#Out of Ojamas

[femmeroi]

Im making custom Ojama tokens for locals and Woah these guys are fun to draw. Theyre so shape and so little while being so much all at once

[omarwolaeth]

Might be strange sounding, but the card reveals/banlists always come in 2 different perspectives for me, irrelevant of which banlist I'm playing under; because I write fics, I have to contend with the banlist at times (a majority of the time it's based on the sort of half-tcg, half-ocg Master Duel banlist with Anime Specific Additions.)

So when new cards come out I have to judge them not only by what I can figure out from their effects and traits (combined with what's currently meta, and if there's anything that wants to play the new cards, whilst being mindful of banlist differences), I also have the joy of internally discussing the value of a deck when its in a fictional setting.

I don't think anyone normally thinks about if a deck's theme is strong enough to tie a character to it, let alone if a deck's theme is too strong and tying a character to it is like Akihiko Sanada's obsession with protein in anything that isn't mainline persona (Like the Q games.)

Also makes engines less appealing.

[riddlerlesbian]

i have too weak a constitution to handle the gx dub, i think, because one of the ojamas called manjoume "daddy" in the sub and i am scared what sort of words might come out of the ojamas' mouths in the dub

[aberooski]

Why does it feel like every time I cap off a scene the last few sentences are the most shit thing I have ever written in my life????

[pikahlua]

I hope this will be short.

I guess this line is the fandom drama of the chapter?

I understand a lot of you are really passionate about the accuracy of the English translation. I just want to encourage you to try to engage with the official translation in good faith.

Ojama shimasu literally means "I am disturbing you/I will get in your way." It's often spoken as a greeting where the "apology" is implied (hence the brackets in my translation), but as usual context is everything in Japanese. Izuku is saying this line in defiance of Tomura's wishes. It basically comes across as Izuku plugging his fingers in his ears.

Me personally? If I were the official translator, I'd have strongly considered translating the line as "I'm coming in whether you like it or not."

The purpose in my pointing out the "common greeting" nature of this line was to demonstrate Izuku's sassiness. This is Izuku doing his "meddling where you don't technically have to" thing. The level of formality in Izuku's speech doesn't necessarily translate to actual politeness (check out @bakuhatsufallinlove's excellent post on that here).

Does "You will let me in," mean the exact same thing? Technically no, but it's the sentiment that counts. From an official translator's point of view, "You will let me in," is shorter, punchier, fits in the speech bubble a lot easier, and still conveys the general idea of what's happening in the scene.

I don't know. I wanted to talk about this because I guess a lot of people are concerned about Izuku's characterization and how it reflects on Japanese culture and how the official translation may be misrepresenting Japanese culture to the English-reading audience, and I just...can I ask that everyone take a step back a minute? Horikoshi isn't writing his story for an English-reading audience. He's not considering at all how any of this sounds to English speakers. That's the translator's job, not just to translate what is said but to translate that into the context of who is reading it. Localization is not a dirty word--it's an important aspect of translation. And the notion that Izuku is being polite and respectful here as a Japanese person is just such a...take. Izuku is being hella rude here lol. Japan itself, not just the MHA Japan but REAL WORLD Japan, notoriously has a bystander problem where people will ignore others who are being harassed because they don't wanna get involved. They won't step in to help nor will they even testify as a witness against others for fear of what it means to speak out and break from the pack. Izuku is quite obviously Horikoshi's direct answer to that phenomenon. He's meant to be an example of the morally correct thing to do, which is to be "rude" in these cases.

So I mean, sure, we can talk about what is lost in translation by the line, "You will let me in." But to me what's lost may just be grammatical and pedantic (like the passive voice that switches the onus of action onto Tomura instead of Izuku and what that may do to the focus on Izuku's rise to action here). In any case, it's not a BAD translation that changes Izuku's perceived politeness, just one that may prompt new discussion--and I don't think that's a bad thing.

[pcturtl]

So back when I played Duel Links, I ran Ojama World Chalice for a bit. Mostly, the game was won using the World Chalice link monsters, but the Ojamas did win a few games on their own merits.

This was around the time that the Relinquished pack came out, and Ojama's were a weirdly strong match-up against them because that deck struggled against normal monsters in general, and Ojamas were too "weak" to make a decent steal target, but could manage to win the duel on their own if left alone. This scene is how I imagined these characters would act during those duels.

[ygoartreviews]

Ojama Yellow

“He’s one of the Ojama Trio. It’s said that he butts in by any means necessary. It’s also said that when the three are together, something happens.”

Of the original Ojama trio, I've always liked Ojama Yellow's design the best. He's always felt like the most iconic Ojama to me, being representative of the whole archetype, evidenced by the fact that he's the only one I actually remember from watching GX as a kid. HOWEVER... I hands down think his actual card art is the most horrifying out of all of them. They really didn’t have to draw his saliva or make it dribble out of his giant mouth like that. His expression mostly just looks unsettling, with his exposed gums and teeth not really registering as the intended smile. Also, his eyestalks clearly being different lengths just to position his eyes like that is really hard to not notice once you’ve seen it. I can't lie though, his snazzy pose saves this art (even if only a little bit).

Rating: 2/10, The original little yellow freak

[redbullgivesyouwingedkuriboh]

The GX Cast and:

Who They’re Kissing On New Year’s

Jaden/Judai: Jesse. As friends. (Right?)

Syrus/Sho: his pillow. or the wall. literally not looking at Jaden OR Alexis.

Chazz/Manjoume: he goes for Alexis but Ojama yellow pops up at the last second and he spends the next hour in the bathroom shoving soap into his mouth

Bastion/Daichi: I will allow the token straight man. Tanya.

Alexis/Asuka: No one. she ducks out of the way of Chazz and immediately slams into her brother, knocking him off balance. results of that are in Zane’s section.

Zane/Ryo: gives Sy a head kiss and gets sent to the floor by Atticus

Atticus/Fubuki: Tried for Zane, but body-slammed him after Alexis knocked him over.

Blair/Rei: Jokingly goes for Chazz (running for the bathroom), then Zane (on the floor after Atticus full body decked him), then Jaden (Jesse’s tongue is down his throat)

Crowler/Cronos: a mirror

Aster/Edo: Jaden’s Neos card. Right on the ass.

Hasselberry/Kenzan: too busy shoving dino nuggies into his mouth

Adrian/Amon: attempts it on Yubel and is found strung up in a tree the next morning

Axel/O’Brien: gives Jim a friendly kiss on the cheek

Jim: turns at the last second and is now apologizing to Axel profusely (they’re cool)

Jesse/Johan: Jaden. Not as friends. They’re gonna have a conversation about this later.

Yubel: do you want to live?

[gx-gameon]

Since the Orichalcos boys have been mentioned: Timeaus, Critias, and Hermos all have cards for their human and dragons forms in the TCG. Would Jaden interact with their Duel Spirits?

Okay, here’s the thing.

I think Atem might actually have a break down if those cards ever return.

They left after the Oricalcos incident. “Our work here is done”

If Seto gets back his dragon, great he has a powerful card he can fuse with his traps. He doesn’t have any major trauma tied to that card. Mokuba wasn’t taken he didn’t lose anyone (Yugi but they weren’t anything special at the time) so if the card comes back he’d be fine

Joey fought for Mai but he didn’t lose anyone (Yugi yes but he wasn’t a part of the fight and his dragon didn’t fail/cause that) if he gets his dragon back Whoopee new fusion weapons!!

Atem!!!! First of would the dragon go to him or Yugi? Like yes he ‘defeated the evil in his heart’ and won the dragons loyalty back, but both him and Yugi drew that sword. They could both use Timaeus.

It doesn’t matter because just seeing those cards is going to set him off. The dragons and knights are there to fight the Leviathan. Did it return? Is the oricalcos back? Is he going to lose anyone else? What if Yugi and the others are in danger again?!?!

The man would be stressed. It’s not the cards fault but they are so tied to the Oricalcos incident and his trauma that I don’t think their return would be easy on him.

Now let’s say the dragons/knights don’t come back to their original duelist. Say they pick new champions.

Timaeus picked Jaden

Critias picks Chazz or Zane (either would be fun and they are the ‘rival’) I would also accept Aster here

And Hermos picks Jesse or Chazz (filling in the best friend role) I would also accept Hasselberry here

Most of the Gx cast uses some type of fusion deck (except Jesse but their is a fusion rainbow dragon card and I got him using the Gem knights as well) so this cards fit pretty well into their decks

But could you imagine how freaked out and stressed Atem would be at the return of the knights/dragons. Because why would they return?? Is the oricalcos back?? Until he figures that out the man is stressing so hard.

Note the idea of the Gx cast using these cards is super fun. If we use anime logic of Timaeus can fuse with any card to make it a dragon rider, you get dragon Knight Neos or FlameWingman.

Critias ability to fuse with any trap card to make a new monster

And Hermos fusing with monsters to make equipment spells like Chazz using that to play off his ojamas or level dragons. Or Jesse using it with his Crystal beast to power up his monsters, or Hasselberry making dinoweapons for dinosaurs (the funniest option)

Could make a fun side adventure

Not to mention Jaden, Jesse, and Chazz being able to talk to the dragons/knights. Hearing about the fall of Atlantis and the last duelist who used them…

If this happens before season 3 I could also shatter Jaden’s perception of Atem as he and Atem haven’t talked about the oricalcos yet (he doesn’t learn about it until after the dark world/supreme king)

This is an awesome idea but I need to think about fleshing it out and I don’t know if it would ever truly get off the ground. A side quest or filler arc (ironic since it’s all from a filler arc to begin with)

Let me know your guys’s ideas and who you think in the Gx cast would get which dragon.

[yugiohcardsdaily]

How would you rate the Dark Magician? (I’d give him a 200 out of 10!)

iconic/10

I'm actually gonna do something similar to the Ojama cards and rank the different arts of Dark Magician from my favorites to my least favorites. Gimme some time to do that XD

[avionvadion]

Now I have to ask, what kinda Yugioh deck would Idia and El use?

Hehehehe

El’s deck is largely based off my irl one- which is a “soul sucker” deck. It has dragons and magicians as the main monsters she uses, but mostly relies on all her spells and trap cards which were chosen specifically to either give herself more life points or to attack the opponent’s life points directly, and some of those cards involve a coin toss to decide whether she’s attacking the opponent’s life point or giving herself more.

It’s gonna piss Idia off, and Azul is gonna hate the coin tosses because of his vendetta against “luck” games.

Because Idia will think he can just make an offensive line of monsters and wipe her out that way since the monsters she has are all pretty weak, but nope, no, she has cards that can wipe clean the WHOLE FIELD so he has to start over from zero. Idia will probably focus more on mechanical monsters (he definitely has that XYZ Dragon- Idia is Seto Kaiba confirmed?) and magical girls (definitely has Dark Magician Girl) but two of El’s monsters are Light Magician Pikeru and Ebon Magician Curran, and while one gives life points to El the other will drain Idia’s life points for EACH MONSTER HE HAS ON THE FIELD. One wouldn’t think it but man do the numbers rack up quick.

(I only have Pikeru lol but darn it El is getting Curran because I say so lol)

When Azul gets a deck…. He is GETTING THE OJAMAS. MWAHAHAHAHA. He probably has Exodia in his deck too just to try and figure out the perfect way to shuffle (because LUCK DOES NOT EXIST damn it) so he can summon Exodia quickly before El and Idia both kick his ass.

Idia and Azul have only beaten El a couple times at Duel Monsters. She has WIPED THE FLOOR with them though.

But it’s okay. Idia kicks El’s ass at chess. El lasts like two hours against Azul, giving him a good run for his money, before he wins, and he and Idia are always 50/50 over who wins chess. Azul wins at Monopoly, Idia ironically wins at LIFE, El wins Chutes and Ladders. They have a little white board to keep track of who’s in the lead of which game while El has a page in her notebook dedicated to how many wins and losses each one of them has.

It’s chaotic. 🤣

[kujakumai]

Chazz comes out to the Ojamas first on a whim at 3am as like practice and they're all aggressively and enthusiastically supportive as per usual so he just gets embarrassed and has to tell them to violently shut up and after a few minutes of this when he is finally satisfied with himself for completing the treacherous mission of saying words out loud one of them finally asks him what "bisexual" even means

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Why I like Manjoume Thunder as a Yugioh rival

Hot take: And why I say 'screw you he is actually one of the best thanks!'

Appearance

Starting off on a silly note: Chazz is very pretty. Like seriously, look at him.

Tbh, sometimes you can mistake him for a girl at certain angles and close-ups :)

Anyway, I like his aristocratic look (dark hair and eyes and pale skin). I think the only rival who comes close to his blue-blood look is Ryouga from Zexal (I have only watched the first four Yugioh shows so you know). However, Ryouga has the tentacle theme going on with his hair which ruins the aesthetic a bit. I think it emphasises the concept of the rival usually being rich and upper class.

Personality

The rivals tend to have similar personality beats. However, I have a soft spot for Manjoume's. I didn't fully understand why until it hit me!

Manjoume Jun is a mix between Kaiba and Joey!

Kaiba's stoicism and self-confidence

With Joey's goofiness, playful nature and resiliency in the face of hardship

Love it! It makes Manjoume stand out among the rivals. You won't see Ryouga, Kaiba, Kaito or the rest rough housing with their rivals the way Manjoume does with Sho and Judai.

I just find Manjoume's personality entertaining. He's fun to watch. Not to say I like Manjoume being treated like a joke so often...but it made him very endearing. He does have a certain charm to him.

Relationship with siblings

Yugioh GX has many faults but I think GX has the best brother dynamics with the Manjoume and Marufuji brothers.

Don't get me wrong: I love the Kaiba brothers. I love how much Seto loved Moki and how the relationship became corrupted after Gozaburo adopted them (re. Seto using Mokuba in his plan to take over Kaiba corp and Seto's other emotional problems). I like how Mokuba steps up in running Kaiba Corp and has his own badass moments and is not some boring helpless damsel in distress like Haruto. Gosh, I despise Haruto and his relationship with Kaito. I found the entire thing such a bother.

Anyway, Manjoume stands out as being the only rival with older brothers (Jack has no siblings but I have always seen him as the big bro in the best friend trio). Manjoume isn't in a position where someone is looking up to him or depending on him to save them. He is out there trying to prove himself and I found the antagonism in his relationship a refreshing dynamic.

A bit of a hot take here but I kind of feel like Manjoume's brothers push his character in a positive direction whereas Mokuba and Haruto push their brothers in a negative direction. Kaito stole people's souls to save his brother (part of why I dislike Haruto but this is not the place for that) and Kaiba pushed to be adopted by Gozaburo and suffered abuse at his hands so that he and Moki could stay together on his terms. Whereas, Manjoume's brothers really kickstart Manjoume's arc to being a better person. I hope that makes sense?

Antithesis to the rival power deck

We all know the rivals have the heavy hitter, power decks. Almost to the point of being OP like Kaito's photon eyes (Kaito is kind of a boring rival IMO. He's badass sure but he only gets truly interesting in his interactions with V and Mizael).

I think Manjoume once again stands apart from the other rivals. Unlike the other rivals, he learnt that there was value in weak cards. To the point where he can say to Ojama Yellow in season 4 that he is the ace of his deck. Not Armed Dragon L10 or VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon like what you would expect from a normal rival. But this disgusting, annoying 0 attack monster. This monster won his match against Aster and it makes me so happy to see Manjoume's development.

Jack was supposed to have an arc like this where he determined that power was not everything...only to get a stronger version of his ace 😒. Yawn. I really don't like Jack. At all. Well a bit. But mostly I can't stand him.

It makes Manjoume seem more down to earth than Kaiba and the other rivals (except Ryouga, I think his deck is pretty balanced).

Unrecognized Talent

It seems to be an unappreciated fact that Chazz is canonically an extremely talented duelist.

He beat everyone at North Academy with random cards he picked up in the ice. He beat almost everyone at the school and brainwashed them into joining the Society of Light. Yeah, most of these kids are NPCs but it still counts!

It's honestly so unfair that Manjoume was dumped in Slifer. As much as he deserved to be humbled, he never deserved to be in Slifer when there are so many talentless hacks in Obelisk. Plus the other exchange students weren't put in Slifer in season 3! Outrage I tell you! My boy deserved better. It is such a Manjoume power move to stay in Slifer out of spite though lol.

Manjoume's story ending in season 4

Ok, I never really watched season 4 so I don't really know much about the Darkness plotline. But! I do know the story beats for Manjoume.

Besides Ryouga once again, I think Manjoume had the most satisfying story conclusion.

IMO Kaiba's story climaxed in Battle City with some good moments in the Orichalcos arc. I wish Kaiba played a bigger role in the Memory arc.

Jack's story climaxed in the dark signers' arc with Carly. After that, he kind of became a bum. I appreciate him pursuing his duelling career to become king again, this time for real, but it's nothing grand. Although I will say that his final duel with Yusei looked epic.

If I start talking about Shark's story in the Barian emperors' arc, I won't stop gushing so I'll just say that Shark's final duel as Nasch was cheff's kiss. His final speech to Yuma 🤧. To be fair, I wish they explored his Barian background more in the early seasons. It's so unfair how Shark was messed up so much by Barian powers while Rio was immune 🤨

Anyway, I like how in season 4 Manjoume was determined to become a pro duelist on his own to earn his brother's respect. To the point where he endured so much crap as Aster's assistant and suffered so much humiliation as Ojamanjoume. Season 1 Manjoume would never do this. Beating Aster with the school cheering him was a sweet ending to Manjoume's arc. He became a pro duelist without losing himself like Zane and without his brothers' handouts. He proved himself as a man to his brothers. I wished we saw Shoji and Chosaku after the duel in season 1 where Chosaku acknowledged Manjoume's strength. It would have made season 4 even more powerful for Manjoume.

Conclusion

These are just my opinions. I am not saying Chazz is the best Yugioh rival - Seto Kaiba will always be my #1 - but I just wanted to write this appreciation post for Manjoume Thunder who often goes unappreciated as a yugioh rival.

If any Jack or Kaito fans are offended, well...whatever. Kaito is truly overrated and his relationship with Haruto is boring and dull. Jack's character suffers after the signer arc. I really wished he and Carly got together. Sigh, 5ds had some of the best romances and they still never gave us anything at the end.

[yu-gi-poll]

ROUND 3D, MATCH 2 OUT OF 2!

Monster Stats & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Rescue Cat is used by Momoe Hamaguichi (Mindy in the English dub). Its stats are the following:

Attribute: EARTH

Level: 4

Type: BEAST / EFFECT

Effect Type: IGNITION / CONDITION

Effect (according to the anime): “By sending this face-up card to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 Level 3 or lower Beast-Type monsters from your Deck. The monsters Special Summoned this way are destroyed at the end of this turn.”

ATK / DEF: 300 / 100

Propaganda:

BABY MEOW MEOW!!!!

OBJECTIVELY THE BEST BECAUSE LOOK AT IT. This cat saves lives.

Ojama Yellow is used by Jun Manjoume (Chazz Princeton in the English dub). Its stats are the following:

Attribute: LIGHT

Level: 2

Type: BEAST

Description (according to the anime): “He's one of the Ojama Trio. It's said that he butts in by any means necessary. It's also said that when the three are together, something happens.”

ATK / DEF: 0 / 1000

Propaganda:

Submitting him because someone has to be brave

[cyberdragoninfinity]

👀 would you care to talk about the symbolism of the other yugioh rivals

SMILES. i would love to. i cant speak for revolver or the bridge rivals yet and i havent seen enough arc-v to have a solid grasp on declan's symbolism yet but i will talk a little about the spinoff rivals i do know pretty well

as a sidenote, like. ok so Kaiba's main motifs and 'symbolism' is...well. centered around Blue-Eyes and dragons in general mostly, of course. And he kind of has those weird disease/virus and mild clown motifs that show up a little in his cards, and those are all plenty cool and they work for what seto kaiba needs to be! but imo that doesn't really get nearly as expanded upon either in the show itself or otherwise in official yugioh What Have You, compared to the guys who came later. i didnt have a good spot to say this otherwise so it's going here lol of course thats just my opinion on the matter

Chazz: anyway, so something I notice is explored a bit more with the spinoff rivals is that they'll have these motifs that actually get extended into their archetypes in the actual tcg, and it's so SO cool to see. Chazz/Manjoume has his whole iconic thunder motif of course, and he also gets that little s2 stint with the Society of Light giving him a brief Bright Distressing White motif and BOTH OF THOSE. HAVE BEEN INVOKED WITH ARMED DRAGON LV 10 CARDS

i really especially love Armed Dragon Thunder Lv. 10-- its whole effect is the Manjoume Thunder chant!!! IT'S DOING THE POSE. IT'S SO FUN.

and of course also Chazz is a character very tied to the symbolism of "weak" duel monsters, of "weak" decks, one-star monsters and the Ojamas especially, and that in general is such a fun spin on a yugioh rival. we do a complete 180 from Guy Tied Almost Exclusively to Very Powerful Dragon to Guy So Symbolically Correlated With Weak Monsters He Dresses Up as One in His Last (and one of his best) Duels. peace and love on planet finding strength in the unremarkable

Jack: ok so Jack is an interesting one. He's very symbolically tied to being the 'King' and to underworldly draconic hellfire imagery [which in of itself is really cool, and I think there's some very interesting dichotomy in there with how Jack's tied with a fiery hellish dragon motif but Yusei's tied to a cosmic heavenly dragon motif...i really love Jack and Yusei as narrative counterparts.] But the thing is, in the same vein Jack's tied deeply to Burning Soul-- the issue is 5D's also very clearly puts forward that the Burning Soul iconography is also tied (and in large part originated) with the Legendary Signer...who is. an indigenous brown South American guy.

And they. gave it to one of the arguably whitest Yugioh characters. Erm. 🥴 classic yugioh racially questionable moments !This is what I mean when I say the spinoff rivals have far more interesting symbolism to me--sometimes the interest is out of uhhhh not great narrative handling!! Gives even more to chew on.

Shark: yeah Shark is the one that makes me insane. There's no way to talk about him and his symbolism without getting into deep Zexal Spoilers, so. Be mindful of that. I'm gonna talk about him and Kite under the cut

ok so Shark is like the goddamn yugioh rival symbolism rivalry gold rush. You trip into the Reginald Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro Kastle motifs and symbolism well and youre falling for ten thousand years. You cant talk about him without having to get into him also being Nasch, and then you have to talk about the Barian Emperors, and that second you get into that is the second you get sandblasted with some of the most insane symbolism yugioh writers have every cooked up.

There is so much goddamn demonology imagery and motif and symbolism jammed into the Barians I will be here all day getting into it. NOT EVEN GETTING INTO THE BUDDHISM INFLUENCE TOO. You cannot convince me that the Barian Emperors aren't supposed to correlate with the Seven Princes of Hell, alongside their deeply implied Seven Deadly Sin symbolism (and the Ursa Major symbolism too of course--it's what they get their names from!) To me I think Nasch is supposed to be tied to Leviathan especially, being an aquatic-based monster, but he could also correlate to Lucifer, playing on the pop cultural idea of Lucifer being the leader of Hell (and in demonology, typically associated with pride...pretty big trait of Shark's!)

That's just me barely scratching the surface with him. He's got the demonology symbolism, and Ursa Major motif, and seven deadly sins symbolism, and the sea predator symbolism and motif, and the royalty symbolism (good god his DUB SURNAME IS FUCKING KASTLE. THE PALER PART OF HIS HAIR LOOKS LIKE A CROWN.) And also all the insane numerology symbolism Zexal is leaking out the ears with. he's the fucking best. Why did they make this 14 year old so jampacked with this shit. it RULES.

Kite: it's so neat that Zexal has two rivals effectively. ANYWAY. Kite doesn't have as much 'oh my god it keeps going. it keeps going. oh holy shit' tier symbolism as whatever going on with Shark but he's got some stuff going on; I think it's especially cool that he and Mizar/Mizael have this "light vs. time" motif going on with their dragons, a Galaxy-Eyes arms race based on the speed of light. In general Kite's really associated with light, in the the very scientific sense, be it the way his jacket turns white when he duels, his Photon-filled deck, HELL even literally the way his eyes get damaged and his vision suffers is arguably tied to it, and it rocks. I feel like Kite is (esp since Zexal is supposed to parallel DM in a lot of ways) really the rival meant to parallel Kaiba the most, even down to having a dragon ace monster based around something bright (white dragon, photon dragon,) but I think they really took the time to expand on that inherent symbolism and show it off in even more ways narratively than we see with Kaiba. it's just cool the more i think about it the more i really like what they did with kite.

[merryfortune]

Touch Tag

August 14th: Post-Canon | Games | Horror

Title: Touch Tag

Ship: Boreshipping | Jim/Manjoume

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,264

Tags: Canon Compliant, Sports, Touch Starved

   …What was he doing?

   Based on his covert observations from up on the second floor of the dorm looking out over the grassy acres it belonged to, Manjoume had concluded that it was clearly Karen’s playtime but he wasn’t actually sure what game was being played. If it was a game at all. It involved a ball but it didn’t look like an actual ball game. Maybe drills? Some kind of practice?

   Bah, it didn’t matter. He had much better things to do with his time than to watch Jim and his dumb crocodile punt a ball between each other. Surely. Yup, surely, he had something better to do. Like rearrange the dust on his windowpane or something. He was on top of his studies, his deck was as peak as it was going to get, he was certain…

    And, yet, there was not much else to occupy Manjoume in his eight by eight room that he would love to claim that he had all to himself but very much didn’t thanks to the three Ojama Brother spirits who cohabited with him. So, mostly against his will, his brain bricked with boredom, Manjoume kept hovering by the windowsill.

   “If ya wanna play, why don’t ya jus’ go down there an’ play, boss?” Ojama Yellow asked.

   “I don’t want to play some dumb game with Jim.” Manjoume huffed, cheeks going red and his body very much going a different direction to what he had said.

   Ojama Yellow snickered with his brethren as they farewelled Manjoume as he marched himself down the wooden steps and right over to where Jim and Karen were situated. He looked down his nose at the pair as they passed the pointed egg shaped ball between each other, Jim using his hand and Karen batting it back with her tail. Manjoume held himself to make himself look intimidating but based on the blank stare that Jim was giving from underneath his Akubra, it wasn’t working.

   “What’s up?” Jim asked.

   “Not much.” Manjoume replied stiffly.

   The breeze swirled between them and the silence. 

   “Did you… need something?”Jim asked.

   “Grawr.” Karen piped up, seemingly annoyed that Jim had halted her very important playtime.

   “Er, just wanted to know what you were up to, I guess.” Manjoume admitted but he sounded like he was pulling teeth.

   “Just… passin’ the footy ‘round. You want in?” Jim asked.

   “The footy?” Manjoume echoed.

   “Yeah, the footy.” Jim replied and he held up the ball a little higher.

   It was branded to a sports team that Manjoume didn’t recognise but even if he was familiar with the intricacies of Australia’s big teams, it was faded as all hell, too. He could barely make out anything beyond vague lettering and what was probably a diamond shape once.

   “You ever played footy before?” Jim asked and he started to get keen a bit, shook out his shoulders and if Manjoume didn’t know any better, he would describe his eyes as having a gleam of national pride.

   “Do Australians call it football or soccer?” Manjoume said.

   “We call it soccer but footy’s different to soccer and different again to football, if you're imagining the American one, anyway, we call that gridiron and don’t play it much. And it's different again to rugby, if that’s what you're familiar with, but we do like a bit of rugby but I like footy best. Or, y’know, Aussie rules, if you know it by that name.”

   “You are not speaking any language I know.” Manjoume replied after Jim’s little spiel on the intricacies of sport down under and elsewhere. 

   “It's easy, promise.” Jim said. “Just don’t let the ball hit the ground, pass from the side, and since it's your first time playing, we won’t be playing tackle. We’ll play touch, instead, its non-contact, instead, you gotta grab at, uh… gimme a second, I’ve got some hankies we can use.”

   Manjoume watched, puzzled, as Jim made the absolute bare minimum and honestly confusing attempt to explain the rules - and prepare him for the game. He tore in half a pair of handkerchiefs that he was carrying around and gave two strips to Manjoume, who accepted very limply, and the other. He hooked them around his belt hooks, not too tight, Manjoume noticed. All he knew was that his ears pricked up at “touch” and “non-contact” for some reason - and good reason, too, as Jim had a bit more to say on the topic.

   “You're a bit… delicate so this’ll work well for ya.” Jim said.

   “Hey.” Manjoume growled. “I’m not delicate. We can play tackle.”

   “Nah, let’s start with tag, I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt, is all.” Jim said.

   Manjoume’s brow furrowed further, “No, I’m tough, I can totally play tackle.”

   “Alright then big guy, bowl me over. Knock me down. Do it.” Jim coaxed Manjoume, cockily tilting his chin up.

   “I will.” Manjoume replied and without warning, he was straight at Jim.

   Jim, however, was practically yawning. He played with a crocodile for Christ’s sake, no way was the living toothpick which was Manjoume going to knock him over but good on him for trying and he was trying hard. He was grunting and groaning, pushing into Jim’s breast as hard as he could, kicking up dirt clouds behind as all he moved was just his breath. Jim, meanwhile, was rock hard and standing still as a statue.

   “Point proven yet or do you need some more time?” Jim asked.

   “Argh, fine.” Manjoume gave up.

   His hackles went up and he folded his arms crossly. He stared intently as he waited for Jim to explain more of the rules to this touch-tag Aussie rules footy thing.

    “So, the goal is to get the footy across the line to score a point and the other goal is to get me out by taking my tags.” Jim said and he placed the ball on the ground. “When you get my tags, or if I get yours, we pause, we go back to where it happened and do one of these ones.”

   Jim demonstrated what he meant by “one of these ones”. He put his foot on top of the ball, very softly kicked it maybe half an inch behind him and then picked it up. He tapped it against his foot, as well. It seemed like a very odd ritual but Manjoume shrugged.

   “Normally, when you have a team, you pass it back and someone’s behind you to pick it up but for us, this’ll do to slow down the pace of the game. Oh, and if it happens three times, ball switches hands.”

   “Right, got it.” Manjoume replied, chewing on it.

   “Clear as mud, yeah?” Jim laughed. “Let’s get into it then, you’ll pick it up better playing.”

   “Okay.” Manjoume replied, still chewing on all his vowels.

   He glanced at Karen who opened her maw at him then closed it noiselessly. She seemed okay with watching them play rather than participating. But Manjoume felt very awkward about playing a sport he’d never played before.

   Still, he and Jim lined each other up and Jim tossed the ball in the air. Whoever got it, got it. It went up, up, up, and Manjoume scrambled to catch it but with his taller stature and longer limbs, and his experience playing the game as well, Jim managed to catch the ball.

   He hooked it under his arm and he took off. It was only then that Manjoume realised he had no idea where the boundaries or how long the field they were playing in was but Jim was booking it - and so he was, too. He scrambled after Jim but it was too late.

   At just the edge of the schoolyard, Jim dunked the ball down and proclaimed he’d scored a point. It pissed Manjoume off,  of course, but at the same time. The red in his cheeks wasn’t just from running full pelt for basically no reason out of nowhere and same for how his heart raced. Jim just looked so effortless playing this sport,  how he grinned, it was absolutely cheeky. The tags hanging off his belt flapped victoriously as he showboated.

   “Let’s try again.” Jim beamed. 

   “Yeah.” Manjoume huffed.

   They both circled back to where they had started the game. Karen, at the sidelines, thrashed her tail around and growled, happy that her friend was in the lead but her guttural cries inspired Manjoume. He had to do better this time. He just had to. And so, he absolutely had a fire in his belly for what follows.

   Jim punted the football upwards into the air again and Manjoume tried his hardest to get it. He brought all his weight down and jumped up as high as he could - and he felt like he could touch the sky. The sun blinding in his eyes, the salty sweat on his brow. His fingers just brushed the texture of the football but Manjoume didn’t bring it home. He just missed.

   “Unlucky.” Jim taunted him as he once again won the one-on-one scrum.

   He was laughing as Manjoume turned around, skidding on his heel. He full-on bolted. All he could see was the white, dangling fabrics of the tags flying off Jim’s belt loops. And so, he went for it.

   Hard.

   Even though they had established before playing that Manjoume was a twig and Jim was basically a brick wall, he went for it. He smashed into Jim from behind, grabbing the tags, practically frothing at the mouth for them as he tried to pull them off.

   It was a glorious few seconds for Manjoume. Blood pounded in his head. He felt the spirit of sportsmanship deep in the bowels of his soul. He was going to win. Or, bare minimum, he was going to make the point score one all. 

    Manjoume’s arms swung wide. He made his stance low and as powerful as he could. He felt like a raging bull, tail swishing and horns glinting all the same as if they had been real. He crash-tackled into Jim and Jim crumpled. Manjoume hugged him tight around his waist, his head butted Jim’s chest and knocked the wind out of him.

   At impact, Jim twisted the wrong way. His eyes opened wide and frantic. He lost footing and went down so, so slowly it felt. Manjoume grappled him wildly. Hands went everywhere in the effort to find the tags which were attached to Jim’s belt loops. Victoriously, at the end of such a crash, Manjoume did it.

   He ripped free the torn in half hankies and it was glorious.

   For all the couple seconds where it mattered before both landed with a thud. 

   Karen lifted her head briefly and blinked. The noise disturbed the grass and caused a dust cloud to bloom up around them. Jim and Manjoume both groaned as dizziness descended upon them, heavy like a cloak.

   Manjoume had Jim pinned underneath him. The position was compromising. Manjoume had one leg in between Jim’s and the other over Jim’s left leg. He’d taken all the fall on his knees and wrists, the jarring sensation wracked all of him, competing - and winning - over the brewing embarrassment as Jim looked up at him. Surprised. Fully aware of everything with a slackened jaw.

   “What the hell…?” Jim exclaimed in disbelief. “Where the devil were you keeping that, boy?”

   Manjoume’s stare turned intense as his eleventh hour determination began to dawn on him. Jim looked so spindly and vulnerable underneath him, long and lanky body with outdoorsy musculature which strained his grass-stain proofed clothes. He swallowed thickly and felt Jim’s eyes watched, a little too carefully, as his larynx bobbed up and down in his throat.

   Manjoume raked his fingers through the dirt. This was… This was a bit much for someone who wasn’t hugged enough as a kid, Manjoume realised.

   “Oh, uh, sorry.” Manjoume stammered and he scrambled off the top of Jim. Heart racing.

   Manjoume was awkward and gawky, trying too hard to be fast and that slowed him down. He got there in the end but pummelled Jim first as Manjoume reefed himself back and sat in the grass. His coat flounced as he stopped.

   “Er, good game, I guess?” Jim offered as he peeled himself off the ground. He didn’t look at Manjoume as he smacked dirt and grass off himself. “You seemed tuckered out.”

   “Yeah, that took everything out of me.” Manjoume replied.

   Jim smirked and then faced Manjoume forward. He offered his hand to shake.

   “Draw?” Jim suggested. “Not a total wooden spooner if we’re evens-Stephens.”

   “Yeah, sure.” Manjoume agreed.

   He resolved to return Jim’s handshake upon the invitation. If a little reluctantly as he had all sorts of feelings about the climax of their match. Endorphins made his teenage angst fuzzy as he took his sweet time to shake Jim’s hand. 

   His blood droned in his ears as he realised, he was back to the start. Watching Jim a little too carefully for it to be platonic interest. Manjoume hurried up. To get it over and done with even though before he even slid his hand against Jim’s palm, he knew he wouldn’t want to let go afterwards.

   Jim didn’t say a word waiting on Manjoume to hurry up before he finally did. Jim’s hand was firm and calloused. Manjoume’s was flimsy by comparison but he did his best to match the energy of well meaning sportsmanship that Jim was offering him.

   They shook on it but both took a little bit too long to let go.