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

[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*)