YGO AE arc

[xparrot]

So I've been laid low by a passing winter cold, am taking it easy in hopes of a quick recovery (I have waaay too much to do this month to be sick now) and what better way to relax than to melt one's brain with some poorly translated cartoons? Meaning, I'm finally watching the last arc of YGO. Fun stuff.

I really want to read the manga of this. In part because with these bootleg subs, yeah, I'm sure I'm missing stuff. Have heard that Akunadin is being influenced by Bakura, who maybe implanted a bit of evil into the eye? It would make sense...I like Akunadin. With the whole classic "If he's the light then I'll become the darkness," and everything he does to save the kingdom, for his brother. Chalk up another pair in the YGO incredibly-obsessively-loyal-siblings tally. And double jeopardy, because he also ups the bad-fathers score. His tempting of Seto is delightful. Aww, poor baby, no matter what incarnation he's in, Seto seems destined to be screwed when it comes to parentage. It almost seemed like Seto was most upset that the reason his mentor had been so close to him was because of the secret blood relationship, rather than the bond of companions loyal to the Pharaoh.

Then there's Bakura. I'm one of the few YGO fans who doesn't find Bakura all that interesting, but watching these eps, I've decided that's because he's not evil enough. When there's any attempt to make him a sympathetic character, ehh, boring. When he's doing the MWAHAHAH EEEEEVIL thing he's much more enjoyable (though Akabane or HxH's Hisoka would eat him for lunch. He oughta take some lessons in badass wickosity). Gotta say, though - love him as the mad GM. Gloating in his power, and then getting all twitchily annoyed at the players - that was just classic RPGing, the bit where Yuugi-tachi is trying to feed Bobosa rather than seeking to advance the plot. Just like so many games I've witnessed (I don't really game, but a lot of my friends do, so I've kibitzed my share of sessions) when the GM is going, "Hey, guys, you see a sign in the clouds saying GO OVER THERE," and the players are all, "Hee I'm in the tavern getting drunk!"

Randomly, what is Karim doing there? (I think it's Karim? Priest with the scales - it's hard to know if I've got the names accurately, when Seto is being called "Zither" and lately they've taken translating Isis as "Jack"?) He's the only priest besides Akunadin without a modern counterpart, unless he's Rishid or some such? (Ahh, Rishid. Was happy to see him back along with Malik and Ishizu. And Malik was in the lavender belly shirt, so yup, his purpose is fulfilled.)

Also, is it just me, or is Isis doing all of the other priests? Or at least dividing her time between Mahaado and Kalim while flirting with Shada and possibly pining for Seto?

And I like Kisara. The one minute where she meets Kaiba, and there's odd little romantic music playing, and he's so confused, and she's talking about trouble and seeing him again? I totally cooed. Dammit. But then Blue Eyes x Kaiba has always been my OTP anyway - does that count as het, or a dracosexual pairing?

Final thought - I've heard people mention the inaccuracy of Ancient Egypt as presented in YGO. But you're not really seeing Egypt here, you're seeing an elaborate RPG - admittedly designed by guys who had been there, but in 3,000 years, maybe their memories got a little rusty, or maybe they're tweaking reality for the optimal gameplay experience...
Or maybe Takahashi-sensei didn't do his research, but hey, in-canon reasons are so much more fun to invent!
(This is supported when Kaiba meets Yami and remarks on the differences between the yami no game and their prior visions. You can see Kaiba mentally scratching his head, "Hmm, but in the vision I was wearing less clothes..." *mmm, shirtless Seto. And it was changed. Stupid shadow game!*)

Comments

[praiseofshadows.livejournal.com]

lately they've taken translating Isis as "Jack"? *dies with laughter* I think she looks like a "Jack" XD

But then Blue Eyes x Kaiba has always been my OTP anyway - does that count as het, or a dracosexual pairing? Hmm...probably het, but it seems like most people write it slash...so maybe dracosexual after all? XD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Oh, it gets better - most recent ep, Mahaado became Manhattan! *<3 mah bootlegs*

I suspect people slash it because the dragon's gonna be on top - I mean, it's Blue Eyes! - so...
just watched Kisara die...aww. Yeah, I'm a sap. Still. Socute!

[praiseofshadows.livejournal.com]

Hehe...Manhatten -- and YGO suddenly becomes an episode of Gargoyles! XD

And i'm with you...the whole Kisare thing is massively cute...someday I will write fiction and do the cuteness justice. *nod nod*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Wahah - I've got half of a Xanatos meets Kaiba fic, just need to finish it sometime ^___^

Considering most Kaiba pairings are anathema to me, the Kisara thing...well, I was primed to like it anyway, because, yeah, the Blue Eyes! & it is rather so sweet. If anyone ever wrote a convincing Kisara-reincarnation+Kaiba fic I'd probably enjoy it, but considering the Mary Sueing that occurs in this fandom I'm afraid to even look XD

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

I've heard people mention the inaccuracy of Ancient Egypt as presented in YGO.

*raises eyebrows* It seems that expecting authenticity from the Yu-gi-Oh version of Egyptian history is sort of like expecting a realistic assessment of the Industrial Revolution from the game of Monopoly. Don't get me wrong, I love it and all that, but it's rather obvious that Takahashi is just taking whatever aspects of Egyptian mythology happen to appeal to him, and combining them into an entertaining story. And the *rest* of the series is no model of perfect realism itself (again, I say this with complete affection for the series, but *come on* ... disbelief is quite often not only suspended, but hung by the neck until dead).

... anyhow, I loved Kisara/Seto. I was somewhat bored by large parts of the Ancient Egypt storyline (basically anything which did not involve Yugi & his friends) until Kisara showed up and all of a sudden I realized that Smitten!Seto is cuter than hell.

I have most of that part of the manga and I can send it to you if you like. I think I need to do the conversion thing on it, though.

LOL at "Jack" and "Manhattan". I love Hong Kong subs ... have you seen the HK subs of One Piece? I can't remember all of the names because it's been a couple of years, but they're a hoot. Luffy is "Roof" ... Sanji has somehow become "Sunkist"... and so forth ...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

*laughs* No one complains seriously about YGO's lack of authenticity, that I've seen, but it gets mentioned sometimes. Which, yep, is pretty absurd, all things considered. But Takahashi did leave himself a rather nifty little loophole to justify lack of research ^^

I've been rather fond of the AE arc - but then, being me, any version of Seto still gives me Seto (and Tsuda in the anime) so, yeah, can be happy. Am gonna miss Kaiba in the manga, though...(and if you could give me manga scans - eee! I managed to find scanlations of about half of AE, but it's extremely random what chapters I'm missing...I, er, also managed to lose what you sent me before, I deleted most of the zip by mistake. Long story, short version is I'm computerly incompetent...anyway, could I give you a list...? ^^;;)

And HK bootlegs are marvelous. I do in fact have some of the OP - my favorite was Zoro, who they managed to render as "Sauron" for a while. (So if Zoro's Sauron, does that make Luffy Morgoth? But he looks more like Gollum, actually...)

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Sure, just email me a list of what you need! You still have my email, right? Although, for your random missing chapters, I may be missing some of the same chapters, if it came from the same place I got mine.

[immicolia.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're this far in yet. But one of may absolute favourite Bakura moments was in ep 215 when he was being all deranged GM and gloating and then says "The end" in English right before it looks like the pharaoh gets smoked with a lighting bolt. I flailed and freaked out the first time I saw that. I still flail every time.

What's odd is that I rather disliked Seto/Kisara at first. The Twu Wuv at first sight kinda got on my nerves. But watching it a second time I found myself all, "Awww! Kisara!" (and then there's my love for the entirely improbable Mana/Kisara but shh...)

Isis is so doing everyone. I came to pretty much the exact same conclusion as you. Mahado and Kalim at the very least.

And I don't understand why people expect any amount of historical accuracy from this at all. I have never expected absolute historical accuracy from any series I read. I mean, I read Emma too, and that one's set in 19th century England and I can even find inaccuracies in that in comparasion to the Trashy Historical Romance Novels I read (and those aren't the most accurate things in the world either... let's face it. I'm really easy and never expect perfection)

(as a side note. Is your offer for a DVD of those last nine eps still good? Because if so I'll shoot you my address. Downloading episodes of anything on dialup just doesn't work. plus I have a billion scanlations to keep up with, at damn near half-an-hour a chapter that's totally taking up all my downloading time *cough*)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, yep, Bakura's "Ji endo" was the last ep I saw. And it was a great moment. Though mostly because the idea of a GM being the main villain, simply by being a GM (and a good one, too, actually, I mean, he'd direct a pretty exciting and entertaining game, if one's soul and now the fate of the planet weren't on the line) is just fantastic. It's like Takahashi is getting revenge on some GM that screwed him over years ago or something ^^

Seto/Kisara I was already primed to like, because of my fondness for the Blue Eyes - I think that's why it didn't get to me, because love-at-first-sight can irritate me, but it wasn't exactly out of nowhere here - we've had the whole series establishing how much Kaiba loves his dragons, this was just seeing how that affair began. Besides, there's something too amusing about Seto falling for her:

Shada: "Ahh, this weird-looking girl's got monstrous scary power!"
Seto: O_O ♥♥

It's just so Seto. ^^

(And Kisara/Mana is entirely improbably love. <3)

I don't think I've seen anyone seriously complaining about YGO's inaccuracies, but it gets mentioned now and again, so I couldn't help but point out that Takahashi did leave himself that convenient loophole.

And yep, offer's still open! Though I'll need to rip the last ep from my DVDs, the copy I got is raw. Won't take me long. While I'm at it, would you like the OP anime? I've got the first 100 eps on CD and as I've since burned them to DVD, I've got no reason to keep those CDs (it's around 30 disks, I think?) so if you'd be interested, they're yours.

[immicolia.livejournal.com]

You know, my favourite thing about Bakura the Evil!GM is just (at least with the manga) how beautifully cyclic it is. Of course, since the anime ditched those first seven volumes that screws that up (would still give my left kidney to see that bastard child series that covers those volumes... even if Kaiba does have green hair) But I think I've stated my issues with that during the several times I've ranted about the first episode and how utterly weak it was. (as far as I'm concerned this series is so much weaker without Death-T in it but that might be personal bias)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does come together rather nicely in the end. The manga for the whole AE GM thing is much cooler and makes more sense - they're actually playing in the Domino museum, on a diorama of Egypt that Bakura Ryou built (his dad owns the museum, apparently?) (and Akunadin's mummy is there? ^^;;;) And when Akunadin becomes Zork's guy in the freaky mask, Bakura is gloating, "Level up!!" which is just fantastic.

And I'm hopelessly biased too, obviously, but, yeah, they lost a lot, cutting out Death-T. Not to mention Yami's whole darkside phase...

[nenya85.livejournal.com]

Do you realize I have ALL of the AE arc on subs -- and I STILL can't stand to watch them *sobs at end of show some more*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I've had the whole series since the summer but never quite got around to AE before now...I've now only got 3 eps left, and, yeah...am so torn, because I want to see the ending, but I don't want it to end!

--and you have to write that fairy tale! Pleeeeeeeeeease! Because Atem leaving is the saddest thing - discounting his 3K years trapped in a puzzle, he really only got to live, what, less than 20 years? depending on how old he was when he was originally sealed...that's just too tragic...

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

One thing that's kinda funny about the YGO series is that, even though I don't normally like sad endings, the end was what really made me like the series as a whole. (Rather unusual for me, too, as I normally avoid spoilers, is that the ending was one of the first parts I saw, aside from the early Shonen Jump chapters -- I happened to find the scanslations for the final story arc before any of the others, and read it.) I was surprised and gratified by the ... maturity of it -- that they didn't find some miraculous way to bring Atemu back. He has been dead since the beginning of the series, and they stayed true to that, and I really liked it.

(Although, the thought occurred to me much later ... that Isis's Millennium Tauk really *was* still malfunctioning in the hospital scene, when the Pharoah sees the duel with Jounouchi in his future -- that never happened, as far as I know! Good thing Yugi got some hope from it, since it was, well, about as accurate as Isis's prophesies ever are. ;) )

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I'm torn, because I can appreciate the maturity of it, as you say - there's a darker thread all through YGO, really, especially in the manga, that some things can be put right, but the number of people who die along the way is unforgiveable...but I like happy endings, dangit! And since YGO is a type B fandom for me, I'm inclined to do a little mental rewriting. ^^
Though I think the ending might be more satisfying in the manga - the manga is really Yugi's story, and Atem's function ultimately is to show Yugi his own strengths. In the anime the pharaoh is much more the main character, with Yugi being his sidekick, and so the series ends with 'killing' the hero, aproximately.

(Eh? No, Jounouchi gets his duel - whether he wins it is an open question, but the very end of Battle City is them meeting on the streets, about to duel, exactly as in the vision. "This is our Battle City!" In the anime, Jou has Red Eyes in the next arc, so presumably he won somehow; not sure if it ever shows if he got Red Eyes back in the manga...?)

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

No, Jounouchi gets his duel

Oh! Well, I'm still missing some manga chapters; maybe that's in one of the missing ones. I just assumed it hadn't happened. Never mind me, then!

In the manga, I'm pretty sure Battle City is the last time we see anybody duel seriously, so there's no way to know if he has it now...

That's a really interesting comment about manga vs. anime that I never had thought about, but you're right. I tend to think in terms of the manga, since I haven't seen too much of the anime, and the manga is pretty clearly about Yugi's personal growth. That's intriguing...

Of course, if you *wanted* to bring the Pharoah back somehow, there are about 50 million ways to do it, what with him and Yugi sharing a soul for so long, and so much of the function of the Millennium Puzzle still unexplained...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The manga and the anime are really quite different - especially the Duelist Kingdom arc, and from what I've seen, the AE arc. And of course all the anime-only filler, which is a good third or more of the show. I'm torn, because the manga is better - the characters are sharper, edgier and more interesting, I feel, and the plots are tighter - but the anime has some good stuff. (And more Kaiba. Heh.) Generally I consider the manga to be the ultimate canon, with the anime supplementing, and I go with the manga version of events when there's a contradiction between the two...

Ahh, the problem isn't finding a way to bring the Pharaoh back - it's just finding a good fic that does it! ^^;;; It's one of those stories I don't have much interest in writing myself, but I'd really like to read, but I've had no success finding any that suit me...(the YGO fandom in general is very frustrating for me, fic-wise...there's a lot of things I'd love to read but don't really feel like writing, but no one else is writing them! If only it were a fandom I were into pairings for, then I'd be satisfied no matter what my fancy was - but instead I'm in it for the smarm, and am left with the usual genfic deprivation *whiiine*)

[nenya85.livejournal.com]

I'm working on it -- Re: Fairy Tale. I'd love to have enough done to begin posting right after the dub ends -- that would be appropriate, don't you think?

with my usual flair (^_^;;) for smooshing incompatible categories together, so far it seems to be general/romance...

Thanks for the links. so far nothing has contradicted my memories or my storyline for which I'm grateful. I have a couple of questions so I might email when I get a break. Work's been extra hectic.

Real Men Wear Kilts

[hoshi-ryo.livejournal.com]

Not just shirtless Seto.

Seto in a kilt.

Re: Real Men Wear Kilts

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, if YGO teaches us anything, it's that everyone in Ancient Egypt wore either dresses or miniskirts ^^

Re: Real Men Wear Kilts

[hoshi-ryo.livejournal.com]

Yup.

::wants Seto in a miniskirt/kilt...and, perhaps, a good strong updraft?::