top whatever ygo misconceptions that bug me [master post]
- That Joey is dumb as a rock. He’s not. He put together that ‘Namu’ was suspicious and just didn’t trust his own judgement enough to raise alarms.
- That TKB or Y.Bakura is some kind of social crusader, trying to get justice for his people. Yes, he brings up the problem of justice in an inflexible system with the Divine Right to rule empowering its monarchs in the manga. He makes a good point about the problem of defining what’s right and wrong under that system.
But his attack on the palace isn’t about uprooting that system to change things to make citizens more equal. It isn’t even about getting revenge for the Kul Elna victims, since he goes after the wrong people. It’s about resurrecting Zorc, about plunging the world into darkness and putting himself on the top of an even smaller pyramid with everyone else condemned to hell underneath. In the anime, Bakura mentions the Kul Elna massacre the first time in the throne room. But in the manga, he doesn’t - he just says there’s a tablet there that will give him the power he needs if the Items are placed within it. Basically in the original, he had the chance to try and see justice done for his villagers, and he doesn’t take it. He wants to use the Items, not see them destroyed and the village freed.
- That Anzu is whiny, or a nag, or a clingy girlfriend or any other bashy trope. She’s not. She’s supportive, strong, completely wrecked Seto Kaiba with her words alone, and dares one of Marik’s cronies to go ahead and drop a crate on her if he thinks he’s so tough. She also calls out to Yugi to warn him to stay back when she’s being held hostage at gunpoint. She’s also considerate of Yugi and tries not to trample his feelings despite her love for Atem. She grows to let Atem go too, knowing it’s what’s best for him.
- That Atem was a bad or cruel ruler despite literally all of Millennium World, or that he’s an indiscriminate, Mind Crush happy pyromaniac as Yami Yugi. As Pharaoh, he sacrificed not only his life, but everything he was with the possibility he’d be imprisoned forever for his people at 15 years old. As Yami Yugi, he has two-three confirmed kills tops, and the rest are injuries or Penalty Games. He only uses physical force when he or his friends are in immediate danger, and we know the Penalty Games wear off. He doesn’t just kill or Penalty Game indiscriminately and for tiny slights as fanon suggests, and he uses fire as a weapon just because he works with his environment, not because he has a preference for it.
- That Atem learnt kindness from Yugi. As the above point shows, he was compassionate and self-sacrificing as Pharaoh. Even in the early manga after his release, he is capable of showing kindness. He comforts Hanasaki before he and Yugi are actually aware of one another, and he encourages Jonouchi not to give up in early Duelist Kingdom for a few examples. He also saves Shadi in the manga and Toei anime when the latter is snooping in his soul room. I’d argue it’s more that he learnt mercy towards his enemies from Yugi, and even then he makes a lot of effort to improve himself independently without Yugi lecturing him directly.
- That Yugi learnt strength from Atem, or is helpless without him. Yugi similarly had strengths before meeting Yami, as shown when he stood up for Jonouchi and Honda, and decided he needed to step up by himself, not from anything anyone else said to him. Yugi naturally grieves Atem at the end, but he isn’t going to fall apart without him.
- That X pairing is romantically canon, when that pairing isn’t Pegasus and Cecilia. You do you, but please don’t expect everyone else to like the same pairing or think it’s obvious. The anime added a lot of stuff in, so manga fans might not be as convinced by a ship as someone else.
- That Yugi is a dewy eyed innocent. He watches pornography and has enthusiastic fantasies of Anzu playing basketball in a short skirt.
- That Yugi is perfect. He’s kind, compassionate and incredibly forgiving, yes. But he has his flaws like anyone else in the show - his character arc was about his growth into a self-actualised person.
- That Kaiba always, 100% of the time puts Mokuba first. He’s had a lot dumped on him from a young age and he tries to provide for the kid, but sometimes he doesn’t get it right. It’s only natural - he’s his brother, not his parent. But remember when he decided he had time to stop and duel Jonouchi just to grind his nose in the dirt when Mokuba was being held hostage by Pegasus? Or when he leaves KC in Mokuba’s hands to go and get his motivation back following being defeated by Yugi? At his worst we have Death-T Kaiba, who views Mokuba as an unwanted hanger-on. At his best we have series end Kaiba, who views Mokuba as a loved brother, and Mokuba happily follows along with Seto’s dreams and Seto’s decision to hold tournaments etc.
- That Kaiba just needs someone to open up to, or that he’s badly misunderstood by the gang. Divide between manga and anime again, but in either version Kaiba sees people being kind to him as pity, and friendship as useless and a sign of weakness. Even with all of his growth, that aspect of his character has been pretty constant and I can’t imagine him being willing to change his harsh nature to fit in with Yugi and the gang. I also doubt he’d react to anyone asking him to open up with anything but laughter. He’s more the type to focus on the future and to drive himself forward than to want to discuss his feelings. Different members of the inner gang did try to be civil to him, with limited success.
From @egyptiansapphiredragons:
- That Jounouchi is just stupid comic relief. That he’s weak. (His background story is heartbreaking and the scene where he confesses that he never hated Yugi is one of the most beautiful things ever. Also, he kicked Bandit Keith’s ass and won a fight with A KNIFE IN HIS MOUTH.) [Note this is a difference between manga and anime again; in the manga Jonouchi owns whenever he’s in a fistfight. In the anime…not so much.]
- That Atem and Kaiba share nothing more than a rivalry when the latter literally transcended dimensions to see the first one again. [The only version that you could definitely say Kaiba only cared about the Duel King title is the English dub, really, which flattened a lot of Seto’s character. TK also said you could see them as close friends as well as rivals].
- That Mokuba is a defenseless, weak little kid. Or that he’s the sanest of the Kaiba brothers. (Seriously, everyone, read the manga. Please.)
From @thiefshippingheadcannons:
- That Ryou is a smol, nervous, innocent baby. The dude has an OCCULT deck. He fights against Bakura every day, and he even uses the Ring to help his friends, despite what Bakura uses it for.
-That no female character is capable of handling herself. Anzu gets fired for slapping someone who was sexually harassing her. Mai overcame her fear of letting people in and made lifelong friends, and is also an awesome duelist. Ishizu, upon getting out of an abusive home, did everything she could to help her brothers. Ishizu also stood by her duties to Atem through all that. [Adding on Serenity/Shizuka, who dives into the pier after taking off her bandages in the anime to save Jonouchi from drowning].
- That Kisara was weak. The girl hosted the BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON, could summon it without a Diadankh, and stole the heart of Priest Seto.
- That Kaiba’s behaviour is totally out of left field. He’s just lost the one person besides Mokuba who actually meant something to him from his life, all because he got to Egypt a bit too late to say goodbye. He shows the textbook stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. He denies Atem is gone in trying to reassemble the Puzzle and assuming he can break through to the other dimension, he gets angry/manic in Transcend Game and he spends most of the DSOD movie being angry/bargaining his way into getting the Puzzle completed. When Yugi completes the Puzzle for him and Atem doesn’t return, he gets depressed. Possibly followed by acceptance when he manages to see Atem at the end of the movie and get the closure he needs to carry on.
The movie indicates multiple times that Kaiba holds Atem in high regard and that his competitive nature isn’t the only factor in him trying to reach Atem. This is progress on Kaiba’s part in some ways - he didn’t just go looking for the next opponent, or fixate on Yugi instead. Instead he looks back at the place Atem had in his life. He wouldn’t be Kaiba if he let it go that easy.
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