Seto Kaiba, world’s biggest drama queen, currently standing in the elaborate holographic colosseum he programmed to make a card game more dramatic: Spare me the drama!
exhibit 3437 of my argument that kaiba respects yuugi a whole lot, not just the pharaoh, and cares about what he has to say, even though his reaction to someone making even a single snarky comment about it is to immediately remind everyone within earshot that god is dead
me cobbling together evidence trying to figure out exactly when yugioh Actually Developed A Plot like
Five volumes would mean a bunch of episodic stories and a ton of Millennium Items introduced in a short time. Or we’d never get to see the others cause Yugi was the main character. XD
So, I’ve been thinking about Malik’s past for character analysis reasons lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Malik is actually, like….super, super fucking unhealthy.
I’m no medical expert, but I fucking love health and anatomy. After a lot research, and even picking the brains of some of my own doctors, I’ve determined it is likely Malik has sleep disorders, various vitamin deficiencies, and frankly, is very lucky to not have died as a child.
Everyone needs sunlight. Vitamin D is produced by the body in response to your skin being exposed to sunlight, and it is very important for your body.
Having been in the tombs until his teenage years, Malik would obviously not have gotten much sunlight. Even with the skylights/shafts we see in the manga and anime, it’s not enough sunlight to survive on. The average American does not get enough sunlight/vitamin D even accounting for our obsession with Pokemon Go, so it’s unlikely that Malik would have enough when he is literally trapped in an underground cult.
So let’s talk about underground cults! As it just so happens, back in 2012, an underground cult was found by Russian Police in the Republic of Tatarstan. For those of you wondering if I just made that place up because, yes, I realize it sounds like a fictional area named after tarter sauce… It exists [Source], I promise.
Even better, Slate and Earthwire writer Brian Palmer practically did all the research for me about children who live without seeing the sun for most of their lives. So rather than reword his research and risk plagiarism, here’s some quotes:
“Children are more vulnerable than adults to vitamin D deficiency, making death from darkness somewhat more plausible. The most obvious risk is rickets, a disease that results in malformed bones and teeth. In its extreme forms, the grisly disease can lead to other health issues like breathing irregularities and cardiovascular problems.”
“Sunlight helps trigger the body’s daily cycle of serotonin, for example. If that production cycle becomes irregular, you can suffer problems with sleep and mood.”
“Some pediatric researchers believe that rickets might be a factor in some cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.”
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is controversial in that no one really knows the exact cause. Sometimes children just… die. Randomly. Suddenly. If vitamin D deficiencies and/or rickets really is the cause, Malik dodged a medical bullet.
Now, vitamin D deficiencies are caused by two other factors besides lack of sunlight:
Vegan diets
Dark skin
Malik obviously has darker skin, which is a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency right off the bat. Now, no one but our Lord and Savior Kazuki Takahashi can confirm Malik’s dietary choices, but he made it clear in The Gospel of Truth that Malik hates “meat in general” [Source], so it’s likely he’s either vegetarian, which would be okay for him, or vegan… in which case he is killing himself.
See, vitamin D is not just found in sunlight. It is also found in [some] fish, fish liver oils, egg yolks, fortified dairy and grain products. All of those, with exception of grain, are banned from a vegan diet. Combined with a lack of vitamin D from right of the womb, if he has a elected to be vegan, it’s likely he has soft, even brittle bones. So next time you write Ryou Bakura as a weakling, remember it’s possible that Malik that can’t throw a punch without his radius and ulna shattering.
Malik would also possibly have asthma as child, and given the extreme circumstances of his case, it could last well into adulthood. Vitamin D deficiencies can also be responsible for various cancers.
Honestly? There are so many points I have skimmed over due to lack of accessible evidence, but I’d like to mention that because of his sudden, prolonged exposure to sunlight coming out of the tombs for the first time, he may have damaged his sight permanently. In fact, his eyesight could deteriorate slowly but steadily for the rest of his life. He could develop cataracts early in his life as well. But that’s according to my personal optometrist, and Google wasn’t helping me find reliable articles on the subject, so…
By the way, this would apply to Isis and Rishid too. Just focusing on Malik cause he’s the one I’m profiling right now.
And that concludes my depressing contribution to this fandom.
outside my frame 