Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 194 A Prideful Card

It's been a little while since I've been here, having played a few prideful cards of my own. The last week and a half has been quite exhausting, and I've had little energy to spend on the blog. Cutting ties and dealing with sustained abuse while trying to remain professional up until the very last moment is serious work, it turns out. Now that it's over and done, though, I should have plenty of time to focus on a great opportunity I've been ignoring up until this point, and get my own stories down on paper.

Not that I won't find ample time to be a dickish critic about those of other people too.

You better hope that card speaks to Jonouchi a bit louder than the literal murderous voice in his head, because Marik looks like he's out for fucking BLOOD.

Yami seems to think it will, in any case, because he tells Yuugi that there's the soul of Jonouchi's heart in that card. Is it both his heart AND soul, or does Jonouchi's heart have a soul of its own separate from the rest of his body's soul? Do his other organs have souls too? How many souls can be crammed into one human form anyway??

File this under questions that will never be answered. Yami recalls how he got the Red Eyes Black Dragon back from that Rare Hunter right before the start of the tournament and Jonouchi refused to accept it from him on the grounds that he wanted to be a duelist worthy of WINNING it back when the time comes. Giving the card a determined stare, Yuugi vows to fight with it in order to get Jonouchi's heart back. His poop-face turns back up to glare at possessed!Jonouchi now, but its intimidation factor is super low. Possessed!Jonouchi just points and demands that Yuugi summon his fucking monsters already.

Yuugi remains silent, taking stock of the monsters he already has out; Kuriboh and Big Shield Guardna. Neither one has been doing him much good, considering all the illegal direct attack cards that keep going over their heads. Yuugi considers using them as sacrifices to summon the pivotal dragon, but Yami butts into his thoughts once more to warn him to be careful, since they only have 1300 life points left. Instead of telling this backseat driver to buzz the fuck off and let him do his thing, Yuugi politely agrees. Yami continues to ramble on about shit we already know, that the player whose life points disappear first gets dragged into the sea, that they have to bring back Jonouchi's heart before the duel's end, and that they need to find a way to save both him AND Yuugi.

Dude, do you think you could cut down the mansplaining? I'm starting to sympathize with possessed!Jonouchi's impatience here when he yells at Yuugi not to stall for time anymore. It was Yuugi's intention to prove himself capable of contributing to his relationships, and he can't fucking do that when you're buzzing in his ear like a damn wasp!

Asshole.

Looking at his cards, Yuugi starts to ponder doing a little experiment before he actually summons Red Eyes. Despite his misgivings on the possibility of failure, he doubles down on his need to trust Jonouchi. Then, blissfully, he tells Yami to please stay quiet while he does what he's gotta do next. Yami looks taken aback by both Yuugi's boldness and the move he ends up making.

Yeah, we got that much from the name, no need to be repetitive.

Possessed!Jonouchi saunters over to Yuugi's side of the dock, quipping about what bad cards Yuugi must have if he wants to play an exchange. When he reaches Yuugi, he spits a command to see the cards he has to pick from, claiming he'll show HIS later. Yuugi closes his eyes and hangs his head slightly, turning his hand for possessed!Jonouchi to see, and possessed!Jonouchi proceeds to insult Yuugi's stupid cards.

That is, until he lays his eyes on the Red Eyes Black Dragon, and they widen in shock. There's a moment when possessed!Jonouchi just stares at the cards, and Yuugi opens his eyes again, and they're practically DARING him to take the Red Eyes while his mouth calmly instructs him to choose the card he wants from the three offered. Possessed!Jonouchi's stare is communicating some serious discomfort, accented by the sweat at his temple. Yuugi has squeezed his eyes shut again while Yami gapes in alarm at him.

Doesn't say a WORD, though, thankfully.

Marik finds this whole thing HILARIOUS. He had thought that Yami the "vessel" was a weak duelist, but the fact that he's willing to just give his enemy a rare card like this confirms the hypothesis in Marik's mind. Grinning, he urges Jonouchi to take the Red Eyes Black Dragon. Possessed!Jonouchi laughs too, claiming to have no qualms about taking this powerful monster off Yuugi's hands.

Now who's stalling, bitch?

Jonouchi winces, still pinching the card, but seemingly unable to actually pull it from Yuugi's hand. He cradles his forehead in his other hand, complaining that it hurts and questioning why he can't take the card. Marik's visage hovers over Jonouchi's agonizing, demanding that Jonouchi take that card, and I can't help but laugh because he looks a bit like a disappointed dad here? It's a real strange, dissonant expression.

The next couple of panels show Jonouchi continue to struggle, sweating and writhing. Finally, he rips a card from an astonished Yuugi/Yami's hand.

Behind possessed!Jonouchi, Marik is furious, asking why Jonouchi didn't take the Red Eyes. Possessed!Jonouchi answers that he doesn't need monsters, because the direct-attack magic cards are enough to bring down Yuugi. Yuugi himself doesn't seem at all convinced, but doesn't say anything other than a request to let him take a card from possessed!Jonouchi's hand in turn. He plucks the card from Jonouchi's hand and a surly possessed!Jonouchi makes to return to his position across from Yuugi.

Of course, Yuugi couldn't keep his lips zipped for long. He calls out to possessed!Jonouchi before he walks too far, saying he believes in Jonouchi, and that Jonouchi hasn't lost his duelist heart. Possessed!Jonouchi doesn't respond, so Yuugi apparently takes this as an invitation to keep shooting off his mouth. He recounts Jonouchi's promise to Yami to honorably face him in the tournament, and to not take back Red Eyes Black Dragon until he had earned it, citing this as the reason why he couldn't take the card.

Possessed!Jonouchi turns and screams at him to shut his mouth and stop talking, and I'm uncomfortable with how often I'm agreeing with him during this chapter. It's a little eerie, but I promise, it's not because I'm possessed by Marik or anything! I just hate over-exposition! That's all!

Yuugi is unfazed by Jonouchi's screaming, stating his belief that the Red Eyes Black Dragon Jonouchi left with him twice now will be the bullhorn needed for Jonouchi's duelist heart's awakening. Possessed!Jonouchi scoffs, suddenly smirking again, like he wasn't just yelling psychotically before. Okay, I guess we can pretend that didn't happen. He even thinks it's great Yuugi is planning on giving his heart a little wake-up call, before pointing up at the anchor above them and reiterating HIS plan to sink Yuugi's ass into the water below by bringing his life points to zero.

Quietly, Yuugi tells possessed!Jonouchi that his turn isn't finished yet. Internally, he affirms that no matter what happens now, he and Jonouchi will be friends. With tears in his eyes, Yuugi pulls a card from his hand to summon.

Just like when seeing the card, Jonouchi is blown away by the sight of the hologram. Yuugi explains the implication of an extreme close-up on the dragon's big red eye; that it's overcome with grief. He tells Jonouchi that he should be able to feel the dragon's emotions now as well, and that he and Red Eyes are praying for the recovery of Jonouchi's duelist heart. Tears spring back to Yuugi's eyes when he shouts that this is why he has to fight.

With all that justification out of the way, Yuugi orders Red Eyes Black Dragon to attack Jonouchi. He restates his belief in Jonouchi, whose possessed mug is looking pretty fearful about the oncoming blast.

Possessed!Jonouchi holds an arm across his face to block the flash-bang's impact on his eyes as his life points go down to 3100. Yuugi immediately calls Jonouchi's name, looking a bit frantic. He knows how the game works right? An attack only takes the difference in points between monsters? Still, Yuugi is super concerned with Jonouchi's wide bracing stance. He's about to be worried about Jonouchi's scoff.

That's right, possessed!Jonouchi is still possessed, and wearing that creepy little grin again. He asks if that's all Yuugi's got, and Yuugi can't help but gape in horror. Possessed!Jonouchi is transparent in his plan to use yet another banned magic card to bring Yuugi's life points to zero on his next turn, meaning the end is awfully near. This prompts Yami to pop back up again, insisting that it's too dangerous for him to leave his partner out there like this, and that he should take Yuugi's place again. Again, it doesn't MATTER which of you is out front if you guys lose - you share a fucking BODY.

Yuugi doesn't explain this to Yami, which I'm grateful for, because I can't imagine it being LESS insufferable when Yami does it. He just refuses this plan, taking off the Millennium Puzzle in the process.

Well what do you know? Yuugi told Yami to piss off after all.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I usually don't have much good to say about entire chapters that revolve around just one turn, but in this case there's a good story reason for it. Both players have understandable emotional roadblocks to follow through on actions, and it's painful to watch. Not because it's bad, but because it does a genuine number on your heart. KT did a phenomenal job here depicting how difficult this is for all parties (including Marik in his frustration), and I KNOW he did, because I'm working with a very wonky translation here, and I was STILL moved by it.

And when I talk about how relatable each character's difficulty in the situation is, I'm not speaking in hyperbole. I snipped about Yami's inability to shut the hell up while Yuugi was trying to duel, but it's completely understandable that he would be doing this. Yuugi has been in control of their games very little, the only time he was in complete control being when he nearly DIED IN A FIRE. Of COURSE Yami wants to take back control, otherwise he has to watch helplessly if Yuugi is struggling.

The uncertainty surrounding Yuugi's risky moves makes this doubly terrifying to Yami. To some extent, the title refers more to Yuugi's pride than Jonouchi's. Yuugi is trying to prove a lot here, and because he's the meek self-conscious type normally, he doesn't hold the same value for his own safety as he does his friends, making THEM his source of pride. It seems utterly reckless to offer Red Eyes Black Dragon on a platter to a manipulated Jonouchi, but to Yuugi, if Jonouchi was going to take the card, then it wasn't going to do either one of them or their situation any good summoned either. Yuugi was willing to let Jonouchi get physically close to him in order to test the voracity of this promise made with Yami, because if Jonouchi took the card, it meant he was going to die anyway. He was putting his life in Jonouchi's hands, and was ready for the consequences.

It was only when he knew for sure that Jonouchi was still on some level not willing to go back on his word that he could feel validated, not just on the experimental level, but personally. He knows Jonouchi well enough to take risks Yami wouldn't, to wear his heart on his sleeve while attacking Jonouchi, do what he needs to bring the guy back. And he's not about to do the thing half-assed, either.

Kid is ballsy, and I never thought I'd be saying that about YUUGI.

Inuyasha Manga: 135 The Gokuraku-Chou

Looks like we have a new translator here, if the curly, fancy lettering they used for a now hyphenated title is any indication. The latter point is of special interest to me, considering the presentation of the word is very much the same to my particularly ignorant eye. I know next to nothing about Japanese, so I have to wonder what difference a hyphen makes, or what subtle shift in meaning it's supposed to represent. Or if it's just an aesthetic choice and means next to nothing in all practicality.

I'm hoping that's the case actually, because I'm lazy and don't want to start inserting a hyphen into a word I already have to constantly double check how it's spelled. Sorry guys.

With a beginning like this, are they going to have TIME to mention these guys' long, complicated youkai species? I wouldn't blame them for just calling them bird-things in the heat of battle. Too many syllables, too little time.

The guy with the rake-looking grappling hook nabs himself a bird-thing by the jaw, drags it to the ground, and drives a spear into it while several of the wolf-bodied pups noms on the human torso up top. Another Gokurakuchou catches one of those pups in its talons, flying off with it. As Kouga bounces up the mountainside toward their goal, Kagome looks back over her shoulder at the carnage and gapes at the awfulness.

Kouga draws her attention back to the task at hand, warning her that they'll reach the next of the bosses pretty soon. She's alarmed by this assessment, and questions it silently a moment, because she's got a bit of a different perspective. She's the one giving warnings now when she alerts Kouga to the fact that she can see a Shikon shard straight through the mountain in front of them. Kouga only has a moment to give her an incredulous look.

Bit of an understatement, don't you think?

A giant wing extends from the crumbling rock, which rains down on the battle below, catching one of the Gokurakuchou in the back and pushing it toward the ground. The rest of the birds speed away from the shadow of the behemoth bursting from the mountainside, but the wolf youkai stand and stare open-mouthed. One of them is in awe of the Gokurakuchou boss, and the other points out the thing's sheer size.

No wonder it's so big - it's eating for two!

I'm going straight to hell.

Kouga seems to be a bit skeptical that these twin bird-brothers have been waiting for him, but they explain that they've been looking for those Shikon fragments that he's so famously inserted in his limbs. But, because they're lazy as shit, they decided it would be easier to make him come to them. Somehow. Kagome clings to the mountain wall as Kouga hangs from grips around her, almost acting as a net. He grins at what appears to him as everyone having had the same thought.

Leaning down, Kouga asks Kagome where their Shikon shard is, and she sees the gleam shining from a very ominous area, the mouth. Kouga has definitely lost his cocky smile now, in disbelief. The brothers, of course, are amused by this reaction. They confirm that the shard is there, and if he and Kagome want it so bad, they should walk right in there. Their feathered maw opens wide and they lunge for Kouga and Kagome, intending to get them in one clean bite, but...

Whoops, got a mouthful of granite instead. Bummer.

Kouga races down the mountain again and deposits her on the ground in front of his surprised comrades. He tells them to protect Kagome, because I suppose he forgot they're fighting a load of bird-creatures or something. They begin to protest, expressing some doubt as to their extended ability to do what he's asking unless he finishes off the boss quickly, like they grew up on video games and don't realize the possibility that the rest of the flock might continue to attack in the efforts to distinguish themselves and fill a power vacuum...

Oh. Never mind.

Kouga snips that he KNOWS, okay, and grabs a double-pronged spear with which to dig the shards out of the boss's mouth. Kagome asks in disbelief if he's really going to attack that thing alone, and Kouga responds that he's the only one who can actually defeat it. I don't know if "can" and "has the express responsibility to do so because he's the one who ordered everyone into this battle in the first place" are really the same thing, but whatever.

One of the two guys to which Kagome has been entrusted, a guy with a black tuft of hair in between two lighter tones on the sides of his head, asks his sister or "nee-san" Kagome if she knows somewhere safe to go. Instead of asking why the hell she would know anywhere nearby to hide, considering she was kidnapped and brought here by THEM, she questions his reference to her as a sister. The guy with the mohawk says of COURSE she's their sister now, since she's the boss's woman now. Wait, aren't the alpha pair in a back the alphas because the rest of the pack are their CHILDREN? Shouldn't these guys be calling her their mother?

I mean, I know it's weird that their step-mom would be 15 years old, but it certainly wouldn't be unheard of in a period of history when dirty old men were going around marrying young girls all the time. Just goes to show how little RT really wants to have anything to do with THAT nugget of pedo-enabling shit. George RR Martin has got that market covered anyway.

Regardless, Kagome starts to reprimand these guys for making up family ties where their are none. Key word here is "starts".

Though this was a nice try, the Gokurakuchou gets one of its talons around his wrist off anyway and flies off with him. He screams for help to an alarmed Kagome, who shouts that she and the mohawk guy need to save him. Mohawk Guy says it's too late, and that Two-Toned Guy will be taken back to the nest and eaten. But Kagome spots a bow no longer needed by one of the wolf youkai, lying dead with his arm draped over it. Without a thought toward its fallen owner, she nocks and arrow and begs to hit her target.

The arrow sails in an arc that looks almost as if it misses the wing of the creature altogether, but...

Kagome seems in disbelief that she hit the Gokurakuchou, but doesn't stand in awe of her own ability to shoot a bow for long. She runs up to Two-Toned Guy as he hits the ground, dead Gokurakuchou next to him. Kagome asks him if he's alright and he stammers out a thank you, while Mohawk Guy tells her how impressive that was. To be fair, that other guy didn't hold his own with a bow, so...

Unfortunately, more Gokurakuchou are heading down to scoop them up, and all Kagome and her two supposed-to-be bodyguards can do is gape in morbid anticipation. At juuuuuuust the right moment, Kagome's name is shouted, and her eyes widen.

Did you see that thing's teeth go flying?? AWESOME.

Kagome calls to Inuyasha happily and he calls to her with a worried look on his face, all sweaty and shit. This doesn't stop Kagome from launching herself into his arms, though, wailing that she was scared. Inuyasha asks her if she's hurt as Two-Toned Guy and Mohawk Guy stare in bemusement.

Hold on, folks. This battleground is about to turn into a pissing match. Joy.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The sheer theatrics of the lead Gokurakuchou making their appearance was really fun, practically destroying the side of the mountain in order to get the drop on Kouga before he can get to them. It was a great plan to counteract his speed, as a matter of fact, considering they didn't count on Kouga having a way to know where those shards were before he came over. What a way to use superior size and strength strategically.

There's something regarding our duo of side-characters that I feel I should mention, even if I'm reading a bit too much into this: Kouga's self-appointed role of beating the Gokurakuchou boss is treated as the end-all be-all of the whole affair. Yes, the Shikon shards is why they came there, but the other birds are by all means posing quite a threat in and of themselves. Yet the rest of the battle isn't treated with very much care, here, by the characters' own admissions. They consider the danger to Kagome over once the boss has been beaten.

That gives me the impression that the rest of the wolf youkai don't consider themselves very important in the grand scheme of things. Once Kouga gets what he wants, mission accomplished, they can all go home, except those who died battling a lesser foe, of course. It's just a little sad, until Kagome treats one of those underlings of Kouga's with a little dignity and makes an actual effort to save him.

Like I said, it's so small that I'm reluctant to really call a point in the chapter's theme, but it was big enough to catch my attention. Make of it what you will.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 193 Attack to the Heart

Sooooooo… I put in my two weeks notice for my job yesterday. It was emotional to me because I was optimistic about the assistant manager position I got under a general manager that wanted to help me grow into a leadership position. A new general manager took her place a few months in, though, someone who can't communicate worth a damn, especially about important scheduling and policy changes. I always seemed to know about big events/policy/changes last, undermining my position as assistant manager. It didn't help that 90% of the time she said she would be somewhere, she wouldn't show up, and the other 10% of the time, she was late.

Suffice it to say, when I gave this as the reason I was quitting, the GM tried to reallocate the blame to me, the previous GM, and pretty much every other person but herself. THEN, failing that, she tried to gaslight me by saying that the disrespect she was showing wasn't actually a problem or not happening at all.

Why am I telling you this? Because that, as bad as it was, was not NEARLY as painful as this scanlation.

Oh goodness gracious. As if I didn't need enough therapy for my latest attempt at working under a shitty boss.

I'm still going to give this the best shot I can, though. Yami is already looking grim as fuck, talking about how he doesn't want to fight and this wasn't the showdown they (guessing he and Jonouchi?) had expected. Jonouchi giggles again, and Marik's specter of influence looming behind Jonouchi grins, encouraging the boy to kill Yami and be the vessel for his ill-conceived revenge. Yami recognizes that Jonouchi's behavior is under Marik's complete control, and so draws himself up, resolving to fight even though it's not the best thing ever.

Yami thinks that there must still be a red-hot burning heart of a true duelist SOMEWHERE in Jonouchi's thorax, and knows that he has to stoke the flame to wake that guy up.

To be fair, those rules are pretty ugly in and of themselves. Why shouldn't their layout be the same?

Possessed!Jonouchi reminds Yami that it's his turn now, the bottom of the panel displaying 4000 life points for him and just 1900 for Yami. Yami sweats, quietly drawing a card and looking at it. He wonders as he puts the card in his hand with its fellows how he's going to wake Jonouchi up. He knows that this duel is designed to require death for either one or both players, but I'm not sure if this is implying that he's also wondering on whether or not he SHOULD wake Jonouchi up. Still, it's a valid question: if someone is likely to be dying in the next few minutes, is it kinder to just let them sleep or do you shake them by the shoulders and make them face their demise? And in fairness, no one ever gave YAMI a choice in all this, given that he's got to be conscious for the whole thing.

Anyway, Yami calls this a "crucial test", though of what, he doesn't say. I'm going to guess it's their friendship, but don't quote me on that. This translation isn't giving me much to go off of.

Meanwhile, Kaiba stands frozen some ways away from the duel, staring at Mokuba kicking and struggling in the grip of one of the Rare Hunters. This ghoul still holds a knife to Mokuba's throat, and advises Kaiba to sit and watch Yami get murdered by his best buddy. Mokuba counters with a plea to leave him to save Yami and Jonouchi. Kaiba, of course, is reluctant either one of these things, but a bit more so for the former, in the process of protesting Mokuba's selfless insistence. He agrees that something should be done, but trails off when it comes to his ability to do it. He mentally urges Yami to hang on, peering out of his periphery at the spectacle.

I think we've already established as much, so no need to convince ME of that.

Jonouchi points a finger at Yami, accusing him of trying to stall for time (despite the fact that Yami's well aware stalling will only get BOTH of them killed), and demands he summon some monsters already. Yami remains silent and actionless, still assessing the situation. He notes Jonouchi's 1500-point monster on the opposite side of the field, and his own Guardna crouching pretty with 2600 defense points. Surveying his hand, Yami knows that he doesn't have anything there that can take down Jonouchi's monster, and ponders holding out in defense for a little while.

Despite this conclusion, Yami slaps a face down card on his duel disk and summons Kuriboh in attack before he ends his turn. Possessed!Jonouchi begins his turn with some confusion, wondering if Yami is having fun with him with that Kuriboh in attack position. He warns Yami that Kuriboh being taken out by Alligator Sword would bring his life points down to nearly zero, asking if this means Yami is committing suicide. Possessed!Jonouchi laughs about the prospect of Yami sacrificing himself to save his shell of a friend.

Yami rejects the notion that he should die, insisting he has to survive. He insists even harder that Jonouchi must survive as well. Possessed!Jonouchi barks a laugh, reiterating to Yami that this duel MUST end in one their deaths, and then announcing an attack. Alligator Sword flies at Kuriboh, sword raised, while the little guy sweats and cringes away. Before it can be sliced, though, Yami reveals his face down card, using it as a shield for Kuriboh. It's Spellbinding Circle (I had to look up the name I'm used to, because this translation undoubtedly has a more literal interpretation of the Japanese name here) and tells it to protect his little fluff-ball. Possessed!Jonouchi is much like regular Jonouchi in his surprise at having overlooked an obvious trap card. Strange that Jonouchi's inner feelings and thoughts are being controlled, and yet he still manages to commit classic Jonouchi mistakes. Maybe Jonouchi was never as unprincipled and doofy as it seemed; maybe he just needs glasses.

While Yami tells possessed!Jonouchi that Spellbinding Circle has sealed the attack, possessed!Jonouchi don't give a fuck. He says his turn isn't over yet, and it doesn't matter anyway, given that the point here is to reduce Yami's life points by whatever means necessary. The aforementioned means extend far beyond monster cards, and Yami's eyes widen in nervousness when possessed!Jonouchi picks another card from his hand and holds it out with a big creepy smile. He wants to see this one again.

It's that Hinotama card again, dropping a big ol' fireball right on top of Yami's poor skull. Yami screams as his life points drop down to 1300, and possessed!Jonouchi brags about his deck's firepower (get it?) being increased by his use of banned cards, making ordinary monsters SO last duel. I don't think Yami is really listening, though, swaying on his feet and groaning. He stutters Jonouchi's name through his pain, asking if possessed!Jonouchi doesn't feel his own pain deep down in his duelist heart. Possessed!Jonouchi scoffs and says that doesn't matter to him.

Yami looks hurt and takes a long pout before he says that his pain doesn't come from possessed!Jonouchi's attack. He yells that it comes from Jonouchi losing that duelist heart he should have cherished. Strangely, Jonouchi's expression is somewhat bemused, but Marik, looking out from the inside, doesn't really notice. He thinks that whatever Yami says is useless, Jonouchi being nothing but a puppet at this point controlled by the hate of another. Jonouchi's face lifts back into a smirk as he repeats that he's going to kill Yami. Yami says Jonouchi's again, but the possessed version ignores him and tells him it's his turn next. Grinding his teeth, Yami is consumed with the question of what he can do to take back Jonouchi's heart. Well you could start by doing spontaneous. That always helps reignite the passion in a cold romance.

And maybe this whole polyamorous love-triangle thing you have going on isn't going so well.

But seriously, once Yuugi has Yami's attention, his first observation is that this seems to be the first time Yami has been feeling this much stress. Yami hangs his head and admits it, so Yuugi suggests that he can maybe reduce that stress a bit by letting HIM try to get through to Jonouchi. This seems to make the stress INCREASE on Yami's face, but Yuugi is already trying to explain. He says that Jonouchi accepted a weak guy like him as a friend, saving his life in fires and such, being constant support and help in general. Yuugi thinks it's his turn to save Jonouchi.

Yami protests that this is such a crucial duel. I mean it's super crucial! But Yuugi knows this, and reminds Yami that he was the one who assured poor insecure Yuugi that it was his own doing becoming friends with Jonouchi, and not the Millennium Puzzle's doing. Yami acknowledges this, so Yuugi holds up his Millennium Puzzle, I guess the visualization of it anyway, and says he would like to prove his own relationship with Jonouchi in this duel. Yami is speechless.

Yuugi explains that if he can take back Jonouchi's heart, he can finally say that their friendship is a product of his own. After a long pause, Yami agrees to let Yuugi go out there and do this himself, under the one condition that if it looks like Yuugi is in real danger, he's going right back inside. Okay, mom. Also, have you forgotten you guys share a body again? How does this whole situation not put you both in danger simultaneously regardless of who's on the outside and who's on the inside?

I assume the noise Yuugi makes is in the affirmative, because the panel displays rays of light coming from the puzzle as an indication of transformation, but it's not any form of "yes" I'm familiar with.

Marik tantrum at Yami sending out his "vessel" instead of facing this bullshit himself in 3, 2, 1...

Well, FIRST we get a shot of Kaiba looking over his shoulder and gaping at Yuugi's transformation back into the sensitive, mousey personality, because I'm not sure he's seen that before in the middle of a game. THEN we're shown an image of Marik's looming figure behind gaping Jonouchi, nose wrinkled and hackles raised. He's in disbelief that Yami allowed the original mind to play the duel at this juncture, and doesn't think his hatred would be sated if he killed YUUGI instead of Yami.

So, he has Jonouchi point and demand that Yami come back out, claiming that Yuugi isn't his opponent. Yuugi ignores possessed!Jonouchi's request and announces his turn anyway like the boss-ass bitch he is. Looking down at the cards still in his Duel Disk, Yuugi hears Yami's voice telling him that there is a card still in there that is KEY in waking Jonouchi up. The alarm card. Yuugi affirms that he's received the message, and vows to draw that key card. Meanwhile, Jonouchi is inundated with more and more hateful subliminal commands to kill, kill, kill the guy in front of him.

Yuugi draws a card, looks at it critically, and identifies it as the Red Eyes Black Dragon. Yami, backseat duelist that he is, whispers to Yuugi again to tell him this is the card they were discussing before. Yuugi doesn't seem to mind, knowing that this is the very card that has been by Jonouchi's side consistently through most of his duels. It's obvious that Yuugi has to bet it all on THIS card. We go back to Jonouchi to check out the complexities of his strategizing, which is actually just more of Marik telling him to murder Yuugi over and over.

It's just an added bonus that after you bring back his heart, Jonouchi won't have to listen to Marik's annoying murder orders in his head anymore.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It was rough parsing what was actually being said here. Judging by the SFX symbols, it looks like this isn't even a Japanese raw, but it was translated into another language altogether and then translated to English from there. Not by a very skilled English-speaker either. I've said before that I have the utmost respect for multilingual people, and am even trying to pick up a couple of extra languages myself, but as useful as these scanlating projects may be on a personal level, it's not all that great when shared with others who are native speakers. Especially not when it's a translation of a translation.

That said, this was an interesting move on Yuugi's part, and not entirely altruistic either. A little selfish, if truth be told, which is very interesting from a character-building standpoint. Yuugi has always expressed doubts and insecurities about his various relationships, which is extremely relatable to me. Hell, I'm 30 years old, and I STILL wonder if my friends actually like me from time to time. When you're a teenager still figuring yourself out, though, the experience of dealing with lingering doubt and unrest around your relationships can be a million times worse.

In reality, conducting a "test" of this sort would hardly be conclusive, but in the story it speaks to just how deeply Yuugi wants to prove to himself that Jonouchi is just as much HIS friend as Yami's. It also indicates how uncomfortable Yuugi is with his passive role, always letting stronger guys like Yami and Jonouchi fight for him, but never feeling like he has the strength to fight for them in return. If his relationship with Jonouchi IS genuine, then he feels guilty for not pulling his weight. There's just layers and layers of misguided attempts to reframe himself in the relationship as worthy of and receiving recognition, and not feeling like dead weight.

That feeling was so much easier for me to relieve yesterday, considering all I had to do was cut the whole job out of my life in two weeks. Makes me grateful that I didn't fall out with anyone I was good friends with here. Or wasn't LITERALLY chained to the position.

Inuyasha Manga: 134 Cave of the Wolves

You can't get much more "caveman" than carrying a noncompliant woman off to your literal cave. The only thing needed to complete the picture here is if Kouga conked Kagome on the head with a club and dragged her off by her hair. Luckily for her, she was required to be conscious to potentially see plot-important Shikon shards. And understand the request to look, which ruled out unintelligible grunts as Kouga's language. There might have been a nasty bump on her head otherwise.

For the plot, mind you. Only for the plot.

Someone would steal this boy's head if it wasn't attached. That's how that saying goes, right?

Miroku skids down the slope behind Inuyasha, asking him if he's alright. Inuyasha acknowledges him, and is immediately informed that Kagome was Kouga's only target, since the wolves that were here before have retreated from the scene. The rocky mountainside is only inhabited by them now, and Inuyasha is even MORE stressed by this information.

Back up top, Kirara is nomming on some feathers, all that seems to be left of the Gokurakuchou. Inuyasha and Miroku emerge from the edge of the pass behind Sango, asking her where Kagome is, presumably because she was the only one who was free to pursue the kidnapper and tried. She looks a little ashamed to admit that she was held up a minute by the bird/man hybrids.

What kind of lecher IS Miroku to ignore a pair of tits, in favor of focusing on a mass of feathers underneath them? Maybe he's exclusively a butt-guy? *shrug*

Meanwhile, back at the ranch cave behind the waterfall, Kagome is still sitting on the straw bed in the back holding Shippou, surrounded by a few growling wolves. Shippou is the only one that's freaking out about this, shaking like a leaf as he holds his arms out in front of Kagome, thinking he has to protect her. Kagome just wears a slight frown, wandering around in her own thoughts about her new commission of finding Shikon fragments in those Gokurakuchou things. While she's pointing out the shiny jewel fragments to Kouga, she'll stay alive, but what about AFTER that? At this contemplation, a sweatdrop appears at her temple and her frown deepens.

Just then, Kouga steps into her view, one of the Shikon shards he already has glowing in his left leg.

I guess he really brought home the bacon, didn't he?

Wow, that was awful. Someone really needs to stop me before I type these things...

He plops the boar down right in front of Kagome, urging her to eat. After a moment of speechlessness, she holds up a hand and politely declines, claiming that she's lost her appetite. Of course her REAL objection is that it's raw and getting some sort of parasite from uncooked meat never sounds very appealing to ANYONE. I'm guessing Kouga has the steel gut to handle that sort of thing, but it's unlikely to go over well with Kagome.

Kouga doesn't question her lack of appetite, but he DOES give her a good, long stare, hand stroking his chin contemplatively. She asks him what the deal is with that, and after confirming her name he responds that upon taking a good look, he's determined that she's got a pretty cute face. She's even more taken-aback, and makes a noise of confusion. So, he spells it out for her thrusting a thumb at himself while declaring that she'll be "his woman" from now on. Completely flabbergasted, Kagome can only gape and make sounds of disbelief.

Of course, Kouga's fellow wolf-men gather round, expressing their own disbelief that he's not going to feed on her spleen when he's done with her. One of them reminds Kouga that it's a HUMAN girl he's got there. Kouga calls this guy a moron, telling him that Kagome is way more useful than female youkai, because she can see Shikon fragments. And just like that, the dudes are coming around to his way of thinking, even getting excited about the prospect of collecting all the Shikon shards. Kouga says that once they have all of the jewel, their group will be invincible.

I think that means she understands you're a piece of shit and you shouldn't be grabbing women like they belong to you, dipwad.

Kouga looks genuinely puzzled as he runs a finger over his cheek where Kagome popped him one, and Shippou clings terrified to the front of Kagome's blouse. Kagome herself is a little apprehensive now that she realizes that she just hit someone who could totally murder her right now. The other wolves whisper amongst themselves that Kagome's totally gonna die for smacking the shit out of Kouga, and I guess this prompted Kagome to try and apologize before the guy decided that is exactly what needs to happen.

Kagome blushes and stutters that she's seeing someone at the moment. She and Kouga share the most awkward silence in the history of this comic, before he asks her if it's the "dog-turd". She snaps that his name is Inuyasha, and demands Kouga not ever call him "dog-turd" again. Kouga doesn't respond to this, just hums contemplatively while he continues to stare at her. In the meantime, Kagome thinks about how she says she's seeing Inuyasha, but they haven't even kissed.

Be prepared for this to NEVER be a thing that happens, friends.

Eventually, Kouga declares that this will be fun, bringing Kagome back around to confusion, and then wide-eyed wariness when Kouga says that if Inuyasha is killed, her relationship to him won't be a problem anymore. Oh, Kagome, my poor sweet baby child, this is why you never tie your rejection of someone to your relationship to someone else. I learned that one the hard way too.

Yeah, I'm sure that's real fucking comforting information for her right now. What an ASS.

Shippou looks up at Kagome on the sly, thinking that he's not going to let her endure this shitstain for much longer. He holds up a little mushroom, the spores of many like it he had already sown on their way there reaching their maturation right about now, surely leading Inuyasha straight to them. Well I'll be goddamned and go to hell, Shippou's version of breadcrumbs is a pretty smart idea! Not sure why it was needed, given Inuyasha's sense of smell should be able to lead them over there too, but...

Speaking of Inuyasha, he's running through the forest, looking a bit frantic as he curses and wonders where Kagome is. I guess Kouga didn't leave much of a scent in his hurry to leave the area? I dunno. Miroku shouts at Inuyasha to wait, having spotted something off to the side of Kirara where he's riding behind Sango again. He must have phenomenal eyesight, because the mushroom that popped up from a fallen tree trunk was tiny, though maybe he saw it wiggling around instead, because that's a little odd. When Miroku and Sango get up real close to it, it starts to let out a cry that you definitely COULDN'T miss.

Wide-eyed, Miroku suggests this is a message from Shippou, turning to Sango and realizing something now that he's mentioned the little guy. Sango looks a little surprised too that they didn't seem to notice that Shippou was missing as well. Instead of dwelling on the fact that they're the worst surrogate guardians of a child OF ALL TIME, they point out that there are even more mushrooms, sprouting and crying, in a very specific direction of the woods. Inuyasha charges in that direction, commanding his friends to come along.

A new setting greets us; the craggy, jagged outline of a mountain, with silhouettes of familiar bird-things flapping all around it.

Kouga curses the fact that the Gokurakuchou seems to have spotted his army when they look down from their straw nests. Yeah, because you're SO inconspicuous. He seems pretty smiley about it, though, so I guess he was just underestimating their intelligence or something. He barks orders at his fellow wolves to take out the small-fry and they agree.

While the bird-monsters dive for them, Kouga lunges upward, telling Kagome it's time to go. With one arm around Kagome's waist, he rips right into a Gokurakuchou in midair. Kagome shields her face with lifted arms from the debris of the dead bird, mentally begging Inuyasha to arrive quickly, because this shit is scaring her.

Well if that isn't the creepiest fucking thing... Guess it answers my question about whether or not the human-esque tops of the birds are sentient, though.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Kouga is really living up to his role as contrast-character for Inuyasha. The arrogance is turned up to eleven here, a product of the fact that he has been a leader of his fellow wolves for a long time and therefore is in the habit of making decisions for everyone with very little pushback. Sure, his pack questions his intention to make a human girl "his woman", but all he has to do is provide a little justification for it with her ability to see Shikon shards, and they're suddenly on board. Everyone is now on board with him going to war with the world to get these jewel fragments. You can tell he doesn't have to be too persuasive in order for them to think his ideas are all good ones.

Which is how his exaggerated "wild man" persona is developed too. He never has to answer to anyone but himself, so the consideration of others not having his sensibilities just doesn't occur to him. While Inuyasha struggles with social niceties and often comes across as rude, Kouga is completely devoid of a sense for others. He doesn't consider that Kagome's dietary needs are different than what he's used to, and he CERTAINLY doesn't consider the possibility that she wouldn't be interested in getting together with him to the point of physical rejection. He not only looks shocked, but confused by her slap, and takes her admission to seeing someone else as the point of objection entirely. It simply doesn't occur to him that someone he's interested in wouldn't be interested back.

And since this is such a common attitude of men the world over, I'm glad to see this kind of thing portrayed from the female side of the equation here. So often we see this kind of declaration depicted as a good thing from a strong, confident guy, that we really needed the contrast that we see in this chapter. Kouga is rightfully framed as overstepping his bounds, and Kagome has to APOLOGIZE to him not because she was wrong to hit him, but because she feels she has to have reasons to object out of fear of violence otherwise. It's no coincidence that Kagome mentions here that she and Inuyasha have never even kissed - it drives home the fact that despite her lack of a SOLID romance with Inuyasha, she had to use it as an excuse for not being interested in this other dude. I think it makes a profound statement about how girls have been convinced that their own feelings aren't good enough to excuse them from relationships they don't want.

Feminist rant aside, though, I'm a little annoyed that Inuyasha's sense of smell was completely ignored in this chapter. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked that Shippou ended up being instrumental in his and Kagome's eventual rescue, because it's been a LONG-ASS time since he's done anything important at all. BUT, if Inuyasha was unable to detect Kouga's scent, a reason should have been given for that. Something like the wind from Kouga's speed scattered his scent and made it hard to narrow down or detect when he changed direction? It's pretty flimsy, admittedly, but it's better than just ignoring Inuyasha's nose altogether.

Fuck, the previous arc REVOLVED around him using his sense of smell to figure out a new technique. You can't just pretend it doesn't exist a few chapters later, RT.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 192 The Unwanted Duel!!

Have ANY of Yami's duels in this tournament been ever truly wanted? None of the games he's played so far were just regular old, run-of-the-mill friendly romps. He started out by dueling the guy who stole Jonouchi's Red Eyes out of self-righteous vengeance. Then he dueled Pandora because he was lured and trapped in a creepy wanna-be magician basement. THEN he dueled Marik's vacant-eyed "doll" in the most desperate struggle he has faced thus far, AND THEN he dueled the discount phantoms of the opera when the only thing he REALLY wanted was to find his buddy.

I'm not saying that this situation isn't the worst and most coercive of all, because it totally is, but calling this THE unwanted duel is a bit like calling the fish at Applebee's THE thing to avoid on the menu. Ideally, you'd avoid the whole menu. And the building.

Nah, it's not a spell, just good ol' homophobia. Looks like Marik infected Jonouchi with a case of MichaelBayitis, or the notion that nothing is straighter than a guy trying to kill another guy. No homo!

Jonouchi wears a sick grin while he tells Yami that he can't run away; he has to fight and then die. In that order. Yami begs JONOUCHI to fight, though I doubt he means himself. Maybe the translators should have stuck an "it" on the end of that sentence. Might have prevented a doubletake or two.

Anyway, Mokuba stands in shock next to his placid brother, and asks Seto what's going on, because Jonouchi's acting super weird, yo. Kaiba of course answers this question like he's lecturing Yami again, insisting that a duelist must be ready to crush ALL challengers regardless of friendship status, and refusing to accept this truth of the nature of battle will stagnate all progress. This coming from the dude who took several chapters to figure out teamwork. By Kaiba's analysis, the only way for Yami to win is for him to let go of sentimentality, friendship and notions of unity and just fucking FIGHT. Kaiba is impatient to see what Yami will do.

Yami tries to reason with Jonouchi - he says he wants them to duel in Battle City from the bottom of his heart, but he wants them to face each other as true duelists, with their prides on the line rather than their lives. Never mind the fact that Jonouchi isn't even doing this on his own fucking terms at this point. He's frowning now, but doesn't say anything, prompting Yami to yell at him, asking him to remember the promise he made. Indeed, Jonouchi had vowed to become a true duelist in the tournament, and wanted Yami to duel him when that time came. Yami tells the brainwashed Jonouchi that those words touched him, and speculates that the whole reason he got this far in the tournament is so that he could keep that promise with Jonouchi. Awww, how sweet and totally, completely untrue!

Jonouchi continues to stare wordlessly at Yami while he tries to make him wake up to the fact that it's Marik's manipulation that has set up this battle, and it's not the one they were supposed to have through their own wills. Still silent, Jonouchi turns around sharply.

"Jonouchi! It's like you're not even listening at all!"

Yami's heart hammers and he sweats, growling over his lack of power. As Jonouchi puts distance between them, Yami is startled by a familiar voice telling him it's useless. He can't talk himself out of this one because Jonouchi is his puppet now, emotions controlled by the voice's hatred. Yami looks around demanding to know where Marik is. He's not actually around, but he's got a mouthpiece in the form of Anzu, whom he brings forward just as dead-eyed as Jonouchi. Yami is despaired to know that Anzu is being controlled by Marik too, and that's not even the half of it.

Marik has Anzu hold up a capsule pill for Yami to see, while he tells Yami that it's full of deadly poison. He teases that he could make her swallow it and die in seconds with a single thought, asking if Yami wants to see. Anzu opens her mouth just enough to hold the pill between her teeth, and Yami lunges a hand forward, yelling at her to stop. Marik makes like he's going to make Anzu swallow the capsule for a moment longer until he lets out a laugh and asks if Yami was scared, as if the whole thing is a joke. Then he does yet another about-face when he tells Yami to stop moaning and duel Jonouchi, or Anzu really WILL be made to swallow the pill.

Yami growls at this scum holding his friends' wills hostage, but Anzu is already walking away, and telling him that Jonouchi is waiting at their arena of death. Geez, ANOTHER arena of death? Anyone else getting a little tired of these? Looks like Yami is more terrified than annoyed, though, which... y'know, fair.

Looks like we're in for another overly-complicated death machine.

Anzu holds up a pair of handcuffs and lets both players (mostly Yami, since Jonouchi's brain isn't really up to the task of processing rules on a NON-brainwashed day) know that they'll be wearing them during the duel. How stylish. Then, I guess they just suddenly snap on Yami and Jonouchi's wrists? It doesn't show Anzu putting them on, and Yami just looks at the cuff like it randomly appeared there, all shocked and horrified. Jonouchi just grins like a nutcase, though.

Yami seems rather alarmed to note that the handcuffs are attached to chains strung up to the top of an anchor hanging above. The magic that attached them apparently left no time for him to observe the apparatus around them. Only he's totally observing the apparatus around them in the page above. Okay.

Jonouchi confirms what Yami sees, and says that the anchor weighs 300 kilograms, and even helpfully converts that into more than 600 pounds for us backwards Americans still not on board with the metric system yet. Thanks, guy! Jonouchi goes on to explain that the bomb (because of course there's a bomb) is programmed to their life points, meaning that when either of their life points reach zero, the anchor will fall in a mere 15 seconds. Why 15 seconds? Because the plot undoubtedly requires some deliberation on the part of our heroes at that point, but not too much.

And get this: between Yami's feet is a box displaying a counter for Jonouchi's life points, and vice-versa for Jonouchi, because a key to each player's cuff is inside and will be revealed when the opposite player's points reach zero. I seem to be seeing double here - didn't Pandora pull this crap, or have I just had a few too many? Anyway, Jonouchi says that once a box opens, the player has 15 seconds to unlock their cuff before the anchor sinks to the bottom of the bay. Yami grits his teeth at the hanging anchor, knowing the implication that the loser will be dragged into the sea. Jonouchi chuckles, joking that one of them is going down. Literally.

Yami refuses to give his consent for such a dangerous match, yelling that he doesn't want to kill Jonouchi. Marik don't give a fuck, though, telling Yami through Anzu (still gripping the dangerous pill between her teeth, so I guess Marik's voice is just emanating from her throat or something...?) that there is no escape from this. The explosives have already been activated, ready to explode in 40 minutes regardless of whether a winner emerges, and that will mean the both of them will drown. Yami just grits his teeth and sweats, otherwise helpless. Marik taunts him with the one option afforded him to save his friend; Yami has to throw the match and die. Yami's hackles are up and he vows never to forgive Marik for this. Well, you won't have long to hold the grudge if this plays out in Marik's favor...

Good question, Mokuba. Better question: did you turn your brain off during the past few pages where Jonouchi was making death threats? Sure, sure maybe you thought it was a euphemism, but at the part where Anzu's creepy, ethereal possessed voice instructed these guys to put on handcuffs you should have been a bit more wary.

But, instead of actually doing anything, like Mokuba suggests, Kaiba continues to stare at the scene in utter horror. He's in disbelief that Marik's control is strong enough to incite such a sick duel, and claims that even at his WORST, he could never have done such a thing.

Kaiba, are you joking? Are you kidding me right now?

But, since Kaiba has decided to grow a conscience at the last possible second, he decides that someone having to DIE for him to get an answer to his little wager with Yami earlier is too high of a price to pay. He declares that he's going to rescue them. Fuckin' seriously. Just says it out loud like he's just announced to the world that he's going to be a superhero.

And it bites him in the ass, too, because not one second after he lunges forward to do his charitable part in making sure his acquaintances don't die horribly, he freezes at the sound of a voice behind him telling him to hold it. That voice belongs to a nameless Rare Hunter who has pressed a knife to Mokuba's throat and Mokuba calls out to him in distress. Kaiba whirls around and shout's Mokuba's name too, but the guy who has Mokuba in a headlock with the blade pointed in his face warns Kaiba not to make a move, unless he wants to... goodness... "feed the fishes" too. Someone kill me. Kaiba is frozen, growling in impotence, and the chuckling Rare Hunter easily restrains the weakly kicking Mokuba.

Meanwhile, possessed!Jonouchi casually tells Yami that while he doesn't give a whit if his opponent drowns, he doesn't really want to go diving for Slifer either. Possessed!Jonouchi requests that Yami take the card out of his deck, so Yami takes his utility card belt off, assuring him that it's inside one of the pouches. He snaps it open to bring out another card that he considers even more important right now.

Yami gazes at the face of the card for a moment, then sets it on top of his deck as a necessary part of fighting Jonouchi at this juncture. He vows to rescue Jonouchi's heart and soul, using his duelist pride and his most precious card. Sounds like a plan. Not a very good one, but a plan. Best you can do, since Kaiba had his head up his ass for too long to be of any assistance....

Showing the face of Slifer is enough for Yami to avoid being accused of funny business, but possessed!Jonouchi DOES command him to drop the belt on the deck between them, as the victor will take the spoils. Yami complies, tossing the belt out of his reach. Seeing this through Jonouchi's eyes has Marik pleased that the setup is going so well, and demands that Jonouchi kill Yami some more. You know, just in case he didn't quite get the message the first few hundred times Marik repeated it.

The next two panels show the life points of first a sweating Yami, worrying about Jonouchi, and a smiling Jonouchi who instructs Yami to shuffle his own deck.

Well the first step would have been to keep that all-important Red Eyes card at the top of your deck for easy access. Yeah, it's cheating, but I think you could be forgiven, considering Marik isn't exactly playing fair, and hey, you're in a life-or-death situation here.

But Yami's gotten too NOBLE to fuck around with that shit now, hasn't he?

Possessed!Jonouchi asks what's taking this guy so long, telling him to hurry up and summon something already. Yami wordlessly draws a card from his hand, staring a possessed!Jonouchi the entire time. He plays Baphomet in defense, then ends his turn without the usual flourish. Possessed!Jonouchi doesn't appear to care that Yami is in no mood for theatrics, though, and draws a card after announcing his turn, grinning the whole way. He chuckles and asks if Yami is ready for this, but doesn't really give Yami a chance to answer.

He plays Raigeki, a spell card that destroys all monsters on the opposing side of the player, and possessed!Jonouchi declares Baphomet is hit by a lightning vortex, and virtual lighting fries it obediently. Yami raises an arm to shield his eyes from the flash of light, probably because they were so wide a moment ago when he heard the name of the card. Kaiba recognizes the name too, I guess trying to make up for how little attention he was paying before it started, and glares over his shoulder as much as he dares to turn his head to regard the lighting out of his periphery. He banned that card in this tournament, as well as other cards that dealt direct damage to players and monsters.

You planned the tournament around catching and beating the Rare Hunters/Ghouls and you're SURPRISED when they cheat?? This kid is hopeless.

Possessed!Jonouchi follows up he illegal move by summoning Alligator Sword.

That looks like it stings in more ways than one.

Especially when Yami doubles over, his eyes wide and teeth grinding. Possessed!Jonouchi laughs, asking if Yami isn't so tough after all. However, in the next panel, Marik admits freely to himself that Yami couldn't be beaten by a deck full of ordinary cards. This is why he rebuilt Jonouchi's deck from the ground up, filling it with a slew of illegal cards printed by his own organization. He wonders at Yami what it must feel like to be killed by one's own best friend, chuckling all the time.

Yami takes his turn rather quickly this time, summoning Big Shield Guardna in defense and half crouching behind it. Possessed!Jonouchi draws a card, casually implying that Yami's big shielded wall monster isn't big enough protection. He reveals Hintotama, the fire ball Guardna can't protect against. Yami gapes at the new illegal card, just before it hits him like a bomb.

Well, you'd better do something quick, because you're already down to less than half the points allotted to do so.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was very reluctant for half the chapter to refer to Jonouchi as "possessed", and still am, if I'm being honest. Unlike with Anzu, Jonouchi doesn't seem to be a mere megaphone for Marik; he appears to be using his own voice in all of his panels. I don't know if the feeling I get is accurate here, but this impresses upon me a notion that Jonouchi is retaining a measure of autonomy over his body and actions, but it's his EMOTIONS that are being overridden by Marik. Marik's intense hatred is kind of eclipsing Jonouchi's friendship with Yami, and that's the driving force behind Jonouchi's behavior here.

But, that's far too long a tag to stick onto Jonouchi's name, and calling him "possessed" is just a bit easier.

In any case, I'm pretty impressed with the conflict here, because KT seems to have caught on to the fact that Yami's duels alone aren't good for sustaining tension on their own, because we know he's going to win SOMEHOW. I like that the tricky part here is that he's going to have to try to NOT win and NOT die at the same time. He has to find a way to drag out the duel until he can draw the Red Eyes, use it as some sort of emotional trigger for Jonouchi so that his feelings of friendship can come to the forefront again, and then get them both out of this nutzo situation without either of them kicking the bucket. This is the kind of balancing act that really turns pages, because success isn't predicated on winning here, which would have been a given. KT even threw in a few extra obstacles here with the banned cards, so he's not pulling any punches. This is the truest test Yami has faced as a character thus far, and it's really keeping me on the edge of my seat.

The only real issue I had with this one all comes from Kaiba. I understand we had to know that his hands were tied here, but his realization that this was an honest attempt on these kids' lives was way too late, and his commentary after the fact was a little irritating in that the things he was hearing shouldn't have come as much of a shock. Gee, the guy whose organization prints copies of cards and beats up kids for their rare cards and is also about to MURDER a couple of people has no regard for the rules of your tournament Kaiba? You don't saaaaaaay...

Inuyasha Manga: 133 Capture

There seems to be a bit of a gap between Kouga's stated intentions and this chapter title. He said he wants to MAKE Kagome work for him, but his plan doesn't account for much more than an initial abduction. Somehow, I think he's failed to consider the possibility that Kagome might be a little cross and uncooperative after her abduction. No, following a long and proud tradition of men failing to understand that women's compliance is not dependent on whatever the nearest man wants her to do, he's going to rush headlong into a kidnapping plot with the impression she'll magically do what he asks if he makes it clear that he owns her now.

The poor, dumb fool.

*Internal screaming at the nickname "Dog Turd" intensifies*

Sensing that Inuyasha is still brooding over Kouga's insults, Kagome lays the praise on THICK, telling him she thinks he's strong and cool and all that jazz. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Inuyasha asks her what the fuck she's going on about. Shippou, who's also hitched a ride on Inuyasha, answers that Kagome is just being nice and trying to counteract the obvious hurt he suffered from Kouga's insults. Shippou's plain explanation makes the situation all the worse, given Inuyasha's wide-eyed and pinched expression, like he's been punched right in the stomach.

In the next panel, Shippou sports a bump from an ACTUAL punch to the skull and tears to match, while Inuyasha glares forward past the popping vein in his temple, and Kagome closes her eyes, sighing. Behind them, Sango follows their lead on the transformed Kirara, Miroku riding behind her. He comments on the bizarre atmosphere of the place, and Sango asks him what he means. He casts a suspicious look over his shoulder, saying that the aura drifting around doesn't seem like that of the wolves they just encountered. Sango seems wary of what this implies - that there are other youkai in the area to look out for.

Up ahead, Inuyasha sees a couple-three wolves paused and looking back at him at the bend in the mountain pass. They begin to skitter away around that bend, and Inuyasha, apparently not seeing anything fishy here, identifies them and pursues them like an unthinking wolf-seeking missile. He warns them that they aren't getting away, as they sprint along the path under a sheer cliff to their right, topped with more wolves that Inuyasha clearly hasn't seen either.

Hey! This looks familiar! Miroku seems rather dumbfounded that his own tactic is being copied here (or maybe his memory just isn't all that good), while Sango's surprise at the ambush is in blissful unawareness of her co-rider's previous actions.

Calling the wolves sneaky bastards, Inuyasha instructs Kagome to hang on tight. She haltingly agrees, and Inuyasha rips apart the avalanche of wolves with a swipe of his claws. But more of them are streaming down the steep mountainside, at Miroku and Sango too, who exclaims that this is a BIG pack. Kouga must have these guys breeding 24-7 with these numbers, if he's not vomiting them up like that OTHER wolf guy. Inuyasha is quickly getting frustrated with the horde, and the fact that at this point, Kagome's going to be in serious danger.

Kagome screams as another wolf comes bearing down on them and Inuyasha manages to slash it, but another three are pouncing directly after it's dead. The only reaction quick enough is holding an arm up in defense, and one wolf clamps its jaws around it. Kagome watches in horror as wolves bite down on every part of Inuyasha they can reach, pushing them straight off the naked edge of the pass. Inuyasha is shocked that these wolves seem to intend to go down straight with them, but soon his attention is drawn elsewhere - to his periphery, where a figure is running straight up the side of the mountain at the desperately clinging Kagome.

And history repeats itself all over again.

Inuyasha shouts Kagome's name, and Kagome shouts his back, stuttering in shock. Sango calls out to Kagome as well, readying her Hiraikotsu as she steers Kirara in the direction of the kidnapping. Miroku has been left behind on the edge of the pass to ponder how snatching Kagome was Kouga's plan all along. Has he genuinely forgotten his OWN plans to separate Kagome and Inuyasha at the beginning of their association with him? Because he looks just as shocked as everyone else right now, and I have no idea why he thinks he has the right. Is this just some intense cognitive dissonance on his part, or what?

Anyway, Kouga is already speeding off with Kagome still slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She screams, asking him what his deal is in hysterics. He turns an annoyed look on her and tells her not to scream in his ear anymore and to stop panicking. Bitch, Kagome does what she wants, and if she wants, she's going to fucking panic! In defiance, she declares she IS panicking, and proceeds to keep screaming in his ear, no longer in fear.

Sango urges Kirara to hurry along, but even if Kirara is fast enough to catch up with the Shikon-enhanced Kouga, there's a little problem. Remember how Miroku was talking about there being another youkai aura in the area? Well it belongs to birds. Big birds with grinning sharp-toothed grins in front, and on top, a naked human torso.

Soooo, are the human tops functional as far as heads and mouths go as well, or are they just decoys, like those of an angler fish?

These are my burning questions.

Kagome notices these big-ass birds too out of her periphery, and Kouga also casts a wary glance over his unoccupied shoulder while he holds Kagome's wrist in order to keep her in place on the other. Kagome asks what they are, gaping in horror, but Kouga doesn't really answer. He just mutters about them coming after him. Kouga then turns to Kagome, praising himself for the timing of her capture before he tells her to take a good look at them. She makes a questioning noise, and Kouga asks if any of the birds have Shikon fragments.

After a pause where she stares at the creatures, she says they have no shards. Confirming that Kagome is sure, Kouga speeds up even more, cockily stating he has no use for them. Kagome squeezes her eyes shut against the wind; all she can do is hold on, though Kouga's grip on her shoulder should prevent her from squirming free anyway. Kouga and his bounty rapidly shrink into the distance, the pursuing birds left in their dust. He shouts at them to suck it, because they'll never be able to keep up with his bio-hacked legs.

At a rocky waterfall, two sentries dressed similarly to Kouga himself and crouching on high rocks greet Kouga jovially. Kouga doesn't return the pleasantries, leaping straight through the waterfall, with Kagome complaining the shower was a super cold one. On the other side of the curtain of water, Kagome's eyes widen at the cave beyond.

Sweet pad.

A man with some pretty heavy liner under his eyes approaches, excited about the tasty-looking girl Kouga's brought home. This isn't a euphemism, though, because another guy, jagged teeth protruding from his mouth like he stepped straight out of a creepy pasta begs to be able to eat her too. Kouga announces that Kagome isn't food, and anyone who takes a bite is going to die. Kagome herself is relieved that her life doesn't seem to be in danger at the moment.

Kouga instead offers his followers a little monster that managed to cling to the underside of the tail-like back of his skirt, a monster we know as Shippou. Shippou cries Kagome's name, struggling, while Kagome demands that Kouga stop giving her friends away as snacks. She makes a grab for Shippou, but Kouga holds him out of reach. So, Kagome implies she's going to withhold her help if Shippou isn't released, and Kouga smirks, saying this will make things easy.

He explains that the birds they observed before were the Gokurakuchou, and they are natural enemies of the wolf-youkai. So, there are whole youkai ecosystems here? Fascinating. Kouga says the Gokurakuchou's boss has Shikon shards, and they've killed a ton of his friends. Kagome absorbs this information sitting in a straw bed at the back of the cave, holding Shippou as Kouga sits across from her, arms and legs crossed in seriousness. He tells her their plan is to attack the nest and steal the Shikon fragments, Kagome playing the crucial role of locating them.

Solid plan, Kagome. Let's just hope he finds you with his super-smeller before you get chomped by one of those nightmare birds.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Just a TAD bit peeved at the almost direct copy of this kidnapping from Miroku's pilfering of the Shikon shard in his first appearance. Right down to the mountain pass setting. Sure, there's only so many ways one can pull off a kidnapping, especially when your mastermind isn't exactly a creative genius (if his "dug turd" insults are any indication), but that's exactly why this plan shouldn't have mirrored a previous one engineered by one of the SMARTER characters in the series. It's a bit worrisome that RT is recycling material from chapters that are easily recalled, especially this early in a 500+ chapter series.

Because it's not a problem with creativity. I'm just as blown away by RT's monster design as always; these Gokurakuchou are insanely grotesque, and they send a chill up my spine every time I see them. Hell, even some of the wolf youkai are pretty scary-looking, at least that one with the creepy teeth. I just wish some of the plot points could be just as creative as the design, because when you start ripping YOURSELF off, you know there's some issues under there.

Although I am always impressed with how Kagome handles herself in hostage situations. She knows how to make herself useful enough to buy time, and even some time out of captivity to make her chances of getting rescued higher. No, it's not ideal for her to be kidnapped so much in the first place, and the perpetual damsel-in-distress role is a bit tiresome. If it HAS to happen, though, I'd rather the damsel be as far from passive as possible, and have a strategy going like Kagome often does.

At least she's not sitting patiently in a corner waiting for everyone ELSE to do all the work.