Oh no, no chapter, you've got to work a little harder than that to make me think this is a hopeless deal. Yami has spent this entire manga squeezing himself out of the corners KT has written him in, so the inevitability of his eventual win is fairly certain at this point. The only real question is what loophole in these weird rules he's going to exploit to get there. My money's on some under-powered monster paired with a strange enhancement to piss other!Marik off with its offensive simplicity.
Yeeeaaaaah, I don't believe that for a second.
But Yami himself seems to be leaning toward convinced; he looks upon this immortal god slime with disbelief, and to be fair, it does kind of resemble an eldritch horror. Below the platform, Honda curses about how bad this is, spelling out that Yami can't scratch other!Marik as long as the slime god is there. Jonouchi wonders aloud nervously if Yami couldn't stop it from regenerating somehow, while Anzu looks on with worry next to him. Kaiba doesn't look surprised in the slightest, convinced that other!Marik knew Yami would summon Obelisk and it was all a ploy to get that immortal slime god onto the field. While contemplating how this strategy managed to render even Obelisk powerless, Kaiba wonders if there's any way for Yami to bounce back from this.
Yami growls in impotence, ending his turn.
Other!Marik sure looks proud of himself for just creating a sustainable stalemate.
He declares it's his turn in that case, and draws a card, looking at it only to let out a sinister chuckle as he adds it to his hand. Meanwhile, Yami's mental wheels are spinning. He knows that other!Marik must be using the slime god as a shield as he waits to draw a card that will let him bring back Ra AGAIN, and Yami is certain that Obelisk will die if this is allowed to happen. He also knows that getting rid of the slime won't damage other!Marik, so he's wondering just what he can do now. Other!Marik assures him that there's nothing for him to think about; he should just sit back and wait for the darkness to come, because it's all he CAN do. The existential terror is real, and things get even creepier when the Original Recipe Marik opens his one remaining eye from his ghostly perch in the space next to other!Marik.
Other!Marik asks Yami if he's ready, giving no actual impression that he cares. He plays a face down card, and summons in defense a big armored eyeball with spikes and arms to hold a crossbow that he calls Bowganian. It's not really an... intimidating specimen like his other creepster monsters have been, but it's got a crossbow, so I guess that's cool? Yami seems pretty taken-aback by it, and it becomes clear why this was probably a good reaction to have when other!Marik reveals that it does 300 points damage every turn it remains out and about. Still not very impressive, but that other!Marik has been pretty sneaky with those face down cards thus far, I suppose, so the anxiety is understandable.
With that bombshell dropped, other!Marik ends his turn, and Yami sweatdrops as he begins his by nervously drawing a new card.
A way more intimidating monster right there, little heart emote and all. Although the next panel decided to get right up its little skirt to give us a panty-shot, just so it could switch me over to grossed-out instead of in awe. Dick move, panel. Dick move.
Yami thinks he needs to defeat Bowganian right away before it can get a shot in, of course, so he sics Dark Magician Girl on it. DMG points its wand at the giant eyeball archer and casts Black Burning, but other!Marik discourages the speed with which Yami is targeting Bowganian. He reveals his face down card, big surprise, to be another slimy cog in his perpetual garbage machine: the permanent trap Jam Defender. Yami despairs that THIS card had to show up as the slime god thrusts its gooey hand in the path of the blast, protecting Bowganian, just as other!Marik explains it will do with every blow thrown at him.
Other!Marik reminds Yami that this is just like their previous duel, where Jam Defender cannot die, and neither can his monsters, even when punched by Obelisk. He seems to have learned that that the "infinite" card portion of that strategy was a bust, thankfully. Anyway, he spells out that as long as his slimy defense lives, he and his monsters are 100% unkillable. Peachy.
The next panel shows that Yami's points have dropped to 1300 and Yuugi groans in discomfort as more of him disappears, Yami calling to him in worry. This is one of those times when I actually could have used a little dialog mentioning where that whole 1000 points was coming from. Is Yami still paying for the Devil's Sanctuary? I don't think so... While I'm puzzling this out, other!Marik DOES remind us that his giant eyeball is aiming its crossbow at Yami so it can take another 300 out of him before the end of his turn. It fires a "Crossbow Bolt of Hell" (no lie), which strikes Yami in the right side of his chest, and straight out the back. At first wide-eyed with gritted teeth, Yami doubles over and groans much like Yuugi, who gets to be the one to call to HIM in concern this time. Yami asks Yuugi if he's alright instead of addressing his own pain, thinking he can't allow Yuugi to die. Meanwhile, other!Marik is ranting and raving that gods and pharaohs bow before him because even THEY fear their death. He has officially entered peak arrogance zone, and that is never the greatest place for villains to be.
As Yami wonders what he can do some more, and other!Marik laughs, the original Marik's glazed eyes fix on Yami and appears to think REAL HARD at him. Jonouchi shakes his fist at the stage, complaining that Yami can't do anything against the slime and simultaneously demands Yami get it together, while Anzu snaps to sudden attention beside him. Her blank, wide gaze stares ahead, and struggles to call to Yami in a voice that isn't her own.
Ishizu gapes at Anzu, thinking Marik's name. Other!Marik scoffs in her direction, looking quite irritated that the original recipe was hidden in her too. He seems fairly certain that the scraps of Marik inside others will die too once the original hung up next to him is gone. He does nothing at Marik, through Anzu's mouth, starts to explain that he swore revenge on Yami for killing his father, that being the reason he formed the Ghouls in the first place. Been a while since we've heard tell of those guys; I had almost forgotten they existed. But Marik/Anzu admits he didn't know the truth. Yami stares while Marik/Anzu points at the other!Marik standing on the platform and names HIM as his father's killer. J'ACUSE! With full prejudice.
Jonouchi is leaning in front of Anzu with his hand waving in her face, saying her name questioningly during this dramatic moment too, by the way. Just gonna let THAT hang out there like an insensitive comment at a funeral.
Other!Marik inserts a pinky into his ear to clear it out facetiously, adding a sarcastic "who, me?" comment for good measure. He chuckles, refers to Marik/Anzu as Mr. Main Personality, and lectures him on how he really should have realized that before his evil counterpart took over his body. Now, other!Marik says Marik will just have to take his guilt to the grave. Marik's single eye in the air next to him promises silently to take other!Marik with him, but other!Marik apparently can hear his ghost thoughts, which to be fair isn't totally unbelievable since they're the same person and everything. Other!Marik claims it's impossible for anyone to destroy him, with more laughter tacked on for good measure.
Ishizu hurries over to Anzu, addressing Marik, while Jonouchi is apparently still trying to get Anzu to snap out of it and listen to him. Anzu hangs her head as Marik apologizes to his sister through her, but Ishizu is only interested in the confirmation that it's really him. He bypasses this and asks her why she didn't tell him that that he was the one who murdered their dad, and she looks crestfallen, then pitiful as Marik implies that she had to have known that it was his and the family's fate for him to fight Yami in Battle City; he questions if the Millennium Necklace didn't tell her. Ishizu makes a desperate denial, saying that even if he was obsessed with revenge, he had to keep living, and that was the ONLY fate he wanted for him. Soooooooo... yes, huh?
Marik responds that he's not strong enough to keep HIM at bay forever, and he'll have put an end to his entire existence in order to not let this happen again. Ishizu grabs Anzu by her shoulders and shakes her, not willing to accept this decision of Marik's. But this isn't up for debate - he addresses Yami next without another word justifying it to Ishizu.
I'm pretty sure EVERYONE knows that, friend. So, unless you have some specific advice on HOW Yami is supposed to accomplish this, could you maybe let him get on with it??
Other!Marik tells his better half to give it up, that he's foolish, hopeless, that he should just die and there's no way for Yami to beat him. Typical blustering bullshit from someone whose fragile ego needs constant reassurance, even if it's only from his own big mouth. Yami, who has been facing where his friends were clustered beneath the platform behind him, turns again to glare at other!Marik with determination. Other!Marik suggests that they continue with an indulgent grin, before announcing his turn and drawing a card. He takes one look at it and only grows more pleased with himself, if that's POSSIBLE at this point, because it's the card that will finally put Monster Reborn back in his hand.
He plays it immediately; no need for beating around the bush this late in the game, thankfully. It's called Magical Stone Excavation, the instructions for which let the player exchange two cards in their hand for a card from the graveyard. Yami knows he finally did it, even before other!Marik declares zealously that this will allow him to get back Monster Reborn. Heart hammering, Yami stares at other!Marik licking his lips with anticipation of special summoning Ra on his next turn.
Yuugi insists from his binding next to Yami that there has to be a way, and Yami says he knows, his glower turned to maximum intensity. He thinks this is his last gamble. Other!Marik commands Yami to look at the darkness looming right in front of him.
Meanwhile...
Well HE looks well-rested.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Very glad that Marik got to confront his sister about what she had to have known about him the entire time, and even MORE glad that she didn't actually DENY that she had kinda seen all of this coming. I still maintain my skepticism that the Millennium Necklace actually shows the future as opposed to whatever future result is most advantageous for it to show Ishizu, of course. But the fact that KT didn't pussy-foot around the obvious issue of her having an item that shows her the future on its surface and not communicating certain "fates" of her brother's to him is fairly well-handled, I think. I'm impressed that KT didn't fall into his habit of overdoing the dialog - there was only so much Marik and Ishizu could discuss while surrounded by virtual strangers and not having a lot of time, so a lot of what COULD have been drawn out in painful detail was truncated and never verbalized. It leaves a good amount to the imagination and makes the conversation a bit more believable, as well as giving it some unexplored depth.
I'm sure my readers have noted how very tired I'm getting of Anzu having to be the one possessed so often against her will, though. It seems super unfair that everyone just decides to take her over whenever it's convenient, and doesn't even ask, even after all this time. The OTHER hosts have regained quite a bit of agency over the course of the story, so why not her?? Folks need to start giving that girl a lot more respect.
If they CAN'T afford a temporary host a little autonomy, why can't KT switch it up every once in a while. Honda's kinda standing around most of the time, not taking an active part in the card game plot. Why not use him? Just a thought.
Dude, Anzu has been possessed/kidnapped/sexually assualted more than anyone in this manga. Prisoner 777, Kankuro (the fake psychic guy, I think that's his name), Shadi, the bomber at that park, that stupid electric chair ride in Death T, Original Marik back at the pier, Asshole!Bakura (though at least everyone else in the group got kidnapped too). You're absolutely right, it's wrong how Anzu has been treated in this manga, her character has really been subjected to a level of disrespect that no other character has been. :^/
ReplyDeleteJesus, even Jonouchi has sexually assaulted her and he's supposed to be her friend. :^(
I forgot about DMG's panty-shot in this chapter too. There was no need for KT to do that. It's gross. It really shouldn't have been there.
Frankly, yeah, why can't Honda get possessed/kidnapped more instead of Anzu? He only got temporarily captured on Duelist Kingdom rescuing Mokuba's body and got trapped in the room with the falling blocks in Death T, which isn't anywhere close to being as degrading and disrespectful as what happened to Anzu.
Funny enough, in the anime's final season when Yami's getting his memories back, Honda gets possessed by Asshole!Bakura, which was definitely a nice change of pace.
That aside, I do like what KT did here with Marik and Ishizu and overall, I like the way KT handles the original Marik's struggle, it is by far the most interesting part of this conflict.
Poor Anzu, the only way that KT can think of to make her relevant is to suspend her autonomy, and you've really summed up all those times right there. I don't think I realized the full extent of the problem, but man, it's really glaring whenever it comes up! Hopefully, in the next arc, KT can find a better use for her character than... this.
DeleteAnd yeah, the DMG panty shot really kinda got to me. It's a small thing, but in the manga and anime industry as a whole, it's a pretty pervasive tactic to wrangle the attention of young male audiences (presumed straight, of course). I wish that there was more respect not only for the girls reading who get some very harmful messages from that sort of thing, but also for the boys, who really shouldn't be reduced to drooling horny simpletons who can't relate to a female body except through sex-appeal. I know boys' interests are deeper and more complex than that, and I'm glad you brought up Marik and Ishizu's interactions in this chapter too, because that kind of highlights how subtle and meaningful KT's writing can be when he's not preoccupied with fanservice!