Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 282 Voyage into Memories

I do that quite enough already, thank you. Involuntarily too, like an ambush rather than a journey. I'll be washing dishes, writing emails, watering plants, when my brain will all of a sudden bring me back in vivid detail to moments in my life I'd rather forget. It's like my own mind is a bully waiting in the wings just to mock me when I least expect it. The worst part is, I know NO ONE ELSE remembers this crap but me, and yet I'm not allowed to retire that memory myself. 

Beware, Yami. Memories can be a damn CURSE.

Prime example of this principal right here. I've seen this shit in my nightmares. 

Demanding to know who this fat dude is, Jonouchi somehow manages to be incredibly rude AND overlook the real issue with Bobasa's body all at once. That takes some exceptional talent at cluelessness, Jonouchi, well(?) done. However, Bobasa keeps in good humor about it, laughing and saying he's happy to meet the kids. Not here to fight, this one.

Yami is still stuck on the depressions in Bobasa's skin for the Millennium Items, failing to hide how disturbed he is. But not as much as Jonouchi is failing with his absolute horror in the background. When Yami gets past this basic fact, though, his eyes widen and he notes that Bobasa has the key and scales in his torso. He wonders why Bobasa has Shadi's Millennium Items, while Jonouchi warns him to be careful because this guy might be another enemy after the rest of the items. 

Bobasa shakes his hands, and his who body, in denial, asking that they please believe he's not an enemy. Jonouchi points and says it's a "fat" chance that they'll believe he's not. Get it? Because Bobasa is fat. Funny. He then mentions that the Millennium Items currently embedded in Bobasa belonged to Shadi, who put their lives in danger with shadow games. Oh good, at least he's noticed THAT much beyond this new guy's weight. Strangely, he seems to be the first one to comment on Shadi's crappy behavior in a while too, which is an odd combination of astute and obtuse. 

Admitting he's from the tomb guardian clan, and that he's served Shadi for a number of years, Bobasa insists that he means none of them harm. He claims Shadi ordered him to come and PROTECT Yami, to which Yami expresses some understandable suspicion, arms crossed. Bobasa says that Shadi only really wanted to discern if Yami was the true pharaoh for whom they've waited for 3,000 years, and that's why he psychologically abused tested him with the shadow games.

Bobasa goes on to reiterate that it's the sacred duty of their bloodline to watch over the pharaoh's soul and the Millennium Items. You can get away with ANYTHING if you call it a "sacred duty" apparently. Jonouchi isn't buying it, reminding him that Marik was also from Bobasa's sacred bloodline, and he ALSO tried to kill the assembled kids. Bobasa says that though their clan was united once, they split into a couple of factions due to disagreements and rivalries over the items they were supposed to be protecting. He seems to realize that this is not at ALL reassuring, so he insists that the clan itself is not Yami's enemy, and that he himself came to Yami by the will of the Millennium Key. Yami stares, stoically silent. 

Though he seems disappointed, Bobasa says he understands if it's too soon for them to trust him yet. Then he asserts that he will accompany Yami on his journey, and he will be trustworthy in time. Dude, I don't think inviting yourself along on deeply personal journey is going to make you as trustworthy as you think... He gestures to his grotesquely indented chest as he says that once Yami can trust him, then he can be relied upon to keep the Millennium Items in his care, since he's a human safe and willing to give his life to protect them. Yami tells him that even if he believed in him, he wouldn't let Bobasa have the Millennium Puzzle, which he holds up to indicate.

He... does know that fabric can be cut and ripped, right? 

Jonouchi is disturbed yet again by Bobasa swallowing the key, in disgusted disbelief that the guy actually did it. Bobasa amps up the gross by hurking and then sticking out his tongue with the key laid upon it, announcing that he can bring it back as well, since his stomach is the safest place for it. Both Honda and Jonouchi freeze in horror, wondering who the hell this guy is, if he's some sort of circus freak. 

Bobasa clears his throat in sudden seriousness, declaring it's time to get to the point. He lowers himself to one knee, left foot out in front, of course ;). He addresses Yami as Master Yuugi at first, then corrects himself to say the soul of the pharaoh instead, stating that by the will of the god cards he came to the museum. I don't know if it was the GOD CARDS so much as the only place they knew of that might have further clues to Yami's memories, but hey, whatever the circus freak says. 

Yami looks taken aback by the phrase "World of Memory" as Bobasa warns him not to look away no matter how painful the experiences that await him there. He extends that warning to Yami's entourage, a vague omen that Jonouchi can't help but question, shaking his fist and demanding to know what "fatty" means by that. Yami overrides Jonouchi's general question by asking Bobasa just exactly how much he knows about his memories and the secret of the Millennium Items. 

Bobasa has returned to his feet and turned back toward the museum steps, and he looks over his shoulder to tell Yami that the answers to all puzzles lie in the World of Memory, something he has to see for himself. Yami glares, Anzu side-eyes him nervously, and Bakura looks rather dazed in the background. Behind his vacant expression, asshole!Bakura wonders about this World of Memory as well. Oooh, something this prick doesn't understand about the situation? Yes please!

They follow the enormous Bobasa as he walls through the entrance to the museum and through the exhibit, dwarfing all the other people milling around in there. Seriously, he looks damn near twice as tall as everyone else. As they walk along in his leading shadow, Anzu addresses Yami, who looks over his shoulder with an easy-going smile, asking what's up. BOOOOOOO! Thumbs-down! Bring back the murder grin!!!

Then again, maybe it's better if he's not directing THAT expression at Anzu...

She flushes and flaps her hand dismissively, stuttering that it was nothing, she was just remembering the last time they were there together. Yami says he sees, clearly not drawing any significance from that, but Anzu hangs her head a little and frowns while her face returns to its regular color. She muses on how she called him "Yuugi" like always, but she's aware that he's a completely different person in Yuugi's body, not even some other part of him. She figures this guy who's been sharing Yuugi's body and name since she's known him must have a name of his own from 3,000 years before that he lost along with his memories.

At this moment, they're passing a gift shop, and noticing it gives Anzu an idea. She thinks the shop HAS to have the thing she has in mind, as this building houses an Egyptian exhibit. She bolts off, promising her friends that she'll be right back, and Honda shakes his fist as he tries to tell her to leave the souvenirs until later. Anzu ignores him, peering into a glass case. She points to what she wants for the clerk, and after she's got it, she runs back out of the store, apologizing. Then, holding her fist to her chest, she addresses Yami again, still by Yuugi's name, of course.

Ooooh, fancy bling!

Yami dangles it in front of his crossed eyes, asking what it is. Anzu explains it's a cartouche, a name-plate, that the ancient pharaohs always had their name's carved on. Yami notes that there's no name on the one she gave him, and she says she intended for him to carve his OWN name on there. He gapes at her, repeating the phrase in his head, dumbfounded. Winking at him, Anzu states that once he gets his memories and name back, this will mean he'll never forget the name part again, at least. Assuming he can bring this little dealie in the Millennium Puzzle/afterlife with him, of course.

As he stares at the cartouche in his palm, he recalls the ones on the stone slab they're revisiting today were scratched out to erase the pharaoh's name on them, and realizes that Anzu must have figured out he'd forgotten his name too. Well, if you remembered it, wouldn't you have corrected everyone calling you "Yuugi" by now?

Meanwhile, Anzu thinks that she had a little bit of a selfish motive as well; she wants to know Yami's name too. Probably not JUST because it's awkward to refer to two different friends by one name all the time. There's not even a family initial that you can tack on there to differentiate like we did with the multiple Brittanys and Eriks in my classes growing up. Yami thanks Anzu, telling her he'll always treasure her gift, and she blushes in happiness this time. The cute hurts. 

Here it is, in all its stony glory. We get a good under-shot of Jonouchi and Honda's chins, thrust out as they stared in tense awe at the stone slab they heard so much about. When they've had a chance to examine the picture in the center, they're alarmed to find that one of the figures genuinely looks like Yuugi. Honda makes the leap to the conclusion that the other figure is Kaiba, but again, I don't see how anyone can make that claim. Kaiba's hair would have to be at least 40 times as wild as it currently is for me to see where he and Ishizu were coming from. 

Yami steps forward, thinking that the time has come. He's confident that Marik's back-tattoo showed him what to do - he has to present the god cards to the tablet of memories. As he draws them from the Millennium Puzzle box, he wonders what will happen after that. He's too focused on the stone tablet in front of him to notice Jonouchi murmuring to him meekly in the background, peering over the tops of those cards and their likeness on the slab. Yami is sure the answers are here, so he holds the three cards out for the tablet, and it looks a tad silly when you think about how this is a kid dramatically thrusting trading cards at a rock in a museum. 

Of course, if I were to witness a scene like this in reality, I would go from laughter to calling an ambulance in less than a second.

Uhhhhh.... Hm. Well that's one way of living in the past. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Being slightly annoyed at Jonouchi constantly referring to Bobasa's weight as a reflexive insulting move aside, I found this chapter very interesting. Bobasa seems genuinely friendly and kind, if not a little on the dense side. Not only is the notion of literally locking one's clothes just absurd on the level of effectiveness against thieves who happen to have scissors, but the way he defended Shadi gave the impression of simple innocence. He comes across as a big kid, mostly, one who just wants to do the best job he can and believes they can all get along. I think he's absolutely wrong to be rationalizing Shadi's continuous shitty behavior, especially considering I seriously doubt Bobasa could have done THAT to his torso on his own, but that is kind of what I expect of someone with his level of starry-eyed innocence. He's going to assume Shadi had good or noble, and believe him when he says so, because it's clear Bobasa wouldn't THINK of hurting someone with maliciousness himself. He's just a giant cinnamon roll; even when he gets serious there at the end of his introduction, he doesn't have an intimidating bone in his body.

Speaking of cinnamon rolls, how about Anzu's adorable gesture? It really was touching and shows how much she cares about Yami's current situation, not to mention she's got a little bit of cheeky knowledge of ancient Egypt herself. Don't know if she had an interest in Egypt before or after she met Yami, but girl did some research. I appreciate research, as well as how she smartly uses it in a context that's meaningful to her friend and herself. Her small admission that she has a vested interest in knowing just who Yami is for herself is a nice touch too. It gives her character another layer in terms of her intelligence and how she expresses her support to Yami even if his eventual goal is something that is a little bit distressing to her. She manages to prioritize her own feelings in a way that doesn't negate her helping him in any way she can. It's impressive. 

You know, people give her shit for how obsessed she seems to be with friendship, but you've got to hand it to her - she's good at it. When she's not accusing random dudes of sexually harassing her to get her crush's attention anyway. Still not impressed with that shit.