Yu-Gi-Oh!, Volume 5 Book

After starting off on a somewhat somber note, this volume of Yu Gi Oh is mostly taken up by a pair of lengthy games -- a shorter one against Mokuba and then a longer one against Kaiba, each using their signature games.

This volume is starting to pull together all the aspects that will eventually be at the heart of Yu Gi Oh in later arcs -- lengthy game battles, complicated strategies, ever-changing aspects and rules, the magic of plain old luck and the power of friendship.

It's good, but if I'm being honest, it's also one of my least favorite volumes of the series, and I think it's because of Mokuba's bit. the deal going into Death T was that Kaiba was doing all this to exact his revenge on Yugi for earlier encounters. So as they get down to the end, you expect them to emergte from the other "games" and go straight into the showdown with Kaiba, who's the clear mastermind. The game with Mokuba isn't that interesting, and throws the brakes on the momentum for me.

The fight with Seto is pretty good though. Bonus points, we also get a bit of a look into his backstory and some of the pretty terrible things that happened to make him the Xanatos-esque jerk we have come to know. It's a pretty far cry from his first appearance. Like I said, a lot of this is coming together in ways that become even more extreme later.

(though speaking of that, what's the deal with absolutely garbage father figures in this series? Jonouchi's dad is an abusive drunk, the Kaibas' situation is awful and later on, we meet another young gamer whose guardian hits a trifecta, being emotionally, physically and mentally abusive. Big yikes.)

The longer arcs do sometimes leave the shorter stories feeling unfulfilling, and the same happens here with the final two chapters of this book, one of which showcases a crappy teacher and the other of which presents us with a rigged game show. (Pursuant to the above note, Jonouchi enters the game show to try to win money specifically because his dad's drinking and gambling habits have collection agencies harassing them.)

Overall, still entertaining, but creeping noticeably in the new direction.