YGO AE arc

Jan. 6th, 2006 11:21 pm
xparrot: Chopper reading (kaibangst)
[personal profile] 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!*)

Date: 2006-01-08 06:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 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)

Date: 2006-01-09 11:52 pm (UTC)
ext_3572: (kaibangst)
From: [identity profile] 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...

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