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cinereusk's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
raginsagein's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
phantom_25's review
4.0
Nice volume. Got introduced to Kaiba and Shadi in this. Also got to know a little more about Jonouchi and his past. Mostly the chapters came in pairs in this one, with having part 1 and part 2 of their stories, which made them more structured, they had more substance and were great. The one about Shadi stretched out to 3 chapters and it ended on a cliffhanger, so for the continuation for it will need to read the next volume and see how it goes from there.
millennial_dandy's review
4.0
"I'm glad I took your challenge! This is the extreme game I've been looking for!!"
So much lore in this volume, including how Joey/Jonouchi gets the sneakers he wears the rest of the series (random, but hey, you've gotta have at least a few deep cuts for the passionate enthusiasts).
We have the debut Kaiba-Yugi duel, the first real foray into the background of the Millennium items -- there's a lot going on.
For anyone who grew up on the anime, it's easy to kind of forget how rough the early chapters of the original manga are, at least from the perspective of kicking off a multi-arc, multi-spin-off franchise. This is likely because that wasn't the intention. Yu-Gi-Oh! started off as a bad guy of the week style story with the Egyptian artifact twist and horror elements. You know, the kind of gritty, grim story where everyone but the protagonists and a few select others are cruel and greedy and where danger lurks around every corner. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is just as cruel, though his brutality is filtered through the lens of poetic justice.
It's interesting that when the story was in this dark and misanthropic phase the internal morality was much simpler than it would become. Longtime fans always like to poke fun at the 'friendship conquers all' message that would remain at the heart of the story, but to be honest, the black and white good vs. evil dichotomy was, in my opinion, a greater sign of Takahashi's immaturity as an author at that time. So even though as Yu-gi-Oh! evolved to center around Duel Monsters and dropped much (though not all) of its horror trappings, and the intended audience was aged down, the characters themselves became more complex, as did the dilemmas they had to face.
Sure, we'd always get a healthy slew of bad guys where being an abject menace was their only character trait, but we also got characters like Bakura and Marik or any of the main villains in the Waking the Dragons anime filler arc who, while definitely 'bad guys', had empathy built into their backstories -- we could understand how they came to be the way they were and how there were systemic problems that led them there, yet the story was careful to still frame their actions as wrong. Similarly, as the story goes on, we start to see the flawed humanity behind characters like the Pharaoh.
That being said, no one gets a better, more nuanced, hubris-laden character journey than Yu-Gi-Oh!'s primo bad boy, Seto Kaiba. Which is why it's so, so funny to go back to his first appearance in the story when he was only meant to be a one-off cruel, greedy bully for Yugi/the Pharaoh to overcome.
The popular fandom claim is that it is in part due to fans' positive response to Kaiba's character that he becomes first a recurring villain, then a full-time main cast member. I can neither confirm nor deny this (personally, I think we all just got lucky that he happened to be in the same chapter that Duel Monsters was introduced in and so got swept along on that tide), but if nothing else, something about this arrogant kid with his briefcase full of cards sparked something in the writers of all the anime filler arcs since fully 2 of them (The Virtual World arc + KC Grand Prix arc) plus the Pyramid of Light movie revolve around him.
But the Kaiba I reckon most of us conjure up when thinking about the character has nothing to do with the one we meet in volume 2. Like, sure, it's patently untrue (no matter how many fic writers, including me, try to write around it) that Kaiba was ever really a stone cold stoic bitch, but this is the only time in the manga we ever get to see gleeful gamer Kaiba who says things like: "Yes! This is great! This is so cool!" when faced with the Pharaoh's shadow game version of Duel Monsters.
It makes sense that someone who reacts that way would then want to turn around and create the technology that allows the game to be played like that all the time. Luckily for Kaiba he's a genius who can and does succeed in doing that thing. It would also make sense that the penalty game he suffers as a result of losing to the pharaoh in this first duel would lead someone to becoming a bit unglued as we see just two volumes later with the whole Death-T arc.
Indeed, it's a logical through-line that Kaiba's 'season zero' arc would be the catalyst for the Pharaoh to begin recognizing that punishment doesn't actually result in positive character growth since after their second duel, instead of inflicting another 'penalty game', the pharaoh uses the power of the Millennium Puzzle to help him emotionally self-actualize (Sort of. A little bit.). And then for the rest of the series, instead of using magic at all, the pharaoh resorts to using their duels as a pretext for talk therapy. It's nice. It arguably doesn't work on Kaiba, but this method does prove successful on other occasions with other villains (especially in the anime).
Anyway, and in summation, it's a fabulous artifact from which many good things sprang.
Less interesting to me personally, but we have a large chunk of the middle of the volume taken up with a story about the gang Joey/Jonouchi was involved in before befriending Yugi that's kind of interesting but doesn't go anywhere, and then finally, we get to the first overarching plot development moment when Yugi (and the Pharaoh) meet Shadi for the first time.
Obviously, what is 'canon' for Yu-Gi-Oh! is all over the place because of the major differences between the pre and post 'Duelist' manga chapters not to mention the anime and all the differences between the Japanese and English dubs, arguments about how/whether major filler arcs like Waking the Dragons and the Virtual World Arc fit in. Ya'll already know.
However, the introduction to the ancient Egyptian magic stuff is pretty much inarguably handled better in the manga than the anime. The manga gives Shadi a few chapters to be built up before he actually does anything, and making him more villainous helps flesh him out as more than just a mouthpiece for exposition. I liked that.
All in all, a perfect volume. No notes.
Well, ok, one note: where did Joey/Jonouchi get 50,000 yen (~$500) to buy a pair of sneakers???
So much lore in this volume, including how Joey/Jonouchi gets the sneakers he wears the rest of the series (random, but hey, you've gotta have at least a few deep cuts for the passionate enthusiasts).
We have the debut Kaiba-Yugi duel, the first real foray into the background of the Millennium items -- there's a lot going on.
For anyone who grew up on the anime, it's easy to kind of forget how rough the early chapters of the original manga are, at least from the perspective of kicking off a multi-arc, multi-spin-off franchise. This is likely because that wasn't the intention. Yu-Gi-Oh! started off as a bad guy of the week style story with the Egyptian artifact twist and horror elements. You know, the kind of gritty, grim story where everyone but the protagonists and a few select others are cruel and greedy and where danger lurks around every corner. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is just as cruel, though his brutality is filtered through the lens of poetic justice.
It's interesting that when the story was in this dark and misanthropic phase the internal morality was much simpler than it would become. Longtime fans always like to poke fun at the 'friendship conquers all' message that would remain at the heart of the story, but to be honest, the black and white good vs. evil dichotomy was, in my opinion, a greater sign of Takahashi's immaturity as an author at that time. So even though as Yu-gi-Oh! evolved to center around Duel Monsters and dropped much (though not all) of its horror trappings, and the intended audience was aged down, the characters themselves became more complex, as did the dilemmas they had to face.
Sure, we'd always get a healthy slew of bad guys where being an abject menace was their only character trait, but we also got characters like Bakura and Marik or any of the main villains in the Waking the Dragons anime filler arc who, while definitely 'bad guys', had empathy built into their backstories -- we could understand how they came to be the way they were and how there were systemic problems that led them there, yet the story was careful to still frame their actions as wrong. Similarly, as the story goes on, we start to see the flawed humanity behind characters like the Pharaoh.
That being said, no one gets a better, more nuanced, hubris-laden character journey than Yu-Gi-Oh!'s primo bad boy, Seto Kaiba. Which is why it's so, so funny to go back to his first appearance in the story when he was only meant to be a one-off cruel, greedy bully for Yugi/the Pharaoh to overcome.
The popular fandom claim is that it is in part due to fans' positive response to Kaiba's character that he becomes first a recurring villain, then a full-time main cast member. I can neither confirm nor deny this (personally, I think we all just got lucky that he happened to be in the same chapter that Duel Monsters was introduced in and so got swept along on that tide), but if nothing else, something about this arrogant kid with his briefcase full of cards sparked something in the writers of all the anime filler arcs since fully 2 of them (The Virtual World arc + KC Grand Prix arc) plus the Pyramid of Light movie revolve around him.
But the Kaiba I reckon most of us conjure up when thinking about the character has nothing to do with the one we meet in volume 2. Like, sure, it's patently untrue (no matter how many fic writers, including me, try to write around it) that Kaiba was ever really a stone cold stoic bitch, but this is the only time in the manga we ever get to see gleeful gamer Kaiba who says things like: "Yes! This is great! This is so cool!" when faced with the Pharaoh's shadow game version of Duel Monsters.
It makes sense that someone who reacts that way would then want to turn around and create the technology that allows the game to be played like that all the time. Luckily for Kaiba he's a genius who can and does succeed in doing that thing. It would also make sense that the penalty game he suffers as a result of losing to the pharaoh in this first duel would lead someone to becoming a bit unglued as we see just two volumes later with the whole Death-T arc.
Indeed, it's a logical through-line that Kaiba's 'season zero' arc would be the catalyst for the Pharaoh to begin recognizing that punishment doesn't actually result in positive character growth since after their second duel, instead of inflicting another 'penalty game', the pharaoh uses the power of the Millennium Puzzle to help him emotionally self-actualize (Sort of. A little bit.). And then for the rest of the series, instead of using magic at all, the pharaoh resorts to using their duels as a pretext for talk therapy. It's nice. It arguably doesn't work on Kaiba, but this method does prove successful on other occasions with other villains (especially in the anime).
Anyway, and in summation, it's a fabulous artifact from which many good things sprang.
Less interesting to me personally, but we have a large chunk of the middle of the volume taken up with a story about the gang Joey/Jonouchi was involved in before befriending Yugi that's kind of interesting but doesn't go anywhere, and then finally, we get to the first overarching plot development moment when Yugi (and the Pharaoh) meet Shadi for the first time.
Obviously, what is 'canon' for Yu-Gi-Oh! is all over the place because of the major differences between the pre and post 'Duelist' manga chapters not to mention the anime and all the differences between the Japanese and English dubs, arguments about how/whether major filler arcs like Waking the Dragons and the Virtual World Arc fit in. Ya'll already know.
However, the introduction to the ancient Egyptian magic stuff is pretty much inarguably handled better in the manga than the anime. The manga gives Shadi a few chapters to be built up before he actually does anything, and making him more villainous helps flesh him out as more than just a mouthpiece for exposition. I liked that.
All in all, a perfect volume. No notes.
Well, ok, one note: where did Joey/Jonouchi get 50,000 yen (~$500) to buy a pair of sneakers???
ravencake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
aliciawithoutkeys's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot