Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 199 The Treasure

Is that a SUNKEN treasure? I mean, whether tangible or intangible, there is going to be some treasure dragged into sea today, since three seconds is barely enough time to unlock one handcuff, let alone two. And as morbid as all this could be (if I wasn't certain both boys would come out of this alive in the end) I can't help but giggle at the pirate voice drifting through my head right now. "Aye, thar be booty at the bottom of the bay! Beware ye the anchored boys and the pyramid puzzle! Arrr!"

That voice sticks with me as the first page of this chapter recaps the end of the previous one, Red Eyes shooting a Black Fire Bullet at Jonouchi at his desperate request, and Yuugi's key box popping open at the prompt of Jonouchi's life points falling to zero. Jonouchi thanks Red Eyes, and expresses some relief that he's FINALLY out from under Marik's spell.

You BETTER not. How are we supposed to make it to chapter 200 without the little bugger? This ain't no GRRM bullshit.

Noting that the anchor's timer above has ticked down to two seconds, Jonouchi takes the Millennium Puzzle off his neck as he insists on getting that key to Yuugi's cuff in time. He claims not to have time to grab his own key, despite it being right in front of him. Jonouchi unlatches his Duel Disk from his arm and throws it along with the puzzle on the dock next to him, thinking he may as well take them off before he goes swimming.

Then he grabs hold of his own cuff's chain and pushes off from the dock over the gap in between him and Yuugi hoping he makes it in time. Jonouchi yells as he Tarzans right across the water toward Yuugi.

And the rigging above blows apart in an explosion, dropping the anchor and probably slinging a whole bunch of sharp metal debris everywhere - EXCEPT into either of out heroic boys, conveniently. The most Jonouchi gets from the explosion itself is a loss of momentum in his swing before the heavy anchor splashes into the water and yanks both his and Yuugi's wrists along with it. Both of them follow its lead, Jonouchi with another yell.

Amidst a crowd of bubbles, the boys descend into a dark sea. Yuugi, eyes screwed shut, releases his breath from a silently screaming mouth. Jonouchi, has found his way to Yuugi's side, however, and grips the chain still pulling on Yuugi's wrist. He reveals the key he managed to snatch from the box before they both went down. A moment later, Jonouchi has inserted the key into the cuff and turned it, and it drifts open so Yuugi's wrist is now free. Yuugi opens his eyes a crack, struggling to articulate Jonouchi's name even in his head. In all fairness, it's probably dying for some oxygen right now, even this early in drowning.

Jonouchi apologizes for all this nonsense in his head, a lot more cogent than his friend. He smiles, silently calling Yuugi a real friend as he watches Yuugi's form recede up to the surface. Jonouchi tries the key he's held onto in his own cuff, but it doesn't fit. He curses, though on some level he had a suspicion that this key wouldn't work for his cuff.

It BETTER not be. How are we supposed to get to chapter 200 without you, you little bugger? This ain't no GRRM bullshit!

Elsewhere, a convertible races down Domino streets, around a corner, and someone in there shouts that they're at the pier, that Jonouchi must be around there somewhere. The car leans dangerously as it passes all the anchored ships, though it can't be that easy to tip that thing, with it being so low to the ground already.

Honda leans all the way over onto Ryuji, asking Mai if she could slow the fuck down, but Ryuji seems not to care one bit. His thoughts are only of how hot Mai is for... endangering their lives? I don't know. Mai orders Shizuka to keep her seat belt on, even though hands are nowhere near the buckle, but Shizuka agrees not to anyway. Best not to argue with the crazy lady behind the wheel who thinks this is a Disney cartoon. Unless she doesn't, because her advice to the boys in the back is to just hold on tight in dealing with the speed. Does she not have seat belts in the back? What the fuck?

Again, though, arguing with the crazy lady at the wheel seems like a bad move right now, so both Ryuji and Honda agree with little more than a flush and narrowed eyes. Internally, Mai addresses Jonouchi and the dream he's been chasing since Duelist Kingdom, promising with a glance as Shizuka that the dream is going to come true. She continues to talk to the Jonouchi in her head about how it's time to gather up all the courage he's collected in all his duels and give it to his sister, whom Mai gives another sidelong glance. Good thing she's got that bandage around her eyes right now, or she might be asking for an explanation. Instead, she's just sitting letting the wind blow through her hair and thinking of seeing her brother again soon.

Hey, I have a question: why is Mai speeding like she knows that Jonouchi is currently drowning at a dock? Why is she speeding at all?

BECAUSE THE PLOT DEMANDS IT, THAT'S WHY!

Jonouchi's cheeks expand as the air tries to leave him, and his only thoughts are about how he can't breathe and he's going to die. Eyes bloodshot and cheeks distended, he thinks he's all out of air, releasing the bubbles as he can no longer keep his mouth clamped shut.

Meanwhile, Mokuba drags Yuugi out of the sea, demanding to know if he's okay. He kneels next to Yuugi, yelling at him to wake up, until Yuugi mumbles Jonouchi's name. Mokuba looks up at his brother and assures him that Yuugi is okay, just passed out. Seto says this is good, and he's smiling when he states the only thing left is "the other one".

So, guy who was agonizing just a couple of chapters ago about what you can personally do to make sure that neither one of the players in the duel dies, what are you going to personally do to make sure Jonouchi doesn't die?

... You piece of shit. Why do you ALWAYS tempt me to take back every single nice thing I have ever said about you? You can just go straight to hell!

Of course, by the miracle of plot, currents and other physical phenomena that might have washed that key off kilter don't apply all of a sudden. Just as Jonouchi is issuing the last of his air, with the horrible knowledge that he's dead, he grins as the key drifts right in front of his eyes. Kaiba's aim is clearly unparalleled. That garbage-baby.

Anyway, Mokuba is still screaming at Yuugi to wake up, and at long last, he opens his eyes. His first sight is Mokuba leaning over him and Kaiba standing stoically in the background with his arms crossed. Yuugi groans groggily, and Mokuba declares he's awake, no thanks to his constant screeches. But Yuugi's time in between coherent thought is short-lived, because he soon sits up in a panic, asking where Jonouchi is. Mokuba looks over his shoulder at this water and thrusts his thumb at it, telling Yuugi not to worry, since Jonouchi will now be just fine thanks to his brother.

Grrrrrr....

As though Mokuba had read the script, it is at that moment that Jonouchi pops out of the water, gasping. Yuugi cheers Jonouchi's sustained life with a fat tear at the corner of his eye as Jonouchi slaps his arms onto the side of the dock, dragging himself up out of the water and complaining that he thought he was going to die. Kaiba scoffs at the sopping wet and exhausted Jonouchi, snobbishly stating that the only reason he saved him was because in his haste to remove his Duel Disk, he forgot to take his own key. Apparently this amounts to Kaiba having some sort of admiration for Jonouchi's boundless stupidity.

Jonouchi is rather upset to learn that KAIBA, this jerk of jerks, was the one who saved him, and shaking his fist, chooses to deny this fact entirely. Kaiba doesn't correct him, just turns, crosses his arms, and smiles about how Jonouchi has finally become a decent duelist. Jonouchi snaps begrudgingly that he owes Kaiba one, before walking over to where he dropped the Millennium Puzzle and picks it up by its chain.

Woah, woah, that familiar silhouette in the background is looking kind of ominous...

But we're not going to address that yet, because it's time for the feely-feels! Yuugi tells Jonouchi not to blame himself, but the hunched and shamed Jonouchi struggles to express just how fucked up what he did to Yuugi was, words ultimately failing him. Yuugi assures him that what he DID was protect what was important to them. Jonouchi stares at him disbelievingly, but doesn't argue anymore, looking down at the Millennium Puzzle dangling from his fist. He walks over to Yuugi and hangs it around a stunned Yuugi's neck, presenting it as Yuugi's treasure.

Yuugi smiles, affirms this, and the two of them chuckle weirdly, because awkward expression of emotion is awkward.

Anzu suddenly spits out her poison pill and looks up in confusion, wondering what she was doing just now. I was wondering where you WENT there for a while, girl. Yuugi cheers that she's alright too, approaching her with Jonouchi, unwisely. I say unwisely, because while she appears to be back to normal, saying Yuugi and Jonouchi's names happily, Marik's image is still pictured behind her in the next panel, grinning.

Great, could you have found him without inflicting whiplash on all your poor passengers?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Boy, were there a lot of issues with the tertiary characters' actions in this one. A lot of sense was sacrificed for the sake of character consistency, which on a level is understandable. It would be very strange to see dear douchey Kaiba jumping into the ocean, regalia and all, to actively save a guy he has historically had very little regard for. Though he's decided here that Jonouchi has become a fairly good duelist, and expresses some admiration for his almost STUPID reverence for his Duel Disk,  Kaiba is still not one to sacrifice so much as DRYNESS for someone he would normally consider a nuisance at worst and opponent at best.

Although, the smile on Kaiba's face before he drops the key, lovingly imagining how Jonouchi must be running out of breath by now, kind of walks back his claim that he's not nearly as bad as our current villain even at his worst. Torture is torture, dude, and getting off to it is getting off to it.

Mai's speeding is less character consistency as just flat-out weirdness. I'm not sure what the point was to her going 100 mph, since KT didn't offer any kind of explanation. My best guess is that, knowing how long was your typical duel, she figured they only had that amount or less to find Jonouchi before he moved on to another area and they wouldn't have any clues in locating him anymore. I've got to set off my broken record again here, though, and state how little I like making up headcanons to fill in facts that should already be provided in the canon.

All that and the violation of everything from physics to human endurance, I did like the little exchange at the very end of the chapter between Yuugi and Jonouchi. Not only are they exhausted, waterlogged and traumatized, they've said most of everything they needed to before this point during the duel. Too many words now would just be beating a dead horse, and there's also the sense of having said TOO much already, like they've shown too many emotions and it's a little embarrassing knowing how much has been revealed in the event that they might not get to live another day. Like your stereotypical love confession at the last moment, but this one carries a non-romantic twist. It's cute.

And yes, I'm classifying this as non-romantic. I joke about them being gay for each other all the time, but in reality I really kind of hate how much romance is overused in stories, as well as fan interpretation. I'm always excited to see platonic relationships portrayed as valuable and important, because it shows that romance isn't the end-all be-all of interaction.

Not that I think you're wrong to ship them if you do. I'm not jumping into THAT pit of snakes.

Inuyasha Manga: 140 Beyond the Well

Let's see, what's Kagome's story again? Was pulled into a hole in the ground by a monster, which incidentally was a portal into another world filled to the brim with even more monsters, and she's spending nearly all her time fighting them for a shiny ball of power which could destroy the world if it got into the wrong hands. Sheesh, it's a wonder her grandfather HAS to make up all those exaggerated stories regarding her health. I could see how a tale like the former could be beyond the well, given how it resembles a fever dream.

Oh, oh we're talking about the PHYSICAL well. My bad. There is obviously NO ROOM to re-examine the series from the angle of deteriorated mental health suffering vivid hallucinations. None whatsoever.

Aw man! Is this petty bullshit from the last chapter still going on? So RT can gloss over the ending to an arc with no explanation as to how characters get from one place to another, but she has to go into excruciating detail for THIS?

And yes, I'm still on about that. I will always be on about that.

Houjou is asking Kagome to a movie, it turns out, and complaining there hasn't been a lot of free time for them to meet recently. But Kagome is confused because she THOUGHT he was dating that first-year student from what her friends showed her in the previous chapter. Said friends rush up to her now, Headband insisting that she go, while Short-Hair tells Houjou that she definitely said she wanted to go, despite a confused noise being the only thing she's had time to utter so far. Houjou asks for confirmation, but doesn't wait for it, only turning around to wave and specify that their movie date is this Saturday before he high-tails it to his own classroom. Or so I assume.

Rightfully irritated, Kagome asks her "friends" what the deal is with them making the decision for her, and Short-Hair answers that a normal guy like Houjou is perfect for her. I guess Kagome isn't fit for a little excitement in her romance, huh? Ouch. Headband lectures her on how women often make the mistake of dating the most jealous guy in town, and adding in the violence of her current partner will just muck her future right the fuck up. Kagome is recoiling in disbelief. They can't POSSIBLY be talking about the guy that you described as violent and jealous yesterday.

Kagome recalls Inuyasha yelling that he doesn't want to look at her again, and turns on her heel away from the well, refusing to go back now and risk yet another fight. Or being put in a position to apologize. You know, whichever.

Inuyasha is actually sitting next to the well too, on the other side, his chin propped on his arms crossed over the lip. HE recalls Souta telling him that Kagome was in a super bad mood, and makes a sour expression. Shippou is wearing a similar look when he pops up on another side of the well, telling him cut it out and go over to Kagome, whom he's sure will be forgiving. Surly, Inuyasha says that if he DOES go over, it would be an indication that the whole situation was his fault. Shippou states flatly that it IS Inuyasha's fault for doubting Kagome's feelings. Or rather, misinterpreting her cradling and protecting of an injured Kouga from further assault.

Recounting that Kagome did indeed protect Kouga and let him escape, even though he's Inuyasha's enemy and she had a terrible time being kidnapped, Shippou's expression becomes perturbed and he grows oddly quiet for a time. Inuyasha awaits an end to the thought, looking half-expectant, if not a little threatening. Shippou doesn't notice and meets Inuyasha's glare to question if Kagome did fall in love with Kouga after all, and Inuyasha yells not to ask HIM.

Back in Tokyo, Souta sits on Kagome's bed petting Buyo in his lap while Kagome sits at her desk. He asks what's keeping her here, and she in turn asks if there's something BAD about her being around. Then she twists to look over her shoulder and tell him that she's studying for her exams and can't always be over in Feudal Japan, looking annoyed. Regardless, Souta presses on, brave soul, asking when she'll be going. She says she'll go when Inuyasha comes to pick her up, and Souta makes the mistake of suggesting Inuyasha won't come back at all. Something snaps at Kagome's desk, whether it's her pencil lead or her concentration is unclear, and she turns toward Souta with a demon-like aura floating her hair around her shoulders. Souta is cheeky to the last, asking if he's being a nuisance, and Kagome hisses at him to LEAVE.

I can only assume he escaped with his life when we see a ticking clock in the next panel, and after that, a determined Kagome thinking this may be her only chance. She hunkers down with a pencil and workbook to get back on track with her studies, if only for just a bit. Her determination doesn't seem to last too terribly long, though, and when the moon is high in the evening we find her laying her cheek on that same workbook, passed out. She slowly opens her eyes, sits up sleepily and slaps both sides of her face. I'm guessing this doesn't wake her up, because she sits on her bed and winds an alarm clock, supposing that it would be better to pick her studying back up in the morning.

When she lays down, she sighs happily that real bedding is great, and claims not to sleep well on the other side of the well. Kagome immediately walks that back, blinking and fatigued, knowing that it helps to know that Inuyasha is watching over her. She closes her eyes again, wondering what he's up to right about now.

Apparently creeping on you. Literally.

Kagome is fast asleep, and Inuyasha seems a little incredulous by this fact. This was clearly an unintended creep about. He sits on his haunches next to Kagome's bed, looking irritated, but his expression suddenly gets the slightest hint of a blush in addition to surprise when Kagome says his name in her sleep. She turns over and he leans closer to her, examining her closed eyes when she says his name again. He concludes that she really is talking in her sleep. He wonders if she's having a dream about him, staring in some fascination...

... And then he goes down face-first into the carpet when she says sit. He pops back up, shaking his fist, thinking she's a bitch, and wondering just what kind of dream she's having. Probably the kind where one is just going about life as usual, you know. Kagome's ticking alarm clock starts beeping, startling an already on-edge Inuyasha even more into recoiling in an exaggerated flail.

Kagome, rubbing the sleep out of her eye with one hand, moves with the other hand to smack the snooze tab. When her hand just hits the table, she blearily peers at the place where it was, mumbling that it's gone.

In any other context, this shit would be a PARADE of red flags.

Back at school, a confused Houjou is confirming something about "urgent business". Kagome, head bowed slightly in apology, says that it's the reason she can't go to the movies on Saturday. She says sorry and Houjou hangs his head too, disappointed, though he claims to understand. Kagome stalls and waffles as she tries to encourage him to go to the movies with that freshman she saw him with the other day instead. When Houjou expresses all the more confusion, she asks him if it doesn't seem to him that the girl likes him an awful lot, and Houjou responds with a happy dismissal of this statement as silly. He asks if this was what she was "worried" about, so now it's her turn to be puzzled.

Houjou comes right out and says that he doesn't intend to go out with anyone else. Ooooh, boy, you're going to be VERY lonely, then. Kagome is too shocked to interject with the reality that she's just not that into him, so he's got room to continue to talk about how her perceived jealousy makes him a little happy. Trying to correct him doesn't do any good, because even when she starts to say that's not what she's saying, he waves goodbye and assures her that he's going to invite her out again in the future. Sweatdropping heavily, Kagome mentally describes him as "strong". Yeah, strongly stupid.

Still, Kagome can't help but think it would be nice if Inuyasha had so much confidence. Seriously? You want him to be a dunce in ANOTHER way? I guess the grass IS always greener on the other side. Speaking of both grass and the other side, Inuyasha sits on a patch meadow overlooking some farm plots, sighing. He perks up when Kagome approaches from behind, though, turning to nervously confirm it's her. She giggles and says she's back.

Kagome sits down next to him as he stares at her, wide-eyed and speechless.

... Well that was unexpected. Kagome freezes in shock, jaw slack. Inuyasha asks her what's with her expression, muttering a supposition that she really is angry about it. Kagome stutters that she's not angry at all anymore, but Inuyasha presents her with the evidence for how it's actually his fault, which is the remains of her crushed alarm clock. Double unexpected.

Kagome clarifies sheepishly that he's claiming fault for the alarm clock, and Inuyasha remains speechless and surly a moment before looking away and asking haughtily if there's anything ELSE he should be apologizing for. Sighing, she says that there's not really anything, in her mind dismissing the whole damn thing.

She's got one intention now that she's FINALLY back.

Well it's better than another screaming argument and a mouthful of dirt after being told to sit. Count your blessings, Inuyasha.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall. More of the same from last chapter. This is cute and all, and I'm not going to pretend that there isn't a place for this content in this manga, because it brings a little light-hearted comedy and fluff to the world. However, two chapters in a row of this kind of fluff strikes me as excessive, and even to a degree masturbatory. I didn't need to know every tiny little detail of how these two worked past each other's stubbornness in order to reach a place where they're back to the romantic status quo. Like I said in the previous post for this manga, this space could have been used to add details where we DID need more elaboration on how they managed to get out of various messes. This is pretty minor compared to nonsensical and abrupt endings for other arcs.

One of the things I can say I thought was interesting about this and the previous chapter, though, is how the reactions of Kagome's friends really put Inuyasha's actions into perspective for her in a positive way. Again, she has a lot of context that they don't, and their strong negative opinions on him forced Kagome to defend him both to them and herself. Otherwise, she may never have reached a point where she believes by the end of this chapter that he didn't have anything to apologize for. She finally recognizes that he's just an insecure boy who hasn't got a lot of options for expressing that.

It at least allows her to let this whole thing go. Just imagine how many MORE of these chapters we would have to endure if she didn't.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 198 Friends Till the End

"Till"? As in, the tray in which the money goes inside the cash register? That doesn't make a lick of sense, unless it references the end of a shift at a convenience store. Turns out our heroes are only friends for a limited five-hour shift at your local 7-11.

And here I was thinking I was out of the woods concerning translations with poor spelling and grammar. To whom do I owe this twitching eye, I wonder?

The OFFICIAL translation? Why am I not surprised?

Kaiba looks up at the timer on the hanging anchor, growling at the less than three minutes left like a guard dog at a hurricane. He knows the duel has to end soon, but wonders how the players are going to swing it so the loser doesn't have to die. He also wonders what HE can do personally, though I think it's a bit late for that when he spent almost 40 minutes with his thumb up his ass until he pulled the most contrived solution to a hostage situation in history.

And time moves on anyway, with Yuugi and Jonouchi still facing off. Yuugi is also looking up and notices he has less than three minutes left, knowing that if he doesn't do something soon, both he and Jonouchi will be pulled into the ocean, but he's looking pretty tired and sweaty right now. On the other side of dock, the spectral influence of Marik behind Jonouchi grins and encourages him to use the card he's staring at to kill Yuugi. If you'll recall, it's yet another Meteor of Destruction. Marik tries to convince Jonouchi this is exactly what he wants; to step out from Yuugi's shadow and defeat him. Marik then assures Jonouchi that this duel will soon be branded into his memory forever, which seems to undermine his efforts to get him on board with the implicit nastiness of the memory of murdering one's best friend. Who am I to judge, though? I'm only a person who has seem Marik REPEATEDLY fuck up his evil plans in one arrogant way or another.

I'm not the one he's trying to brainwash again, after all. THAT guy is just standing and sweating, looking a bit squinty at the consideration of his own memories. They include Shizuka, Yuugi, Honda and Anzu, all smiling and happy. He has to hold his head in his hand once more and groans as he remembers being a duelist, along with such memorable characters as Yami, Mai, Kaiba and Ryota. Yeah, mentioning memories REALLY seems to be working out for Marik when Jonouchi falls to his knees, clutching his head, while Marik tauntingly chants that he should kill Yuugi and claims that the murder of his best friend will finally make him his own man.

Well, since the chances of a police force that has been seen in this manga exactly ONCE manages to hold Jonouchi responsible are astronomical, I'd say that is a depressingly accurate statement from Marik. Unlike everything ELSE that comes out of his mouth.

But the extreme likelihood of getting away with it isn't what Jonouchi is thinking about.

Yuugi calls Jonouchi's name in concern, watching him claw at his head in pain and not knowing what's going on. And what of the guy who DOES? He looks taken aback, huffing in offense that Jonouchi isn't being cooperative in his own friend's death. Marik spits that this is fine, and Jonouchi can just let the clock run out and die happily with Yuugi. There's only two minutes left on the clock anyway.

Though he doesn't know exactly what's happening in Jonouchi's head, Yuugi says his name in solidarity, able to tell that Jonouchi is fighting Marik's influence every moment. It's obvious Jonouchi is trying to find himself, but Yuugi recognizes that there's no time to let him come around on his own, and with a sad hanging head, he also understands that he can't let Jonouchi die. His eyes snap open again and he calls out to Marik this time.

Marik's eyes widen and he looks mildly like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Yuugi confirms that he's speaking to the park of Marik manipulating his friend right now, glaring like he can see the spectral influence that has been pictured so nicely for the audience thus far. Marik's eyes narrow, to the point that his pupil and iris are half-hidden by the lid; it looks like he's in the process of rolling his eyes back into his head or something. Yuugi dramatically points and says he's figured out the real loser of this duel, and it's Marik.

Kind of kills the serious mood when the hero pulls the old elementary school "I know you are but what am I?" rebuttal on the villain. And yet, Marik seems to be reacting in much the way a person shouting that kind of rebuttal would hope, with anger and offense. Yuugi lectures Marik on how he had tried to implant his hatred into Jonouchi but Jonouchi fought back the entire way, eventually winning. A close up on Jonouchi's still sweating and wide-eyed face suggests that's not true QUITE yet, but Yuugi admits jumping the gun by vowing to turn Jonouchi back to normal in the mere minute left to him. Then, once he's turned his desperate wishes into reality, even if he and Jonouchi are both drowned by this apparatus, he promises that this loss (of control) will remain burned in Marik's memory forever.

Marik, highly annoyed, starts to describe just what Yuugi is, though we never get to know what that is. We're too busy switching over to a speechless Kaiba, wondering just what Yuugi is up to. Poor ragged Jonouchi mumbles out a laborious "no" as Yuugi tells Marik to bring it the fuck on, give it his best shot in the short time there is left, and try to get his revenge. Yuugi screams at Marik to attack him, and Marik is all for it at this point, failing to consider this a possible trap of some sort. He plans to wipe Yuugi off the face of the planet with Meteor of destruction, though it looks preeeeeeetty difficult to get Jonouchi's arm holding the card to his Duel Disk. Jonouchi resisting for nearly every reason available, from Yuugi himself to the fact that this card is banned. Awww, he's such a goody-two-shoes now. Marik tells him to shut his trap, because his and the the other vessel's usefulness has run dry.

U mad, bro?

Against every once of his will, Jonouchi plays the card, and a swirl of holographic clouds opens up over the field. Yuugi stares into it with a combination of shock and determination (what I like to call his Ultra Poop Face), Kaiba impotently stutters about the card, Jonouchi trails Yuugi's name in what I assume is regret, and Marik stands out like a sore thumb with his chuckle and grin as he assures Yuugi that it's all over now. Good thing no one can actually see him. That would be awkward.

Yuugi assures Jonouchi that he won't die, more sure than ever before that the real Jonouchi has finally broken through. He then reveals a face down card, Mystical Rift Panel, which produces a naked elf lady holding a big mirror up to the incoming meteor. Yuugi explains that this is a counter-move for when the opponent uses a spell card, to deflect the attack. I thought the mirror was pretty good at explaining that all by itself, but sure, bring on the useless dialogue. Marik's getting in on that action too, when he repeats that Mystical Rift Panel is going to send the Meteor right back at "him". Did he forget Jonouchi is the one who's ACTUALLY there? *shrug*

Jonouchi himself stares, taking in the elf-mirror lady angling her reflective tool under the meteor, a smiling Yuugi, and the 30 seconds left on the clock. Kaiba's also in slack-jawed captivity for the scene, elaborating that Yuugi now has complete control of Meteor's path, meaning he's able to choose if it goes back to Jonouchi, or toward himself. Why? Because Yuugi and his self-destructive self-esteem problems are the center of the universe right now and must be indulged, apparently.

As Marik starts to dissolve from Jonouchi's brain in a spectacular disappearing act (Pandora would cream his pants), he raves about the card allowing Yuugi to win and how much he hates him. Jonouchi is now free to be lucid, looking wide-eyed at Yuugi, at the puzzle around his neck, and back to Yuugi. All the while, his confusion is palpable, and he eventually spits out a question about why they're fighting after a series of false starts. Yuugi smiles at him while he presses on the arm band of his Duel Disk, slips it off his arm, and lays it down on the dock in front of him.

He says that their fight is actually over, only to revise this statement to assert that they weren't really fighting each other, if you think about it. In reality, this was about Jonouchi fighting the piece of Marik that had invaded his brain. Yuugi says that HIS part in the whole ordeal was to make sure that he and Jonouchi remained friends no matter what, though he had to fight himself. Jonouchi continues to stare, saying Yuugi's name warily, as Yuugi happily tells him that they both won. He explains that he just played Mystical Rift Panel in order to buy some time and say all the things he needed to at the end. Realization is dawning on Jonouchi about what that could mean, and he breaks into another sweat. Still a bit on stuttery side, Jonouchi can only manage to say "Don't" in protest. It's useless; Yuugi just plows ahead with his heartfelt musings about how Jonouchi taught him that he wasn't alone, and courage, and being a best friend. Gritting his teeth, Jonouchi can only stare at Yuugi as Yuugi says he loves him.

I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!

Jonouchi actually IS crying, Kaiba still standing with his teeth gritted in shock, if such a thing is possible. Life points at zero, Yuugi leans forward wordlessly and collapses, out of it and looking completely exhausted. The box at Jonouchi's feet pops open, revealing a key to his cuff, but he's not paying any attention. At the same time, the anchor above them beeps, the timer resetting to 15 seconds. Yuugi weakly begs Jonouchi to use the key to unlock his cuff and escape, since there's only a quarter minute left. 11 seconds to go, though, and Jonouchi is still staring at Yuugi, frozen. Yuugi reiterates his plea for him to hurry before the anchor falls into the ocean.

Jonouchi responds with a yell that he can't just run away and leave this moron to die. Yuugi lowers his head to the dock like he's going to pass out, muttering words encouraging Jonouchi to go. Sweating, crying, and grinding his teeth, Jonouchi thinks Yuugi's name, then growls and squeezes his eyes shut. He then throws his head back and screams, unable to figure out what to do. A timely epiphany comes to him and his eyes snap back open to find that Red Eyes Black Dragon is still lying, hissing and forgotten on the dock behind Yuugi. I thought monsters tended to disappear right after the end of a duel? Why is this dragon sticking around? Jonouchi shouts at it to attack him, to shoot a Black Fire Bullet and bring his life points to zero. Its eye also snaps open and it obeys, launching a fireball from its mouth.

I don't know, three seconds doesn't seem like a lot of time to save a life, bro.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Whooooooooo, what an ending to the game. We're not out of the woods yet, I realize, what with both players still being in mortal danger and all, but that the end of the game itself was very emotional. At first, when Kaiba mentioned that Yuugi had the option to let the attack go through to him as originally intended, I thought it would be a lousy step backward. Back to Yuugi's suicidal meanderings, when he was going to just sit back and die so his more important (to Yuugi's imagination) friend could leave alive.

But it didn't turn out to be that way at all. Yuugi was an active agent in the end, choosing this because it was the only option left to him when it proved impossible to get both of them out alive. His previous intentions to die were passive and weak self-affirmations that he was expendable, unwilling to save himself the agony even when he had the time. Now, he's chosen Jonouchi out of genuine care, not because it was his intention to die as the expendable one, but because there's simply no way the both of them can leave. As the one with the control, he has a responsibility to use that control to help his friend rather than for selfish means.

Also, Jonouchi has the Millennium Puzzle now, and that would have brought him down faster than the anchor.

Talk about cruel.

But emotional effectiveness aside, I do have a criticism that is a long-running problem with this manga. The mechanics of the cards are again tailored to the solution to the duel, and when taken out of their context the effects don't make sense. In what way would Mystical Rift Panel's built in choice for where the attack goes be an advantage outside of this SPECIFIC scenario? Why would the makers of the card have thought that there would ever be a time when the person blocking the attack would want to let it go through like it was supposed to? That would beg the question of why the card was used at all.

And Red Eyes being AROUND to take orders from Jonouchi, much less taking orders from him at all when Jonouchi wasn't the one who summoned it, is just contrived and cheap. I get it, I get it, Jonouchi is the true OWNER of the card, and that's why it followed his command, much like the Blue Eyes wouldn't follow Kaiba's when the card belonged to Sugoroku. This still doesn't account for how it should have been LONG GONE by that point anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that Yuugi's key has been revealed and he doesn't have to drown, but if KT could come up with ONE card where you can choose to direct an attack to yourself against the very POINT of the game, surely he could have come up with another one. Or, maybe make it so that ALL the cards can be told to attack their summoners, like a flaw in the game that they're exploiting in some weird way.

That, at least, might have been consistent.

Inuyasha Manga: 139 The Pair's Feelings

Anxiety. Anxiety everywhere. And I'm not just talking about the insecure teenagers here. I myself have been worrying a bit, mostly about Hurricane Florence and how it was going to affect my home. I should have known that people here were exaggerating in cleaning out grocery and hardware stores, considering how ridiculous they can get in ANY kind of mild weather, including sunshine. But, I bought into the hype a bit, and ended up readjusting the furniture in my apartment to avoid being near windows during what ended up being very mild effects in my area.

Yes, it was a miscalculation, but I take comfort that it wasn't as bad as THIS one:

Oh. Oh honey, NO. Whose idea was those boots? She looks like she's about to visit a quilting store disguised as a western bar. That's just AWFUL.

Luckily, Kagome must have gotten wise, because this terrible fashion mistake will never show up in the rest of the chapter, let alone the manga. She's back in the same old school uniform she's always been in as she approaches her school, sighing and looking melancholy. She thinks the sight of the school looks nostalgic now, for some reason. Her friends run up to her from behind, Short-Hair and Headband, calling to her. Looking over her shoulder at them, she wishes them a good morning, though she doesn't seem as excited to see them as they are her.

Headband takes this for being "carefree" I guess? Short-Hair is pretty agitated too, telling Kagome that something is really bad. Confused, Kagome listens to Headband begin her explanation by telling her just exactly where she was supposed to have been while off school: in the isolation ward at the hospital with TB. Kagome is of course speechless, though I might have been inclined to ask Headband why she thought she needed to lay all this out for me if I were in her place, given that I was (supposedly) living it. It's almost as if there's an invisible audience behind Kagome for which this information is the punchline to a joke, huh?

RT, you're better than this.

Anyway, Houjou is sitting astride his bike in the next panel, stopping to exchange greetings with a girl who runs to catch up to him, hailing him with a waving arm. As they talk about whatever, one of our exposition fairies explains to Kagome that this new girl is a first-year student who has been cozying up Houjou for a little while now, and Houjou doesn't seem annoyed by this. It looks like Headband and Short-Hair have pulled Kagome behind a ro of bushes they're all peering out from behind now at the pair walking along, like stalkers. Short-Hair asks Kagome what she's going to do.

Kagome holds her chin as she questions why she would need to do anything and if this isn't just fine. Headband tells her to hold on a sec and Short-Hair spells out for Kagome that she might lose Houjou to this new girl if she leaves this alone. And if she were to "do something about it" she would be a psychotic weirdo and he wouldn't be attracted to her anymore anyway, so seems like a lose-lose sitch now doesn't it?

But Kagome has a far more practical answer to all this, and it's that she's not even dating Houjou, okay? Both girls look somewhat disturbed by what looks to be a sudden revelation. Don't worry, it's not that Kagome's just not interested in Houjou and doesn't give a shit whom he dates.

Oh yeah, girl can't just be content with being single, she's always got to be focused on getting into and maintaining some romantic relationship or other. Now I remember. Shit, no wonder no one likes high school. Or, middle school, in this case.

And these busybodies are vindicated when Kagome practically screams in their faces that she never wants to be reminded of a guy like that ever again. Way to lean the fuck in, Kagome. She doesn't need their help being reminded of Inuyasha, though, because she's thinking about how he told her he doesn't want to see her face again later sitting in class. During completely unrelated subject matter, no doubt. She wonders what's with that stupid dog-eared dude anyway, suspecting her and the confident skirt-wearing Kouga, who happens to be hanging over her head too. She glares at nothing in particular, grumbling internally about Inuyasha being the pits.

Back in Feudal Japan, Sango and Shippou peer down into the dark well Kagome went into to get away from Inuyasha. Sango asks if it's not a regular old well, extraordinarily attached to Kagome's "country". Shippou answers in the affirmative, but complains that for some reason only Kagome and Inuyasha can travel between the two worlds. Frowning into the mouth of the well, arms crossed, Shippou mutters that this would all be done with if Inuyasha would just go over there.

Elsewhere, Kaede is laying herbs on a mat next to a fence where Inuyasha himself is perched. She asks him why he won't go over to Kagome's place, of course, because no one can be invested in anything but Kagome and Inuyasha's strange relationship right now. Inuyasha demands that Kaede shut up, though I can't help but wonder why he's sitting there next to her if he doesn't want her company. I want her company, and I'm not even in this manga. #let'sbefriendskaede

No, Inuyasha is lost in his recollections about Kagome holding Kouga, telling him to stop fighting because the wolf is seriously hurt. Inuyasha thinks she's a jerk for sticking up for such a guy, and then remembers how Kouga declared plain as day his love for Kagome. He wonders if ANY girl would be tricked by such flattery.

Now THIS is a well-told joke. Don't you hold out on me, RT.

In yet ANOTHER location, someone is asking Miroku to see them next, and he bids them to... stand in LINE??? Yes, this motherfucker has a LINE. For palm-reading, of all things, and the line is made up of village women wanting their fortunes told. He tells the woman whose hand he's holding right now that her palm is a good one; she'll have a long life and lots of children. She's really excited by this, and Miroku takes this opportunity to ask her if one of the children she bears could be his. She smacks his hand and laughs, calling him a tease.

Well, at least he's not dwelling on relationships that have nothing to do with him.

He too is sitting by a fence, and on the other side of it an annoyed Sango and Shippou have appeared. The latter asks what he's up to, while the former sarcastically thinks about what a father he would be. They must have convinced him to cut that fortune-telling shit out, because the next panel has him telling them that it's no use rushing things and it'll have to wait until Inuyasha calms down. As she walks along behind him, carrying Shippou on her back, Sango accuses him of being too easy-going, but Miroku tells her to let it go. He also tells them not to go so near the well in the future, giving them a significant look.

Shippou indignantly asks him why, hopping up on Sango's shoulder and balling up his tiny fists defensively, but Miroku just asks him to think of Inuyasha's personality.

Great plan, Inuyasha. What are you gonna do? Twist her arm? Regardless of his underdeveloped ideas, Inuyasha hops down into that well like he's got it all figured out. This cannot go wrong.

Meanwhile, at... Wacdnal... A fast food restaurant that is definitely not supposed to resemble any in the real world, no sir, one of Kagome's nameless friends tells to her confess what kind of dude she's seeing. Kagome glares at a the fountain cup she's holding and describes Inuyasha as a low-grade guy, selfish, violent, and offensive. The first thing that jumps into the minds of Short-Hair and Headband is that the guy must be American, which is totally unfair. This is the country that finds it so unacceptable to be polite and treat people with basic respect that the anti-PC crowd voted en-mass for the most offensive, uncultured human being possible to be president. Inuyasha is WAY too classy to be mistaken for American.

Kagome adds that Inuyasha gets jealous a lot, and after an initial wide-eyed stare, Headband sucks her own fountain drink out of her cup, looking halfway between irritated and bored. She says that getting jealous just means that he loves Kagome, and Short-Hair, wearing the same expression as she pops a fry in her mouth, tells Kagome that whoever this guy is, he's devoted to her. The part she doesn't say out loud is that this whole thing is pathetic. Don't you regret getting so emotionally invested in this bullshit, girls?

But that's when Kagome drops a bombshell by suggesting that if he WAS devoted to her, then she could put up with the rest of his crap. Immediately, her friends lean forward, suddenly interested in how he may NOT be devoted after all. Looking a bit on the down side now, Kagome says that the guy she's talking about had another love a while ago that he can't seem to get over. The girls stare in... suspense? Anger? Affront? Not sure.

Instead of getting more annoyed by Inuyasha's hypocrisy, she clasps her hands in front of her and looks wistfully off into space as she admits that he tried to kill another guy who got close to her once. Is... is she getting off on this nonsense? Her friends seem just as appalled by her demeanor and the content of her confessions paired, and demand to know just who this guy is. Headband asks her why she's seeing a guy such as this, shooting to her feet and snapping that a guy like that is no good, advising her to break up with him. She tips over her drink in the process, by the way. Spilled milk and all that. Short-Hair demands that Kagome never see this boy again. Okay, MOM.

Come to think of it, Kagome might benefit from having a mother figure who doesn't just shrug her shoulders at her wandering off into the past for days at a time.

Kagome is taken aback, blinking away shock as she begins a weak protest. Headband tells her to listen, arguing that this guy she's speaking of is the worst possible sort. She lists off all the bad traits Kagome listed before, violent and selfish, and Short-Hair follows up with the interpretation that he's two-timing Kagome, whatever that means. Heart hammering, Kagome stammers that this is true, but provides some counterpoints to what she was pissing and moaning about before; he's quite nice, strong and reliable.

Sweat-dropping, the girls meekly ask if Kagome LOVES this guy, secretly thinking that she's being tricked. Kagome is left speechless by the question, choosing to focus on her fountain drink instead. Both girls look at each other, in unison concluding that she DOES love him, like so many of their other thoughts.

At her family's shrine, a rustle in the bushes and the sound of something sliding accompany a picture of Kagome's room.

He's noticed that this room is filled with Kagome's nice smell, but he doesn't have time to sit and bask. With a clunk, Souta throws open the door, bag of chips in hand and single chip in mouth, greeting Inuyasha with surprise. What were you doing in there if you didn't suspect he was there to begin with? Awfully suspicious, little boy.

Inuyasha strikes a defensive pose, like he's afraid Souta's going to hit him, and stutters nonsense syllables. Souta continues to munch on his snack, asking if Inuyasha remembers him and reintroducing himself just in case. Inuyasha awkwardly affirms that he remembers, so Souta asks if he's there for a visit, looking very sunny about it. Having determined that Souta is no threat to his mission, he closes his eyes and is surly when he says that it's KIND OF a visit. His eyes pop right back open again when Souta says that's great, because it means Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't have had a fight. Souta then cheerily grins and informs Inuyash the the reason he said so; Kagome was in a REALLY bad mood earlier.

Surprised to see Inuyasha hunched and looking nervous again, he asks what's wrong. Inuyasha doesn't answer out loud, dwelling in his head about how obstinate a girl Kagome must be if she's still upset.

Coincidentally, Kagome has arrived back at the shrine, climbing the stairs up to the property limply and sighing. She recalls her friends advising her to break up with Inuyasha and find a better guy, wondering what's up with them. Inuyasha isn't such a bad guy, after all. Yeeeeaaaaah, but you did kind of talk him up like that, didn't you, Kagome? This is the danger of complaining to your girlfriends about a dude they've never met and are unlikely to ever know.

She slides open the front door and announces she's home in the most lackluster manner ever. Upstairs, Souta excitedly cups a hand around his mouth and calls to her, much to Inuyasha's shock. Before Souta can make too much noise, he claps his palm over Souta's mouth and turns him around to shake him by his collar, warning him not to breathe a word about the visit to Kagome. When Kagome walks into her room, she finds Souta sitting on her floor, alone, coughing like he's had his throat wrung, chips spilled on the floor beside him. She asks what's with HIM now, just wandering into other people's rooms.

Later, as she sits in a bath, Kagome ponders the fight from LAST chapter from Inuyasha's side. She realizes how it must have looked when just when Inuyasha came to rescue her, she defended Kouga. Depressed, she supposed it was her fault after all.

Too bad Inuyasha can't hear her reflections.

Great, you agree! Can we move on?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? My jokes about everyone being too invested in Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship were mostly tongue-in-cheek. In fact, a good majority of characters weren't too terribly interested in the resolution of the fight at all. Sango seemed more interested in the well at first, both she and Shippou more interested in Kagome's eventual return later, Kaede seemed to just be making conversation with the dark cloud hanging out behind her, and Miroku wasn't much concerned at all. The only ones who were only had maximum interest because it was drama and their lives are not nearly as exciting as Kagome's. Not that they know just how exciting Kagome's life is...

That being said, it does KIND OF draw into sharp focus just how grating a chapter centered around the aftermath of a petty argument is. When most characters aren't invested in the argument itself, and the only characters who are happen to be portrayed as shallow school girls who are getting VERY limited information about the issue, the question as to why any of the audience should have any level of investment crops up a lot. I understand that resolution is necessary here, and both teenagers are hard-headed little shits, so apologizing for them is going to be a trial, but a part of me was just bored with it all. Maybe that's just my age talking, but it was so very juvenile.

Though I did appreciate the dramatic irony in how little Kagome's friends really understand about the situation. There's a whole context in Inuyasha's actions and attitude that they are just not going to get, which makes Kagome's complaint that they don't understand he's not a bad guy all that more entertaining.

I suppose the joke in the beginning where Headband is going into detail about one of Kagome's grandfather's lies regarding where she's been is part of the setup for their lack of context, but fuck it. I'm still annoyed by the level of detail she's giving to someone who is supposed to have been just released from just that issue. It's excessive and comes across as gimmicky and pandering and I hate it.

So there.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 197 One Card of Life and Death!

Here's hoping that one card is the last card in this game. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Covering the chapters in this mini-arc has been some serious emotional labor for me, and I'm fairly exhausted by this point. It's really the only reason why I haven't taken to blogging this thing drunk, because the alcohol would relax me right into a nap combined with all the work I have to do just to cover the prolonged trauma. Otherwise, I'd have a beer sitting next to me at all times. I can't even imagine how KT managed writing this without one. Shit.

But, hey, at least we're back to an official translation again!

Thank every god you know for little mercies in life. Thank them all day long.

Due to Gilfer setting that Rocket Warrior on fire, it's been destroyed, because when all your fuel is burned early, you can't really launch anymore, you know? Possessed!Jonouchi grunts as his life points are reduced once again, this time to 2400. Teeth gritted, Yuugi stares in worry at his friend, who is soon grinning again, mocking the attack for not being strong enough to take out all of his life points. Yuugi's just concerned that even his Gilfer's fire didn't snap Jonouchi from Marik's mind control. Possessed!Jonouchi chuckles, because I guess he still hasn't figured out that Yuugi is, as he said, INCAPABLE of wiping out his life points?

Yuugi glances over his shoulder at the one monster he thinks still might be able to jar Jonouchi out of his brainwashed state, but it's just lying on the dock, helpless, unable to even stand, and only 900 attack points to spare. Sweating, Yuugi asks himself what he's supposed to do now. I never thought I would say this, but maaaaaaybe it would have been a good idea to keep Yami, for situations just like this. I mean, his habit of never shutting his mouth might have had some benefits here, I suppose.

Meanwhile, Kaiba's twisted to look at the duel behind him, noting that Yuugi is down to 700 life points, and there's less than ten minutes on that bomb on the anchor. Shit, these kids have PHENOMENAL eyesight if they can see the clock all the way up there. Kaiba especially, since he's quite a distance away. Either that or they all managed to start a stopwatch at the exact moment Marik started the duel.

Kaiba reminds himself (also the audience he's thinking at) that Yuugi can't drag the game out much longer, because he and Jonouchi will both be dragged into the ocean by the anchor when the timer reaches zero. He also turns back to Mokuba and curses the fact that HIS hands are tied too when it comes the Ghouls holding a knife to the little guy's throat. Mokuba calls for help, reaching out to Seto with a free hand as the Ghoul who has him in a headlock chuckles, but all Kaiba can do is growl and call the dudes wretched.

And isn't that what card games are all about?

He's not going to take that gamble now, however! Nope, we have to go back to the dock proper first, where Jonouchi announces it's his turn and draws a card after a short pause where he and Yuugi stare at each other. Not like they're on a timer or anything. As he looks at the card he drew, Skull Dice, Marik comes to the realization that there isn't a lot of time left, and if he just has Jonouchi do nothing, both Jonouchi AND Yuugi will die. He thinks this will be amusing, because the thought of their dead bodies resting side by side on the ocean floor and yet their friendship never being restored is funny somehow. I guess it's funny in an Alanis Morissette definition of irony kind of way. But that's not even real irony.

Marik is giddy that in about eight minutes, his several-thousand-year grudge will finally be satisfied. Will it though? Seems to me if you spend THAT long hating somebody, any appeasement to the hatred might seem... anticlimactic, if you think about it. Marik DOESN'T think about it, however, and leaves possessed!Jonouchi to stand frozen, hand poised to pick out one of the cards in his hand. Marik provides Jonouchi an oddly soothing assurance that he can take a break. He doesn't HAVE to fight his friend anymore, or in fact do anything at all. Marik tells Jonouchi to be quiet and wait for the end to come. Anyone else got a chill, or is that just me?

Jonouchi's head tips forward and he appears to be prepared to take Marik's order quietly, arms going to rest at his sides. Yuugi sees this and asks Jonouchi if he remembers the promise they made in Duelist Kingdom. Well, I sure as hell don't. That was AGES ago. Jonouchi might not either, since it's hard to tell if the panel with his hair-shadowed eyes is supposed to indicate listening or tuning out. Yuugi presses on in his argument regardless, reminding Jonouchi fought hard for his sister Shizuka in Duelist Kingdom, like a real duelist, fair and square, and ultimately took home the prize to her. Jonouchi recognizes his sister's name and repeats it, in a broken way, in his mind. Yuugi tells him not to forget that he made a promise that day too.

OH! Is that a "promise" so much as a silly little bro-joke?

I guess to bros, there's no difference, because Jonouchi looks utterly amazed at the memory. Yuugi asks Jonouchi if he didn't enter Battle City to keep that promise/bro-joke, while Jonouchi repeats Shizuka's name again, because he hasn't quite come to terms with the subject change yet. He remembers Shizuka lying in a hospital bed, head bandaged around the eyes, and telling her to hang in there. She asks meekly if it's him, and he doesn't bother to answer, assuring her that her operation is going to be a success, he promises. As the doctors rush her off to pre-op like she's suffering a gunshot wound or something, Jonouchi falls behind, shouting that he'll give her her sight back.

Now THAT'S a promise.

Jonouchi continues his recollection festival, this time hearing Shizuka apologize for not being able to take the bandage off her eyes because of her fear. He asks her why she doesn't have the courage to open her eyes, as he tries to lean around a doctor shielding his sister from him. Whether or not this doctor thinks the over-emotional fuckhead Jonouchi is being right now is a danger to Shizuka isn't addressed, but Jonouchi is the one apologizing now. He says this is his fault for being weak and unable to pass any courage to her. Then he remembers asking Yami to duel him when he becomes a real duelist.

Jonouchi puts two cards on his Duel Disk face down and then switches his Panther Warrior into attack, putting a rapid end to his turn. Why so quick? Because he must have sensed how his actions would have sent Marik into a state. Marik's eyes are all bloodshot and his eyes are popping as he questions why Jonouchi would still be dueling when he expressly told his little puppet NOT to. He's like an angry Disney parent right now.

I think he's finally starting to realize that this just isn't his day when he starts insisting that his brainwashing couldn't have worn off YET. Then he wonders if Jonouchi is fighting purely by instinct, desperately trying to find some explanation as to why nothing he's doing is working out.

Meanwhile, Yuugi is newly fired up by Jonouchi's action, encouraging him to fight with him as he calls out his turn. Yuugi has finally found the only way to get back Jonouchi's heart, and it's by fighting his ass off! Gritting his teeth, he notes that there isn't much time left on that timer above, which reads just little over five minutes now. Wisely, he stops being wordy and draws a damn card, which turns out to be Mystical Rift Panel. Jonouchi urges Yuugi to get with the program so they can end this, and whether Yuugi can hear this or not, he throws a face down card on his Duel Disk and orders Gilfer to attack the greatly reduced Panther Warrior.

When Gilfer goes for PW, Jonouchi laughs, barking that he left PW in attack as a lure. But Yuugi doesn't look the least surprised, having known this all along. Gilfer throws his flame as Panther Warrior, and Jonouchi takes this very moment to reveal both a trap and spell card at the same time, the two cards he had placed before. Yuugi gapes at them as they are announced; Skull Dice and Graceful Dice, what Jonouchi describes as a double reverse combo. How does that work, you ask? Well, Jonouchi says that he'll use Skull Dice to weaken Gilfer, and Graceful Dice to strengthen Panther Warrior. Simple right? Jonouchi is convinced that he can now beat Yuugi easy peasy!

But just as each little dice-sprite begins to roll their respective dice, Yuugi informs Jonouchi that it actually won't be that easy at all. Zoom on Jonouchi's single widened eye while Yuugi reveals his OWN face down card, De-Spell, which he commands to get rid of Graceful Dice. Graceful Dice's hologram wisps away, and Jonouchi complains that he won't be able to make Panther Warrior stronger now. The black die representing Skull Dice clatters along, and the whole play is now dependent on which number it lands, to divide Gilfer's attack points thusly.

OOOOH! Tough break, boy! I guess you can't murder your friend in cold blood after all!

So Gilfer burns Panther Warrior to a crisp and Jonouchi's points are brought down level with Yuugi's 700. Now that this is the case, Yuugi wonders if there's a chance he could bring both their life points to zero at the same time, allowing both of them to escape. To twist the mechanics of a game where the whole point is to keep your own points but lower your opponent's is going to take some MAJOR creativity. But hey, wow me.

The timer on the bomb above shows under four minutes to go, and Kaiba growls about how Yuugi and Jonouchi are almost out of time. He holds his arm bearing the Duel Disk up to his chest almost possessively, and glances into his periphery where his brother is still being held hostage by the Ghoul behind him. Kaiba thinks that he only has one chance, one card, and prays to a goddess of duelists to let the card he draws from it be a common one. Oh, so it's a goddess now, is it? This religion is confusing, but I suppose not any more so than any other.

It looks like Kaiba's goddess isn't favoring him today because he wears a nasty look when he looks at the card as he swings around. Growling some more, he apologizes to the card before he makes a motion to... wait, what?

...
...
...

There are too many questions. Why is his card THAT sharp? What the fuck is it made out of anyway?? Did he do some sort of complicated calculation in his head accounting for air resistance and breeze in his head to be able to throw it that accurately??? Was this move of his directed by fucking GUY RITCHIE????

Congratulations, Kaiba, you turned into poppy Sherlock Holmes in order to grab a few moments in the limelight again. You happy?

While the Ghoul who was holding Mokuba groans on the ground, his Ghoul buddy gets whapped right in the face by Kaiba too, by the same Duel-Disked fist. Mokuba runs to him happily and Seto asks if he's okay. We don't see an answer, but we DO see Kaiba kneeling down to pluck the card out of the back of the first Ghoul's hand, who's still holding it up by the wrist and whimpering pathetically. It's the Blue Eyes White Dragon of course, and Kaiba thinks it's just his bad luck that his draw is too good. I guess it can be pretty confusing if you try to fail and succeed instead.

Kaiba growls at the Ghoul that it's HIS fault his blood got on the precious Blue Eyes White Dragon, and proceeds to tell him and his friend to die as he kicks and/or rolls them into the bay. The panel only shows the roof of the warehouse in the background accompanying the dialogue. Despite having plenty of time to make those Ghouls suffer just one panel before, Kaiba suddenly thinks that there's no time as he runs toward the two dueling on the dock.

Who are just staring at each other again, as it happens. Guess all eyes had to be on them before they continued, huh? Jonouchi says it's his turn and draws a new card, another Meteor of Destruction. Shit, with how little regard Marik has for the tournament rules, you'd think ALL the damn cards would be Meteor of Destruction. As Jonouchi regards it, Marik is grinning again, praising Jonouchi for drawing such a good card. It'll do the trick, if Jonouchi REALLY wants to beat Yuugi so badly. Jonouchi's eyes are narrowed as he looks past the card and at Yuugi, and Marik tells him that time is short. This will be the last turn, and if he can kill Yuugi, his life will be spared, guaranteed.

And if not...

Three minutes left to go, and they're going to be the longest three minutes EVER. Thanks, Marik.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Two things. First, Jonouchi's linking of promising to duel Yuugi/Yami and his ability to instill courage in his sister. I suppose this is the answer to how Jonouchi's motivation to join Battle City is unique, though I'm not really sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, it is very interesting to have Jonouchi face a new kind of insecurity in not being able to help Shizuka. Sure, he's ensured she's gotten back her eyesight, but she's too scared to use that power. Blaming himself for this comes from two things; the realization that being able to provide the funds for an operation doesn't fix his sister's problem as much as being able to convince her to be brave without bravery himself, and the knowledge that the money was actually a gift from someone he considers much stronger and braver than himself - Yami. Until he can face Yami in a fair duel, he can't say that he's earned the bravery OR the money, and that's eating at him. THIS is what he means by being a true duelist, and what I couldn't see before, which is kind of intriguing.

On the other hand it still feels a tad contrived. Forcing these two things to correspond still relies heavily on the idea that Shizuka HAS to be given courage and that Jonouchi doesn't believe she can find it herself. That's a little disheartening, considering she could be a great character in and of herself if she's allowed to show a little strength of her own. I hope Jonouchi is wrong. I like it when characters are wrong, especially about really stupid chauvinistic bullshit.

Second, there's Yuugi's beautiful revelation that the only way he can get through to Jonouchi is to duel like he means it. It was heartbreaking seeing how unwilling he was to be earnest in this duel, because he didn't think he could take Jonouchi's life points. He continuously put more value on his relationship to Jonouchi than on his own life, and while that may seem noble, it was more out of self -pity than anything. It was the idea that if he couldn't bring Jonouchi out of this brainwashing, than they weren't really friends, and life wasn't worth living because Yami was the only one anyone cared about.

But now he realizes that Jonouchi's condition requires more participation than that. Yuugi understands now that in order to prove that they're friends, he needs to do more than be willing to die for Jonouchi's sake. He needs to be willing to FIGHT TO LIVE. Relationships are reciprocal after all, neither one of them can be doing all the work, and that's what this duel is about. It's about working together to get each other in the range of freedom.

As for Kaiba's little card trick? I don't want to talk about it. That boy is and will always be ridiculous.