But Yami don't care. He'll write all his shit down in STONE in order to access it later, thereby allowing strangers with the proper tools to grab it at will too. It seems counterintuitive for a teenager, and yet strangely familiar to me. Now where have I seen someone doing that VERY THING before?
Before we find out for sure, Yami is lecturing Pandora about how when duelists treat their cards like mere objects, they go down the path of ruin and defeat. Perhaps he's imagining that it'll be more difficult for Pandora to walk that destructive path if he has no legs. Literally. Which must be why he's not reacting to the horror that is or would be Pandora being mutilated by a saw. No, he's still blabbering about Pandora losing because his own Dark Magician turned against him. Pandora stutters that this can't be true because cards are only cards and don't have minds of their own to turn against their masters. I think it's safe to say he's not getting chopped yet.
Because Yami STILL has to have time to pontificate. Weren't those saw blades faster-acting before? Yami recounts how Pandora cut up his cards and slaughtered his monsters to win, and has lost the "soul of a duelist" as a result. At least, if he ever had one. Pandora growls out of offense as Yami says that his final act of cruelty is coming for him now.
As the saw creeps closer and Pandora holds out his hands, shouting for it to stop, a click sounds between Yami's feet. The box there pops open, revealing a key wearing a top hat on its end (fancy!) and a puzzle card, just as Yami recalls Pandora promised. Still, Yami glares up at Pandora and growls, though it's not clear why yet.
Maybe because of Pandora's sustained, over-the-top screaming that the saw's got him as he flails. Seems the flailing was just a front for him reaching into his sleeve, though, where he in all his in-underestimable conjurer wisdom hid a spare key. This one is wearing a top hat as well, by the way.
Pandora is REALLY whimpering now, not just out of theatrics. He's asking for help and forgiveness from Marik, but all he gets is an evil snicker in his head and the illusion that his fancy key has disappeared from his hand. He looks left and right, but he can't find the thing still pinched between his fingers. Man, I been there, I feel you. Though it's only because I'm a moron, and not because I have an evil mind-invader whispering in my head that he controls my memories, has erased the invisible object from my mind so that I can't see or feel it, making it therefore nonexistent to me.
I'm not sure which is better, to be honest.
Pandora's eyes pop as he looks to the side where the saw has finally reached his leg, screaming when it starts cutting into his trousers and flesh. Yuugi has come back out from Yami's control, flinging the cape/jacket from his shoulders and launching with determination toward Pandora.
Huffing, Yuugi pushes himself up off his face after a moment, declaring that it's just freaking SICK dying for any kind of game. I admire your principles, kid, but have you noticed which manga you're in? Dying for games is pretty much par for the course here, in case you weren't aware.
Pandora pushes himself to his hands and knees too, asking a perplexed Yuugi why he went and did a thing like THAT. After a moment, Yuugi's gape turns to one of shock, because the third glowing Eye of Horus just above Pandora's mask is more visible to him now. His regular eyes are glowing too when he identifies Yuugi as the OTHER one, or rather, the Yuugi of this world who houses Yami's soul.
Yuugi notices that Pandora's voice is different, because I guess Millennium magic affects vocal hardware as well. He asks who Pandora, or rather his possessor, is, which reminds Marik that he still hasn't introduced himself to Yuugi-the-vessel. Yuugi must have been running the vacuum cleaner in his mind when Yami met Marik the first time. Totally. Anyway, Marik tells Yuugi his name, making Yuugi sweat a bit.
Marik explains that he's controlling Pandora from a distance, including all the fool's senses, which is why he can see, talk to, and hear Yuugi. Yuugi demands to know the more important facts about why the hell Marik is out to kill him and Yami. Marik assures Yuugi that it has nothing personal with HIM, per se, but business with Yami. REVENGE business. He tells Yuugi that he's the heir to a clan of tomb guardians who have lived in darkness for 3000 years, and he's going to make Yami pay for that.
Yuugi feels like he's heard about this "tomb guardian" thing before, following his questioning of the revenge bit. Marik begins a long narrative about the remote parts of Egypt in the Valley of the Kings, where he and his tomb-guarding family lived apart from others and hid in shadows. They passed the task of protecting seven secrets and the lost memories of the pharaoh down for generations, so that said pharaoh could rise again. Woah, what a drone. You'd think Marik wouldn't come across as so desperate for a chat, what with all those Rare Hunters he's got waiting on him hand and foot.
It takes Yuugi a moment to place the familiarity of the phrases "memories" and "seven secrets" but he eventually blurts that Marik may be talking about the Millennium Items, those objects that are supposed to fit into that Tablet of Memories. Marik appears dazed in his physical form miles away when he tells Yuugi that he holds one of those items, charged as a child to guard it with his life until he has to present it to the Pharaoh's soul. He says that the problem was actually finding that soul, the only clue to which was written in the original Book of the Dead. Apparently it says that one would know this soul by the three god cards it wields. Marik has interpreted this as meaning that whomsoever has those three cards will be crowned king, regain all those Millennium Items, and get back his memories.
Yuugi is too busy putting two and two together to point out the logical flaws here, combining those mentions of three god cards in connection with the lost memories. Meanwhile, Marik continues to ramble on about how his family suffered in their guarding of the Millennium Items for several generations. He spares a wrinkled nose for a thought of his father, before declaring through Pandora that he's going to put an end to he and his family's pain. He's not planning on welcoming that king they've been waiting for, and instead kill him a second time for revenge. He wants to fulfill that prophecy himself by gathering all three of the god cards and becoming the new king.
Yuugi is sweating at the phrase "new king" because change is scary. Also, what if Marik starts possessing him occasionally like Yami does, because Yuugi is the pharaoh's vessel? Because Marik's shown he could do it, and also that it's probably not going to be as... COMFY. Marik informs Yuugi that he formed the Ghouls specifically to get at the god cards, and he has two of them already. The third, he says is here in Battle City. The three cards seem to hover like a crown over Yuugi's head while he thinks of them. No symbolism here, folks! Move along!
It seems that Yuugi missed the part of Marik's monologue where he said part of his plan was to murder Yami (and him, because why not smash the whole jar?). Yuugi is now considering the notion of working against Yami's quest to collect the god cards, so he'll never find his memories and stay with Yuugi forever. He immediately rethinks this, however, realizing that Yami probably REALLY wants to know who he is and his own fate. Yuugi recognizes that he and Yami are both pushed into the future by their memories, but if Yami can't find his past, his fuel for being propelled forward, he'll be stuck in the same stasis forever. Yuugi finds this idea the saddest he's ever considered.
Clutching the chain above the Millennium Puzzle, he concludes that even if it means he and Yami are separated, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. He opens his eyes to glare at Marik through Pandora, shouting that he won't let Marik kill Yami and that they will fight. Marik scoffs and says Yuugi is just a vessel, to which Yuugi provides no retort but more glare. Marik is convinced that Yuugi's going to die too when the time comes anyway.
He continues to use Pandora to tell Yuugi that it'll take him a while to get to Domino yet, but he doesn't want Yuugi to get bored in the meantime. Marik informs him that there's a Rare Hunter in the city with a god card already.
But it looks like Marik is all talked out and turns his attention to Pandora instead, deciding he has to tie this loose end up. He rummages a bit through Pandora's brain, finding that he considered suicide twice in the past after the deaths of his mother and a lover who died in a poorly-performed magic trick. When I surmised that he considered women the root of his suffering, I didn't imagine THIS would be the vindication of that. Marik is grinning as he plans to dredge up all those old memories so the moment Pandora wakes up, he'll be driven straight to suicide.
There is no response to this I can give that even comes CLOSE to the amount of disgust I have with this, but here's a couple vastly inadequate gifs that are at least in the ballpark:
With that unbelievable bit of fuckery, Marik peaces out of Pandora, thinking he'll see Yuugi again. Pandora crashes into the floor with his face in front of Yuugi, groaning. Yuugi shouts at Marik, but the douchebag is already gone, so he takes a moment to gaze off into space in alarm. Then...
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This one consisted a bit too much of info-dump. Because of it, I'm a little confused too. On the one hand, Marik is talking to Yuugi as though justifying his plan to a third problem - like he cares what Yuugi thinks of this, if only he wishes Yuugi to be shocked. On the other, He talks ABOUT Yuugi as though he's not a person at all, but a body for Yami to hang out in. There's some dissonance in how I'm supposed to understand Marik views Yuugi, which is a little jarring. He should either consider Yuugi a player in the drama he wants to influence, OR a non-person who doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme. Either position is interesting when consistent, but I don't like BOTH being in there at the same time.
Something else I was slightly disappointed by was Yuugi's immediate realization that his impulse to sabotage Yami's memory mission was wrong. I think it should have happened eventually, but it really would have been fascinating to see Yuugi trying to undermine Yami's efforts for a while and then tearfully explain himself later on. It would be a powerful bit of relationship development that would have, at the same time, made future duels REALLY interesting. Imagine Yuugi distracting Yami during a duel, or giving him bunk advice that Yami follows because he trusts Yuugi. The strain between the two of them looking like a breakdown to everyone on the outside would have been a valuable conflict in the story, and bring down Yami's ease of winning. Call me crazy, but I think it would have brought something unique and valuable to the message of friendship. The need to let friends follow their own paths, even if it means losing them.
But the ease with which Yuugi reaches this conclusion, even if it is a little frustrating to me, is somewhat in character, so there's that. I still think the other idea could be done with Yuugi's character intact, though. Just saying.
Something I think DIDN'T need to be here was Marik's way of inciting Pandora's suicide. I'm reasonably sure KT isn't going to SHOW us this, but the thought kind of upsets me in a way BEYOND how I'm supposed to feel about Marik. I'm also reasonably sure that KT won't mention Pandora again after this, or whether Yuugi calls an ambulance for the guy or something. Probably, since he did for that scorpion-shoe guy at the beginning of the manga. Still, you know how I feel about making up headcanons and all that.
Maybe this once I can imagine Pandora being taken to the hospital and put on sufficient suicide watch and therapy until he's somewhat recovered. He's a shitty person, but that doesn't mean I want him to die. Also, it will have meant Yuugi would have saved his skin for nothing, and that's just wrong. Sick and wrong.
You know, Atem calmed down a lot with his murder boner once the card games started up, but it's really noticeable how he was perfectly fine letting Pandora get murdered here while it's the regular Yugi that goes to save his life instead.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yeah the suicide thing is... a thing. And this is supposed to be the "good" Marik, no less.
I guess for all the things Yami and Yuugi share, a conscience isn't really one of them, lol!
DeleteYeah, I don't know if I buy that there IS a "good" Marik so much as one that is less... zealous. Whether original recipe or the one that's obsessed with wallowing in darkness, Marik has a tendency to be murderery for little to no reason. It can be played very interestingly, showing how utterly damaged the guy is and how little humanity he has left after his horrible abuse and trauma, but it can also just be gratuitous, like in this situation.
Don't tell the Marik fangirls I said so, though. ;)