Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 157 Psycho Deck!

Is this a Hitchcock reference? Does someone have a deck that is specifically meant to resemble the situation in the movie, or simulate Norman Bates' obsession with his mother? Did Pegasus create a series of cards that followed iconic scenes in the movie and throw some Duel Monsters stats on them?

Yeah, that's a thing now. Deal with it.

Roba growls at the mockery, and Jonouchi lays some more on REAL thick, quoting his claim of being in touch with the cosmos as a joke. He calls Roba a scam artist before he says he knows the trick; Roba is having someone peek at Jonouchi's hand. Roba is taken aback, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

Up on the ledge of a nearby building just behind the duel in the street below, the team of Roba look-alikes are gazing down at it, one of the four voicing the fact that Jonouchi has figured it out. The one with the binoculars whines at one in a headset, asking why he didn't guess that Jonouchi had Devil Dice instead, and moaning that their big brother is going to yell at him now. Headset-Roba-Clone stutters out his apologies. Someone asks what they should do now, and Binoculars-Roba-Clone says that Roba can handle it from here, and that they may as well stop. One with an untucked shirt and a runny nose stands up and breathes a sigh of relief, finger right up in his nostril.

This family is all class, I tell you.

Strangely, Binoculars-Roba-Clone looks kind of scandalized that one of his fellows took his call for quits seriously, but Snot-Roba-Clone says that their big brother is a good duelist, so he can do the thing even without their help. Then he grins, his finger shoved in his nose throughout the whole exchange. Binoculars-Roba-Clone sweatdrops.

Down below, Roba himself has recovered somewhat, asking what Jonouchi could possibly mean when he talks about spies and who he thinks these hypothetical spies are. He suggests one of the spectators as a ludicrous option, then smirks at a glaring Jonouchi for making such baseless accusations, reminding him that he's only won one turn. Then Roba begins to recite the dictionary, calling a claim without a basis "speculation", followed by an unrelated insistence that he'll predict the future with his powers and be 100% accurate about it too. Jonouchi looks skeptical about this, as he well should, as Roba shouts that he'll win this duel, and Jonouchi will lose. He asks Jonouchi if he knows how Roba knows this, and despite getting no answer, Roba starts to monologue about how he's never lost a duel, and how Jonouchi's an amateur, and how the great Roba has more experience, therefore the future is certain, blah, blah, blah. Same garbage we've heard ten-billion times before from people who have come up against Jonouchi.

Jonouchi answers this with some refreshing honesty.

The cocked head is a nice touch, KT.

As an example, Jonouchi talks about walking down the street and turning the corner, maybe being able to see the next town, or a woman he's never seen before carrying a baby or her shopping, but that's about all the power he has for seeing into the future. However, Jonouchi says that he knows there's a guy somewhere in town who's waiting to take him on as soon as they get to the finals of the tournament. He's thinking of Yami, of course, when he elaborates that at some point in the future, they'll meet up and duel, dead sure of it. He claims to be fighting now for the simple reason he believes in the future he just described, and that's all there is to it.

Roba isn't moved in the slightest by this speech and vows to crush Jonouchi's stupid future. He then calls for the continuation of the duel, with the added jab that he doesn't need his (fake) powers to beat Jonouchi. At 2600 life points, Jonouchi thinks he's not going to lose, while the 2940 point Roba is planning to teach Jonouchi to fear his psychic cards.

Looking at his hand, Roba see's he's still got his Jinzo the Psycho Shocker card in his hand, which he calls the ultimate psychic card. You mean it's NOT a Hitchcock reference? Aw man... Roba grins up at Jonouchi, thinking he already knows how he's going to take Jonouchi down. This consists entirely of spending this turn playing a single face down card. After a pause, Jonouchi is relieved to know that Roba isn't playing another monster. He assumes this means that he can attack Roba directly to "wail" away at his life points. WAIL, as in "scream and cry obnoxiously". These are the official translators, folks - just want to let that hang in the air for a moment.

Aaaaaand, the moment's done. Jonouchi draws a new card, hoping it'll be good. He hunches to try and hide his hand as well, so no one will see it. Jonouchi is stoked to see he picked out Alligator Sword once he gets a chance to peek, and so summons it, much to Roba's undisguised amusement. Jonouchi assumes that because he's got two monsters with a combined power of 3000 attack points, he's won already. I wouldn't be too sure about that...

Against all my expectations, Roba takes the blow, cringing as the Alligator Sword swipes away half his life points, and whittling them down to 1440. His clones atop the building are all shocked and horrified by this turn of events, but Jonouchi isn't quite done yet. He yells that it's his Landstar's turn, saying that one more hit will end the duel.

Roba, however, doesn't sit still for Landstar's hit, telling Jonouchi the first one was the only one he'll get. It is at this point Roba reveals his face down card, Mind Control, which he uses to hypnotize Landstar and stop it right in its tracks. While Landstar's eyes swirl, Jonouchi is flabbergasted that Roba had a trap lined up. Are we certain he doesn't have short-term memory problems? That was literally the last turn, dude. It was the ONLY thing Roba did, you'd think you would remember to watch out for the possibility. Sheesh.

Cackling, Roba rejoices that Jonouchi's warrior is his slave for two turns, but Jonouchi just can't figure out why Roba didn't do this with Alligator Sword. Roba explains that if he had used his trap on Alligator sword, the pair of turns would have ended in a draw. Sure, he wouldn't have taken any damage, but he also wouldn't have gotten the LIVE monster he needed for his plans. Jonouchi glares at Roba cluelessly, probably because he's forgotten about sacrifices again so quickly. Ryuzaki sees what's going on here, though, and mentally calls Jonouchi a moron for not realizing that Roba wants to use Landstar as a sacrifice.

Jonouchi scoffs and thinks at Roba to take one of HIS traps then, pulling Chasm with Spikes from his hand, to ensure that Roba goes boom the next time he attacks. He plays his trap card as his last move of the turn. Roba is smirking when he thinks that Jonouchi's move of facing a trap with another trap is a disgusting show of single-mindedness. He's certain that very soon, no trap will be able to catch him.

Not again indeed! What a cheap shot!

Regardless, the Alligator Sword floats over to its new master's side of the duel, as he's bragging about how the monster is his now, along with the effectiveness of his ESP mind-control tactics. Uh, dude? You realize you're not actually controlling the monster with your mind, right? This is just the rules of the game and how the card you played works. Delusional little...

Jonouchi freaks about how both his monsters have been stolen, before Roba starts monologuing again. As this duel's bad guy, he can't help but tell Jonouchi the whole of his intentions, summoning an even greater creature by offering up Jonouchi's monsters. He cites super expert rules again, saying that you have to sacrifice two shrimpy monsters in order to summon a bigger, badder one of seven or more stars. Jonouchi appears shocked by this information, even if it WAS just given to him a couple of chapters ago.

The monsters Roba took are surrounded by holographic wind as Roba begins their sacrifice to summon some sort of crazy cyborg creature.

... I'll be seeing that horrible mask in my nightmares...

Jonouchi repeats the words "Psycho Shocker" as if they mean something surprising. Or mean ANYTHING, really, because it doesn't sound coherent let alone significant to me. Roba informs Jonouchi that Jinzo possesses the ability to detect traps, which Jinzo proceeds to demonstrate right there and then. A flash across those creepy goggles (*shudder*) later, a sudden laser beam shoots at Jonouchi's face down card and destroys it. Sweating, Jonouchi gapes at his blown-up trap.

Roba tells Jonouchi that as long as Jinzo is there, any traps played opposite it will be useless. Now it's Jonouchi's turn to look like a deer in headlights, while Roba airily says that he has no reason not to attack now that Jonouchi's trap has been eliminated.

Thanks Jinzo. As if there wasn't going to be ENOUGH in my nightmares.

Jonouchi hits the ground HARD with 200 life points left. As he lies there, Roba asks if he gives up, because he's basically lost anyway. Jonouchi, however, pushes himself up, planting a foot firmly on the ground. He says that Roba WISHES he would give up, and asks how he's supposed to get to his future if he just gives up.

Well, I think that was the point, kid.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Much like in the last, I'm a bit torn. It's still really cool to see Jonouchi sticking with the duel even when he's down to his last 200 points, given where he started in Duelist Kingdom. The amount of confidence and drive he's accumulated since then is enormous, and it's kind of inspiring. It's a message of perseverance and passion that I think everyone reading this could benefit from, so I have to commend KT for it.

But on some level, I think the contrast is almost TOO strong at this point. Back in Duelist Kingdom, Jonouchi was really FIGHTING for something. He was trying to earn this huge sum of money to pay for his sister's medical treatment, which was compounded by the fact that he was trying to gain some sense of self-reliance and self-esteem. It was a real struggle.

But in this tournament, he's not here for anything. I've said it before, but it bears repeating that the stakes are nonexistent for Jonouchi right now. His sister has her health, he has his self-esteem, and the only reason that Yami has his Red Eyes Black Dragon right now is because Jonouchi didn't WANT to take it back from him. Yes, he doesn't feel like he deserves to have it at this point, and that's what he's working toward, which I understand. However, this is so much SMALLER of a story for him than it was the last time. It seems dinky in comparison, so I'm having a bit of trouble caring.

Maybe if Jonouchi relapsed a little and became insecure about his ability to win at this stage, it would add a little tension back in, but then the great message I mentioned before would be sacrificed. It's like KT wanted to walk this tightrope of meaning and function, but he's several feet away from that rope balancing a spoon on his nose instead.

Yes, I know the simile is clumsy, don't judge me.