Yu-Gi-Oh! Kill Count Part 3 - Kaiba on Fire
Yu-Gi-Oh! Kill Count Part 3 - Kaiba on Fire
In which Seto Kaiba becomes the hero of a John Woo movie
On Wednesdays, we’re reading Yu-Gi-Oh! here on JonathanLack.Com – specifically, as explained in Part I of this series, we’re looking at how many people are killed in the surprisingly violent original manga, and which characters rack up the biggest kill counts. And today, we’re continuing with Volumes 8 through 14 of the manga.
This is the point at which Viz splits up the numbering into multiple series, and it is also where the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime that most of us are familiar with begins. And believe it or not, Yami Yugi keeps his rage in check through Volumes 8 and 9, as there are no new kills in either volume.
Don’t get disappointed, though, because Volume 10? Oh, we're back. We’re so back.
First up, Yami Yugi kills the player killer Panik via a shadow game gallows illusion, complete with the violent image of the villain falling to his death and Yugi sending him off with a cruel pun. 1 Kill for Yami Yugi.
And then, in this truly amazing moment, Kaiba throws two of Pegasus' goons off his helicopter in the middle of the ocean, after blocking gunfire with a rare card. One of the best scenes in the series. It lives in infamy. 2 Kills for Seto Kaiba.
These are actually the last kills we’re going to cover in today’s installment, because the series goes through a wee bit of a murder dry spell starting with Volume 11. But there are some moments I want to highlight all the same.
First off, Volume 12 has the infamous scene where Kaiba threatens to kill himself if Yugi plays his winning hand, and Yami Yugi is 100% on board with murdering the bastard, before ‘lil Yugi steps in and puts an end to his reign of terror. Legendary.
More importantly, this volume also has an incredible scene where Kaiba takes one of Pegasus’ goons hostage, and basically lives out a Yakuza movie fantasy. Look at that last panel – Seto Kaiba is a man with ice in his veins.
One note here: if you have only seen the anime, which changes some story beats, you might not know that Pegasus’ whole scheme in the manga is a bid to take over Kaiba Corp. And in the manga, Kaiba has just gotten out of a coma (inflicted on him by Yugi back in Volume 5), his whole staff has betrayed him, and his little brother has been kidnapped – he is a man with nothing to lose, basically a Hong Kong action hero in the third act of a John Woo movie.
Volume 13 again has no new kills, but that's only because Yugi gets Kaiba and Mokuba's souls back later in the story when he defeats Pegasus. Note here that Pegasus totally thinks he's killed them both, in the same way Yami Yugi has killed people in shadow games. He even calls Kaiba's body a 'corpse.'
No kills in Volume 14 either, but just you wait until we get to the next volume – especially if you’re someone who has only seen the anime, you’re going to be gifted with what is probably the most shocking image I have to share across the entire manga is coming up. Get hyped – the best is yet to come.
OFFICIAL YU-GI-OH! KILL COUNT AS OF VOLUME 14
Yami Yugi: 11 kills
Seto Kaiba: 4 kills
Katsuya Jonouchi: 2 kills
Baby Joji: 1 kill
Shadi: 1 kill
NEXT WEEK: The end of Duelist Kingdom and the return of Murder, as Yugi faces both Pegasus and an evil clown in Volumes 15, 16, and 17.
Catch Up on the Complete Yu-Gi-Oh! Kill Count Series:
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