Yami draws his card and pauses to recap the situation of his fellow players; Kaiba has a face down card and a monster in attack, Marik just has his monster in attack, and poor Jonouchi has neither monster nor face down card to protect his points. Because he can't be SUBTLE in his endeavor to pull in possible new readers, he feels he has to elaborate that not having monsters or traps is BAD, guys. Didja know that? Didja?
At 2200 attack points, Yami's monster is more powerful than both the monsters currently out there. His eyes shift to the side as he wonders who to attack - his only two considerations being Kaiba and other!Marik. Doesn't want to pick on the guy who has no way to defend himself, I guess. It makes him better than 50% of the duelists here, I guess. He admits to himself that he's a bit wary of Kaiba's face down card, since it could be a trap, and reminds himself that he can't be careless.
So he puts his own card face down and plays Kuriboh in defense, which might be the most careful move in the universe for a guy who continues to be ignored for the promise of a later game. He appears to have chosen his target, though, with a determined clench of his teeth. I still have my fingers crossed that it's himself.
Down on the ground, Yami's friends all look up at him, Anzu saying his name. Honda correctly states that Yami is considering his promise to face Jonouchi in the tournament first and foremost, and will go after other!Marik and Kaiba in order to work towards that goal. But Anzu points out, with a little disclaimer that it may be her imagination, that Jonouchi looks like he's got his sights set on other!Marik. Quite literally Jonouchi is giving other!Marik an atomic glare. Anzu has an epiphany that Jonouchi might be wanting to rescue Mai from the influence of other!Marik, and I must congratulate her on catching up to the rest of the universe.
Yami starts to direct Gilfar to its target, but Jonouchi shouts down at him to wait. Yami looks up at him in alarm, and Jonouchi wears a somewhat morose expression when he asks what a real duelist is.
Yami stares up at Jonouchi, and the extreme closeup on his face makes it impossible for me to tell if he's astounded, or dumbfounded, or what. Back below, Anzu wonders what it is that Jonouchi is even SAYING, and Honda sweatdrops, being pretty damn sure that a real duelist wouldn't ask a question like that during some other duelist's turn. I agree 100%.
Jonouchi continues his monologue, this time referencing those who fought against him before, who exposed weaknesses of his that he hadn't noticed before. The next few speech bubbles are cut in half, so I can't be EXACTLY sure what they say, but my educated guess is they're specific quotes from Mai, and Jonouchi is reminiscing about how she in particular influenced his dueling attitude and style.
Gracious do I need to take some good advice I was given on a recent chapter's review and just fork over the two bucks a month for Shonen Jump's version of this comic. I'm sure it won't make THAT much difference in my house savings.
Jonouchi states that only one person can shine in Battle City, a characteristic of ALL tournaments, but that's neither here nor there. He really HAS taken the most Kaiba of perspectives: in the pursuit of the "King" title, EVERYONE else is an enemy. So much for Kaiba not influencing his dueling perspective. That guy is a freaking DISEASE. Yami just keeps on staring in alarm, saying nothing, and the spectators down below look a tad forlorn as they observe Jonouchi's heartfelt speech. Finally, he's arrived at the point - that Yami will attack him, the enemy, if he's a real duelist. Jonouchi doesn't want any special protection just because of their promise to face one another.
Yami just becomes more and more astounded, gaping wordlessly at Jonouchi as he rants about his situation being the worst, which makes him the best target. Jonouchi DEMANDS that Yami follow the rules of dueling and attack him according to his vulnerability in the moment.
With a confident thought that he understands Jonouchi (as he SHOULD, given that Jonouchi used the absolute maximum amount of words of the plainest variety toward the end to get his point across), Yami shouts at his Gilfar to attack, and aim it for Jonouchi directly. As the drill-like force rockets up toward Jonouchi, Yami affirms that they'll fight in the finals. Jonouchi groans behind his arms, raised to guard his face from the holographic blast, and his points run all the way down to 400. While the virtual smoke clears, Jonouchi thinks on Mai, promising silently again to save her. And as his pod is running up its track past other!Marik, he glares, shooting him a mental warning to prepare himself, because Jonouchi's going to drag him on this path too. Other!Marik just smirks at him on his way up.
At the bottom of the tower, Anzu calls out Jonouchi's name in concern, but Shizuka just mumbles about her brother's life points dropping. I'm not sure she's as invested in this as Jonouchi thinks she might be. He yells, because how else would anyone hear him from up there, that it's his turn, drawing a card in typical dramatic fashion. In the same moment, he reminisces back to when Mai gave him her qualifying card in Duelist Kingdom when he was freaking out about losing the one Yuugi gave him. She said at the time that she had given Jonouchi's sister a pearl, and she hoped said sister would be able to see the light. Pearls don't give off light, so I'm not sure what the hell she's talking about, but it means a lot to Jonouchi at least. While Shizuka stares up at him from below at this moment, Jonouchi's thoughts are filled with Mai, and his determination to help her to regain her own light and wake up.
Jonouchi commands his Legendary Fisherman to attack Kaiba, and it lunges for him. Yami worries over Kaiba's trap card as Jonouchi clenches his teeth, looking just as nervous. Did he just make a HORRIBLE mistake? Kaiba seems to think so, at least that's what I gather from his maniacal grin. He activates his trap, revealing it to be Destruction Ring. Not to us, of course, because we have a regrettable amount of access to Kaiba's head, and he's already said that's what it was in there. Now that he has much the same picture that we did ages ago, Yami's mouth gapes in silent horror.
I might be a tad overly-dramatic about how awful it is to go into Kaiba's thoughts. I learned it from him.
The ring of grenades circles around the Legendary Fisherman's neck, and Yami details the effect this trap has - destroying the attached monster and subtracting the monster's attack from the player's life points. Kaiba following up on your crippling blow to Jonouchi's life points is the strangest time to give a card lecture, dude. Kaiba laughs that it's "game over"for Jonouchi, narrating the explosion taking out the Legendary Fisherman, because he's just so excited that something he did actually worked.
Again, Jonouchi holds his arm up to shield his face from the blow, and his friends below are SURE his life points are gone. And that's how you know the twist is coming.
The digital smoke clears once more, to show Jonouchi holding up a card, and wearing a smug little smirk. Other!Marik's eyes bulge at him out of his periphery. You see, Jonouchi secretly played Grave Robber, which grins behind a hand as it holds up the card it stole from other!Marik's graveyard. Jonouchi wears a similar grin as he explains that his little buddy took Curse of Pain, and... well that's it. No further explanation. No agonizing speeches. Just Jonouchi saying goodbye to other!Marik as he rockets up past him to the top of the tower. Painless.
Well, at least until we see other!Marik smiling down at Jonouchi, deciding right then and there to make him "enter darkness" and chuckling about it. Ugh, if that was supposed to be foreboding, other!Marik missed the mark worse than Kaiba down there. Jonouchi ends his turn, satisfied that the first duel of the next stage of finals will be against other!Marik. And here he is with nothing out to defend what's left of his life points, as he had apparently planned all along.
Kaiba says it's his turn, and after drawing his card, he doesn't hesitate to send his Blade Knight to attack Jonouchi. NOW Kaiba can say truthfully that Jonouchi is finished. Blade Knight slashes a flinching Jonouchi, and his life points disappear, but he seems pretty cool about it. At least he's not pitching a weird fit like he usually does. Yami calls his name as he rises to the top of the tower.
At the bottom again, Moar Cards Guy raises his arm, declaring that the duelists have been matched for the following duels. Jonouchi promises to defeat both other!!Marik and Ra, and silently bids Mai to wait for him.
If you're not prepared when you get up there, dude, you may meet Mai again in an entirely DIFFERENT way than is helpful.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I know I nearly ALWAYS lead with pacing these days, but I can't help it if it's been noteworthy lately, and this chapter has been the most noteworthy by far in this area. It started so very slow with Yami's decision, then Jonouchi's long monologue. Then it sped up in a HURRY. And I do mean that it seemed extremely rushed, conspicuous in its lack of all that yakking about technical functions of cards. It's made all the more glaring by the fact that Yami felt the need at a certain point to point out the effect of a card, but no one did it at the end of the chapter at length. KT just seemed extremely rushed at toward the final few pages, and on the whole made the chapter seem a bit poorly-planned.
That being said, I did find Jonouchi's speech satisfying. Yeah, I made fun of it, but that's only because it meandered a bit too much, and its humorous elements were a little strange, likely due to our usual translation issues. But we did indeed finally get Jonouchi to define what he thinks a true duelist is, tying it into all of the experiences he's had during not only Battle City, but also all the way back in Duelist Kingdom. Informed by every duel he's engaged in, he's concluded that being a true duelist is all about having the integrity to give your opponent a fair and honest fight, no matter what reasons you may have for giving them a little break. He's grown to view giving your all in a match as a sign of ultimate respect, and while his language was very KAIBA at a certain point, calling everyone else enemies in a fight for the monarchy of games, he was ultimately trying to get across a measure of the bigger picture. The point of this tournament isn't for Yami and Jonouchi to face each other exclusively, no matter what promises they made. The point of this tournament is to crown the best of them, and Yami can't just ignore that for Jonouchi's benefit. He wants a FAIR fight, not one that fixes things in his favor so he can get what he wants.
Since the very beginning of this story, Jonouchi has been the kind of person who values a good fight, because he doesn't see the categories of friends and opponents as mutually exclusive. He's been in the practice of making friends from supposed "enemies" since the VERY FIRST CHAPTER. Jonouchi encourages Yami to look at him as an enemy here because he knows that this is how Yami will be able to give them both the MOST dignity in the situation, and preserve the integrity of the tournament. Their bond, as has happened in the recent past, will only be stronger the more honest their fight, and that's all that Jonouchi wants out of a battle with Yami anyway. Even if they DON'T fulfill their promise and face each other in a one-on-one within the confines of the tournament.
In fact, as a reader, I am 99% sure that this is the closest they'll ever get to it, and I'm also pretty darn certain that both characters are aware of those slim chances as well. Which of course makes Jonouchi's insistence that Yami give him an honest and fair fight HERE, NOW, all the more understandable. He's not just asking that Yami demonstrate how true of a duelist he is, Jonouchi's asking that Yami demonstrate their friendship's strength with a good battle because there may not be an opportunity beyond this.
You know, it occurs to me that all this time I've been wanting Jonouchi to punch Kaiba over and over, Jonouchi hasn't shown very much interest, choosing instead to get all defensive and flustered for how much Kaiba disrespects him. I'm now inclined to believe that Jonouchi views fighting as a tool of friendship and two equals facing each other honorably, and he doesn't care to engage with Kaiba in that sacred way because he doesn't want to be FRIENDS with Kaiba. Which is entirely fair. Why bother to give the guy so much effort when there's absolutely no chance there's going to be any kind of understanding between you in the end?
So I guess I'll just ask HONDA to do the punching from now on.
You know, something I don't like about this part: Atem wants to duel against Joey and is putting that at the forefront. That seems... really insensitive?
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I know he cares about his promise to Joey and all, and that's well and good. But the thing is that Marik is dangerous. And is hurting innocent people to get to Atem. Heck, he's already put Mai into a coma! By pushing Marik off, Atem is running the risk of him doing the same to Kaiba, and we all know that the last thing he needs is another Penalty Game to mindfuck him again!
I think this would've been better if Atem was focused on dealing with Marik himself while Kaiba is intent on beating Atem first to have a better chance of getting Ra from Marik. Maybe some tricky plays from Joey could've landed him and Marik at the top rather than him needing to beg Yugi to help him lose.
That bothers me too - Yami comes across as very selfish and somewhat small-minded when it seems like he's totally forgetting about the immanent threat in Marik. It also enhances the issue that Yami is constantly framed in the center of the conflict, and universe, in every respect. It gives the impression that he expects Jonouchi's focus would be one dueling him as well, because he's the most important person in the world.
DeleteWhich, I mean, he IS, but it's a little off-putting how the main character has to rub our faces in it all the time. XD
Also, I think the Viz translation makes some of what you were upset about in this scene a bit better. Joey asks Atem what it means to be a True Duelist and points out that Atem playing favoritism towards not attacking him in order to honor their promise isn't in the proper spirit of things. Which is a fair point!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a fairer point than the one made above!
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