Mai vs. Yami Marik (Analysis/Rant)

[Pyro]

In Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom, there’s a common misconception that Mai Valentine could have defeated Marik Ishtar during the Battle City tournament had certain things been done differently. I’m here on behalf of Lord Spopobich to say that that belief is simply not true in the slightest.

Late into the duel, after Mai had gained possession of The Winged Dragon of Ra and attempted to summon it, it was made clear as day that at no point did Marik fear for this. In fact, he knew all along this was Mai’s plan and wanted her to attempt to summon Ra, knowing she wouldn’t be able to control it. A lot of people call this bullshit, but I don't really see why. The God Cards were touted as cards that only very specific people could wield—those with connections to the Millennium Items. Mai had no connection to the items, thus she couldn’t read the hieratic text on Ra’s card (which was only visible in the light emitted from Ra’s “Sphere Mode," explaining why Mai didn’t see it when she initially took possession of it); Marik noted even Maximillion Pegasus couldn’t decipher what was written so he literally transcribed it from the stone. Mai, Yugi and Joey all confirmed Marik was looking forward to this fact the whole time and was never in any danger. Every move Mai made only served to further Marik's strategy.

Spoiler

The anime tried to make it look as if Mai stood a better chance than she did in the manga. The start of the duel played out differently with different monsters and Mai seemed to be in control. She easily got rid of the Slime combo that Yugi had a lot of trouble with as well as took out Masked Beast Des Guardius, causing Marik to lose almost half his Life Points within the first few turns. However, it's important to note that Marik revealed that portion of the duel was only the "warm up" and it would really begin upon the activation of the Shadow Game (the manga duel started in the Shadow Realm). The anime also added the penalty effect of losing memory when you lose Life Points, whereas in the manga it was merely the terror and illusion of being hurt that was draining Mai (nobody else could see the blood that Mai could, for instance). For most of the rest of the duel, it's the same as in the manga apart from Marik losing more and more Life Points. That's where things get screwy because after Makyura the Destructor was destroyed, Marik had 1,050LP remaining with only Holding Arms (500ATK) on his field and no back row. She summoned Cyber Harpie Lady (1800ATK) and had she attacked Holding Arms with that, Marik would have lost because he didn't have enough Life Points to survive.

This was a clear case of the anime trying to keep the main structure of the manga duel while taking liberties for time and dramatic effect, and because of that, Mai was made to look like an overzealous fool and Marik looked like he could have lost in his first duel without putting up much of a fight.

In the end, the manga did a better job of portraying Marik as the far superior duelist. He didn't lose a single Life Point and was in control the entire time, not fazed by anything Mai did. The anime included quite a bit of padding and even though it followed fairly closely once the Shadow Game started, the fact that Marik had already lost half his Life Points by that time was a big oversight and is one of the main points people bring up when claiming "Marik sux."

 

[withheldforprivacy]

Mai is a much hotter babe in the manga than in the anime.

 

[Papasmurf]

Yeah the anime really fucked with this particular duel. The earlier portions with the Jam Breeding Machine combo (a card he doesn't even use in any part of the manga) and Masked Beast Des Gardius are all anime-only and for whatever reason make it look like Marik had to rely on his shadow powers to gain the edge because he was on the losing end before. He also loses a ton of life points later in the duel and while in the manga Marik was never in any danger (the three special summoned Harpies can't attack on the turn they're summoned in the manga), in the anime the Harpie Ladies could've just attacked Marik if it weren't for Mai's attempt to summon Ra. The anime went overboard in changing this duel (probably because it was too violent in the manga).

 

[Papasmurf]

Then there's the duel against Bakura, which in the manga DOESN'T go Marik's way until the last turn (where Marik miraculously draws Monster Reborn just before Bakura could mass attack him with the Fiends he summoned via Puppet Master's effect). In the anime they made Bakura/good Marik's strategy a ripoff of Mai's attempt to steal Ra and Yami Marik just fucks them over with Joyful Doom + Monster Reborn, all while he was in absolutely no danger of losing the duel. It's almost like the anime writers realized too late that they portrayed Marik as too incompetent in the last duel and needed to make him look good.

 

[Pyro]

I thought you were exaggerating but I just read it again and you're right, Bakura had Marik on the ropes. Marik outright admitted he was at a disadvantage after Bakura swarmed the field with his fiends. That Monster Reborn was a big asspull save. I remembered it being on Marik's side, but yeah, that was nearly all Bakura aside from the Remove Trap at the start. It didn't help that regular Marik conveniently lacked knowledge of Ra's true special abilities while Yami Marik knew all.

Mai vs Yami Marik (manga): Stomp in Marik's favor
Mai vs Yami Marik (anime): Advantage to Mai, but stupidity allowed the loss
Bakura vs Yami Marik (manga): Huge advantage to Bakura, last minute asspull allowed the loss
Bakura vs Yami Marik (anime): Stomp in Marik's favor

I gotta go through all the Battle City duels now because this is getting interesting.