Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 246 Cage of Fire!

No thanks. I think I've had just about enough of cages in the past few years. I mean, granted, though my apartment is tiny, I can't in good conscience call it a proper cage YET, and a cage of fire does SEEM like it might be better than a cage of ICE, where there are STILL children being forced to live without proper amenities or their families, now amidst a full-blown pandemic. At least that death would be swifter and more humane, arguably. But these days it's difficult for anyone to sell something to me based on a little shift in branding, especially when there's nothing but generic available at the grocery these days anyway. If there's one thing I'm being taught in this dystopian hellscape, it's that fire, ice, or quarantine, it's all still just a cage, and I'm not buying it.

Oh, there might be ONE more lesson; any powerful assholes whose normal tricks aren't so money anymore better lay super low over the next few months if they don't want to get the shit kicked out of them by the angry people they hurt before. Word to the wise.

Next to a dazzled Shizuka, Honda pumps his fist in the air for his nice move in turning the tables on other!Marik and finding the hole in his strategy. Yami wears a pleased little smile, characterizing this move as brilliant, and Jonouchi himself as a true duelist at last through all the steps he's taken throughout his battles. Finally, we're given a clear definition of what that means when Yami lists pride, spirit and strength as all the things Jonouchi has in his heart. Cleverness isn't in there at all? Because I feel like it took quite a bit of that to pull this move everyone is going apeshit over, but maybe that's just me.

Jonouchi is still focused on that promise he made to Yami, though, because he again thinks at Yami to wait for him. He thinks of this as his own personal Battle City, and when he defeats this final opponent standing in his way, he wants to move on to facing Yami again. Saving Mai is just a little detour. We'll be right back to the IMPORTANT stuff after that. Oh, and Yami RESPONDS to Jonouchi with an affirmative?? Once again, I thought Jonouchi was just reaffirming his plans in his own head, but KT pulled a fast one and it turns out he was speaking aloud the whole time. Or maybe my hypothesis from way back before this arc has some truth to it and a part of Jonouchi is in the Millennium Puzzle too, so there's a little telepathy between them?

Ehhh, I've been burned before by this comic, so I'm keeping my expectations low...

Anyway, Jonouchi shouts that it's his battle phase to other!Marik, and announces its commencement.

Can you believe that other!Marik hasn't made any smug references to death and darkness in over SEVEN pages now? Must be some sort of record for him. He just growls about how Jonouchi managed to hurt him this badly as his life points drop to 2400. The next panel shows nothing left but a couple of non-monster cards and a gust of wind surrounding him on his side of the platform. Yami is delighted that the monsters have all gone from other!Marik's field, and is hopeful that all four of Jonouchi's monsters can attack other!Marik, making him the winner. With eyes crossed and fists clenched, Honda forces out a full TWO declarations that Jonouchi can win, Shizuka also insists that her brother can do this, and Anzu is psyched for Jonouchi that it's actually happening; he's actually going to duel Yami just like he wanted.

On the other side of things, Mokuba looks up at Seto and asks if he thinks Jonouchi is REALLY going to beat other!Marik, looking a bit skeptical. Seto remains quiet for a moment, glaring at the platform, before he tells Mokuba not to underestimate a god card wielder. I... feel like that was never really an issue, because other!Marik isn't the one in this duel who is being perpetually underestimated. Not that this fact matters much to Kaiba, who examines Jonouchi high on the platform and is quite certain he can tell that the gods won't smile down on someone like Jonouchi. And I can tell that Jonouchi could win against everyone in the damn world, including Kaiba himself, and Kaiba STILL would pretend like he's not good enough.

Maybe I'm just sore because I know he's right; the plot demands that Jonouchi lose, no matter what cool moves he pulls out of the air.

Jonouchi calls out to other!Marik, asking if he's ready, and announcing that during this turn, all his monsters attack. They indeed all fly toward other!Marik, who just smiles, shocking the shit out of Jonouchi. Other!Marik reveals his the one face down card he has left on the field, a spell card called Dark Wall of Wind. Of COURSE it is. A flurry of black strands surround other!Marik while the monsters all launch their attacks, and we get a nice close look at Jonouchi's wide right eye.

Well, this is on track to be the cheapest victory on record.

Other!Marik tells Jonouchi that his battle phase is over, but reminds him that before his TURN ends, Viser Des is going to tighten the vice on Panther Warrior's temples and Helpoemer will steal another card. Sure enough, as both Jonouchi and Panther Warrior howl in pain from the torture, the ghostly hand creeps from Jonouchi's Duel Disk to pluck another card from his hand. Jonouchi groans, doubled over again, as other!Marik pulls an infomercial move to let him know there's more. I sure hope it's a truckload of acetaminophen for the major migraine Jonouchi is enduring. Other!Marik says he's been thinking of the penalty game he's going to inflict on Jonouchi when he loses, and decided that it's just not bad enough. That's right, other!Marik wants Jonouchi to suffer MORE, and vows to make it twice as awful as the original plan. For kicks or because he feels humiliated that Jonouchi managed to fuck up his strategy so badly he doesn't say. Maybe both.

Jonouchi growls at him, haggard and sweating but still looking determined, when other!Marik declares it's his turn. He draws a card, takes a look to see it's Lava Golem, and is all the more sinister when grins about this NEW penalty game that's coming up for Jonouchi.

Yup, we're riding the cheap train ALL the way to the end of the track now.

A shocked Yami wonders if this is a special summon monster, because I guess he thought he might have seen a couple of monsters on other!Marik's side to sacrifice. Other!Marik explains that this isn't HIS eight-star monster, because he's using two of Jonouchi's monsters as sacrifices, which means it will be Jonouchi's. The price for such generosity must be STEEP.

Like a mother fucking cliff.

While Jonouchi is in wild disbelief over this powerful monster supposedly under his control, heavy emphasis on SUPPOSEDLY, Yami is totally flabbergasted by what other!Marik is doing bringing this high-level creature onto Jonouchi's side. When they've had enough of a confused think about it, other!Marik lets the catch drop; the lava golem melts around and does damage to its master every turn, making it quite the handful. And hot stuff. All at once.

Jonouchi looks horrified by this prospect, eyes popping and teeth grinding.

I don't know if you're prepared for the laugh riot you're going to have on your hands if you tease the prisoner in the cage, other!Marik.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It felt awfully short, but perhaps that's just due to the abundance of action double-page spreads. I can't really complain about that; I love action, and there are just not enough chapters of Yu-Gi-Oh that cut down on the useless dialog to let the art speak for itself. It wasn't in actuality a "short" chapter so much as a chapter that cut out all the useless fluff that slows down a regular installment in the series.

Yet I also feel like the pacing was sped up from the last chapter because Jonouchi's brilliant move was so quickly shunted aside for other!Marik's rebound, and a rather unimpressive one at that. Kaiba seemed to hang a lampshade on the fact that no matter what cool things Jonouchi managed to pull in this duel, there isn't really a "divine push" behind him. Not only does he not have a god card like his opponent and the other two, but in the overall plot, his arc has pretty much played out. Yami spells out at the beginning of the chapter that Jonouchi has indeed become the true duelist he was gunning to be this entire time. There's really no reason for him to move further in the tournament, despite his wishes to duke it out with Yami.

And if this wasn't heavy-handed enough, we have other!Marik playing a couple of cards that seem to automatically invalidate what Jonouchi has done, in a manner that doesn't appear to require a ton of effort on his part. Sheesh, it's no wonder no one will ever take Jonouchi seriously when even the narrative is just dismissing anything he does. KT doesn't exactly display a lot of faith in his characters when he's pulling stuff like this.