Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 126 The Perfect Defense

Defenses aren't easy to set up or carry out. You have to present your research and ideas in a cogent, competent way while presenting yourself as a peer and authority in your field. Of course, Yami has that second part down, but that won't do him any good when he hasn't even DONE any research and shrugged his shoulders with the declaration that he'll figure it out in the eleventh hour. Whether you're defending your dissertation or defending your monsters, try not to be as unprepared as Yami, because a PERFECT defense is a bit beyond his reach at this point.

It's usually the committee members that are asking the questions, Yami, and none as stupid and obvious as that one.

Pegasus taunts Yami for wasting his turn, and starts talking about how many variables there are in the game to think about between the cards and when to attack, the road to defeat being littered with tiny mistakes here and there. His lecture has Yami looking apprehensive enough before Pegasus asks to say one thing; that he NEVER makes mistakes. Yami growls at the sense of absolute confidence Pegasus is emanating, knowing that he can't win if he can't break free of it. He slaps down the Stone Golem in defense and ends his turn abruptly.

Yami's friends yell at him to look out while Honda curses the fact that Pegasus is already on the offensive. Jonouchi gripes about the lousy Pegasus claiming he never makes mistakes like he's a god or something. While Bakura isn't quite prepared to call Pegasus a god, he says Pegasus IS the creator of Duel Monsters, so OF COURSE he would be a master of the cards. Add to that the fact that he has the Millennium Eye to read the minds of opponents...

Jonouchi shouts at Bakura that he had better not be suggesting that Yami can't win the duel, and a taken-aback Bakura starts stuttering that he's not, but he knows that if he were in Yami's shoes he wouldn't be able to think of a way to win. He quietly questions if there even IS a way to win, sustaining Jonouchi's anger. Jonouchi tells Bakura to just watch, because Yami has a Millennium Item too, and it won't lose to some dumb eye.

Honda says there's only one thing they can do now. All four of the supporters are shown watching the Yami in the foreground from their perch, each knowing they have to believe he can win. Yeah, Bakura. Get with the program.

Pegasus says it's his turn again and draws a card, places one face down in front of him, and then plays...

You think Yami is a little perplexed by how innocuously cute that egg is? He's recovered from that by the next panel, yelling that it's his turn now. While Yami is beginning his turn, Pegasus internally chuckles that he can see Yami's cards, the Millennium Eye flashing through his curtain of hair to scan Yami's mind. This scan reveals Yami examining four cards: Imp, Magical Hats, Spellbinding Circle, and Celtic Guardian. Yami pauses to draw a new card and smiles when he looks at it. Pegasus probes more to find out what that smirk is all about, and finds that the new card is Summoned Skull. YES! My favorite!

Pegasus is kind of souring my happiness with his smile reflecting Yami's though, while he contemplates the new card. A small panel depicting one of Yami's eyes widening alludes to some sort of surprise.

That's got to be the most invasive feeling in the world, especially when Yami realizes that there's nothing he can do about it. He glares across the table at Pegasus, who LOOKS like his one visible eye is closed and his head is lowered. But Pegasus looks back up at Yami with a small smile back in place, silently chuckling about how it's too bad for Yami, because his tactics for this turn have been predicted.

He thinks that Yami will play Spellbinding Circle face down, then Summoned Skull in defense to try and tempt Pegasus into attacking, and this is exactly what happens, right on the money. Yami puts down his Spellbinding Circle, seen by the readers through the bottom of the table rendered temporarily transparent for them, and the Summoned Skull in defense. Yami says his turn is over, and Pegasus accepts this with a compliant thought that he'll fall into Yami's trap. He places his own face down card, visible as Trap Displacement to the audience in the same way it was before, and he supposes they'll see who is trapped in the end.

The panel AFTER this has Pegasus saying that it's now his turn again, so did he just lay down a face down card before that? Not that it wasn't already his turn before, but I don't know why he would be saying it now? The order of events here is just a bit strange.

I'm sorry, I just can't take that thing seriously when it's wearing its eggshell like a hat and diaper all at the same time. That's just...

Yami reveals his Spellbinding Circle to block Pegasus's attack and hobble his egg-dragon, the holographic version of the card appearing in front of the skull demon to intercept the dragon's blast. Pegasus performs an exaggerated gesture of despair at wondering what to do, right hand cradling the side of his head as he groans that Ryu-Ran loses 700 attack points. The egg-dragon is shown with the Spellbinding Circle around its midsection, and all I can think is it now looks like it's wearing a floating pool ring. Jonouchi cheers that Yami trapped Pegasus's monster, but Yami isn't sure it could have been that easy, or even that the trap worked.

Now that it's Yami's turn, though, he puts Summoned Skull in attack mode. Why are you failing so majorly at trusting your instincts in the final stretch, Yami? The Summoned Skull holds up its clawed palms to call forth its lightning, and launches it at Ryu-Ran just as Pegasus shouts that this is the target Yami has chosen. Pegasus chuckles and turns over his Trap Displacement card with flourish.

Yami is horrified that Pegasus managed to deflect his trap, while Pegasus explains that his card transfers the Spellbinding Circle to one of Yami's monsters instead. Of course, the Summoned Skull is now wearing the circle, and its attack stats lower to 1800, which Yami narrates unnecessarily afterward. You'd think he wouldn't WANT to reiterate how he's losing, but...

Anzu despairs at Yami's latest loss, Honda growling out that Pegasus knew what Yami was going to do yet again. Jonouchi curses Pegasus's unfair advantage and asks how Yami is supposed to fight him, and Bakura makes the depressed assessment that not even Yami can stand up to Pegasus's powers. He's immediately accosted with various shouts that they can't be in give-up mode, Yami would never give up, and somehow mixed among them that Anzu is right. Oh, oh I see, one especially elongated spike of the shout-bubble is pointed in her direction and supposed to indicate SHE said they can't be in give-up mode. Gotcha. Not exactly clear, but I gotcha. Glaring with determination, Anzu thinks at Yami to hang in there and not lose.

Pegasus mockingly asks if it's his turn already and draws a card. Yami is stuck on how powerful the Millennium Eye has shown itself to be, and that there must be a way to defeat the Mind Scan. But because it's still working on him, Pegasus answers him aloud that no, in fact there is NO way to beat the power of the eye. He begins to philosophize about how games are a contest between two minds, and if you can master and understand the opponent's territory, their mind, you win just like in a real-life battlefield. He tells Yami that he doesn't have the power to infiltrate either mind or world of Pegasus, and offers to show him this harsh truth right now, pulling a card from his hand with a smirk. Yami sweats and gapes as Pegasus plays his next card.

Why are you surprised, Yami? It's not as though you couldn't figure this was going to come up at some point in your duel. Though maybe it's apprehension more than shock, because Yami seems to recall pretty well that in addition to the caricature transformation of Pegasus's monsters into toons, only other toons will be able to kill them. Pegasus shouts at what he has elected to call his Manga Ryu-Ran (irony) to attack the stone soldier sitting in defense on Yami's side of the table. With its cartoonish hands extended, it hits the Stone Giant with whirling tendrils of wind, and once it's finished, guffaws before the Toon World book slams shut on it.

LOUSY within academics, though.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Its lack of real progression made it boring as watching paint dry. Despite a few plays being made and Pegasus chipping away at Yami's points, nothing HAPPENED. In order for progress to be made in a story, something has to change, either within the outer plot or the internal state of a character, but this chapter was just working the entire way through with the status quo set up in the last one. Yami repeatedly noted that Pegasus was reading his mind, but continued to operate in his usual way without even TRYING to figure out a way to counteract Pegasus's power. He just kept doing the same shit over and over, with different cards.

What's even MORE disappointing? I think this chapter was SUPPOSED to make the reader nervous, with all its references to the seemingly insurmountable power presented by the Millennium Eye. It's a HUGE obstacle, because it brings up the question of how you're supposed to even THINK about counteracting someone probing your brain; they're right there reading THOSE thoughts too. And the fact that Yami didn't preemptively consider this SHOULD have made his situation now all the more tense for readers.

But having him acknowledge his seemingly hopeless situation without trying to take SOME kind of action to mitigate it is dull. Yami and company saying over and over again that Pegasus is reading his cards and mind isn't making me bite my nails, it's making me check my watch. This normally proactive character who usually at least TRIES something by this point is being weirdly passive and uninteresting.

It doesn't help that my favorite card is officially eliminated from this duel now. I miss you already Summoned Skull.