Seto Kaiba (海馬 瀬人, Kaiba Seto), in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh!, is the main rival of Yugi Mutou (Yugi Muto in the English anime) in the trading card game Duel Monsters (originally Magic and Wizards). In the English Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal Duelist's Soul video game, Kaiba's name is given in surname first order, and rendered Kaiba Seto. In all versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kaiba is called by his family name, Kaiba, by most of the characters.
Kaiba is the majority shareholder and President of his own multi-national company, KaibaCorp. Arrogant and self-centered, Kaiba aims to become the world's greatest duelist; to do so he must defeat Yugi and screw the rules; to his humiliation, defeats him numerous times.
One of Seto's recurring traits is his absolute refusal to believe in the powers of magic often used in the series; he convinces himself where necessary that it is all tricks and illusion. This is often very exaggerated in the English version of the anime; later on during sagas like Waking the Dragons, he openly admits to believing in all the supernatural events occurring around him instead of just ignorantly saying they don't exist as he does in the English anime. The closest the English Kaiba has come to this is "Maybe there is some truth to this junk" in the final episodes: however, when questioned by Joey, he quickly denies he ever said such a thing. He has a certain contempt for Yugi's group of friends: he refers to them constantly with derisive nicknames such as, in the English anime, "the dweeb patrol" or "the geek squad".
In the first series anime, Kaiba has green hair, while in the manga, Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, and the second series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Kaiba has brown hair. The first series TV series has not been translated into English and therefore not shown on TV in English-speaking nations.
In the original Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kaiba omits honorifics and has a "rude" pattern of speech. Kaiba uses the word ore to mean "I" instead of the usual boku; ore is a boastful way to say "I" in Japanese. (See Wikibooks:Japanese:Pronouns) Kaiba usually calls Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) names, such as bonkotsu (mediocre), make inu (pathetic dog, loser), and zako (small fry, weakling). This name calling was carried over to the English anime.
Certain cards that come into Kaiba's possession play a significant role in the series. Kaiba acquires 3 of the 4 Blue-Eyes White Dragons in the world (the fourth belonging to Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto in the English anime), which Kaiba later destroys). Later, in the Battle City Tournament, he is given the Egyptian God Card, called The God of the Obelisk in the English manga, and Obelisk the Tormentor in the English anime (the card is known in Japan as Obelisk no Kyoshinhei). In the English Dubbed anime, Kaiba claims that his first words were "Neutron Blast Attack", the special attack of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
In the manga, the four Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards were possessed by an American, a German, a Hong Konger, and Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto in the English anime) of Japan, Yugi's grandfather. Kaiba took the cards belonging to the former three using force: by either forcing the person into bankruptcy, by making deals with the mafia, or by forcing the person to commit suicide.
In the case of the fourth, Kaiba replaces the actual card with a copy after he asks Yugi to see it again. Yugi figures out that the card he received is a counterfeit, and Kaiba whacks him with his metal briefcase upon finding out that Yugi isn't fooled by the copy. Dark Yugi wins a game of Duel Monsters and places a penalty game on Seto, causing Seto to feel the sensation of dying while he isn't really dying; Yugi gives his grandfather the real card back. Several chapters later, Kaiba kidnaps Mr. Mutou and forced him into a duel. When Sugoroku Mutou loses, Kaiba tears up the fourth card and forces him into a virtual reality torture. Sugoroku Mutou barely survives. Yugi agreed to go through the theme park of death, Death-T. Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) later duels Seto and wins. In revenge, Yugi places a penalty game on Kaiba, destroying the part of his heart with evil in it. The first and second series anime have similar plots at Death T. Death-T has many traps that are meant to kill Yugi, his friends, and a stubborn baby named Johji; the traps included a serial killer known as the Chopman, giant falling cubes, tazers and toy guns (which were actually real stun guns with 100,000 volts) and virtual-simulated replicas of Dark Yugi's penalty games, where the loser would die, as the pro-Kaiba audience cheered and Yugi's friends were held at gunpoint.
The first series has Jonouchi and Honda beaten up by Kaiba's goons when the two figure out that the card is a fake, and Kaiba manages to pull a draw against Dark Yugi instead of a loss, yet he still throws a fit over the draw. Kaiba then orders the four Gamemasters, Ledolly Sheldal, Ryuichi Fuha, Ailean Rao, and Daimon to defeat Dark Yugi, but they all fail, prompting Kaiba to activate the Death-T plans.
At a young age, Kaiba and his younger brother Mokuba were orphaned (their original surnames are unknown). Seto's mother died after Mokuba was born, and their father died in an accident when Seto was eight. Their relatives used up their inheritance and left them at the orphanage. When the former head of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba, arrived at the orphanage to perform a publicity stunt, Kaiba saw the chance to challenge him to a game of chess, with Gozaburo forced to adopt Seto and Mokuba should he win. The different versions of the story differ on Seto's age: the manga and Japanese animated series states that Seto was ten years old, while the English animated series states that Seto was twelve.
Seto had won by studying Gozaburo's chess methods (cheating in the manga). But Gozaburo forced Seto into a rigorous accelerated school program, forcing him to study several subjects, including economics, social studies, foreign languages, and game strategy. Six years later, Seto Kaiba took over his step-father's company by gaining the 51% that he needed to be in control. In the manga, Gozaburo, provoked by Seto taking over and becoming CEO, committed suicide by jumping out of his office window. Gozaburo's death occurred six months before Seto dueled Sugoroku Mutou.
In the first series, Seto electrocutes Gozaburo after Seto takes over the company.
Kaiba's Past Life
Kaiba's given name, Seto, is the Japanese phonetic equivalent of the ancient Egyptian deity Set, the god of chaos, war and storms in Egyptian mythology. That is for whom he is named. Kaiba is the reincarnation of Priest Seto (a.k.a. Set, sometimes called Seth by fans), the ancient Egyptian Priest from the reign of the Pharaoh Atem and his cousin. He owned the Millennium Rod and was one of the Six High Priests guarding the Millennium Items - Atem holding the Puzzle. Seto rebelled against Atem at one point and lost. However, just before Atem was sealed into the puzzle, he named Seto as heir to the Egyptian Throne. The battle is shown in the stone tablet Ishizu showed Seto (who refused to accept it). The Millennium Rod eventually opened Seto's eyes to accept the truth, though he still has some doubts.
In his past life, it is suspected that Seto either loved or had a deep feeling of friendship for Kisara, a girl with the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon as her Ka. Unfortunately, before it became clear which was the case, she died due to his father sealing her Ka into a stone tablet. This helps explain Kaiba's connection with the Blue Eyes, though only on a superficial basis. Kisara, the original manifestation of the Blue Eyes, represented sacrifice in that she would help save Priest Seto from the darkness after Seto was possessed by the then evil Akunadin, and then, as the Blue Eyes White Dragon, serve to protect Priest Seto and the kingdom in the final battle against Thief King Bakura and Zorc.
Present day Seto Kaiba, on the other hand, seemed rather unaffected when he witnessed the death of Kisara when he was inside the Memory World. To him, the Blue Eyes represented ultimate power and domination in the game of Duel Monsters. And with 3000 ATK, it has remained the strongest monster that can be normal or special summoned with no real drawbacks. And that he carries three of the only four copies in existence further seems to reflect upon not only said near-domination of the game, but also his elite status in everything he does.
In his past life, as Priest Seto, he also seemed to be a more humble, caring human being. His sense of duty prevailed over his ego, and he felt so deeply for Kisara that he actually cried at her death.
Kaiba in the second series anime
In the second series anime, previous to Seto's control, KaibaCorp was a company specializing in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, but when Seto took control of KaibaCorp, KaibaCorp became a company that manufactured game equipment. One of Kaiba's dreams was to build an amusement park for orphaned and underprivileged children called KaibaLand. At the start of the series, only one KaibaLand had been built, in Domino (in the English anime, none of the parks had been built, and KaibaLand was touted as the KaibaCorp headquarters).
Among one of the recurring plots in 'Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters' is Seto Kaiba being forced to deal with either people adversely affected by Gozaburo Kaiba's actions wanting to take their revenge on Seto Kaiba, or people from within KaibaCorp attempting to take over the corporation.
Kaiba's past in the second series anime
In the second series, Kaiba was bright and intelligent, which led to many prospective parents wanting to adopt him, Kaiba swore to protect his brother at all costs, and wanted Mokuba adopted with him, which all had refused. Gozaburo also had an ulterior motive: he wanted to adopt Seto because he was bright enough to be motivation for his own son, Noah Kaiba, to do better so that Noah could inherit KaibaCorp. With Noah's untimely death (his mind was placed into a virtual world), however, Gozaburo focused his energies to Seto Kaiba. On Seto's birthday, he was given ten million dollars and was told that although he could spend the money any way he wished, he must return ten times the amount in one year. Not only did Seto accomplish this feat, but he did so in one day, and such ruthless business skills led to Kaiba's takeover of his father's company. Gozaburo tried to use Mokuba but that plan went down the drain too due to Mokuba's loyalty to his brother. Gozaburo gave up on life and succumbed to death, but not before he downloaded his mind into Noah's virtual world. In the manga, Gozaburo committed suicide. In the English Duel Monsters anime, Gozaburo "ran away" and was never heard from again, until later on in the series.
Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Though not seen much in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, Kaiba is referred as the one who set up Duel Academy (Duel Academia) and named the dormitories personally. He made several appearances, the first being when he made a bet on his ownership of the school. He seemed bold and had full confidence in the duelist representing Duel Academy, Chazz Princeton (Jun Manjoume), would win despite the unfair advantage in the duel. During the second year, he also appears in Jaden Yuki's (Judai Yuki) flashback, announcing a card illustration project, and again when he allows Sartorius (Takuma Saiou) the use of KaibaLand during the Academy's field trip. The Duel Monster spirit "Kaibaman" who duels against Jaden is based on Seto Kaiba and uses the same deck, including his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
Notable Dueling Cards
Although Kaiba's best known cards are his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and the fusion monster formed from the three dragons, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, other Duel Monsters Cards have been utilized in his deck, including the XYZ series. Kaiba appears to favor the Beatdown type of strategy, meaning using cards and monsters that completely overpower his opponents. His deck has often been referred to as a "Power Deck", and others have called it a Virus deck (referencing Giant Germ, Crush Card and Virus Cannon). In the earlier episodes, most of the cards in his deck are high attack power monsters. As the series goes on, his deck evolves even more showcasing many bizarre yet effective strategies. From Battle City onward, his deck mostly is dominate with Dragon monsters with high attack power although some of his older cards are seen. His deck now has many support cards for his Blue Eyes-White Dragons (Such as Lord of Dragons, Flute of the Summoning Dragon and Paladin of White Dragon), making summoning them an easy task. In later episodes, his deck becomes more focused on removing his monsters to the out of play zone and returning them to the field to overwhelm his opponents (especially with the XYZ monsters), yet he is able to execute this strategy while remaining consistent with his Beatdown strategy. This deck was also seen on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX being used by Kaibaman, a Duel Monster that Kaiba had created in his image.
Monster Cards
- Blue-Eyes White Dragon
- Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
- Obelisk the Tormentor (The Giant God Soldier of Obelisk)
- Hitotsu-me Giant (Cyclops)
- Saggi the Dark Clown
- Judge Man
- Grappler
- Battle Ox (Minotaur)
- Mystic Horseman (Centaur)
- Rabid Horseman
- Gyakutenno Megami
- Ryu-Kishin Powered (Gargoyle Powered)
- Swordstalker
- La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp
- Rude Kaiser
- Trap Master
- Cyber Jar (Cyber Pod)
- Maha Vailo
- Dark Zebra
- Boar Soldier
- Aqua Madoor
- Wall of Illusion
- Dragon Seeker (Dragon Killer)
- Lord of D.
- Hyozanryu (Diamond Dragon)
- Vorse Raider (Blood Vorse)
- Kaiser Glider
- Des Feral Imp (Death Gremlin)
- Gadget Soldier
- Spear Dragon
- Giant Germ (Giant Virus)
- Twin-Headed Behemoth (Dol Dora)
- Spirit Ryu (Spirit Dragon)
- Kaiser Seahorse
- Vampire Lord
- Slate Warrior (Newt)
- Different Dimension Dragon (Twilight Zone Dragon)
- Thunder Dragon
- Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
- Luster Dragon #2 (Emerald Dragon)
- Ancient Lamp
- Masked Beast Des Guardius (Masked Beast Death Guardius)
- Blade Knight
- X-Head Cannon
- Y-Dragon Head
- Z-Metal Tank (Z-Metal Caterpillar)
- XY-Dragon Cannon
- XYZ-Dragon Cannon
- Sword of Soul
- Familiar Knight
- Rare Metal Dragon
- Peten the Dark Clown
- Paladin of White Dragon
- Blue Eyes Shining Dragon
- Versago the Destroyer
- Pitch-Dark Dragon
- Doom Virus Dragon (Death Virus Dragon)
- Tyrant Burst Dragon
- Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon
- Mirror Force Dragon
- Clone Dragon
- Cave Dragon (Ground Dragon)
- Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
- Dimensional Warrior
- Cyber-Stein
Magic Cards
- The Fang of Critias (used only in the Waking the Dragons arc)
- Negative Energy Generator (Dark Energy)
- Polymerization (Fusion)
- De-Spell
- Monster Reborn (Revive Dead)
- Mesmeric Control (Hypnotism)
- Flute of Summoning Dragon
- Ring of Defense
- Soul Exchange (Cross Sacrifice)
- Shrink
- Silent Doom (Silent Dead)
- Heavy Storm
- Pot of Greed
- Spell Sanctuary
- Lullaby of Obedience
- Thirst for Compensation
- Enemy Controller
- Cost Down
- Card of Demise (Treasure of Slashing Life)
- Spell Absorption (Absorb Spell)
- Stop Defense
- Quick Attack
- Fiend Sanctuary (Devil's Sanctuary)
- Obligatory Summon
- Mystical Space Typhoon (Cyclone)
- White Dragon Ritual
- Charm of Lamentation (Treasure of Grief)
- A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon
- Reflect Energy
- Dimension Fusion
- Soul Absorption
- Dark Core
- Emergency Provisions
- Graceful Charity (Angel's Charity)
- Soul Release
- Spell Reproduction
- De-Fusion (Fusion Release)
Trap Cards
- Shadow Spell (Curse of Darkness)
- Negate Attack
- Crush Card Virus (Deck Destruction Virus of Death)
- Gift of the Mystical Elf (Holy Elf's Blessing)
- Ring of Destruction
- Virus Cannon
- Dragon's Rage
- Last Turn (Last Battle!)
- Burst Breath
- Soul Demolition
- Attack Guidance Armor
- Interdimensional Matter Transporter
- Command Silencer
- Card of Guard
- Power Balance
- Clone (Clone Duplication)
- Magical Trick Mirror (Mechanical Magic Mirror)
- Final Attack Orders
- Deck Destruction Virus
- Pyramid of Light (used only in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light)
- Return from the Different Dimension
- Tyrant Wing
- Attack Guidance Barrier
- Wish of Final Effort (Last Hope)
- Flat Level 4
Trivia
- In the Japanese version, the book Kaiba is reading in the first episode of Duel Monsters is Friedrich Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra.
- Although 'kai' means sea in Japanese, and 'ba' means horse, 'Kaiba' does not mean seahorse. The Japanese word for seahorse is 'tatsu no otoshigo'. In myth, a seahorse turns in to a dragon after a hundred years. This is reflected in Kaiser Seahorse being one of Kaiba's many methods to bring out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
- In episode 76 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Sartorius says that "Kaiba hasn't aged in years". This is likely an inside joke to fans on how the character animation for Kaiba is identical in both series, despite the fact GX is ten years later, making Kaiba over 25 years old.
- Interestingly, Noah Kaiba bears a strong resemblance to Kaiba's original design from the Toei series.
References
- Kazuki Takahashi (2002). Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters Guide Book - The Gospel of Truth (遊戯王キャラクターズガイドブック―真理の福音―). Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873363-0
- Janime - Cards