Still, even if he were around for it, it would be better than a lightning bolt to the face.
All in all, Mai recognizes that she's successfully summoned Ra with her three Harpies, but she doesn't know what this even is right now. Marik laughs and assures her that she has indeed summoned the real Ra, to which statement he receives shocked looks and mutterings from Mai, Yami and Jonouchi, and one really creepy grin from Kaiba. He says that Mai doesn't have the ability to fully CONTROL the god, though. THAT privilege lies with those that it has chosen itself.
Mai is mystified, telling Marik not to joke around with her. She says that the strategy in ANY card lies with the duelist themselves, and SHE'S the one who has it now. Marik advises her to take a good look at the card herself.
Actually, Mai knows that when she first got the card from Marik, there weren't ANY words written underneath, let alone these nonsense characters. Now it's got a shit-ton of this writing that she can't read, out of nowhere. Spooky. A cocky Marik asks her if she can read the words, because they're the key to unlocking Ra's true power and get it up and at 'em. Mai repeats the part about the god's true power, eyes widening, and Marik confirms this, clarifying that it's the fighting power that belongs to Ra.
Yami is also in disbelief over the phrase, and wonders why Mai can't seem to read the words. Mokuba grinds his little teeth and begins complaining that he wants to see what kind of card it is. Kaiba has lost his excitement too, but gives Mokuba a task to make up for their disappointment; he tells Mokuba to go to the satellite system and zoom in on that card on Mai's Duel Disk. Mokuba regains his zeal, praising Kaiba on what a great idea he's had. He doesn''t respond, too preoccupied with the question of what's on the card in the first place. Have I mentioned he has a one-track mind?
Meanwhile, Mai is staring in frustration at the card sitting on her Duel Disk, not able to make out what it says no matter how hard she tries. Marik tells her it's useless - unless she can read those words, she'll never get access to the god's true attack power. But, with a teasing smirk, Marik IS willing to give her a tiny little hint: the words are in ancient Hieratic. Yami and Kaiba react with a measure of incredulity (the latter more than the former, of course), Jonouchi just makes a face like he's constipated, and Mai wears a glare, but her speech bubble indicates a bit of shock.
Marik explains that this hieroglyphs were the language in which all laws and scripts were written, and only the most prestigious people in society could read them. Nowadays, the most prestigious people are of course those chosen by the Millennium Items, so they're the only ones that can read the cards now. What about Egyptologists and linguists? Couldn't they probably decipher them? Just a thought. Marik specifies his group of tomb keepers, either as the prestigious group in its entirety or a part of it. As usual, it's not really clear. What is clear is that Mai is really starting to sweat as Marik drones on that there are some cards that are only meant for certain special chosen people. Even our late enemy PJ Crawford couldn't read the god cards, just opting to copy down what was on the tablet he used as reference instead. Bastard probably didn't even pay the royalty fees.
Marik says that this card was even made differently than other cards, so that the Hieratic words are only visible when the light from the big gold ball shines down on it. How exclusive. I'll bet you feel REAL special, Marik. Mai is freaking right the fuck out, knowing that Marik was aware she wouldn't have been able to read those words on the card, and just let her have the card, presumably to rub that fact in her face smugly.
Marik reminds Mai that it's still her turn, and yuks it up as he says he can't wait to see how she's going to use the god card. Mai is mostly just in "oh shit" mode, her head cheerleaders Yami and Jonouchi wearing similar expressions while they call to her and curse that dirty Marik for knowing this was going to happen the whole time. To be fair, would anyone have not thought his explanation was a desperate bluff if he had given it BEFORE Mai took the card from him? Come on. All the same, Yami thinks in a panic that letting Mai summon the god card had been part of Marik's plan all along.
Kaiba, of course, is analyzing the shit out of the situation, even going so far as to calculate what the attack and defense points of the unrestricted god card would be considering its Harpy Lady sacrifices: 3900 and 4200 respectively. But he's a little put out by the god card not actually DOING anything. Whatever he says next isn't translated, so I hope it's not important. Regardless, he continues to wonder what's written on the card. He's a pro a appearing far more patient than he actually is.
Mai stares at her Duel Disk, frozen in action, unable to know how to control Ra. Marik reminds her that she has no other monster out, so even Ra won't protect her when he attacks on the next turn. He also threatens her with the torture she experienced before if she can't use the card she stole, then once again, there's a bit of dialogue here that remains untranslated, so I'm not sure what the context of his "only the god" comment is. Mai also says something as she pulls a card from her hand, but I've got no idea what it is.
Damn, I'm starting to think I should learn Japanese, just so I can know what these translators are trying to hide from me.
Mai places a card face down and ends her turn, which is Mirror Wall, to reduce her opponent's attack by half for protection. Marik is thoroughly unconcerned when he announces his turn and draws a card. He puts down a card called Viser Shock, which is another busy contraption covered in countless spikes and screws. Marik gleefully imparts upon Mai the bad news for her that this card returns all face down cards to their owners' hands. Mai's horror is renewed as Mirror Wall beams itself back into her hand like this is Star Trek or something. I think it's the first blatant indication that all their cards are somehow able to move and play on their own. Goodbye physical plausibility.
Bloodshot eyes wide in amusement and manic grin in place, Marik says that there's no magic, trap or monster to protect her now, so Mai may as well embrace the pain and go willingly into that good night. He calls upon both his Visers to attack Mai directly, and she is locked into the devices with cuffs on her wrists and ankles, screws pointed at her skull. Naturally, she looks terrified, and it only gets worse from here. Graphic torture directly ahead.
Laughing, Marik yells at Mai to give herself over to the pain, as Yami, third eye standing out on his forehead once more, grits his teeth and calls angrily at Marik. At first, I think Marik isn't listening, just laughing his ass off at Mai's agony across from him, but then he addresses Yami, saying that the show isn't really all THAT bad; Mai's excruciating screams on the edge of death are indications that she's still alive. You know what ELSE are indications of life? Playing a game in a tournament. Using cards in a conscious capacity. BREATHING is always a pretty good indicator that the person doing it is alive. Notice how none of these indicators needed torture as a catalyst.
Marik declares that it is now time to begin the RITUAL OF DARKNESS (TM). Yami seems to realize that Marik wants something out of Mai in this turn, but he doesn't say what, I'm guessing because there won't be much of a need. Marik says he's going to show everyone one of Ra's three abilities right now, after all. While Yami stresses about Ra having a whopping THREE special abilities, Marik crosses his arms in front of him like he's blocking some sort of magical attack out of every fantasy cartoon ever.
Shafts of light continue to emit from the bevels in the surface of the golden ball. Yami and Jonouchi gape up at it as Yami describes the ball opening up, and even Kaiba's smile has disappeared. He looks in awe up at the splitting ball, trying to characterize it, but ultimately failing. Wings an a head start to unfold, unfurling from the center. Marik states that one of Ra's abilities is that it becomes the servant of the one who chants the words on its card, making it absolutely pointless who actually summons the damn thing. Great.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This was another of those chapters that was a bit difficult to get through, due to the torture aspect. The violence against a woman in particular was a little cringy, because it got quite bad at times, but at least KT never gave her an orgasm face like he did for OTHER female characters under torture I could name. He actually handled this with some level of restraint and respect, giving Mai a LOT of dignity in the process, and that I can be thankful for.
The imagery here is evocative of that "maiden sacrifice" trope, which kind of makes sense in the way that KT is linking the past and the present in the narrative at the moment. Marik is using an ancient language to perform an ancient ritual while invoking an ancient god, so there's a merging of two aspects of time that is kind of interesting. An awful lot of this manga has been dedicated to the interplay between past and present, how one affects the other, but it's never been represented so literally before this moment. It gives the impression that the two timelines are almost blending at this point, so I'm really excited to see where all this leads.
At the same time, I'm super worried about Mai. I genuinely don't know if she's going to die. I watched the show a while back, so I know she lives THERE, but the violence was WAY watered down for the kiddos from the comic. I can't be sure what's going to happen at this point, and even though I have had so many criticisms of Mai in the past, I can't deny I kind of like her. I want her to stick around.
All I can do is bet on Marik's ineptitude. He can't carry out his plans worth a SHIT.
... Right?
"Ra's three special effects," he says. Ra needs a whole damned rulebook for all of the bullshit that it can do in the anime and manga.
ReplyDeleteViser Shock is renamed Byser Shock in the actual game for some odd reason, despite the fact that it and Viser Des are clearly two halves of the same whole.
More to the point about Ra, though, the actual TCG God Cards are... fairly mediocre. Mainly because they had to be nerfed for the actual game. Obelisk is considered the best of the three, a fact that would probably make Kaiba happy, at least, while Ra is ironically the worst.
In a greater irony, Ra has its three modes (Battle, Phoenix, and Sphere) split into three individual cards, with Sphere being considered the BEST form of Ra because you can sacrifice three of your opponent's monsters to bring it out, and then bring it to your side of the field next turn and tribute it for the actual Ra. And it also can't be used as a target for attack if you just threw it in your deck for the whole "sacrifice three of your opponent's monsters" thing and don't play the other forms of Ra.
You're telling me! I started to wondering if the list of what that thing COULDN'T do was shorter than the list of what it COULD after a while! Frankly, I should HOPE the god cards are more mediocre in TCG, considering how ridiculously unplayable they would be in a real game.
ReplyDeleteIt's doubly ironic that Ra is the worst in TCG, considering I just covered a chapter today in which Obelisk automatically defers to Ra's authority and doesn't use its greater power to wipe Ra off the map, inexplicably. I was... mad, to say the least.
It is absolutely HILARIOUS that the form of Ra people find most useful in real life is the one that is the most basic in the manga. I am ROLLING about it!