Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 184 Arena of Death!!

There should be a number attached to that title, aside from the number of the chapter. Not only have we had two tournaments, parts of which boasted death upon a loss, but our protagonist started the whole manga by creating games that simulated and even carried out deaths. In the early days, there was even a favorite anti-hero back when he was a simple villain who created a theme park for the soul purpose of murdering his rival. "Arena of Death" may as well be the name of the comic! It's at least as fitting as "Yu-Gi-Oh", maybe even more so if you consider that more than just the Game King go around creating death arenas.

Literally all of these characters have visited pure torture and/or death upon their victims. Kinda makes me wonder who I should actually root for in this grand struggle for the regency over games.

Marik squeezes his eyes shut and calls out to what he calls the "anti-god attack force". No, not your run-of-the-mill YouTube atheist brigade. It's the dudes in the half-masks that were featured at the end of the last chapter. They're hanging out on the lip of the top of a building when they get the message that now is the time to fight.

In the meantime, Marik opens his eyes again to see Jonouchi and Anzu still hanging out in front of him, and plans to make them his pawns. He meekly bides for their attention, and both look at him in surprise. Anzu remarks upon how quiet he's been, which I'm sure is a polite way of saying that she totally forgot he existed for a moment. Jonouchi doesn't bother to let Marik (Namu to him) get another word in, informing him that they're worried about Bakura. Marik smiles and tries to sooth those worries with a reminder that he's on the way to the hospital with Sugoroku. This reassurance seems to do its job rather fast, Jonouchi accepting it with a smile, and Anzu promising they'll call Sugoroku later. Wow, he wasn't kidding. Marik really has no trouble manipulating everyone around him.

He reminds Jonouchi that he offered advice on dueling earlier, and Jonouchi is only too eager to dispense his unique wisdom, blaming Marik for asking for it. Anzu warns Jonouchi to go easy on Marik. Marik just chuckles, smirking. Pan out over the city.

Yami silently asks where the hell Jonouchi is, freaking out that every minute they waste, the Ghouls are getting closer to him. What, the moments you waste SEARCHING for him? How is that WASTING any time? Kaiba tells Yami to cool his balls, because they'll know where to go soon enough. Yami just looks at him quizzically. Instead of explaining himself, he chuckles about what an odd pair they are to be wandering the streets together, just walking when all Kaiba REALLY wants to do is beat Yami right now. I am SO tempted to add an "off" after Yami's name in the last sentence. And so is Kaiba himself, I'm sure.

Yami's glaring pretty hard at him right now though, so it's obvious he doesn't feel the same way. He informs Kaiba that all HE wants right now is to make sure his friends are alright. Kaiba admits with no small amount of smugness that he doesn't give a whit about Yami's friends, but they do share ONE objective. He launches into a rant about how the Ghouls stomp on the hearts of collectible card game lovers, and he's going to smash their entire operation for it, followed by smashing each and every one of them individually. I guess it's exceedingly easy for this brat to forget that time not too long ago when he himself bullied people out of THEIR very specific rare cards. Good thing I'M not so forgetful.

He tells Yami that his purpose in joining forces is that together the two of them are irresistible bait, not just for yaoi fangirls, but for the Ghouls hunting for the god cards. They can attract and kill those sons of bitches just like many female species of spider, just like the few they've already fucked up before.

It's a super inspiring speech, but Yami steers the conversation into different waters, asking Kaiba how he got a god card in the first place. Without missing a beat, Kaiba scoffs and claims that the one he has chose him. In fact, he's under the impression that all three of the things will choose him eventually, out of all the rest of the stooges in the world. It is a delusion that brings a maniacal grin to his face.

Oh yeah, there's no one ELSE who could be referring to you by your surname except someone who shares it. Makes sense.

Mokuba informs Kaiba that Jonouchi has been located in "F" Block, Area 402 around the aquarium. Kaiba confirms that Jonouchi hasn't moved, then smirks at a lame joke he tells himself about Jonouchi being a small fish in a big pond or something. He then looks over his shoulder to tell Yami he's found this "friend" they've been searching for, and he expects gratitude for it. Yami smiles at the effectiveness of Kaiba's tech, but Kaiba smirks at this, and once again tells him not to get the wrong idea. He says that Ghouls gather around easy prey, and that's the real reason he so easily agreed to tracking Jonouchi down for Yami. Then he laughs his dorky fucking laugh as he continues walking down the street.

Yami DOES offer his thanks to Kaiba for finding Jonouchi, but he warns Kaiba not to insult Jonouchi or him, because Jonouchi has really come into his own as a duelist. This declaration has Kaiba busting up. He looks over his shoulder at Yami again, and mocks the idea that Jonouchi is a duelist, claiming that Jonouchi CRIED when he beat him last time. Yami says that he promised Jonouchi that they would face each other in this tournament, insisting that the ensuing duel will be a true duel between duelists. Think he's used the word "duel" enough in that sentence?

This triggers Kaiba's memory, because he was sure that Jonouchi was classified as a level 2 duelist, and only level 5 and up were allowed to participate. I guess KT HASN'T forgotten the entry conditions for the tournament. Imagine that. With this knowledge, Kaiba confesses that he doesn't know how Jonouchi managed to make it into the tournament in the first place, but he promises to disqualify him the moment he sees him, laughing at the very notion. Yami is paused in some worry, no doubt about what will transpire when Kaiba and Jonouchi meet, but Kaiba asks him mirthfully what the hold-up is, saying they should get a move on to help his little buddy. Yami hurries along after Kaiba now. No doubt it's better to put Jonouchi's safety BEFORE his place in the tournament.

Back up on the lip of the top of the building, our phantoms of the tournament are watching the two duelists pass below them, the shorter guy indicating them. The taller tells the shorter to lead them to the arena, and the shorter complies, jumping straight off the building and from protruding sign to protruding sign.

... It seems to me that the last thing duelists would need is a fucking CHASTITY BELT. Something tells me that these kids are all chaste enough without the help of a fictional medieval torture device.

Regardless, Shorty sets his sights on Kaiba, or the Duel Disk on his arm anyway, and leaps down from the sign. He's poised in midair right above Kaiba in the next panel, completing the creepy grin on the mask covering half his face. Kaiba notices something is up, literally, and demands to know who is assaulting him as Shorty bounces off Kaiba's crooked Duel-Disk-ed arm, cartwheeling away through the air. Yami says Kaiba's name ineffectually, and Kaiba identifies his attacker as a Ghoul just as ineffectually while said Ghoul lands in a crouch some ways away.

Shorty giggles about how he "got" Kaiba, and Kaiba wonders what in the world he's talking about until he looks down at his arm. He's horrified to see the device displayed above clamped over the face of his Duel Disk. Yami gapes at what he describes as some sort of steel shackle around the Duel Disk, and Shorty informs Kaiba that while this "chastity" belt is on, his god cards are locked in place. I can think of a few people in classical Greece that would have liked Zeus to have had an actual CHASTITY version of this device.

Shorty says that Kaiba looks sad, but that's not how I would describe his expression.

Shorty giggles yet again and tells Kaiba not to get his panties in a knot over it, which is just it for me. I'm absolutely serious, I spent a good fifteen minutes laughing my ASS off after reading this the first time. I mean, the guy put a chastity belt on this kid's Duel Disk, and now he's commenting on the assumption that Kaiba's underwear is giving him a bit of discomfort. Now my stomach hurts and I've started hiccupping? I don't understand.

Anyway, Shorty points out a key that will unlock that device, ALLLLLLL the way up on top of the building where his tall counterpart is holding it out dramatically. I can't help thinking what a poor passerby would think if they saw this going on out of context. Like, what the fuck would you do if you saw something like this shit going down while you were out doing your shopping? Is there any conclusion you would be able to draw? I for one would be the most confused I had ever been in my entire life.

Yami notes that this taller man on top of the building is also masked. Shorty stands and says he and his colleague will be on top of the building, and that's where Kaiba can get the key to getting a little action. Dueling action, that is. Shorty warns Yami that if he doesn't accompany Kaiba up there, Jonouchi will be eliminated. Yami growls, but that's hardly intimidating to Shorty, who performs a series of acrobatic jumps to hop back up the side of the building, again inviting both Yami and Kaiba to what he calls the arena of death as he does so. So HE'S responsible for this chapter title. I'm going to want to see him in my office.

He's bouncing up and up, laughing all the way, and Kaiba growls as he watches, a hand on his locked Duel Disk. He yells at Yami that they have no choice, Yami agrees, and the next two panels are dedicated to the waiting phantoms of the tournament standing on two of four glass panes on the roof of the building.

Next come the introductions. Shorty calls himself Mask of Light, and Tallie calls himself Mask of Darkness. I will continue to call them Shorty and Tallie, because I just don't give a fuck. And as has already been established they're a tag team formed for the purpose of hunting down the god cards. Yami and Kaiba look about as unimpressed as it's possible to be.

Tallie holds out the key he dangled above Kaiba before, dropping it on the glass pane between them and telling Kaiba to come and get it. Kaiba is uncharacteristically quiet as he walks forward and retrieves it over a series of panels. Once he's got the key and all four of them are evenly spaced on the panes of glass looking down into the building, Shorty says it's time to explain the rules. They're playing a two-on-two duel, where any one duelist who loses all his life points is removed from the game, and the team who defeats both the opposite teammates before the other wins. But Shorty warns them to be careful, because removal from the game means death.

Sounds about par, as does Shorty's name for this game: "Explosive Tag Team Match of Death". Well, not ALL his jokes can be gems, I guess. He asks his opponents if this sounds fun to them, and Kaiba is too engrossed in unlocking the device from his Duel Disk to answer, while Yami's face is shadowed by his hair. Shorty assumes the lack of response is fear.

I don't know, Shorty, you really made Kaiba's DECK super mad with the stint it spent in that chastity belt. You might be in for a rough time if you're not roleplaying a Blue Eyes White Dragon with one of your masks.

So what did I think of this chapter overall? I was a little frustrated while Kaiba and Yami were quipping at one another. At the beginning of the scene Yami worries about wasting time, but when Kaiba gets the information on where Jonouchi is, HE'S the only one to keep moving forward consistently. Yami keeps stopping, pausing, being pissy and then uncertain. Regardless of WHY Kaiba is willing to lead Yami to Jonouchi, Yami should be keeping pace and even urging Kaiba to go faster.

But Kaiba is keeping Jonouchi's location to himself for a reason. If he gives it to Yami, then Yami will run off to where Jonouchi is, not kept forcibly in Kaiba's audience. Kaiba is purposefully leading the way here not just because he wants to ensure that he gets that match he wants so badly when they finally find Jonouchi, he wants to rile Yami up in the process so he'll be that much more ready to take on Kaiba when the time comes, for pride's sake at the very least. If Yami feels slighted and resentful of Kaiba for his insults, maybe Yami will even pick a fight with Kaiba earlier than promised, to ease his bruised ego.

I guess I should be thankful that Yami wasn't stupid enough to fall for Kaiba's ploy THAT hard. Just enough to be frustrating. Just like the head-scratcher that was a Ghoul having a device capable of locking up a piece of technology that was not available to design the device around. Since the Duel Disk has only been available to a select few duelists for the past two days, it's not very probable that the device could even EXIST as it does. Do the ghouls just have super fast engineers at their disposal? Or did they have a double agent in Kaiba Corp during its development? In either case, why can't I be reading THAT story???

At least the unintentional innuendo in the second half of this chapter made up for it. Translation can be a truly comical thing all on its own.

My stomach is killing me.