When I was in 9th grade, my Earth Science teacher played us a documentary about a man who spent most of his life investigating and exposing fake psychics. The purpose in doing so was to help us understand critical thought and scientific questioning. Most of the principles taught in this documentary have stuck with me to this day, although, I did not remember the name of the man until 2020 when I wrote the first version of my review for Yu-Gi-Oh! chapter 5.

His name is James Randi. Originally, he set out to become a magician and was determined to break all of the records set by the legendary Houdini. Although these people call themselves “magicians,” we in our day understand they aren’t performing actual magic, but creating an illusion. Thus, today what people used to call magicians are now called illusionists, although the term “magician” can be used interchangeably without confusion. Around the time that James Randi was rising as a magician, there were other performers who claimed to actually possess psychic powers. The most infamous of which was a man named Uri Geller. One of his signature tricks was to bend spoons with his mind. (Which has been spoofed many times in Pokémon, but that’s a story for another day.) James Randi had many great take-downs of so-called psychics and false prophets, the biggest of which was Peter Poppoff, but no matter how many times he tried to expose Uri Geller, the public would still believe his antics.

James Randi dedicated his life to scientific skepticism and paranormal investigations. His work inspired other groups such as the Mythbusters and Penn & Teller. I haven’t read much of the Hellboy comics, but I know the titular character is also part of a paranormal investigation organization. I also know that Hellboy is the favorite American comic of Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! And that, I believe, explains why Yugi Muto begins to investigate self-proclaimed psychics in this chapter.

Come Get Your Fortune Told

At the beginning of chapter 5, Yugi and Jonouchi are walking to school together when Jonouchi tells Yugi he wants to improve his luck. The reason why is because he got into a fight with four other guys and still managed to take a hit, but Yugi thinks getting hit once while fighting four other guys is lucky. Out of nowhere, a part from a power line hits the ground right in front of Jonouchi. (What is this, Road Runner?) Yugi is starting to see Jonouchi’s point.

When they arrive at school, Anzu tells them about a psychic named Kokurano, who attends their school. Jonouchi realizes this is just the kind of guy he needs to help him fix his luck. When they arrive at the classroom where Kokurano has stationed himself, they see a flock of girls waiting in line to meet him. Jonouchi is embarrassed by the higher proportion of women in the room, so he decides to shift the blame.

“Geez, I can’t believe you dragged me here, Anzu!” says Jonouchi.

“What?! Who dragged who here?”

Kokurano calls for the next person in line.

“Go get your fortune told, Anzu,” says Jonouchi.

Out of nowhere, and earthquake erupts. Fortunatley, it was a short one.

“You there,” Kokurano says to Jonouchi, “You just said ‘get your fortune told,’ didn’t you?! I’ll have you know, I’m not a fortune teller! Things like palmistry, fortunetelling, chi reading, feng shui, and astrology attempt to predict the future, but those are just based on statistics. I have the power of premonition, the ability to see the future! You don’t believe me? Then let me show you proof.”

Kokurano pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Jonouchi. It reads “EARTHQUAKE TODAY”.

“My powers gave me a vision of the future this morning,” explains Kokurano, “I wrote it down here.”

The room cheers for Kokurano’s amazing abilities. Anzu becomes infatuated and decides to get her fortune told after all. She steps up to the booth, but Kokurano begins to rub her hand, which makes Yugi pissed.

Kokurano begins his prediction: “I see a wonderful man appear before your eyes! He’s someone close to you already! You will fall so deeply in love that you will swoon before him.”

Anzu thinks Kokurano is referring to “the man who saved her with a game.” (Which happened in the last chapter.)

Yugi steps up to the booth and says, “I hate to be rude, I’m sure psychic powers really exist, but I get the feeling most psychics are fake. I saw a trick like that on TV. If you wrote, ‘Earthquake Today’ and other predicitons on note cards and hid them in your clothes, that wouldn’t be a real prediction.”

Kokurano begins to sweat. All of a sudden, he appears to come under a trance and says, “I see your future! Countless letters will fall from the heavens and bring disaster upon you!”

Don’t Pass Out!

Yugi and his friends return to their classroom, where Jonouchi and Anzu try to console him after what Kokurano said. When class is over, Yugi notices a library book that one of his fellow classmates left in their desk. He notices it’s due today, so he decides to be a Good Samaritan by returning the book.

Yugi arrives at the library and searches for the book’s location. Suddenly, he starts to hear loud banging noises getting louder and louder. He looks behind him just in time to see the bookshelf falling over! Yugi’s near-fatal accident causes him to transform into his alter-ego. (I guess the Millennium Puzzle protected him from that too.)

“One more moment to figure out ‘countless letters’ and I’d be dead,” says Yami-Yugi, “But now I know Kokurano is a menace who makes his predictions come true! But if that’s the case…Anzu is in danger!”

Kokurano arrives at the classroom where Anzu is waiting for Yugi. He enters and says, “Mazaki, are you waiting for someone?”

“Well, yes!” she responds.

“Shall I make a prediction? The person you’re waiting for will not come.”

Suddenly, Kokurano covers Anzu’s mouth with chloroform and causes her to faint.

“As long as I have my powers, any woman is mine!” cries Kokurano, “I’ll be popular forever!”

“You think so?” says a voice. Yami-Yugi appears from around the corner.

“Let’s play a game,” says Yugi.

Anzu hears the words ‘Let’s play a game!’ and instantly recognizes the voice of the ‘man who saved her with a game.’ She looks to see who he is, but she passes out before she can see his face.

Yugi picks up the bottle of chloroform and sets up the game.

“The rules are simple,” he explains, “We spread some papers on the desk and place the bottle on top of them. The players take turns pulling out one sheet of paper at a time! You can’t touch the bottle of course! The one who drops the bottle loses the game! Although the loser won’t be conscious to know that!”

The game starts with Rock-Paper-Scissors (or rather Ro-Sham-Bo). Yugi goes first. He whips a paper out from under the bottle. Safe. Kokurano pulls a paper. Safe. Yugi pulls another paper. The bottle lands dangerously close to the edge.

“Now what?” asks Yugi, “You can’t yank any more out. There is only one way to remove a page! If you’re really psychic, you can levitate the bottle!”

“Alright,” says Kokurano, “I’ll show you my power!”

Kokurano uses all his might to levitate the bottle. It seems that Kokurano is starting to believe his own lie, because he points to a spot in the air where he thinks the bottle is floating, but it is still on the table.

“That is only your imagination,” says Yugi, “Why don’t you try pulling that paper out? That’ll prove everything!”

Kokurano pulls the paper and causes the bottle to fall to the floor. The chloroform causes him to pass out. He lands on the floor with his cloak spread open, revealing a collection of previously written fortunes on note cards.

“Well, well,” says Yugi, “Look at all the predictions in your cloak. You probably won’t wake up until tomorrow. By that time, everyone in school will know the truth about your psychic powers. I doubt you’ll remain popular after that.”

Thoughts

When I first wrote a review for this chapter back in 2020, I was originally planning on writing an article about James Randi and connecting it to this article. After thoroughly researching him, I realized there are connections that can be made throughout the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! series. For example, one of Peter Popoff’s antics was to claim he was receiving “revelation” and could know people’s names without meeting them. What really happened was Peter had an earpiece that his wife used to communicate with him over the radio, and she was reading the information from cards the attendees had previously filled out. I quickly realized this is similar to Esper Roba’s antics in the Battle City arc.

Thus, I will not be writing an article about the connections between Yu-Gi-Oh! and James Randi’s work in the near future. Instead, I will be chronicling each instance of Yugi exposing someone who claims to have super natural powers as we go through the series. Maybe I will write one big article about all of them when I finish reviewing the series. (Whenever that will be.)

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Old Version: Don’t Drop the Chloroform: Yu-Gi-Oh! Chapter 5 Review