Ryo Bakura

Ryo Bakura (獏良 了 Bakura Ryō) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh!. In the English Duel Monsters anime, he is known as simply Bakura, and in the English Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal Duelist's Soul video game, Bakura's name is incorrectly given in the traditional Japanese order and is rendered Bakura Ryou.

Bakura is a friend of Yugi Mutou (Yugi Moto in the English anime). He is also the holder of the Millennium Ring, one of the seven Millennium Items (or the Sennen Items). Bakura received the Millennium Ring from his father, who had bought it while on a trip in Egypt, being told that it was connected with the card battle game Duel Monsters, which his son was fond of.

Contained within the Millennium Ring is an evil sprit known as Dark Bakura (Yami no Bakura) (Dark Bakura is called Yami Bakura and Spirit of the Ring in the English anime). The host Bakura never directly speaks to the Dark Bakura; the host only refers to him as a "voice".

First Series Anime

In the original Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bakura, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is extremely polite in his speech pattern, using honorifics almost all the time. On the other hand, his dark half doesn't use honorifics. (See Wikibooks:Japanese:Pronouns) In the English anime, Bakura has a British accent in an attempt to represent this speaking pattern.

In the manga, Bakura first met Yugi and his friends, Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English anime), Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor), and Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner) when he transferred to Domino High School. Bakura - who quickly garnered a host of girls in admiration over him - explained that he loved playing the RPG "Monster World" (a parody of Dungeons and Dragons) but cautioned the four that everyone who played with him fell into a coma. Because of this, he had to keep transferring schools. When he tried on Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, he felt a pain in his chest. In Toei's anime, Bakura had been going to Domino High School for some time when he decided to play a RPG with Yugi.

Later that night, as he was writing to his (deceased) younger sister, Amane, a voice in his head announced that he was its new host. Bakura opened his shirt to find the sharp points of the Ring sticking into his skin.

The voice was that of the Dark Bakura, a 5,000-year old spirit from ancient Egypt. Dark Bakura, at the time, had his mind set on taking the Millennium Puzzle for himself.

After sealing the soul of a P.E. teacher, Mr. Karita (who earlier had bullied Bakura over his effeminate looks and long hair) into a miniature, Bakura set up the Monster World game. The next day, Yugi and his three friends play Bakura. Yugi plays as a monster tamer, Jonouchi plays as a warrior, Honda plays as a magic gunman, and Anzu plays as a magician. Their souls were sealed into their respective miniatures through the powers of the Millennium Ring. Dark Yugi (Yami no Yūgi), being the only soul still occupying a flesh-and-blood body, challanged the Dark Bakura to a game.

The host personality managed to emerge during the RPG, taking control of the body's left hand. The host Bakura intentionally fumbled several critical dice rolls, giving the Dark Yugi an edge in the game. Once he realized this, the Dark Bakura impaled his host's controlled hand on a tower spire of the game board's castle, laughing madly. However, the host Bakura would not be defeated and sealed his soul into a pair of possessed dice. He caused the dice to shatter, effectivally ending the game and killing himself in the process. The Dark Bakura was banished in a penalty game.

The host Bakura is dead when the Dark Yugi reaches him. His avatar in the TRPG is still animated, and White Mage Bakura uses his power as a level 13 mage to bring the host Bakura back to life.

Second Series Anime

In the anime Yami Bakura is referred to as just "Bakura". Almost everyone in the cast knows that the spirit is not the same person as the host due to the incident in Duelist Kingdom where Yugi and the regular Bakura both found out they were possessed by sprits. Yami Bakura had trapped Yugi and his friends in a Shadow Game where each of them were trapped as their favorite card on the playing field. Yami Yugi battled Yami Bakura for their souls. This is the anime collary of the Monster World arc in the manga.

Dark Bakura later takes the Millennium Eye from Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the original Japanese) after defeating him in a Shadow Game (Pegasus was weak after just having fought Yugi in one). This expanded Bakura's collection to two Items.

He later teams up with Marik Ishtar in a verbal deal consisting of Marik's relinquishment of the Millennium Rod if the Dark Bakura obtained the God Card Slifer the Sky Dragon (Osiris in the Japanese version). The Dark Bakura stabbed his host body in the arm and presumably helped in the encapture of Jonouchi and Anzu when he left his injured host to fend for himself. He later challenged Yugi and narrowly lost, his host's weakened body becoming a liability. The Ring was lost in the duel, but was returned by a controlled Anzu. Marik in Anzu's body insists on the Dark Bakura's assistance. A personality fragment of Marik had gained control of his body. The Dark Bakura challanged what was now Marik, and ultimatly lost. The Ring then fell into the hands of the transformed Marik, and eventually ends up in the hands of Yugi after he defeats Marik.

Neither Bakura makes another notable appearance (save for the host Bakura pigging out on food in the kitchen of the Kaiba Corp blimp and in a conversation between Dartz and Yami about their resurection into the Millennium Items) until the beginning of the last arc of the manga/episode 199 of the anime. In the anime, the host Bakura is chased into a church in the dead of night by a voice. He is trapped and the voice reaches a crecendo, shattering the stained glass of the windows as the host Bakura is re-possessed after a brief reprieve. The manga offers no such introduction.

There are many theories about who Dark Bakura's true identity is. Some argue that he is the spirit of tomb robber from Ancient Egypt 3000 (5000 in the English anime) years ago named Thief King Bakura. Others argue that he is none other than a part of the soul of the Great Demon Zorc(Zork) Necrophadis, an evil demon that threatened to destroy the world 3000 (5000 years ago in the English anime) years ago but was sealed up in the Millennium Puzzle by Pharaoh Atem. Still others argue that he is a composite of the two, a fusion of the souls of Bakura and Zorc. The anime never states how any soul ever entered the Millennium Ring(though the manga has a brief explaination saying that Zorc sealed a piece of his soul in the Ring), so it's mostly open to discussion. Though the most likely answer to Dark Bakura's true identity is latter of the aformentioned theories, given how both the anime and the manga give conflicting evidence about his identity and never clearly states with 100% assurance whether the soul in the Ring is Thief King Bakura or Zorc Necrophadis, though more often than not, the evidence points to Zorc.

Notable Dueling Cards

Some of the cards used by Bakura are:

• Dark Necrofear
• Dark Ruler Ha Des
• Oujia board/Destiny board(D,E,A,T,H/F,I,N,A,L)
• Change of Heart
• Earl of Demise
• Sangan
• Dark Sanctuary
• Headless Knight
• Earthbound Spirit
• Morphing Jar
• White Magical Hat
• Electric Lizard
• Diabound
• Helpoemer
• The Shallow Grave
• Premature Burial
• Jowgen The Spiritualist
• Dark Spirit Of The Silent

Reference

• Kazuki Takahashi (2002). Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters Guide Book - The Gospel of Truth (遊戯王キャラクターズガイドブック―真理の福音―). Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873363-0