So far we've been waiting for a hero in Jonouchi, or failing that, Yami to seize that power for the forces of good, but that doesn't really solve the underlying issue of enormous powers being concentrated into only two hands. Perhaps it's time for our many protagonists to consider heroes and kings a relic of the past and start collectively taking responsibility for handling god powers.
Sure, I'm still talking about Yu-Gi-Oh. What did you think I was talking about?
Jonouchi introduces Gilford as the toughest monster of his deck, and legendary warrior who controls the storm. Yes, but can it code in three different languages? Probably. Jonouchi states with the utmost confidence that Gilford will take other!Marik down. Unfortunately, other!Marik seems LESS than impressed by this as he examines the new beefy monster with a critical frown. The peanut gallery is so much easier to awe - Shizuka makes a noise of amazement, Honda expresses excitement for how the tables have turned once more, as well as how Jonouchi has a high-level monster that ISN'T dripping lava all over him, and Anzu encourages him with a raised fist.
Yami hits us with some technicalities about how eight-star monsters ordinarily only require two sacrifices, but if you use three to summon Gilford the Lightning, it's equipped with an extra special secret deadly attack. Ooooooooh, dare I hope we get to see it for how fast things are constantly flipping on Jonouchi in this duel? Yami mental-shouts at Jonouchi to do the defeat on other!Marik, and Jonouchi complies, commanding Gilford to show its power. Gilford lifts its tree-trunk of an arm and grasps a giant sword on its back to draw with one of those weird inaccurate screeching sound-effects.
Jonouchi explains that when Gilford is summoned, it destroys all the opponent's monsters currently on the field no matter their defenses. Finally! JONOUCHI is the one who gets to do something cheap this time! Other!Marik growls, wincing, and looking even more unhappy than before. As the virtual dust clears, Jonouchi confirms that indeed, he wasn't just talking out of his ass, and the monsters on other!Marik's side have gone. Jonouchi prepares to proceed with an actual attack this time, while other!Marik glares on in what looks like maybe SLIGHT worry? It's hard to tell. Jonouchi instructs Gilford to sic'im with "Lightning Crash Sword" and Gilford lunges with said sword raised. Jonouchi knows that if this attack goes off without a hitch, he's the winner.
But when has anything ever been EASY?
Yami panics about other!Marik's face down card, but it's too late now. Other!Marik starts chuckling, his face shrouded in shadow, somehow. Jonouchi only just realizes he didn't see the EXTREMELY VISIBLE face down card right in front of other!Marik. He just... hasn't been paying attention the whole time it's been there, I guess. Sounds fake, but okay.
Now, other!Marik's suddenly unshadowed face grins maniacally while he praises Jonouchi for lasting this long. However, he has to inform Jonouchi that there's still some playtime yet. Jonouchi stares in alarm at other!Marik's arm waving over the field where his card begins to rotate. His face down card is... a circular mirror standing on a pair of clawed feet and adorned with a skull and bat wings, called "Mirror of Nightmares" by other!Marik, and "Nightmare Mirror" by the actual card's text. Either way, FAR less of a nightmare than some of the other cards other!Marik has played, you can be sure of that.
As Jonouchi wonders just how many trap cards this guy even has, his reflection begins to form in the mirror. For some reason, seeing himself in a mirror seems to surprise him. I mean, granted, it does seem like an absolute ETERNITY since this day was supposed to have started, but I think you should still understand how a damn mirror works, Jonouchi. Other!Marik assures him that's he's right, and tells him to prepare for an attack from his own monster.
Other!Marik creates a narrative around this about Gilford itself being the one to act rashly and attacking the mirror, causing Jonouchi damage of 1000 life points. I can't tell you how weird it is to me that other!Marik has decided to shift the blame from Jonouchi to his monster, especially this late in the game. Just bizarre. Anyway, other!Marik admits that he has to pay a price for USING the mirror too, by discarding something from his hand. He makes something of a show of choosing, wondering out loud which of his cards is on the chopping block while assuring Jonouchi it'll just take him a moment of suspense to choose. As the readers, we get a full view of the one he puts into the graveyard slot - Ra. No surprises there. Other!Marik chuckles, knowing that this is it, the card that will introduce Jonouchi to his REAL grave.
Jonouchi grinds his teeth on the opposite side of the platform, mumbling his displeasure at other!Marik and the whole situation, I'm sure. If only he hadn't just randomly forgotten to take stock of the field like he'd gotten so very used to doing. Funny that. The peanut gallery has become crestfallen in record time; Shizuka begs Jonouchi through her disappointment to hang in there, Honda bemoans how close Jonouchi was and how he just got too anxious, and Anzu is the only one of them to suggest that perhaps there's still a chance for Jonouchi to turn this back around, since he still has Gilford on his side. But Yami sees how smiley and unafraid other!Marik is, certain that he must be planning something for the very next turn.
Which is up and coming when Jonouchi declares his turn done with ferocity. It's at this point when other!Marik up and admits to Jonouchi that he underestimated him just a tad. Or more than a tad. He says he should have realized that they can't end this until Jonouchi has had the opportunity to see a god for himself, and grins again with anything but magnanimity. Jonouchi stares back in alarm at the implication that his god is on its way out, Yami mentally naming it, half in awe and the other in horror. Kaiba, whose capacity to care is limited to just these circumstances, wonders with a small smile if other!Marik is REALLY going to do it. He's been burned by empty promises before, you see.
Other!Marik says it's his turn, and for some inexplicable reason, the bystanders decide to have a conversation about this crucial moment, AT this crucial moment. Honda frantically asks Yami how other!Marik can possibly summon Ra when he's not even got any monsters out. Yami takes the long way 'round his explanation, telling his
On the sidelines, Kaiba continues to pay extra attention, thinking that Jonouchi is the REAL sacrifice here. He'll suffer and maybe even die, and these are both perfectly acceptable prices to pay so Kaiba can learn how to defeat Ra. Well isn't THAT attitude familiar at this point?
Kaiba is eager to see the reveal of all Ra's hidden abilities that other!Marik has to show now. He's got more of an idea than anyone else what they are, given his deciphering of the Hieratic text he pulled from the card. The first power is of course that Ra takes its power from its sacrifices, but will only accept them if it hears the sacred words from the person doing the sacrificing. Humph, picky-picky. Then again I guess it's not out of nowhere that Ra would eat like the bird it is. Its second power is that it comes from the earth when the means of resurrection are granted, incinerating its opponent. Vague, but I think we know where that one is coming from. The third and final power of Ra is, and Kaiba quotes, "In an instant, Ra shall become a phoenix, and the enemies of Ra shall return to the earth."
Way to be dramatic about it, card.
Now thoroughly batshit over his coming move, other!Marik bid Jonouchi and all spectators behold the god through a psychotic grin, slapping the card on his Duel Disk. It's a spell card, Monster Reborn, the characteristic ankh of which Jonouchi regards with gritted teeth and mounting horror.
Yami is half-flummoxed by this summoning of Ra with Monster Reborn, because it has zero attack points, and spells/magic cards are only effective on a god card for one turn, meaning it SHOULD go right back to its grave before it can even attack. Tell me something I DON'T already know for once, Yami. Other!Marik says he knows what they're all thinking, and I'm very grateful that he doesn't feel the need to repeat it yet AGAIN when he informs Jonouchi and bystanders that Ra has the power of a swift attack. Jonouchi repeats this phrase in wild disbelief, looking quite overcome with distress.
Other!Marik introduces his god card's third power with a theatrical wave of the arm, and starts speaking the Hieratic characters on the card out loud. Ra's big golden mouth begins to fill with licking fire, and Yami notes with alarm that the whole bird, on fire, is changing form. Are we sure that's not because the golden sun idol is warping due to its pitifully low melting point?
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? First, wow, that was the most dramatic walkback I've ever read in a story. Last chapter KT let Jonouchi really rise to the challenge, using all of his skills and proving that he is more than capable of performing an adaptable and fluid strategy to keep an opponent on the ropes. Now, KT has Jonouchi overlooking something that he really should have seen, it being in his line of sight the entire time, and thereby turned his carriage back into a pumpkin and him into the class clown once more, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors. Sure, it's plenty realistic for a player to get distracted and make dumb mistakes no matter how competent they are, and that perhaps one could ARGUE that the virtual fog of other!Marik's dissipating monsters put the face down card out of sight for a moment too long. That being said, this sudden critical and regressive mistake strikes me more as KT realizing that he had to wrap up this duel and not being able to come up with a good SUBTLE way for Jonouchi to lose without losing his hard-earned dignity in the process. I've already said that Jonouchi's peers will continue to ignore his progress and skill no matter what, but that doesn't mean I thought it would be acceptable to give them MORE reason to view him as nothing more than a fool who stumbled his way into a place he didn't belong!
KT, you done Jonouchi dirty. What a crock.
Second, the superfluous commentary of Yami and Kaiba, detailing a lot of the things of which the standing readers already know, is HEAVY here. I'm as aware as ever that a serialization will sometimes repeat itself on the assumption that new readers will trickle in at odd moments, but I feel like the reiterations are a bit more elaborate than warranted. Yami could have made his objection to Ra's unorthodox summon much more vague, letting new readers know that there's a rule seemingly being broken here more creatively. What better way to get someone new to want to go back and read what they missed than alluding to prior information in an interesting way? Besides, Yami's listing of all the reasons why Ra's summoning shouldn't be a good plan here is just NOT how people think or talk. It's probably the most blatant example of a problem that KT has always had; making his characters talk to the audience like they shouldn't be able to just SEE what's going on and draw their own conclusions. He still doesn't trust us all that much, and it really shows.
Kaiba's recitation of the card's actual text was not only a failure at antiquated poetic leaning, but also not really a fair and accurate description of the card's effects. Yes, it's obvious that this is just more gate-keeping to keep anyone not destined to have the cards locked out of the loop, but it doesn't actually SAY what the powers are? No matter how much of a dead language you can spontaneously understand, there's still no damn way you should be able to get "quick attack" from that purple flowery word salad.
All in all, this was... very disappointing. Can't say I wasn't warned, though. I'm lookin' at you, Sebastian.
No comments:
Post a Comment