Did KT predict our current hopelessness and capitalize on it? With all this talk of MILLENNIUM Items and inverting our associations of dark as bad and light as good, there's some big coincidences in here. Throw in a few more winding extrapolations and we'll have a full-on conspiracy theory that KT is actually other!Marik trying to inspire us all to look at death as a sweet embrace.
Other!Marik asks Jonouchi if he really thought he could kill the Helpoemer that easily. Now that it's in Jonouchi's graveyard, other!Marik reiterates for the new chapter that it will steal a random card from his hand at the end of every turn and take it to the grave with it. Again, we see the ghostly hand snatch a card from Jonouchi, to his shock. I assume this is just a rearranged retelling of the last scene, because aside from a turn never being skipped in this blasted manga, Jonouchi is just too surprised for it not to be the first time this is happening to him. Other!Marik clarifies that this is all his plan to slowly bring Jonouchi AND his cards down into the darkness, with a sadistic chuckle. Great plan?
The peanut gallery gapes, Honda doing his duty to state the obvious fact that having a card taken from Jonouchi every turn will put him at a serious disadvantage. I surely would not have figured that out for myself with context. He is indispensable. Tethered to his monsters, one of which is still hooked up to other!Marik's thumbscrew apparatus, Jonouchi's curses, represented in a series of special characters of course. Gotta make sure the kiddos don't get exposed to expletives in addition to a creepy sadist promising all of the agony to his opponent. Yami hopes that Jonouchi's face down card is a way for him to turn this around.
Other!Marik announces his turn, drawing a card that will NOT be taken from him by a vengeful hologram at any point, the jerk. He assesses Jonouchi's side of the platform, and the two warriors there, both Rocket and Panther. Other!Marik figures that as long as Viser Des is attached to Panther Warrior, it will continue to lose 500 points every turn, with the added bonus that it can't be sacrificed. Therefore, he concludes that there's no sense in getting rid of Pather Warrior as long as it's a source of sweet, sweet pain for Jonouchi. So, he puts a card face down, and brings out "Gil Garth".
Jonouchi decides he's going to sacrifice his Rocket Warrior for a higher-level monster on his turn... or he WOULD if he had anything but a four-star Baby Dragon in his hand right now. He thinks he'll just have to draw a high-level monster, like that's the easiest thing in the world. Of course, joke's on me, because I forgot that Jonouchi's whole theme is "luck". When he draws after he warns his opponent that it's his turn, he takes a sidelong look at the new card to find that it's the trap-destroyer Jinzo. The only issue is that it's a seven-star monster that requires TWO sacrifices to summon. Instead of getting discouraged, Jonouchi is surprisingly level-headed when he stows his Jinzo in his hand with an acknowledgment that he can't summon it on this turn and resolves to play Baby Dragon and await his next chance. Never thought I'd see the day when JONOUCHI is the adult in the room, but damn, I guess anything really IS possible in this game.
He summons Baby Dragon in defense and switches Rocket Warrior to defense as well. Before other!Marik forgets, he raises a hand to remind his opponent that Viser Des is going to tighten on Panther Warrior's head in Jonouchi's battle phase. As if he could forget. Other!Marik commands Viser Des to spill Jonouchi's brains, and Panther Warrior howls in agony as its attack goes down to 1000. Jonouchi clutches at his own skull, a squeaking emitting from him while he grinds his teeth like he's chewing aluminum foil.
Shizuka doubles over, hand over her mouth, tears at the corners of her eyes, calling out at her brother. Honda also yells out to him, as Yami and Anzu remain too alarmed to speak. Other!Marik laughs softly at Jonouchi's scrunched, twisted expression. Jonouchi insists to himself that he can take the pain, but other!Marik promises that he's not done yet.
Well, THAT doesn't sound good.
Jonouchi is aghast, as is Yami, who is most alarmed by the fact that the trap wasn't triggered by a monster attack. Why is this so worrisome? Other!Marik explains that every time Jonouchi "discards" one of his cards, some of his life is ripped out.
He understates (in comparison to every other duelist here) the beginning of his turn, drawing a card as he chuckles darkly, gearing up to show Jonouchi a terrifying combo. As opposed to the fluffy comfy one that's plan B. He plays two face down cards, one of which is called "Malevolent Catastrophe", one of the deadliest trap cards in existence due to its function of destroying every monster on the field regardless of summoner. Since Jonouchi has more monsters than other!Marik, that'll be 3500 points of bad news instant death for him! Other!Marik revels in the smug knowledge that he doesn't even need a god card to defeat Jonouchi, while Jonouchi stares in teeth-grinding anticipation of whatever horrors await him.
Other!Marik announces the main event; sacrificing Gil Garth to summon the weird winged, four-armed, dragon-handed The Legend Devil. Jonouchi regards this new nightmare with utter horror, considering it rather tough-looking. And that's just its appearance. Other!Marik explains that it has a special power, which alone isn't much of a surprise coming from other!Marik. All of this dude's monsters are loaded with OP talents. This one gains 700 attack points every turn it's in attack position. Jonouchi immediately shouts that this isn't fair, and he's absolutely right, it sounds crazy game-breaking. Other!Marik just chuckles that Jonouchi should blame the designers.
Here I was, over here mocking the shit out of this comic, when it comes at me to mock right back. Sick.
Anyway, other!Marik warns Jonouchi that if he doesn't defeat Legend Devil right away, it'll only get stronger with time. With this teasing little tidbit, he ends his turn, thinking that it doesn't matter if Jonouchi beats Legend Devil, because he's still going DOWN next turn. Is it sad of me to say I believe it? Yami wonders what Jonouchi will do next.
Jonouchi has the perfect response to his self-assured evil, though, and that's to laugh, snapping his fingers in jaunty style. This successfully leaves other!Marik speechless in shock, FINALLY. Oh my goodness, it's bliss. Jonouchi delivers another metaphorical slap to other!Marik's face by claiming it was HIM who has fallen into a trap. Other!Marik gapes in disbelief as Jonouchi offers to show his trump card.
Other!Marik continues to gape, so Jonouchi explains that they both will guess which monster is at the top of their opponent's discard pile in their graveyard, and if the guess is correct, the monster STAYS in the graveyard. Again, other!Marik stares at Jonouchi with a mixture of disbelief and confusion, even though I'm pretty sure he should be smart enough to see where this is going. I mean, if I can figure it out, and realize what a doozy it is, the same thing has probably occurred to him as well. Perhaps this is just his "I just shit my pants" face.
Anyway, in lieu of other!Marik's response, Jonouchi offers to go first. He mockingly asks if other!Marik didn't just sacrifice a monster on his last turn, in cheeky tribute to his card, and deduces that THIS is the monster that has to be on top of other!Marik's graveyard stack - Gil Garth. A now growling other!Marik glares down to see Gil Garth indeed sitting in the little graveyard nook of his Duel Disk. Jonouchi, grinning, asks with all the smugness his trick deserves if he's right, but doesn't wait for an answer before demanding other!Marik guess HIS card now.
Extreme close-up on other!Marik's wide right eye, and the bead of sweat running down his temple next to it. Jonouchi mocks him, striking a strange squatting pose as he points at his Duel Disk, jeering at other!Marik to guess. When other!Marik can do nothing but grind his teeth in impotence, Jonouchi loftily supposes that he CAN'T guess, and that's obvious, because he doesn't know the card Helpoemer randomly discarded. Other!Marik growls at Jonouchi's jaunty finger pointed at him. The peanut gallery's reaction has taken a 180-degree turn, Honda cheering Jonouchi's great idea, and Anzu amazed that he used other!Marik's idea against him.
Jonouchi gets so far up his own ass about his play that he's STILL goading other!Marik into guessing what the top card in his graveyard is. He even counts down the five seconds until other!Marik runs out of time to guess like a self-fellating asshole. Jonouchi's hand hovers over the central joint of his Duel Disk as he announces that this means other!Marik's monster will not be summoned, but his WILL, since other!Marik failed to even take a stab at a guess. He calls for Jinzo to come out.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Jonouchi's progression in gaming skill continues to impress; this was quite the play, showing once again why Jonouchi deserves to be taken seriously despite his goofy demeanor, but also why he was uniquely qualified to go up against other!Marik. I had completely forgotten about Jinzo and how it can destroy traps, so it was the perfect tool to use against a good number of other!Marik's special little cards. Jinzo's appearance also highlights again Jonouchi's power as a character - taking inspiration and strength from his struggles with rivals/friends. The last chapter emphasized Mai's influence on him and his determination, and this one is hearkening back to his previous statement of carrying with him the hopes and dreams of his prior opponents in facing his new ones. His incorporation of what he's learned and experienced with all of those before him is why he poses a unique challenge to other!Marik, whose superficial connections are represented in the monsters he links to himself. It might be inferred that relationships are nothing but AGONY to other!Marik, and pain is how he relates to others, so he makes it into a shared experience, the only one he is able to truly comprehend. He takes nothing else from interaction with others. A bit of a sad interpretation of the dynamic, but then again, Marik (as a whole) is just tragic all around in every respect.
Another thing that occurred to me that's a bit sad is that, though I have consistently been blown away by every step of Jonouchi's journey of character progression, I'm hyper-aware of the fact that he will never be fully recognized for this in-universe. In every one of these duels, Jonouchi is on some level, trying to prove himself over and over. There is always someone, if not the whole crowd around him, INCLUDING HIS SUPPOSED FRIENDS, who doubts that he is at all capable of overcoming the challenge in front of him. The biggest critic is Kaiba, of course, but there are plenty of other more subtle forms of faithless dialog in there, and I feel like there will never be a time in which Jonouchi will earn any kind of lasting respect. This is frustrating for sure, but strangely... true to life? How many of us find ourselves trying desperately to earn some modicum of faith from the people around us? And no matter how much we do to prove ourselves, how hard we work, it just never seems to be enough? It's so relatable, and yet another glaring example of how Jonouchi is by far the character with the most understandable experience, and probably the best.
What's not relatable to ANYTHING, in this chapter or my feelings toward it, is the title. What the hell does the darkness of death have to do with anything in here? Other than an eye-catching and potentially profitable suggestiveness, what purpose does this title serve? Shame on KT, or the official translators, or some hapless intern, WHOEVER came up with this one, because I'm pretty sure I could have inadvertently started one of those stupid internet conspiracy theories in my cold open up there.
And no, it's not my fault for careless stream-of-consciousness rambling. Shut up.
(All jokes aside, friends, I really have to urge anyone reading this to stay healthy and safe, wash your hands regularly, and try not to touch your face, especially in public. Be careful in this currently very scary new microbial environment, guys.)
The Legendary Fiend isn't THAT strong, though it was nerfed in the actual game to only have 1500 ATK. Still, needing your monster to survive multiple turns for its effect to get good is a gamble that you typically can't afford. Especially when you have traps that can destroy monsters or reflect your damage back at you.
ReplyDeleteQuestion is pretty much the same in the TCG as it is here, only Marik wouldn't get to summon his monster and Jinzo would have been removed from play if he managed to guess it right.
Another perfectly understandable nerf, like most of them, though I can't speak to whether that gamble you mentioned is just difficult as opposed to unfair. I suppose it would probably depend on your supporting cards, assuming you wanted to build a whole deck and strategy around freaking Legendary Fiend, lol!
DeleteMakes sense that Jinzo would be removed entirely; there has to be a penalty for the person who played the card if they lose the bet, after all.