Card Trivia:Number 96: Dark Mist

• In Japanese, the number 9 can be read as "ku" and 6 as "ro"; together, it reads kuro (only if you say 9-6, but 96 is really read as kyujuuroku), the Japanese word for black, which makes sense for the monster called "Black Mist".
  • Another reason for its "Number" is the concept of reversal, because 96 will still look the same even after it's upside-down. So, its effect is based on that concept since it will still have the upper-hand when it battles, unless it has no Xyz Materials, of course.
  • The reversal concept could also allude to the form Number 96 takes when it possesses Astral. In addition to a reverse personality, it had an inverted color scheme.
  • This same concept could relate to it's personality. Dark Mist is shown to be evil to a point of no change as 96 cannot be changed.

• This card has a kind of "joke" on its design: its eyes and mouth are on its chest, and on its face, where the eyes should be, there is his Number (96), in a way they look like its eyes.
  • The fake form of Number 96 appears to have its Number as the eyes.

• This is the first Fiend-Type "Numbers" monster along being the first Rank 2 "Numbers" monster.

• This card's effect is similar to "Elemental HERO Gaia" and "Riryoku".

• This is the first "Numbers" monster to require a specific kind of Xyz Materials, though only in the anime (this element was not elaborated upon in the English dub).

• The number 96 is shown to be on this card's head while its face is on its torso.

• This card's sealed form is a blob of black slime with a flickering flame-like object inside. The slime then forms its right claw, left leg and head before finally appearing in its true unsealed form.
  • When the sealed form turns into its fake unsealed form, its right hand and head are shown being formed before the full fake form appears.

• In the anime, when this card detaches an Xyz Material, it absorbs it through the face on its torso.

• This is the second "Numbers" monsters whose both sealed and unsealed forms were not rendered in 3D graphics, the first being "Number 83: Galaxy Queen". Although in Episode 37 its unsealed form is shown in 3D.

• The Battle Damage this card inflicts is the same as "The Wicked Avatar" namely 100 (on most circumstances), incidentally this card is also a Fiend-Type DARK Monster Card. Added by the fact that both of them have indefinite form and they both influenced their user.

• This monster bears a strong resemblance to the Anti-Spiral's mecha, Granzeboma, from Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann.
  • Its false form looks a lot like the Anti-Spiral itself.

• As "Dark Mist" can be seen as the dark counterpart to Astral, this card can be seen as the dark counterpart to "Number 39: Utopia".
  • Another opposite for these two cards can be seen with where the number 9 is on their number. Utopia has the number 9 in the ones column while Dark Mist has the number 9 in the tens column.

• This card's appearance could've been based off of "Elemental HERO Escuridao".

• "Dark Mist" continues the parallel between the original Yu-Gi-Oh!'s main 2 heroes and the final villain of the series. "Dark Mist" acts in a similar fashion to Yami Bakura, becoming a nuisance who shows up every once in a while, but finally became the ultimate threat once the other villans were defeated.
  • "Dark Mist" also shares Bakura's ultimate goal to re-unite all the missing items, in this case the Numbers cards, into his possession.
  • The card itself has a similar effect to Bakura's ace monster, "Diabound Kernel" in the Dawn of the Duel/Millennium World arc. It gains attack equal to an opponents monster's attack.

• This card is the only "Number" other than "Number 39: Utopia" to appear within Emperor's Key.