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A review by millennial_dandy
Yu-Gi-Oh!, Vol. 7: Monster World by Kazuki Takahashi
5.0
4.5
"Even if my avatar dies, as long as the Millennium Ring exists, my soul will live forever!"
'Monster World' comes in tied with 'The Heart of the Cards' for the fifth most popular of all the manga involving the original cast, and, yeah, I see why. Much like 'Death-T' was bonkers with incredibly high stakes, so too is 'Monster World.'
This is the much, much better version of D&D when compared to the pitiful crumbs of the idea we got in season 1 of the anime. This volume gives us some of the most vibrant art, one of the most coherent storylines, and gives Ryou the character development we were robbed of in Yu-Gi-Oh! DM.
That's definitely the one ding in this volume, though: we spend so much time establishing Ryou and Dark Bakura that everyone else is just kinda...there in service to the plot. Like, Tristan/Honda could have been zapped out of the narrative and no one would have noticed. Even Dark Yugi is giving nothing for the run of this plotline, but hey, no one's perfect.
Even though, duh, you know everything's going to turn out alright, you can't help getting swept up in the story, especially once all the protagonists are trapped inside the game as figurines being controlled by Dark Yugi.
Dark Bakura's sadistic villainy is very well-established right from the start, and we can see how he's going to be set up in opposition to Dark Yugi, and also that he seems to know far more than Dark Yugi does (having, you know, not lost his memory and all) about the implications of their meeting. We establish that he already knew there were multiple Millennium items but not how he knows or exactly why he's interested in them (and we will continue not knowing for a very long time).
But this is still Yu-Gi-Oh!, so we can't let things remain too serious -- gotta get that trademark bonkers commitment to the bit in there, so after a wee bit of cheating that Dark Yugi quickly puts an end to, Dark Bakura just...continues earnestly and diligently calculating every move on this little laptop spreadsheet as they play D&D.
It's not just Dark Bakura getting the limelight, though: Ryou manages to fight back against the evil spirit of the Ring from within whatever cell in his own mind Dark Bakura tried to lock him in. He manages to screw up several of Dark Bakura's rolls and interfere in the game in other small ways. At one point, while Dark Bakura's attention is elsewhere, Ryou takes control of their body's left hand and starts messing around with Dark Bakura's spreadsheet.
Once he realizes what's going on, Dark Bakura reacts first with surprise that his host is strong enough to even do this, then with outrage that he would dare, and then, in a very 'if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out' sort of way, he impales his/Ryou's hand on the turret of the gameboard castle. (and yes I winced because oh my god can you even imagine the pain?)
Of course, in the end friendship prevails and evil is defeated (for now), and even though that victory feels super contrived in places, it still makes for compelling reading, moves the plot forward, introduces a badass new villain and a, frankly, pretty badass new side character who got done the most dirty when Yu-Gi-Oh! was adapted for television (can you tell I am a Ryou stan?).
And thus, we conclude 'Season Zero', saying goodbye to everything that is not Duel Monsters, and hello to Duel Monsters for the rest of time (thank you Pegasus and Kaiba for that).
"Even if my avatar dies, as long as the Millennium Ring exists, my soul will live forever!"
'Monster World' comes in tied with 'The Heart of the Cards' for the fifth most popular of all the manga involving the original cast, and, yeah, I see why. Much like 'Death-T' was bonkers with incredibly high stakes, so too is 'Monster World.'
This is the much, much better version of D&D when compared to the pitiful crumbs of the idea we got in season 1 of the anime. This volume gives us some of the most vibrant art, one of the most coherent storylines, and gives Ryou the character development we were robbed of in Yu-Gi-Oh! DM.
That's definitely the one ding in this volume, though: we spend so much time establishing Ryou and Dark Bakura that everyone else is just kinda...there in service to the plot. Like, Tristan/Honda could have been zapped out of the narrative and no one would have noticed. Even Dark Yugi is giving nothing for the run of this plotline, but hey, no one's perfect.
Even though, duh, you know everything's going to turn out alright, you can't help getting swept up in the story, especially once all the protagonists are trapped inside the game as figurines being controlled by Dark Yugi.
Dark Bakura's sadistic villainy is very well-established right from the start, and we can see how he's going to be set up in opposition to Dark Yugi, and also that he seems to know far more than Dark Yugi does (having, you know, not lost his memory and all) about the implications of their meeting. We establish that he already knew there were multiple Millennium items but not how he knows or exactly why he's interested in them (and we will continue not knowing for a very long time).
But this is still Yu-Gi-Oh!, so we can't let things remain too serious -- gotta get that trademark bonkers commitment to the bit in there, so after a wee bit of cheating that Dark Yugi quickly puts an end to, Dark Bakura just...continues earnestly and diligently calculating every move on this little laptop spreadsheet as they play D&D.
It's not just Dark Bakura getting the limelight, though: Ryou manages to fight back against the evil spirit of the Ring from within whatever cell in his own mind Dark Bakura tried to lock him in. He manages to screw up several of Dark Bakura's rolls and interfere in the game in other small ways. At one point, while Dark Bakura's attention is elsewhere, Ryou takes control of their body's left hand and starts messing around with Dark Bakura's spreadsheet.
Once he realizes what's going on, Dark Bakura reacts first with surprise that his host is strong enough to even do this, then with outrage that he would dare, and then, in a very 'if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out' sort of way, he impales his/Ryou's hand on the turret of the gameboard castle. (and yes I winced because oh my god can you even imagine the pain?)
Of course, in the end friendship prevails and evil is defeated (for now), and even though that victory feels super contrived in places, it still makes for compelling reading, moves the plot forward, introduces a badass new villain and a, frankly, pretty badass new side character who got done the most dirty when Yu-Gi-Oh! was adapted for television (can you tell I am a Ryou stan?).
And thus, we conclude 'Season Zero', saying goodbye to everything that is not Duel Monsters, and hello to Duel Monsters for the rest of time (thank you Pegasus and Kaiba for that).