Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist 22: Slifer Vs. Obelisk!

[Master K]

I was at the Universal Studios City Walk and visited the Dark Horse shop they have right by the entrance to the park. To my surprise, I found two copies of Duelist 22 in their relatively small manga collection! I guess I'm lucky I didn't have to wait until August.

Anyway, the book contains most of Yugi and Kaiba's semifinal duel, with the same "great" quality editing. They actually started off well with the text boxes, but around page 15 they get worse. As usual, it's always cool to see how different the duels are in the manga. Is it just me, or do the cards get new effects each time they're used? This time Soul Exchange gives Yugi Kaiba's X-Head Cannon for some reason. Thankfully, the battle between the two gods wasn't as drawn out here as it was in the anime, and the flashback to Ancient Egypt made a lot of sense, especially when you compare it to the August issue of Shonen Jump, where Atem faces Priest Seto at last. The dialogue is actually identical.

What really bothered me in this volume, though, is that when Kaiba summons The God of the Obelisk, he calls it Obelisk the Tormentor, and refers to it as such a couple more times. When he resurrects it later in the duel, Yugi even calls it Obelisk the Tormentor, as if reading "Slifer" the whole book isn't bad enough! I think they made another mistake in the previews as well: "Yugi and Kaiba's greatest battle reenacts itself...Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragons vs. Dark Magician! Do they mean Blue-Eyes White Dragons, or Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon? Well, it's a minor mistake. It could be worse...

I don't think I saw any cursing at all. No funny symbols or rude words at all. Then again, Yugi and Kaiba use more sophisticated language, don't they?

[JLewko]

There's a manga store on City Walk? I went to Universal in February and didn't find anything. Not even the airport Borders had any manga. (Of course, I don't think anything I was looking for was actually out at the time, but still.)

About what you said about the changing card effects: cards in the manga have very loose effects. Combined with the Solid Vision systems that actually let the players see what their cards are physically doing, you can basically interpret the effect of your cards any way you want. That's what I love about the manga. It made Duelist Kingdom make a lot more sense.

[Master K]

It's actually called "Things from Another World." It has a spaceship sticking out of it and a sign above the door that advertises Dark Horse merchandise. It happens to have manga, but mostly deals with hard to find collectible figures and dvds. It also has Yugioh cards.

Yeah, I know about the loose manga card rules. They really are logical once you think about them. It took me a while to understand why Yugi was getting a free monster, but it makes sense when you consider how unfair that move would be.

[Ryusaki]

Man, you got it really early. I usually order it from amazon and get it at the end of the month.

Well, I imagine the chapter is awesome (it's probably the most epic ego-clash duel in the series) but the Viz Box O' Doom infestation is a downer. Come on Viz, these are the best volumes in Duelist. Put some effort in.

I remember that in the manga, Obelisk punches through Osiris's head...

[Master K]

Yeah, Obelisk punches through Osiris' head, and while his hand is still in Osiris' head, Yugi activates Pot of Greed, so Osiris counterattacks while he still has a fist in his head! Then Kaiba activates Life Shaver and Obelisk punches Osiris in the head again, even though Osiris' lightning is melting Obelisk's face (you know, that melting effect that monsters in Yugioh get when they're being destroyed).

[JLewko]

Yeah, Obelisk punches through Osiris' head, and while his hand is still in Osiris' head, Yugi activates Pot of Greed, so Osiris counterattacks while he still has a fist in his head! Then Kaiba activates Life Shaver and Obelisk punches Osiris in the head again, even though Osiris' lightning is melting Obelisk's face (you know, that melting effect that monsters in Yugioh get when they're being destroyed).

Holy ****!

August can't possibly come soon enough...

[Ryusaki]

Yeah, roll on August. Not too far until the next Millennium World is finally out, either. Thankfully, the battle between the two gods wasn't as drawn out here as it was in the anime, and the flashback to Ancient Egypt made a lot of sense, especially when you compare it to the August issue of Shonen Jump, where Atem faces Priest Seto at last. The dialogue is actually identical. You mean it is actually similar? The whole Atem/Seto Egypt-duel thing always seemed like one huge plot hole to me, but I guess that was partly due to the anime messing around with the Memory Arc so badly. The manga seems to have a lot more continuity.

[JLewko]

The flashback in the anime was terrible, so that's probably what you're thinking of, Ryu.

It had Seto and Atem essentially playing DM in an undestroyed temple. Seto used Minotaurus and Centaurus and somehow fused them. Then, I can't remember who did it, exactly, but someone fused the ultra-random Kaiser Dragon. It was just a mess.

They also did something like that for Pegasus. For whatever reason, he had super-special-awesome-secret meetings in his castle where people played DM with stones for...some...reason...

[Master K]

Well, I imagine that the past they viewed during their duel was a past where Zorc defeats the Pharaoh, as Priest Seto says:

" The palace has collapsed...you have nothing left...Now you are a naked king...The high priest of darkness conquered heaven and earth with his evil power... Your divine right...your millenium items...were worthless against the power of darkness...And I...I am also your enemy...now and forever...with my millenium rod and my dragon. I will never side with you, but neither will my pride allow me to surrender to darkness. All I want is one thing...to defeat you with my own hands."

In the anime, I believe they only saw the three Egyptian gods frozen in stone in a destroyed Egypt. A scene like this one was in the anime, just back when Kaiba first saw the tablet in the museum and saw the past thanks to the millenium tauk. In this volume, their duel is in a destroyed palace, complete with tablets and a few guards behind Kaiba.

The August issue of Shonen Jump has the chapter where their ancient duel takes place. The setup is the same, with the broken palace and guards behind Kaiba. He still calls Yugi a naked king. His dialogue changes slightly to reflect the defeat of Zorc:

"You were able to defeat Zorc Necrophades by uniting the three gods into horakhty...but the white dragon will surpass even that power!!"

Interestingly, he later claims that he will defeat him and become the king of shadows, because in this new past, he is being controlled by his father. It would seem that this battle is inevitable, as it occurs whether Atem defeats Zorc or not.

[Sword_Stalker]

pegasus was using a chant to sing the song that david hasselholf is in a video with.

sounds cool, the manga is the last place for censorships that 4kids can get, and the osiris battle makes it worth it. this is why i like the horrid toei series just because of the adult content, and the sogoro~~ dialogue with fanservice girls.

[Silent Swordman]

don't know ...

[Yūgi's Black Magician]

Shoot. I'll check my local B&N after WASL prep tomorrow to see if they have the new book.

By the way, what rating did the volume get? Fantasy violence? And also, did they say whether or not there were any edits on the publication page?

[Master K]

As usual, they give it a fantasy violence warning. They didn't really edit anything, so there is no admission that anything was altered. I don't think they'd say if they changed something anyway. They only did that when they altered Dark Magician's cross. All middle finger edits were ignored.

[JLewko]

A God punches through the head of another God, who proceeds to melt the face of God #1 before that said God gets killed by another blow to the head. And all that gets us is FANTASY VIOLENCE? Probably happened to Volume 8 too, sadly. Oh yeah, a guy gouging his own eye out, then having the new one ripped out later is totally equivalent to two monsters smacking each other with weapons. :rolleyes:

I went in an Atlantic Books on the Ocean City boardwalk (NJ) tonight. Nothin' new.

[Ryusaki]

Probably happened to Volume 8 too, sadly. Oh yeah, a guy gouging his own eye out, then having the new one ripped out later is totally equivalent to two monsters smacking each other with weapons. Actually, Duelist 8 said 'Violence'. Although I think that was just a mistake on someone's part, because it was pretty random. If those couple of pages with Pegasus (and the page with the guy's eyes burning out when he wears the Ring) gained it a 'Violence' rating, then I think there's at least several other volumes that should have gotten Violence since.

Maybe it's because Yu-Gi-Oh Volumes say 'it contains fantasy violence', and they are referring to the series. Other Viz manga say 'this volume contains ----'. I think they seem to consider the whole series of YGO to be 'fantasy violence' now.

[Yūgi's Black Magician]

Dang it, no new volume at my store today. I'll wait a week and check back.

[Sword_Stalker]

i do not care, seeing a monster smashing the deteriorating head of another monster squahing brains, and people losing their eyes would be more traumatic than card captors. it seems like the same amount of violence as bleach, if that is usually fantasy violence, then yeah that is a mistake

[Master K]

Dang it, no new volume at my store today. I'll wait a week and check back.

Most likely Vol. 22 will come out next week at the earliest. I was incredibly lucky to get mine almost a month earlier than I was supposed to. I was actually afraid it was a fake at first, but it was completely identical to every other Yugioh book I own and is organized the same way, so I'm pretty sure it's real.

EDIT: I was at the Santa Monica Third Street Borders, and they had Vol.22. They also had Bleach Vol.20, and I'm pretty sure they had the other August releases, so the early shipments must be coming in.

[Ryusaki]

Well, I got the volume today. As you said, Master K, there was indeed an error with 'Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragons' in the summary of next volume. Also, Kaiba said it was their third duel, when it's actually their fourth (Shadow Game, Death-T, Duelist Kingdom, Alcatraz). I suppose it's an easy mistake to make if you're more used to the anime, but still quite irritating. The Viz Box O' Doom editing hasn't changed either *sigh* You just have to kinda zone it out.

There was also no swearing of any kind, which is fairly understandable. I can't really imagine Yugi or Kaiba saying 'crap', and that's about the only word Viz allow nowadays.

All in all, it wasn't as good as last volume, but at this point in the story every volume is still great. Naturally, the best chapters were 'God vs. God!' and 'Memories of Fate'. Pretty self-explanatory. You had to feel pretty sorry for Osiris, when he had two hands sticking of the back of his head. A nice touch was seeing Osiris's Thunder Force that missed XYZ Dragon cannon go flying into the crowd. There's also a pretty piece of concept art for Death Volstgalph.

[Yūgi's Black Magician]

You know, I'm getting sick and tired of Viz's bull.

Anybody want to start collecting a data base of their errors and then send it to them so that we could get some sort of bloody trade or something? This is irratating!!!

[JLewko]

I bought it in New York on Sunday.

Not sure why, but I was a little disappointed by it. It didn't really feel as exciting as it should've. Maybe it was the editing, or maybe it was just the lack of Yami Malik (he had been in the last few volumes prominently). Could've had something to do with all of those mistakes. Or maybe because I fell asleep on the bus ride home in the middle of reading it...

[Ryusaki]

Yeah, it's not the best volume. We all know what it's like when Yugi and Kaiba clash, and as strange as it seems, its the less-epic chapters that are usually the best. And it doesn't get much more epic than this.

Still, it would be nice if there wasn't at least one guaranteed error in each volume. That 'third duel' could've been an error in the original Japanese. If not, then I'm somewhat worried about the Viz guy who's doing the translating...There is no light for those who are shackled to the past... When you turned your back to me, you tread down the path to useless nostalgia...and defeat!Battle City was like a road... We walked on the road of battle...seeking what lies at the end... What is our final destination, after all the fighting is done? Both I...and Jonouchi...are still looking for the answer...Always great for quotes. Priest Seto's monologue was excellent too. Someone ought to make a topic for all these quotes....

[Master K]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the third duel thing. That did bother me a little, but the anime does confuse things a bit. If you think about it, that first duel they had in Ch.12 was nothing like the rest of them. Kaiba didn't even have his three Blue Eyes...

By the way, Yugi's deck is different every time he duels Kaiba, so why does Kaiba act like the constant duels he has with him allow him to know all of his cards? He's never faced many of them before, and may have seen them only by watching Yugi duel others. Maybe that's what he meant.

[Ryusaki]

You know Kaiba. If there's a chance to look superior...

I have to say, this volume seemed a lot better on a second read (as they sometimes do). Although I noticed on the character intro page that it says Malik has come along to Tokyo. I think they meant 'Domino'.

[Familiar Stranger]

By the way, Yugi's deck is different every time he duels Kaiba, so why does Kaiba act like the constant duels he has with him allow him to know all of his cards? He's never faced many of them before, and may have seen them only by watching Yugi duel others. Maybe that's what he meant.It's established in both the manga and anime that KaibaCorp maintains a database of all registered Duelists and their Deck Recipes.

I can't remember whether Kaiba trains with the Duel Robo in the manga, but in the anime he Duels computer simulations to hone his Dueling skills. In the movie, he uses these simulations to try and find a way to defeat Yugi's Three Egyptian God card combo, leading him to challenge Pegasus in order to acquire a counter to the Egyptian God trifecta.

[JLewko]

It's established in both the manga and anime that KaibaCorp maintains a database of all registered Duelists and their Deck Recipes.

I can't remember whether Kaiba trains with the Duel Robo in the manga, but in the anime he Duels computer simulations to hone his Dueling skills. In the movie, he uses these simulations to try and find a way to defeat Yugi's Three Egyptian God card combo, leading him to challenge Pegasus in order to acquire a counter to the Egyptian God trifecta.

The Duel Robo's in the manga. Volume 11, probably. I remember the duel went slightly different in the manga - Kaiba used that Lucifer card from PSV and Gadget Soldier, neither of which were in the anime. (I remember the anime had Cyber Pod and a bunch of terrible LV4s.)

[Ryusaki]

Yep, it was Volume 10. Another interesting change was that the duel, in the manga, used Duelist Kingdom rules. So, Kaiba summoned Obelisk without sacrifices.

I'm assuming now that Jonouchi's dream during the Kaiba/Yugi match was anime-only. I could never remember.

[Johnny Five]

I'm assuming now that Jonouchi's dream during the Kaiba/Yugi match was anime-only. I could never remember.

Yep, anime only. The anime writers loooove Joey.

[CrashLove37]

Yep, anime only. The anime writers loooove Joey.

Nah. they just love flashbacks lol