Ryusaki
01-28-2008, 11:29 AM
I like Viz's volumes, because they give me a chance to look back. Sure, Takahashi's current reprints with the delicious covers do that too. But whatever my point was, this is the last volume of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and a very good volume it is. The first thing that strikes me is the cover: very different from the usual style, very memorable. Atem's eyes are green for some reason, but his eyes seem to change colour an awful lot.
The duel between Sero and Atem is a lot more impactful here than in the anime. The fact that it is after Zorc's defeat raises some questions about memory continuity, but the whole R.P.G. does not seem to have consistent rules anyway - sometimes Yugi and Jonouchi can interact with the game, sometimes they can't, etc. It's best not to think about the complications, and just enjoy it. I'm still wondering why they needed to wait for Atem to return from the R.P.G. considering he was the one who was at the table playing it. Fun fact: Mana is shown as the successor priest of the Millennium Ring.
The Cermonial Duel (generally referred to here as 'The Rite of the Duel') is quite simply one of the best duels in the series: dramatic, brilliantly planned-out and intense. Who can forget Yugi's Silent Magician combo or Atem reviving Osiris, which he discarded right at the beginning of the duel. The place where they fight at looks at first like the place Atem fought Diabound in Kul Elna since it has the Memory Tablet, but it doesn't look like it's in Kul Elna, and the Diabound fight didn't have the door to the afterworld behind it. Whatever, I don't know.
Unlike many manga, this is what I'd call a satisfying ending. It closes the story, leaves some mysteries better left unexplained (Shadi) and there is absolutely no running towards the distance whatsoever. Not to mention the main character dies. Again. It's not perfect, sure. We never heard Bakura thank Atem for freeing him. Would've been nice. But heck, the reprint volume that will have the last chapters is just a few months away: hoping for some extra closure material is not entirely futile.
Thanks Viz, for putting some effort into this one (the title White Dragon, Black Magician pleased me, but changing the title of the last chapter King of Games into Journey of the King much displeased me). I even noticed a 'crap', how thoughtful. This part of the series was handled much better than Duelist, and I owe the editing team some thanks for that. I couldn've sworn that concept art preview of GX was in the Japanese volume, but it's nowhere to be found here.
This isn't the story of a great pharaoh. Everyone has a story of their own...and that story ends in light...and for me...my story has just begun!
The duel between Sero and Atem is a lot more impactful here than in the anime. The fact that it is after Zorc's defeat raises some questions about memory continuity, but the whole R.P.G. does not seem to have consistent rules anyway - sometimes Yugi and Jonouchi can interact with the game, sometimes they can't, etc. It's best not to think about the complications, and just enjoy it. I'm still wondering why they needed to wait for Atem to return from the R.P.G. considering he was the one who was at the table playing it. Fun fact: Mana is shown as the successor priest of the Millennium Ring.
The Cermonial Duel (generally referred to here as 'The Rite of the Duel') is quite simply one of the best duels in the series: dramatic, brilliantly planned-out and intense. Who can forget Yugi's Silent Magician combo or Atem reviving Osiris, which he discarded right at the beginning of the duel. The place where they fight at looks at first like the place Atem fought Diabound in Kul Elna since it has the Memory Tablet, but it doesn't look like it's in Kul Elna, and the Diabound fight didn't have the door to the afterworld behind it. Whatever, I don't know.
Unlike many manga, this is what I'd call a satisfying ending. It closes the story, leaves some mysteries better left unexplained (Shadi) and there is absolutely no running towards the distance whatsoever. Not to mention the main character dies. Again. It's not perfect, sure. We never heard Bakura thank Atem for freeing him. Would've been nice. But heck, the reprint volume that will have the last chapters is just a few months away: hoping for some extra closure material is not entirely futile.
Thanks Viz, for putting some effort into this one (the title White Dragon, Black Magician pleased me, but changing the title of the last chapter King of Games into Journey of the King much displeased me). I even noticed a 'crap', how thoughtful. This part of the series was handled much better than Duelist, and I owe the editing team some thanks for that. I couldn've sworn that concept art preview of GX was in the Japanese volume, but it's nowhere to be found here.
This isn't the story of a great pharaoh. Everyone has a story of their own...and that story ends in light...and for me...my story has just begun!