The Ties of Friendship, known as The Deadly Shadow Ghoul in the Japanese, is the forty-second episode of the second series of Yu-Gi-Oh!. It is a continuation of the previous episode, The Wrath of Rebecca. It aired in Japan in February 13, 2001, and, in the United States on October 12, 2002.
Summary
The Duel between Rebecca and Yugi continues, and Rebecca repeatedly accuses Solomon of stealing her grandfather's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", getting on everyone's nerves.
Solomon tells the story of how he met Arthur Hawkins. It was at an archaeological dig in Egypt years ago. Arthur was reading some Egyptian hieroglyphics and notice they resemble Duel Monsters, making him believe that ancient Egyptians used these monsters in battle for power and control. Unfortunately, no one believed him, but he never gave up on his research. One day, Solomon and Arthur were in a tomb when the roof caved in, trapping the two men. There was only enough water for one person, so they decide to Duel for it. In the end, Solomon surrenders, even though he could have won, because he knew Arthur would need the water more than him. He notices the Duel between Rebecca and Yugi is going in the exact same way as the Duel he had.
In the end, Yugi does surrender. Rebecca demands her "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card back. Solomon reluctantly shows the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to Rebecca, which to Rebecca's shock has been taped together. Rebecca rages out of control upon seeing this as she thinks Solomon tore it up. Solomon tries to tell Rebecca he would never do such a thing, but Rebecca again won't listen to him. At this point, Arthur arrives and tells Rebecca to behave herself. He shows Rebecca the top card of Yugi's Deck, which was "Soul Release". It would have allowed Yugi to remove up to five cards from either player's Graveyard. This would have dropped her "Shadow Ghoul's" ATK to 2300, allowing Yugi's 2500 ATK point "Dark Magician" to destroy it and win the Duel. Rebecca is shocked upon find out about this, but she then asks why did Yugi forfeit when he had the chance to win. Arthur explains that Yugi deliberately forfeited to teach Rebecca about the Heart of the Cards and that there is more to life that winning. Rebecca apologizes and to prove their friendship, Yugi gives her the "The Ties of Friendship" card he got from Pegasus the previous episode.
Featured Duel: Yugi Muto vs. Rebecca Hawkins
Duel continued from previous episode.
Turn 11: Rebecca
Rebecca had just ended her turn after inflicting damage via the effect of "Cannon Soldier".
Turn 12: Yugi
Yugi draws "Catapult Turtle" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1000/2000) in Attack Position. He then activates "Brain Control" to take control of "Millennium Shield" until the end of this turn. He then activates the effect of "Catapult Turtle" to Tribute "Millennium Shield" and inflict damage to Rebecca equal to half the ATK of "Millennium Shield". "Summoned Skull" then attacks and destroys "Cannon Soldier" (Rebecca 1300 → 200).
Turn 13: Rebecca
Rebecca's hand at this point contains from left to right: "Electric Snake", "Sangan", "Witch of the Black Forest", "Skelengel", "Sangan", and "Shadow Ghoul". Rebecca draws "Judgment Blaster" and subsequently activates it to discard five cards from her hand and destroy every monster on Yugi's side of the field. She then Normal Summons "Shadow Ghoul" (1600/1300) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Shadow Ghoul", it gains 100 ATK for every monster in Rebecca's Graveyard. There are currently eleven ("Shadow Ghoul": 1600 → 2700/1300).
Turn 14: Yugi
Yugi draws a monster and subsequently sets it.
Turn 15: Rebecca
Rebecca draws "Stop Defense" and subsequently activates it to switch Yugi's Set monster into Attack Position. It is revealed to be "Dark Magician" (2500/2100). "Shadow Ghoul" attacks and destroys "Dark Magician" (Yugi 1000 → 800).
Turn 16: Yugi
Yugi draws. He then activates "Swords of Revealing Light". Now every monster Rebecca controls can't attack for 3 turns and all her monsters must be face-up.
Turn 17: Rebecca
Rebecca draws. She then passes her turn.
Turn 18: Yugi
Yugi draws. He then activates "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) from his Graveyard in Attack Position.
Turn 19: Rebecca
Rebecca draws. She then Normal Summons another "Cannon Soldier" (1400/1300) in Defense Position.
Turn 20: Yugi
Yugi draws. "Dark Magician" then attacks and destroys "Cannon Soldier" ("Shadow Ghoul": 2700 → 2800/1300).
Turn 21: Rebecca
Rebecca passes her turn. At the end of Rebecca's turn, the effect of "Swords of Revealing Light" expires.
Turn 22: Yugi
Yugi draws "Soul Release". He then surrenders.
Epilogue
Arthur reveals that Yugi's last drawn was the Magic Card "Soul Release". If Yugi had activated this card, he would have used it to remove 5 monsters in Rebecca's Graveyard from play and decrease "Shadow Ghoul's" ATK to 2300, which would allow "Dark Magician" to attack and destroy "Shadow Ghoul" and wipe out the remainder of Rebecca's Life Points, however Yugi let her win to show her there is more to a Duel than just winning.
Differences In Adaptations
- In the dub, "Skelengel" is replaced by "Tribute to The Doomed", and "Electric Snake" is replaced by "Stop Defense" in Rebecca's hand.
- In the dub, the woman on "Soul Release" is given a dress to wear.
Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.
Changes to the English Version
- In the Japanese version is a brief moment where Yugi wonders if Bakura was the one who attacked Pegasus.
- The Japanese writing on top of the hospital is removed in the US version. It says, "Domino Hospital."
- Yami Bakura licking the Millennium Eye is cut out from the dub.
- The words "TO BE CONTINUED" are added at the end of the dub episode.
- Rebecca says she just drew the "Stop Defense" card, while she has got it in the hand last turn, when she drew "Judgment Blaster".
Mistakes
- Many errors occur during this Duel involving "Cannon Soldier". For starters, the actual "Cannon Soldier" has an ATK of 1400 and a DEF of 1300. When Rebecca summons "Cannon Soldier", it shows it being summoned with 400 ATK and 1300 DEF. Also, when Rebecca uses "Cannon Soldier's" effect, it originally deals 400 points of damage rather than 500 as it does on the actual card. However, when Rebecca uses "Shadow Ghoul" to destroy "Dark Magician", Yugi's Life Points are shown to go from 1000 to 800 meaning that "Cannon Soldier's" effect did inflict 500 points of damage (even though it originally reduced Yugi's Life Points by 400 on the previous episode). Finally, when Yugi attacks and destroys "Cannon Soldier" with "Summoned Skull", "Cannon Soldier's" ATK is raised to 1400 therefore Rebecca only loses 1100 Life Points, which prevents her from losing with that attack.
- There was also a mistake at the end of the episode, when it shows the "Ties of Friendship" and the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card. During the episode, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card was always shown as being Taped together. At the end of the Episode, though, when it shows the "Ties of Friendship" and the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cards, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is intact, as if it was never ripped apart.
