Yu-Gi-Oh!, Volume 4: Kaiba's Revenge Book

Oh boy. Ohhhhh boy. Hahaha. Have I mentioned how ridiculous this series is in previous reviews? I must have. And I love that aspect.

It seems like a lot of people went from the anime to the manga. I went the opposite way -- in fact, I only just checked out the anime recently. And one of the things that bothered me about it was how much of an adaptation wimp it seems like they made Jonouchi. In the manga, the dude's kind of a goofball idiot, but he's also kind of a badass. The anime seems to have stopped halfway in an effort to put him in a bit more of a box, which is sad because it doesn't just take some great scenes away from him, it also changes his character. and that sucks.

See, in the anime, when he shows confidence in physical confrontation, half the time it comes across like he was just too dumb to understand the full scope of the situation and how he measures up. Whereas in the manga, it's more a case of his confidence coming from a genuine ability to hold his own in a bad situation.

I say all that to lead into the first story here, where a gamer in an arcade gets beat by Yugi at a fighting game and decides assault and robbery is the best way to deal with it. He punches Yugi out and takes the puzzle while Jonouchi is off getting drinks. So when he returns and finds out what happened, he can't leave it alone and goes after the guy. Which leads to a fight that made a lot more sense in Yu Yu Hakusho than in Yu Gi Oh, but it's here, so enjoy. :D

This little story is a prelude to one of the longest arcs in this first series, and quite possibly the most ridiculous. <3 <3 the pair of friends are picked up, allegedly on Kaiba's orders, and brought to the family mansion. After a deliciously unsettling dinner party with Mokuba, we get to the real meat of the arc -- Kaiba wants Yugi to go to Kaiba Land, an amusement park based on Kaiba's love of games. But this theme park has a surprise -- an entire deadly section called "Death-T" (because of course it is) built to do a murder on Yugi and his friend. Of course, Yugi would normally just turn right TF around and leave rather than face a literal murder attraction. but Kaiba has an ace up his sleeve to make him go through with it.

Y'all. It's ridiculous. From the laser tag with deadly targets to a creepy ride on literal electric chairs to a haunted house full of booby traps with an ACTUAL LITERAL SERIAL KILLER in the basement, this whole thing is just a trip. Yugi's friends have a chance to show off their unique talents in a variety of ways. Really the only part of this that I don't care for is the weirdly pervy baby Honda has along with him.

Are there problems here? Oh god yes. But like I've said a few times, this series just really hits all the right notes to really entertain me. :D