#eclipseshipping

not sure if it still happens or its been long phased out, but the early eng fandom used the term hikari 光 (literally, light as in "ray of light") when referring to yugi, ryou, and malik.

twas a no-brainer of course. the opposite of dark is literally light after all. thematically (esp in fanwork), its admittedly incredibly intimate to have the yami 闇 dark halves call their better halves "my dear/little hikari", etc, etc.

but for posterity, the actual and catch-all jp term for yugi, ryou, and malik is omote 表 (the front, public face, outside surface). within ygo context, "light" is an acceptable translation. I know, "my dear/little omote" sounds funny and doesnt hit as hard lmao just call them little meowmeows at that point 😂 hikari just sounds better.

clips of the maliks using the term.

MALIK: ご名答　表の獏良にはボクの意識を埋め込んでおいた

Y.MALIK: あのデッキには表のマリクも勝てなかったっけなぁ

as we all know, atem/bakura/y.malik have their own nicknames for yugi/ryou/malik.

① atem called yugi "the other me" (twice iirc) before settling on aibou 相棒, meaning "partner". the difference between his and yugis "other me" is pronouns, as atem uses the more masculine ore オレ while yugi uses boku ボク.

it wouldve been awkward eng, but a way to differentiate this in the first pic below wouldve been atem saying "the other I". in the eng manga, it wasnt clear who was speaking.

② y.malik only ever used shujinkaku sama 主人格サマ for malik if not referring to him by name. it literally means "primary", "main", or "master persona".

"master" suffices as a shorthand to make it flow seamlessly in eng.

now............

③ bakura calls ryou yadonushi sama 宿主様 aka "landlord" or "host" if not calling him directly by full name (most prominent during monster world, which comes off as very clinical to me tbh). we all know the implications: bakura is a parasite and "pays rent" to ryou.

bakura has also called ryou goshujin sama ご主人様. it can mean "master", "landlord", or "head of the house".

the millennium ring complete edition promo vid caused a bit of a stir on the jp side since bakura referred to ryou as shujinkaku sama 主人格様 rather than yadonushi 宿主.

lesser known fact: when ch280 first came out in shounen jump, it had a typo. instead of 宿主, bakura called ryou aibou 相棒 ("partner", what atem calls yugi).

it was corrected afterwards when the chapters were collected into volumes (tankos, bunkos, etc).

there you have it. the evolution, the lack thereof, and the mistakes made when it comes to nicknames, fandom and official alike!

I needed this to happen for them 😭😭😭

Yami Marik just wanted to protect Marik but only knew hate, anger, and rage. Marik is traumatized by his childhood and doesn’t realize that’s what Yami Marik was doing. They just needed to talk 😭😭😭 they can never make me hate Yami Marik. Will always be a Yami Marik and Thief King Bakura defender 🫶🫶🫶

Marik: Maybe, but make sure to be open about kissing him first, he absolutely will bite if you just go and surprise him with a kiss.

Ryou: ... Does this come from personal experience? This advice?

Marik: Yes... back before he realized I had been flirting with him, I went to kiss his cheek and he freaked out and bit my face.

Ryou: *covers his mouth*

smiles widely

Additionally, Marik also never learned Yami Marik can even take his body over. The one time it happened in his childhood and lead to his father being out of the picture, Ishizu and Odion covered up by blaming it on Shadi.