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dantew's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
cinereusk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
raginsagein's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
millennial_dandy's review against another edition
4.0
"Ten boy scouts were murdered all in one night. Those boys were mincemeat. After that, the suspect came to be known as The Chopman. He is still at large. Cruelty is considered an asset at Kaiba Corporation...we scouted the Chopman to manage this attraction at the Theme Park of Death! Meh heh heh..."
Volume 4 is Yu-Gi-Oh! at its most unabashadely unhinged, and while that's not to everyone's taste, it's definitely to mine. The amount of disbelief you have to suspend to get on board with the plot of this arc is equal to the amount of dark matter in the universe, and I think that's great; choo-choo: full steam ahead.
Volume 4 marks the beginning of the 'Death-T' arc, itself a sort of sequal to Yugi's first (manga) duel with everyone's favorite corporate executive, Seto Kaiba. Apparently, Kaiba was meant to be a one-off 'villain of the week' but the fandom demanded more, and this is what Takahashi delivered. Love that for us.
Seething from his defeat by, at this point, nobody Yugi Mouto, Kaiba uses his immense wealth and power to build an amusement park of death to punish him for that humiliation.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
The manga opens with a filler story involving a fighter game at the arcade we're going to skip over, and then Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi are invited by Mokuba back to the Kaiba mansion. Because this is 'Season 0' and everyone in the story is constantly at a 10, Mokuba tries to poison our two heroes in a food version of Russian roulette before they even meet up with Kaiba the next morning (why would you even stay there after the poisoning incident? Morbid curiosity? Sunk-cost fallacy?).
Kaiba, in true 'Season 0' style, laughs and says 'that was bad of him' when told of the poisoned food, and then shuttles everyone off to KaibaLand 1.0(don't get too invested in KaibaLand at this point, because they open it at least 2 more times between the manga and the anime) and puts on a 'nice guy' act I guess just to be unsettling (???)
We then get the big reveal of the Kaiba v. Yugi's Grandfather Duel Monsters match as well as the first introduction of Solid Vision (Side Note: I'd forgotten the the inspiration for Solid Vision was originally the first Shadow Game Kaiba played against the Pharoah in volume 2, but I actually kind of like that; it fits in well with Kaiba's whole 'my technology will always overcome your 'magic'' creed that comes home to roost in DSOD).
Blah blah blah, Kaiba beats Yugi's Grandfather using his newly aquired Blue Eyes White Dragon cards (and I do mean newly aquired given that he doesn't own one himself back in volume 2) and we get the backstory of how he got them involving the Mafia and one of the three original owners comitting suicide. No time to dwell on that, though, because it's time for Death-T!
Enter the reason volume 4 gets 4 and not 5 stars: this incredibly obnoxious and gross baby that Honda/Tristan is babysitting for his sister who exists really for no other reason than to say incredibly out of pocket things to Téa about her boobs (I die a little inside every time I read this section). But let's just ignore this.
The concept of Death-T is so cool, and Takahashi got to use his horror chops, which you could tell how much he enjoyed by how neat all the designs were.
Basically, each floor of the building is a different game or puzzle turned deadly. The first level is a version of laser tag where the team they're up against is made up of specialized military veterans and an assassin using real laser guns against our boys, who have fake laser guns. The idea that they could possibly win is insane, and how they manage even more so, so we're off to a good start.
The second stage includes a mini game where the gang gets transported to the next level while strapped into a haunted house ride where they all sit in electric chairs. If they scream, they fry. I really liked the execution (if I may) of this concept and I hated how it was resolved, so let's just leave it at that.
The penultimate stage we get in volume 4 is also a 2-parter. I'm pretty sure this one makes it into the actual 'Season 0 anime.' They all have to stick one of their hands into these holes in the wall marked by different number combinations. inside, they are each able to press a button. If they press the right button, their hands get released and they can move on to the official 'game', but if they press the wrong button, a guillotine will fall and chop off their hands. Their one clue? A piece of paper with the word 'bllood' written on it. It's not that hard to figure out the answer, but it's at least a game you as the reader could participate in, so that's fun.
The correct switch reveals what the next level is, and it's probably my favorite just because jumping the shark this early in the story was only necessary because we started at 100. And if you just uncritically accept the premise you have to accept (which I do, without question) that Kaiba located this 'Fridy the 13th' style serial killer the police couldn't catch, who apparently butchered 10 boy scouts, and paid him to fight to the death against a couple of teenagers in his haunted house revenge park just because it fit the aesthetic. Oh, and while all this is going on, Kaiba gets to watch via a screen on the serial killer's stomach, like the most demented teletubby possible. Also, I don't know why, but they decided to have this serial killer talk like he has a stuffy nose ???
Joey/Jonouchi defeats the killer, no surprises there, due to some unimportant shenanigans.
We then move on to the final stage for this volume, which is my least favorite, just because it's visually the least interesting. It involves the gang being stuck in a room where blocks keep falling down from the ceiling, and they have to both climb the blocks to get to the exit, but also avoid getting smashed by them. It's ok, but even Takahashi didn't seem to care about this level that much because they figure it out super quickly, and the only real drama is that they think Honda/Tristan gets smushed (spoilers: he doesn't).
The Kaiba lore is strong in this volume. We first learn of Kaiba being in charge of Kaiba Corporation, we get the first mention of the question that is never really answered directly of 'did Kaiba or did Kaiba not murder his step-father to take over the company?', we get to see the Kaiba estate for the first time, and as well, I think this is the first time we get to see the aftermath of a penalty game which, for Kaiba, is super PTSD (this is implied to have inspired Death-T in the first place, and the real thing he's out to get Yugi for, not losing at Duel Monsters. Something to think about). This is also where we first get what later become pretty expected 'anti-friendship' speeches from Kaiba: "friendship is just an illusion...everyone cares most about himself. When they find themselves in real trouble, they'll soon betray their friends to save their own hides!"
Not gonna lie, some of the fashion choices were...questionable. When Kaiba first comes downstairs I assumed he was in like, a silky pair of pajamas with a silly fur-trimmed housecoat thrown over the top, but no, that was his official Death-T ensemble (girlie, what were you thinking??).
Oh, and a piece of trivia for the real stans: Pegasus is not the first person to call Kaiba 'Kaiba boy'; it's actually Johnny Gayle, former Green Beret commander with a specialty in guerrilla warfare when he says: "sure was nice of Kaiba Boy to put a bounty on their heads!" in Duel 28. So there's that.
There was something truly funny about how committed to the whole 'this is an amusement park/escape room' bit Kaiba was. Knowing full well he brought them there to kill them, Kaiba still lets Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi try out various normal rides and games at the park and brags about how awesome and cutting edge the technology is. And then during Death-T, between levels, he'd project himself on-screen to give them clues and introduce them to each new game, and was just seemingly living his best life watching all of this chaos.
We don't really know how much time elapsed since his first duel with Yugi and all of this happening, but we have to assume it wasn't much, which means, I suppose, that right after that happened, Kaiba went home, did 60 lines of coke, and then put Death-T together over a weekend. We stan an industrious king.
Volume 4 has all the I-want features: ridiculous, over-the-top, campy plot points with even more ridiculous, over-the-top campy resolutions. It's also a Kaiba-centric arc so you know it's going to be diabolical and entertainting. And also, you can't tell me that you've never wished you could 'Death-T' someone before.
It's wacky, it makes no sense, a lot of the dialogue is cheesy. It's Yu-Gi-Oh!
I love it.
On to volume 5!
Volume 4 is Yu-Gi-Oh! at its most unabashadely unhinged, and while that's not to everyone's taste, it's definitely to mine. The amount of disbelief you have to suspend to get on board with the plot of this arc is equal to the amount of dark matter in the universe, and I think that's great; choo-choo: full steam ahead.
Volume 4 marks the beginning of the 'Death-T' arc, itself a sort of sequal to Yugi's first (manga) duel with everyone's favorite corporate executive, Seto Kaiba. Apparently, Kaiba was meant to be a one-off 'villain of the week' but the fandom demanded more, and this is what Takahashi delivered. Love that for us.
Seething from his defeat by, at this point, nobody Yugi Mouto, Kaiba uses his immense wealth and power to build an amusement park of death to punish him for that humiliation.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
The manga opens with a filler story involving a fighter game at the arcade we're going to skip over, and then Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi are invited by Mokuba back to the Kaiba mansion. Because this is 'Season 0' and everyone in the story is constantly at a 10, Mokuba tries to poison our two heroes in a food version of Russian roulette before they even meet up with Kaiba the next morning (why would you even stay there after the poisoning incident? Morbid curiosity? Sunk-cost fallacy?).
Kaiba, in true 'Season 0' style, laughs and says 'that was bad of him' when told of the poisoned food, and then shuttles everyone off to KaibaLand 1.0(don't get too invested in KaibaLand at this point, because they open it at least 2 more times between the manga and the anime) and puts on a 'nice guy' act I guess just to be unsettling (???)
We then get the big reveal of the Kaiba v. Yugi's Grandfather Duel Monsters match as well as the first introduction of Solid Vision (Side Note: I'd forgotten the the inspiration for Solid Vision was originally the first Shadow Game Kaiba played against the Pharoah in volume 2, but I actually kind of like that; it fits in well with Kaiba's whole 'my technology will always overcome your 'magic'' creed that comes home to roost in DSOD).
Blah blah blah, Kaiba beats Yugi's Grandfather using his newly aquired Blue Eyes White Dragon cards (and I do mean newly aquired given that he doesn't own one himself back in volume 2) and we get the backstory of how he got them involving the Mafia and one of the three original owners comitting suicide. No time to dwell on that, though, because it's time for Death-T!
Enter the reason volume 4 gets 4 and not 5 stars: this incredibly obnoxious and gross baby that Honda/Tristan is babysitting for his sister who exists really for no other reason than to say incredibly out of pocket things to Téa about her boobs (I die a little inside every time I read this section). But let's just ignore this.
The concept of Death-T is so cool, and Takahashi got to use his horror chops, which you could tell how much he enjoyed by how neat all the designs were.
Basically, each floor of the building is a different game or puzzle turned deadly. The first level is a version of laser tag where the team they're up against is made up of specialized military veterans and an assassin using real laser guns against our boys, who have fake laser guns. The idea that they could possibly win is insane, and how they manage even more so, so we're off to a good start.
The second stage includes a mini game where the gang gets transported to the next level while strapped into a haunted house ride where they all sit in electric chairs. If they scream, they fry. I really liked the execution (if I may) of this concept and I hated how it was resolved, so let's just leave it at that.
The penultimate stage we get in volume 4 is also a 2-parter. I'm pretty sure this one makes it into the actual 'Season 0 anime.' They all have to stick one of their hands into these holes in the wall marked by different number combinations. inside, they are each able to press a button. If they press the right button, their hands get released and they can move on to the official 'game', but if they press the wrong button, a guillotine will fall and chop off their hands. Their one clue? A piece of paper with the word 'bllood' written on it. It's not that hard to figure out the answer, but it's at least a game you as the reader could participate in, so that's fun.
The correct switch reveals what the next level is, and it's probably my favorite just because jumping the shark this early in the story was only necessary because we started at 100. And if you just uncritically accept the premise you have to accept (which I do, without question) that Kaiba located this 'Fridy the 13th' style serial killer the police couldn't catch, who apparently butchered 10 boy scouts, and paid him to fight to the death against a couple of teenagers in his haunted house revenge park just because it fit the aesthetic. Oh, and while all this is going on, Kaiba gets to watch via a screen on the serial killer's stomach, like the most demented teletubby possible. Also, I don't know why, but they decided to have this serial killer talk like he has a stuffy nose ???
Joey/Jonouchi defeats the killer, no surprises there, due to some unimportant shenanigans.
We then move on to the final stage for this volume, which is my least favorite, just because it's visually the least interesting. It involves the gang being stuck in a room where blocks keep falling down from the ceiling, and they have to both climb the blocks to get to the exit, but also avoid getting smashed by them. It's ok, but even Takahashi didn't seem to care about this level that much because they figure it out super quickly, and the only real drama is that they think Honda/Tristan gets smushed (spoilers: he doesn't).
The Kaiba lore is strong in this volume. We first learn of Kaiba being in charge of Kaiba Corporation, we get the first mention of the question that is never really answered directly of 'did Kaiba or did Kaiba not murder his step-father to take over the company?', we get to see the Kaiba estate for the first time, and as well, I think this is the first time we get to see the aftermath of a penalty game which, for Kaiba, is super PTSD (this is implied to have inspired Death-T in the first place, and the real thing he's out to get Yugi for, not losing at Duel Monsters. Something to think about). This is also where we first get what later become pretty expected 'anti-friendship' speeches from Kaiba: "friendship is just an illusion...everyone cares most about himself. When they find themselves in real trouble, they'll soon betray their friends to save their own hides!"
Not gonna lie, some of the fashion choices were...questionable. When Kaiba first comes downstairs I assumed he was in like, a silky pair of pajamas with a silly fur-trimmed housecoat thrown over the top, but no, that was his official Death-T ensemble (girlie, what were you thinking??).
Oh, and a piece of trivia for the real stans: Pegasus is not the first person to call Kaiba 'Kaiba boy'; it's actually Johnny Gayle, former Green Beret commander with a specialty in guerrilla warfare when he says: "sure was nice of Kaiba Boy to put a bounty on their heads!" in Duel 28. So there's that.
There was something truly funny about how committed to the whole 'this is an amusement park/escape room' bit Kaiba was. Knowing full well he brought them there to kill them, Kaiba still lets Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi try out various normal rides and games at the park and brags about how awesome and cutting edge the technology is. And then during Death-T, between levels, he'd project himself on-screen to give them clues and introduce them to each new game, and was just seemingly living his best life watching all of this chaos.
We don't really know how much time elapsed since his first duel with Yugi and all of this happening, but we have to assume it wasn't much, which means, I suppose, that right after that happened, Kaiba went home, did 60 lines of coke, and then put Death-T together over a weekend. We stan an industrious king.
Volume 4 has all the I-want features: ridiculous, over-the-top, campy plot points with even more ridiculous, over-the-top campy resolutions. It's also a Kaiba-centric arc so you know it's going to be diabolical and entertainting. And also, you can't tell me that you've never wished you could 'Death-T' someone before.
It's wacky, it makes no sense, a lot of the dialogue is cheesy. It's Yu-Gi-Oh!
I love it.
On to volume 5!
disheveled_reader's review against another edition
5.0
I like how Yugi"s friends remind me that I have shitty friends
sally_vinter's review against another edition
3.0
Yugi wanted that baby and I would have cheered if he had. Little creep.
Oh, I remembered that Yami was a serial Killer, kinda forgot that Kaiba was too. Yikes.
Oh, I remembered that Yami was a serial Killer, kinda forgot that Kaiba was too. Yikes.
doubleinfinity's review against another edition
Soooo every time I read this I got into a silly mood because everything was so over-the-top ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh at all the dramatic things that kept happening, but it didn't really detract from the plot so it was fine.
etkahler's review against another edition
2.0
Um, Kaiba is basically insane?? I was not a fan of this horror house type stuff. It almost got one star, but the block falling thing at the end was kinda ok. I'm ready to be done with 'season 0' and start the Duelist series.
trisa_slyne's review
5.0
Wow, Kaiba is one messed up kid. I am pretty sure he gets redeemed in the TV show but I cannot see how at this point. I am pretty sure none of this first series is in the show. Lastly, perv baby was weird.