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General Overview

It's easy to become used to Bakura's outward personality and take it as how he really is. He seems sweet, innocent, friendly, an all-around nice guy (and cute, too! *glomp*) But once you understand what he's got going on behind the scenes, you soon realize that he can't possibly be all that he seems.

Sweet and friendly? Of course he is. That's a given. Innocent? I've got my doubts. Now Yugi, he's the innocent one. Bakura is virtually alone before Yugi and co. decide to brave the dangers presented by the Millennium Ring. His father apparently does a lot of travelling, but it's uncertain what exactly it is that he does. Not much is known about his mother, but she is widely assumed deceased. I understand Bakura had a younger sister named Amane. She died in a car accident, and it was this death (and possibly the death of his mother) that his love of the occult sprung from. This is why it seems that Bakura lives by himself in his own apartment (cool! :D ) But on top of that, Bakura fears the spirit within the Millennium Ring will hurt anyone who tries to get close to him, or he tries to get close to. This has happened before. Bakura would be playing with his friends, and he would suddenly black out. When he would wake up, everyone around him would be unconscious, or something of the like. In order to protect those around him, he distances himself from everyone. The apartment idea sounds cool at first, but then you realize he's got no family or friends around him. Very lonely... (*whimper* Ryou needs a hug!)

Knowing this, we realize that on the inside, Ryou is an extremely selfless person, and would sacrifice companionship, and even his own life, to protect people from the evil that dwells within him. This can be proven further during the games against Yami Bakura, both in the first and second seasons. It all winds up with Bakura in a position to allow himself to be destroyed to save everyone and defeat Yami B, and this opportunity he takes without question. Each time, though, someone manages to reward his bravery by sparing him: in the first season, the priest; and in the second, Yami Yugi. Now we realize that Bakura is not only selfless, but must be quite serious and responsible underneath his light-hearted exterior. Not to say that everything outside is an act. I believe Bakura tries his hardest not to be a downer, being all dark and depressed around people. If he's going to spare people from evil, why not spare them from whining, too?

Another twist in Bakura's personality is the deck he's compiled to play Duel Monsters with. Primarily Fiend-type and Dark-alignments, united by an occult and demonic flavour. This sounds more like something Yami B would concoct, but this, too, is Bakura's choice in cards. The answer to why that is may not be so complex. Bakura has been exposed to death several times, and seemingly otherworldly things happening that are beyond his control. The idea of communicating with spirits of the dead seems to fascinate him, as best portrayed by his writing letters to his younger sister, and in the Destiny Board card kept in his deck. When this Trap Card is played, it acts as the "F" in a five letter message to the opponent. Each turn, another letter is added to the Magic/Trap Card zone, eventually spelling out "FINAL", and ending the duel in the Destiny Board user's favour. This is a similar class as the Exodia cards. The Destiny Board comes from the concept of a Ouija Board (the original Japanese name of the card; and the message was "DEATH" rather than "FINAL".) Ouija (pronounced wee-jee) comes from a combination of the French and German words for "yes", oui (wee) and ja (yah), respectively. Containing the English alphabet, "yes", "no", "goodbye", and other such things, the board is used during a reading along with a piece that has a circular hole cut in the centre. The piece is held by the participants of the reading, the piece is supposed to move around the board seemingly of its own accord, spelling out a message from spirits present during the reading.

The Season Not Destined For Our Airwaves

The actual first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! aired in Japan in 1996, when Pokemon was still sweeping the nation. The series lasted only for six months, and was cancelled. We can only thank everything holy that Takahashi-san didn't let it die. Bakura received a lot more character development in the first season than in our first season, or the second Japanese season that began the series anew and launched it into success. Bakura is a trasfer student to Domino High. The reason he has been transferring between several high schools, unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, is because he is unwittingly leaving a trail of chaos in his wake. He was given the Millennium Ring by his father, who was on one his trips to Egypt. The spirit of an ancient Egyptian tomb robber trapped within it was snaring the souls of any who got close to Ryou in game pieces of Ryou's favourite game, a tabletop RPG called Monster World. In order to keep the spirit from trapping more innocent people, Ryou distances himself from everyone and avoids making friends (*sniff* Poor, brave little Ryou...)

Ryou, being the handsome and charming boy he is, attracts the attention of many a fangirl at school, but he doesn't really pay them much mind (actually, in the Manga, the three girls following him around are Duke's fangirls from the show! *GASP!*) Some guys would take this opportunity to show off and become somewhat of a boy-slut. Ryou was even accused of this by a cruel gym teacher (*shudder* gym teachers...) What? Our Ryou?! "Flaunting himself" to the girls?!?! Pphft. Fat chance. This gym teacher also so kindly lets Yugi, Jou (Joey) and Honda (Tristan) know why Ryou's been transferring between so many high schools. The gang refuses to believe such a wild allegation, but Ryou lets on that there may just be some truth to the latter accusation.

If you are at all familiar with Yami Bakura, you'll know that he desires the Millennium Items. Whenever Ryou is in close proximity to Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, the Millennium Ring starts causing Ryou pain. One night, after Yami B's gone on an angry rampage in which he sends the gym teacher "straight to hell" (yeah! Kill that evil gym teacher!) Yugi and co. decide to pay Ryou a visit to play Monster World, and in doing so, become his friends and thwart his lonliness. Before Ryou can warn them away, Yami B takes over and lures them into a game where they are all trapped as game pieces, Ryou as that cute little priest, and Yami B on the opposing side as evil Lord Zork (gah, what a dumb name...) At the game's conclusion, Ryou wound up sacrificing himself in order to win the game and rescue the others. He succeeds, but the priest game piece casts a spell that takes its own life and revives Ryou. After this incident, Ryou becomes friends with the rest of the gang.

Plunk'd?

Bakura had to be reintroduced when the series got a fresh start and the second season started in Japan. While they were able to take what they knew about Bakura from the first season, we were not quite so lucky. In our first season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bakura was basically plunked down into the series with no kind of character development whatsoever. We learn a bit about him as the plot progresses, but not that much. We catch a brief glimpse of his father during a flashback, but virtually anything else about his family is unknown. We do, however, get to see the selfless aspect in his personality through the rematch played in Duel Monsters, rather than Monster World.

One night, when the gang made a tentative pact with Mai and were eating around a campfire, Mai went off to vent and a rustle in the bushes got everyone's hackles up. As it turned out, it was just Bakura, their friend from back at school. But allow me to back up a moment. Bakura was introduced long before this, back in the first episode. Okay, all you saw was the back of his head, but for the first two episodes, when Yugi, Joey and Tea are dueling at school, Bakura is one of the kids watching them. In the third episode, when they're on the boat to Duelist Kingdom, Tea spots Bakura coming out of the boat's interior and leaning against the ship's railing, looking out over the sea. A moment, later, he's gone. This seems strange, because Bakura doesn't duel often. It does make sense though, since Bakura is a good duelist. There is very little evidence of this, as Yami B does all the dueling, and Bakura has never technically dueled in our viewing presence. But I understand, I don't know from where, that Bakura is really good; like, Yugi-good. So either he did receive an invitation to Duelist Kingdom, be it for dueling skill or Pegasus's desire for the Millennium Ring (he did want ALL of them, remember?), or Yami B's desire for the Millennium Puzzle gave him the idea to sneak onto the boat and follow Yugi to a secluded island where mugging him might not be quite so unlawful. Bakura is seen once more in the fourth episode. The gang is walking up the stairs to Pegasus's castle, and Tea spots Bakura again, standing next to a tree in the forest below. When Tea tells everyone Bakura was there, he disappears again, and everyone decides to leave it alone. Bakura comes back though, and appears to be watching them.

Then for a while, Bakura doesn't show up. The second half of episode 12, after Joey defeated Rex Raptor in a duel, Bakura appears from the forest. This is the scene I first came in on during this explanation. Actually, a little earlier, when the gang is wandering into the forest, a pair of glowing red eyes can be seen in some foliage. Can we say, creepy stalker? But that was Yami B, not Bakura. Bakura has better things to do than sit behind some bush and eat squirrels. XD Anyhoo, everyone got into a discusion about their favourite duel monsters cards, and Bakura's was the Change of Heart card. The card's image is of an angel with a dark side and demon wing, and a lighter side with an angel wing. The card's power is to control any opposing monster. This is a clear representation of Bakura's current predicament. Yugi was meant to duel Bakura using a deck composed of his, Joey's, Tristan's and Tea's favourite cards. Yami B took over before they could begin and set the duel in the Shadow Realm, using the power of the Millennium Ring to remove their souls and trap them in their favourite cards. Thinking he had acquired the Puzzle at last, Yami B approached Yami, only to recoil at a sudden flash of light when Yami appeared. The two dueled with everyone's soul at stake. This was an interesting duel, and never really properly answered the question of who was the better duelist, Yami or Yami B. Yami was spending most of his resources trying to rescue his friends, and was probably not fighting at his best. Yami B was playing for real all along, and would have won, except that the Change of Heart card he played that would have won him the duel had Bakura's soul trapped in it, so Bakura could control the effect of Change of Heart. He possessed the Lady of Faith and insisted that Yugi (the Dark Magician) destroy him, winning the duel and vanquishing Yami B, but sacrificing Bakura in the process. Yugi couldn't bring himself to do it, and Yami B ordered Bakura to shut up and not interfere. Yami, enraged at the whole sordid affair, used the Millennium Puzzle to switch Bakura's and Yami B's souls, putting Bakura back where he belonged and Yami B into the Lady of Faith's lovely dress (heh heh...). Yugi-Dark Magician destroyed her and sent Yami B to the Graveyard for a time out to think about what he'd done (double heh heh...). Everyone was returned intact to the real world, and Bakura explained briefly about how he came to acquire the Millennium Ring. After this, Bakura became the newest party member, and sadly, little more than a cheerleader. Though officially their friends, Bakura still seems to distance himself from the gang, and from time to time will come through with some helpful dueling advice or explanations, and comic relief (skeletons, balloons, etc.) Just like in the first season, Bakura's selflessness is almost immediately introduced.

On the night when Tristan, Tea and Bakura went scouring Pegasus's castle for proof that Pegasus was cheating in his duels, Pegasus caught them and sent them all to an alternate dimension. I believe this was the Shadow Realm given a recognizable, physical form. I also believe that the Graveyard in Yami's duel against Yami B was another physical incarnation of the Shadow Realm. So, when Bakura came to the Shadow Realm, Yami B was there too, and probably sensed the presence of the Ring. When Pegasus presented a threat and was about to remove their souls using the Millennium Eye, one of two things happened. Either Bakura knew that the only way they were going to get out of this was with the spirit's help (he was the only one who knew how to use the Ring's shadow capabilities. Bakura can harness the physical power of detecting other Millennium Items, but Yami B has long ago mastered the metaphysical, shadow aspects of the Ring) and summoned Yami B to him; or, Yami B sensed the Ring had returned and stepped in before Pegasus could make a move in order to protect his Ring and vessel.

Later on, after Pegasus had been weakened by his shadow duel with Yugi, Yami B took that opportunity to overpower Pegasus with the Ring and take the Eye for himself. Bakura disappears after this, and doesn't return until the prelude for the Battle City arc, when Yami B investigates a new Millennium power and imbues a piece of the Millennium Puzzle with a portion of his spirit. This is also the time Bakura pulls a Tarzan and knocks Bandit Keith to the ground in an impressive show of bravery. ^_^ Loved it! But I digress... Yami B pretty much overides Bakura for the most part in this arc; makes a pact with Marik, promised several Millennium Items for winning a pair of cards; has a rematch with Yami with no frills this time, and loses only to the power of Slifer the Sky Dragon; tries to help Marik by defeating Yami Marik in a shadow duel, but fails. In doing so, Yami B's body - that's a rental, you jerk! - is eaten away by darkness. However, Yami B's final exclamation is that he is the darkness, and he can never die. A moment later we find that he has now been let loose in the Millennium Puzzle to search its inner workings, due to that portion of his spirit he infused with the one Puzzle piece.

But does that mean that Bakura *ulp* is... gone?!?!?! Fear not! There's still hope! I understand he comes back! YAY! Think about it, though. This is a fairly important character, here. He can't die. There's no real way I can explain how he possibly came back, but I think he did...

*Whoo* Well, that's pretty much all I can think of at the moment to say about Bakura, other than raving ceaselessly about how cute he is, but that probably gets tired pretty fast. ^_^ However, the story is still only half over. I don't like him half as much as Bakura, but I still think he's funny sometimes (he's funny, you know he is) and he's got an interesting story. Yami B's bio can be found on my other site, Yandaxia Mirror. Or you can forget it and go back home, I'm not picky. ;)