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enemyoflactose · 1 month

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I finished rewatching season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh. My redemption arc is 1/5 complete. (I have to watch the dub because I don't wanna support Crunchyroll and I don't know where else to watch the sub)

My main thoughts are about voice acting since of all the arcs, Duelist Kingdom and Domino City side stories make me the least angry.

So to start off, a comparison between Dub and Sub acting and which voice I like more as of now.

Yami: His sub voice in season 1 is honestly so cute. He just sounds like he's having a constant blast.

His dub voice on the other hand, sounds so hot 🥵. And Dub Yami is what's keeping me from doing drugs.

Overall, I like both a lot. I do however think Dan just makes the character.

Little Yugi: similar thing as Yami, only his dub voice doesn't sound hot. Just cute. I love both voices and honestly can't pick between them.

Joey Wheeler: I like his dub voice more. That's where the personality is. His sub voice just sounds generic.

Tristan: For the first few episodes of the dub, Tristan has this really stupid voice that I just don't like, so for that alone I like his sub voice more.

But then from the Rex duel and onward it's Greg Abby, and then I like both his sub and dub voice.

Téa: I think I prefer her sub voice. Just a little less grating. (I still love you Téa)

Ryou: He sounds like Gachapoid in the sub 🥺. I love Gachapoid!

His british accent tho 😩

Yami Bakura: Gachapoid doesn't suit him unfortunately. I like his dub voice more.

Pegasus: stunning. Both of them. The performance is impeccable. But Dub Pegasus never said "Jesus Christ".

Seto Kaiba: a hard one. In the sub he screams so much, but in the dub he doesn't sound like he's one insult away from killing himself... I can't decide.

Mokuba: they both sound the same.

Mai: I think I prefer dub. Just sounds deeper idk.

Weevil: I love him and his voices.

Rex: I prefer his sub voice. Just less grating and he doesn't sound like he has bronchitis.

Everyone else: meh. Could go either way.

Now to talk about the characters, and if I relearned anything:

Téa's friendship speeches are so sweet and cheesey I can't believe people don't like them. She is always there for her friends and clearly cares so much. I will never forgive Téa bashers for what they did to her during the great Yaoi Revolution.

Joey isn't as stupid as I remember him being, just a beginner at Duel Monsters. Nothing wrong with that. He's trying. His utter determination to get that money for his sister's operation is seriously so heart warming. I love whenever he says "Time roulette go!"

Tristan threw a dead body at Satan. And grabbed Ryou's leg while climbing the tower because he was getting impatient.

Yugi being uncertain of Yami until the Bakura duel is crazy. Like he wasn't even having memory issues. Bro huh? He's also so supportive! Like baby boy was the one to suggest he and Yami fight PaniK for Mai. He told Yami not to attack Kaiba and send him falling to his death. He gave Joey Time Wizard! Yugi is a bro.

Yami is such a good friend. Helping Joey out with duels, got Mai her star chips back, freed both Mokuba and Kaiba's souls because Mokuba asked, tried getting pink shirt his star chips back, and never believing that Joey couldn't duel by himself.

Ryou was, certainly there. Honestly his impact doesn't really matter. He just explains Duel Monsters to Tristan and Téa whenever Yugi is dueling. His first appearance isn't even that impressive because instead of killing himself to save everyone like in the manga, Yami switches the places of Ryou and Yami Bakura. So even if he tries to help, someone else always helps way more.

Yami Bakura is so hot. I'd suck his dick if he asked. I also just love how his deck can not only do tarot readings, but is also really annoying to go up against. Like boy had 3 morphing jars, an electric lizard, a man eater bug, and change of heart. Those cards were fucking devastating back in the day. He also would have won that duel if he used Just Desserts one turn later, but oh well. Why did he lick the millennium eye tho? I get the tarot reading, but why did he lick the eye?

Mokuba. Oh sweet Mokuba. He just wants to help his brother, but he suffers so much.

Kaiba is awesome. He hacks into Industrial Illusions and causes a satellite to crash into an office. Killing people. He helps Yami win a duel. He rips a Blue Eyes. He annihilates with Crush Card Virus. My man uses Saggi the Dark Clown. His devotion to rescuing Mokuba is amazing and is really what has me start caring for him when I first watched the series 5 years ago. His comebacks and sheer distaste for the Yugi gang are fun and amazing to watch.

Pegasus, the star of season 1. He's in my top 5 favorite characters list. I absolutely love eccentric villains, especially when they love cartoons and are actually threatening. Pegasus is a beast. If we ignore his millennium eye for now, he's a fantastic and fun duelist! His deck is interesting and entertaining to watch, neither of his duels were boring, and the man is so funny. "Do I spin it like a top, or roll it like a ball!" I love him. He's also (so far) the only villain I feel genuine empathy towards. Y'all, I'm a sap. If a villain's reason is being evil because they lost their Significant other than I'm sorry I'm crying. My poor guy.

Grandpa: he trained Joey and Yugi, he gave Yugi his deck, he appeared in dream sequences to help Yugi beat his opponents, and he gave Yugi the puzzle. If this man didn't exist, Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn't happen.

Duke Devlin: I forgot how much I hated him when I first watched his dumbass Dungeon Dice Monster 4 episode showdown. He's so fucking mean.

Rebecca: not much to say other than I like her.

The duels:

Seto vs Yami (first duel of the series): a fantastic way to start off the series. Kaiba finds out Yugi's grandpa has the Blue Eyes White Dragon card he's been searching for, he steals it, rips it, and Yugi challenges him to a duel.

Yami takes control and is surprised by Kaiba's duel arena having the ability to make life-like holograms of the monsters on the cards.

The duel begins and for the entire thing, it's honestly pretty equal. Yami summons a monster, Kaiba destroys it. Kaiba summons a monster, Yami destroys it.

It's a back and forth kind of deal until Kaiba pulls out his own Blue Eyes White Dragon card, shocking Yami. He surprises Yami again by summoning another Blue Eyes, but then gets hit with swords of revealing light.

Kaiba summons Judge Man, and it gets Destroyed by the Dark Magician.

During this, Yugi is having his doubts about winning because of Kaiba's Blue Eyes and can't seem to draw cards. Especially when Kaiba summons his third Blue Eyes White Dragon and destroys the Dark Magician.

This leads into Yami and Yugi having an inter monologue with Grandpa about Exodia. How Exodia is split into pieces. Pieces like a puzzle.

Yami gains the courage to draw and he gets all five pieces of Exodia! Instantly winning the duel!

Kaiba is then given a mind crush and starts to question all his life choices.

Rex vs Weevil (half a duel): in this not really a duel, we are introduced to two characters. Since they have names they are obviously important to the plot.

The duel starts with Rex summoning King Rex and instantly getting vortexed. Then Weevil summons his Basic Insect and equips it with Insect Lazer Cannon. This lets him wipe out all of Rex's Life Points.

Weevil is then named Regional Champion, and Rex is the runner up.

Yugi vs Pegasus (second real duel): this is where we are introduced to Pegasus as a villain.

He makes Yugi duel him on a 15 min time lock.

During this duel, Pegasus is cheating. Not just with his millennium eye, but he's sending subliminal messages to Yami. It's not mentioned in the dub, but it still happens.

Yami finds out that duel monsters was created in ancient Egypt and Pegasus starts talking up a storm so he can waste time.

Pegasus wins the duel due to the time limit and steals Grandpa's soul.

Weevil vs Yami (the third duel): This duel was initiated because Weevil decided to be a little dick and threw Exodia off the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Yami bets his deck and star chip, Weevil bets both his star chips.

The duel begins, and we find out about field power bonuses. Insects get lower from the forest, warriors get theirs from the meadow, dragons and winged beasts get theirs from the mountains, zombies get them from the wastelands, and fiends get theirs during night time.

Unfortunately, Yami doesn't get many bonuses.

During the duel, Weevil summons a full board of monsters. He gets mirror forced.

Then he plays his Petite Moth and Cocoon of Evolution combo. He gets Burning Landed.

He then summons his Great Moth. He gets Makiyued and Summoned Skulled.

This is a simple explanation of what happened, but Yami wasn't met without struggle.

A lot of his monsters that he summoned got destroyed. They usually only lasted one turn.

Anyways, Yami won and has three star chips. Joey steals Weevil's dueling glove.

Joey vs Mai (Duel 4): this is Joey's first duel! Hooray!

He doesn't understand that his land monsters can't attack flying monsters, and gets demolished.

Mai adds several equip spells and uses Elegant Egotist to multiply her Harpie lady card.

Joey finds out Mai is cheating with perfume.

Joey then summons Baby Dragon and the Time Wizard and uses them to win the duel.

He got a star chip and his first rival!

Mako vs Yami (duel 5): Yami duels Mako Tsunami.

Mako's monsters are in the water and can't be attacked.

Yami attacks the moon and then uses his Burning Land card.

Yami wins

Mokuba vs Yami (half duel): Mokuba is trying to keep Yami from dueling Pegasus because he wants to save his brother's company.

He loses the duel.

Yami vs Ghost Kaiba (duel 6): Kaiba jumped off a cliff and died. Now his ghost is dueling Yami.

He's psychology tormenting everyone except Tristan. Mokuba quickly became distraught.

Ghost Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes one at a time, and they all get destroyed.

The first one is destroyed by the real Kaiba because OH MY! He ain't dead! That's just some fat ass pretending to be Kaiba! (Or he's Kaiba's dark half)

The second Blue Eyes gets destroyed because Yami summoned Mystical Elf and Raised the Attack points of the Blue eyes he stole from the graveyard.

Yami wins the duel!

Mokuba got rekidnapped tho.

Joey vs Rex (duel 7): Rex is dueling Joey because he wants to duel Mai, but Mai will only duel him if he beats Joey.

Joey again gets his ass beat and is saved by Time Wizard.

His spoils are some chips and the Red Eyes Black Dragon!!!!

Yami Bakura vs Yami (duel 8): in this duel we are introduced to two new characters. Ryou Bakura and Yami Bakura.

Before the duel, the gang and Ryou are talking about their favorite cards (important). Then Ryou challenges Yugi to a duel, Yami Bakura appears, takes them to the Shadow Realm, puts the squads souls in their favorite cards, then tries to steal the puzzle.

Yami challenges Yami Bakura to a duel and when he summons the Cyber Commander, he finds out that all of his have had their souls placed inside their favorite cards.

Tristan dies to the white magical hat or some shit and Joey Flame Swordsman gets summoned. Then Tristan Cyber Commander gets resurrected, then Yugi Dark Magician gets summoned, then Téa Magician of Faith gets places face down. (She's a flip monster)

Throughout this whole ass duel Yami and the gang are getting their ass handed to them.

Yami gets Morphing Jared like 3 times, had Man Eater Bug eat Joey, had Just Desserts taking life points from him, and Yami Bakura was looking at him like

(𓁹‿ 𓁹)

The whole time.

Anyway, Yami Bakura plays the Change of Heart card and we get to see Ryou in a dress.

We get to see Ryou in another dress because he betrays Yami Bakura and takes control of his Lady of Faith and tells Yugi to attack him.

Yami then thinks about how Yami Bakura took the souls of his friends out of their bodies and put them in the cards and then wonders if he can do the same. He can he does.

We then see Yami Bakura in a dress but he doesn't slay as hard as Ryou.

Yami Bakura is defeated but he took a page out of William Afton's book because he comes back instantly.

Yami vs PaniK (duel 9): This duel starts immediately after Mai gets defeated by PaniK.

Yugi calls this fucking giant of a man a bully, PaniK tries to kill him with fire, and the duel starts.

PaniK is hiding in the dark and Yami calls him a pussy multiple times.

PaniK sure is a duelist. He loses his temper easily and doesn't think about the opponent's strategy. This Leads his Reaper of The Cards to get caught in a Magic Circle (I can't remember the name) and destroyed by his monster.

PaniK gets Swords of Revealing Lighted and his Castle of Dark Illusions has its floatation ring knocked off. His monsters get destroyed and he loses.

Mai got her star chips back :D

Joey vs Kaiba (duel 10? Does this one even count?): the entire duel is Joey getting annihilated. He loses. Badly.

And Kaiba gets insulted.

Joey vs Bonz (duel 11): This duel happened because Joey got kidnapped.

We also get introduced to Bonz, Sid, Zygor, and Bandit Keith.

Bandit Keith used to be the intercontinental champion, and he hates Pegasus.

Bonz is just a little guy who doesn't really like Bandit Keith, but he wants to duel with his zombie cards. Keith is helping him out. So they just gotta work together.

Sid and Zygor are Bonz's friends. They're just kinda there.

During this duel, they are in a cave and Joey is getting scared because Bonz is ugly (no he's not 😤) and zombies are spooky.

Joey is managing pretty alright for the first half because Keith keeps making Bonz play not zombies and they keep getting destroyed.

However, Keith wanted this. Because he put a Call of the Haunted in Bonz's deck. This means that Bonz can bring his monsters back from the graveyard as zombies, they're indestructible, get stronger each time they come back, and they keep destroying Joey's monsters.

Bonz then summons his Pumpking and makes his zombies stronger, but it gets destroyed by the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

Then Red Eyes gets destroyed by ways I don't remember.

Now all Joey has left is his Battle Warrior and Sword and Shield.

He summons Battle Warrior , uses Sword and Shield, wins the duel!

The Yugi gang are now trapped in a cave and Bonz and his friends get their shit rocked by Bandit Keith.

Joey and Yami vs the Paradox brothers (duel 12): Ryou leads the gang here.

We meet the Paradox brothers. A pair of eccentric twins who can't shut up and keep rhyming.

The duel is a tag duel. Meaning they take turns, if one opponent loses all of their life points that team loses, and they can help each other out.

The duel is in a maze. Each card can move up a space for as many levels as it is.

Beaver Warrior gets destroyed instantly by the Wall Shadow, which gets destroyed by KUNAI WITH CHAIN.

Some other shit happen, Yami and Joey gotta face some tank and a worm and spider.

Don't know what happened to the tank, the spider got stabbed with Mystic Box, and the worm had something something Magical Hats.

Gate Guardian is a thing and Yami says it's in the class of Exodia even tho it's not an instant win. (Shout out Gate Guardian for getting support 😔✊)

Yami and Joey won the duel with Black Skull Dragon and make it out of the maze with some coins.

Yami vs Kaiba ( Duel 13): this duel starts after Pegasus told Kaiba that dueling him was a privilege, not a right.

Yami and Kaiba duel with the new Duel Disk system. They're using the advanced rules, that's why it's one monster at a time.

With the duel system, you can recall your monsters and replace them with a different one.

Yami falls for the Crush Card Virus trap and can now only use weak monsters.

He makes his Kuriboh wall, and Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon to try and get past it. He doesn't.

Yami then uses his stupid fucking arrow card that I can never remember the name of because it's so stupid and dumb to fuse his Mammoth Graveyard to the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

The dragon starts to decay, Kaiba has a panic attack and threatens to kill himself, Yami says "Bet", Yugi stops him, Kaiba wins.

Téa vs Mai ( duel 14): Téa wants to get Yugi his star chips back and challenges Mai to a duel.

During this duel Téa summons a bunch of wimpy cards like Petite Angel and most of them get destroyed by Mai's Harpie Lady.

Mai has a bunch of equip spells on her Harpie and Téa Wabokued her once.

Shining Friendship gets summoned, gets an equip spell, and Téa activates De-spell to remove Mai's equips.

Mai surrenders and Téa gives Yugi some chips.

Pegasus vs Kaiba (duel 15): in this duel Kaiba is trying to get his brother back.

Kaiba tries to get Pegasus to use his new Duel Disk system, but it doesn't go well.

The duel begins and Kaiba destroys some of Pegasus's monsters, but then Pegasus steals a Blue eyes and turns it into an Ugly Ass Toon.

Kaiba starts losing.

We learn that toon monsters are hard to destroy because they hide in a book.

Also Kaiba falls for his own Crush Card Virus trap and loses.

Mai vs Yami (duel 16): I'm pretty sure Yami was originally being sexist, but I watched the dub so Yugi is the one actually doing most of the dueling here. He doesn't want Mai getting hurt.

Yugi and Yami keep falling for the stupid Mirror Wall thing and their monsters keep getting wrecked.

Then we see Harpies Pet Dragon.

Yugi Mind Controls it and puts it on a catapult to destroy the Mirror Wall (shit looked epic).

Harpies Pet Dragon comes back and we get three Harpie Ladies.

Yugi let's Yami help and they do the Black Luster Soldier ritual and win.

Joey vs Bandit Keith (duel 17): I love this duel.

Joey gets his entry card stolen and Mai gives him hers, so wholesome.

During the duel Joey is fucking shit up. He's doing so good.

Then Keith starts cheating. But Joey prevails.

He uses trap hole, kunai with chain, time wizard, baby dragon, red eyes black metal dragon, and time machine!

Bandit Keith is using Machines and everyone is wondering why. Like bro, machines are a good monster type with a lotta cards.

Anyway Keith is pulling cards out of his wrist band, tries to use Shield and Sword to wipe out Joey, it doesn't work, Keith loses.

Then Keith tries to say that Joey didn't use his own tournament entry card, but Joey shuts that down

Then Keith gets accused of cheating and is sent falling to not at all death.

Yami vs Joey (duel 18): we have to sit through a long ass montage.

Joey throws some cards away, Yami wonders why.

Yami falls for a few traps, then Joey falls for some traps, this whole time Ryou is explaining the birth of the universe to Téa while Tristan kinda stares off into space.

Joey uses his last Time Wizard of the season to bring out his Thousand Dragon, but Yami planned this.

Yami's Dark Magician has become the Dark Sage and he uses Makiyu to stop Joey's attack and wipe out Joey's life points.

Yami wins and I cried the first time I saw this duel.

Pegasus vs Yami (duel 19): the final duel of the arc.

Pegasus tells Yami that if he wins he gets whatever he wants, but if Pegasus wins he gets his soul and the puzzle.

Yami says he wants Mokuba, Kaiba, and Grandpa's souls to be released and Pegasus says "Damn I thought you hated Kaiba", but Yami just doing that for Mokuba.

The duel starts, and Yami is immediately having trouble. He can't destroy the rooms and the Gorgon's Eye is keeping him from defending.

Pegasus also turned Summoned Skull into a toon and it's being creepy.

Yami keeps getting his mind read and Yugi comes in like "what if we switch places?" And Yami says they should.

This gives Pegasus some trouble. It gives him so much trouble that the toon world gets destroyed and he takes the duel to the Shadow Realm.

Yugi dies.

The Yugi gang feel this and send him some good vibes.

This means Pegasus still can't read Yami's mind.

Pegasus does some shit with Relinquish and Yami tries his Kuriboh stunt and his Magician of Black Chaos is there.

Yami wins and gets the souls back.

Pegasus does like 10 minutes later.

Other shit that happened that was interesting/Important:

During the Pegasus and Yami duel, Tristan and Yami Bakura go off on an adventure to find Mokuba's body. This leads to the ring getting thrown in the forest.

The ring goes back to Ryou because love or something.

In the sub Mai offered Rex anything he wanted during their first encounter. This was changed in the dub.

We still don't know how Ryou snuck in the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Shadi doesn't even try to find Yami Bakura. He just goes to one person (Yugi) and gives up.

I'll never forgive 4kids for editing out Yami Bakura sexily licking the Millennium Eye.

If Joey had a Magic Jammer he would have won his duel with Yami.

Domino City side stories:

Rebecca's cool. I like her.

Rebecca vs Yami (duel 20): this duel happened because Grandpa got accused of stealing Rebecca's Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

Rebecca's strategy is also pretty good for the time. Her deck is centered around milling cards to power up her Shadow Goul, and she uses cards like Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan to do this.

During the duel Grandpa is having flashbacks because he had a duel go exactly like this. We find out Rebecca is the granddaughter of Grandpa's friend, Arthur.

Yugi drew Soul Release, but didn't use it because... I don't know. We find out that's how the duel between Arthur and Grandpa ended.

Arthur appears, says some shit, and we never see Rebecca again.

That dumbass game thing:

I wasn't paying attention to this because there weren't any actual duels and I didn't like this part.

Duke Devlin:

This bitch really gonna say Yugi cheats in his duels and steal all the girls. Bro.

Duke vs Joey (duel 21): Joey almost wins, But Duke does an ass pull and wins at 50 life points.

Duke vs Yami (Dungeon Dice Monsters): Duke doesn't explain shit because Yami is King Of Games and should know how to play a game he's never heard of.

Duke makes fun of Yami for not knowing how to play the game he never explained, gets angry when Yami figures stuff out, and is just an ass this whole game.

I wasn't really paying attention, until shit actually started to happen because there was just a whole lotta nothing.

Eventually both players have monsters on the field, some are doing magic, others are just standing there.

Orgoth the Relentless is certainly a thing. He gets beat by the Dark Magician.

Yami wins.

Other thoughts on the Domino City stories:

I laughed when Joey told Duke "I like ya game, just not you."

More characters gotta duel like Rebecca.

The existence of Adina is weird. If Kaiba made her, ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ. If the Big Five Made her, then fine I get it. Mokuba is like a damsel in distress. I just don't like it.

I hope you enjoy this long ass wall of text. My redemption is going steady. I have noticed no change other than being slightly more unhinged.

Imma do this every time I finish a season.

#yugioh #yami bakura #ryou bakura #personal post #weevil underwood #rex raptor #yami yugi #seto kaiba #mokuba kaiba #maximillion pegasus #mai valentine #bonz yugioh #my own redemption arc

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likeabxrdinflight · 2 years

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you know why season 0/the early manga of yugioh is interesting, because it was so clearly written before it was clear that atem was like...actually atem

the early version of the character was pretty transparently meant to be the other yugi, and only the other yugi, really until somewhere between bakura's first arc and the end of duelist kingdom. but they definitely weren't treated as especially separate characters at first, rather as two halves of a whole, until that point. it was first presented like magical DID more so than ghostly possession.

what's interesting about this is also kind of what's unfortunate about it- it's that yugi's character development also becomes atem's character development. as yugi becomes stronger and grows closer to his friends, so does his other self. yugi's friendships fuel all of atem's actions- atem isn't driven by anything that isn't also driving yugi. he acts like an extension of yugi's will, taking over only when yugi's soul isn't strong enough or physically able to continue.

earlier in this first arc, that tends to happen earlier in the conflicts. as the arc progresses, however, and yugi gets stronger and more confident, atem waits longer and longer to show himself. hell, in bakura's shadow game, it's not until yugi's soul is literally sealed away that atem even appears. as it was written, this arc seems to be the culmination of yugi's first arc- he is now strong enough and confident enough to believe in his friends wholeheartedly, and that faith allows his other self to believe just as much, and ultimately win the game. the two of them are treated like a whole person, like one duelist.

but what you can read into all this, once you know that atem is in fact an entirely separate person, is that this first arc is really about atem first becoming like yugi- about the healing effect yugi inadvertently had on him. when atem first appears, he's this demonic entity with a gambling addiction, meting out sadistic punishments on anyone who hurts yugi or his friends. I think we're first meant to believe this is an alternate personality that the dark powers of the millennium puzzle draw out, but actually no it's this amnesiac ghost in possession of ancient egyptian shadow magic who just got slammed with all the memories of the person whose body he can now possess.

so with hindsight, and you do kinda have to read this into it because atem's character is not explored as his own person until later, but this arc really becomes about how atem finds his chill. over the course of the season he doesn't stop doling out vigilante justice exactly, but he does calm the fuck down. the more he adopts yugi's identity as his own, the more he becomes like yugi- and it softens him. about mid way through season 0 the penalty games become a lot less sadistic and violent- atem goes from burning men alive and torturing them to insanity to making them think their make up is constantly flaking or getting doused in water on stage. there are several opponents he just lets go free, and by the end of the death-t arc he's not only saving mokuba's life, but he's shattering only the corrupted part of kaiba's soul, leaving the good parts of him totally intact. he gives kaiba the chance to heal, something he never did for his earlier opponents. he goes from morally ambiguous to outright good guy. and during the very last arc of this series, he's actively incorporated into the friend group in his own right, even if he is still being treated mostly as the other yugi.

and I think you can and should also infer that this is how he thinks of himself- he has no identity at this point so he totally and completely takes on yugi's and doesn't think twice about it. that would seem to contradict the later reveal that actually no he's a whole other person, but it kinda inadvertently works in its own way. because if the final arc is about atem and yugi separating, this first arc is how they come together.

#considering season 0/the early manga as part of duel monsters canon also improves the story line of season 4 but we'll get to that later #anyways this is my thesis on why you can and should consider season 0 part of the anime canon even though there's times they contradict #........and repeat plot points #I love this dead gay pharaoh with my whole chest #...nobody following me signed up for this I am so sorry you're just gonna have to sit through the yugioh rewatch and suffer with me #yugioh

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universestreasures · 7 days

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Inferiority Complexes

As far as my YGO DM muses go, Yugi & Mokuba are not only the youngest of my current line up, but are also the two who possess heavy feelings of inferiority regarding themselves and someone they care about a lot / look up to. With that comes shaky self-confidence and high self-doubt. However, how their feelings manifested, the intensity of those feelings, and how they are eventually overcome are different, and I want to go into that in this post (prepare yourself it's gonna be a lengthy one)

So, let's begin with Yugi, whose feelings are pretty blatant in the text (both anime and manga wise) and are a big part of his character growth / central arc. Yugi, unsurprising to anyone, feels a sense of inferiority to Atem, someone he looks up to and sees like an elder brother. So, when did this all start?

Well, pretty much as soon as Yugi figured out there was 'someone or something else' who shared his body and was the one doing the majority of the big feats in terms of the plot (Manga wise that's Death-T and Anime Wise that's in Duelist Kingdom). Atem always appears as a source of strength for Yugi when something is too tough for him to handle emotionally or physically. Even when he was unaware that Atem wasn't just an alternate personality of his but in fact his own person, he still was very much aware of the strong presence taking him over in times of adversity. And that fact...made him feel so weak and pathetic in comparison, that he Yugi Muto, wasn't strong enough to handle whatever he had to face.

This fact of him feeling like the 'lesser Yugi' damages Yugi's own low amount of self-confidence that he had even before completing the puzzle. He's never seen himself as anything special, partially due to his own humble nature. Even after the main story is done, he still feels that way. That low self-confidence leads to self-doubt and needlessly beating himself up for being so 'weak' to the point there are moments he gives into what others, such as Marik, have said about him only being Atem's 'vessel' and nothing else. As if that is the only thing he is good for, that he is the 'weaker' Yugi.

Sometimes he even questions if he should just 'vanish', that everyone would be better off if he wasn't there or that people would prefer Atem being around over him. We see this in the anime when Anzu is dueling in the Noa Arc, Yugi thinking that she is calling out for Atem and not him.

But it is Atem, along with the rest of Yugi's friends, who help him through these complex feelings, Atem especially. He teaches Yugi about strength and courage, a trait Yugi has had all along inside of him that he was unable to truly see. For example, he stood up to Ushio to defend Jonouchi and Honda even before Atem appeared, to stand up to a bully and protect people he called 'friends'. That kind of strength, the strength of kindness, is Yugi's strength, and it is through seeing Atem and teaching that fact to him, along with the encouragement of his friends, that allows him to really see it for himself.

This is why Yugi takes steps, such as during Battle City, to prove his own strength to himself. He wants to prove he isn't as weak as he thinks he is, to use what he's learned from his partner and stand on his own because he knows one day he will have to. This is done mainly through his battles with Otogi in the manga, possessed Jonouchi in both versions, and Yami Bakura in the Dark RPG. They were battles Yugi had to primarily or entirely fight on his own. And those battles showcased Yugi's own unique strength that wasn't just 'an inferior version of Atem's' or even a 'copy', which is shown well through Yugi's own unique deck he used against Yami Bakura.

This all cumulates in the ceremonial duel, where Yugi proves his strength and truly is able to overcome his insecurities to fulfill his last mission as Atem's vessel / partner. And he takes as much pride in that victory as he does sadness, for it was the last step in his journey. After that fight, he no longer sees himself as inferior to Atem, but rather his equal. For he knows that duel was evenly matched, and if he didn't predict Atem's final plan to win, he would have lost.

Lastly, he gets to prove to everyone who did believe those negative thoughts he had about himself to be true in DSOD, such as with Kaiba. Kaiba at the end acknowledges him as a true duelist, and that meant the world to Yugi. It really helped cement that new found self-confidence of his, especially because Kaiba has always been someone Yugi's respected and was Atem's rival.

Overall, Yugi's inferiority complex is a key part of his character arc. It is something he overcame with time and the support of his loved ones, and I for one as a Yugi mun cannot be more proud of my boy. I'm sure Atem is proud of him too, as we can no doubt see by the end of their duel and I suspect he felt when seeing Yugi again in DSOD.

As for everyone's favorite little bro, Mokuba feels a sense of inferiority to Seto, which isn't probably that surprising considering how he views his big brother and just what his brother has accomplished. Unlike Yugi who developed his feelings in the midst of the story, Mokuba's feelings have been pretty much a part of him since he could remember. Though, they are just as deep-rooted and potent as Yugi's, if not more so.

Mokuba's feelings began when he first developed his admiration for his brother. Seto was a genius, a capable young boy most would consider a prodigy. From Mokuba's POV, everything his brother was able to do was impressive, be it from grades, to ideas, to his talent for gaming. This feeling was probably shared by their parents and many other adults, to the point I am 100% certain Seto was a prime adoption candidate who probably refused if they did not want to take Mokuba too (which I imagine most if not all did not). And while he felt no feelings of jealousy to his brother for all that praise or attention he got (jealousy is a feeling Mokuba's never felt towards Seto ever), he did sorta start to see himself as...lesser in comparison.

Though, this is Mokuba 100% being unfair to himself. You must keep in mind Mokuba and Seto are 5 years apart in age, and Mokuba was only 5 and Seto was 10 when they were dropped off at the orphanage. That's a huge gap in terms of development, and Mokuba had not gotten as much life experience as his brother or time to learn and hone any really major skills (because I do think Mokuba is a fast learner when he puts his mind to something and is very motivated, similar to his brother).

But this reality goes over Mokuba's young mind (and it still does, even after knowing the logic). After all, if his brother can do all those things, surely he can too, right? So it must be an issue with HIM. It's part of why, more often than not, Mokuba sees himself as a burden to his brother, that his own lack of 'competence' or 'specialness' holds him back. He blames himself for them not being adopted by potential nice families who wanted Seto and not Mokuba, because if he was just 'better' than they surely would want both (even though that's not at all how that works, but again, little kid logic).

This is why, even at a young age, Mokuba tries to prove himself and can often be reckless. We see this in Death-T primarily in canon with him wanting to challenge Yugi (which was also motivated by getting his brother's approval), but I imagine he did this with just about anything he tried to do. He wanted to sorta 'catch up' to his brother, even though there was never a 'race' between the two of them to begin with.

These feelings of inferiority intensify after they are both adopted by Gozaboru. I imagine Gozaboaru, much like other parents, only really was after Seto. He had no interest at all in Mokuba. Why would he when Seto was the one to be the heir?

I imagine Mokuba didn't get the same harsh treatment his brother did from Gozaboru, because it was almost like he wasn't 'there' to begin with. Mokuba was isolated from his brother I imagine through a lot of their childhood, so he wouldn't be a 'distraction'. Sure he got educated too (I imagine he was just sent to regular school much like we see him in the manga going to), but it was not anything special. It was more like 'good enough' as opposed to anything extraordinary. And he was no doubt compared to his brother constantly, whether it was by staff or by people at school. That only made what he was feeling worse and led to both beating himself up needlessly (like Yugi does) and contributing to his nightmares at times.

On top of all of that, as Seto and him (manga wise anyway) got further and further apart, he sorta got the vibe from his brother that Mokuba was no longer 'worth his time'. He wasn't anything attention-grabbing anymore, hence leading to Mokuba's early manga actions (because I 100% think everything from the first Capsule Monsters game to his match with Yugi in Death-T was all to get Seto's attention and not his true nature. Why else would he just suddenly change personality traits upon Seto's loss, when he didn't get mind crushed?).

Even after repairing his relationship with his brother post Manga Duelist Kingdom, his feelings of inferiority were not addressed (he hasn't brought them up to Seto directly before cause he doesn't like to burden his brother and it's hard to talk about for him) and only grew as his brother accomplished more and more. He almost like saw himself at the bottom of the hill with his brother at the top, with the distance being too great between them. That distance was indeed one of his motivators for him to start working harder, to start taking a more active role in Kaiba Corp, and to start honing his gaming skills without the use of cheating.

So, with all that said, how does Mokuba overcome these feelings? Well, aside from working hard as I mentioned, I imagine it will be a slow process that is helped by both his friend squad and his brother. Mokuba's Buddyfight friend group (AKA my Gao, Tasuku, Suzuha, and Akatsuki) are the first real friends (outside of Yugi's gang) he's made that see him as NOT Seto Kaiba's brother but rather his own individual. They constantly lift him up, support his efforts, and are there for him. They've done a lot for him personally to feel like he's worthwhile and that he's not as 'weak' as he thinks.

As for Seto, any kind of praise or showcase of being 'proud' of him helps. This can be done in many forms, including being given important tasks at Kaiba Corporation, such as running things in his absence post-DSOD until he returns. I do imagine if Mokuba ever told his brother about his feelings, that Seto would tell him something along the lines of that he doesnt' need to feel that way or that he should not compare himself. Being seen in such a way by his brother would help greatly, along with I imagine if Mokuba is able to beat him in any sort of game and his brother expresses that he did 'good'.

In conclusion, I do not think it will be till Mokuba is an adult that those feelings he has will completely go away (I imagine they pop up every now and again too, like any deep-rooted feeling). It is only after having stood on his own two feet, having proved himself, having gotten that approval from those around him, and having probably bested his brother in a game that his view shifts from being 'lesser' to that of an equal, a true Kaiba in his own right (something he didn't have to 'earn' btw but he thought he had to). And I hope to get to explore that journey of growth through all my threads!

#💎 Game Treasure (Yugi Muto)#💎 Vice Treasure (Mokuba Kaiba)#💎 Game's Glimmers And Glitz (Yugi Headcanons)#💎 Vice's Glimmers And Glitz (Mokuba Headcanons)#tw long post #(this is such a big aspect of my portrays of these two i thought id finally write it all out #(I hope everything made sense and im always down to answer any questions too!

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aminotvxq · 19 days

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Heyy I just wanna ask this question

do you think Kaiba liked atem since he met him ?

I believe it's probably around the Duelist Kingdom arc. How the first match between Seto and Atem's ended up could've also been seen as a product of just an unlucky day, depending on how Kaiba made of the loss. After all, card games before the Duelist Kindom arc were not as complex and strategically demanding. Yet, Seto may have still wanted a re-match because it was a humiliating loss.

Then, Atem once again proved his ability as a Duelist. Atem's strategic moves were quite impressive, even in the context of the bullshit level of the yet-to-mature card game rules at the time. This match is quite likely when Kaiba started to acknowledge Yami as worthy of a true rival. Besides, Seto owes the rescue of Mokuba, Kaibacorp, and himself to Atem at the end of the arc. To him, Atem isn't just a strong opponent; he's one of the most righteous people Seto's ever met in his life.

Kaiba's tragic backstory and the resulting cynicism often prevent him from accepting other people's favors or acknowledging righteous acts as they are. Atem is probably one of only few individuals who broke the barrier that Seto set as a defense mechanism.

#yugioh #seto kaiba #yami yugi #prideshipping

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shoot-of-corruption · 1 year

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The thing with Ryou Bakura

I am honestly weirded out how lighthearted some people play Ryou Bakura and then I read their "canon" tag. I mean AU Ryous are superb and fine and Ryou Bakura is s very handsome character, but in my head, he hasn't ever earned the tags cutesy, weak or boring.

Lets delve into a mind of one Ryou Bakura, who is still under the influence of the ring.

He has gotten the Millennium Ring during his childhood and bonded with it. We're not talking about his family circumstances or his life from before, whenever he lost his parents snd sister isn't really important to this.

The important thing is that Ryou Bakura has started out as a child, probably already losing time. First it's harmless minutes. Like maybe he was just taking a nap or he was not concentrating well. The less people are there to keep tabs on him, the more time he loses. He finds things that don't belong to him while other things completely go missing. He loses more time and sometimes, he doesn't remember how he got to where he is.

Most importantly, he is losing friends. He has most likely been bullied a lot and the little friends he has are falling into comas during gaming sessions. He uproots and travels on MULTIPLE TIMES so he can avoid getting lynched, because parents can be fucking vicious.

Nobody knows how long this has happened and then he comes to Domino. He has learnt to keep impeccable track of time and date, maybe he even has a diary for how much time he loses, just to keep an eye on it. So far, everything could be a row of weird coincidences. And then he finds out he is responsible for all of it. Or rather the thing in the Ring he wears is.

And that is the moment, where he stops being weirded out by it all and truly and directly emotionally charges himself. He breaks down and only gets up again to help his new friends not to be killed by whatever latched onto him.

Ryou, even after that, realizes he sometimes loses time, but he is relatively calm, since nothing bad has happened so far. The moment Duelist Kingdom starts no one knows how often Ryou is in control and how often Bakura is. He loses more and more time, sometimes IN THE MIDDLE OF A TALK and he knows it means trouble.

Second murder attempt and now he isn't just concerned, he is really afraid. Now he knows that the spirit cannot be banished and is sticking to him. Bakura keeps his cards close, maybe influences Ryou to not even realize that much what is going on... it's probably all a blur to him.

Then of course BC arc, where Ryou is CONSTANTLY close to dying. He doesn't know where he is, where are his injuries coming from, he transports from one location to the other without knowing how, his thoughts are constantly muddled, because Marik has his hands to the ellbows in there and Bakura shoves him to the back so he can control everything just like he wants to.

I personally think he doesn't remember the rest of BC at all thrown in and out of consciousness until he gets out of his head again, snatches the Ring and fucking books it...

We're at the point of the worst moments now, so get prepared. Ryou has been kept hostage in his own head for years, he has lost people to this, he has been taken over consciously and unconsciously, he has lost more time than he can even count anymore, his everything hurts, he is afraid that his brain doesn't even function anymore. The only reason because he is keeping it together is so he can keep his friends safe and show just a bit of bravado to the spirit, who knows how terrible he screws up this boy, but probably doesn't even care all too much, on the contrary.

I can very much see him pay 'his rent' to Ryou in unspeakable ways.

Imagine you leave the house in the morning to go to school. The next thing you know is that it is nighttime, you are in an area you barely know, you are soaked through, you wear completely different, DIRTY clothes, your pokets include items you have never seem before. Area's of your body are hurting. What day is it? What time? When have you eaten last? Have you hurt or killed anybody?!

I can see Bakura do this to him simply out of spite and Ryou never wanting to sleep again because he doesn't know where he will wake up. In what situations will he end up? There is no constant in Ryou's life anymore. He can't sleep well, ANYTHING could happen. He can't eat well, because he is in constant duress. He obsesses over things to forget his problems.

He is literally a constantly sleep deprived bundle of anxiety, who pretends to be socially capable, because if he gives in to the spirit, it's game over.

He keeps distance from his friends so he doesn't hurt them anymore and his friends don't seem to care sbout this a bit.

I want to really ask you, if you can see a sparkle of weakness or cuteness in a person, who is going through this EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

And the most mindbreaking thing for me is, how he even got through this alive. I wouldn't have, I can tell you that.

#yugioh #ryou bakura #headcanon #ofc it's headcanons in here #we never see much of ryou bskura #he deserves his junji ito horror show to be written #in sll honesty

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kaibacorpstocksplit · 1 year

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If you'd like for the character ask game, Yami Malik 1 + 2 and also Katsuya Jonouchi 14 + 18 + 22 + 23. Thank you.

Yami Malik:

1. My first impression of them Wasn't a character I had any feelings at all about my first two YGO phases, then this time around mostly just felt frustrated (and still do) that he seemed to be included to just like hand off all of Malik's evilness to so Malik would be less complicated. 2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like) When he literally threw up after almost losing to Jounouchi i went "awww lol" and put him on my shelf of nasty boys

Jounouchi:

14. Best storyline they had Duelist Kingdom is his best, most solid arc to me in terms of his growth and character development, but you know I gotta shill for YGO R too. His character was a little shaky at first but by the end he had so many great moments, subtle and not, that really showcased what I like about his character, and with DK already being my favourite arc I think it felt like a good "conclusion" in a way for that arc and for the character as well (since DSOD wasn't that focused on him, really).

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

I don't think he started acting out until after his parent's divorce, maybe occasionally rebellious but has always been mature for his age- ie having to take care of and pay for things like school for himself, and trying to shoulder the responsibility of his family onto himself, whether it's his sister's medical bills or his father's gambling debt, he's only 16 and taking on these huge burdens for himself that he shouldn't have to. Always energetic, but I think it wasn't until middle school/Hirutani he started to take his feelings out on others. Post-Yugi friendship brings back some of that excitable kid in him.

22. When do you think they were at their lowest?

Hirutani's gang, finding an outlet for his frustrations and social support in the wrong place.

23. Future headcanon

While not a Card Professor himself, he gets pretty readily adopted into the fold after the events of R and is like a guest of honour whenever he goes to America to duel. Mix of begrudging respect and genuine affection.

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yugiohcardsdaily · 2 years

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Random Yu-Gi-Oh! thoughts (original series):

Ryou Bakura deserved better.

Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner weren't useless and were more than just the cheerleaders.

Yugi Muto was constantly overshadowed by Yami Yugi/Atem and still is in media. In fact, most often when a merchandise item says it's Yugi, it's actually portraying Yami. The series may be named after him, but it disrespects him a lot, if sometimes unintentionally.

Seto Kaiba is one of the best anti-heroes of all time.

Mokuba Kaiba is a very decent character who could do with a bit more screen time.

Having Maximillion Pegasus live beyond Duelist Kingdom was actually a good move for the anime.

Noah Kaiba and his arc aren't terrible. They're just mistimed because the manga had been on hiatus due to Takahashi-san being ill during the end of the Battle City arc and the anime had to improvise. If it wasn't for it taking place in the midst of the finals, it would probably be my second favorite season tbh.

The Doma/Orichalcos/Waking the Dragons arc isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's not great. But I do like several things from it. The new characters (not including Dartz, he's kinda boring and meh) and the development of old ones tends to be good for the most part, imo. I have more thoughts, but I'll just sum it up by saying it could've been handled better.

Mai Valentine deserved better.

Duke Devlin also deserved better. I haven't read it myself, but he seems to have had more development and a better story in the manga than what we're given in the anime.

Though I don't mind it, we could do without the tournament that precedes the Millennium World arc. None of the characters introduced in it are memorable, except Vivian for her love slave comment towards Yugi/Yami and Zigfried Von Schroeder for being Kaiba's business rival and a Pegasus expy wannabe.

Why did Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood get so much extra screen time across every season (minus Noah's arc)? Were their characters really deserving of that?

I would've loved to see more of Thief King Bakura as himself versus being controlled by Yami Bakura via the shadow game. Yes, they are different characters, and it becomes clear when Yami Bakura sacrifices TKB and temporarily relinquishes control of him in that moment. (I'll try to find the episode where it happens to show. Edit: It's episode 211.)

The priests deserved better. All of them, except Aknadin, the traitor, and Mahad, who got a very dignified finale imo. (How nobody recognized Aknadin as the former pharaoh's brother when he returned to court is also nonsense... But I digress.)

Dark Magician Girl being Mana's ka and still looking like her modern self is kinda dumb.

More of the priests should've lived to the end. As it stands, only Priest Seto and Mana remain in the anime's canon.

Ryou Bakura deserved better.

I might have more thoughts, but this is all I got for now.

[edited to make text bigger to read, sorry orz]

#not duel monsters #yugioh

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waffliesinyoface · 1 year

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i like to imagine that kaiba, having been an Actual Fucking Sorcerer in his past life, also has some level of magical bullshit abilities inherent to the other members of the cast

crucially, they are strongest and can only be reliably manifested when kaiba is being... himself. This is most notable when it actually happens in canon - ie: kaiba defies ishizu’s 100% accurate predictions of the future through the sheer power of fuck you, god, he’s going to win this duel with blue-eyes. I want to believe that he changed the future through sheer assholery.

Now, admittedly, the “ridiculously skeptical” part of his personality was inflated by the anime - in the manga he is a bit more introspective about it, and notably, after battle city, he kinda just goes “fuck y’all, Kaiba OUT” and leaves, and isn’t as dismissive of “that hocus-pocus nonsense” as he was before, because you know. Shadow games and angry gods just kind of happened in front of him.

That said... he’s still like that at the beginning of battle city, despite getting mind-crushed by Atem in the prologue and Pegasus mucking about with souls in Duelist Kingdom. Magic has already happened to him personally, and he still goes “nah”. So in this case, I’m willing to make an exception for the anime-only arcs where he shows back up and continues blatantly ignoring magic shit, because it’s funny.

Anyways. Based on that, I’m willing to argue that, should Bakura or Atem actually bodily project in front of Kaiba, as opposed to their regular possession shtick, I feel like Kaiba could just. Tell them no. He can accept that Yugi sometimes gets more dramatic but is willing to acknowledge split personalities as a Thing. If either of them tried to talk (atem) / threaten (bakura) him in ghost form, he could just be like “ghosts aren’t real” and they would be forcibly relocated back into their respective items.

#this would also apply to like. any actual haunted house.#atem and bakura are a bit more firmly anchored; so banishing them just sends 'em back into their jewelry.#if a random ghost wandering around tried anything he'd just be like ''nice halloween effects; dork'' and the ghost would be Instantly Dead #he was kind of an exorcist before. i feel like this tracks.#yugioh

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humunanunga · 2 years

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I’m transcribing what I said on Discord here because I still have a lot of Feelings about this, as That Bitch who fully and unapologetically loves the fourth season the most:

Her: So... why does Atemu want to leave...? Like, genuinely curious as to why he needs to leave, or wants to leave. It is a classic case of I want to move on?

Me: It definitely feels more like something he’s supposed to do more than wants to do. I really think the way it was meant to go was that defeating Zorc and closing off his realm was supposed to incapacitate the Millennium Items from being used to invoke shadow games ever again (and judging by DSoD, it was only a partial success as long as the Items themselves were still intact). It definitely feels like one more kingly duty expected of him overruling his personal desires, hence why there are several postcanon fix-it fics/comics. Everyone understands that the final arc is dubcanon. Some would argue that the fourth season is also dubcanon, since it’s not manga-canon and doesn’t comply with Pegasus being killed off back in the Duelist Kingdom finale, but I stand by the Orichalcos arc.

Her: Yeah cuz like otherwise I didn’t see a reason for him to leave. He was happy, everyone was happy.

Me: The reason was cuz KT was forced to keep fucking producing through a stress ulcer he coulda died from and the subsequent physical recovery and he just needed to wrap it up already to give himself a fucking break!

Like, the fourth season was Technically Filler cuz it doesn’t comply with manga canon in which Pegasus was killed off back in the Duelist Kingdom finale, but each of the musketeers were designed to foil the excaliboys. Rafael was being strangled by what he was told was a destiny he had no right to resist. That would’ve been the perfect build-up to Atemu getting his own autonomy back-- It’d even fit in with his contrast against Seto! It’d put them on more even ground-- Seto could’ve been wrong about the past having no current importance, and Atemu could’ve been wrong about the future being a destiny he had to answer.

Atemu was still trapped in a fragile blood-money vessel that only Yugi could summon him from, Yugi who couldn’t live forever, but being set free from it could’ve been his price for winning the Memory World game, which was supposed to be the final and ultimate shadow game, the one Zorc was going to use to enter their world from the Shadow Realm. Perhaps he wouldn’t get a whole new body, but even just being able to reside with Yugi without the Puzzle, they would’ve been able to pass on together whenever Yugi’s time came!

Yugi didn’t need Atemu anymore, but he still wanted Atemu, and Atemu still wanted to be with Yugi even if he also wanted his memories and identity back, they just-- both of them respected each other enough to help each other get what they wanted, even at their own expense, and they both felt like they didn’t have the right to impose on the other, but they both wanted the same fucking thing! Staying together could’ve been a matter of moving on from the worry that they were only together out of necessity...

Fuck, Horakhty could’ve rewarded Atemu that freedom! Yugi’s implied to be a reincarnation of whatever was left of Atemu that wasn’t sealed away, and I was just reading that to pass on to Duat, all aspects of the soul-- Ba, Jb, Ka, Ren, Shut, they all need to be brought back together to pass on, they coulda stayed together!

#yugioh #yugioh duel monsters #orichalcos #memory world #horakhty the creator of light #atemu #mutou yugi #tldr #musings

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magpiejay1234 · 1 year

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So the rough list of possible one-off retrains for 25th Anniversary I have is basically this:

Malik Ishtar:

Gil Garth is the only Normal monster Malik has besides the cards he used while possessing Strings (Humanoid Slime, Worm Drake, Humanoid Worm Drake). All of his other cards exist as Effect Monsters in the OCG/TCG.

Malik has tons of unreleased cards, of course, but we aren’t concerned with those for now.

Mai Kujaku:

The only non-archetypal monster without a retrain she has is The Unfriendly Amazon, or Ally-Killing Swordsmistress in Japanese. She is basically her equivalent of Panther Warrior in the OCG/TCG, so that might be something.

Seto Kaiba:

Kaiba has two notable Normal Monsters from Duelist Kingdom, Grappler, and Swordstalker. Swordstalker technically has an effect in the animé, and Grappler is one the earlier Reptile monsters, so it appears in some card artworks, but that’s about it.

Yugi Muto:

Already discussed briefly, but the only ones that remain are Horn Imp, Blackland Fire Dragon, and Koumori Dragon. Of the three, Koumori Dragon is the most interesting, given its Japanese name, Devil Dragon.

Katsuya Jonouchi:

While he has multiple options, for Normal Monsters, Garoozis, and Tiger Axe remain the most likely, and interesting. For Effect Monsters, there is Little-Winguard, and Hayabusa Knight. Panther Warrior already has a Fusion in Barrett’s deck from ARC-V, and Gilford got recent support in Rush Duels.

Ryou Bakura:

White Magical Hat from the animé Duelist Kingdom deck would be an interesting choice. Doma the Angel of Silence will likely get some sort of Darklord retrain though, so I’m not really counting that.

Battle City Deck is kind of difficult, since the Decks against Yugi/Kotsuzuka, and Yami Malik are very different. I also don’t count Dark Ruler Ha Des as really his, since that card has an entire different mythology in the card game lore.

His final arc deck was never released, and generally marketing doesn’t focus on that arc, so RIP for those waiting on a Necro Soldier retrain when the actual card itself is still not in the game.

Ryota Kajiki:

This one’s really easy, since the only ones remaining are Amphibian Beast, Flying Fish, and Great White. Great White has the best shot in this batch, unless Megolodon gets finally released.

Pegasus J. Crawford:

His most notable non-Effect Monsters are Parrot Dragon, Bickuribox, Dark Rabbit, and Toon Alligator. They are all pseudo-Toon monsters (as in, the Toon Ability, not the Toon archetype).

For his effect monsters, there is Dragon Piper, and Jigen Bakudan.

Insector Haga:

This one is kind of complicated, since Haga’s Deck in the animé is far more sophisticated than in the manga. Therefore, I’ll be double-checking them.

For those who exist both in manga and animé, there is Basic Insect, Hercules Beetle, and Killer Needle.

Giant Flea only exists in the manga, and Kamakiriman only exists in the animé.

Animé Battle City deck also has Kiseitai, and Flying Kamakiri 1, Flying Kamakiri 2, Insect Soldiers of the Sky, Cockroach Knight, and Leghul. Flying Kamakiri 1 is one of the Attribute Summoners, and Flying Kamakiri 2 exists in Rush Duels, so they both would be out of this discussion.

Decks that can be retrained in almost entirety:

Bandit Keith (has several Normal Monsters)

Player Killer in the Darkness (has some of the earliest Fiend monsters in the game, and technically the inspiration for both Supreme Kings)

Ghost Kotsuzuka: Pumpking technically has Pumprincess, which makes me wonder why that isn’t an archetype, or even just a Series yet.

Rishid: Since he only has one moster, Mystical Beast of Serket.

Seeker(aka the Exodia Rare Hunter guy)/Pandora/Strings/Mask of Light/Mask of Darkness: All of these Ghouls have only few monsters anyway, retraining them won’t cost much slots. Pandora is kinda iffy since Legion was released in the previous 15th anniversary hype period.

Dinosaur Ryuzaki: His entire Deck is composed of Normal Monsters in the canon arcs, so...

Decks which are already retrained:

Isis Ishtar: All of her monsters have been retrained.

Esper Roba: Only Cyber Raider remains unretrained.

Meikyu Bros. (already confirmed for Maze of Memories, the remaining monsters can be retrained)

*****

I’m not talking about characters who are not duelists in the manga (Ryuji, Anzu, Hiroto, Shizuka), or characters that don’t exist in the manga (Rebecca) for obvious reasons. I already talked about Anzu, and Fire Princess (used by both Shizuka, and Rebecca) might get a retrain if Fire Sorcerer gets one, since they are sort of counterparts. Ryuji will probably get more of his DDM monsters printed as cards (possibly including manga ones as well, of which there are many), and Hiroto might get like a dedicated Raremetal archetype or something. Shizuka’s Lady Panther might also get a retrain if Panther Warrior gets one. So there’s that.

#shitposting #ygo random thoughts

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sesshy380 · 7 months

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For those that are die-hard for the old-school web days and are still reading longfic over on FFN, chapter 92 has been posted!

Yu-Gi-Oh: Tangled Web of Fate FFN | AO3

The usual, quick copy/paste briefing for possible new readers below cut.

To those new to the insanity, this is unfortunately one of those self-indulgent fics where the OC is central to the story, and ofc what's a self-indulgent story without an MC to pair with OC? Sorry peeps, Marik/OC pairing. There is a slowburn enemies to lovers taking place in the later chapters between Atem and Yami B.|TKB if that's of any consolation. Only canon that exists for this fic is Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs, with the occasional reference to Season 0 (I'm dub trash, deal with it). Ancient Egypt portion is entirely AU, as is the origins of the Yami spirits. No Yami/Hikari pairings due to the dynamics that I have placed them in. No card duels, because I suck at the game. Instead there are other game references, Ka summons, and magic. TW littered all throughout, but I try my best to mention them at the start of the chapter.

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clownkiwi · 1 year

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like, at most, the only monster collecting series ive grown up on were like. bakugan. pokemon. maybe even yugioh (only thru ygotas & the occasional reruns on the cw kids before that stopped being a thing)

i think im only a lil bit interested in checking out the ygo manga only because of season 0 and the darker earlier arcs before duelists kingdom. and then mayhaps i'll switch to og ygo or ygotas. maybe i'll even check out gx or 5ds if those still hold up

#rubys clown thoughts #idk if i'll check out anything past 5ds unless its like. phenomenal or outstanding

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kitkatt0430 · 2 years

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okay, so... the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters timeline of events is really poorly conveyed. We have a lot of potentially world ending events that occur in relatively short periods of time, but then how much time occurs between them is... could be days, could be months, could be years... except it can't be years because the main characters are still in high school and aren't even contemplating graduation until the movie where Seto violates the laws of reality at the end just so he can visit the afterlife and finally get that duel monsters rematch with Atem he's been craving. (Seto Kaiba is so extra and I like that about him so much.)

I'm pretty sure in the final season when Marik, Ishizu, and Odion talk about it being years since they last saw everyone is just because in real world time it had been well over a year (almost two) since the Battle City arc finally came to an end when the Memory World arc began airing. But in-universe time, it definitely couldn't have been much over a year.

At the start of the show, Yugi and his friends are sixteen years old. (At least, so says the wiki? About Joey and Tea, anyway, but they're all in the same grade so they're all approximately the same age.) In the US - since I'm dealing with the dub here specifically and the only time the dub seems to remember that Domino City isn't in the US is during the Waking the Dragons/Orichalcos arc - that puts them in either their sophomore or junior year of high school. (10th or 11th grade, for those unfamiliar with how US high schools steal that particular terminology from college students.)

Now, we know that Yugi's first duel with Kaiba had to happen during the school year because Seto's 'rare card???? is it THAT rare card???' hilarious eavesdropping moment happened in class. One of the only times we see him attending school during the show that I can think of, much to my amusement.

We also know that post Duelist Kingdom, they go back to school since they encounter Duke first in school, being an obnoxious flirt and blaming Yugi for all his problems. That boy is so lucky Tea didn't feed him his own favorite dice set.

So Duelist Kingdom itself could have occurred during the summer between their sophomore and junior years. Which, since they didn't seem to concerned about getting back in time for classes on Monday or anything like that, I tend to believe it did. Though it could have also conceivably taken place over a weekend at the start of their junior year but, given that I'm a software engineer with a reasonable understanding of what the hardware development process for the duel disks was probably like... well, let's stick that on hold a min.

Battle City took place in such a short period of time - one day for the prelim matches so that eight people could get six locator cards in time, then flying & dueling all night to arrive at Kaiba Corp Island, then dueling the next morning to complete the tournament before flying back to Domino City. Even with Noa hijacking things, they were only delayed a few hours. So the whole thing could have easily taken place over a single weekend with no worries - since Seto is still in High School himself, this is the sort of attention to detail I'd expect of him.

As mentioned above, it also had to be enough dev time between Duelist Kingdom and Battle City for the Duel Disks to arrive at their new incarnation, the arm hugger that shoots off two holo projectors apiece, allowing two or more duelists to create a dueling field together but doesn't constantly take the cards in play away from the duelists - which was clearly a design flaw of the original spinny-circle version that needed time, and likely rewriting the software to work for the new hardware design, to correct and thoroughly debug and beta test. (Another design flaw is that the spinny-circle version depended on a cable capable of taking constant flinging around without detaching and smacking someone in the face; the design seen in Battle City forward does away with that flaw too, as it instead uses wirelessly controlled holo projectors that recall to the disk at the end of the duel.)

So it makes sense that Duelist Kingdom was sometime in the summer, it took Pegasus a few weeks to a couple of months to recover from the trauma of losing a shadow laser duel that ended with his fake eye being yoinked out of its socket none too politely, which accounts for Duke still being freaked out after the summer ended and Pegasus was still incommunicado. And gives a good time frame for Kaiba to get the duel disks into a functional and marketable product by the time Ishizu shows up to manipulate him into setting a trap for her in the form of a duel monsters tournament.

Battle City also most likely takes place during the school year because, well... Yugi's first encounter with one of Marik's brainwashed minions - Bandit Keith - occurred on the way to school.

I'd place it either mid-fall (I say fall, not autumn, because where I live very few trees turn pretty colors this time of year; the leaves just turn brown and fall) or early spring. Fall seems like the most likely contender because Atem apparently avoids going back to the museum long enough for Mai to attend possibly several tournaments and have her PTSD from what Marik did to her and her jealousy of Yugi and Joey get turned into such a toxic, festering self hatred that she was easy pickings for the Orichalcos cult.

And either that happened days after the tournament (meaning Battle City???) based on what Weevil & Rex tell Duke when they first meet him claiming to be Yugi's friends. (Duke clearly knew they were being suspicious, but he also knows the weird shit his weirdo friends get into so he might as well figure out what's going on.) But since Mai had to have been in at least one tournament since then - more likely several - it had to have been anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Also, Atem was totally procrastinating and running out of time investigating the Ancient Tablet of the Pharaoh at the museum. Which never ceases to amuse me. Especially since he procrastinates again after the Orichalcos arc for that much needed down time at the Kaiba Corp Grand Championship that the tablets are gone by the time he tries for a second time.

So if the tablets were put on display in time for the Winter holidays, it makes sense that their run at the museum would only last a few months and be over either at the start of, or the middle of, summer. Hence placing Battle City in the fall. This also gives the Kaibas plenty of time to build their first theme park in between Battle City and their next tournament to be hijacked by someone else's family drama.

Now the Orichalcos arc happens next and they spend a great deal of time out of the country and even take a week long vacation with Rebecca and her grandfather. Clearly no one is worried about school and Duke was already abroad anyway when the whole thing started - likely promoting his Duel Dice Monsters game. So I'm calling it - Summer vacation time. So now we're at the in-between time for their Junior and Senior years of high school.

The Grand Prix/Grand Championship tournament picks up pretty much immediately after the Orichalcos arc, so it has to be in the summer too. And, arguably, the capsule monster arc can be squeezed into the summer too. (Admittedly, not the arc I care about the most and I still need to find it on Amazon since the place I was doing my rewatch didn't include the capsule monster episodes and no doubt made more sense for omitting it, but I love these characters I'm gonna watch it. Eventually.)

But then summer is over and tablets are gone and who knows how long the stuff the Pharaoh needs to do with the tablet are gonna take. So my guess? They head to Egypt during their winter school break of their Senior year. Which if Battle City took place in fall of their Junior year, means that it's been just a little over a year since the Ishtars made their family drama everybody's business. So all that 'we haven't seen you in years' stuff has to be dramatic exaggeration because it was just a year ago. Can't blame the Ishtar siblings wanting to pretend their drama was over a long time ago, though.

Which puts the... was it the second movie? I know there was at least one before it... hmm, looks like it was the third actually. Unless you count the movie that was really just a recap of the Yu-Gi-Oh season 0 series. But I digress; that puts the Dark Side of Dimensions movie near the end of their senior year as they're all contemplating what they'll be doing as graduation approaches. (I've seen the trailer and a recap description, but I admit I've yet to watch this one.)

All of which means that Yugi wears his school uniform during summer and winter break, that nerd. :D

(If I include the other two movies, then the Pyramid of Light probably does take place early spring of their junior year since it's a short while after Battle City but long enough for Seto's hyperfixation on the God Cards to have gotten out of hand. And I don't know when Bonds Beyond Time takes place because it's time travel and I haven't seen the spin offs, which is probably why i never watched this one - despite loving time travel nonsense - though I do now vaguely recall hearing about it. I never watched the Dark Side of Dimensions movie because I didn't know it existed until two weeks ago, but I will be watching it soon because it's got the OG cast and the plot sounds like my favorite kind of over the top ridiculousness.)

#yu-gi-oh #fandom meta #me trying to make the show's in-universe timeline make sense #seto kaiba cannot seem to throw a tournament without someone hijacking it for their own personal vendettas #i'd feel sorry for him but he clearly thrives on the drama and every chance he's given to be super extra about it all #anyway this is brought to you by my trying to figure out the timeline of events for my joey mutou au fanfic series

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