#and then DSOD was his wrecking ball through the wall

[kaibacorpintern]

yugioh basically makes two arguments about what “strength” is:

it’s the ability to win a duel 

it’s your bond with your friends

the first definition is demanded by the logic of a narrative with two major tournament-style arcs (duelist kingdom and BC) and functions on both literal and metaphorical levels: the characters are often in situations where their survival hinges on their ability to win a duel (for example, kaiba and atem vs. lumis and umbra), and the characters are ALSO often in situations where winning the duel is a sign of a philosophical or moral victory (for example, when atem beats kaiba in battle city, it’s because atem duels based on faith in his friends and kaiba duels based on anger/hatred.) the ability to win a duel is often used, in the context of the narrative, as the test or proof that a character has achieved self-actualization or some deeper understanding of themselves - like atem at the end of battle city, finally winning access to his memories; jounouchi’s determination to win his battle city duels on his own without atem’s help, and yuugi in the ceremonial duel (more on this below.)

HOWEVER: the second definition is what the narrative repeatedly and explicitly returns to as “strength” - over and over again, yugioh doubles down on the idea that your relationships with others makes you strong (for example, when atem uses red-eyes black dragon to fend off kaiba’s attack in battle city - the card that symbolizes his friendship with jounouchi) and puts the idea that “standing on your own makes you strong” into the mouths of antagonsists - like kaiba, and like malik when he’s brainwashed jounouchi and tells him that if he kills yuugi, he’ll finally become a man. another example: kaiba loses against pegasus because he’s been completely isolated, and does not have anyone’s love to shield him from the millennium eye; atem and yuugi win against pegasus because their friends’ love DOES shield them from the eye, and because they (almost blindly!) put their faith and trust in each other. yugioh is a series about how lonely, isolated characters seek out relationships and blossom/actualize/grow through these relationships - especially yuugi himself!

but with the ceremonial duel, yugioh ends up contradicting itself by creating a situation where yuugi must prove himself “strong” in a duel, and the result of this test/proof of this “strength” is to cut atem off - despite atem’s explicit fear of death and loneliness. after several hundred chapters of arguing that our bonds with each other are what truly make us strong, yugioh ends by severing the bond between atem and yuugi, and holds yuugi up as the strongest - NOT because of his bonds/friendships/relationships, but because he wins a duel. by winning his duel against atem, he proves his self-actualization, but must sever himself from the other source of his strength to do it. 

and the thing is, “strength is the ability to win a duel” is an incredibly weak idea compared to “strength is your relationships with other people.” it’s not something you can actually take with you when you close the manga and put it back on the shelf. we do not spend all of our time dueling; none of us will ever be in a situation where we have to duel for our lives. while there’s something to be said (A LOT TO BE SAID!) about the cultural and social value of games, especially sports like football, soccer, etc. (shout-out to Clifford Geertz and symbolic play) it’s probably better NOT to use the ability to win a game as proof of self-actualization, or to tie concepts of worth, esteem, and respect, both for the self and for others, to gaming victories. this is one of the core tensions of kaiba’s character: he can’t keep living like this!

but we DO live in a world with others, and we ARE constantly testing and navigating our relationships and intimacies with other people, questioning how to trust and who to trust, at what moments we will be vulnerable and why, the trade-offs between the joy of intimacy and the risk of pain, etc. one of these definitions of strength is meaningful to us as human beings who live with and love other human beings. the other is shallow.

yes i KNOW that the ending was rushed and KT didn’t have time to tell the story he wanted to tell. which brings me to Dark Side of Dimensions (you knew this was coming.) DSOD reverses and corrects the haphazard, self-negating message of the ending by:

reaffirming that yuugi is a strong duelist, to the point that he CAN beat kaiba on his own, without atem’s help, but this “strength” at winning card games DOES NOT help them beat aigami - even though yuugi is given a moral high ground in rejecting aigami’s vision of the world. “strength = ability to win a duel” is not enough to actually do anything against aigami. it dispenses with its own final conclusion.

making kaiba realize that in order to save the world from aigami, he must double down on the power of bonds between people - both YUUGI’s bond with Atem, and his OWN bond with Atem, trusting that what Atem told him about strength (it’s putting your faith in people) is true. his embrace of the power of bonds - and not even his own bonds, but the bonds between other people, entirely separate from him - is, ultimately, what saves the day.