Inuyasha Manga: 129 True Master

They say you need 10,000 hours of practice before you can master a subject. I don't know who came up with the number or what methodology they used, but it's a widespread saying by this point. I can't help but be a bit skeptical of this claim, given I find the more I learn about something, the more I realize I don't really know ANYTHING about it. It makes one doubt that true mastery of a skill really even exists, or if it's just a term that people apply to others who can successfully bullshit their way to convincing the rest of the world that they know what they're talking about.

Or maybe it's accidentally stumbling into a discovery that someone else already made, but you happen to be the one who others want to take the credit.

Seems like an awfully funny definition to me, but weirder things have happened, I'm sure.

Inuyasha makes his swing, knowing Sesshoumaru will die, and a blast issues that starts to saw right into Sesshoumaru. It pushes him away despite his struggle against it, armor cracking.

Oh shit is right, old guy! The blast intensifies and Sesshoumaru is finally blown back in a flash of light, mouth wide in a scream that I assume is being overtaken by the noise of Kaze no Kizu. In the midst of the crackling and roaring explosion, Sesshoumaru starts to disappear. Inuyasha's group and Toutousai hide behind his kneeling bull, which seems to be just fine being hit with the outer edges of the giant blast. Why? For convenience sake, of course!

Toutousai announces that the match has been decided after the blast subsides, and Inuyasha stands hunched, Tessaiga resting in its follow-through pose. Inuyasha has figured out the secret principle "Cutting Wind". Kagome is meanwhile preoccupied with the notion that she thought Sesshoumaru looked like he was enveloped in light there for a second. How was she watching while crouched behind the bull? *shrug*

Uhhhhhh... Psst! Nobody tell this kid that we've got over 400 chapters left to go!

Shippou clings to Miroku's shoulder, wondering out loud if Sesshoumaru is dead. Miroku speculates that it's likely, given that he was in the path of a true blow from the true power of Tessaiga. Toutousai begs to differ, though, mocking the idea that what they saw was Tessaiga's true power, all while having parked his bony ass right on top of the bull again. Miroku looks surprised, and Inuyasha looks downright pissed at the old guy's opinion. He points to the fact that EVERYONE saw what the sword did as proof of the true power, and calls Toutousai's call-out nonsense.

While Toutousai is willing to congratulate Inuyasha for figuring out Kaze no Kizu, he speculates that it's because his eyes were clouded that Inuyasha managed it. Who cares? If Inuyasha figured it out, what the fuck does it matter? Not much, as it turns out. Toutousai changes his criticism entirely to what he saw as a failure to swing entirely through on the technique. Kagome looks confused by this accusation, but Inuyasha is more on the wary end of surprised than anything, and doesn't interrupt when Toutousai speculates that no matter how much he hates him, Inuyasha just couldn't bring himself to kill his older brother. He's simply not that ruthless. Inuyasha remains silent, looking down slightly, as Kagome searches his face for confirmation.

"I'm a bloodthirsty animal guys! Seriously! Even if I AM being held back by a tiny fifteen-year-old girl! Am I convincing you that I lack all vulnerability yet???"

Trying too hard, Inuyasha.

Toutousai instructs Inuyasha to hand over Tessaiga, ignoring the stupid tantrum he was throwing entirely. Inuyasha looks flabbergasted at first, before Toutousai clarifies that he's going to sharpen the sword for him. This seems to just surprise he and Kagome all the more, for some reason. I guess they forgot that Inuyasha mastering the sword meant that Toutousai wasn't going to break Tessaiga. Easy to forget with all the attempted murder going on, to be fair.

Someone remembers, though, because later Miroku is asking for some confirmation that Toutousai recognizes Inuyasha's as the sword's true owner now. Toutousai is perched on a rock near a river blowing fire on the blade and intermittently hitting it with his mallet. He pulls a "well YEAH" in between exhaling fire, and when he pauses to talk at more length, some smoke issues from the side of his mouth. He says that Tessaiga is a dangerous weapon that can mow down 100 youkai at once, and the only one he would let have it would have to be someone as soft as Inuyasha. Inuyasha scoffs from his position at the water, where he's finished washing all the poison out of his eyes.

Toutousai doesn't appear to like that even a jerkass like Sesshoumaru is able to read the Kaze no Kizu. Miroku asks why Sesshoumaru is able to read the technique so easily, and Inuyasha has no trouble answering the question while he's drying his face with a towel Kagome has handed him. He reminds them of what Sesshoumaru said as his face was getting all freaky, the part about Inuyasha hanyou-ness making him comparatively not nearly as good. Inuyasha thumbs his nose, decoding it as a reference to how Sesshoumaru's sense of smell is better.

His sense of smell is better.

He can smell the CUTTING WIND better.

You know, suddenly I feel really bad for Sesshoumaru. His existence must be really... pungent.

Toutousai continues to spit fire at Tessaiga while Shippou, Sango and Miroku gossip about whether this means that Sesshoumaru is actually closer to being a dog. Sango concedes that Sesshoumaru IS a full youkai, after all, and Miroku says that one can't judge by appearances alone. The bottom of the page sports a little note about how the three whisperers here haven't seen Sesshoumaru's dog form, which I'm sure would bring up a whole host of NEW questions for them. I know it has for me.

Inuyasha glares at the gossipy twits and asks what they mean by all the things they're trying and failing to keep low enough. Kagome, meanwhile, brings up to Toutousai that he mentioned Sesshoumaru's sword Tenseiga, a healing sword that saves people. She asks if one wouldn't need a kind heart to hold at sword like that, but I think she may be asking the wrong dude, considering he was super surprised that Sesshoumaru even knew how to use Tessaiga's master technique. Toutousai even says this much when he tells her that's how it is, but he doesn't really have a clue. Or, at least, he starts to tell her that and she has to finish his thought because he forgot the word.

Toutousai goes on to casually talk about the rather surprising fact that Tenseiga doesn't seem to have rejected Sesshoumaru outright; actually it protected him from Tessaiga's blast before. Kagome recalls that light she saw surrounding Sesshoumaru earlier and assumes that must have been what it was. Toutousai says that this definitely means Tenseiga has chosen Sesshoumaru as its master.

... Wow. If he doesn't look like he's had the worst day ever, I don't know what that looks like.

He sounds like shit too, breathing labored. He claims silently not to be able to move, but when he hears the rustling of leaves and picks up the scent of a human, he suddenly turns toward the noise and hisses threateningly. First of all: liar. Second, CATS are generally the ones that hiss at intruders. This dog is weird, guys.

Turns out he was hissing at a little girl, who shrinks back at the warning. But it's only a momentary reaction.

How pouring water on somebody's head is meant to save them is beyond me, but I have a better question: WHY WASN'T THAT SHIT ANIMATED?

The Inuyasha anime disappoints me again.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The weird thing about it is there were "conveniences" that weren't really conveniences because their presence didn't actually change anything. The bull acting as a shield didn't make much sense at all, given that there's no reason to believe that it would be any better at bearing a blow from Tessaiga than any other youkai. I guess dragons aren't the only unusually hardy youkai out there? Besides, in future chapters, there will be plenty of instances when characters in close proximity won't need a shield like that again.

Also, Kagome saw the light enveloping Sesshoumaru before his disappearance, but his disappearance should have been plenty to clue Toutousai into the fact that Tenseiga had rescued Sesshoumaru. It was an unnecessary shift of observation from Toutousai to Kagome, and a little bit weird too, considering Toutousai should have been the one to REALLY take exception to that fact. He was, after all, the one who observed that Inuyasha didn't swing all the way through to kill Sesshoumaru.

Which was actually a rather clever metric to hide. Toutousai has not only met Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father, but he had to be familiar enough with him in order to get a good idea of what the guy wanted from these swords. He had to realize that since his sons weren't really on track to getting along really well, and the elder was kind of a psychopath, he was going to have to ensure two things: one is that the younger of his sons was well armed against the aggression of the elder, and the second thing is that the younger wasn't TOO eager to kill off the elder. The first of those was really easy, because it couldn't have taken much more than a couple of calculations to determine what was capable of overpowering Sesshoumaru.

The difficult part would be in determining if Inuyasha is willing to out-and-out murder Sesshoumaru, since daddy dearest wouldn't be around to check. Enter Toutousai, who is pulling a Myouga here. Remember back when Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were practically LURED into going to their father's grave in order to retrieve Tessaiga? Yeah, it's kind of like that. Toutousai knows that Sesshoumaru is requesting a new sword and that Inuyasha, according to Myouga, has recently used Tessaiga's secret technique. He doesn't show too much investment in this information other than to enlist Inuyasha to "protect" him against Sesshoumaru, help it turned out he didn't even need. He was even ready to just ride off on his bull the moment Inuyasha put up the slightest resistance to the notion of Toutousai breaking Tessaiga.

This was clearly never about whether or not Inuyasha was ABLE to do Kaze no Kizu, but more about whether he WANTED to kill with it. There was something of an indication that this idea gave him pause when the previous chapter ended with him knowing that a cut to this differently scented fissure was going to kill Sesshoumaru, by the sheer fact that it was a cliffhanger. And once again, the human side he shows in this chapter, being reluctant to use this technique on his only family member, works in his favor. Funny how he's so ready to disown that part of him, viewing the mention of it immediately as some sort of slight, when it continues to be the right answer to most of his problems thus far. You'd think that at some point he'd come to take any references to his humanity and compassion as a compliment.

Regardless, it appears that Inuyasha's test was only a small part of Toutousai's proctor duties. He's still got Sesshoumaru's progress to track as well, whose sword has strangely taken a liking to him despite him being a dick. HIS test will prove to be a longer, more grueling process as well, because Sesshoumaru is going for the PhD in finding hidden compassion and reasons to give a shit.

Taking my GRE was a BREEZE compared to this hot garbage.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 187 Teamwork

There are exclamation marks in so many of these chapter titles that when one of them doesn't contain any kind of punctuation, I get a foreboding feeling. What should I expect from this adventure, if not screaming excitement? Should I brace myself for something weird or tragic, or both? Is there some sort of ironic meaning to the chapter title that I'm not aware of yet? Some drawback to teamwork that will leave me just as scarred as Kaiba seems to be on the subject?

I'm going to be abandoned on the Mexican border, aren't I?

KT's foreshortening game is on point. That is dope as hell.

For once, Shorty isn't giggling. Instead he's cursing, pissing and moaning about how Kaiba and Yami played he and his buddy for fools, who never imagined that they might use a reverse combo of Card Destruction and Monster Reborn. Well, you guys never even expected them to be able to work together cohesively anyway, so ANY combo probably would have been somewhat of a surprise, really. Tallie sums this feeling up nicely with a disturbed expression and a question as to how two rivals like them could work together. Necessity? People tend to do things they don't want to and normally wouldn't because they HAVE to, and you've certainly created all the conditions for an unlikely alliance.

Standing beneath his roaring dragon, Kaiba laughs his dorky laugh, saying he finally understands the key element to winning a tag team match. Yami smiles at this apparent new appreciation for cooperation, but I have a feeling he's about to be disappointed.

And your arrogant prattle was just what I expected, Kaiba. This is getting meta.

Kaiba keeps going with it too, calling his revelation "logic", and mocking Yami as a fool for thinking that his decision to go along with the angle of working together has made them friends. Now that Kaiba doesn't owe Yami anything, he says Yami shouldn't expect his Blue Eyes White Dragon to help when he's attacked next. Then he laughs some more, making sure to be extra douchey. Yami glares and grits his teeth at the protracted insult, and their opponents grin in relief that they seem to be at each other's throats again.

As an aside, every time I've seen shorty wear a wide, toothy grin, he's reminded me of someone, but I couldn't quite remember who - until now:

Actually, come to think of it, the frowny Halloween Town mayor kind of reminds me of Tallie too. It's like the one character was split into two to form a tag team. And to avoid copyright infringement.

Shorty points at Kaiba and tells him it's his battle phase, but also reminds him that while his pride and joy Blue Eyes White Dragon has 3000 attack points, their Maked Beast still has 200 more points to spare. Meaning, of course, that Kaiba can't win in a fight between the two. Kaiba is suddenly a lot less smug and a lot more nervous/sweaty.

On the other hand, Yami is cool and collected when he unpredictably encourages Kaiba to stop waiting around and attack already. Kaiba gapes at him disbelievingly, and it's Yami's turn to be smug when he assures Kaiba that the Blue Eyes White Dragon will win if it attacks at this moment. Yami then suggests that Kaiba can trust him OR let his dragon go straight back to the graveyard. He is so fucking fierce right now, and it's delicious.

Kaiba stares, laboring under some uncertainty for sure. Shorty is convinced that Blue Eyes will die if it attacks, confused, while Kaiba sticks to the grim prospect of he and Yami not standing a snowball's chance at the equator if his dragon is lost now. Yami smiles at him and tells him to show his courage, chuckling. This kicks Kaiba's overpronounced pride into overdrive, and he throws out his hand, ordering Blue Eyes to attack. He doesn't care if this is just a taunt, because he won't back down from Yami and his superior chuckles. It seems to me that you did it just BECAUSE you thought it was a taunt, Kaiba, not in spite of it. Pshaw. MEN.

Shorty calls Kaiba an idiot for his attack, but for some reason doesn't look too happy about that idiocy. In fact, he looks downright nervous. Shouldn't you be stoked that Kaiba is apparently just throwing away his dragon here, guy? Did... did you read the script?

By the next panel, the Masked Beast has been disintegrated, and this causes Shorty and Tallie to freak the fuck out, Tallie's dropped jaw extending far below the bottom of his mask. It's super funny. So is Kaiba's wide-eyed stare forward, a mix of relief and amazement that he actually managed to destroy the nightmare fuel. Yami is the only one who looks totally unsurprised by the fact that Blue Eyes White Dragon prevailed. Shorty and Tallie demand to know how the fuck that happened anyway, and Yami smirks.

He explains that in playing Card Destruction, he had to discard a monster whose effect is activated once it goes to the graveyard. Archfiend of Gilfer is shown here as the very card Yami is talking about, the description of which says that ALL monsters' attack is reduced by 500 points when it's in the graveyard. Why didn't this apply to Blue Eyes too? Who cares!! Tallie sure as hell doesn't, focusing on the fact that Masked Beast was weakened by a monster DYING. Kaiba is preoccupied by the implication that Yami was thinking THIS far ahead of the play of Card Destruction, by planning the resurrection of Blue Eyes White Dragon and defeat Masked Beast at the same time. I don't know if "planning" is a good word for the use of two cards that just happen to be in the same hand, but it's a good use of both, I'll warrant.

Kaiba peers at Yami with some combination of awe and fear, and Yami responds to him like THIS:

That, or the power of having what you need at the exact right time you need it. Being unified didn't really have much to do with the activation of the effect, frankly.

Kaiba gapes, looking sweaty and distressed. I think he might have an aneurysm? He stops short of that, though, and opts to instead just scoff and look forward again, announcing the end of his turn. Shorty or Tallie (not exactly sure here) knows that they don't have any defensive monsters out there, meaning that his dragon attacking next turn will be bad news. Shorty, looking significantly less happy than usual, says it's his turn and draws a card. He plays "Melchid the Four-Faced Beast" in defense and a face down card, the former of which doesn't look very robust with its 1200 defense points. Yami is looking past it to the face down play, though.

Shorty has regained his cocky grin and is directing it at Kaiba, convinced the face down card is the one that is going to take down the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Once he's established this, he points at Yami and reminds him that it's his turn, along with the fact that he's also going to lose 800 points from the combined effects of Mask of Dispel and Mask of Accursed. Yami loses these points with grace, not even flinching as they leave him by means of holographic smoke.

He looks at his cards and notes that the new hand he's got has some pretty decent cards he can use, including a four-star monster. He slaps a card face down, and summons Alpha the Magnet Warrior, a metal robot-looking dude with directional letters on its knees. Yami orders it to attack, and it launches toward Melchid with sword raised. Shorty growls, but tells himself that he can't waste his face down card on small fry like Alpha, letting Alpha slice Melchid straight in half. He successfully saves the slap back for the Blue Eyes, but the decision doesn't look easy. He's sweating all over the place and grinding his teeth.

Yami says his turn is over, and with a growl, Tallie tells his buddy that if they don't defeat the dragon backing Kaiba, the explosives on their side of the field will come dangerously close to exploding. Shorty doesn't want him to worry, because he claims to have the whole thing under control. All he needs is for Tallie to use one of his monster cards to attack Kaiba, and then Shorty promises he'll take care of the rest. Tallie agrees, looking over at Kaiba before announcing his turn and drawing a card.

Tallie summons Nuvia the Wicked, someone he describes as an evil goddess. She doesn't count as a god card? Booooooo, sexist! She's also horrifying, just like the last monster Tallie summoned, with an Egyptian-looking bust mounted on top of a torso sporting a gnashing mouth of its own, two arms, no legs, and a loooong winding tail that looks a little like an exposed spinal column. So many nightmares. Kaiba remains unimpressed, calling it a pathetic card that he didn't know anyone put in their deck above the age of four. Well SHIT, excuse my thinking this card is an actual horror show. I guess REAL badasses are only terrified of the concept of WORKING TOGETHER WITH OTHERS.

Little fucking BRAT.

Ahem. Anyway, Kaiba says Nuvia is no match for his Blue Eyes, while Yami just stares ahead with his arms crossed. You can almost FEEL his urge to roll his eyes here. Shorty grins, expressing some doubt about how much of a fight Blue Eyes will put up. Tallie calls for Nuvia to slither through the air toward Blue Eyes and attack.

It's almost as if Tallie is pretty sure that his monster's attack is going to be supplemented by something. Almost.

Right on cue, Shorty activates that card he had to try so hard not to play earlier, revealing it as Mask of Weakness. Its description says that an attacking monster's attack points will be halved for this turn. Kaiba is hung up on the part where HIS monster's attack points are halved and freaking out, but I'm snagging on the "attacking" part of that statement. Blue Eyes White Dragon isn't attacking; it's being attacked. Very different thing there.

And yet...

Okay, but how would 1500 attack points not have STILL wiped out Melchid if Yami hadn't killed it earlier? You know, because 1200 is less than 1500?

Whatever. The light beam is still heading right for Blue Eyes White Dragon's face, and Shorty sarcastically bids it bye-bye. But Yami speaks up, not about to let that happen. Shorty gasps when Yami reminds him that he's not the only one with a face down card. It's revealed to be Mystical Rift Panel, the job of which is to switch the target of an attack. Shorty is in disbelief, and so is Kaiba, gaping yet again at Yami and his protection of him.

Yami is curious to see how the discount phantoms like wearing their own mask, pointing dramatically as the mask reattaches itself to Nuvia instead of Blue Eyes. Free of the mask now, Blue Eyes belches a Burst Stream at its full 3000 points. Tallie's points issue from him in their typical smoky fashion, and he moans about them being reduced to 1700. Shorty asks him urgently if he's alright.

With Nuvia now dead in a burst of dragon breath, Tallie complains that he attacked because Shorty told him to. He tells SHORTY to look at what happened and calls him a little shit. Shorty does NOT like being called a shit, and snaps back that Tallie is a big moron. Oh yeah, that's totally the same amount of burn there. Good job, Shorty.

This guy is supposed to be a genius, right? Why is he having so much trouble wrapping his brain around this?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? There were two technical issues with two cards in this chapter, and it really reduced the sense the reader is supposed to have about how clever these plays are. The first was with Archfiend of Gilfer, which was supposed to have reduced the attack points of ALL monsters, but conveniently left out one from the effect. Now, this could be only the monsters that exist on the field at the time Gilfer is discarded, but the card should have SAID that, shouldn't it? I'm guessing this is an issue with the translation of these instructions being too long to be readable if put properly on the card in the panel. I'm not convinced they couldn't have come up with a solution to that, though, so I wouldn't have to ASSUME shit about how a card works in order for my understanding of the scene to remain unbroken.

The second instance of a technical error might be, I'm afraid, a bit deeper than a translation issue. Sure, the translation could be a bit wonky where it says that only an ATTACKING monster can have the Mask of Weakness attached to it. That definitely could have happened. But the wider problem here doesn't just have to do with the imperfect description on the card. The fact that Shorty played a monster in defense that, if Yami hadn't already destroyed it, would have rendered the Mask of Weakness moot anyway. The Blue Eyes White Dragon would have destroyed it anyway, even with half its attack points, and there would have been no fucking point. And we know that his defensive monster was important to trapping Kaiba because of how hard Shorty had to convince himself that he had to give it up in order to save Mask of Weakness.

It's possible that the translators made a ton of mistakes on the attack and defense points for the monsters too, but I think it's less of a stretch that this scene was just poorly written to begin with, and the state of poor writing was a factor in the issue with translation. I think it's clear by this point that making up cards and combos in plays is kind of wearing on KT, and we're not even very far into this tournament yet. Hopefully this fatigue doesn't last, because there's SO much further to go.

Also, is anyone else getting a little tired of Kaiba's ridiculous overreaction to the idea of teamwork every time it's brought up? It's understandable that he's trying to maintain some degree of control here, and doesn't want to share it with anyone else, but his expressions show less annoyance with Yami continuously showing autonomy and more terror at the thought of splitting that power. Perhaps, on a level, that makes sense, but it's still too overblown for me to take seriously. All I can do is laugh at this child who is treating this duel like his own personal existential crisis. I'd prefer him to treat it like an ice cream cone that he can't avoid letting his sibling take a bite of, personally.

But that's just me.

Inuyasha Manga: 128 Unseeable Method

Words often fail me, and it's not just because I'm getting old. I've always struggled to remember something I was going to say just a moment ago and the harder I try to come up with the term or phrase, the further the mental blank space stretches. Hell, it's a wonder I can remember how to speak most of the time, let alone form coherent sentences in a cold open that is often just paragraph of personal ramblings.

With the way words just disappear into thin air before they ever reach my mouth, being able to perceive some method to the madness might be helpful. But, alas, those words must have been taught by that elusive term that itself describes going unnoticed or unable to be seen. What is that term again?

Wasn't that already addressed in the previous chapter?

Don't make Rick say this a third time, Inuyasha!

Kagome demands that Toutousai explain this supposed ultimate technique of Tessaiga to Inuyasha. Touousai's eyes seem even wider than normal as he stares at the two brothers and tells Kagome that it's impossible to explain and that Inuyasha has to figure it out on his own. Kagome doesn't like that answer, but there's nothing she can do but mutter disbelieving exclamations. Meanwhile, Toutousai knows that mastering Tessaiga will be impossible for Inuyasha if he can't figure this technique out by himself.

Sesshoumaru holds up the claws of his dragon's arm and scoffs, saying that Inuyasha doesn't have a clue. He lunges at Inuyasha in his defensive stance with another swing of the arm, shoving both the sword and him back, while declaring that Inuyasha having the sword doesn't mean that a lowlife like him will be able to use it. Tessaiga's barrier crackles around him, and as Inuyasha sweats, he wonders why Sesshoumaru can see this technique that he can't.

He remembers the human arm that Sesshoumaru turned up with the last time he sought Tessaiga, easily disintegrating 100 youkai with a single swing of the sword. Inuyasha describes the effect as the air having been torn to pieces, and asks himself if THAT was the Cutting Wind. NO, it was ANOTHER impressive move that you hadn't known the sword could pull off until that very moment.

While he's contemplating the world's simplest questions, Sesshoumaru swings at Tessaiga again, and Inuyasha manages to dodge to the left, his sword hand lowered to the ground and just beyond Sesshoumaru's reach. Sesshoumaru's blow lands on the ground instead, scattering rocks everywhere. On the landing, Inuyasha loses his balance, falling over onto his side. He worries that he's unable to keep up his strength, and Kagome calls his name with Shippou on her shoulder shouting a query at him regarding whether his stomach wound hurts.

RT is getting pretty desperate to get a line out of EVERYONE here, isn't she?

Sesshoumaru is so helpful, explaining how his plan is working for the audience. Granted, with Inuyasha's hamster-wheel style inner dialogue here, some small explanations may be needed just to keep everyone in the loop.

Anyway, Sesshoumaru uses his right arm (the one he doesn't have to replace every five seconds) to slash at Inuyasha again, who goes flying. Sango runs forward with Hiraikotsu raised, shouting that she can't stand around anymore watching, and lets the boomerang fly. Sesshoumaru looks over his shoulder at the oncoming projectile, with a large measure of disinterest. Seriously, this fucker does not seem to give two shits that he's about to be hit upside his head with a giant bone.

Maybe he was planning to catch it in his teeth? Like the dog he is underneath it all? I don't know, and no one ever will, because Hiraikotsu's trajectory is stopped before it can get to him. Kagome and Shippou stand in awe of the method by which it happens too.

Sure you will. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure.

Sango begins to argue but Miroku bids her to quiet down and watch instead. Well well, someone is feeling extra chauvinist today. He says that even if it was only the one time so far, Inuyasha did manage to master Tessaiga. Sango asks if that wasn't on accident, looking anxious, but Miroku argues that even though it wasn't intentional, it showed that Inuyasha was at least capable. Kagome counters this argument in her thoughts with the express worry that he'll be killed if he doesn't use it NOW, which is quite the valid concern given Inuyasha's current appearance.

Sesshoumaru smirks at Inuyasha, warning him that he'll regret refusing to be saved. Strange that he's implying that Inuyasha could very well HAVE been saved back there, but I guess Sesshoumaru WAS present for their previous round of... whatever the fuck this is. Inuyasha demands that Sesshoumaru shut up as he runs at his brother, sword raised, and shouting that he'll figure out this Cutting Wind thing. Sesshoumaru stops the swing with his dragon arm once more and pushes back, telling Inuyasha to not even bother. While he's being shoved around yet again, Inuyasha wonders if there's some reason Sesshoumaru can see this move and he can't.

In a similar way to how he did it last time, Inuyasha leans into Sesshoumaru's pushing, hugging Sesshoumaru's dragon arm with his own free one as it continues to lay heavy on the flat of Tessaiga's blade. He mutters about the kind of person Sesshoumaru is, which is an asshole, I'm sure. Then THIS happens:

Those arms Sesshoumaru scrounges up don't seem to last very long, do they?

The dragon claw falls to the ground and Sesshoumaru, without missing a beat raises his remaining hand, knuckles cracking. He says that resistance is futile, like he's The Borg, before slashing Inuyasha straight in the face again. Inuyasha's eyes look misty and blank while he falls back, mouth agape when he realizes that the direct application of poison has taken his sight. This of course means that he's unable to dodge what's coming next.

Gotta get a good shot in of everyone just standing around. Let you know they still exist and everything.

As he lies in the dirt and Sesshoumaru walks toward him, Inuyasha's chest wound hisses. He strains to prop himself on his elbow, his eyes still blank. Of course, the indispensable Shippou has now noticed the state of them, and Miroku also exclaims that it looks like Inuyasha can't see. Well shit, if the peanut gallery can clearly pick out your weakness, you KNOW your enemy can.

Said enemy continues his slow approach, knuckles cracking like crazy, lines on his face becoming jagged and his eyeliner looking like it was painted on by a three-year-old in the dark. Oh, what? It's not eyeliner but some sort of demonic marking? Try explaining that to the guys at the bar hitting on you. They don't believe it. Trust me, I've tried. Sesshoumaru growls that compared to him, Inuyasha has never been any good, and shouts that he's a damn dirty ape hanyou when lunging for him again. Meanwhile, Shippou freaks out about the state of Sesshoumaru's face, Kagome saying that this is Sesshoumaru's true self. Everyone else is simply speechless. Yes, he really looks THAT bad.

Plot twist! Inuyasha doesn't have to be weirded out by Sesshoumaru's appearance, so the guy just did him a solid! Now he can focus entirely on the swirl of dark energy that represents Sesshoumaru instead, and how the scent of it is being carried by the wind. But after a moment, Inuyasha realizes he's picking up a scent that's not the wind at all. What he's actually smelling is the place where Sesshoumaru's youki collides with the air around him.

Okay Yoda, you've figured out the unique odor of Sesshoumaru's *ahem* bodily fumes and their interaction with the air. So what are you going to do about it?

Good choice.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It is forever a burden of language in general to describe things that not only are invisible to the eye, but are often just concepts that will never have a physical representation outside of one's head. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, this burden should be lifted somewhat by how an image can more concretely show what cannot be said, in the most literal sense. However, that's very often not the case, and in fact with a lot of things that are not visual in nature, it can be somewhat more confusing when represented with a picture. The interpretation of an image can be a lot more fluid when the thing it depicts isn't an actual physical object.

That's why comics as a medium can be so fascinating, given that methods of storytelling have to be in some ways MORE creative than a novel with the same content, because a language designed specifically to describe intangible concepts is always going to be more adaptable to depicting emotions or feelings of the invisible than a picture, the only mode of which is sight. There's only ONE sense being used with pictures, whereas with language you can get one more with sound and hearing. I value a comic that can use very little language and a lot more pictures to get across the concepts it's trying to convey, because that means, to me, that the author is using the medium to its very best potential and giving me a good visual of something that I can't normally see.

So why did I go on a two-paragraph ramble about the limits of pictures and the language that supplements it? First of all, because I wanted to set up why I'm taking back my sarcastic jab at the person who translated the title as "Unseeable" Method rather than "Invisible". I understand now that this may have been deliberate, to invoke more readily the idea that this method that Inuyasha was trying to "see" would not make itself apparent through that sense, but instead through his sense of smell. Sure, "invisible" MEANS "unseeable" and the two aren't functionally any different, but "invisible" doesn't contain the word "see", and therefore is ill-equipped to really bring home the idea that someone might be able to sense it in other ways entirely. Even the wind isn't generally discussed as an "invisible" force, even if it technically is, because we do SEE the physical effects of it. Cutting Wind, or Kaze no Kizu, as I may be calling it more often, doesn't even have THAT going for it, so it's necessary to make that distinction that sight isn't involved at all here.

Which is why Inuyasha was so confused by why he couldn't "see" the technique, and spent so much time during the chapter trying to figure it out. Kaze no Kizu is a misleading term, given that it mistakenly evokes the term "wind" where he figures out that it's not REALLY wind at all. It's a collision between an aura, which has no physical effects one can see, and the air that may not even be moving fast enough to qualify as wind. The two are coming together in such a way as to create the illusion of wind with a scent, but not in visuals, and only barely distinguishable (to Inuyasha anyway) in smell. RT created a very interesting combination of language and picture here that support each other in every way, and all of it without cluttering her work and making it look overly complicated. It's really admirable.

It does beg the question why Toutousai couldn't just TELL Inuyasha to use his nose to find the answer, though. I'll grant that not having the visual the audience got would make explaining the technique a little more difficult, but couldn't he have at least given that little hint? Then again, Toutousai is definitely not a dog youkai like the brothers are. In fact I'm not really sure WHAT the hell he is. Maybe he doesn't sense Kaze no Kizu by scent at all and didn't know it could be done that way. It's plausible, but a little head-canon-y.

And Sesshoumaru needs to explain to me how he can be so self-aware and so the opposite randomly throughout an appearance! When he first showed up in this arc, he didn't want to hear that Toutousai didn't like him and kicked Jaken in the face for saying it, then in this chapter he's over here admitting he would probably have backed off if Inuyasha had let his friends join in the fray. It was an astonishing bit of cognizance about his own tendency to just give the fuck up if he's getting too much resistance from too many angles, but he doesn't have the same for the fact that nobody likes his snobby, preening ass??? What the fuck??

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 186 Monsters Unite!!

Are the monsters organizing? Because I'm behind a protest 100%. I think we've discussed before, a while ago, how shitty it is that these monsters are slaves to the douchebags who play their cards. Now that we've got a sense that the technology surrounding this tournament is actually summoning real monsters here, it's more urgent than ever for these monsters to lay down the law and demand some rights. No more dueling! Power to the monsters!

Especially this poor furry little bastard. I'm pretty sure encouraging a creature to reproduce for the sole purpose of using their offspring as cannon fodder is some sort of war crime. If it's not, it should be.

Yami ignores Kaiba's grimace in his direction to point at their opponents with a smug grin. He's also surrounded with countless Kuribohs, telling Shorty and Tallie that he and Kaiba are both protected from their attacks. He also mentions that Kaiba is familiar with this move.

"Yeah Kaiba, you remember this right? That time that you were prepared to jump off a building if you lost to me? Remember?"

Balls, Yami, that was a dick move.

Tallie asks Yami how he can dare put up a wall of weaklings, while Kaiba stares in shock at all the floating tribbles around him. He's expression devolves into indignant rage, fuming that Yami's card saved him. He turns back to Yami to tell him that he doesn't need his help, but Yami doesn't even give him the courtesy of looking at him when he reminds him that this is a tag-team match and if either one of them goes down (literally), it's over. Kaiba seems rather affronted at the suggestion that one person can't win it alone, but Yami tells him that the two guys they're up against have one advantage, and that's their teamwork. With mutual support and two decks that compliment each other well, they're working like a well-oiled machine.

He is so ridiculously upset by this concept. Did he try to work together with someone in the past and it led to him being stranded on the Mexican border or something? Like WHAT HAPPENED?

He wrinkles his nose and scoffs, looking forward again obstinately. Shorty giggles some more, insisting that teamwork or not, Yami and Kaiba won't beat them. He throws in his catchphrase, too, just to make sure they've got the message. Oh, I don't know if anyone has. Wanna say "got it?" about 500 more times before this duel is finished?

So here the four of them are, Shorty and Tallie leading the game with 4000 points each, as Yami and Kaiba lag behind with 3500 and 2100 points respectively. It's looking pretty rough for the latter, but Tallie is still worried about all the Kuribohs, which will pose quite an issue. Shorty tells him not to worry, because he's got an idea. Still no sign of those microphones.

Kaiba announces it's his turn and draws a card, which turns out to be a Blue Eyes White Dragon. He knows that the rules dictate an eight-star monster like this requires two sacrifices, but since the Mask of Restrict card is hovering menacingly in front of him, Kaiba is officially cock-blocked from summoning it OR his god card. Sucks to be him. Yami glances over at Kaiba to find that he's still sweating pretty hard before Kaiba himself realizes he's got no other choice but to slap a face down card on his Duel Disk and play a little something else to help him sleep at night.

Indeed he does. Yami takes stock of the situation, noting Shining Abyss with 2300 attack points, and that a tag duel means one player can use their defensive monsters to protect their partner. He resolves to hide behind his wall of Kuribohs until a chance comes along.

Shorty draws a card and makes sure everyone knows it's his turn. Cackling and waving his arms in the air, he asks if Yami wants to come out and play. Dude, I think it's a pretty clear message when a guy puts up a wall of any sort between you:

Because it's such an inconvenience that Yami is trying NOT to die today, Shorty complains that he and Tallie can't do anything with the Kuribohs around. Luckily, he has a card that will clean up the little guys and ensure that my heart can stop fucking BLEEDING for these assholes. Yami looks utterly horrified by the news, but there's no stopping Shorty from playing "Mask of Dispel" now.

Yami's Multiply card starts to issue virtual smoke in front of his eyes, right before the mask sporting a terrible drooping frown attaches itself to it. The Kuribohs then start dissolving into thin air, all except the original, which looks sheepish now that it's alone. Yami gapes and the single monster he has now in place of the thousands it used to be. Shorty meanwhile explains that he'll lose 300 points every turn from the "Curse of the Mask". Wait, was that the other thing he was losing points from or is that a brand new thing? I guess we'll find out soon.

Yami is freaking out again, knowing it's only a matter of time before Shorty and Tallie begins attacking he and Kaiba directly without the Kuribohs there to defend them. He wonders what it is he should do.

Oh wow, Shorty has some monsters after all.

Yami ducks as Kuriboh is killed by the "Death Curse", little x's in place of its big pupils. He looks over his other shoulder at his Magnet Warrior, rendered inert by the Mask of Accursed, and grimaces at the fact that he's wide open for attack. Sucks to be him.

Shorty despairs that this is all he can do for his turn, but he's gleeful when he tells Yami not to forget that he's losing 800 points at the beginning of his. Yami sarcastically thanks him for it, his life points leaving him in streams of virtual mist. He's down to 2700 now, still better off than Kaiba, though. Looking at his hand, it's clear that he has no monsters below 5 stars, so he's unable to summon any of them. He draws a new card which he finds is a trap card, "Chain Destruction". Yami puts it with the other cards in his hand and rearranges them, looking contemplative.

He thinks he could play another "destruction" card he has in his hand, this one called "Card Destruction", which would compel everyone to discard their hands and draw new ones. Yami looks at Kaiba, concerned that he doesn't know what cards he has, though, and forcing him to redraw and discard an important one might fuck up everything. He gives up on the idea, uncomfortable with the idea that Kaiba might never trust him again if he messes up the strategy, especially when he needs Kaiba's help right now. He sighs and hangs his head.

Of course Kaiba takes this moment to chuckle at him and ask him sardonically what's wrong. He asks if he only has high-level monsters right now, even when he's defenseless if he doesn't play something this turn. Yami regards Kaiba out of the corner of his eye while Kaiba continues, wearing a shitty little smile, saying it can't really be helped if Yami only has the high-level cards at the moment.

Gee Yami, took you long enough, didn't it? Then again Kaiba isn't the best at dropping hints, either, so...

Yami looks over at Kaiba's area, noticing the face down card he has there, and suddenly understands what Kaiba wants to do. Shorty interprets Kaiba's remarks and Yami's lack of response as fighting and assumes that it's every man for himself on the opposing side. Tallie agrees that they don't make much of a team.

Kaiba thinks a question at Yami about whether or not he understands, and Yami is sure that he does. Yami ends his turn after setting a card face down. Tallie gloats that Yami has no monster out, and lets out a sinister chuckle, telling him he knows what this means. Not ice cream, I'm assuming. Yami sweats up a storm, because this is quite the gamble he's pulling here.

Tallie declares his turn, and right away that he's going to use a spell card. Well, SOMEONE is impatient. It's a ritual card called Curse of the Masked Beast, which elicits a reaction equal parts confusion and wide-eyed horror from Yami and Kaiba opposite. The ritual requires one monster from light and one from darkness, surprise surprise, so Shining Abyss and Grand Tiki Elder are surrounded by whirlwinds and replaced entirely by... well it's a bit difficult to describe.

They should have just named it "Nightmare Fuel". Good thing I'm not going to sleep anytime soon...

Yami is more concerned with those attack points than its appearance, and they're giving him the sweats like woah. Tallie laughs about Yami's lack of defenses, and orders his Masked Beast to destroy the boy. The Masked Beast lurches forward, staff extended to whap Yami something good, and Yami shuts his eyes with a weak mental protest. But there's nothing he can do.

But you know who CAN do something? Kaiba's Gadget Soldier jumps in front of the blow from Masked Beast, much to Yami's surprise. Tallie's too, because he's in disbelief that KAIBA'S monster was there to intercept the blow. Kaiba is smiling smugly, and talking about how it'll do as a shield. Yami half-smiles and half-gapes at his teammate, who shoots at him with a renewed sour look that now they're even.

Shorty giggles, pointing out that now Kaiba's monster has bitten the dust too, and the Masked Beast is free to annihilate either one of them on the next turn. Kaiba is smirking again when he says that they'll see about that. Yami is ready to go, so he reveals his face down card, Card Destruction, which gets our normally unflappable villains upset. They gape, unhappy with the prospect of giving up their hands. Must have been some REALLY sweet cards in there.

Kaiba wastes no time, announcing that he's gotten rid of all his cards. Then he starts pontificating on how advanced players of the game can get around the sacrifice rule for high-level monsters while he draws a new hand. He offers to show his opponents an advanced technique right now, revealing Monster Reborn from where it was lying face down on his Duel Disk before. With an inspiring statement that sometimes a trip to the graveyard is just a stop on the way to the battlefield, he brings out good ol' Blue Eyes.

It's been a while, Sinatra! Or is that Michael Buble?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Usually you can at least KIND OF get an idea of what the chapter title was getting at, but every once in a while I'm left scratching my head. Are the "monsters" in this case Yami and Kaiba. I wouldn't necessarily disagree if they were meant to be, but something tells me that wasn't what the title was trying to evoke here. Did KT just not know what to call it, so he settled on a vague phrase that sounded kind of cool?

Regardless, this was a pretty solid chapter. There were still problems with knowing whether or not characters were speaking out loud or thinking, but it wasn't nearly as confusing as in the last chapter. At least a big CHUNK of the dialogue wasn't in such an ambiguous area. And it was clear that Kaiba and Yami couldn't speak openly before Yami could put down his card of destruction, making Kaiba's attempt at communication through sarcasm really fun to see. You get the impression that he wasn't just trying to manipulate the opposing team, still attempting to take a dictatorial role in the duel when it comes to Yami as well, even if it ended up being a less obvious route to that end. And of course evening out the score so that he's not in debt to Yami anymore served a similar secondary purpose.

I'm still curious as to where this aversion to teamwork is coming from. I mean, I understand the guy has pride and an overly pronounced sense of independence, but even for that, his reaction to acting in a teamly manner with Yami was just way overblown. This boy has no chill.

Inuyasha Manga: 127 Cutting Wind

I hope no one reading this is opposed to potty humor, because it's inevitable with a title like this. Come to think of it, I'm 99% certain that I have made a fair amount of bathroom jokes over the past 314 posts, so I'm not sure why anyone offended by them would still be reading by this point. In any case, if you're opposed to any MORE potty humor, you may want to sit this one out. And possibly the rest of this series, depending on whether or not I feel like I want to keep using the translation for this attack's name, rather than the Japanese version which isn't nearly as funny.

Well doesn't that just sum it all up so nicely! Only Toutousai forgot to mention he has terrible aim.

Inuyasha himself has the honor of making the first fart reference of the chapter, by calling Toutousai an old one who should be ignored, because they don't need him. This is going to be the best chapter EVER. Toutousai claps his fist into the palm of his other hand, like he just remembered something. He then reaches over and grabs Tessaiga from Inuyasha's hip, demanding he give it back. He says Inuyasha isn't able to use it, so it's going to be smashed instead of remain in his hands. Seems a bit of an overreaction, but Inuyasha responds appropriately by putting a few lumps on Toutousai's head for threatening to take and break his shit. Somehow, Kagome is telling INUYASHA to calm down, while Inuyasha tells Toutousai in an almost stunningly docile way. Anyone else think she's lecturing the wrong dude?

As Toutousai rides away at breakneck speed on his mutant cow, he warns Inuyasha that he'll pay for the damage to his skull. Inuyasha and Kagome watch him, sweatdropping the whole time. Miroku calls Toutousai a rather simple guy, while Sango wonders aloud if he was strong or weak. Toutousai seems to have forgotten about his grudge while he continues to ride off, now thinking that it's a shame Inuyasha will be killed by Sesshoumaru. If Sango's still curious, she might note that his MEMORY is pretty weak, but his ass is clearly made of steel to be able to ride around on that cow all day.

Toutousai notes that Inuyasha wasn't able to see the source of Tessaiga's explosive power, the cutting wind, and as such, he won't be able to harness it. I don't know a single person that has been able to SEE the source of that exploding power, since their eyes are placed firmly in front of it, and it's generally invisible but for its representation in cartoons. But sure, yeah, hold Inuyasha to an unrealistic biological standard. I'm sure he's not dealing with enough insecurity as it is or anything...

Back where he had left them, Kagome is asking Inuyasha if he's sure he doesn't want to follow after Tessaiga's creator. For what purpose, just to chat some more? Inuyasha isn't the least bit curious about her motivations, convinced they don't need an irresponsible old fart around. Inuyasha is two for two in mentioning Toutousai in connection to farts. Toutousai himself is on his way back to congratulate him, again at breakneck speed. Or does it have to do with the frightened look on his face? Inuyasha and company stare at the approaching old fart, Kagome confused about his return.

Awww man, now they're both back. This is even worse than that time some guy woke up on the lawn after a party still drunk and wanting to fight the lamp he got angry at the night before.

Sesshoumaru threatens to murder Toutousai as well as Inuyasha and his whole crew. Toutousai hides behind Inuyasha's shoulder, asking what he plans to do about Sesshoumaru's antagonism. Inuyasha scoffs, and asks Toutousai if he really doesn't want to make a sword for Sesshoumaru. Toutousai confirms that he's just not down with that, and Inuyasha tries to get Sesshoumaru to acknowledge this non-consent as well. I mean, sure, Sesshoumaru is LOOKING at them, but I don't think he gives a shit what Toutousai wants to do versus what he doesn't.

Inuyasha must have noticed this too, because he draws Tessaiga, citing that he's sick to death of Sesshoumaru always moping after this sword too. He's prepared to settle the matter nice and quick-like. Sesshoumaru agrees that this will all end today as he speeds toward Inuyasha, swiping at him smoothly. Inuyasha jumps backward from the blow, but leans in to swing Tessaiga sideways at his brother.

Well that's new. Kagome gasps at the sight and Shippou indignantly asks what the deal is with it. Kagome informs all of them that Inuyasha cu off Sesshoumaru's left arm, but it looks to her like he's brought a new replacement with him. She's a little confused that this new arm is a youkai replacement though, considering what Tessaiga does to youkai that touch it.

Sesshoumaru grabs hold of the sword's hilt with the scaly arm and a flash emits from the contact point.

Inuyasha mockingly asks if Sesshoumaru forgot that Tessaiga's barrier rejects him, to which Sesshoumaru responds with a scoff and a dismissal of the issue. At the same time, his right hand, with two claws extended, comes arcing straight toward Inuyasha, who's looking pretty surprised by the impending blow. On impact, Inuyasha goes flying backwards, blood spraying from his cheek. He has to grind to a halt on his feet, groaning in pain the whole way. Twinkle Toes lands with absolute grace, naturally.

By the looks of things, it's not a very good one. It's falling apart!

Sango seems to be pretty impressed by it, though, haltingly identifying it as a dragon's arm. When Kagome makes a questioning noise at her, Sango explains that it's a bit more durable than a regular old youkai's arm. Good to know that youkai comes in normal and dragon flavors. Inuyasha scoffs and points out what I have already; that one shot from Tessaiga has really damaged it anyway. Sesshoumaru smiles and says that this arm is enough for his purposes. Besides, as he charges forward again, Sesshoumaru points out that Inuyasha doesn't seem to know about the Cutting Wind.

And what would Mr. Elegant possibly know about it, huh? Is that what Sesshoumaru is so constantly busy with? Running off to hide his shame? Looks like the same thought might have crossed Inuyasha's mind as he stares in alarm, sweatdropping at his brother. Toutousai's jaw drops and he lets out a cry of utter disbelief. Kagome leans away from his outburst, looking mildly surprised.

Sesshoumaru strikes at Tessaiga with the dragon claw, pushing Inuyasha backwards again. He keeps swiping back and forth, claiming that he doesn't need to be cautious when Tessaiga is being wielded by someone with such meager abilities. Inuyasha grunts with every blow. Sango expresses some amazement that Sesshoumaru is fending Tessaiga and Inuyasha off with just the one arm, and Miroku agrees that that guy has some pretty hardcore strength going for him.

Sesshoumaru jabs two extended claws straight for Inuyasha's chest.

Oooh, that looks like it hurts. Sporting a big bloody patch on his chest, Inuyasha groans and pushes himself into a sitting position. Kagome calls out to him, but Toutousai marches straight past her to address an extremely fucks-less Sesshoumaru instead. He asks if Sesshoumaru is REALLY able to read the cutting wind.

Sesshoumaru turns his head to glare at Toutousai out of his periphery, silent at first. He says that OF COURSE he can read it without any trouble, when he should have just said what he wanted to:

Would have been much more to the point.

Toutousai is clearly made nervous by the confirmation of the extent of Sesshoumaru's knowledge. Kagome asks him what exactly this "cutting wind" thing is, which, come on, Kagome. I know the assumption of every lonely weirdo is that pretty girls don't fart, but the lonely weirdo you hang out with daily has a super sharp nose, so you're not hiding the truth from HIM.

Toutousai explains that it's the technique that brings out Tessaiga's full explosive power, a secret principle, so to speak. Apparently not much of a secret, if Sesshoumaru had NO TROUBLE figuring it out. Kagome gapes in her worry as Toutousai sweat about how one cannot be taught the technique, so that means that Inuyasha is SoL here.

Damned if I know. Seems like "cutting wind" shouldn't be something you should be able to "read" in any traditional sense.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? With so many mentions of Tessaiga's explosive technique, I'm feeling less a sense of anticipation at seeing it as much as I am impatience. Part of this may be because we've already seen it twice now - the first time when Sesshoumaru used it in his prior appearance, and once when Inuyasha accidentally released it back when they went to rescue Miroku. This isn't exactly new, and while it would be good to know how the thing works, there's something anti-climactic about having it spoken of in such vague terms.

Speaking of vague terms, it seems like they should have worked to build some suspense in the chapter. Toutousai said that the technique can't be taught. Either someone can "read" it or they can't, so this should have created tension around whether or not Inuyasha could even come to understand how it can be read by himself. The way Myouga's dialogue seems to point out that he's not sure it wasn't a fluke kind of indicates an attempt to counteract an assumption that he's capable by virtue of the fact that he did it before. It's not out of the question that Inuyasha HAPPENED to cut the right place at the right time when he did it before, like someone shooting a three-pointer in basketball without really trying. It's not technically a bad way to get your audience to doubt the ability of your hero.

And yet I still find myself a bit dissatisfied with the chapter. Maybe I'm just anxious because the action is so concentrated between two characters right now, which IS a little bit of a bother for me. I'm not a fan of characters having to stand around, especially when there's so many of them that have to be on the sidelines. It could also be that this is where I can see where everyone gets the idea that Inuyasha is stupid and repetitive in his moves, because this arc has so far not spoken to his capabilities as a strategist. To be fair, Sesshoumaru isn't offering him much room here to do anything but block his attacks, but it's still a little frustrating.

Maybe I'm just burnt out on the fart jokes already. *shrug*

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 185 Awaken the Gods!!

Oh good! Are we going full Lovecraft now? I've never read his stuff, but I hear it's spooky and full of insanity, so I think it might pair pretty well with this comic. At the very least it would be a hoot to see a tentacled elder god waltz into a duel at some point. I suppose it's a bit late for that, though, considering Ryota has left the picture now, unlikely to ever return. A shame too, since Cthulu would have gone hand-in-hand with his deck theme.

Well, I guess the phantom wannabes have it this round. Are there any Lovecraft stories featuring masks? Do I want to know for the sake of a joke?

Shorty spends the beginning of the chapter (after a three more pages of titles reminding you that this is a very special chapter for some reason) recapping his plan for a tag team match of death. In case you didn't remember, there's explosives on the panes of glass they're each standing on, and if a player loses all his life points, his footing shatters beneath him and he falls to his death several stories below. The first player to take out both his opponents in this despicable way is the winner of the match.

With all the memory refreshing over with, Shorty promises that he and his friend will blow Kaiba and Yami away, taking the god cards from their cold, dead corpses. Tallie says that even gods won't be able to stand up to their team of balanced light and dark, so there's no way Kaiba and Yami will win. Uhhhh, dude, do you know who you're talking to? The very representations of light and dark in this whole story? Your team of light and dark has got nothing on these little bastards.

Shorty declares that he's going first, and he says "got it?" after nearly every single thing that comes out of his mouth. Do people have trouble understanding him normally? Is this why he's in this annoying habit? Ugh, it's like watching someone chew on their nails. Luckily, he doesn't say it when he explains that in their tag team match, the turns will alternate between players on each team. The panel contains some helpful arrows bouncing from Shorty to Yami to Tallie and to Kaiba.

So, Shorty plays two cards face down and ends his turn on a lame note. As Yami ponders these face down cards, Shorty points and him, informing him that he's next. Yami draws a card, looks at it, and prepares to reveal his play.

Take a wild guess. Nearly everyone in this tournament has advertised their strategy with a stupid gimmick, so it's not like they aren't giving you a clue here.

Tallie makes his move, playing a card called "Shining Abyss" in defense. It's a robot angel type thing with sausage fingers? I don't know, but I can already feel the madness setting in. Same with Shorty, who starts giggling again, reveling in the reveal of one of his face down cards at the summon of the contradictory delight. It's a card called, you guessed it, "Mask of Brutality", and it increases a monster it's equipped to by 700 points.

Yami grits his teeth while Shorty names the card at Yami, still pointing for some reason. Tallie laughs that this mask will give his monster a nice power-up. The mask adheres itself to the Shining Abyss's tiny head, a grotesque thing with little clawed hands coming out where eye-holes should be, and it does its job well. Shining Abyss's attack raises to a whopping 2300 points. The fact that his opponents managed to get a monster out there with more than 2000 attack points right off the bat has Kaiba sweating something fierce.

Shorty is giggling again, about the power of light and darkness now, and Yami has figured out their strategy for this tag-team duel is appropriately one based on teamwork. No shit. Yami worries about whether or not he and Kaiba will be able to work together well without any prior planning. Kaiba doesn't actually look worried at all anymore. He scoffs, thinking that teamwork is only going to hold him back. He plans to use Yami for his own victory, growing a creepy grin as he vows to crush these ghouls all by himself. He's a big boy now, guys.

He slaps a face down card on his Duel Disk, then...

I don't know, but his poker face could really use some work. He continues smiling, planning to sacrifice his Vorse Raider to summon a powerful six-star monster in his hand during his next turn. Shorty reads him like a book, smelling a sacrificial lamb from Vorse Raider's direction, but he insists it won't be so easy.

He would know, because it's his turn, and he undoubtedly has a wrench somewhere in his deck to throw into the gears of Kaiba's plan. He draws a card, and giggles when he sees it. He reveals it as Mask of Accursed, a card Yami maybe recognizes by his wide-eyed expression and sheen of sweat. Shorty sure likes the look of it. He's about to play the fashion-forward one and give Yami's monster a bit of a makeover.

Annoyance leaks through Yami's panic when he realizes that Shorty has played yet another trap card. He hasn't played any monster cards, and Yami wonders if his plan is to just use them the whole duel to weaken his opponents. Shorty says this outright, I guess, since it appears that Yami's wonderings were out loud. His role is to soften up Yami and Kaiba for Tallie's monsters to finish them off later.

Shorty impatiently reminds Yami that it's his turn, and that he takes 500 points of damage from the mask on his monster. Yami groans, life points escaping him through some steam effects or something. He draws a card and identifies it as Archfiend of Gilfer, a six-star monster with a special ability. Kaiba side-eyes Yami, reading his mind like Shorty read his. He thinks that even if the Magnet Warrior can't attack, it can still be used for a sacrifice to summon a powerful monster. It looks as though Yami is hovering on the edge of that very move, even though he has a bad feeling about it. It might be the way Shorty is grinning at him across the way, actually.

Eventually, Yami decides on the risk, and starts to announce his monster's sacrifice.

Shorty giggles manically while Yami narrates the eerie mask's appearance on the field between them. Giddily, Shorty explains that this is a permanent trap and its presence means no sacrifices ever for Team Kaimi. I'm sure there's already a ship name the fandom has for Kaiba and Yami (ship names are the only things fandoms DO, after all), but I'm too lazy to look it up. So there.

Yami and Kaiba's eyes are wide with disbelief and shock that they won't be able to summon any high-level monsters in this duel. Tallie expresses doubt that they even have god cards (begging the question as to why this guy thinks Marik brought them in to begin with, but he may not be the brightest bulb in the box, so...), saying that Yami and Kaiba would need sacrifices to bring them out anyway. He then claims the gods he doubts they have are useless. If they even exist, I'm sure. What exactly is going on in this guy's head?

We know what's going on in Kaiba's head at least. He's sweating up a storm while he calls the wannabe phantoms scum. Yami meanwhile scours his hand, with the unfortunate knowledge that he and Kaiba will only be able to play four-star monsters. He plays Kuriboh in defense and puts another card face down.

And coming up straight ahead in another of KT's classic ambiguous dialogue/thought tags. You see, it looks like Yami is THINKING at Kaiba that they can't use their usual tactics in this duel, the only option being instead to combine their strengths. But, Kaiba glares at him and scoffs, responding to what I guess was dialogue with a declaration that this is absurd. By the way, this too is ambiguous. Fun.

Tallie announces his turn as he draws a card. We get to peek into his incomprehensible brain at last, where he knows he'd be a fool to attack the monster Yami will be drained of life points through anyway. He's bothered by Kaiba's face down card, though, to which worries Shorty replies that he'll take care of it. Wait, he was talking all along? Fuck, I give up!!

Tallie calls for his Shining Abyss to attack Vorse Raider and it goes straight for the monster opposite, creating a huge ball of energy between it's sausage fingers. Kaiba grins creepily again (honestly, this kid is going to give me nightmares...), daring Tallie to just try it. Um, he is, Kaiba. He's trying it right now. Luckily Kaiba noticed this, because he decides to activate the trap he set.

Kaiba laughs his dorky laugh, telling Tallie to enjoy his 2300 points of damage. Oooh, sick burn. But Shorty tells him not to celebrate too soon, activating a counter-trap. Kaiba's expression turns to shock in record time as Shorty reveals "Curse Transfer". I don't need Kaiba's gritted teeth and pants-shitting look to clue me into what it does, either. The ring of grenades is now around Vorse Raider's neck instead. A moment later, it explodes spectacularly, and Shorty announces Kaiba's damage equal to his monster's... well I think it's supposed to say attack points, but it says life points instead. Oops.

Kaiba growls at the misty effects taking away his life points, leaving him with just 2100. Yami calls his name, and Shorty giggles once more, again citing this as the power of light and dark. Tallie says their teamwork is unbeatable in a two-on-two duel, though it's about to be two-on-one. With no monsters left to defend himself, Kaiba's wide open for a new attack from Shining Abyss. At least it looks like a new one, even though it should just be the same one that wasn't used before. Whatevz. It charges up its giant ball of light between its sausage fingers, and just before Shining Abyss releases it at a frightened Kaiba, Tallie tells him to die.

I must point out, once again, that this guy is wishing literal death on a baby child.

Well, at least the other baby child was looking out for him. Not as good as an ADULT, but hey, you take what you can get.

So what did I think of this chapter overall? Particularly egregious in the ambiguous dialogue tag issue. It's especially noticeable here because whenever the skylight they're all standing on is shown, the panes appear about the same size for each of them, and they seem equidistant from one another. They should not be able to surreptitiously talk to a teammate without at least one of their opponents hearing it, and that seems unlikely to be the message KT is sending, what with the dialogue's somewhat understated appearance.

Especially in the the case of the two masked characters here. The tags around their tiny words seem to indicate a whisper, but a whisper probably couldn't carry between them. Now, this could be indicative of a microphone feed between the two of them instead, which would also explain the half-masks they're wearing as well. I've been making fun of their copying of Phantom of the Opera costume design, but the entire reason the Phantom of the Opera had the iconic half-mask anyway was because a full mask would make the stage microphone's performance impossible. Maybe it's the same deal with this?

Well, you know how I feel about headcanons. I'll wait to SEE a microphone before I assume there is one. In the meantime, I'll just marvel at how Kaiba's plan to use Yami has manifested in a way that he didn't quite expect. He was so sure he could do the whole thing by himself that he was convinced if Yami played any role in their victory, it would be a role Kaiba himself dictated. But here Yami is, being autonomous, and in being so, bailing Kaiba out of a deadly loss born out of a need to have a tightly controlled dominance of the match. Sounds like someone is going to learn a valuable lesson about how others won't be passive receptacles for your will whenever you want them to.

Teamwork. That shit'll sneak up on you.