Gozaburo Kaiba

Gozaburo Kaiba is Seto and Mokuba Kaiba's adoptive father and the former CEO of KaibaCorp. He is the final antagonist in the Virtual World arc, after his biological son, Noah Kaiba.

Biography


Gozaburo was the original founder and CEO of KaibaCorp, which at that time was a successful arms manufacturer. Gozaburo was also a world famous chess champion, which is how Seto and Mokuba heard of him at their orphanage. When Gozaburo visited, Seto challenged him to a game of chess, telling Gozaburo that if he refused, he would tell the press he was scared of a little kid. Gozaburo, confident he would not be beaten by a child, agreed to a single game, with Seto stating the stipulation that if he wins, Gozaburo will agree to adopt him and his brother. In the manga, Seto cheated. In the anime, Seto had spent time studying Gozaburo's strategies and how to overcome them, and thus defeated him. Gozaburo had to keep his end of the bargain.

However, he was a cruel father to Seto, forcing him to spend all his time studying and forgoing any of the joy or fun usually associated with childhood. At this point in the anime, Noah, his biological son - and intended Kaiba Corp heir - died. Gozaburo digitized Noah's mind, and decided to breed Seto as his heir, pushing him even further. Gozaburo's fatal mistake was when he gave Seto 2% of Kaiba Corp shares as part of a mission to earn 10 times the amount within a year - something Seto does easily. Later, Seto, along with the board of directors (later known as The Big Five), buys 49% of the company. Gozaburo, also with 49%, is ousted from power by Seto's 51% (Mokuba had 2% of the company). In the manga, Gozaburo is reported to have committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the Kaiba Corporation building, as Seto watched and said "Death to the loser... I'll remember that!" In the anime, he suffered from a heart attack (in the English anime, he ran away and disappeared forever).

In the anime, it is revealed that Gozaburo instead digitized his mind like he did his son's, and hid inside the Kaiba Corp computer banks. When Noah lures Seto and others, including Yugi Muto, into the Virtual World, Noah has the Big Five try and defeat Yugi, Seto, and company. When they fail one by one, Gozaburo reveals himself as the mastermind of the capture to everyone and Noah, and unveils his plan to digitize mankind, and reign as the king of the Virtual World (this is in the English anime: the Japanese Gozaburo plans to use missiles to destroy the world). Noah pretends to lead the group to an exit to escape, but instead splits them up, leaving most of them wandering a Virtual Domino City while Noah, realizing his father was only using him, uses Mokuba's body to escape, and initiates the fortress' self-destruct sequence, intending to destroy everyone inside while he escapes.

While Yugi and others try to escape, Seto and Gozaburo fight a duel, with Gozaburo intending to use Seto's body to escape to the real world. Gozaburo, still bitter over his loss to Seto in chess years ago, challenges him to a duel to give Seto the same type defeat he delivered Gozaburo. As a further insult, Gozaburo uses the monster "Exodia Necross" (a ghostly dark version of "Exodia the Forbidden One", the monster who handed Seto his first defeat in Duel Monsters against Yugi). Exodia Necross gains 500 ATK every one of his Standby Phases, and cannot be destroyed by Spells or Traps. However, its special abilities depend on having all 5 Exodia parts in the Graveyard. Seto uses "Soul Demolition" to remove the parts from play, neutralizing "Exodia Necross". Now stripped of its powers, "Exodia Necross" is destroyed by Seto's trademark "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Gozaburo loses the Duel and his chance to escape the Virtual World.

With the fortress about to be destroyed, Gozaburo attempts to take Kaiba's body by force. Yugi enters and helps Kaiba escape to the roof. Noah, having had a change of heart, appears on Gozaburo's back, immobilizing him and opening an exit to the real world, as well as preventing Gozaburo from downloading himself to another network. As Seto and Yugi emerge on the airship and escape, the fortress explodes, deleting Noah. Gozaburo lives for a few moments, somehow becoming 'real' as a beast of flame, erupting from the ruins of the fortress. As he attempts to destroy the airship, Seto activates the airship's thrusters, jetting out of Gozaburo's grasp for good and leaving him to sink into the waves.

Although this is Gozaburo's first and final appearance in person, he appears in flashbacks before and after the Virtual World. Kaiba's goal to defeat Yugi Muto at Alcatraz (Battle City) is not only a mission to defeat Yugi, but to overcome Gozaburo's legacy and put it behind him. Kaiba feels that only when he is crowned Duel King atop the Duel Tower, amidst the rubble of the military factories Gozaburo had built there, that only then can he forget his past and step out of Gozaburo's shadow. Alister (Amelda in the Japanese version) of Dartz's group (Doma in the Japanese version) also harbors a grudge towards Kaiba, believing that Gozaburo funded a military attack on his town (he later realizes that the attack was instead ordered by Dartz, disguised as Gozaburo). Finally, in the Grand Championship, Gozaburo Kaiba makes a brief appearance in two flashbacks concerning a party where he and Mr. Schroeder discuss a deal, accompanied by Kaiba and Zigfried von Schroeder. Mr. Schroeder tells him about a deal he is about to make, a deal which was unfortunately made by Gozaburo first.

Anime
Gozaburo plays an Exodia Necross Deck. His strategy revolved around Summoning "Exodia Necross" by quickly sending the pieces of "Exodia" to the Graveyard through "Painful Choice". He then relied entirely on Necross' immunity and ATK raising abilities, which provided decent offense and defense, but whose weaknesses proved to be his undoing.

Before his Duel with Seto, Gozaburo Summoned a number of monsters with a chess theme against Yugi and company, using their respective chess pieces - "Cosmo Queen" (queen), "Skull Knight" (bishop), "Command Knight" (knight), "Rock Ogre Grotto #1" (rook), and "Lizard Soldier" (pawn).