“YUUGI!! Yuugi … I’m sorry …
Thank you …”
On April 1st the entire Yu-Gi-Oh manga was officially re-released in full color in omnibus format. Yes, this actually happened. I bought two of the omnibus volumes for very important reasons (i.e. hair color confirmations), and now I’m sharing certain bits which I think are important.
Once again, let’s look at the magnificent, at the BEAUTIFUL use of lighting and coloring here. Yuugi and Jounouchi are dragged down into the water, and here Takahashi takes full advantage of the sunset colors to—once again—light them up. The lighting is soft, it is warm. Whereas Jounouchi’s thoughts (aside from his frantic bid to save Yuugi right before they both got dragged into the water) were surrounded by darkness, as shown in previous posts. His flashbacks were dim because he was struggling to remember thanks to Malik’s control, and when he realized that Yuugi was about to sacrifice himself he nearly shut down. But here? Here, Jounouchi has succeeded in saving Yuugi. He knows he has, he has the key in hand, and that makes all the difference.
Look at the way the lighting is centered around them. In the panel where Jounouchi holds up the key, look at how the brightest light is surrounding that key. The only panel that isn’t lit up by the sun colors is the one that focuses on the handcuff around Yuugi’s wrist, because that is still dark (particularly to Jounouchi, due to his guilt). But everything else? As Jounouchi apologizes, as he thanks Yuugi (which, kill me, there is so much contained within that “thank you” that it breaks me) and then smiles as Yuugi is saved even though the anchor is still dragging him down? That’s all lit up by the sun colors. The deep purples, the dark greys—they are reserved for the bottom, for the anchor, for the handcuffs.
Yes, from a literal standpoint obviously the actual sun would be above the water and thus near the top, whereas no light touches the bottom of the sea. But notice that Jounouchi’s acceptance that this is the end for him (which is what he’s saying; a direct translation would be “This is my ending …”) is down near the bottom, near the dark, whereas all those bright sun colors are at the top, away from that assertion. This is symbolism at its most blatant, guys. This was deliberately done from a composition standpoint, and rather beautifully done, at that.
And speaking of beautiful:
Just in case it wasn’t clear enough before, Yuugi is LIT UP BY THE SUN. Mokuba is obscured by shadow, but Yuugi? No. He’s lit up by the sun as Jounouchi looks at him. Again, Yuugi lights up Jounouchi’s world, he represents that light, that warmth, he has a backdrop of the sun to showcase this, particularly since it’s immediately following this that Jounouchi starts to break down because of what he almost did/all that happened and Yuugi says—hang on, let me get the exact translation—ah, yes:
“We both protected something precious to us.”
And need I remind everyone here that what they protected was each other’s lives? They protected each other. They protected each other and as Yuugi flat out says a few panels down from this, they’re precious to each other. And Jounouchi smiles, and is able to calm down enough to put the Puzzle back around Yuugi’s neck, and I just
These colored pages are magnificent. Clear thought was put into them, at least into these specific panels, how they’re lit up with the sun and the shading and the
Honestly, I just. I just.
I have been completely consumed by feelings, goodnight.
(Please do not tag this as brotp or the equivalent if you reblog, thanks.)
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