But, since Yami is the literal center of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe, I have to admit that answer doesn't apply, and there IS something to his pontifications on our first page.
Ahem.
Anyway, it's Sunday, according to a label on a panel showing the outside of Yuugi's house/Sugoroku's game shop, not that you could tell from people leisurely strolling about and kids playing outside instead of stuck in a school that remains strangely devoid of teachers. Inside Yuugi's room, he's looking consternated as he complains he can't decide which of his new wrist adornments look better on him. As Yuugi peers in the mirror, desperate to figure out which bracelet to wear, Yami appears behind him, asking why he's up so early looking at himself in the mirror and if there's something wrong.
Yuugi smiles and tells Yami he asked Anzu on a date today. Yami winks and tells his partner to go for it, but Yuugi corrects him, saying that HE'S not the one going to see Anzu today. Perplexed, Yami gives Yuugi a questioning looks while Yuugi winks back at him, giggling. This can only mean trouble...
Anzu thinks back to the previous day at school, where Yuugi asks her if she is free on Sunday. She repeats the word "free" as though THAT'S the confusing part of the question. Perhaps because she's always chained by her narrative function of eye-candy and she wonders if he's asking if she ever gets a breather from it. Yuugi confides in Anzu that Yami is in low spirits lately, and he won't tell him what's wrong, but speculates that Yami might feel better if he goes out with Anzu. Anzu is immediately a stuttering mess, but I guess that's how she accepts invitations to go out, because here she is, honoring the sudden specific request to meet at Domino station at 10 am.
Looking around, she blushes as she catches sight of someone clad in especially fetching black leather today.
Anzu silently tells herself she can do this, just before Yami asks hesitantly where they're going. She suggests with a slight stutter that they go for some tea at the Red Bubble Tea Shop, and Yami complies without so much as an affirmative. At the shop, they sit at a table with beverages, Yami staring out the window while Anzu continues to make suggestions. She bought some tourist magazines that have some ideas, and tells him they could just walk about the place, or go play at a location she points out in the periodical. No dice. He just sits there, arms and legs crossed, not saying a word as he gazes out the window.
Yami, I get that you were tricked into this and don't want to be here, but you could at LEAST not passively hurt the girl's feelings. Whatever happened to that attraction you expressed for her in the early chapters? Or was that only when she was asleep and not talking? *shudder*
Anzu wonders why he's not saying anything, internally complaining that she's getting a headache. Perhaps brainfreeze from the bubble tea she's sucking down in order to further offer conversation that's not being maintained? Yami continues to give her the cold shoulder, but Anzu tries again to start a dialogue, this time giving him a compliment on his cool new bling. Yami raises an arm to look at the bangles and hums, saying he didn't choose these bracelets, and that Yuugi has no taste when it comes to accessories. The first time since they were at the station that he opens his mouth and it's to talk smack about Yuugi. I'm getting less and less sympathetic for this douchebag for the awkward situation he was forced into. Say something NICE for once, you ingrate.
His date insists that the bracelets really ARE cool all the same, and Yami decides to tell her how long Yuugi spent staring in the mirror and picking them out, just to be a little douchier. Then, he tells her he's surprised, because Yuugi spends far too much time worrying about the feelings of others while not expressing his own. Anzu becomes a little meek when she tells Yami that Yuugi worries a lot about him all the time. Yami doesn't have anything to say to that, apparently, he and Anzu spending a moment to stare each other down. He looks at the table to see one of the magazines in front of him and sighs a little. He draws a parallel between their uncertainty on where to go for their date and his general uncertainty on where to go with his future/past, which only perplexes Anzu, because she's not familiar with the latter issue worrying him at the moment.
Yami is smirking as he wonders what kind of person he is, really. A garbage one. Clearly. And it's not because he doesn't know where he came from or where he wants to go now. Regardless, he's again trying to convince himself that staying in this same place just as he is suits him just fine. Anzu speaks up, having gleaned a little of what he means from his wistful attitude, and tells him that she herself doesn't know were to go; in fact, no one really does. She says that even though nobody knows what's ahead, they should keep on going, head held high and believing that ahead of them is a place they want to be. Yami appears a little surprised by this, maybe because Anzu's wording makes her advice actually sound really terrible, but she keeps on keeping on. Anzu reminds him that she wants to study dance in New York when she graduates high school, and with his hum acting as noncommittal encouragement, she explains that as they sit there she gets closer to that goal second by second and minute by minute. She begins another thread of her argument by pointing out that time has a limit, but then stops.
This statement has reminded her that YAMI'S time with them has a limit too, because his Millennium Puzzle will someday have to go back to where it came from. She's brought out of her dark reverie by Yami reciting a quote, presumably from Yuugi, telling her not to worry and that her dream will definitely be reality someday. She smirks, saying that hearing these words from Yuugi has made her feel more confident, but she also knows it's not easy to make her dream come true. Still, she wants to believe her dream will come true, even if the odds are slight.
They walk down the street until they see a place that Yami expresses interest in entering: a shop that specially sells trading cards. By the time he's bought a pack or two of cards, he's looking much happier, much to Anzu's bewilderment. The pack he opens contains "Hand-Sealing Sword of Light" which is probably SUPER different from Swords of Revealing Light. Yami seems stoked about it anyway, excited about how good a card it is and telling Yuugi about it. Anzu says she's happy for him, and he asks where they're going next.
She points to a place down the way that she suggests they head to, an open faced arcade with a big flashy sign over the entrance. Once they're inside, Anzu remarks about how long it's been since she's been in an arcade, and Yami passes up a perfect opportunity to tell her the story of the last time when HE was in an arcade, getting stolen from Yuugi yet again and being won back by Jonouchi. Instead, he just talks about how there are a bunch of games he hasn't seen before. BO-RING.
As Anzu shouts that some dude is super good at some game we can't see, Yami's attention is drawn to an area of the arcade that has an awful lot of folks crowded around it. It's an elaborate dance game like DDR, and a guy is getting his dance on as the crowd looks on, furiously moving his feet to the instruction of the machine.
Yami is pondering the dance battle game with a smirk, Anzu commenting that there's still a spot left up there. Sounds like she's trying to subtly encourage Yami to try it out, but Step Johnny seems to have heard Anzu's statement over the music and bleeping of the dance machine. He asks if SHE wants to compete against him, much to her and Yami's irritation. Yami tells her she doesn't have to compete, especially against someone like Step Johnny, but Anzu smirks as she starts to remove her jacket. She says she can't refuse a DANCE competition, and she would totally ignore all his objections to it anyway. Regardless, he starts to call her back while she heads up to the stage, urging him not to worry.
Excited shouts accompany Anzu's standing on the button pad next to the one Johnny is already occupying. Johnny proposes a bet to her, and she makes an uncertain sound. He leans over all slimy-like and tells her that if she loses, she has to go out with him tonight. I'm about to ask why he hates himself enough to think of going on a date with him as a penalty for losing a game, but then he leans closer and suggests that it's BECAUSE she wants to lose and be his date that she decided to challenge him to begin with. Uhhhh, I think you might not have a good grasp on chronology here, dude, considering you only proposed the bet AFTER she agreed to go up against you?
That aside, Anzu thinks the guy is just all-around foul, and shouts that he's making her angry. He doesn't answer, and the both of them focus on the screen while the machine gives them the cue to get ready. After a moment, it announces their battle is a go, and Johnny does this weird thing where he holds up his hand and it looks like he's shielding his face? I don't know. Anyway, they start flailing like nobody's looking, even though their audience is captivated by their sweet moves. All I see is the two of them in various strange poses, because the motion is somewhat difficult to parse in a comic.
In any case, it looks like Anzu has begun to accumulate some fans at a certain point, who tell her how amazing she is and not to lose to Johnny. Johnny is sweating up a storm, glaring at Anzu and thinking she's no ordinary person. As Yami stands off to the side with his arms crossed and a smirk, Anzu smirks as well, determined glower in place. The crowd cheers about their progress to the third round and Johnny's falling behind.
Oh well. Yami seems impressed and Anzu seems worn out but proud of herself, just before we leave the arcade. Anzu stretches, saying that she feels a whole lot happier after that, and more capable too. 100 yen well-spent! Yami leans on some railing overlooking the ocean and after a pause wonders aloud what his own capabilities are. A shot of the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck leads into Yami outright telling Anzu that his current self exists inside the puzzle. She's wide-eyed and speechless at this comment, so Yami continues.
He says there is a place where the seven Millennium Items are kept, and the puzzle is from that place. So, that's one question answered, Yami! You know where you come from! Good job! He suggests that if he goes there, he can learn something about himself, like why he exists and where he should go next. I'm tempted to place the GIF from above down here too, but it might be a bit overkill. Anzu is hanging her head quietly when Yami says that if he doesn't go to find himself in Egypt, then things can stay the way they are, just fine.
Anzu asks him haltingly if he really believes that, which surprises Yami somewhat. In his head, he's thinking that he WANTS to know who he is and which place he should go. Out loud, he says that if things remain the same, he can stay in Yuugi's heart forever, something Yuugi hopes for too. Anzu is quiet again, affirming to herself that both Yuugi's care about each other a lot. She begins a thought about being "really" something-or-other, but we may never know what that is. When she looks up, she's grinning, stating confidently that two hearts be damned, Yuugi has to count on his own. She encourages Yami to be honest with himself, and Yami stares at her a moment before admitting that there's one place he wants to go.
Still, Yami smiles at Anzu, saying that he's made his decision because he met with her today. She smiles back silently, and Yami again goes over those burning questions about who he is, where he comes from, and where he's going in his head. He starts toward the building, suggesting they go, and Anzu repeats her advice to hold his head high and stand tall while she jogs toward the museum as well.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Despite my jokes about my intolerance for teenage angst, this chapter was really satisfying regarding Yami's internal struggle. Yes, most angst is boring and often insufferable, but his isn't, because it's only too legitimate. After hearing Pegasus's appraisal of the Millennium Items as containing "evil" spirits, and especially after having dealt with a legitimately evil spirit in the ring before even that, Yami has a good reason to be nervous. And that's not even to mention all the not-so-nice things he's put the villains of the series through. He probably has a harder and harder time thinking of himself as essentially good the more he thinks about all of these factors. I know I have the same problem, despite the fact that I've never done half the shit Yami has.
His real dilemma here is whether he bites the bullet and figures out who he is, for better or worse, or he continues to share an identity with someone else. This dilemma is presented VERY well, because Yami has said many times that it's fine that things stay the way they are, but each time the context around that phrase changes the essential emotion behind it. Each time you get MORE of an impression that despite Yami's fears about finding out who he is, not having his own past and identity is a whole range of negative as well, from resigned to bitter to even frightening in its own right. It may be "fine" that things stay the same, but it's not great. It's not even good. It's stagnation and the uncomfortable notion that he'll be spending the rest of his time with Yuugi as just one of his accessories; Yami would NEVER be his own person, separate and complete in his own right.
I don't know about you, but that scares the HELL out of me, which is why it's actually kind of understandable that Yami was acting like a brat at the beginning of the chapter. Not only is he used to only being in control of he and Yuugi's body when they're playing games, but he's also used to being cooped up in that mind room, brooding about the frustrating fact that he has no idea who or what he is. He's scared and nervous and uncertain, not to mention not really in his element playing a game, so it's natural that he would be a bit distant and defensive. Again, this is something I myself do all the time.
Anzu's handling of the situation was really kind of brilliant, because she basically pushed him to make decisions all day long. They were little things, like picking where they went and what they did, but they helped really get him into the mindset of solving his bigger problem: deciding if he was going to find out who he is or continue on the path he's already traveling. She also demonstrated to him a decision that further defined the kind of person she is. Yami pointed out that Anzu didn't have to go up against Step Johnny, and in fact she could have walked away without it having any effect on her whatsoever. She could have decided that things were okay they way they were before her dance battle. But, she decided to go for it anyway, even though there was a chance the whole thing could turn out negatively for her. It was a smaller decision than Yami's with a lot less at stake, but she did manage to show that moving forward is worth it.
If only those panels on her dance battle hadn't been so clunky, though. Maybe a blurred limb here and there to imply movement? No?
This is definitely a chapter I didn't appreciate as much when I was younger, but like a lot more now. Probably because I was watching the dub anime, where Atem regaining his sense of identity was typically a backseat to saving the world from (Insert evil force).
ReplyDeleteAlso, Johnny is more of a dick in the anime, cheating at Stepmania and then challenging Anzu to a duel afterwards in an attempt to force her into a date. Of course, Atem duels him instead.
I can see why the anime version might be a bit more muted; I'm a big fan of that writing adage that the bigger the issue, the smaller your focus should be. Trying to zoom out to encompass the danger to the world can make the trouble seem more impersonal and a bit too much for people to identify with. But KT did really well here zeroing in on Yami's personal struggle in the center of the danger, to give his wider danger a more intimate feel. The anime missed out in that respect.
DeleteAnime really wanted to emphasize this guy's sexism over Yami's personal journey, huh? Interesting choices they're making there!