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.