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.