Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 315 Shadow Camouflage!!

By now the news has probably thoroughly spread throughout the internet, from the comment of our own Sebastian Braunstein on the previous chapter's review to every anime/manga news site out there; Yu-Gi-Oh's creator, Kazuki Takahashi, has died. His untimely passing is devastating news to all of us, I'm sure, and it's a little hard to contemplate Yu-Gi-Oh knowing that he is no longer with us. This blog was built around looking deeper at this fun and influential work, and it just won't be the same in light of the fact he's gone. But at the same time, it is comforting to know the legacy of joy he left behind, and how it will continue in his stead. I mean, this story was so powerful that the day the news broke that KT had passed, EVERYONE was talking about it, and a comment about it even came up on my fave lefty podcast, The Majority Report! Now THAT is some reach, and one that most of us can't even imagine achieving in our lifetimes. 

This blog has been critical of Yu-Gi-Oh and the writing decisions that went into the story, and it will continue to be. But let us take a moment to remember the man behind the pharaoh, who taught us about the intense (if not a little campy from time to time) power of friendship.

Yami calls to Mahado that this is his chance to hit them with another Magic Blast, now that Diabound is off-balance. With his palm pressed to his eye, thief!Bakura says that he took that one straight to the face, but then removes his hand to reveal streams of blood flowing down his face and INSISTS it didn't hurt a bit. Sure it didn't buddy, suuuuuuuuure. The Magus points his staff at thief!Bakura, telling him he can't dodge this one, and letting loose another Magic Blast at Diabound just as Yami suggested. Thief!Bakura manically declares that this wizard is living on borrowed time, and he can't be hit twice. "Living" is probably the wrong word to use here, but I guess his head is just as cloudy as Yami's is bound to be at this point.

The pillar wrapped in Diabound's tail cracks and begins to crumble.

I don't know what it is about these sound FX right now, but I'm digging them? I don't even think they're particularly different from the ones in previous chapters, but for some reason they're doing it for me at the moment.

Yami scowls about thief!Bakura shattering the pillar to use the shrapnel as a shield as he and Shada hold up their arms against the fragments of stone still tumbling down around them. With a deranged grin, thief!Bakura informs them that all the magic power they used up only served to make Diabound angry. To punctuate this point, Diabound leans forward and roars over them again. Yami looks a little worried in the background, but in the foreground, the Magus looks as stoic as ever.

Thief!Bakura indicated the tablet mold over his shoulder, praising the smart idea that he didn't anticipate of them attacking IT instead. He reiterates that he needs it to make his contract with the great evil god Zorc. He holds up the puzzle tauntingly, indicating that he'll use Yami's toy instead of trying to fight AND protect the slab at the same time. Yami's eyes bulge, in disbelief.

Super badass, but it mostly just makes me miss my fave, Summoned Skull.

Yami and Shada are in disbelief over thief!Bakura's SECOND ka; while Shada knows well that holders of the Millennium Items are able to summon as long as their magical reserves hold out, he's a bit shocked that thief!Bakura has enough in there to sustain two ka at once. More amazing still, thief!Bakura doesn't waste his breath explaining away how he's so powerful. He just grins and says he can attack them without fear now. 

He then activates Diabound's special ability (oddly modern a term for this, given we've been changing the language up a bit for some other things, but alright), Shadow Camouflage. Chapter title ahoy! Yami grinds his teeth, noting that Diabound is disappearing as it rapidly fades out of view in one of its more well-known party tricks. Thief!Bakura chuckles that Diabound has now merged with the shrine and could be ANYWHERE, and no one will know where he will attack from until they're dead. 

Yami, Shada and the Magus are all tense and wary of the disappeared monster glancing this way and that. Yami wonders where it's hiding when an echoing roar pulses through the room, and he revises his question to a tentative suggestion that it's in the wall. Then the floor. There's really no way to be certain.

I feel bad for the jackal - with two noses, whatever scent Diabound is putting out must be PUNGENT.

Its attention goes to an especially dark portion of the wall where it meets the ceiling, and Shada directs it to attack there. The Jackal throws its double-bladed axe chain (everything comes in twos, I guess), and it spins for the uppermost portion of the wall. Thief!Bakura seems more amused by this than anything, though, as Diabound's arm comes through the wall to catch the axe before it can make contact. He mocks them, saying that it's too bad just finding Diabound won't do them much good. 

Diabound pokes its head out of the wall too, growling at them. Yami yells to Mahado not to let Diabound get away now that it's showing itself, commanding another attack. Thief!Bakura says it's too late, given Diabound is already set up for its own attack. Around the corner of the room, to the right of Yami and allies, Diabound's snake-headed tail is building a ball of energy in its jaws. Yami looks around just in time to see the Thunder Force on its way toward them, but is frozen in place. 

Shada demands the Jackal protect the pharaoh, and it obediently leaps over. 

Predictably, Shada groans in agony, blood spurting from between his clenched teeth. There goes all that magic power/life force. He begs Yami to run and save himself, while one of them says that Diabound is gone again, ready to strike once more. I'm going to guess it's Yami, since it doesn't come across as strained or weak in any way like the previous statements from Shada, but it's not certain in the wide shot of the room indicating that Diabound has disappeared. 

Yami growls in frustration as he stands, ordering the Magus to attack. Mahado complies by targeting the room as he did before, this time punching holes in the ceiling letting in the daylight above with a Thousand Magic Blasts. Thief!Bakura assumes that this is a random spray of fire meant to catch Diabound wherever it may be hiding, calling them fools for thinking he can be hit that way. It's a very dumb assumption, driving his flex to position Diabound zeroing in on Yami and the injured Shada above and behind them.

Thief!Bakura's grin is eager as he thinks that Yami can't see Diabound, but it's got the pharaoh in its sights. He's CERTAIN that this is the end, but after a pause Yami turns to placidly ask if thief!Bakura really thinks he's got this in the bag. Thief!Bakura is dumbfounded as Yami says with confidence that he knows where Diabound is. Indeed, thief!Bakura now notices that Diabound has been illuminated in pieces from the light streaming in through the holes in the ceiling. 

I suppose thief!Bakura can't be expected to remember that this happened before - it WAS literally rewound and obliterated from the record, lol!

Thief!Bakura internally bemoans the fact that Yami stayed in place with Shada just to draw Diabound into the light. Yami brags that Mahado had Diabound in his sights LONG before Diabound saw him, as the Magus lunges for Diabound, staff extended. While thief!Bakura clenches his teeth to brace for the coming pain, Yami tells him it's HIS turn to fade into the shadows. Get it? Because he's going to get murdered. 

Why do I feel like this is not final in the least?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Surprisingly, I don't have much to say on this one, since it was PURE action and movement, and well-done at that, so I have few complaints. There was one moment that struck me as stretched - when Diabound's tail fired from Yami's flank, it took a noticeably LONG time, a page and a half, to get to them so they could have time to react appropriately. Fairly large panels, but three dedicated to Yami standing there watching it coming was about two too many, in my opinion. 

I am very curious to know if there is an explanation to be had about WHY thief!Bakura has so much magic power to spare. Shada marvels at how he's able to maintain two ka at once, similar to how everyone was amazed by Diabound being so strong at the beginning, and it's striking me more than ever as conspicuous. I wonder if this is a result of that enhanced fighting will to live as was demonstrated by Gebelk in his Thunder Dome torture chamber, or if thief!Bakura is just special somehow? It would be helpful to have a couple of panels expounding upon the dangers he had to go through and how he used Diabound to defeat them, etc. But I'm not holding out too much hope for any elaboration here. We all know that there was limited time by this point to establish a more solid foundation for how thief!Bakura and Diabound came to be. Plenty of other details have plainly been truncated in an attempt to wrap up a bit faster, so I'll start assuming that's the case for any hazy stuff going forward. It'll leave room for me to be pleasantly surprised if there turns out to be more detail later.

Perhaps if thief!Bakura's immense magic power isn't explained, I'll just headcanon it's his pet ghosts handing him all the extra energy and call it a day.

Rest in Peace, Kazuki Takahashi.