KeenSpace GUIDE system: "What does the word 'Rachelisms' mean to YOU? "

Crappy art?


HEY! I'm right. But then, I did cheat, it's keenspace, it's all crappy art there.

Hmmm, tvguide.com is listing a movie called "The Bare Wench Project: Uncensored" So....what, there was material TOO risque for a porn movie?

Oh yeah, I recently got into the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, mostly because I liked the tv show, but as shown below, it was annoying beyond belief. So in a whirl of fun, I bought all 5 volumes of manga that are currently out.

Volume 1.

Duel 1: Where it all begins. Yugi solves the Millenium puzzle, and hilarity ensues. For some reason, the panels that were drawn in color in Japan (they're black and white here) are drawn in a completely different, and I think, uglier style. Fortunatly, it changes to a better style almost as soon as the color part stops. I wonder if they were drawn a long time before the rest of the stuff, and brought out after then manga-ka's other manga ended. Who knows.

Anyhoo, as I said, Yugi solves the Millenium puzzle. In the anime, that apprently causes him to be possessed by the spirit of an ancient pharoh, which may or may not be the case in the manga. In any event, it's refered to as his other self, an aspect of his personality. Also, in the manga, Yugi gets taller, which is confusing, as no one knows that in the anime. This doesn't seem to be the case in the manga, but that might change later. Anyhoo, instead of card games, it first starts out with Dark Yugi (as the other guy is called) getting revenge on people that push Yugi and/or his friends around. The first story shows him getting revenge on a guy who beat up Tristan and Joey (I'm using the english names because they're easier to spell. Well, Joey's japanese name is complicated. Tristan=Honda, and Téa=Anzu, and Joey=Jonouchi) He plays a game with him, and unsurprisingly, wins. (c'mon, it's the first Duel in the first volume. That'd be a bit of a bummer if he lost)

Duel 2: This story shows Yugi getting revenge on a tv show producer that hires someone to beat him up, to show the violence in Japanese schools. The game in this case involves dice.

Duel 3: This involves a guy who likes to do karaoke, but he's really, really bad at it (most Karaoke players are.) He tries to get Yugi, and some guy who's so unimportant, he doesn't even rate a description in the front of the book, Hanasaki, to sell tickets to his show. Naturally, no one wants to go. He has another couple of Duels in a later volume, and he shows up in volume 5. Yugi takes Hanasaki's tickets, but karaoke dude beats Hana up, and Dark Yugi decides it's time for revenge. The game involves one of those things that dance when they hear a sound.

Duel 4:A murderer breaking out of prison, and taking Téa hostage. Yugi decides it's time for payback. The game involves only being able to move one finger.

Duel 5: This is probably my least favorite. It involves some "prophet" trying to get the best of Téa, and Yugi showing him up. The game involves a bottle of chloroform.

Duel 6: The gang is setting up what I assume is a traditional japanese school thing, since it was also in Azumanga, a school carnival. Unfortunatly, Yugi's class has the upper classman's space, so the upper classman trash their area and Yugi gets revenge. The game involves ice and a heated griddle.

Duel 7: This also kind of crappy. A bitch of a teacher is going to expell Tristan because he sent a note to a girl he likes. Yugi gets revenge, and prevents that. The game involves a puzzle.

I liked this volume. There are a few missteps, but you can really enjoy the charactors. The games are pretty good, and don't take more then a Duel each (but that will change in later volumes, but it doesn't drag as much as the anime). The gang become quick friends, kind of too quick, but their friendship seems real, especially in later volumes. It's quite touching, actually. There's really no reason to assume that this manga is for little kids, despite what the anime is about.

Volume 2

This is a reasonably good volume, tho I'm having trouble describing it. Maybe it's kind of forgettable. But you can't forget to buy it, cause it contains the story that's sort of the Pre-Cambrian Yu-Gi-Oh, with a story that rises from the primordial ooze, and shows us what's to come. In this volume, they're still using the 1 story-1 chapter format, but that pretty much ends with this volume with a lot of 2 part stories, with volume 3 being pretty unified, volume 4 being totally unified, and volume 5 being mostly unified as well.

Duel 8: This one involves a shady shoe seller, and the old "pickles in the jar" trick, and a scorpian. There's never been a bad story with a scorpian in it. I defy you to think of one! Anyhoo, this was okay. I liked it, but nothing much comes of it.

Duels 9 and 10: This is it. This is the story that shows us what the rest of Yu-Gi-Oh (for the most part) will be about. Grampa shows Yugi and the Gang a new game from america, the thinly disgused Magic: The Gathering ripoff, Magic and Wizards (yay for lax copyright laws!) Anyhoo, this story also introduces Kaiba, who spots Grampa's rare Blue Eyes White Dragon, and wants it. Naturally Grampa doesn't want to sell, and so Kaiba has to use nefarious means. Later at school, he switches the Blue Eyes White Dragon that Yugi brings to school with a copy from a catalog. Yugi notices, and confronts Kaiba after school. He challenges Kaiba to a game of Magic and Wizards. Yugi wins (obviously), but not in the way you'd expect. He gets his card back, and thus ends the first card game in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Duels 11 and 12: Joey's forced back into his old gang, and Yugi, Tristan, and Téa try to rescue him. The game in these stories involve a taser.

Duels 13 through 15: These stories set up a lot of the mythology for the Millenium puzzle, with Shadi finding out about the other Yugi, and telling that fact to regular Yugi. Some evil guy tries to sell the Millenium puzzle, but Shadi kills him, and gives it back to Yugi, with the exortation to find out the true power of the Millenium puzzle. Shadi goes back to kill Yugi's friend, the Professor, but only turns him into a zombie, using his own Millenium item, the Millenium key, which he then has attack Yugi and the Gang.

This is an okay volume. It introduces some of the Mythology of the Millenium puzzle, introduces Kaiba and the prototype of most Yugi stories to follow, so in that sense it's necessary volume to buy. However, I didn't really like the Shadi arc, and that's 3/8 or nearly half the book. I didn't really like the Joey arc, so that's over half the volume that wasn't very impressive. However, as I said, the Shadi arc is neccessary for some of the background, and the Kaiba arc is necessary because it shows us what's to come. I say get it, but it's up to you.

Volume 3: This mostly finishes up Yugi's fight with Shadi, the egyptian. It also includes the forgettable American Hero (but it DOES include a look at how the Japanese see american comics. Not enough to care, IMHO)

Duel 16: Nothing much happens in this chapter till the end, when Shadi turns Téa into a mindless slave. Joey fights with Zombie Professor.

Duel 17: Shadi sets up a trap with Téa as the prize. Téa is attached to 3 Ushebti, a sort of mini statue that will crack, and break when Yugi feels doubt in his heart. If all three break, Téa falls to her death. If Shadi's Ushebti breaks, Téa is free. The first test is a riddle, which Yugi beats handily.

Duel 18: The second stage of Shadi's game. This involves a memory puzzle, but with one extra piece, which is the one that will set Yugi free. Joey keeps fighting Zombie Professor.

Duel 19: The third stage has Yugi fighting a memory of the bully Joey used to be. This is also where 2 of his three Ushebti break. The last rope starts to unravel, but just in the nick of time, Joey comes to brace the board Téa is standing on.

Duel 20: Yugi wins the game by trusting in his friends (this is going to be a theme in the manga, I'm sure of it), and rescues Téa and Zombie Professor. The gang forces shadi off, but not before Yugi tells him what the true power of the Millenium Puzzle is. This was a pretty good arc. It sets up some of the mythology of the manga, and shows that there are more then one millenium item, which comes into play much later on in the anime, and in the manga, I assume. A good arc, but it will pale in comparison to the Kaiba's revenge arc in volumes 4 and 5.

Duel 21: This is a slip of a story, basically the manga-ka wants to cover tamagauchi type games, and does so. Nothing important happens in this story, so we can ignore it. It's not too bad, however.

Duel 22 and 23: This is the american hero arc. It sets Hanazaki, but since he's not in the anime, I think he gets dumped later on. He's given an oppertunity to grow by standing up to some bullies. Yay.

Duel 24: Ahh, Capsule Monster Chess. This story introduces Mokuba, trying to beat Yugi when his brother (Kaiba) couldn't. Frankly, Mokuba is arrogant piece of fuck, and if I had been Yugi, he would've stayed in the cards. Maybe he gets better later on. Yugi wins, but it's quite clever how, expecially since his monsters are at such a low level.

This was a good volume, but not great. I'd suggest buying it, since it introduces Mokuba, and finishes of the Shadi arc, but it's not really what I would call a strong volume. Still not a bad deal, and it's 2 dollars cheaper then most manga, so buy it!

Volume 4

Huh. I didn't realize this, but volume 4 has more of the story that continues into volume 5 then I thought. There's really only one chapter that isn't directly releated, and it's tagentially related, in that it leads into the next chapter, where the Kaiba's Revenge arc starts.

Duel 25: Joey and Yugi go to a video arcade, and Yugi fights some guy and keeps beating him. Naturally, this guy wants to beat on Yugi, and does! Then he steals the millenium puzzle, and Joey goes to get it. The game this time involves knives.

Duel 26: Altough all the rest of the chapters form one story, I'm going to treat them seperetly, since they are set up in bite size chunks. Anyhoo, Mokuba invites Yugi and Joey to the new Kaiba arcade. They go, and once there, Mokuba invites them to a game, where they spin the wheel, and no matter what food lands in front of them, they have to eat it all. Well, naturally, the food's posioned, so Yugi has to save Joey.

Duel 27: Kaiba has challenged Yugi's grandfather to a game of Duel Monsters (changed from Magic and Wizards in volume 2). Grandpa loses, and Kaiba tears up grandpa's Blue Eyes White Dragon. He then almost causes Grandpa to have a heart attack, to force Yugi to play his sick game. Yugi agrees, and thus starts Death T-1.

Duels 28 and 29: This game's a bit like laser tag, only deadly! (Yeah, surprsing for a kid's manga, isn't it! :P) Fortunatly, Téa got hired to work there, and helps the gang (oh yeah, Tristan's there too, with his sister's baby, who's REALLY weird. Quiter a pervy little guy. I hope I never see him again) out when they find out that the opposite team's guns are deadly.

Duel 30: The gang is strapped into electric chairs, and sent along a haunted mansion like ride, where if they make a sound, they're electrocuted. The baby saves them, in the most disgusting way possible. Yick.

Duel 31: This one's pretty good. First the gang is caught by their hands in guillotine. I wouldn't've put my hand in all at the same time, what with Kaiba been a lunatic. They escape that trap, only to get into another one. This is probably the most surprising element, they have to fight a serial killer! They have to fight him in a well of oil....well, Joey does.

Duel 32: This is the chapter that really cements the gang's friendship, which is ironic since Kaiba's sure they'll turn on each other. They're stuck in a featureless room, and while they're waiting for Kaiba to start the game, Téa draws a smiley face that goes over all of their hands (c'ept the baby). Suddenly, blocks start dropping, threatening to crush the gang. They escape....well, all of them, except for Tristan.

I really liked this volume, but not as much as the godly volume that follows. But this shouldn't detract from this volume, volume 5 is just THAT good. However, I don't think anyone will be disapointed with this volume. The gang's friendship is growning, and this ordeal just brings them closer together. It's really, really well done.

Volume 5

The first story is a direct continuation of the last volume (and it had better be, considering the fact that they were in the middle of what's arguably the real starting point for the Yu-Gi-Oh manga)
Tristian's caught in the room with the falling boxes, and the gang is worried about him. But they decide to push on. Mokuba shows up, and challenges Yugi to another capsule monster game, and, as per usual, rigged the game to give him super high level monsters, and Yugi, super crappy level monsters. Yugi wins, of course, but I won't tell you how. I don't consider it a cheat, but it's sort of....hmmm......well, Yugi wins fair and square, but I think the manga-ka cheated a little bit with the ending.


Duel 36 sees Yugi saves Mokuba from his punishment for losing, so maybe Mokuba won't be the complete and total piece of fuck he was in the earlier manga. This chapter also basically shows what most of the rest of the manga is going to be about. The next 5 chapters are basically one story, so I'll review them as such.

Yugi, who was given his grandpa's cards in the last volume, is challenged by Kaiba to a Duel Monsters game (it's changed from Magic and Wizards in volume 2. Probably due to copyright issues, since I doubt the manga-ka was expecting Yu-Gi-Oh to take off, and create a real card game this early in the manga.) I'm not going to spend time detailing every card each one of them draws, that'd be boring. Basically, Yugi draws a good card, and wins a few rounds, till Kaiba draws good monster card and spell card that makes his monster pretty good, and so Kaiba wins for awhile, till Yugi draws a card that can defeat it. It looks pretty good for Yugi, but then Kaiba draws the Blue-Eyes White dragon(yeah, I know he tore up grandpa's card, and in volume 2, said he never had one before, but I think that between volume 2, and volume 3, Kaiba goes around buying the other 3 in order to complete his revenge), and blows Yugi's monster to kingdom come.

Yugi spends the next few rounds defending, and Kaiba draws another BEWD(Blue-Eyes White Dragon.) Yugi then draws a spell card that keeps Kaiba's BEWD from attacking for three rounds. He thinks that all hope is lost as Kaiba draws the THIRD BEWD, and prepares to attack Yugi. Yugi has to draw his last card, and he's scared to, untill he sees his friend standing there, with the smiley face tattoo Téa drew on them in the last volume. This was a REALLY great bit, and it kind of made me choak up. Yugi draws his card and.......

Well, I won't tell, but you can probably guess. Anyhoo, Yugi's grandpa's going to be okay, but since Yugi has a BEWD in the anime, I wonder where he gets one in the manga, since his grandfather's was destroyed. I guess I'll find out.

Duel 41: This one involves these little love testers where you program in your vital statistics, and then if you pass by someone who's compatible, it beeps. It doesn't beep when Téa and Yugi brings their's together, however. A meanie teacher takes Yugi's away, and forces him to search for it. Dark Yugi finds it using Téa's love tester. It rings this time, suggesting that Dark Yugi is more compatible with Téa then ordinary Yugi. This was an okay story, but a bit of a letdown after the emotional high of the last story arc.

Duel 42: This one has Joey trying to win a contest on a show to help pay off his Dad's debts. Naturally, the game's rigged, and Yugi prevents it, and Joey wins! Or.....does he?*

I LOVED this volume, tho I wish Viz could've put the entire Kaiba's Revenge arc in one volume, as I think the other two stories suffer in comparison to the Kaiba's Revenge arc, which is REALLY good, and really cements the gang's friendship. I can't recommend this, or volume 4 too highly. You really have to get both, to get the whole story. If you don't like Yu-Gi-Oh after this volume, stop reading it, you never will.

(*No)

My brother came out today, and I took it badly. It's not because I'm prejudice or anything, I don't care that he's homosexual, it bothers me on a different level. I think it's because I don't like people, or rather, dealing with people if I don't have to. I dunno. I didn't like my sister's boyfriend either, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because he's gay. I'll have to think about it more, to see if I can come up with the reason why I'm so angry.....I dunno if that's the word. Probably not. Offput, I guess. Why I'm so offput by this.


Being gay isn't evil, or wrong, athought I think a lot of gay act stupidly, acting as if they can't possibly wait to get home to neck, and kiss and stuff. It's not wrong for them to do so, but they're so open with their sexuality, it gets to me. I'm sure some of you reading this are thinking "and you're trying to say you're not a homophobe?" I honestly don't think I am. I don't care if men love other men, tho woman loving other woman really, really bugs me. I don't know why it bothers me. Maybe if I keep talking about it, I'll figure it out.

I know I'm not gay. I don't think I'd like to be love with men. I know, I know, it's not a choice. But I just don't see a man as being an ideal mate. I'm a man, and men are assholes. Why would I want to spend the rest of my life with another asshole? I need someone who complements me, not someone who's exactly the same.

I thought maybe it was because I'd have to deal with the person, but that can't be it, because the feelings haven't gone away, and I've discovered that once I find the cause of something, the feelings I have about the situation go away.


I remeber thinking that I didn't want my sister's boyfriend to come for Christmas. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just scared of changing the family dynamics. Maybe I'm afraid of someone coming into the family who doesn't like me, and having to put up with that person, because my brother or my sister loves them.

Maybe I'm worried about them liking their mates more then they like me. Maybe I'm afraid I'll lose them if they fall in love with someone else. I don't know God, I'm crying here. Maybe that's it. Maybe I'm just afraid. I've always said that the root cause of every action is fear. Maybe I'm also afraid of sharing my parents with them. My family is all I have. I don't have many friends, and what few I do have are all online. I don't want to lose them. I think that's what I'm worried about. My feelings seem to have calmed down a little, maybe I figured it out. I guess we'll find out if my sister or brother ever get a boyfriend.