Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 251 A Battle to Tear the Skies Asunder!

Good thing I'm not the one doing the fighting here - I'm so dreadfully tired. I received some pretty distressing news a few days ago and am consequently having trouble sleeping. Something of a... betrayal, if you will, that's been turning my stomach ever since my sister told me about it. This on top of everything else that's going on has my anxiety on overdrive, and I'm surprised I can so much as THINK right now with so many little fires starting in my life that I have to put out, to say nothing of the raging inferno outside. It may not be a battle to tear the skies asunder, but my mind is certainly apt to be shredded instead. Makes me wonder what else is going to crop up around here to make pull at another corner of my consciousness...

There had better be a lull in the surreal quality my life has taken on, or I might just have a full meltdown.

It probably doesn't help that this is an island of trash and there's nothing else to do on it but play a match or two so the tournament can end and your rich captor host will let you go the fuck home. Otherwise, there's not much more to do than sulk.

The first two pages are a double page spread of the two competitors posing in classic duel stance, extra dramatic. Then there's a whole page with Kaiba standing with coattails flared and arms crossed, seeming a tad redundant from his previous full-page presence. Yami faces him across the platform, with nothing but the howling wind passing between them, and of course Moar Cards Guy hanging out on the sidelines waiting to start the match. Kaiba and Yami have to spend a minute glaring at one another though, as is the custom for rivals of their sort. The former thinks the time has FINALLY come to settle this. What he doesn't think about what happens when he loses, because he will NOT let this go as the settlement. He's far too obsessive for that kind of finality.

Moar Cards Guy holds up his hand in that upsetting salute of his, announcing the competitors of the second match of the semi-finals, Seto Kaiba and Yuugi Mutou. Mokuba pumps his fist below the platform, shouting that Seto is nearly at the finals and all he has to do is beat Yami, as well as some heartfelt encouragement. This is apparently a cue for Kaiba to turn his douchebaggery up to 11 when he comments on how Yami's usual crowd of cheerleaders aren't there, and supposes that Jonouchi's coffin must be awfully heavy. Instead of telling him to fuck off like I would have done, Yami continues glaring for a moment before calmly stating that he believes Jonouchi is still fighting. Kaiba fires back he read the report from the doctors; cardiac functions stopped, Jonouchi's brain dying, and there's nothing science can do to save him. This feels like a violation of doctor/patient confidentiality, but I don't know what the equivalent of HIPPA laws entail in Japan, let alone in this looking-glass card-obsessed version of it. As if he hasn't already shoved his foot WAAAAAY in his mouth, Kaiba deigns to say "one" (more) thing; he figures Jonouchi must be so proud of getting further in the tournament than expected.

The worst thing about this? There is no way to convince Kaiba that his expectations don't actually mean SHIT.

Yami says Kaiba's name carefully, like he's trying to retain some level of patience with a bratty child, and in a way he is. He says that Battle City was like a road that they all traveled seeking what lies at the end, and asks what's their final destination after all the fighting is done. Yami tells Kaiba that he and Jonouchi are actually still looking for the answer. Kaiba retorts that there is no "answer" for the fallen, only shame, despair and... something else that Kaiba doesn't get to say because Yami cuts him off with the assertion that this is not true. Yami says that there's always the choice between hanging one's head forever in defeat or looking toward the future, getting back on one's feet to head down the road of battle until the future is found. There, Yami says, the answer is found. With all this talk of the future, it must be like looking in the MIRROR for Kaiba. If Kaiba had any self-awareness, that is. Yami thinks back on Jonouchi's question of what a true duelist is and reassures himself that Jonouchi is still looking for his answer.

Kaiba chuckles that Yami is still a fool.

Instead of talking past each other about two ENTIRELY different topics, could you guys just like, start throwing cards at each other or whatever? I didn't come here to watch two dipshits snipe at one another.

Yami wears a heavy frown while Kaiba continues to smirk at him, advising him to get ready; Kaiba's pretty confident that he's going to defeat him and become the king of duelists. Oh man, is it sadistic of me to be SO EXCITED to see his face when he loses? Yes. Yes it is.

Meanwhile, Jonouchi still lies still in his hospital cot, with Honda hovering at the foot of it gritting his teeth and the doctor on his right furiously writing on his clipboard. A small blip registers on the EKG, but when Honda points and asks about it, the doctor says he doesn't think anything moved on the machine, since his back was turned and all. Since it's one of Honda's only real talents, he grabs the doc by his collar and demands that he DO something if he's a medical professional, but the doctor just stutters he's already done everything he can and it's too late. Shizuka continues to weep and call out to Jonouchi's on his other side, Anzu standing sullen and speechless next to her, looking down at his expressionless face.

She thinks at him that Yami's duel is about to start, and her (our) gaze moves to the Duel Disk affixed to his arm. Yami apparently put it there before he left, but I don't recall that it was ever removed? I guess the doctors took it off while they were sticking all those electrodes to his torso semi-randomly.

As Yami left, Anzu turned to say his name, and called out to him again when she leaned out the door to follow him. With a hanging head, he told her and Honda to look after Jonouchi, and proceeded to walk off, hands in pockets, slouching slightly. Anzu wasn't about to let him wander away so fast, and demanded his attention a third time, asking if he really has to duel at a time like this. She launched into a whirlwind of inquiry; why is he doing this, what does it matter anymore, when Jonouchi, Mai, Bakura, practically EVERYONE in this tournament has landed in the hospital or worse. She asked with considerable volume what the POINT of all this is. I've been mulling over the same question this whole time and I still don't have an answer, Anzu. But hey, maybe if I head down the road of battle to the mother fucking future, I'll find it there at a certain point. At least, this is what Yami seems to think.

Yami paused for a moment or two, then told Anzu that he's decided to fight because he promised to fight. She stared in shock at him as he pulled back out that Millennium Necklace and told of the vision it gave him - might be a thought, though, because it's not in a proper speech bubble. Still impossible to tell even this far into the story.

What part of that vision tells you it won't come true if you don't duel Kaiba? I thought it was just supposed to help motivate you since you wouldn't be able to carry on doing the Millennium Items' bidding if Jonouchi was dead? Did the necklace actually just tap into some weird superstition that keeps Yami plowing into bad ideas?

Yami asked Anzu if she remembered the rock slab from the museum, and though she just gave him a look of consternation over her intact memory of the stone record, Yami went on to state that it proved he lived thousands of years ago, died, and yet here he is. He said that he came back to this world from the dead to find out who he is. Anzu stood in silence listening to this disjointed monologue; Yami claimed that seeking answers is what gives people a reason to live, then asserted that he knows Jonouchi will come back. By this point, Anzu had been joined in the hall by Honda and Ryuji, probably in response to Anzu's earlier outburst, because I don't think Yami was talking that loud. He clearly wants to save what little energy his grief has left him for facing off with that smug bastard Kaiba. They were all silent, until Yami started to walk away again, and Honda called out to him to win, clenching a fist. Yami said that he will win, and so will Jonouchi, leaving them all there to lend him nothing but thoughts during his upcoming match.

Which as all USians know is the most effective action for ALL STRUGGLES. That and prayer.

Nooooo, that was Jonouchi. I feel like there's some sort of The Summer We Got Free deal going on here, especially when Jonouchi's form appears behind Yami in a jaunty pose as Yami lifts his arm in preparation to draw a card the MOMENT the duel starts. He's convinced that he and Jonouchi will become true duelists together, and clenches his fist in determination at Kaiba across the way. Kaiba is relieved, because he was afraid there for a moment that Yami would have been too sad over the DEATH OF HIS FRIEND to properly continue his participation in this fucking tournament. Good to know he's got his priorities in order, huh Kaiba?

No, but seriously, Kaiba looks downright delighted to see that Yami doesn't appear to have lost his fighting spirit. I bet by the end of this thing, he'll really wish Yami had just stayed below to mourn. Moar Cards Guy raises his arm and the platform does the same, while Kaiba asks Yami with gusto if he's ready. Yami just glares some more. Then they shout the beginning of their epic, epic rematch.

Uh-oh. I've heard THIS myth before. No, not the Titanomachy, I don't know if that really fits...

More like Aphrodite, Hera and Athena kicking off the Trojan War in a competition to see who's the fairest of them all.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I made fun of it above, but I really do like Yami's explanation both in Anzu's flashback and to Kaiba as to why he's going through with this duel even though he's obviously just devastated. It's messy, doesn't altogether make sense, but it smacks of trying to justify NOT curling up and crying right now. He flits between seeing that vision and figuring there are conditions he has to meet for it to come true, and still needing to figure out who he is so he can know why he's alive here and now, a jumble of obligations and button-pushes that keep him going. But ultimately, there's one thing that he feels both he and Jonouchi wanted to get out of this tournament, and that's ANSWERS. They were both looking for identity at its core, trying to determine the center of their beings through trial by fire. A couple of classic heroes stripped down to their barest elements by a string of tribulation to see what was left at the end.

It's this commonality with Jonouchi that brought Yami back to face Kaiba, more than anything. And he even carried Jonouchi with him there to continue their search together in the same arena, figuratively of course. Yami thinks that if he finds the answer to who Jonouchi is as well as himself, perhaps that will bring Jonouchi back from the brink, since he was taken out before truly getting to the conclusion. This is really why Kaiba doesn't quite understand Yami when Yami tells him that Jonouchi is still fighting. Kaiba's not looking for identity; he's already well established in his. What he's looking for is RECOGNITION, VALIDATION, from everyone that he's the best. This is why he insists that there can only be one winner, and seems so focused on the title of king of duelists. This tournament is a crown to him, not a foray into the deepest recesses of his mind room.

Or letting a friend hitch a ride in your own wander through shared identity-crisis. While Jonouchi isn't literally share the space like Yami and Yuugi do, he still takes up a lot of room for them both, and always has. I wonder if it seems like it's getting a little crowded up there in Yuugi's head.

Oh, and by the way, since we're talking about identity here, I thought I would do a proper recommendation of The Summer We Got Free; a really lovely novel about the little labels put on us by others and even by ourselves as we try to navigate life. It's about love and tragedy, and has a sprinkling of magical realism on it to give it some spice. A great read, so if you're looking for something new, give it a try!