Just going to share some Yu-gi-oh feels okey
Why does Noa want Mokuba? I mean, I get that he's practically a biblical older brother in how badly he was ripped off cosmically, and he wants his rightful blessing and all that, so I get trying to destroy Seto and taking over the company. I do.
And I get that the level of pressure he was exposed to about his future was maybe not so healthy, and led to a really skewed worldview. I get that too.
But why the hell does he want Mokuba? Mokuba was never his. Mokuba was never connected to Gozaburo or the company. Mokuba has always been Seto's brother, arrived with Seto, grew up with Seto, is SETO'S blood sibling. Never Noa's, not related to Noa. So why does Noa think Mokuba belongs to him? Where would he even get that idea?
I recognise that Noa's not sane, and doesn't have realistic expectations or priorities. He's truly obsessed with what was taken from him, and projects it all onto Seto. He blames Seto for the accident that destroyed his body (it was an accident, right? they said so? I would totally buy that some debilitating disease was the cause, too, and it tore away at his mind...). Noa should get, though, that Seto was a craptastic replacement for him. Gozaburo never really had a heart, and so Seto could not possibly have replaced Noa in it, no matter what Noa has convinced himself to believe. I DUNNO NOA, MAYBE IT HAS TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOU'RE THE LIVING DEAD, INSTEAD??! Or the fact that you have the eternal immatured mind of a child and the unrealistic worldview to match?!?
Noa's manner of speaking and acting is really creepy, too. I mean, I just saw the first part of Battle City Arc, so I've seen some creepy insane shit by now (mostly in the form of the knee-shaking, spine-tingling Yami no Malik and Yami no Bakura), but this is new and different.
Noa covets Seto jealously. Not just his belongings and his lifestyle, but his actual being. I'm very familiar with the sort of anime creepiness it takes to desire someone's body, but Noa takes that to a new level. He's beyond Rokudo Mukuro, for fuck's sakes. Noa has this weird complex where he both loves Seto as an extension of himself, for taking his future, and also hates Seto beyond his own comprehension, for taking his future. Noa Kaiba would wear a suit made from Seto's skinned flesh if he could, and not see anything wrong with that. Noa feels that Seto belongs to him, by right, on a fundamental level. In a fantasy alternate universe, Noa would try to eat Seto's heart to gain his power. He'd think it was natural for him to do. HE'S NOT STABLE. (He's also like early Draco Malfoy, if that puts him in perspective at all. HIS FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS! HIS FATHER ONLY ALLOWED RIFFRAFF INTO HIS HOUSE BECAUSE THE HEIR TO HIS FORTUNE WAS INCAPACITATED! BLAURAGHRAUGH!)
I love Yu-gi-oh villains. I do. I think that they're a lot more interesting than they're allowed to be, because their frightening neuroses and painful backstories are buried deep beneath piles of shiny old cards and abandoned duel disk systems.
I love Malik Ishtar like burning, because to me he symbolises all of the story potential of the series, while at the same time dressing and acting like what my sister and I have dubbed queen of the world. Which I love.
But Noa Kaiba's a different kind of villain. Unlike Malik, who was forced into his position as leader of the Pharaoh's guardians cult and fought against his destined role at every opportunity, Noa embraced what he viewed as his destined right as KaibaCorp President, to the point of rejecting any alternative path in his future at all costs.
Noa's genuinely insane obsession with the company is pretty obviously his father's fault. Which means that his father is to blame for the terrifying frustrations that Noa must have felt in the virtual world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't simply recognise Gozaburo as the main villain of the arc, because his treatment of Noa was frightening. He tried to fight the balance of nature and death itself, simply so he could go on living vicariously through his son taking control of the company after he himself passed on. He eventually came somewhat to his senses, realising that he didn't have the resources to bring this goal to fruition (mostly because Noa's body was destroyed and he died), but he never communicated it to Noa. And, more importantly, he didn't shut down the brain tank that Noa was living in! He devoted gods-know-how-many resources to Noa's brain tank and the virtual world, instead of just solving his problems and shutting the whole thing down. This may speak volumes about Gozaburo Kaiba, who was incapable of understanding the depth of his failures and caused further personal frustration by constantly reminding himself about the things beyond his control and how bitterly his plans for the future were dashed. He's not sympathetic at all, so I don't care as much.
And my final note. Seto's excellent, excellent initial Reason You Suck Speech (I saw it dubbed and it was still perfection!) is something I highly recommend to anyone who cares about the character backstories and freudian experiences. It really gets to the heart of the situation, and was very well done. The one right before Noa's major flashback, as subsequent ones tell us more about Seto than they do about Noa (like his gigantic neuroses about hardwork vs. natural gifts).
...This really didn't answer my question at all, so I'm still wondering why poor insane-o-pants craves Mokuba('s flesh), but at least I got a fun character-introspective out of it?
This entry was originally posted at http://tokyograndpa.dreamwidth.org/1783.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
And I get that the level of pressure he was exposed to about his future was maybe not so healthy, and led to a really skewed worldview. I get that too.
But why the hell does he want Mokuba? Mokuba was never his. Mokuba was never connected to Gozaburo or the company. Mokuba has always been Seto's brother, arrived with Seto, grew up with Seto, is SETO'S blood sibling. Never Noa's, not related to Noa. So why does Noa think Mokuba belongs to him? Where would he even get that idea?
I recognise that Noa's not sane, and doesn't have realistic expectations or priorities. He's truly obsessed with what was taken from him, and projects it all onto Seto. He blames Seto for the accident that destroyed his body (it was an accident, right? they said so? I would totally buy that some debilitating disease was the cause, too, and it tore away at his mind...). Noa should get, though, that Seto was a craptastic replacement for him. Gozaburo never really had a heart, and so Seto could not possibly have replaced Noa in it, no matter what Noa has convinced himself to believe. I DUNNO NOA, MAYBE IT HAS TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOU'RE THE LIVING DEAD, INSTEAD??! Or the fact that you have the eternal immatured mind of a child and the unrealistic worldview to match?!?
Noa's manner of speaking and acting is really creepy, too. I mean, I just saw the first part of Battle City Arc, so I've seen some creepy insane shit by now (mostly in the form of the knee-shaking, spine-tingling Yami no Malik and Yami no Bakura), but this is new and different.
Noa covets Seto jealously. Not just his belongings and his lifestyle, but his actual being. I'm very familiar with the sort of anime creepiness it takes to desire someone's body, but Noa takes that to a new level. He's beyond Rokudo Mukuro, for fuck's sakes. Noa has this weird complex where he both loves Seto as an extension of himself, for taking his future, and also hates Seto beyond his own comprehension, for taking his future. Noa Kaiba would wear a suit made from Seto's skinned flesh if he could, and not see anything wrong with that. Noa feels that Seto belongs to him, by right, on a fundamental level. In a fantasy alternate universe, Noa would try to eat Seto's heart to gain his power. He'd think it was natural for him to do. HE'S NOT STABLE. (He's also like early Draco Malfoy, if that puts him in perspective at all. HIS FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS! HIS FATHER ONLY ALLOWED RIFFRAFF INTO HIS HOUSE BECAUSE THE HEIR TO HIS FORTUNE WAS INCAPACITATED! BLAURAGHRAUGH!)
I love Yu-gi-oh villains. I do. I think that they're a lot more interesting than they're allowed to be, because their frightening neuroses and painful backstories are buried deep beneath piles of shiny old cards and abandoned duel disk systems.
I love Malik Ishtar like burning, because to me he symbolises all of the story potential of the series, while at the same time dressing and acting like what my sister and I have dubbed queen of the world. Which I love.
But Noa Kaiba's a different kind of villain. Unlike Malik, who was forced into his position as leader of the Pharaoh's guardians cult and fought against his destined role at every opportunity, Noa embraced what he viewed as his destined right as KaibaCorp President, to the point of rejecting any alternative path in his future at all costs.
Noa's genuinely insane obsession with the company is pretty obviously his father's fault. Which means that his father is to blame for the terrifying frustrations that Noa must have felt in the virtual world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't simply recognise Gozaburo as the main villain of the arc, because his treatment of Noa was frightening. He tried to fight the balance of nature and death itself, simply so he could go on living vicariously through his son taking control of the company after he himself passed on. He eventually came somewhat to his senses, realising that he didn't have the resources to bring this goal to fruition (mostly because Noa's body was destroyed and he died), but he never communicated it to Noa. And, more importantly, he didn't shut down the brain tank that Noa was living in! He devoted gods-know-how-many resources to Noa's brain tank and the virtual world, instead of just solving his problems and shutting the whole thing down. This may speak volumes about Gozaburo Kaiba, who was incapable of understanding the depth of his failures and caused further personal frustration by constantly reminding himself about the things beyond his control and how bitterly his plans for the future were dashed. He's not sympathetic at all, so I don't care as much.
And my final note. Seto's excellent, excellent initial Reason You Suck Speech (I saw it dubbed and it was still perfection!) is something I highly recommend to anyone who cares about the character backstories and freudian experiences. It really gets to the heart of the situation, and was very well done. The one right before Noa's major flashback, as subsequent ones tell us more about Seto than they do about Noa (like his gigantic neuroses about hardwork vs. natural gifts).
...This really didn't answer my question at all, so I'm still wondering why poor insane-o-pants craves Mokuba('s flesh), but at least I got a fun character-introspective out of it?
This entry was originally posted at http://tokyograndpa.dreamwidth.org/1783.html. Please comment there using OpenID.