Seto Kaiba
Seto Kaiba is a fictional character in the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! by Kazuki Takahashi. As the majority shareholder and CEO of his own multi-national gaming company, Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba is reputed to be Japan's greatest gamer and aims to become the world's greatest player of the American card game, Duel Monsters. In all mediums, his arch-rival is the protagonist of the series, Yugi Mutou, who is also a game player while Zigfried Von Schroeder is also his arch-rival. He is the modern day counterpart of Atem's cousin son of Aknadin nephew of Aknamkanon and one of the Pharaoh Atem's Six High Priests, "Priest Seto", who appears in the manga's final arc. Kaiba has also appeared in related anime and feature films. His signature monster is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Seto Kaiba originates from one of the stories Takahashi heard from a friend involving a selfish card collector. Like the card collector, Kaiba is obsessed with gaming, but Takahashi also gave Kaiba a calmer demeanor when developing his relationship with his rival. He was first voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in Japanese, with Kenjirō Tsuda replacing him in the sequel Duel Monsters. Eric Stuart voiced him in all of his English appearances.
Critical reception to Kaiba has been mixed; he has been compared to simplistic anime rivals based on his multiple attempts to defeat Yugi and become the superior Duel Monsters player, further evidenced by his massive flip out upon Yugi losing to Rafael in the anime. While his development in the film Dark Side of Dimensions was praised for being a major focus in the narrative, critics still felt Kaiba's obsession with Duel Monsters and focus on his original goal made him come across as a one-dimensional character. Nevertheless, the character has become popular amongst fans of the series, who felt that his motives made him more enjoyable despite lacking substance.
Creation and development
Seto Kaiba originates from stories Kazuki Takahashi's friend told him. According to one of these stories, there was a person who played trading cards and asked another person to play with them; however, this person was unwilling to play with him because he was not an expert. Displeased upon hearing about this person, Takahashi decided to use them as inspiration for a manga character, resulting in Kaiba's creation.In the making of the series, Takahashi wanted to create an appealing creature for his Duel Monster fight with Yugi Mutou. This creature was named the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", as he wanted it "to evoke a feeling that would allow readers to conjure up its colors". This later led to the creation of Kisara for the series' final arc and the reveal of her origins being connected with Kaiba.
According to Takahashi, while Yugi and Kaiba are rivals, they are not close friends. He believes, however, the most important part of their relationship is before Yugi's duel against Marik's alter-ego. Before the game begins, Kaiba passes Yugi a card that could help him in the game. This scene felt like one of the most difficult scenes to write because of the pair's rivalry.
According to Takahashi, the feelings of "Priest Seto" for Kisara are the basis behind Kaiba's modern-day obsession with the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Takahashi views Kaiba as Yugi's archnemesis and thus considers Yugi a highly important character because, without him, Kaiba would not have a reason to exist.
In the second Japanese anime adaptation of the Yu-Gi-Oh series, Kaiba is voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda. Tsuda expressed a dislike towards his character, as he would not befriend him; according to him "I definitely don't want to become friends with him. I don't think anyone really does". He also added that if he ever met Kaiba, he would say "Glad to see you're doing well" and "I'm always in your care." Nevertheless, he regarded Kaiba as both a "strong" and "unique" character on his own.
English voice actor Eric Stuart felt he was connected to Kaiba. He noted that most fans tend to view him as a villain, but he instead views him as a rival, stating that Kaiba's role is to strengthen Yugi's skills. However, he noted that for the film Dark Side of Dimensions, Kaiba has changed since his introduction due to his obsession with wealth and power, and so he wanted to give him an edge in his personality. Nevertheless, he views Kaiba's characterization as consistent.
Appearances
In the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga
In his introduction, Kaiba discovers that the grandfather of his classmate, Yugi Mutou, owns the rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, and takes it from him. Dark Yugi emerges from within Yugi's Millennium Puzzle to challenge Kaiba to a Shadow Game to reclaim it. Kaiba is ultimately defeated, suffering Dark Yugi's Penalty Game: Experience of Death. Afterward, he plots to take revenge against Yugi and acquires the other three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards through extortion and blackmail and builds "Death T," a "theme park" made up of deadly games designed to kill Yugi and his friends. He defeats Sugoroku and tears up his Blue-Eyes White Dragon; he also subjects him to an artificial Penalty Game, forcing Yugi to participate in Death-T or else he will kill him. Yugi once again defeats him and uses the power of his Millennium Puzzle to subject Kaiba to a Penalty Game, leaving him in a coma.Later on, Duel Monsters creator and Millennium Eye wielder Maximillion Pegasus schemes to take control of Kaiba Corporation from Seto by conspiring with its board of directors, the Big Five, and abducting his brother Mokuba. After Kaiba awakens from his coma, he learns of Pegasus' plans and his kidnapping of Mokuba and travels to Duelist Kingdom, where he regains his deck and briefly battles Jonouchi. Kaiba and Yugi later play the game atop the castle parapets, and Kaiba is nearly defeated until he endangers his life by balancing on the edge of the turret. Dark Yugi nearly kills Kaiba, but Yugi forces him to forfeit the game so Kaiba is not killed. Kaiba goes on to duel Pegasus, but is overcome by the power of his Millennium Eye and is defeated. Pegasus gives Kaiba the Mind Card Penalty Game, sealing his soul into a card; when Dark Yugi defeats Pegasus in a Shadow Game during the final round of the tournament, both Kaiba and his brother are freed from their Penalty Games.
In the Battle City arc, Kaiba is summoned to the Domino City museum by Egyptologist Ishizu Ishtar, where he is shown an ancient stone tablet that depicts a battle between what appears to be his past self and the Pharaoh. He is interested in her tale of the God Cards – three powerful one-of-a-kind cards that Pegasus had entrusted to her. However, two of them were stolen by her brother Marik and his Ghouls organization, and she gives the third – God of Obelisk – to Kaiba, encouraging him to hold a tournament to lure in Marik and his organization. Seeking to obtain the remaining two God Cards for himself and eliminate Marik and his organization, Kaiba agrees and begins his "Battle City" competition. During the tournament, Kaiba teams up with Dark Yugi to rescue Mokuba and Yugi's friends from Marik's clutches. Afterward, Yugi, Kaiba and Jonouchi enter the finals, unaware that Marik has made a deal with Dark Bakura, and he, along with Marik and Marik's stepbrother Rishid, are registered as well. Kaiba trumps Ishizu's prophecy of defeat and claims victory. Kaiba faces Yugi in the semifinals, and the two unleash their God Cards against the other. Yugi manages to defeat Kaiba and go on to the final battle against Dark Marik. Kaiba gives Yugi the card Fiend Sanctuary prior to the duel, and with it, Yugi is able to hold off the attacks of Dark Marik's Sun Dragon Ra and defeat him in his Shadow Game.
In the anime
Shortly after his return from the Duelist Kingdom, the Big Five attempt to appease an outraged Kaiba by revealing they have finalized his virtual reality game software, and invite him to test it out for himself. However, this is actually an attempt to eliminate Kaiba, but Yugi and his friends manage to rescue him. The Big Five log into the virtual world in an attempt to stop them from escaping, but they are defeated in a duel and their minds become trapped in the virtual reality program. Some time later, in the midst of the Battle City tournament, the Big Five's digital consciousnesses are discovered stranded in cyberspace by a mysterious boy named Noah, who recruits them for a revenge campaign against Kaiba. Noah admits to being Gozaburo Kaiba's biological son, and claims his mind exists as a computer program after he was fatally wounded as a child and later digitized. After Noah is defeated, Gozaburo reveals himself to be alive inside the Virtual World and sets a series of orbital missiles to launch and destroy the world. While Kaiba stops Gozaburo, a reformed Noah reprograms one of the satellites to attack the main computer database and helps Yugi and his friends escape.In Season 4 of the anime, Kaiba, along with Jonouchi and Yugi, is one of three duelists chosen to fight the brainwashed Atlantean King Dartz. During the season, Kaiba meets Alister, a man whose brother and parents were kidnapped by KaibaCorp-owned military forces under Gozaburo's command, though Gozaburo is actually Dartz in disguise. During the arc, Kaiba flips out upon learning Yugi lost to a duelist other than himself. Kaiba and Dark Yugi eventually duel Dartz, and although Kaiba loses, Dark Yugi defeats Dartz and Kaiba is restored, taking part in the battle against the Great Leviathan.
In the first half of season 5, KaibaCorp's stock prices are at an all-time low as a result of a failed takeover by Dartz, and when Kaiba hosts a tournament to restore the company's reputation, Zigfried von Schroeder infiltrates it and hacks Kaiba's computer systems. Upon catching Zigfried, Kaiba dispatches him in a duel. However, Zigfried has his brother Leon duel Yugi in the finals. During the duel, Zigfried tricks Leon into activating Golden Castle of Stromberg, releasing a computer virus into Kaiba's system and forcing Leon to attack, thus forcing his hand. However, Yugi prevails while Kaiba, who anticipated such a plan, had his computer systems backed up.
Kaiba's only appearance in the original manga version of the Millennium World arc is in the last chapter. Although he does not take part in the Shadow RPG during the Millennium World arc of the manga, in the anime, Yami Bakura gives him the Millennium Eye, which begins to show him visions and convinces him to fly to Egypt to determine if they are real or not. During the final battle, he is able to hold his ground against Zorc. In the original Japanese anime, Kaiba eventually acknowledges his past and the events that occurred within the Memory World Shadow RPG.