Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 158 A Brave Gamble

Gambles by nature tend to be brave, because part of the definition of the action is that the outcome could just as easily be for or against the one making it. If you know the way things will turn out, it's not a gamble. Still, I'll bite; I'm a bit curious about what makes this particular gamble so much more worthy of the "brave" title than any other. That's especially considering this gamble is within the context of an entire tournament with an ante rule, which is just one big gamble.

I'm getting a sense of gamble-ception from this already.

I don't know why he's so shocked at the sight of Jonouchi pushing himself off the ground. One of his more valuable cards is on the line - it's not like he's going to get another chance after shrugging his shoulders and forfeiting the rest of his points. Besides, Jonouchi still wants to keep moving toward that future he described to Roba before, which he doesn't see how he can get to if he just gives up.

Though he concedes in his head that this fantasy future of his may never actually happen, he's confident that he can get to the place in the city where Yami is waiting when he realizes his own strength. It's kind of strange to me that Jonouchi is so sure and unsure of his future simultaneously, because complexity of thought isn't really one of his hallmarks. Contradiction of thought doesn't seem up his alley either. Whatevz.

Regardless, Jonouchi is urging himself forward with the knowledge that he has to be there for his friend, having made a promise. To him, this means he can't lose, which he shouts at Roba with determination. Roba responds with a villainous laugh, inviting Jonouchi to dream all he wants, at the same time warning him it'll never happen. He declares that Jonouchi's only future is losing, pointing out that Jonouchi only has 200 life points left and has not a single monster left on his side. Add in the fact that his opponent has one of the strongest monsters in the game working for him, Jinzo, and that's a combination that would have Roba curious to see a way Jonouchi can win, if there exists such a miracle.

Jonouchi glares, speechless a moment, until Roba urges "Jonouchi the Super Loser" to take his turn already. Rude. Jonouchi tells Roba to just watch him and draws a card, praying it's something to beat Roba. It turns out to be Baby Dragon, which he adds to the only other card in his hand - Scapegoat. He has to bet it all on ONE of these cards, so...

Okay, betting on sleeping tribbles dressed as goats IS a pretty brave gamble, I'll warrant. At least Roba seems to get the idea behind these sleeping goats, which is to stand between Jonouchi and total annihilation. He's smirky about how it only buys a little precious time, though. Jonouchi is the opposite, sweating and telling himself this is all he can do for now. He ends his turn on that precarious note.

Roba tells Jonouchi to get himself ready as he draws a card, which brings back his smirk in full force when he sees its face. It's called Brain Amplifier, and he equips it on Jinzo, who clenches its fists and hunches in typical super saiyan power-up fashion, before explaining that it brings up Jinzo's attack by 500 points, and then 300 more every turn after this. It seems pretty unfair to have a card that can do such a thing, but I'm not a game designer, so my opinion could be crap on this matter.

I also happen to be critiquing from a safe out-of-universe distance right now, a luxury the panicking Jonouchi doesn't have. He's only concerned with how he's supposed to beat something that only gets stronger every turn. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Roba summons a monster called Reflect Bounder, a mirror-chested monstrosity with a bunch of other mirrors decorating its cape and other parts of its costume for good measure. Pointing, Roba shouts at Jonouchi that even if he manages to summon a monster and attack, his attack will be bounced back onto him. Get it? The attack is bounced - it's reflected - do you, do you get it?

Jonouchi is shocked by this declaration, and Roba encourages him once more to just give it up, because there's only defeat in his future. He's got this silly little grinning expression with his eyes closed too, like he's thinking this isn't a completely asshole thing to suggest. Jerk-ass. Roba shouts at both his monsters to attack.

That took less time than Jonouchi must have thought. Roba tells Jonouchi that if he summons another monster in his next turn and attacks with all three at once, he'll beat him no problem. He gleefully pronounces that he wins, again urging Jonouchi to forfeit before he embarrasses himself because his continuing is pointless. His insistence is a tad too relentless; a "methinks thou dost protest too much" moment, if you will. If this kid is going to win on the next turn anyway, why is he SO eager for Jonouchi to give up now?

The suspiciousness of this is furthered by the fact that when Jonouchi yells at him that it's his turn now, Roba gets PISSED. He demands to know why Jonouchi doesn't just give up. Why are you so offended by the fact that Jonouchi wants to keep going? What is your GLITCH, dude? Jonouchi doesn't care, of course. He just answers that he's a duelist, plain and simple, at which Roba grits his teeth. Calm your shit, bro.

Jonouchi draws a new card and his eye gleams at the sight of it. Or, GLEEMS, as the comic prefers to spell it.

If I had the experiences with "roulette" based games that Jonouchi has, I would avoid EVERY card that had a name containing the word. But, hey, this might be that brave gamble the title is talking about.

The spidery-thing starts pawing at Jinzo's face when it gets over there, and Roba is horrified that it managed to blind his precious monster. He stutters a question about what's going on, noticing that a roulette table has appeared between himself and Jonouchi while Jinzo acts as the center of it, letting out a series of muffled groans. Jonouchi explains that this spell card is his last big gamble, costing him half his life points and bringing them down to 100. He's not too broken up about that - it's not a huge difference from 200, after all.

Roba is freaking out, asking what Jonouchi is trying to do. Jonouchi informs him that his Roulette Spider has the objective of blinding the strongest monster on the field and spinning around. After the spider is done spinning, that monster, in this case: Jinzo, will attack whichever target is indicated by the arrow sticking out of the spider's backside. Roba is getting more and more nervous as the explanation extends to all the monsters on the field being potential targets, including Jonouchi's. If the arrow stops on one of the players, it'll hit them too. Sounds like Jonouchi's finally grasped one of those super expert rules. In this game of roulette, ROBA is the one who has to call for the arrow to stop.

It appears totally terrifying to Roba that Jonouchi's is a gambling deck that relies entirely on luck. I would think he'd be pretty smug about it, considering how easy it would be for Jonouchi's card to hurt him instead, but I just can't figure this little brat out. He's sweating up a storm when he imagines the worst - if it hits him, Jinzo's 2900 attack point would zero out his 1440 in no time. Jonouchi wears a cocky smile as he points at Roba and challenges his psychic ass to stop that arrow in the right place. Oh SNAP.

Jonouchi says that one of them is going to get blown away with this attack, so they may as well get on with it. He shouts for the spider to start spinning, and it does, taking the hapless Jinzo with it.

This makes Jinzo SIGNIFICANTLY less intimidating.

Roba calls out for the spinning Jinzo to stop, and stop he does, with the spider's butt-arrow pointing in a direction that has both Jonouchi and Roba gaping. It's the monster dressed in mirrors that is being pointed at, and a stuttering Roba mutters an trailing sentence about what this means.

So, Roba's big badass monster got all dizzy and destroyed itself along with one of its friends? That must be some hardcore embarrassment that's got Roba stumbling around as he cries that all his monsters are gone. His life points have been reduced to 240 as well, and I'm not certain how THAT happened if the mirror thing was only supposed to reflect the attack back at the attacker.

Ah well.

Grinning, Jonouchi informs Roba that there's still one more monster in his hand that he hasn't played yet. He slaps Baby Dragon on his Duel Disk, and its big doe eyes and chubby smile seem to terrify the SHIT out of Roba. Jonouchi provides forewarning of the extra humiliation he's going to deal Roba before...

Just goes to show you, kids, there's ALWAYS room for more embarrassment. Always.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? There was something forced and overbearing about how Roba was acting here that just rang a little hollow for me. I understand that his behavior was supposed to indicate that he didn't understand what true sportsmanship is, or that Jonouchi was willing to see his challenge through to the very end. It was an attempt to show that, behind the bravado, the cheating, and the ultimate insistence that a small number points inevitably leads to loss, Roba didn't have any clue what it means to really win or fight for what you want. That much is clear enough.

However, it sort of undermines what little legitimacy Jonouchi's new journey had, as well as his stated reason for being in this tournament to begin with. He said he wanted to learn to be a true duelist, and though he gave no definition of what that phrase means, he at least gave an inkling of it being someone who has the power and confidence to win back their cards on their own. At the end of his very FIRST duel in this tournament, he's shown he is MORE than capable of this against someone who was relentless in goading and talking down to him. He seems to already BE that true duelist that he was talking about, but I suppose KT has to have SOME reason for sticking him in this tournament and dueling Yami.

Too bad it was kind of a flimsy one.