Seto Kaiba

Seto Kaiba is the majority shareholder and president of his own multi-national company, KaibaCorp, who aims to become the world's greatest player of the Duel Monsters card game. To accomplish this goal, he must defeat his arch-rival, Yugi Muto. He is largely considered an anti-hero, as his motives are usually ego-centric, but in several cases towards a good cause.

Among one of the recurring plots in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Seto Kaiba is 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.

Design


Kaiba's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi. His usual outfit from the second series anime consists of a long white sleeveless KaibaCorp designed coat featuring shoulder pads and a raised studded collar, with black sleeves from his shirt coming out from under. He has extra belts in pairs strapped around his upperarms and shins. He often wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

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.

Personality
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. 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.

In the English version, Kaiba has a certain contempt for Yugi's group of friends: he refers to them constantly with derisive nicknames such as "the dweeb patrol" or "the geek squad", and is fairly condescending and scathing to everyone, with the exception of Mokuba, the only one he consistently cares about and shows his softer side around, going so far as losing a duel so as to not endanger him.

Kaiba dislikes other people using his cards, namely his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". This is shown in Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 001 when he rips up Solomon Muto's Blue-eyes White Dragon after winning it so that it could never be used against him, and also in Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 136 when Kaiba becomes very angry due to Joey using his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in their Duel. Kaiba goes so far as to attack Joey's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" with his own, destroying both in the process, to prevent Joey from using it for another turn. (He even says angrily, "I'm the only one with the skills necessary to wield a Blue-Eyes!" while doing so.)

One of Seto's recurring traits in the English version is his absolute refusal to believe in the powers of magic often used in the series. 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. Also, in the Japanese version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Kaiba stated at the end that the only reason he tried to destroy the Pyramid of Light card during his duel with Yugi was because if the card really was magic, it would mean he didn't defeat Yugi using his own strength and he refused to win that way. However, 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 probably did this because of his arrogance and the fact that had he admitted to saying so knowing Joey's occasional childish nature he would have been teased to no end by Joey because of their rivalry. Kaiba is much more accepting of the powers of magic in the Japanese version.

Manga biography

 * See: Seto Kaiba in the manga

Orphanage
At a young age, Seto and his younger brother Mokuba's parents both died. Their relatives took everything from their will and sent Seto and Mokuba to the orphnage. (In the English version, it simply said that their parents disappeared and there was no mention of their relatives).

On their first day at the orphanage, Seto comforts Mokuba, whos is crying. He tells him that he'll be his father from now on and vows to protect him no matter what. He advises Mokuba to always stay on his guard, as he'll be finished if he shows any weakness.

Together at the orphanage, Seto and Mokuba would often play games, including chess, which Seto always won, but still encouraged Mokuba. When Mokuba was bullied by other kids, Seto would stick-up for him and even jumped on another kid to retrieve a toy he'd stolen from Mokuba.

The former head of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba, arrived at the orphanage to perform a publicity stunt. Seto, who was 10 at the time (12 in the English version), saw the chance to challenge him to a game of chess, with the stakes being that Gozaburo was to adopt Seto and Mokuba together, should Seto win. Seto won since he had already studied Gozaburo's chess methods. Gozaburo then adopted both brothers.

Adoption
Gozaburo forced Seto into a rigorously accelerated school program, forcing him to study several subjects, including economics, social studies, foreign languages, and game strategy.

When Gozaburo asked Seto what he planned to do with KaibaCorp after he inherited it, he said that he planned to build a KaibaLand theme park for underprivileged children. Gozaburo called this boring, but Seto protested that games purify the soul. Gozaburo is not interested as games cannot be used to rule and orders Hobson to confiscate all of Seto and Mokuba's toys, refusing to let Seto touch toys until he knows how to rule. (In the English version, Seto couldn't keep up with the pace Gozaburo wanted him to study at. Gozaburo disallowed him from having weekends off. As Gozaburo said that discipline is the only way to crush your enemies, Seto protested that he has no enemies. Gozaburo insisted that he does and he must learn that he can't even trust Gozaburo. He ordered Hobson to confiscate all of Seto's toys, so that they won't distract him from his studies.)

Mokuba hid Seto's Duel Monsters Deck in a hollowed-out book, including a drawing of a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". He also left a note saying that their new family couldn't take everything away from them. Kaiba stepped out onto a balcony and vowed to get a real "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", one day.

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 a 2% share of KaibaCorp (in the English anime, 10 million dollars) and was told that although he could spend the money any way he wished, he must return one hundred times (in the English anime,10 times) the amount in one year. In an unknown method, Seto returned all the money within a single day. (In the anime, he did this by buying 51% shares of a small company that cares for its employees, Seto then made the president buy it back, under threat of it being shut down and leaving the employees jobless.)

KaibaCorp take-over
Seto invented virtual software for playing video games. However Gozaburo intended to use it for war. Seto confronted him over this, but Gozaburo scolded him again for wanting to play games. Seto is to inherit the compnay one day, Gozaburo says, and the company is about beating enemies and rising to power, not making toys. Seto calls him insane and Gozaburo has his guards take Seto away. Seto calls out "Father" as he's dragged away. That was the last time he called Gozaburo "Father".

Not wanting his virtual system to be used by Gozaburo to kill countless people and make a fortune, Seto refused to let himself hand his system over to that evil man. He lost his expectations of Gozaburo, and decided that he would take-over KaibaCorp.

Seto made a deal with The Big Five, where they would try to overthrow Gozaburo. he told the Big Five that Gozaburo didn't give them the respect they deserved and he would treat them better once he becomes in charge.

Together they gained 51% of KaibaCorp. Seto made sure Gozaburo came to know of their plan and accused Mokuba of snitching on them. Seto and Mokuba were briefly turned against each other and Mokuba was given comfort by Gozaburo. Aware of Seto's plan, Gozaburo planned to use his 49% with Mokuba's 2% to overrule Seto. However as Seto planned Mokuba switched back to his side last minute, giving Seto his 2%. With the 51%, Seto was able to take full control of the company. Unable to live with the defeat, Gozaburo commited suicide, but not before he downloaded his mind into Noah's virtual world.

Refocusing KaibaCorp
After taking control of KaibaCorp, Seto shifted its economic interest from the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction to gaming-oriented equipment.

Kaiba didn't give The Big Five the respect or power they had been expecting when they made the deal to overthrow Gozaburo. He refused to provide finance to Crump to build his dream penguin theme park. He told Nesbitt to show his loyality by destroying the military factory on Alcatraz. Once that was done, Kaiba closed the military department and proceeded to build the Duel Tower in its place. He demotes Nesbit to dispatching material for building the tower.

Kaiba started building 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 version, none of the parks had been built, and KaibaLand was touted as the KaibaCorp headquarters).

Kaiba began work on creating holographic technology to heighten the experience of playing Duel Monsters.

Maximillion Pegasus invited Kaiba as his special guest to Intercontinental Duel Monsters Tournament in New York City. Kaiba witnesses Pegasus face Bandit Keith in the finals. At the Duel, Pegasus simply sat in front of Keith for a few seconds, then wrote down some instructions on a piece of paper, which he gave to a beginner from the audience to use against Keith. While Sam dueled Keith, Pegasus sat with Kaiba. He hoped Kaiba was enjoying the tournament so far, even though it must seem so crude to him, unlike the holographic dueling stations KaibaCorp is developing.

Kaiba infered that Pegasus must have read Keith's mind in the Duel, so later he began making Duel Disks to combat Pegasus' mind reading strategy. With Duel Disks, players would be able to stand further apart and avoid face-to-face contact, which he hoped would be enough to avoid having his mind read.

Duelist Kingdom
Kaiba became the Duel Monsters World Champion and came into possession of 3 of the 4 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cards.

At school, Kaiba overhears Yugi Muto talking about a rare card his grandfather, Solomon Muto has. Suspecting it might be the 4th "Blue-Eyes", Kaiba vists Solomon's shop and sees the card. He tries to trade for the card and buy it, but Solomon refuses since the card is of high sentimental value to him. Still determined and sickened by Solomon's attitude, Kaiba kidnaps him and challenges him to a Duel. Kaiba defeats Solomon and overwhelms him with the holographic technology used in the Duel. As a prize, he takes Solomon's "Blue-Eyes". He then calls Yugi over to collect his grandfather. Shortly after Yugi arrives, Kaiba tears-up the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card in front of him and his friends. Outraged, Yugi duels Kaiba as Yami Yugi. Yami is put in a tight place after Kaiba Summons all 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons", but manages to win by Summoning "Exodia". After winning, Yami inflicts a Mind Crush on Kaiba dispelling his evil half.

After his defeat, Seto drops out of playing Duel Monsters.

Maximillion Pegasus teams-up with The Big Five to try to take-over KaibaCorp. They sent 2 men to Kaiba's office to capture him. Kaiba refused to cooperate, so the henchmen prepare to open fire. However Kaiba knocks them back with a chair and deflects their gunshots with his briefcase. He jumps out the window of his office, leading them to believe he died. (In the English version, the guns are removed and Kaiba jumps out after refusing to cooperate.) However Kaiba clings onto the side of the cliff and climbs to his safety. In the meantime his Deck is stolen and Mokuba is kidnapped.

Later Kaiba sneaks back into his mansion through a hidden passageway. He enters a hidden computer lab, where he gets an update on what Pegasus has done to KaibaCorp. He learns that Mokuba is held pisoner on the Duelist Kingdom island and Pegausus will be given shares of KaibaCorp once Yugi is defeated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Kaiba hacks into Pegaus computer system and finds Yugi is dueling an imposter Seto Kaiba, who even has the real Kaiba's Deck. Kaiba infects a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" Summoned by the imposter with a virus, weakening it and consequently preventing Yugi from losing.

Kaiba flies to the Duelist Kingdom to confront Pegasus. He brings his Duel Disks with him to combat Pegasus' mind reading.

As soon as he arrived on the island, he bumps into Yugi and his friends. Yugi returns Kaiba's Deck to him and suggests that they stick together as they are all going to Pegasus' castle, but Kaiba declines. Joey Wheeler, who is disguisted by Kaiba's attitude, confronts him and the two end up dueling. Kaiba uses the Duel as a chance to test his Duel Disks. Joey foolishly attacks Kaiba's monsters with a barrage of weaker ones, until he Summons his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", which Kaiba defeats with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and takes out the remainder of Joey's Life Points. Kaiba cruely mocks Joey and calls him a loser. before leaving, he tells the group about Pegasus' Duel with Keith, so Yugi and Joey know what they're up against.

The next day, Kemo finds Kaiba on the island and points a gun to his head. However Kaiba jams the gun with a "Gyakutenno Megami" card. Kaiba pulls the gun from Kemo, injuring his hand. (This scene is removed from the English version.) Kemo make a lunge at Kaiba, but Kaiba subdues him and order him to take them to Mokuba. Kemo takes Kaiba to Pegasus' dungeons, but triggers a security alarm, calling for backup. Pegasus, who had already known this would happen insists they turn off the alarm and goes to the dungeons to meet Kaiba himself.

Kaiba hides on one of the walls and listens-in on a group of Pegasus' guards, who have been unable to find him. The guards decide to go to Mokuba's cell, believing Kaiba will show up there soon. Kaiba leaps down and follows them. Once they arrive at the cell, Kaiba sneaks-up on them and knocks them out. Seto is briefly reunited with Mokuba, but is confronted by Pegasus before he can release him. Pegasus uses the Millennium Eye to strip Mokuba of his soul, which he traps in a "Soul Prison" card. Pegasus says that Kaiba must defeat him in a Duel if he wishes to free Mokuba. Kaiba is willing to duel on the spot, but Pegasus refuses telling Kaiba that he must defeat Yugi in a Duel, before he can do that.

Kaiba confronts Yugi outside the castle and imposes a Duel. Initially Yugi refuses, but he switchs to Dark Yugi and accepts. During the Duel, Kaiba Summons "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", causing problems for Yugi, but Yugi fuses it with "Mammoth Graveyard", causing it to decay and lose ATK each turn. As Yugi is about to win, Kaiba stands up on the edge of the castle, such that if Yugi makes another attack, he will fall to his death. Although Yami Yugi tries to attack, Yugi takes over and calls it off. Kaiba wins on the next turn, taking 5 of Yugi's Star Chips. Combined with the 5 Pegasus gave him earlier, Kaiba has enough to enter the castle and face Pegasus.

Kaiba gets ready to duel Pegasus. He insists on using the Duel Disks, but Pegasus isn't too keen. Pegasus accepts under the condition, that Mokuba who is stripped of his soul, holds the Duel Disk for him. Kaiba refuses to face his brother in such a way and agrees to duel without the Disks. Pegasus defeats Kaiba and also traps his soul in another "Soul Prison" card.

When Yugi defeats Pegasus, as promised Pegasus frees the souls of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, along with Solomon Muto.

Kaiba thanks Yugi for saving Mokuba and insists that have a fair Duel someday to determine who is the better duelist. He gives Yugi and his friends a lift home from the island afterwards.

Legendary Heroes
Kaiba prepared to fire The Big Five for trying to take over KaibaCorp and what they put him and Mokuba through. But the Big Five start to make excuses and offer Kaiba the complete virtual reality game as a peace offering. Eager to try out the virtual reality game, Kaiba refrains from immediately firing them decides to test the game. Mokuba advises against it as he's certain it's a trap. Kaiba also thinks so, but says he must accept the challenge and is confident he can beat them, having designed the game himself.

Inside the game, Kaiba is confronted by a Two-Headed King Rex, which he easily defeats by Summoning "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". However an Armed Ninja jumps at him, which was not part of the original programming. Kaiba tries to attack it with Blue-Eyes, but a Dragon Capture Jar appears and traps the dragon. The Armed Ninja throws a net on Kaiba capturing him.

Kaiba is taken to the Castle of Dark Illusions and chained to a pillar, where he is held captive by the Witty Phantom. Witty Phantom tells Kaiba that he is to be sacrificed to Summon the Mythic Dragon. Kaiba tries to end the simulation, but that has been disabled.

Mokuba got Yugi and Joey to enter the virtual world to save Kaiba. Together they go to the castle and Mokuba breaks Kaiba free. Kaiba Summons a second "Blue-Eyes", whih destroys the phantom. He re-encounters Armed Ninja and the Dragon Capture Jar again, but destroys the jar with "Trap Master" reclaiming his trapped "Blue-Eyes". The 2 "Blue-Eyes" easily defeat Armed Ninja.

Kaiba has Blue-Eyes White Dragon blast a hole in the floor, allowing him and Mokuba to meet-up with Yugi, Joey and Mai. The Big Five congratulate the players on making it to the final level, but Kaiba protests that they stopped the Mythic Dragon from being Summoned, so they have already beaten the game. However the Big Five have reprogrammed the game making them have to face the Mythic Dragon.

The group are sent to a room, where only Dragon-Type monsters are of use. The group have their dragons attack the Mythic Dragon to no avail. The Mytic Dragon starts to take out the players and their dragons one by one. Mokuba pushes Kaiba out of the way of one of its blasts, saving Kaiba, but letting himself be taken out. Yugi's persuasion finally gets through to Kaiba and fuses his dragons into "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". Yugi then fuses it with "Black Luster Soldier" to form "Dragon Master Knight", which defeats the Mythic Dragon.

Kaiba and Yugi wake-up in the courtyard of the Edina's palace. The crowds cheer for thm for defeating the Mythic Dragon. Edina turns into Mystical Elf and revives Joey, Mai, Mokuba and Iru.

Kaiba and his rescuers return to the real world, while the Big Five are left trapped in the virtual world.

Battle City


Ishizu Ishtar invites Kaiba to an Ancient Egypt exhibition. Here she uses her Millennium Necklace to show him visions from the past, where a sorcerer, who looks like Kaiba battled the Nameless Pharaoh, who looks like Yugi, using Duel Monster Spirits. She tells him about their most powerful monsters, the Egyptian Gods, which Pegasus made Duel Monsters cards of, but was unable to control their power. She has come into possession of one of the Gods, "Obelisk the Tormentor", while the others were stolen by thieves. She gives Kaiba the card, in exchange for him starting a Duel Monsters tournament to attract the thieves so they may gather the 3 Gods. Kaiba laughs at the idea of him returning the "Obelisk" card, but Ishizu insists that he will, as she has forseen it. Kaiba agress to host the tournament in the hopes of gathering the 3 God cards for himself with an ante rule and so he can defeat Yugi and reclaim his title as World Champion.

Kaiba invites duelists, he thinks are good enough to participate in the tournament. All players are given the newest version of his Duel Disks. The Rare Hunters, who were not invited, hack into his computer system to add themselves as participants. Mokuba suggests they disqualify them, but Kaiba allows for it. (In the English version, Kaiba planned to have them hack in, so the holders of the Egyptian Gods would enter the tourament.)

The first Rare Hunter duels Yugi. Kaiba finds out the Rare Hunter is using fake cards, but still doesn't disqualify him, as he needs to learn more about the Rare Hunters.

Kaiba takes part in the tournament himself, leaving his employees monitor other Duels to find the Egyptian God cards.

Kaiba finds Koji Nagumo bullying a duelist, he just defeated into giving him a second card through the ante rule. Kaiba challenges Koji to a Duel and gives him rare cards to improve his Deck beforehand. Despite this, Kaiba quickly defeats him using "Obelisk the Tormentor".

He spends much of the preliminaries trying to find and defeat Yugi. He bumps into Joey Wheeler in his search, surprised to see him wearing a Duel Disk as he hadn't been invited. Joey challenges Kaiba to a Duel on the spot, but Kaiba receives word of a God Card being played and takes off. He finds Yugi in a Duel against Strings, who is possessed by Marik Ishtar and using the Egyptian God card "Slifer the Sky Dragon". Seeing Yugi drops to his kness, doubting he can win, Kaiba calls down to him, ordering him live up to his reputation and thinking he is the only one who should defeat Yugi.

After Yugi wins, Kaiba congratulates him, but says it's a shame Yugi won't have "Slifer the Sky Dragon" for long and challenges him to a Duel. However Marik informs Yugi that his friends have been kidnapped. Yugi postpones the Duel as he must find his friends.

He follows Yugi and catches-up when Yugi is challenged to a Duel by Lumis and Umbra, who can't decide which of them should face Yugi first. Kaiba appears and tells them to both duel at once in a Tag Duel against him and Yugi. They agree and Kaiba easily defeats both of them at once using "Obelisk the Tormentor". Kaiba takes their Locator Cards and hands 1 to Yugi. He then offers to use KaibaCorp's satellite system to trace the location of Joey's Duel Disk.

As they search for Yugi's friends, the guys are confronted by Lumis, who shows them that they have kidnapped Mokuba. In order to get Mokuba back, Yugi and Kaiba must Tag Duel him and Umbra on top of a skyscraper. The Duel is setup such that when a player loses, the glass roof below them shatters sending them to their death. (In the English version, there was a vortex to the Shadow Realm under the glass.) Kaiba's refusal to work as part of a team, initially hinders his and Yugi's performance, while Umbra and Lumis' Decks have been built to work together and prevent the Summoning of the Egyptian Gods. However Kaiba eventually accepts they must work as a team. He sacrifices his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to prevent Yugi losing and provokes Umbra and Lumis turning them against each other. Yugi and Kaiba work together to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor", which defeats Umbra, who uses a parachute to save himself. Marik takes control of Luma's mind after he surrenders. Kaiba seizes him demanding they release Mokuba. However Marik doesn't keep his promise and leaves Luma fall unconscious. Kaiba takes "Masked Beast Des Gardius" and the locator cards from Lumba. He hands Yugi one of the Locator Cards, qualifying them both for the finals.

Despite Marik's refusal to keep his end of the bargain, Makuba arrives on the top of the skyscraper in the KaibaCorp helicopter, having escaped captivity with Téa's help. To repay Yugi's friends for saving Mokuba, Kaiba takes Yugi to Domino Pier, where they have located Joey. On the helicopter, Yami Yugi tells Kaiba that he is a seperate personality from Yugi.

They arrive at the pier and find Joey and Téa are posessed by Marik, with Joey prepared to duel Yugi. Seeing the Duel has been set-up to kill the loser, Kaiba tries to call it off, but Marik disregards his authority. Once Tristan and Duke arrive at the Duel, Kaiba and Mokuba explain the situation to them. Towards the end of the Duel, Kaiba throws a card at one of the Rare Hunters monitoring the Duel. The card gets lodged into his hand, causing him to drop the controls for a crane hovering a giant crate over Kaiba. With him temporarily unable to drop the crate, the KaibaCorp helicopter pulls it away from Téa. Once the Duel concludes with everyone alive, Kaiba parts and tells Yugi he'll see him at the finals.

Kaiba takes his helicopter to the KaibaCorp Stadium, where he waits for the other finalists. After 6 of the other 7 finalists arrive, the true location of the finals, the Kaiba Craft 3 lands. Kaiba's men try to prevent Yugi and Joey's friends from boarding as they are not finalists, but Kaiba allows for it. On board Kaiba insults Joey about making it this far by luck and advises Yugi to start using his Egyptian God Card.

Bakura is greatly injured after is Duel with Yugi. His friends try talking Kaiba into making an emergency stop to take him to the hospital, but Kaiba refuses and instead has the medical team on the blimp sent to look after Bakura.

Kaiba sees Joey's quarter-final Duel against Odion, who they believe to be Marik, as a chance to find out the abilities of his Egyptian God, "The Winged Dragon of Ra". During the Duel, both players are struck down by Ra's lightning. Kaiba declares that the first player to stand up will be declared the winner and if neither stand within five minutes they will both be disqualified. He learns that Marik was also a finalist under the disguise "Namu" and while Odion had a fake "The Winged Dragon of Ra", Marik holds the real one. He refuses to disqualify Marik as he won't be able to win his God Card in that case.

Mai's Duel against the real Marik is also used as a chance to learn more about "The Winged Dragon of Ra". When Mai tried Summoning Ra, which she managed to add to her own hand, hieratic text appear on the card, which Mai must receit in order to Summon it. Kaiba has his satellites photograph the card, so he can have the text translated later, although Marik suggests that Kaiba is already able to read them.

Once Mokuba begins the translation, he finds that some of Ra's effects are also printed there.

In the last of the quarter-finals Kaiba finds out the eight finalist is Ishizu Ishtar, as the two of them duel. In the meantime, Kaiba has Mokuba work on translating Ra's text. Ishizu has already predicted Kaiba's moves for the Duel using her Millennium Necklace and forsaw her own victory. In the first few turns of the Duel, Kaiba has Ishizu send plenty of cards from her Deck to her Graveyard. Ishizu uses "Exchange of the Spirit", causing both players to swap the contents of their Decks with their Graveyards, leaving Kaiba with very few cards. Almost finished the translation, Mokuba comes out to support Seto in the Duel. Ishizu deliberately allows Kaiba to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor", so that she may win using "Blast Held by a Tribute", as predicted. However an unknown instinct (In the English amine Kaiba felt like his "Blue-Eyes" was calling out to him) tells Kaiba to Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". He sees a vision of the sorcerer holding Kisara's body up to a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" slab. Kaiba follows the instinct, claiming he makes his own future and tributes "Obelisk the Tormentor" to play "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", which he uses to attack and defeat Ishizu.

Kaiba checks on the progress in translating "The Winged Dragon of Ra's" text. Mokuba tells him that they're having trouble with the last few words, but Kaiba looks at the text in astonishment, finsing that he's able to read it himself. Remembering what Marik said about only chosen people being able to read the text, what Ishizu said about him being connected to an ancient sorcerer and the instinct that told him to play "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in the last Duel, Kaiba wonders what's happening to him.

Virtual World
While traveling to the finals, the Battle City blimp goes out of control and is guided into a mechanical fortress in the sea, by Noah. Kaiba, Mokuba, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serentiy and Duke Mokuba are greeted by a projection of the Big Five, who explain that they got trapped in the Virtual World, after they failed to trap Kaiba there, during the Legendary Heroes game. For that they hate Yugi and his friends for helping Kaiba. Having Kaiba as a common enemy, Noah uploaded their minds into his computer system. Using an altered form of Duel Monsters, they plan to face the gang in order to claim possession of their bodies, so that they may exist in the real world.

The group are then transported to a virtual jungle. Kaiba isn't fooled into thinking the place is real and allows himself to be struck by a dinosaur, whose claw simply passes through Kaiba, leaving him unharmed. A virtual copy of Kaiba appears and duels a Total Defense Shogun in a demonstration of the Deck Master rules, used in this virtual world. The Big Five seperate the gang, by making holes appear under them.

Seto and Mokuba end up together in a forest. The two of them come to a door, which transports them to a virtual reconstruction of the orphange, they used to live in. Here they are shown projections of their past, including when they got sent to the orphanage and when they got adopted. Mokuba runs away from Seto over to the door, telling Seto he'd liked things before they got adopted. At least back then, Seto would smile. Seto reminds him that they can't change the past and assures him that it's just an illusion created by Noah. However Mokuba opens the door, causing him slip over the side of a cliff. Seto reaches in on time, catching Mokuba's arm before he falls any further. Seto pulls him up and the two finds themselves on top of the cliff. The virtual world Seto designed had safeguards to prevent such harm befalling on people, but this place, they realise, is different. Seto tells Mokuba that no matter what they see, he must realize that the past is over. He says that he's not proud of every decision he's made, but they were all made in favour of getting the two of them a better life.

Seto and Mokuba make their way to a log cabin in a forest. Inside they witness projections of when they started living with Gozaburo, including Seto being forced to study and having his toys confiscated. The projection fades away and Noah appears before Seto and Mokuba. Seto asks Noah why he's making them watch this stuff. Noah replies that it's to refresh Seto's memory of how he forced Gozaburo to a dead end and one day Seto shall be punished.

Shortly afterwards, Noah sends them to another recreation of Seto's past, where he argued with Gozaburo over the use the virtual software, that Seto invented. Present day Seto accuse Noah of using the virtual software that Gozaburo stole from him.

Seto and Mokuba are then sent to a beach, where they find a tv half-buried, In it they see Noah telling Johnson off for cheating. Having lived in Seto's shadow, he needs to prove that he is more deserving of the position of president of KaibaCorp and cannot do that through cheating. Seto wonders why Noah is putting the two of them in competion. Seto suspects, but can't believe it's to do with Gozaburo, since he is dead. Kaiba starts to wonder who Noah really is.

The two finally make their way to a city. Here Nesbitt, inside Tristan's body, attacks them with a kendo stick. Kaiba tries throwing a card at Nesbitt, but he blocks. He then grabs a pipe, which Nesbitt easily knocks out of his hand. The real Tristan, in the body of a robot monkey, jumps at the imposter, saving Kaiba. Yugi and his friends arrive and catch the action. Joey punches Nesbitt, smashin him through a warehouse door. However Nesbitt emerges on a motorbike and snatches Mokuba, before driving off. Kaiba grabs another motorbike and takes off aftr Nesbitt.

The chase leads Kaiba to a bridge, where he is stopped by Lector. Lector has taken the form of Jinzo, but this is hidden by his trenchcoat. In order to get Mokuba back, Kaiba must first defeat Lector in a Duel. Kaiba is given access to Duel Monster cards, bar the Egyptian Gods to build his Deck. Kaiba choses "Lord of Dragons as his Deck Master. He is initially unable to see Lector's Deck Master, nor does he care, until 1 of his Trap Cards is destroyed, revealing Jinzo to be Lector's Deck Master. During the Duel, Lector taunted Kaiba about using the Big Five and Mokuba in order to overthrow Gozaburo. Lector's Deck is weapon-themed; Kaiba worked to remove such aspects from KaibaCorp. Refusing to lose to a weapon of death, Kaiba Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", which takes out Lector's "Satellite Cannon", before it can launch an attack, winning the Duel for Kaiba.

After the Duel, Noah forms a tunnel and tells Kaiba he must come this way to find Mokuba. Inside he finds Noah, disguised as Mokuba, who transports Kaiba to a living room, containing the real Mokuba. Noah insists that it was Kaiba's former employee that kidnapped Mokuba and that he was the one who rescued him. Kaiba tries to leave with Mokuba. However Mokuba has now been brainwashed against Seto, by Noah.

Yugi and Téa arrive and show Kaiba a picture of Noah with Gozaburo. Noah shows Seto a clip from is own past. There Gozaburo was shown speaking with Noah, he handed him a picture of Seto, saying that he plans to bring Seto here to challenge Noah academically and prove Noah has the intelligence to run KaibaCorp. Noah agreed and called Gozaburo father. Kaiba refused to belive Noah was Gozaburo's son and asked how come they never met before.

Before Noah can answer, an alarm sounds causing him to leave. Kaiba, Téa and Yugi end up with the rest of Yugi's friends, while Noah takes the Big Five away to tell them off for trying to steal bodies having not won their Duels.

As Yugi's friends ask Kaiba about Noah and saving Mokuba, he tells them to mind their own buisness and redirects their attention to The Big Five, who are now sharing Tristan's body.

While Yugi and his friends are distracted, Kaiba searches for Mokuba by himself. At the top of a hill, he starts calling for Mokuba. Although Mokuba hears him, he refuses to answer, accepting Noah as his only brother. The clouds in front of Kaiba disappear, revealing a KaibaLand. (In the English version that Kaibaland had not been built, nor had Kaiba shown anyone its blueprints)

Inside KaibaLand, Seto is shown a video with footage of young Noah, spending time with Gozaburo and Noah's funeral, in which Gozaburo says Noah can still be saved.

Kaiba takes a train from KaibaLand to a volcano, where he meets and ends up dueling Noah.

Just before his defeat, Kaiba breaks through to Mokuba, freeing him from Noah's mental grip. Noah turns Seto and his brother into stone, and Yugi ends up finishing Seto's duel with Noah. Seto and Mokuba are unfrozen and reunited, and Seto decides to duel Gozaburo - who reveals himself to have been controlling Noah's actions. Seto defeats Gozaburo and escapes with Yugi as the Virual World crumbles. Gozaburo attempts to stop Seto's escape but fails and Kaiba exclaims, "I won't be buried with you Gozaburo".

Battle City finals
Kaiba, his colleagues and guests arrive safely at the finals afterwards, where Kaiba is defeated by Yugi in the semi-finals causing him to forfeit Obelisk the Tormentor to Yugi. Joey survives an attack from The Winged Dragon of Ra in his semi-final against Marik Ishtar but falls just before he can declare victory. Kaiba admits to himself that he was impressed by Joey's performance. However upon facing Joey (who awoke from his coma during Kaiba and Yugi's duel) in a friendly duel, he still shows no outward respect for him and defeats Joey. Before Yugi's duel with Marik, mainly due to Ishizu, he hands Yugi the Fiend's Sanctuary card, which helps Yugi win the duel.

Waking the Dragons
Kaiba, along with Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler, are the three "chosen duelists" each given a Legendary Dragon card (the The Fang of Critias in Kaiba's case) in order to save the world from Dartz, who had been using the power of The Seal of Orichalcos to steal people's souls to release his legendary serpent, "The Great Levitian". Kaiba is challenged by Alister who was one of Dartz "Swordsmen of Doma." Alister blames Kaiba for tragic events that happened in his life due to Gozaburo. Alister has also somehow managed to take control of a large portion of KaibaCorp. Unable to convince Alister that he is not responsible Kaiba defeats Alister, who loses his soul. Kaiba ultimatly loses to Dartz while dueling alongside Yugi. However using Kaiba's contributions to the duel, Yugi defeats Dartz.

Grand Championship
Kaiba hosts the KaibaCorp GrandPrix after to regain control of his company after it was bought out by Dartz. Kaiba only duels once in this arc. His old economic competitor, Zigfried von Schroeder, returns hoping to collapse KaibaCorp, but Kaiba defeats him and Yugi defeats his younger brother, Leon, to maintain his title as World Champion and save KaibaCorp.

Dawn of the Duel
Kaiba is challenged to a duel by Yami Bakura. Bakura leaves before they can finish the duel and gives him the Millennium Eye so he can gain entry to the Memory World. Despite his misbelief, he travels to the Millennium World. Still convinced it is an illusion he summons Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to fight Zorc Necrophades, he attacks telling Zorc that he is nothing more than a hologram that he used to deal with, and that his first words were Neutron Blast, which is Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's attack. His Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, however, could not defeat Zorc, just as Zorc could not defeat it. Zorc explained that the ultimate force of darkness and the ultimate force of light were now in collusion implying that it was the Light attribute of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes that allowed it to hold its own against Zorc better than the Egyptian Gods. But with Atem's help they summoned Dragon Master Knight, which in turn was then defeated by Zorc, most likely because it was no longer a pure light monster. Later Kaiba, protected Yugi and his friends using his Ring of Defense giving Atem more time to recover his name so he could re-summon and fuse the Egyptian God Cards. After witnessing the presence of both Atem and Yugi in the same place Kaiba mumbled to himself "Maybe there is some truth to this junk", but when Joey Wheeler inquired as to what he said of the whole Millennium Arc events being real, Kaiba replied "Nice try I said this was all a mind trick", it can be assumed that Seto merely denied it out of pride (In the Japanese dub, he is more accepting of the existence of magic).

After returning to the present he wishes to duel Atem in the Ceremonial Battle, but is refused the privilage as Yugi states his intentions to duel the Pharaoh. He responds to the refusal saying he didn't come this far to see Yugi lose his title to his imaginary friend. Nevertheless Kaiba watches the duel and witnesses the Pharaoh seperate from Yugi's body and finally be put to rest. During the duel, he for the first time openly shows respect for Yugi by calling him the "True King of Games" when he defeats all three Egyptian God Cards in a single turn. After this performance he admits that there may have been more to this magic, but withdraws his statement when Joey asks if he heard him right.

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 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, would win despite the unfair advantage in the duel (in the Japanese episode, Kaiba stated at the end that anyone who was a student at his academy should be able to win a duel no matter what the stipulations are, and in the English version stated that Chazz's brothers needed to learn a little bit more about world domination). During the second year, he also appears in Jaden's 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.

In the fourth season, Seto is the only citizen of Domino City who survives Trueman's attack. In episode 76, Sartorius says that "Kaiba hasn't aged in years". This is likely an inside joke to fans on how the character animation for Seto is nearly identical in both series, despite the fact that GX takes place ten years later, making Seto nearly 28 years old. This joke, however, only appears in English dubbing. There was no such quote in original Japanese version.

Deck

 * Main article: Seto Kaiba's Decks

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 he favors using cards and monsters that completely overpower his opponents.