusts it in front of Yuugi, telling him to take it. Yuugi gapes, wondering WHY Jonouchi is doing this, and Jonouchi smiles as he says the only reason he's even in the running is because Yuugi gave him one of the two star chips that came for him. Jonouchi insists his ten chips actually belong to Yuugi, but Yuugi doesn't look too sure about this as he stares at Jonouchi. He turns down the offer, because Jonouchi won those chips to help his sister, and they can't be taken.

Grabbing Yuugi by the shoulders, Jonouchi tells Yuugi he HAS to take the chips, but Yuugi looks away. Jonouchi says that Yuugi never gives up, but trails off long enough for Yuugi to haltingly say that THIS time, he's got no choice. It's the end of the line.

Hey, guys, remember when Vlad the Hair Impaler was going around preventing people from trading chips outside of duels? He just walked off to LET it potentially happen now? What's up with THAT?

And she wasted all that time calling olly olly oxen free and everything!

Mai recoils in shock when she gets close enough to see that Jonouchi of all people collected ten star chips, which he shouts is only going to be half that in a moment. She looks down at Yuugi, whom she notes with further surprise that Yuugi only has five chips. She asks Yuugi if he's disqualified, and Yuugi doesn't answer, hanging his head. She says she's not accepting the implications here, and thrusts out her opposite hand with even more chips in the palm, announcing that she's ready to pay back those chips she owes him.

Seriously, Vlad is really failing hardcore at his job right now.

Jonouchi adds up the chips in her glove and her hand to a total of 16 and freaks out, while Mai is saying that Yuugi has to face her in the castle as repayment. But, isn't the whole point of giving him these chips to make you EVEN? What would he be repaying you for?? Nothing anyone says makes any sense!!

Yuugi continues to hang his head and not say anything. He'd better snatch those fuckers up before Vlad remembers he has to stop him.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Is it just me, or is Anzu the ONLY one who is able to lecture Kaiba without him insulting her? She SCHOOLED that boy, and he didn't have a comeback until Jonouchi spoke up and said that Yuugi had mercy on him in his suicidal tantrum. Is Kaiba just unwilling to say anything mean to her directly because she's a girl, or is he tacitly admitting that she hit a nerve with her speech?

Because true, Anzu doesn't know what's going on in his head, nor why he HAD to win this match and why he was willing to threaten suicide to do it. Regardless, she's absolutely right in a way that she doesn't know. I mentioned in my analysis of last chapter that Kaiba doesn't have any other avenues of action here, but I'd like to add a caveat onto that statement: he doesn't have any other avenues THAT HE KNOWS ABOUT. And that's actually what makes Anzu's speech here about confronting oneself and not giving up a really apt comparison between Yuugi/Yami and Kaiba. Whenever we see Yami in a duel, there always comes a point in time where it looks for all the world like he's going to lose and there's nothing he can do to stop it, but he KEEPS GOING. He keeps looking for other options, new doors to victory that he didn't see before. His strength is in not assuming that losing his initial strategy is losing the whole game. He uses inventiveness and adaptation to always look for new ways to engage his opponent.

Kaiba didn't do this. He didn't give up, but he didn't bother looking for other options for winning in the actual game. Instead of adapting to the new situation within the duel, he tried to recover what was left of his original plan, supplementing that with a plan to kill himself if his opponent didn't surrender his ability to attack. And because he saw that duel as the only way into the castle to save his brother, he didn't even THINK there might be other options if he lost. It was easier for him to just believe he may as well be dead if he couldn't get in to save Mokuba under Pegasus's terms, effectively tunneling his vision and making himself unable to see beyond that one match.

Add that tunnel vision to the list of insidious consequences of Gozaburo's abuse, I guess. Stunting Seto's ability to consider other avenues for saving and preserving those things that are important to him. He's got a one-track mind now; there's only ONE way to do things and if that doesn't work out, better off dead, despite the fact that he would be of much better use to Mokuba and his company ALIVE.

You know, for a guy who made a speech about knowing and becoming one's opponent in order to stay one step ahead, he sure has a hard time comprehending the actions and understandings of said opponent.

And, you know, learning from those.