The very eve! This is the final chapter of the Duelist segment of Yu-Gi-Oh, after which Yuugi and co will no doubt be jetsetting off to their next destination. But we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves - there's still the small matter of a large explosion on the horizon, so that's bound to be a blast. An entirely intended and celebratory pun and I don't care how cringe-worthy it is. This whole blog has been peak cringe since the beginning, and THAT part of our following Yuugi's journey isn't changing at ALL.
And it will continue to be second only to the cringe Kaiba's overly-dramatic actions puts out, I'm sure.
Jonouchi, Honda and Yami have found Moar Cards Guy in the corridor and demand that he get this blimp off the ground already, since they only have five minutes left. He turns to stutter that they're still waiting for the Kaiba brothers to get their asses on board, throwing the boys into disbelief, and in Yami's case shock, that the Kaiba's appear to be missing. Yami glances over his should, wondering out loud if that means they're still on the island, while Jonouchi gripes that Kaiba better not be planning to kill himself because he lost to Yami. Anzu snaps at him not to say such things, but Jonouchi is technically right when he points out that it wouldn't be the first time. Morbidly accurate.
Honda suggests they all search the whole ship, top-to-bottom, without leaving it in order to find those pesky Kaibas. Jonouchi agrees, Anzu looks determined in the background, and Yami just anxiously worries about where Kaiba is. At three minutes to detonation, they're all still searching, Jonouchi cursing that Kaiba isn't where he's just looked either. He calls to Bakura to look at an area he indicates with a nod, and Bakura runs in front of a door marked "5" before turning and saying that he's had no luck in finding Kaiba. He then pushes into the "5" door, asking if this is Yuugi's room.
At first, Bakura is jubilant that he found the ring again, putting it back around his neck, because apparently he still hasn't connected the dots between his blackouts/injuries and his wearing this gaudy piece of ancient jewelry. As he drops the ring down the collar of his shirt to conceal it (at least he's aware of how tacky it is), he realizes that this means Yuugi had it all along, and thinks it was rather mean of him to pretend he didn't have it, wondering why he did. Oh, I don't know, Bakura, it could be any number of reasons: Yuugi/Yami are kinda shitty friends who forget you exist when it's convenient for them, you tend to manifest a psychotic murdering spirit when you wear the ring, it looks gawdawful... perhaps a combination of any or all of these, take your pick, honey.
Upon re-entering the hallway, he remembers he's supposed to be doing something as Honda runs past him calling for Kaiba to come out, and begins running to call for Kaiba as well. Flaky as hell, this boy.
Moar Cards Guy confronts one of his fellow suited employees about how there's one minute left, checking his watch, and his fellow exclaims that they can't wait any longer, liable to get caught in the explosion if they delay lifting off. Moar Cards Guy frets about his precious Seto Kaiba, but Honda is having none of it. He shakes Moar Cards Guy by the collar, yelling in his face that they'll all die if they don't leave now. And just like that, Moar Cards Guy guesses there's no other choice - no waffling about whether the explosion is a hoax by people who are being paid by the anti-Kaiba lobby. Imagine that. His colleague announces their ascent at the control panel and the blimp lifts off.
With Honda looking anxious and tense in the background, Moar Cards Guy notes from his watch that there's 30 seconds left to go. Yami looks over the railing of the top arena on the blimp (I guess they're up there now?) at the rapidly shrinking tower and island, silently asking Kaiba WHY. Jonouchi stares down at the island as well, sweatdropping nervously at three seconds to go.
When the timer hits 0...
Talk about going out with a bang.
Jonouchi urges his friends to look at that tower, all of them gaping in awe at the fire issuing from every level of it and its buckling under the breaches to topple over. It splashes in pieces into the sea. Jonouchi exclaims that the island is sinking, and Yami looks horrified, thinking of Kaiba. As the blimp continues to drift further from the destruction and disappearing debris, Jonouchi notices a strange shadow rising up out of the cloud of dust. He points it out, and Yami leans forward to get a closer look, eyes wide.
Is... is that a FUCKING HARRIER????
I just... I can't. This guy...
He looks back at the plume he's literally jetting away from, and wishes the monument to his anger a farewell. Then he pulls back up next to the blimp, glaring out at Yami standing there straight-faced and sober. I guess he can't be bothered to show his relief that what he was so anxious about before didn't wind up happening after all.
Mokuba's still pumping his fist at those looking over at them from the blimp, shouting at them to have fun on their trip back to Japan, making me wonder if he's aware that they are probably incapable of hearing him. He brags that he and Seto are headed over to America (no word on WHERE in America, or if it's the north or south continent) to start building Kaiba Lands worldwide. As long as they're not filled with malevolent death traps this time, I'm sure people will LOVE going to a magical land full of seahorses.
... I know that's not what Kaiba Land is about, but I really WANT it to be.
Kaiba thinks at Yami that their battle isn't over yet, because even when Kaiba blows up an entire island as a result of his loss of a very conclusive duel with Yami, he refuses to acknowledge that this damn rivalry is SETTLED now. Yami thinks back at Kaiba that he salutes him, because, well, he's in a jet. There's nothing you can do but salute, or think about saluting, a dude in a jet. They spend another panel making eyes at one another.
Well at least ONE them could spare the energy for the actual gesture.
Anyway, Kaiba asks Mokuba if he's ready, and Mokuba keeps pumping that little fist, exclaiming their path straight to America. They shoot off at the horizon past the blimp, Yuugi and Yami watching with smiles. Yuugi observes that Kaiba has started his journey toward his new dream, and Yami agrees, as Yuugi also states that Yami's own journey to find his memories has also just begun. How that's supposed to happen with the ZERO new information given him at the end of this arc is unclear, but I'm sure there will be something convenient will pop up.
Jonouchi confidently announces that it's time for them to head home, and yells back at the smoke wafting off the ocean that he'll see it never. Thankfully. The Ishtars silently stand off to the side, with nothing more to say. Yami and Jonouchi stare past the railing, the latter scoffing, until they both lift their Duel Disk arms and shove their decks into them like they're about to have themselves another duel. But they don't. They just keep staring off the side of the blimp while it Alcatraz's remains shrink into the distance and they head off toward the land in the distance. It's a little weird? I don't know.
A sequence of panels takes us progressively closer to the city, then over the docks, into the streets. At last, Yami says that for himself and Jonouchi...
But it is for me!
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Hoo boy, I'm a little overwhelmed. Not because there was as much to think about here as there was in the last chapter, because there wasn't. It was fairly light on big resolution since the previous chapter already covered it, and it's pretty clear that this one was about setting up a couple of altered circumstances. Not so much NEW beginnings as a small twist on older themes.
Kaiba's rocketing off into the future he spent the whole arc so desperately dragging himself toward is the obvious one. Since he was heading off to an entirely different country, I think it's safe to say he's being put on a bus, so to speak. His role in the story seems done, his arc wrapped up in a nice little bow, with the return to and purification of is theme park idea toward the beginning of his development. It's all very final. I understand that the anime continued to have him on, and I don't know how viable that turned out, but here, I'm pretty sure Kaiba's little nod and salute was a rather final farewell.
Bakura retrieving the Millennium Ring from Yuugi/Yami's room is a less out-there example of a noteworthy setup. The ring ending up back in Bakura's hands is not exactly a new phenomenon, and in fact is about as traditional a return to the status quo as the ends of these arcs tends to exhibit. But this time Bakura finds himself questioning why Yami lied to him about knowing where his ring was, and while he seems to forget about how mean this is rather quickly, it does establish what could be a spark of distrust between them, which might turn out to work out in asshole!Bakura's favor in the next arc. If Bakura doesn't feel like he can trust his friends, perhaps asshole!Bakura's abuser strategy of convincing Bakura they're the only reliable ones to each other could work out far better in this case than that of Marik and other!Marik.
All of this is to be expected; interesting, but not profound or grand in any way. Although I do feel a thrill at the end, knowing that Yami and Jonouchi are finally making good on that promise they spent the whole damn tournament talking about. I think it was a good move on KT's part to not spend another several chapters detailing this one, not just because of how concretely OVER this tournament I am, but because at this point their promised duel seems profoundly private. Whereas the previous duels were a public display to pin down a very PUBLIC title between the competitors, Yami and Jonouchi's duel was always about their personal relationship between each other and their cards. The fact that this duel had constantly been presented in the context of a nebulous, even MYTHICAL, future really drives home the idea that this duel is less an event and more an idea between the two characters; a ritual that is more in the realm of thought than of form. Without the detail, there's a fairy tale quality to it that can shift depending on the mindset and lens of the reader. It's very dreamlike, and I'm here for it.
Considering I spend YEARS getting to this point, I'm definitely in a bit of a daze, so the end of Battle City feels a bit like a dream already, so maybe that's where my own interpretation of this is coming from. I can't believe Battle City is actually OVER, when it was such a staple of my regular reading experience for so long, so this is all a little surreal. Who KNOWS how I'm going to feel when I reach the end of the next arc, which looks to be significantly shorter than this one. I shudder to think of it.
I feel like you and Anzu had the same reaction to Kaiba in the jet. I think the anime changed it to a jet styled after the three Sinatras.
ReplyDeleteYeah, after this point, the anime has two filler arcs that Kaiba is involved in and then ALSO involves him in the final arc of the series. DSoD, incidentally, ignores the anime's storyline and continues from the manga.
Anzu and I were definitely in sync with our reactions. Although, I was more dumbfounded by the jet than her. But when I looked up the images of the jet in the anime... Yeah, the Harrier is definitely better. I prefer the Harrier, much more feasible, lol!
DeleteI think, after this point, Kaiba would feel superfluous to the story, but at the same time, I get why the anime would want to keep him on board. He's a very popular character, and they no doubt needed him to fill out additional seasons. We'll see if I can imagine the final arc with him in it when I start reading. His arc was just so neatly concluded here...