What is it with these new anniversary installments that get the original wrong in the most infuriating of ways? First Tri obliterates Zero Two except when convenient to the plot. Then we're getting this "official" Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie which I fail to recognize. Now I've come to find out that Ryou's backstory in Dark Side of Dimensions is complete bullshit because hey our villains need motivation so let's make the guy a punching bag and a scapegoat. And you can't even say this movie follows the manga because there are some pretty big differences between what we know of his backstory and what's going to be presented here. I read the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki entries on Ryou and his dad. Nothing was written about DSoD yet in Ryou's, but his dad is another story. We see a screencap of him in the anime, from which we understand that he went to Egypt and acquired the Millennium Ring and somehow knew it was destined for his son. I thought the movie would build on that. I was so wrong. In DSoD, the man looks nothing like he did the anime, and [Spoilers Ahead] he took a four-year-old Ryou with him to Egypt while he did business with Shadi. Shadi said he's not worthy of the Ring but his son is. So they gave it to Ryou, and Yami Bakura killed everyone in the room except the main antagonists of the movie. In the manga, Ryou's dad not only works at the Domino Museum but owns it, and he ain't owning shit if he's dead. Ryou's mom and sister aren't mentioned in the movie, so we can either assume they exist instead of his father or Ryou is completely alone. While there are other plot points in the movie where the antagonist duels Kaiba and Yugi on separate occasions, he and his sister (Sera, so that's going to be fun to listen to in this context since it seems like it would be pronounced like my name) are out for revenge on Ryou for those events.
I'll take back what I said about Ted Lewis' somewhat stilted performance (which I based on the post-graduation plans scene) since this information is not going to help him with his characterization at all. What bothers me about that is how vanilla Ryou is and the emphasis on the Britishness the dub has ascribed to him, which normally didn't bother me until this movie (or at least that scene). Those complaints pale in comparison to the atrocities committed by this flashback that serves no good to anyone. If anything, it reinforces how much Ryou is holding back and that his chipper attitude is just masking what has to be immense pain from all the crap he has to deal with (what he's not oblivious to, anyway). Most people who see the movie probably won't care (unless they're Ryou fans), but even they would have to notice that something doesn't add up. I still don't know if he comes out of this okay. I dread that they didn't have him say anything about his post-graduation plans because he might not make it, although when that happens it's usually telegraphed instead of left out entirely (which is in keeping with this series - Tea left him out of a friendship speech in season one for no reason other than he had a bigger role in the manga than the anime).
One last point I want to make about "it follows the manga, not the anime" that doesn't add up is Kaiba's attitude toward the end of the series. They said he wasn't present for the battle between Yugi and Atem in the manga, but I've seen a panel from the end of the manga with him and Mokuba in the desert as everyone is leaving. I haven't read the issue so I don't know the context, but he seemed to be at least around. He certainly could have challenged Yugi himself whether or not he'd been present for the duel. So am I still looking forward to this even after pointing out its logical and adaptational flaws? Yes, but I don't expect to get as much enjoyment out of it as I'd hoped. I don't like seeing terrible things happen to my favorite character over and over again, especially now that the reasons are now even more contrived and nonsensical.
Even though Tri bothers me, I will continue watching it because the worst thing that happened to Gatomon post-memory wipe so far is that Tokomon stole the whistle Kari gave her (and the fridge horror that she also forgot Wizardmon). It doesn't bother me that Edie Mirman got replaced as her voice actress since I don't intend on seeing the dub (though it's great that they could get most of the actors back, including Joshua Seth). If she was still voicing her I'd consider it, but otherwise I only want to be privy to this insanity once. I want to see the Yu-Gi-Oh! dub, if only because I won't get to see it in Japanese, though it's sad that Grandpa Muto has to be voiced by someone else since Maddie Blaustein died years ago. I've missed the rest of them and I'm glad they're back, even if Ryou was adapted as slightly more of a British stereotype than usual. I just wish he was treated better.
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