Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 255 Obelisk Strikes Back!

I think Slifer should actually do something to strike back against first, before we start talking about counter-moves. But hey, how cool will that be when Obelisk gets out there and starts punching, huh? Two titans taking swings at one another is the height of suspense, that doesn't remind me at ALL of the privileged dickheads fighting for control of a country they clearly care less about than the sound defeat of the other. It does NOT bring to mind two dirty old white dudes who have no discernible policies or morals; just a couple of prescriptive tribe labels that do little to draw attention away from how much they really have in common.

No, there's an OCEAN of difference between Slifer and Obelisk that doesn't have to be made up - one of them is red, and one of them is blue. Neither one of them is pretending to be a color they're not, too, so you really get what you see.

Imagine complaining about a negligible disadvantage in CHRONOLOGY. Talk about first world problems.

Yami points at Kaiba and says it looks like the tables have turned, apparently forgetting that he's technically been leading this match in points pretty much the whole time. The fake crowd boos angrily, but a now smiling Kaiba scoffs, retorting that they shall see, then prompting Yami to take a look at his hand. Yami glares over the tops of three cards as Kaiba talks past him and straight to a potential first-time reader, telling THEM that Slifer's attack and defense depend on the number of cards in the player's hand. Kaiba points out that Yami's hand gives his god card a scant 3000 attack points. In turn, Yami draws attention to the fact that Kaiba's XYZ-Dragon Cannon only has 2800 attack points, and he could very well destroy it on this turn. He grows a little grin, not even a SHADOW of the murder grin I miss so much, and says getting rid of that cannon would put an end to Kaiba's plans to summon Obelisk.

Kaiba smiles and DARES Yami to try. They share a glare; determination and a bluff? Defiance and disdain? Only time will tell. Yami wonders what's inspiring such confidence in Kaiba, if he has some way of protecting the cannon from Slifer's attack. He notes the mere 200-point difference between Kaiba's monster and his own, but then suddenly recalls the face down card he had been so worried about in the last chapter. I guess the excitement of summoning Slifer put it out of his mind for a moment, and I can't really blame him for that. Lightning and shit - that'll distract anyone. He remembers that he'd figured the face down card was the Life Shaver he had exchanged for Slifer before. Still, it hasn't even been one turn since he put it out there, so activating it now would mean that Yami wouldn't even have to discard a single thing from his hand.

The picture of impatience, Kaiba asks Yami what's the matter, and demands that he go ahead and hit him with his best shot. Yami looks harried and irritated in the next panel, and other!Marik chuckles at this from his sideline wall, wondering if Kaiba is bluffing, or something else. He thinks it's not half bad for Kaiba to stop Yami with just a single face down card despite his opponent having a GOD card and everything. Yes, impressive, if you ignore all the unsound plays he's made in this tournament up until this point. Which I'm not going to, by the way.

Meanwhile, Kaiba knows that whether Yami attacks or not, he's not going to stop him this turn. Yami turns over in his mind the possibility of the face down card is one that increases XYZ-Dragon Cannon's attack - meaning Slifer could die on him pretty much immediately. Still, he knows if he doesn't attack this now, Kaiba will go on to summon Obelisk thereafter. He wonders if this is all a bluff on Kaiba's part, thinking there's an awfully good chance it's just Life Shaver, but he still doesn't look too sure. Gee Yami, show ME to whine about how you're never in a convincing bind...

Surprise! It's not Life Shaver. It's Interdimensional Transporter, not only quite the mouthful, but also this incomprehensible floating machine with sharp edges and wires and a big aperture-looking eye on the front. It's like something out of my alien abduction nightmares. Anyway, Yami is astonished that the card wasn't Life Shaver, even though his logic on why that card would be pretty useless to even put on the field at this point given how many turns it would need to hang out to be effective. Kaiba tells his Interdimensional Transporter to transport some matter, or an approximation thereof in hologram form I'm sure. It targets XYZ-Dragon Cannon and the composite robot monster fazes out of view, much to Yami's continued shock. Grinning, Kaiba explains that thanks to this spell of his, Slifer has lost its target and its attack is wasted. Indeed, the blast explodes on precisely nothing, but Yami is amazed to see a concentration of light and air splitting as Slifer's attack is winding down, the cannon popping back into existence in that spot. He remarks upon this, and Kaiba responds with a laugh that Yami's turn was wasted.

But Yami soon recovers from his astonishment and mutters that he sees how Kaiba prioritized the face down card to protect his sacrifices. He reminds Kaiba that his turn isn't over, however, and plays a face down card himself. This has Kaiba in EXTREME disbelief, because Yami is CHOOSING to play a card from his hand. When his god requires that card for a full 1000 attack points. I've got to admit, it seems a bit counter-intuitive, and even full-out INSANE, but Yami is smiling when he ends his turn HERE.

Kaiba stares at Slifer, its attack power reduced to just 2000 attack points now, thinking in full does-not-compute mode that it's impossible; Yami now only has two cards left in his hand. He wonders if Yami realizes that he's going to summon Obelisk on the next turn with its 4000 attack points. Yami calls over to him to come on already, as it IS his turn, and teases that XYZ-Dragon Cannon MIGHT just be strong enough to destroy Slifer without Obelisk's help now. He ruins his intense smarm by saying that it's his turn to test Kaiba's will after Kaiba subjected him to a test earlier.

Scoffing, Kaiba doesn't even come CLOSE to having the same crisis of uncertainty as Yami did before, even with all his confusion regarding Yami's play of a card on the last page. He draws a card, thinking he knows exactly what he's going to do, no matter what bullshit Yami says. Kaiba laughs a little, anticipating the disappearance of Lightforce Sword at last so that Obelisk can return to his hand, even as the holographic sword dissolves in a smoke effect. Yami watches, heart pounding, while Kaiba holds a card up just so it hides his right eye. He smiles, promising to show Yami god.

You see this? This is peak spaz right here. Kaiba has just elevated himself from kid you knew growing up who would run around the playground screaming that aliens were chasing him to cult leader putting on full ceremonial show for all his many virgin brides. Zero to sixty in less than a second folks. Somebody fetch this fucking psycho an Oscar, STAT. 

As per usual with god card summons, the sky above them fills with thunder and lightning, while Kaiba continues to petition his deity to bring him victory and shake heaven and Earth with its power. Yami's wide eyes stare at the light show as he acknowledges the massive power he feels. Mokuba giggles in childish delight, other!Marik smiles, and Kaiba has his mouth open wide in a massive laughing grin.

I feel like they should have established a safe-word before this point? The play is getting pretty dicey, is all I'm saying.

Smile back down to a semi-normal capacity, Kaiba enthuses about how this is it; the clash of the titans has finally arrived. My copy is still in the mail, but it's worth the wait for sure; Ray Harryhausen's work is an absolute JOY, don't @ me. Yami glares at Kaiba, who predicts that he'll destroy Slifer, and then ALL of the gods will be his, making him the king of duelists. Guess he forgot that there's one more that neither one of them have. Or his brain is so hopped up on the power drug that he's not thinking stright. Either way, he laughs and laughs.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm tempted to complain that Obelisk didn't strike a damn thing in this chapter, making that title very misleading, but there is an implication that the very SUMMONING of these monsters have a "striking" effect on the players' minds. I've already mentioned how the designs just ooze FUN to the reader, but to the characters the gods are imposing, and this does seem to depend in some way upon the attack power upon appearance. While Slifer's summoning was impressive, Yami says here that OBELISK instills him with anticipation and fear that he didn't feel before. In a way, Yami himself has been hit by the presence of Obelisk long before any blows have been struck, just by its sheer magnitude and intimidating potential force. Kaiba may have been a moment behind in bringing out his god, but that doesn't mean he can't still have the upper hand, and that in itself can be a big shock on an opponent's confidence.

Not that I think it will be much of one on Yami's, at least not for very long. I'm not sure if KT is aware of how disingenuous his teases at Yami's inner "vulnerability" that is never actually there are, but at least he didn't write Yami as having a genius plan the whole time like he usually does in this chapter. I can appreciate the fact that Yami had to confront some real discomfort and not playing it off as a bluff later, even if for a moment. I can also appreciate the fact that his attempt to put Kaiba in a similar state of uncertainty failed spectacularly. Kaiba's arrogance has gotten far too large to suffer that kind of caution, to the point that his first reaction to Yami taking 1000 points off of Slifer's attack was to wonder if Yami was even AWARE that he'd just done it. In his mind, this is his tournament, his time to shine, and no one is more clever or capable than he. He's the star of the show.

Which is the third thing that I can't help but admire about the chapter - Kaiba's theatrics. He's amped them up to 11 here, and it's entertaining as hell. Kaiba has always been very showy, and his incantation and gestures here are a natural and understandable progression of that tendency. The kid is REALLY playing the part of high priest here, and you definitely FEEL his belief that he's summoning an honest-to-goodness god. Of course, that's probably not JUST Kaiba's overly-dramatic nature, since there's a context to all this that we still haven't quite reached yet...

But again with bridges and crossing them when we get there.

Inuyasha Manga: 196 Tsubaki's Shrine

Even if it's a dark, nondescript void of some sort, it must be so nice to have somewhere to PUT your shrine. I had to drag mine out of my bedroom because there was a severe condensation and mold problem beneath the window and my cool table kept getting covered in mildew. Now the tacking strips under the carpet have been replaced, the carpet itself has been cleaned, and I've cleaned out every corner of my table with a vinegar-water mixture to kill all the mildew - I honestly don't know if all of this will be enough to keep the mold at bay. This nasty crap is annoyingly persistent, and I can only imagine how pissed off it would be at my efforts at cleansing the area if it were sentient:

Tsubaki wonders out loud if this is that girl Kagome's doing, but maybe it's just because I've been spraying my vinegar-water mixture everywhere. Sorry about that. Kikyou, still hanging out in her existential BOREDOM, says she told Tsubaki so; Kagome won't be overcome by such a weak curse. Tsubaki snaps over her shoulder that it's nonsense her curse is weak, and this is actually just because Kikyou showed up out of nowhere unnecessarily and distracted her.

Man, am I in Lamps Plus or something? Only there are lampshades EVERYWHERE.

She doesn't just LOOK better. She's obliterated that barrier like she's been hale and healthy as a horse this whole time, which surprises Miroku and Sango hovering nearby as much as me. In the midst of the revealed forested area behind the destroyed barrier, Tsubaki peeks out the door of a building standing in it, having noticed that something has happened to expose her. She sees in the sky Inuyasha leaping straight for her base, come to capture the flag, and she's in disbelief seeing him. Kikyou just stands impassively in the background, but when Tsubaki mutters angrily about how Kagome's arrow must have missed Inuyasha, Kikyou gives her a sharp look.

Like the clueless rube she is, Tsubaki glares at Kikyou out of the corner of her eyes and asks what her problem is now. Kikyou cites what was implied by what Tsubaki just said - that she intended to kill Inuyasha by having Kagome fire an arrow at him. Whoops, probably should have been a bit quieter about your failed attempts to murder the ex-boyfriend there Tsubaki. She twists a bit more toward Kikyou with a smirk and asks if that brings up a bad memory for her, then admits that she did indeed make Kagome fire an arrow at Inuyasha to imitate that time Kikyou did it.

With a steady glare, Kikyou walks straight over the remains of Naraku's dirt-puppet and grabs hold of a fistful of Tsubaki's hair, yanking her head back. I guess this cat fight was a long time coming, but it still feels a bit on the sleazy side. At least they aren't greased up and wrestling in a kiddie pool, though. Kikyou calmly states that she has no intention of interfering in whatever fucked-up shit Tsubaki wants to do to Kagome, BUT...

Kikyou over here threatening me with a good time. Or at least a halfway decent reason for her to be around right now.

Outside, Inuyasha lands with Kagome still astride his back, with Miroku and Sango touching down on Kirara a short distance behind. Kagome, unfortunately, seems to have picked back up sweating and hunching in pain, the shards in her collar bone standing out darkly against it. Tsubaki's concentration has picked back up, I see. Kagome indicates the shrine as where she's feeling the Shikon no Tama, as well as the person who put a curse on her and controlled her. Sounds like a party for sure. Not a very fun one, but a party nonetheless.

The door to the shrine swings open, revealing Tsubaki behind it, not bound by Kikyou's arrows as she was, but facing the Inuyasha gang with her giant white snake coiled this and that way around her body like a carelessly-wound scarf. After a moment of shock at Tsubaki's reveal, Inuyasha snaps at her that she must be this so-called dark miko he's heard so much about.

This inspires not much more than a little confused disbelief from Inuyasha, so Miroku is the one to address Tsubaki's statement, asking her what happened to Kikyou since he saw her go through the barrier. Now THAT gave Inuyasha a bit more to be shocked about, alarmed to learn that Kikyou should be there. Did you not SMELL her, dude? Or is this one of those times when that power goes mysteriously unused? Tsubaki scoffs and tells Inuyasha that it seems Kikyou came to plead for his life, to which Kagome and Inuyasha can only really respond with awkward silence. So Tsubaki continues to shoot off her mouth, supposing that despite Kikyou's official status as dead, she can't move on while her love for Inuyasha remains. Seems to be a point of mockery for Tsubaki, unsurprisingly.

Inuyasha dumps Kagome off next to Miroku and Sango, telling them to take care of her, having found ANOTHER thing to be pissy about on top of the whole curse that's still on Kagome. He steps toward Tsubaki, casually observing that she seems to know an awful lot about them (Kikyou's relationship to him in particular, rather, but who's really paying THAT much attention?). He cites the fact that Tsubaki has been controlling Kagome's actions to the point that she just HAPPENS to have made Kagome try shooting him, and demands to know the truth that Naraku is the one pulling the strings here. She makes no pretense about it, and asks what it matters, and Inuyasha lunges at her with Tessaiga already half-drawn, shouting that she'll get ripped apart with no mercy if that's the case.

But Tsubaki is quick to clap back that Kagome will die if he finishes pulling Tessaiga, and he freezes, eyes wide. Tsubaki holds up the blackened Shikon no Tama, or most of it anyway, reminding the fool of a hanyou that the curse is still in effect. She says that while it remains in her hands, so does Kagome's life. Sango leans down to support the still weak Kagome on the ground while muttering half-insults, Kagome and Miroku remaining tensely fixated on Tsubaki. Or perhaps the jewel in Tsubaki's palm, which sizzles a little as a bit of light returns to its surface. Tsubaki glares down and it and clenches her fingers around it.

As much pain as Kagome is in, at least it doesn't look like her thumb is on a completely different plane than the rest of her hand. That would just be awkward.

Tsubaki seems pleased that the jewel in her hand is impure again, and wonders if Kagome, who has reverted back to a limp mass of groaning pain in Sango's arms again, has any strength remaining to re-purify the Shikon no Tama. It takes no time at all for Tsubaki to conclude that Kagome's nothing; the jewel being purified and the barrier being broken were both just a result of Kikyou's interference and distraction. Recalling what Kikyou said about the curse being too weak to beat Kagome, Tsubaki supposes that Kikyou must have just overestimated her reincarnation.

Inuyasha growls at her that she's pulling a damn dirty trick, and Tsubaki scoffs that she'll play this game as dirty as it takes to make the whole Shikon no Tama hers. Another patch spreads over her eye, but not a scaled pattern this time, as she tells Inuyasha will be the first to go down. Says a lot about how threatening Tsubaki REALLY found Kikyou's hot air earlier. What looks like the bust of a menacing dog-fox-creature bursts forth from her FACE like the animal specter of pink eye. Which I honestly can't say is worse than THIS:

Miroku is rendered nearly speechless by this sight, and Sango exclaims in disbelief that Tsubaki was keeping a youkai inside her body. Better than having ghost Lord Byron's club foot in your mouth? Debatable in my opinion.

Well, she's currently in the process of getting distracted again - you probably won't have to work very hard at it, Kagome.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This one at least wasn't quite as boring as the ones preceding it. It was cool the way Tsubaki revealed her inner youkai, and the design of the creature itself is in a similar style to the others in the story so far: vaguely wrong and bizarre to give a more subtle sense of horror. This thing's bird talons give me the creeps, reminding me a bit of all those cryptids I've read about on the SCP Foundation wiki. All it needs is a strange and not altogether comprehensible set of eerie powers. I'm expecting those to be a tad more blunt in nature, though; if Inuyasha is expected to face off against it, you can bet its method of attack will be mostly physical.

I'm slightly intrigued by Kikyou losing her cool with Tsubaki for a moment. It's hard to know what it means that she shrugs her shoulders at the curse put on Kagome, but bristles when the effects spread to Inuyasha. It's clear she's not hoping Kagome dies due to the curse - Kikyou has said multiple times now how she really doesn't expect for the curse to give Kagome too much trouble, and in fact seems rather confident that it's no big deal for her. The only possible explanation I have for this is that Kikyou, coming from the perspective of one that not only spent her life absorbing reincarnation as a tenet of her Shinto lifestyle but also being conscious of how it works simply by EXPERIENCE by now, is aware of how Kagome's spiritual journey is a continuation of her own and is therefore much further along in potential and power than her past counterpart. She has, after all, acknowledged that Kagome IS her before, and no matter how painful it might be to admit deep down, it's probably very clear to her by now that Kagome will be far greater in strength than she was.

Inuyasha on the other hand is still the same boy Kikyou knew fifty years ago, and she has no real way of knowing how strong he's become. Perhaps due to her bias as one of the dead, stuck in the moment of death where nothing ever moves forward for her, Kikyou isn't capable of conceiving of Inuyasha progressing either. After all, she killed him too on that day fifty years in the past, so that would be all the more reason for her to imagine he's more like her than one of the living. And if he could be felled by her back then, he could also be felled by Kagome or even Tsubaki now in a similar context.

Or maybe she's still got a hankering to kill Inuyasha herself and doesn't want anyone else horning in on her territory. I don't know. It's not like she's going to make good on her threats to Tsubaki earlier. It would no doubt take things a bit far off the track to have Kikyou get in on this fight. Or perhaps just too much to keep track of.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 254 Secret Plan to Call God!

Calls to mind an inexplicably desperate and dangerous journey to a confessional booth. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be very surprised if that was actually a movie, considering some of the media the religious right comes out with in general, but I can't be certain because it's been a while since I've seen one of those films. If I had to be cooped up in quarantine for too much longer and I might discover this gem, just by trawling through Netflix all day every day. Thankfully I'm on my way back into the office full time due to a recent promotion in a couple-three weeks, so the danger of this travesty on my sanity is rather low.

Not sure how to judge the level of danger in the contents of this chapter, though.

I mean the kids holding out cards to their opponents is pretty typical. It could mean anything.

As if the two of them hadn't just met in the center of the platform to perform the action mere seconds earlier, Yami announces that he's added Slifer to his hand through his use of the Exchange card. He then thanks Kaiba condescendingly, but Kaiba doesn't seem to mind too terribly much. He's smiling when he metaphorically shrugs it off; He doesn't think much of Yami having the card in his hand and wishes him luck playing it silently. Obelisk is still pinned by Lightforce Sword at his feet for two more turns, as he notes with a glance down. But Kaiba's back to glaring ahead, confident that his XY-Dragon Cannon will wipe out all of Yami's monsters, thereby not allowing the three necessary sacrifices to summon Slifer to be gathered for purpose. Kaiba thinks he has the numerical advantage - two turns being plenty of time for him to get his little lambs in order for the moment when Lightforce Sword is gone.

As unimpressed as Yami looks here, I prefer this expression to the lying liar face of his phony shock in the previous chapter. I like the realism of the exasperation  Kaiba inspires.

Also, Yami is internally admitting that Exchange was a rather dangerous gamble, even if it DID get Slifer into his hand. It allowed both players to take a card from the other's hand, and Kaiba took a card that could really stick it to his rival: Life Shaver. Kaiba is putting on a pretty convincing impassive look, but there's still a ghost of a smirk there while Yami continues to calculate the damage he could do. Since Slifer's attack points are determined by the number of cards in Yami's hand, Kaiba using Life Shaver could render Slifer almost powerless.

Impatiently, Kaiba urges Yami to hurry up, given it's his turn, and Yami agrees slowly. He thinks there's no doubt now that Kaiba will play Life Shaver this turn, drawing a card. Though Kaiba's life points are halved by his poor spending habits, he's not sweating in the least.

There's playing it safe. Kaiba scoffs at this and asks if defending himself is all Yami can do - if that's the case, Kaiba declares he doesn't even NEED Obelisk to defeat Yami. Yami is too busy worrying how long his shield monster can stand up to XY-Dragon Cannon to respond. I'm not even sure he HEARD Kaiba.

Other!Marik is still hanging out, ready to give us more inane commentary. Not that I'm one to talk, of course... He's thinking on the fact that there's only two more turns until Kaiba will summon Obelisk, because there's no point in questioning whether he'll have what he needs by that time. It's practically a certainty. When that happens, other!Marik is certain that Yami won't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. This pprospect appears to displease other!Marik, judging by his wrinkled nose and frowning sneer. He thinks at Yami not to disappoint him, because he wants Yami to grow and grow in preparation for slaughter like a cow. Other!Marik licks his lips, silently insisting that it's just no fun crushing someone who's already half-dead. Says the guy who just expressed the desire for his rival to be more like a meek cow bred to be butchered. He further complicates this mess of metaphor and raw murderous prose by asserting that Yami must suffer and writhe in the ultimate pain before he's sacrificed to the darkness. 

Gracious, KAREN couldn't demand more modifications to a mother fucking Starbucks order.

Having politely waited for other!Marik to finish his inner monologue, Kaiba at last announces that it's his turn, drawing a card. He holds his up off to the side so that he can glance at it out of the corner of his eye and Yami can watch him do that dorky smug chuckle of his in all its terrible glory. Also, he's counting down the turns again until Obelisk is freed, only one solitary turn to go now. One more turn until he intends to crush Yami with his god card. A euphemism if there ever was one. He urges Yami to get ready for this inevitability and plays a card face down. Yami is sure this has to be the Life Shaver card Kaiba exchanged Slifer for.

With the air of a ring leader at the circus, albeit a very serious one, Kaiba prepares to introduce his new card.

Great observation. Superb. He's also cottoned onto the fact by now that the moment one of Kaiba's magnetic monsters is summoned, their special ability is activated, namely to combine in a totem-pole like configuration. This new, with its tank treads, naturally affixes itself to the belly of the metal wyvern after it tucks its legs away as Kaiba demands with entirely too much manic enthusiasm that they combine and fuse into XYZ-Dragon Cannon.

Yami notes this monstrosity's whopping 2800 attack points, along with its ability to separate into three separate sacrifices for Obelisk when the time speedily comes along. Other!Marik just reiterates Kaiba's plan to focus on the god card, using a power deck of support monsters to maximize its effectiveness, blah blah blah. The point of the matter is, other!Marik has judged this duel to be all but over now. Because his opinion is the most valuable thing I could take from this entire duel, clearly.

Big Shield Guardna is indeed blown apart by the attack, and Yami flinches behind an upheld arm, hanging his head in a suspiciously eye-hiding manner afterward. Uh-oh, I think one of KT's famous (read: annoying) fake-outs is playing out. Kaiba doesn't notice, laughing obnoxiously as he claims that he's just beaten Yami's last monster (poor Queen's Knight appears to be summarily ignored here, for some reason) and threatens to smash his SOUL as well. What a guy.

Yami looks up with a smirk on his face, scoffing that Kaiba sure does LOVE an easy target. This is probably the truest thing anyone has ever said in this whole manga so far and I love it. Yami says he knew Kaiba couldn't resist killing Big Shield Guardna, and as Kaiba's face goes slack in sudden disbelief, Yami declares he's handed him a chance to win.

Yami basically recites what's on the card above as he chooses a card from his hand; the lucky monster he's going to play next. Here's hoping Kaiba can't just railroad over that one too. Smugly, Yami announces his choice as "King's Knight". Why does this seem so familiar? Oh yeah, because the queen Kaiba refused to acknowledge just a couple of pages ago has a similar name, and Yami begins to imply something happens when the king and queen are both out and about together. Kaiba grits his teeth, having already guessed from personal experience what's going to go down, but not really wanting to hear it.

Of course, Yami tells him anyway that he's now perfectly within his rights to summon Jack's Knight to the field as well. Kaiba is just alarmed by this three-monster combo, as though he honestly believed he was the only one who thought to do that kind of thing. Yami draws the parallel outright himself - he's got monsters to help him summon a god card too, doncha know? Kaiba growls, watching Yami slap his third "knight" on his Duel Disk.

And he did it using pretty much the same strategy as you did. Man, that's gotta sting.

Yami announces it's his turn, scarcely drawing a card before he offers king, queen and jack to the heavens, or the swirly whirlwind, as sacrifices. He holds a card high into the air, and a column of light surrounded by a vortex towers in the center of the platform and coliseum. This card is revealed to be Slifer (big surprise) and Kaiba grits his teeth at it while Yami calls forth the dragon god of the sky. When Yami slaps that card onto his Duel Disk, a web of lightning arcs above them.

I can't tell if Kaiba has a plan there, or if he's just happy in his pants to see a god-dragon. I'm kind of afraid to find out either way.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It's always an impressive visual when a god card gets summoned, though not in an exclusively "powerful" way. Sure, the creature is intimidating and looks like it could really fuck your shit up, but I'm almost more fascinated with the sense of FUN I get from the design of Slifer here, like KT was just having a blast drawing it. The intense amount of detail in it LOOKS like a labor of love, and it's one of the things I look forward to the most when I see them. I'm not suggesting these are the ONLY designs KT has a lot of fun with, but the fun is almost PALPABLE with the god monsters.

I can't get over how Yami pulled the rug out from under Kaiba by doing almost EXACTLY the same thing as him. There's an element of "great minds think alike" implied behind the shared strategy, and the notion that this is why they're true rivals; so perfectly matched as they are. But we probably shouldn't forget the so rarely remembered next part of the adage that puts things in a slightly different perspective: "but fools rarely differ". Both players have basically built their decks entirely around their use of the god cards, and it hearkens back to all of those villains of the past whose strategies were rigidly constructed around a single card, contrasted by Yami's fluid strategy. Now, I'm not sure if this is a subversion of a sort, or perhaps revealing how these god cards tend to be more of a liability in the long run for how they hamstring the player, requiring them to place the god card at the very center of play. I can only really say that there's not a big chance that either god card is going to be part of the resolution of this duel. That's too obvious of an ending, and I have more faith in KT than that. He's not THAT cheap.

Cheap enough to keep that jerk other!Marik hanging around to take up panel space he doesn't know what to do with though...

Inuyasha Manga: 195 Pointed Arrow

I remember when I was a kid, and learning about historical oppression in school spurred discussions of hypothetical existence in such environments. There wasn't a single one of us participating that didn't KNOW for certain that we would have helped and supported the oppressed, while fighting the oppressors with them. Now I look around, and there is a disturbing lack of integrity to that childish proclamation; people are more than happy to waffle on about how they're fine with the peaceful parts of the protests but they can't abide the riot side of it. My own in-laws have bade my husband to stop posting anti-police pieces on Facebook, insisting he not piss off the cop (and cop's father) in the family. We're both told we should bow our heads and not make waves, keep our mouths shut for the sake of our privileged peace, peace black families don't get the option to have.

Unfortunately for them, I haven't forgotten my own childhood certainty that my side is with the oppressed, and I was never very good at keeping my mouth shut.

Fuck the police. Defund them. Abolish them. And Black lives matter.

Chuckling, Naraku remotely observes Inuyasha to see his choice; run away and preserve his life or be shot by Kagome's arrow. If he chooses the former option, Kagome's life will of course be claimed by the dark miko's curse. A shockingly simple dilemma; can't wait to hear how it sucks that Kagome is cursed and everything, but she shouldn't be pointing her arrow at Inuyasha. Clearly that's how we dismiss the duty of helping people in pain these days. Kagome is the only one around to do the dismissal, though, and urges Inuyasha through halting, strained speech to get away. Inuyasha just says Kagome's name with a pained expression.

It quickly turns to affront when he calls her a stupid jerk and insists he won't just run and leave her, leaping toward her as he does so. A tear squeezes from Kagome's eye at yet another command in her head telling her to kill Inuyasha.

Tsubaki comments that this Inuyasha guy seems to WANT to be killed by Kagome. Or maybe his instinct is to just run headlong into whatever is threatening him at the moment. That's certainly what he did to resolve the last arc. Tsubaki smirks at Naraku out of her periphery and tells him he's a very nasty guy to make the reincarnated Kikyou kill her beloved man yet again. As if he didn't know. Before he can respond to her weirdly flirty comment, though, his puppet body (no surprises there) is blown apart and Tsubaki's name is called from behind his exploding pieces.

"But, if you're over there, then who have I been cursing this whole time???"

Tsubaki is pretty alarmed at Kikyou's appearance, which is... understandable, and Kikyou just kind of glares at her back, starting some identifying statement no doubt. We cut away before it's finished, however, to Inuyasha crouching on the floor in front of Kagome, her hand still held aloft though the arrow has flown out of it. Inuyasha's bell sleeve has been ripped off his shoulder and is pinned just above the doorway behind him by that very arrow he so narrowly avoided. Close call.

Inuyasha says Kagome's name tentatively, and she loses her balance, all energy completely spent by fighting that mental command. Inuyasha lunges forward to catch her, calling to her out of worry again, but she's regained enough control over herself to say his name in return, and not even in a murderous way this time. A definite improvement. He asks her if she's okay, and she answers that she is, even if she's sweating pretty hardcore. The voice in her head has stopped at least.

It seems that Inuyasha has nothing to say at this point but Kagome's name, whereas Kagome is somewhat relishing her regained power of speech. She tells Inuyasha to take her somewhere.

How close IS Tsubaki? And if she's close enough for Kagome to sense the Shikon no Tama, then why did Sango imply it took her and Miroku so long to find her? Does Kagome have extended Shikon detection range right now for some reason? Is it because she's connected to the Shikon no Tama through the curse?

Yeah... Yeah, let's go with that.

Soon, Inuyasha is leaping through the air with a barely conscious Kagome riding piggyback. She mumbles that she's sorry, and after a short pause, Inuyasha tells her not to worry about it, since it wasn't HER that fired the arrow. The perfect segue back to the one who WAS behind the arrow; Tsubaki, who glares at the newly-arrived Kikyou with BURNING HATRED. But a small sweatdrop accompanies that rage. She asks Kikyou what the hell is going on with this girl Kagome if she's not actually Kikyou's reincarnation. After all, Kikyou can't exactly be reincarnated if she's not DEAD, right?

Ahhh, this comic and its absurdly complicated cosmology.

Instead of answering this question, because that would probably take all damn day WITHOUT snack breaks, she takes a look at Tsubaki's big snake hovering over the Shikon no Tama on its tray and asks for confirmation that there's a curse on Kagome going on here. She snidely remarks that it's futile with the scant strength of Tsubaki's spell, and Tsubaki scoffs, the scaly pattern reappearing over her eye. She says Kikyou shouldn't take her lightly, since she's not the same as she was when Kikyou beat her fifty years before. With some disgust, Kikyou tells Tsubaki her stunt of selling her soul to a demon to preserve her youth is incredibly obvious at just a glance.

Instead of the refutation of this claim this panel suggests, she starts to reminisce of that time when Kikyou threw her curse back at her using a mere gesture with her bow. Tsubaki thinks in a few disjointed half-sentences; counter-strike, my face, that time, in addition to attributing the whole curse to Kikyou now. Even though Tsubaki is the one who threw it in the first place. And Kikyou just threw it back.

Whatever. As she contemplates that time she first got her scaly eye and her first reaction of utter and complete horror, Tsubaki says that though she couldn't steal the Shikon no Tama from Kikyou before, she's joined with a youkai, gaining eternal youth and beauty. And the youkai's power too, as something of an afterthought. Seriously, how has living this long NOT given her some sense of priority? I mean, she's good looking to be sure, but that won't exactly win her any fights, which seems to be how everyone settles any issues in this world.

Kikyou calls Tsubaki foolish, and Tsubaki immediately snaps that this stuck-up jerk is in NO position to be saying as much, standing there looking exactly as she did in her teens. But suddenly she looks a bit clearer at Kikyou.

Took you long enough to notice, sheesh...

She also observes rather late that Kikyou's body is neither human nor youkai, but an imitation. Tsubaki asks if the merely dead Kikyou came over just to lecture her or something, but Kikyou smarms that she doesn't give a fuck what happens to Tsubaki. She just wandered in there to see what the origin of this radiating evil was. Kikyou then shifts her gaze to her periphery and says that "she's" on her way. No points for guessing who SHE is.

Tsubaki responds to a call to her - supposedly from the little altar she's set up for the Shikon no Tama, I think - by twisting around to look back at the jewel. She notes the small spreading clear spot in the stained black Shikon shard, remarking internally that it's being purified.

Inuyasha is still leaping along, Kagome on his back, looking a LOT better while she sits up straight and aims another arrow in her bow.

It's great when douchebags announce themselves so blatantly, isn't it? We've got a whole slew of them calling their own dumb asses out over here. Just glorious.

So what do I think of this chapter overall? I'm underwhelmed. Kikyou's presence seems to be simply based on her name being invoked, which she actually admits. She's showed up for no other reason than to poke around, which suggests that she really doesn't have much to do otherwise. What about all those injured soldiers that she's been taking care of? Or has she moved on to doing house calls for weird patterns of energy for no apparent reason? I know that Kikyou is literally not capable of having an anchor or purpose for being ANYWHERE, given her "frozen-in-time" dead status, but I feel this is a rather empty use of that horrible position. Kikyou may not have much reason or purpose in where she ends up, but RT does, and perhaps she could utilize her to SAY something about it instead of just vaguing about Kagome's strength compared to Tsubaki's weak curse? It's an interesting statement, perhaps something of a compliment on her reincarnation, but there's not much else there.

In addition, I'm a little disappointed about the opportunity to flesh out our current baddie that our author gave herself and subsequently ignored. Tsubaki's motivations are just confirmed to be as shallow as they initially seemed, even to the point of putting her youth and beauty before the power her youkai benefactor gave her. In a conversation about how she wasn't the same as the girl Kikyou beat in the past. You would think that power, the main difference between then and now, would be Tsubaki's main argument, but she prioritizes bragging about her ongoing hotness instead.

After how many unique and interesting female characters RT has written, I'm rather disappointed that she just shrugged her shoulders and put the evil queen from Snow White in her story almost 200 chapters in. Is she going to offer Kagome a poison apple at some point or what? How unbearably BORING.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 253 God in Hand!!

No thank you. Not only does having a god in hand seem like WAY more trouble than fortune, I'm already holding onto too many odds and ends, and have been for a long time. Since moving into a TINY apartment, I've been trying to figure out where to put all KINDS of things that I've been carting around with me for years. Some stuff I've been able to just USE, like the craft supplies I've hoarded and had a little time to play with in the depths of quarantine. But there are objects hanging out in various corners that I'm not sure what to do with, like books I haven't gotten around to reading yet, and nick-knacks I can't bring myself to get rid of, and discs for computer games that can no longer run on my newer model machines.

Maybe I can get a shadow box in which I can artfully arrange a bunch of crap I'm far too attached to.

I still question whether this card should affect the card it's pinning for THREE turns, considering we've been reminded over and over that spells only work for one turn on the big bad gods, but I also question my limited knowledge of the mechanics of this game, so the only thing I don't doubt is that there's room for a lot of error here in either flawed perspective.

Kaiba is smiling when he thinks that Yami's escape from instant death won't stop his eventual defeat. The only thing that can stop THAT is Yami's privileged status of most important person to the plot. The digital audience continues to chant Kaiba's name, but Yami doesn't let that stop him from pointing and stating that the sacrifices remain since Obelisk's summon has been thwarted, and the effect of Soul Exchange ends. As a result, Queen's Knight and Kuriboh return to either side of Yami, Kuriboh's eyes swirling with its dizziness, I'm guessing because it was just released from its sacrificial whirlwind. It's an adorable detail.

Looking down at his pinned god, he internally laments that he has to wait three turns to have the chance to use it again. Mokuba pisses and moans on the sidelines how stupid Yami has taken the lead. Never mind that his precious brother was the one who spent 1000 of his own life points on a dead-end move. That's irrelevant to the current situation, clearly.

The level of foreboding here is exactly equal to the level at which Kaiba has been impressing me over the entirety of the semi-final arc.

Kaiba says his turn is over, telling Yami it's his move now, so Yami draws a card and takes stock of the two monsters he has on his side of the platform. He knows he'll have enough to summon Slifer if he can just get one more monster out there, but unfortunately he's not drawn Slifer yet. He looks down at his Duel Disk in desperation, as if silently asking how it could betray him so, which is frankly hilarious. Yami notes the attack power of the X-Head Canon floating next to Kaiba; 1800 attack, which is more than either of his own monsters, so he can't destroy it just yet. He settles for playing a card face down and keeping his monsters in defense for the time being, ending his turn on this meh note.

Viewing this as a clear sign of weakness, Kaiba says that if Yami keeping [sic] running like this, his three turns will pass in an instant. An instant packed with endless trash-talk, apparently. He announces his turn, drawing another card while he thinks he doesn't NEED three turns to kill Yami with his god. I would wonder how THAT works, but I'm sure Kaiba won't be able to keep the secret long. Boy just has too high an opinion about his "genius" strategies.

And speaking of arrogant boys who can't seem to shut their mouths for more than a few seconds...

Koolaid Man over here busting through the light wall of the coliseum to confirm that Yami and Kaiba are indeed going at it. And not so subtly edging back into the spotlight ;). He asks what the score is, and mutters about Kaiba's Obelisk being pinned, Yami not being able to attack either, and the question of which one of the two will be able to summon their god first. Thanks for summing that up for us, other!Marik. You can go now.

Nope. He's just GOT to keep blabbering on, asking who will win, knowing that death awaits the victor at his hands. No matter who takes that honor, though, other!Marik reserves the right to kill Yami regardless, chuckling at the prospect. Well that's a given.

Meanwhile, Kaiba summons a monster - Y-Dragon Head, a shiny floating mechanical wyvern. As Kaiba laughs, about the fact that the name and creature don't match, I'm sure, Yami repeats its name in his head. The similarity between the names of Y-Dragon Head and X-Head Cannon has not escaped him, and he's starting to consider the possibility that they might be two of a kind.

I gotta say, when I woke up this morning, I never imagined I would see a gunner robot riding a wyvern today. It's super weird. Fun, but weird.

XY-Dragon Cannon, with its 2200 attack points, apparently isn't as weird as it gets either. Kaiba says there's one more part of this bizarre machine, and if he plays it, they'll all three achieve their ultimate fusion. Or ultimate awkwardness. Yami has a lengthy epiphany about the move Kaiba is pulling here; the fusion monsters combine their attack and elevate out of the opposing forces attack power, while also being able to break back apart into sacrifices for Kaiba's god card once Lightforce Sword's effect ends. In other words, Yami's fucked. By Yami's wide-eyed, alarmed estimation, this is the perfect strategy to summon a god card that Kaiba has been planning all along. It certainly has an elegant simplicity about it, but I still think Yami is over-selling this. I mean, come on, it's KAIBA. Let's not give him more credit than he deserves. He'll do THAT all by himself.

Indeed, Kaiba theatrically tells his XY-Dragon Cannon to aim...

Really? Kaiba didn't go for the more intimidating monster on Yami's left instead? Then again, I'm sure he hasn't forgotten the last time he faced off against that little kaleidoscoping shit. I sure haven't.

Yami groans as he raises an arm against the virtual blow-back, but though he knows his defensive monsters protect his life points, he also knows that Obelisk has a whole 4000 attack points and it will reduce his points to zero in an instant with just one shot. Kaiba laughs, asking Yami if he's afraid, if Obelisk being released in three short turns makes him quake in his boots. If it does, the fact that it's actually just TWO turns now should have Yami downright pissing his pants.

Then he suggests with a teasing smirk that he might not even have to wait THAT long, and Yami sweats like he's been trapped at the center of the earth while we zoom in REAL close to his horror-stricken eye. It should be convincing me that he's already been backed into a corner and is honestly worried about Kaiba's next move. But it's not. I wonder why?

Kaiba smugly declares that the god cards will always end up in the hands of the ultimate duelist, sustaining Yami's strangely uninspired anxious expression, but prompting other!Marik's agreement, with the caveat that the ultimate duelist will be him and not Kaiba at all. Short and unnecessary interjection about who deserves the big prize done and over with, Kaiba tells Yami to watch his spell card, "Voice of the Heavens". Be careful Yami, he's about to pull something, despite nothing being up his sleeve.

Yami does indeed look on edge as he considers the name of this card. Kaiba explains that it allows him to enslave one of Yami's most powerful monsters, and all he has to do is say its name. Crap, it's the old "is this your card" gag. Should have told Yami to watch his WALLET. Kaiba makes a big deal of drawing out his calling of the name of his desired card, and the only thing I'm surprised by is that he didn't ask Mokuba for a drumroll. When he finally gets around to saying "Slifer the Sky Dragon", Yami recoils, growling in denial. But Kaiba insists that Yami take his god card from his deck and hand it over, NOW, manic expression, clawed grasping fingers and all.

Man, Yami is swallowing a lot of bitter pill today, isn't he? Only to wash them down with lemon juice.

They meet each other in the center of the platform, analog-style. Kaiba mocks a concerned tone as he observes just how deep in Yami's deck the card was while Yami sullenly holds Slifer out to him, and suggests that it was unfortunately not going to make an appearance in this duel buried so deep. Yami remains silent, but his face maintains its unhappy look. Other!Marik grins from his place in the wall, apparently very pleased that Kaiba now has two god cards. Kaiba himself asks Yami if he understands that the gods obey only him at this point, and laughs with raucous abandon.

Until of course he sees Yami smile back at him and say that they shall see about that. This brings Kaiba back to sober reality in a hot second. Yami says that Kaiba must have been thinking the EXACT same thing he was, because the moment Obelisk got himself free, he was planning on using his OWN face down card. Kaiba is the picture of alarmed and speechless, but Yami thinks Kaiba knows it's "THAT" card.

Yes "THAT" card. Kaiba is in disbelief that Yami is using the hand exchange spell card, in an indignant fluster as his brother cries out in dismay over the setback. Other!Marik just chuckles from his position in the fake wall. Yami claims that on the day he played that card against Jonouchi, he inherited part of Jonouchi's duelist spirit. He inherited the REST of that spirit when a few minutes ago, no doubt.

What? Too soon?

Kaiba growls while Yami steps back up to him and shows him his hand, sullen and put-out. But Yami is still ruminating, knowing that even now, he's not alone.

Oh, Kaiba? What was it you were saying about the god cards always ending up with the ultimate duelist? As usual, his foot is comfortably at home in his mouth.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was reasonably impressed that the great pacing of the last chapter was only a little compromised in this one. It would have been maintained if KT hadn't felt the need to insert other!Marik and his unnecessary commentary into the flow. On the other hand, if he hadn't done that, he would have had to fill this space with Yami and Kaiba's dialog, since there weren't a lot of actions the characters could have taken in the meantime, and that would probably have been just as inane. Besides, it WAS kind of fun seeing other!Marik leaning out of that wall like he was the whole time, grinning like an idiot. The silliness of it was kind of endearing.

What is not endearing to me is Yami's poker thoughts. I haven't seen Yami look and think genuinely unsettled by the turn a duel was taking only to come out a couple of pages later with a sly smile and say that he's got a counter-strategy in a while, and I didn't miss it. Because this was done ad nauseum in Duelist Kingdom, I wasn't fooled by it here, and it just annoyed me. I want to feel like Yami is REALLY on the ropes, not that he's just so good at fooling everyone into thinking he is, even the audience. A character playing at being disadvantaged in a duel to the point of putting themselves into the role even in their own HEAD isn't impressive; it just gives the impression that the author isn't very good at knowing when to deny us access to a character's thoughts and when to direct a reader's attention elsewhere. I thought he had learned those lessons by now, because I know KT is capable of it, but for some reason he's fallen back on this old, tired habit.

But I will throw him kudos for Yami's final elaborations in the chapter. I mentioned before that Kaiba seems to be pulling a psychological trick by recreating a large audience like the one in Death-T, chanting Kaiba's name and producing the illusion that Kaiba had support while none of Yami's friends were there to cheerlead the way they usually do. Well Yami has thrown this back in Kaiba's face by his play of a card that recovered the autonomy of his best friend, implying that while his friends cannot be there for him physically, there is a part of them (specifically Jonouchi) that is with him right now. It doesn't matter what hollow holographic imitations of fans Kaiba conjures, Yami's still got real people out there with real connections that are not broken even by the bounds of distance, time, or death.

This shift in tone implies something a little sad, though - Kaiba has his brother, sure, but he had to create a coliseum with fake people in it just to sort of COMPARE to the amount of support Yami gets from real people. He's so confused by the relationships he sees Yami engaging in, and yet, he understands them enough to see a glimmer of power in those bonds, and essentially try to manufacture something like that for his own use. But just like his recreation of Yami's penalty game on him in their first meeting, he's missing a rather large part of the equation. He's missing the transformational growth that come from both a penalty game and a friendship - that part where he doesn't just get the benefits but he puts them in, too.

Poor, desolate Kaiba, forever churning out superficial imitations of life and experiences without ever actually being engaged and intimate with them.

Can't someone just PLEASE punch him in the face? JUST so he can feel something for once, and definitely not because I think he deserves it?