Saturday, June 05, 2004
Yo-yo story in this issue of Shonen Jump!
It is always great when hobbies collide. I knew it was coming, and it has finally happened. The two-part yo-yo story in Yu-Gi-Oh has shown up in this issue of Shonen Jump USA (#19, July 2004). This is a must buy for yo-yo fans, and before anyone runs away screaming at "Yu-Gi-Oh", let me give a moment to explain.
Despite what most people assume, Yu-Gi-Oh did not start as a card game. This was a regular comic in Japan about a kid who is a master of puzzles and games, along with a darker alter-ego that emerges after solving a particular Egyptian puzzle. This alter-ego tends to emerge when Yugi or his friends are in trouble, challenging the villians to a Shadow Game which often results in insanity or death to the losing party.
It started off being fairly episodic, covering various kinds of games and hobbies. Everything from chess to Spawn figures (called Zombire) to mind games to card games to digi-pets. Ironically, a story involving a card game from the US called Magic and Wizards (obviously based on Magic the Gathering) would prove so popular that eventually the series would revolve around it and a real card game would be created based on it. The rest is history...
However, at this point, the story is still mostly episodic and more violent than later incarnations (broken glass in the eyes = ow!). It is running in the anthology Shonen Jump, which is availible at most news stands for $5.
This particular story is "Jonouchi! Soul Battle!" (parts 1 and 2). Jonouchi brings a yo-yo to school (a Yovega Fireboy) and shows off a bit, before it is revealed that a gang has been going around mugging people with yo-yos. Jonouchi and Yugi investigate, and mahem insues. This is fun cheesy stuff with some realistic-looking yo-yos. The tricks are sometimes realistic, and other times improbable whirling. There are some great quotes in here also.. one is a bit of a spoiler, but here is the other: "Those who laughed at yo-yos.. will cry at yo-yos!" Who will be the first to have that as their tagline? :)
You can see the cover of this issue on Jump's website, and it'll eventually be for sale online here (after returns come in from newstands). But you should be able to find it off-line, anywhere from Media Play or Waldenbooks, to some supermarkets. Keep an eye out...
If all else fails, it'll also be in one of the latter digest collections of Yu-Gi-Oh (maybe volume 5?), though it'll be $8 for smaller sized artwork (not so worth it if all you're interested in is the yo-yo stories)...
To see a larger page of Jonouchi trying to impress everyone (unsuccessfully) with "Parade the Pooch", click here (remember, the panels read right-to-left). I think all players have experienced this at one time or another.. ;)
Some other notes: It is interesting that it is the American yo-yos shown and not the Bandai releases. Perhaps this pre-dates the Bandai yo-yos? Also, in Japan they tend to say "technique" instead of "trick", which gets shortened to "tech". The translators decided to leave it as "tech" in English, so don't be confused...
