#zorc is savage

[x-heartofthecards-x]

@duelingdestiny

Atem’s eyes went a little wide as Yugi pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. That he was not expecting…Of course, things had changed. Time had passed and things were different, but Yugi smoking was Atem couldn’t seem to wrap his head around.

The only thing that could have pulled him away from him trying to get used to the idea of Yugi smoking was the bone crushing guilt he felt when Yugi mentioned losing his soul. He nodded. “I know Yugi, I know. Normally I would have come to you first, but…There’s more. When I was sealed in the puzzle in order to keep Zorc from returning, a piece of him was sealed in the puzzle with me.” Atem bit his lip. “That was bad enough but at the end of DOMA after your soul was returned and I fought the final battle against the leviathan? All of that darkness I took in? It only fueled Malice’s strength. He is more powerful than he has ever been. And you’ve seen him before.”

Atem took in a shaky breath. “While I was the first one to appear when you solved the puzzle, Malice was there too. All of the savages things you think I did…they were truly him. I finally got complete control of him when Kaiba was about to throw himself off the castle in Duelist kingdom. I hadn’t heard from him since…until now.”

He sat down next to Yugi. “Now do you understand why I’m afraid. I did everything to fuel his power and he’s coming for YOU, Yugi. He’s made that abundantly clear, because it will hurt me more than anything if he gets to you.”

“I’m sorry, Yugi. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you. I shouldn’t have left, but at the time, I thought I didn’t have a choice. It never dawned on me I could ask for something different. I thought it was my duty to move on to the afterlife. I was a fool.” ​

​Yugi puffed away at his smoke while Atem spoke. What the man was saying made sense. Of course it did.

When the puzzle was first assembled there was... Definitely a darkness there. Yugi tried not to think about it much, but there was very real blood on his hands from those days.

Blood, but no bodies. Shadow games were fun like that.

He had always separated his Yami from Pharaoh in his mind. They had felt different, even if all of their minds were a jumble at the time.

So the dark spirit of the puzzle was this Malice and was still a big issue and wanted to kill him. That tracked, honestly.

He flicked the cigarette into the road and said with a sigh, "I understand. I hear you. I get it. And I am sorry that has happened to you. I really am. I am sorry you are scared."

As he said those words, they seemed to break him out of the foggy fugue state that he had settled into. While he had been alone and miserable for some time now, knowing that Atem was scared... It made his stomach twist and he quickly pushed his feelings aside in his selfless fashion that bordered on toxic codependency.

The smaller man looked up at the Pharaoh and asked, "What do you need from me? What can I do to help? We can fight this. I know you don't want me in danger, but you can't ask me to walk away knowing that you are... we are partners... Right?"

[theshadowrealmdidntchooseyou]

marik-dominant-prominent

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON, ISHIZU?!?"

“Let me put it to you like this blondie she realizes you are a fucking basket case already you just made that blatantly obvious.” Zorc is feeling pretty savage today and poor Marik is on the receiving end this time.  “Besides we all know you spawned that pineapple haired psycho into existence not that I’m complaining he’s spreading the shadows more.” He grinned. 

[dmbakura]

it’s that kind of night lads. im in a mood to talk about where i think ygo morality fails the most. or one of the places anyway

bakura and akhenaden are what i wanna talk about here. how they’re handled and the context surrounding them. idk what KT’s writing process was, or the ideas he had behind these characters, but from the way they were created and written, it feels like he had blinders on (yeah i know he clearly wasnt in the right mental state when he wrote mw but like. even when im running a high fever i still dont think its a good idea to make genocidal murderers even vaguely sympathetic)

like writing bakura as a tragic victim who let darkness consume him. fine. he’s amazing and compelling and has some beautiful scenes that shine light on his depth (such as the courtroom scene and his calling out of their flawed justice system)

and akhenaden who is by all means still portrayed as a corrupt villain, but is shown to have family and a motive that started in... definitely not the right place but jealousy is a human emotion so perhaps in any other context he could have been a more interesting villain

the problem is, one of these characters has closure, is fleshed out, and has a fully realized arc. the other doesnt.

bakura’s character has a strong concept, but he isnt shown with as much nuance and depth as he should have been. kul elna, for example, the place the entire plot basically spawns from? the villagers are never shown. there are no names or faces to put to them (a lot of the non-royal characters are given this treatment, which is even more questionable). they’re just thieves that “went bad” (because they stopped serving the pharaoh lol?) bakura is almost always made out to be a savage and overall it’s just not handled with the sensitivity a genocide subplot should be given. 

akhenaden in contrast, is actually given a lot of spotlight, especially with set. the family drama between him and his brother is supposed to be sympathetic. like oh no poor atem’s dad didn’t know giving him the go ahead to make the items would cause a whole village to die. he angsts about his son not being pharaoh. why is there more emotional range with him than with tkb, who he, yknow, traumatized by murdering everyone he knew and loved in front of him? on top of this, akhenaden actually takes over bakura’s role as the endgame villain, along with zorc. after he’s killed, his soul is at peace because set ended up becoming the pharaoh. akhenaden technically won.

AND he is shown peacefully in the afterlife at the end of the series are you fucking k-

anyways, when you put them side by side in a narrative about compassion and non-violence, when your protag tries appealing to the wrong one’s (cause of the genocide) humanity and the other one (victim of the genocide) is just plain irredeemable from the get go, it just looks bad. it looks ignorant. it takes atem’s supposed arc about learning compassion and reaching out to one’s enemies (which he never even had much of this to begin with lol? it was almost completely a tell not show situation and the plot breaking itself around atem to make him look morally right all the time) and completely invalidates it. it fails in just about every way.

a lot of this i feel can be chalked up to the overall inconsistency of ygo and KT changing or introducing ideas at the drop of a hat but like. there’s some things i feel are just inexcusable here (along with the general misogyny and racist undertones of the series but thats not what im talking about right now.)

SO im sorry this got so long but this is just me trying to sort out my thoughts on millennium world and why akhenaden is uniquely a fucking terrible character lmao

[the-cryptographer]

So I haven’t actually reread the Monster World Arc in the manga for a good while (although I checked a couple of details). So far as I can tell, most of the actual game plays are the same as in the manga (except for Miho’s inclusion) but it’s a tossup whether any piece of dialogue is filler or not. So *huh hmm* we’re going to play a little game. It’s called ‘try to infer what the hell Takahashi might have been planning to do (or not planning to do bc I’m not entirely sure any planning went into any of this) with Yami Bakura’s character before the manga got axed and everyone got distracted by Kaiba, based on this unfaithful adaptation of his work’.

"Role playing means to play a role. The players act as their characters and enter a world of adventures. That is what makes this game popular.”

I guess the question is- is this why this game is appealing to Ryou/TKB/Zorc? The question of identity has always been strong regarding the Bakurae. And not a question that was ever answered, in contrast to Yuugi and Atem. Y!Bakura also often imitates Ryou as one of his tactics. Does he like acting? Should he go to acting school postcanon? Does his affinity for acting mean that the obfuscation regarding his individuality and identity is somewhat purposeful on his part? What could he be so intent on hiding?

Also perhaps a pointed statement. An enemy concealing themselves as a friend is something both Y!Bakura and Malik seem prone to. But maybe more interesting in that TKB sees Atem and the Pharaoh’s Court as enemies that have concealed themselves in their opulence and authority. Hiding in plain sight.

In any case, fun and games are now over.

Miho faints and gets trapped in her figurine - (she’s so cute~) - and everyone loses their shit.

Jounouchi’s hair also loses its shit. I’m not sure what’s going on with it.

Honda runs in to roll a critical to save Miho. Even though it’s neither his turn, or does he have a skillset that would allow him to do so.

Y!Bakura then proceeds to trap his soul in his figurine as well, as punishment for rolling when it’s not his turn. Is that a real offense the DM can punish? Because that sounds fake. Very fake.

The more important part, though, is that you know Ryou also gets angry when he’s DM-ing and people get belligerent and roll when it’s not their turn. Please imagine Ryou playing Monster World with Honda postcanon, and Honda makes mistakes and Ryou’s also like: Manners! It’s not your turn! And Honda kind of cringes: ...Please don’t say that. And Ryou’s all: ???

Jounouchi is rolling next.

Savage.

So then pretty soon everyone is Monster World Figurines (so cute) and Atem is the one rolling for all of them. It’s Atem vs Y!Bakura, everyone. Huzzah!

A good screencap.

Atem is popular. And much better at rolling dice for Jou than Jou is.

And Jounouchi is jealous and attention starved as usual. This poor neglect child. Pay attention to me. Pay attention to me. Pay attention to me.

Yuugi continues to do his magic hands beast tamer thing, and recruit enemies to his side.

The sound effects here as he pets(?) this dragon are adorable.

In the meantime, Ryou has “cursed” Y!Bakura’s dice. Ryou confirmed as too occult and creepy even for Y!Bakura.

Ryou has also taken back control of his left hand.

Aaaaand I... actually completely forgot this happened. Everyone talks about how Y!Bakura stabbed himself during Battle City. But his self-mutilative tendencies seem to extend far beyond that one moment.

...This too. I guess in a technical sense, Y!Bakura says he default wins so long as the heros all die in this game of Monster World. And this is his game, so maybe Zorc’s defeat really won’t have any further consequences on him. But... I’m not convinced. It seems likely that Zorc/TKB/Y!Bakura - whoever the hell this is - doesn’t care if he dies in the process of wiping the others out. Probably you could have foreseen Y!Bakura/Zorc killing TKB in Memory World based on this but- here he’s willing to kill Zorc’s expy, not just TKB’s expy. This seems like a subtle difference that could have had some great significance. The ultimate evil doesn’t actually care about living to perpetuate ultimate evil.

And I believe this is the final part of our ‘figure out what Takahashi was thinking’ game. Atem devises this strategy as a way to recruit Ryou, who crawls out of Zorc’s left arm. BUT! Zork implies that it is, in fact, possible to recruit him. Was the original plan for Atem & co to level up to level one million and recruit Zorc at the end of the manga? It might mean more coming from the heros, but the villain himself implying that there’s something redeemable in him is interesting in of itself.

In other news, Jou’s stupid martyr streak continues.

And things are getting dicey and wrapping up to their conclusion. (Get it? Dicey? Haha. I’m not funny.)

That’s what you get for shopping at Walmart, Y!Bakura.

So the dice break, and then Atem says-

And so we get initiative and can do whatever we want now!

Yeah, also pretty sure that’s not how the game works, Atem. If your dice break, don’t you just have to get a new set of D10s and re-roll? Fake. So fake.

But wait, going back, something that didn’t happen in the manga.

Y!Bakura tries to kill Ryou for interfering, it seems. Which is approximately how I see their relationship, personally. But I’m still not sure I appreciate Toei trying to end the debate on whether or not the Ring Spirt is at all protective of Ryou’s person. Hmmm. HMMM! I think it’s a question better left vague than answered in this clumsy manner.

So, YAY! Our heroes won the game. And the Millennium Ring breaks off Ryou’s neck and falls to the floor. Where it was left 5ever and everyone was happy and that was the end of our Ring related troubles, YAY! (I s2g, Ryou. Don’t ruin this for me!!!)

And then Ryou makes this to celebrate. And Yuugi and Atem are represented individually. And it’s all very cute and we should appreciate it!

THAT’S IT! ANIME OVER!

[demonatemu]

Yugioh the darkside of dimensions English dub vs original Japanese

Also explanation of stuff and questions but OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS

Will add after I see the movie in english again, feel free to discuss/add anything else you noticed But here’s a non-spoilery review: Characters 8/10: The original cast is back and characterizaions are kept true to the 4kids version but with a feeling they kept from the original manga as well. Aigami himself is interesting but his motivation/endgoal is rather confusing and falls flat though it is more complex than other ygo movie villains we’ve seen. Animation 9/10: While I would’ve preferred the 3D cgi kept to lower levels I can understand why with the insane intricate designs of the new monsters. Kagami as lead animation shines through with his style “strong face joey”, beautiful hands, etc etc brings back memories of some of the original anime’s most important duels. A scene with Yugi putting on the new duel disk was keyed by Takahashi himself so a fun easter egg!  Story 9/10: Story-wise while I can see where Takahashi was trying to go with this but overall the plot was somewhat confusing. “Dimension summoning” i’m just going to straight up call it “we’re not even going to try to follow the actual card game rules anymore summoning” so avid TCG players may have a difficult time figuring out wtf is going on in the duels BUT non-TCG players will enjoy it more since it’s certainly more “flashy”.  Overall 9/10: Bonds Beyond Time seemed to be a testing ground for Kagami - 3D team and DSoD is where the two really shine. While BBT was for the series 10th anniversary featuring DM, GX, and 5D’s (though extremely heavy on 5D’s plot due to it being the current running series), DSoD celebrates the series’ 20th anniversary and as such provided Takahashi with the means to answer quite a few of the major questions left after the conclusion of the manga. Takahashi brings a good end to certain character arcs and wraps up his original manga in a spectacular must-see epilogue for any original yugioh fan or those who remember yugioh from their childhood.  Most theaters will only show for a day or two and only through next week so check the list for theaters near you: yugiohtickets.com And now for the key differences/plot questions (answered?) (SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT)

Differences (that I recall):

Kaiba accepted Yugi as a strong duelist in his own scene with kaiba about the water bottle originally it was him saying something about the new duel disk Aigami punch edited/ bullying scene with aigami toned down in general Added backstory scenes Replaced/added those 4Kids puns we all love Bakura/Kaiba being extra savage towards Joey Added dialogue (joey trapped in aigami’s dimension scene/in general) Final form Aigami explained the whole world going to shit plot not sera Obviously all japanese text changed to english in BG/cards etc Japanese version was way more serious in my opinion

Things not edited: boob bouncing/cleavage They did not try to downplay the pride/puzzleshipping AT ALL haha

Explaining Kaiba’s extra level of thirst/saltiness: This kaiba / movie is set after the events of the manga. This means Kaiba was NOT present for the events of the millennium world and did not see Atem leave firsthand. You notice that during the flashback scene of the demoniacal duel Kaiba was not in that scene. This is why he is so adamant of Atem being able to be brought back/does not accept he left.

Explaining aigami and plana:

Opening scene established multiverse

Plana is a universal force/energy that allows wielders to dimension hop, transform and shape new/existing universe, create new universe

Shadi is an original wielder of this power/original keeper of the cube thing

Passes cube onto Aigami (ability to dimension hop etc) when his physical body died and also passed abilities onto kids (temporary power) beforehand

Plana - It is only active if the pharaohs spirit is not on the same plane of existence/ universe

When atem left kids all got power

In the final form Aigami vs kaiba and Yugi duel the deus ex atem was atem soul being in our universe for a brief second thus “breaking the circuit” that allowed for plana to flow (think of it like a switch) because the kids were only granted plana and not original wielders (like Shadi) they lost their power to wield plana. Note that atem TOOK the puzzle with him thus that he cannot be called back to that universe with the puzzle.  The last move where Atem imposed over yugi he summoned Palladium Oracle Mahad (reference to this loyal servant Maahado)

The end scene is a one way trip because note kaiba deliberately avoids saying “you’re in charge *until I get back*” or making the promise to come back to Mokuba

His ship now with Aigamis cube (which is a source of plana I think otherwise he is able to power it with his duel links energy (see transcend game) and use it) is now able to transport him body AND soul (because in transcend game kaiba was only able to try to reach atem through his mind/soul but the mental stress would’ve killed his physical body thus killing him) to another dimension aka “the afterlife” where atem is but because atem is in that universe he and plana cannot both be “on” and thus kaiba cannot use the cube to go back About Shadi (Shin) This my friends and I are still debating about but the Shadi Shin we see in the manga may or may not be the human body version of the Shadi we see in the manga. The shadi we see in the manga may be his spirit in the millennium key but that is able to float about and interact or it could be another version / person a part of shadi’s tribe or whatever

My question is

Why did the ring still have evil (I thought horahkty purged it with zorc but then again I think the evil of the ring is just permanently there and zorc was actually in the puzzle) ?

Where/why not use the other 5 items as well ?

Can the kids use plana again now that atem soul is gone or is the circuit permanently broken?

Where is the millennium ring? Also comparatively here’s the summary I did for the JP release when I went to see it (though someone else may have a more accurate one as I couldn’t understand any of the “Plana” stuff when I first went to see it in japan http://sliferthewhydidigeta.tumblr.com/post/143702764826/yugioh-the-darkside-of-dimensions-summary-with )

[necrophadesoftheshadows]

He awoke not with the expected bang, but with a whimper.

Zorc stared up at the ceiling, sprawled out haphazardly across the floor. There was a taste in his mouth: coppery, faint. He grimaced, not because the taste of blood in his mouth was uncomfortable for him, but because just a moment before it had been so much stronger. In his mouth, coating his gums, smeared across his face - he had torn out a human’s throat with his teeth in a savage fury, and had been finally enjoying his first taste of freedom in a thousand years when the world had suddenly tilted, and he had dropped.... dropped....

Where was he?

This room was... familiar.

He grasped aimlessly for a clue of where he was. He wasn’t ready to get up yet. Zorc wouldn’t let vertigo take him again until he was sure that he wasn’t back in that damn prison. His fingers knocked against something small and hard on the floor.

His - horn?! His horn was severed, and on the floor, and - ?!

.....

“…Punishment game: Mind lock.”

And then... he..... knew.

[evilkitten3]

for ship meme: euro, death and yuumei!

…for ALL OF THEM??? you are a very hateful person, anon. *sigh*

VERY WELL. But I shall find you and rain down my vengeance upon you.

everything is under the cut, because i have some humanity

Euroshipping

who is more likely to hurt the other? Kaiba, but not intentionally.who is emotionally stronger? It’s a tie. Ryou is more willing to show his emotions, but they’ve both been through enough shit to be pretty tough.who is physically stronger? Kaiba apparently knows martial arts, so him.who is more likely to break a bone? Kaiba, probably. I mean… he’s so goddamn extra; it’s amazing he hasn’t already.who knows best what to say to upset the other? I’d say Ryou. Kaiba could bring up the Spirit of the Ring, but I feel like he still doesn’t wanna admit that it ever happened. Ryou, on the other hand, is fully aware of Mokuba’s existence (he wouldn’t, though).who is most likely to apologize first after an argument? Probably Ryou. Kaiba’s too damn stubborn.who treats who’s wounds more often? I doubt either of them get injured much anymore, honestly.who is in constant need of comfort? They both need hugs.who gets more jealous? Neither.who’s most likely to walk out on the other? Kaiba, but only because he has an important meeting.who will propose? Ryou. With a Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed ring.who has the most difficult parents? Ryou’s dad (his stepdad? other dad? who knows) is only parent either of them have, so…who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? Neither one of them is really much for hand-holding, but probably Ryou.who comes up for the other all the time? I still don’t understand this one.who hogs the blankets? Nobody. They’re good at sharing.who gets more sad? Ryou gets more visibly sad. Kaiba doesn’t really show his emotions.who is better at cheering the other up? Ryou. He has a Blue-Eyes White Dragon costume. He just… puts it on and acts totally normal and eventually Kaiba has to at least smilewho’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes? I can’t see either of them doing this.who is more streetwise? Probably Kaiba, but who knows.who is more wise? Ryou, I think.who’s the shyest? Kaiba is pretty awkward when it comes to his feelings.who boasts about the other more? Neither really does this.who sits on who’s lap? Ryou sits on Kaiba’s lap. Except at night ;P

Deathshipping

who is more likely to hurt the other? Dark Marik, no questionwho is emotionally stronger? I wouldn’t call either of them icons of emotional stability, honestly.who is physically stronger? Probably Dark Marik.who is more likely to break a bone? Dark Marik is more likely to break a bone, but it’s probably gonna be someone else’s bone.who knows best what to say to upset the other? Ryou. He can get savage.who is most likely to apologize first after an argument? Ryou, probably. Otherwise it’d go on forever.who treats who’s wounds more often? I’m betting Ryou has to patch Dark Marik up every now and then.who is in constant need of comfort? Neither of them.who gets more jealous? Dark Marik. A lot.who’s most likely to walk out on the other? It could go either way, really.who will propose? Neither.who has the most difficult parents? …That depends on whether or not you see Marik as Dark Marik’s ‘parent’.who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? Dark Marik, but not in the romantic way. He just gets excited about something and ends up dragging Ryou behind him.who comes up for the other all the time? Still don’t get this one.who hogs the blankets? Dark Marik. He wants to build a fort.who gets more sad? Ryou, probably.who is better at cheering the other up? Again, Ryou.who’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes? Ryou. Dark Marik likes the jokes.who is more streetwise? Kinda hard to say. Probably pretty even.who is more wise? Ryou, due to experience.who’s the shyest? Neither one of them is very shy.who boasts about the other more? Dark Marik brags about everything, which includes Ryou.who sits on who’s lap? Ryou sits on Dark Marik’s lap.

Yuumeishipping

who is more likely to hurt the other? Dark Marik is the most likely to hurt someone, followed by Dark Bakura and Marik.who is emotionally stronger? Yuugi is the only one who comes close to having his shit together.who is physically stronger? Marik and Dark Marik are the strongest, probably. The others are all smol nerds.who is more likely to break a bone? Dark Marik, but again, probably not his own bone.who knows best what to say to upset the other? Dark Bakura can be savage, but Yuugi knows all of them really well. He’s just too nice to be an asshole.who is most likely to apologize first after an argument? Ryou or Yuugi.who treats who’s wounds more often? Marik probably ends up patching up Dark Bakura after he does something stupid.who is in constant need of comfort? All of them. None of these boys are ok.who gets more jealous? Marik and Dark Yuugi are the most jealous.who’s most likely to walk out on the other? Dark Bakura leaves all the time, but he always comes back.who will propose? Yuugi, to Ryou, when they’re both very, very drunk.who has the most difficult parents? Yuugi’s dad is never around and his mom is pretty nice, Ryou’s dad is dead and his other dad is also never around (does he even have a mom?), Marik’s parents are dead, Dark Marik’s parents are either dead or Marik (and nobody wants to think about that), Dark Yuugi’s parents are dead, and the closest thing Dark Bakura has to a parent is Zorc. So Dark Bakura, I’d say.who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? Usually Ryou or Yuugi.who comes up for the other all the time? I still don’t get this one.who hogs the blankets? Dark Marik used to, but then Ryou just bought like a bajillion blankets for all of them, so now it’s nobody.who gets more sad? They all have their moments.who is better at cheering the other up? Yuugi is the best at cheering everyone up.who’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes? Ryou. It’s amazing his hands haven’t fallen off from how much he’s had to smack his dumb boyfriends.who is more streetwise? Dark Bakura has TKB’s memories of living on the street, so him.who is more wise? Dark Yuugi likes to pretend it’s him, but it’s Ryou and they all know it.who’s the shyest? They all have varying levels of shyness at different points.who boasts about the other more? Dark Yuugi boasts about all of them. Mostly Yuugi.who sits on who’s lap? Dark Bakura will sit on any of them. Yes, like that.