Kaiba didn't want to duel Atem in DSOD just because of his obsession with becoming Duel King; dueling Atem was his way of gaining closure and saying goodbye to his friend (he had this motive even before dueling Yugi and was grieving throughout the whole movie the loss of his only friend). Also, I don't think his smile in the match against Yugi means he's letting go of his ambition to become Duel King (I don't think Kaiba would ever let go of his ambition to be the best), it's more likely that he was relieved that Atem lost to a worthy opponent and that Yugi's victory wasn't a mere fluke.
It is hard to view DSOD as a continuation of the Manga if the main source of Yugioh was the anime. As Kaiba got his closure in the Anime. Since he attended the duel between Atem and Yugi in that version of events. While in the Manga he wasn't there.
But the manga was directly written by Takahashi, even though he probably had some influence on the anime and it was more popular, that doesn’t discredit the mangas version of events which is definitively canon
In the original he always did, he simply argued that he didn't care and had nothing to do with him, which I think is much cooler, he sees magic and downright says he doesn't care
One thing not mentioned in the video is how the Gods perfectly mirror Yugi and Kaiba. Slifer draws his power through the unity of Yugi's deck gaining ATK for every card in his owner's hand , just like Atem becoming stronger through friendship. On the other hand Kaiba is willing to sacrifice even his allies in order to achieve victory just like Obelisk's effect is to tribute two monster on the same side of the field in order to deal enough damage to win most if not all of his duels. Also Slifer's attack can dwindle down to zero if you have no cards at your hand just like Atem almost surrendered when he felt alone in his duel with Darts whereas Obelisk has a determined 4000 attack reflecting the confidence of Kaiba to win under any and every circumstance.
Thought Kaiba should’ve had Slifer at some point because it was a dragon. But one, its too iconic now, two the colors feel right, and three this analysis
Kaiba is king. Not of something as meaningless as games or dueling, but of the world. Dude is literally the richest man on the planet and I don’t believe the law means much to kaiba.
Well, Blue-Eyes is the strongest monster in the game, the rarest card in the world and a symbol of power, so it's natural to use it as mascot when possible. Although his Blue-Eyes jet in the anime was a little too much imo.
Yu-gi-oh is a lot more deep than most people think or expect it to be. Honestly dark side of dimensions was an epilogue we all needed for the longest time and seeing this was so emotional. It's such a shame the creator is dead. I would've loved to see one day he returns to continue the story but this story is perfect as it is.
If I know my stuff (and boy I sure hope I do) I don't think Takahashi has been involved in any of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime or Manga since the Dark Side of Dimensions movie. Probably for the best really. I don't know how much he truly cared about the card game aspect of his story that eventually spun into its own massive enterprise, I'm sure he was proud but was fine with leaving it in the hands of others since to begin with the card game part of the original Yu-Gi-Oh story was like a single chapter or something. Maybe he could've done something else but it felt like as soon as he basically concluded the DM Manga with DSOD he did all he had to do and was satisfied with leaving it there. I could be totally wrong though but that's how I'd do it if I was him.
That's actually not an analysis but a mere fact. I really hated that the anime cut that scene for it was so valuable and very meaningful! OG Japanese Anime Seto is less cruel, more sane and less crazy than the OG Manga version but on the other hand even the Japanese Anime removed scenes like this when you feel that the less sane Manga version Seto is even "better" than the Japanese Anime character.
It's a shame subbed Yugioh is such a rarity among fans. While the dub is iconic in it's own right, the original story's depth and meaning is unmatched and sadly less well known than it should be. Learned a lot more about Kaiba and the threads woven throughout the story from this video, Thank you! And thank you Kazuki Takahashi for writing a story whose lessons will live with me so long as I draw breath.
Thank you! I really wish more people would give subbed Yu-Gi-Oh a chance! The 4kids dub had the side effect of now making it appear too childish to be enjoyed
english dubs have their problems but they were great for expanding the industry. for us who care, its so easy to find fan made english translations of manga and anime, because dubs helped people worldwide discover japanese series
@@hawshimagical Agreed entirely, I am a yugioh fan today because of the 4Kids dub making my childhood. It's just a shame that despite the enjoyable experience, Takahashi's deeper story elements never made their way to the vast majority of people who came in touch with yugioh
I love the dub and I'm a sub guy 90% of the time. Having the dub and sub be so vastly different allows me to have 2 different Yu-Gi-Oh! shows. It's like having an official Abridged version. It's too over the top to be un-enjoyable.
For sure, I heard about season 0, and had a morbid curiosity, so I tried it. I ended up loving it, but I was bummed when it ended. Then I decided to try the main anime with subs, and holy crap its like an entirely different show, it's nuts. The soundtrack alone is god tier, so epic, so emotional, its one of the most underrated soundtracks in anime tbh. "Joey" (Jonouchi) has a similar role in sub and dub, but in the sub, his significance in the plot seems much more justified. As cool as Kaiba is, the heart of this story is not Yugi vs. Kaiba (the first episode of the main anime). Its Yugi and Joey (the first episode of season 0/chapter of the manga). Even their names are a pun on the Japanese word for friendship (Yujo). Yugi wants to solve the puzzle, because it is rumored that the one who solves it will have a wish granted. His wish is to have a true friend (as he has none at this point in his life). In that episode, Yugi almost solves the puzzle, but he fails, because he is missing the final piece. That piece represents Joey, the person who COULD be his friend, but isn't. Ironically, Yugi has it backwards. He doesn't need the puzzle's magic to have a true friend. He can only solve the puzzle with the help of a friend. Yugi saves Joey (someone who bullied him daily) from a bigger bully, thus proving his own bravery and compassion, but this act is not enough to solve the puzzle. Friendship is not about 1 person helping another. It is about 2 people working together. Yugi can only solve the puzzle when Joey retrieves the final piece, returns it to Yugi, and comes to his rescue to protect him from the bully. His wish came true BEFORE he solved the puzzle. Yugi and Joey are a representation of friendship, while Kaiba is a lone wolf with the polar opposite philosophy on life. That's why Kaiba is obsessed with defeating Yugi: because Yugi represents a challenge to Kaiba's most deeply held beliefs. Yugi represents friendship, something Kaiba rejects. If he can defeat Yugi, he can prove his way of life superior, but he can't. Each time he loses, he is forced to consider "what if I'm wrong? What if HIS way is superior?"
One often overlooked aspect of Seto is why he is reincarnated the way he has been. It was a choice of his own. He refused to go to the afterlife without Kisara so his spirit remained in part on earth. It is established that souls can be split in this universe and we see a good example of it in the main character. Yugi is supposed ot be both a vessel for Aten as well as a reincarnation of him. Then the vessel dies, the part of the soul that contains one's memories remains in the afterlife and the rest that defines their base personality reincarnated. That's how the Pharoah and Yugi can exist as seperate entities while also being the same spiritual being. The soul of the Pharoah version never passed on properly. This is part of why memories becomes such an important aspect as it is the key definer of different incarnations of the same soul. We see a version of Priest Srto beyond the doors waiting for his Pharoah after the final duel. THIS is why Seto still has suncosious understanding of his past but not consuous recognition. Some of his past self had to move on but he refused to let that entire version of himself leave kissara behind. A part of the old priest Seto was transfered into his reincarnation when it shouldn't be unlike Yugi who was his own individual from Atem. Pegasus, Yugis Grandpa and Tea were all reincarnation of past Egyptian selves as well who refreshed when reincarnated, whole Kaiba remains the one retaining that link. This link is also why Kaiba has his obsession with the BEWD and feels continuously incomplete. He needs to constantly fill a hole he doesn't understand and can't fill. Something to note is that Preist Seto became the Pharoah after Atem in both the origional and memories world. When Shadi is first introduced, it is in the manga where they are in a museum. Shadi stands before a mummy of a Pharoah on display and has tears streaming down his cheeks but no other sign of sadness on his face. Yugi asks if he is ok and Shadi explains that the tears are not his but those of the Pharoah before them. He explains the Pharoah's spirit is unable to fully move on to the after and is forever earthbound in suffering as a result. Since the mummy can't cry, he is crying through Shadi as a vessel. This mummy is part of an exist from around the time period of the nameless Pharoah and millennium items buy could not be Atem as his own tomb has never been successfully excavated. The tombs location is a secret to all but a few natives, is guarded by the graveskeepers and protected by boobietraps. The outsider to enter and survive was Yugi's grandpa, the reincarnation of the highpriest who designed that tomb. The mummy Shadi is in front of is also tall, thin and with an older appearance than the child Atem would have been at birth. It seems yo be some extreme foreshadowing but I feel the implication is that the mummy is actually preist Seto. He would have immediatly succeeded Atem and still utilized the millennium items for his rule. It was the same kindom structure thanks to those items and his followers. This is just further proof that the spirit of Seto is facing a self inflicted torture as a result of his refusal to let go of Kisara. His suicide to face the Pharoah at the end of DSoD makes sense as he is literally sending himself to the same afterlife as the Pharoah. He thinks it is just to resolve the buisness of his current life but in reality he is also ensuring that missing piece of the Priest finally travels with him to where it was meant to be. The coat was the life of the his present incarnation and preventing it from going to whatever afterlife it should have been destined to but Kaiba's entire life was already altered by the priest's decision and his fate changed repeatedly. Kaiba would have and should have lost to Ishidhu but it was the piece of his past life's soul that responded to Rod (the past item he weilded) and altered his fate as it had done before and would do again. This is also why Yami Merik is not an ancient spirt. The ancient spirit tied to the Rod is already defying it's destiny and residing in its incarnation. This is similar with Atem and Bakura but for different purposes. Yami Bakura is a piece of Zorc Necrophedes sould implanted into the ring by the Thief King Bakura who was partially possessed by it and Atems soul was trapped in the puzzle with most of the remainder of Zorc. This caused the natural fates of all thsoe involved to be altered and why things happened the way they did in the modern day. Atem never intended for himself or Zorc to be freed but it had to happen. Shadi was also a part of this in the manga. It's revealed that he was a spirit all the time (gets confusing woth the DSoD lore.) He was a spirit servant called by Atems father toward the end of his life. It was believed the Pharoah died of grief when he learned the truth of the items but in reality he gave his life in a reverse deal to a light spirt to protect his son from he inpending consequences. Shadi was unsuccessful so he too was bound to earth until this wrong was righted. He set everything in motion and took the forms of Babosa and Mahdora to ensure Atem would finally get to go to the afterlife. This would finally allow Shadi to also rest, completing his agreement. Pegasus is a good example of a reincarnation who was brought into he mix but still void of his prior spirit. The high priest and uncle of Atem (father of Seto) had his own soul also tainted by Zorc but bound to his mummy. This is why Pegasus was still the rightful inherited of the eye but had none of his own past memories nor the evil corruption his past self was afflicted by. This was revealed in RPG game Bakura and Atem played with the mummy itself present to act as a side character in the role it previously played withing the world of the game. When Zorc was defeated, a physical slash showed up across the priest mummies face representing the destruction of its bound soul since it was intertwined with a piece of Zorcs. Bakura as well is an incarnation of the Thief King but without the memories or tasting of Zorc's soul. That part remained sealed in the ring. This and the part in the Priest's mummy where how Shadi was able to reverse the spell Atem cast using the Puzzle. When he sealed himself ans Zorc, he did not know zorc had already split his soul several times as a backup and hid them in other objects. When the ring came into contact with the Thief King's reincarnation, that piece of soul awake and when it came close to the ring containing the majority of Zorcs soul, it stengthend his powers and memories. This would allow the merely freed but also somewhat trapped spirit of the Pharoah to defeat Zorc in a way that allowed him to pass on. The one ancient soul that did not fully pass on or get destroyed before DSoD was that of priest Seto. This was the true final step of setting all the past events to rest for everyone involved. Even though Kaiba really shouldn't be in that afterlife designated for the Pharoahs and their servants, Atem embraces Kaiba's presence as it was the only way to finally complete the spirit of Seto who was both his own servant and a Pharoah in his own right. Pharaohs are viewed as gods incarnate by the Egyptian people both in our reality and Yugioh. This is why Atem not only and three natural Ka over the typical one but also Divine Ka. The importance of those Gods getting back to their place in the afterlife was very important. The entire events purpose were to get Atem back home so it makes sense Seto would also need to return by any means..even if it was his own decision not to go in the first place. Kazuki Takahashi expressed that he had intended to do a lot more with the Priest Seto character and his impact on Kaiba but had to cut things short due to time limits. I think these were at least aprt of his intentions as laid out by the set breadcrumbs throughout the series. DsoD was a way for him to make up for it, abliet in a still shorter manner.
How can Kaiba kill himself in DsoD if he also has to be alive and present to create Duel Academy for GX? Or some fan theories and think it's his (Kaiba Corps) fault for the explosion at the start of 5DS.
@@DodgeDart just one. Priest Seto is now complete and is now pharaoh Seto and we got Seto kaiba back in the present time of the manga now that the ancient spirits have been unified with Mahad and Kisara being restored again in death. To answer your question on Shadi though, DSOD Shadi is showing us prequel events that is solving a big cliffhanger that had existed for about 20 years. Shadi was once a living person before becoming a ghost by the will of The god of the Egyptian afterlife Anubis. Bakura evil was released because of his dads archeology dig about 5 years before yugi solves the puzzle. We know how Bakura got the ring and basically the memory Bakura gives us in the anime is a false one implanted by Bandit king Bakura and Zorc in the ring itself. The dub sorta butchers it saying something akin that bandit king Bakura killed him millennia ago. Technically this could still be true as ancient Shadi could have died fulfilling his duties only for his reincarnation master shin to also die at the hands of Bakura. Shadi would likely have a more complex memory that either Yugi or Seto combined but was prohibited to act unless needed because Shadi responded to the will of The Egyptian god of the dead and afterlife Anubis. Anubis I imagine would be petty as technically several people died before their time as a sacrifice to save the world and their pharaohs from Zorc. Zorc is likely a representation of the entity of chaos apep. But apep continues to come back so just like it’s mythology counterpart. every new villian in the yugioh extended cannon being a representation of darkness in human hearts likely are all going back to apep.
This whole video is pure gold. The depth and comprehensiveness of the analysis, the effort put into citing the source material, the organization, the seamless transitions. There was so much love and thought put into this project, and it shows. Thank you so, so very much. This fandom owes you a big one.
Kaiba is honestly one of the greatest examples of redemption in anime history. First he was a kind and visionary boy, whose dreams were to create the greatest lands for everyone to play, which were distorted by his foster father and made him corrupted enough to commit atrocities, sacrificing people, including that of his own blood, to achieve his goal. After several defeats, Kaiba slowly begins to return to his state of origin, yet with his desire to become the King of duelists and get rid of his harsh past. He had no friends in life, but with Yugi and his friends appearing in his way was the blessing he needed that battles do not always need to be faced alone, even making him be indebitted with the persons who help him. His first life as the high priest was probably the sweetest and cruelest of all the characters of the first series, yet he overcame fate, knowing he needed nothing else other than trust his belief and in the one card in his hand: The Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba always knew that when something was out of control, he would end up forgetting assignments of his opponents, including Yugi, to join forces to face this unkwown power, even giving him the power they need should he fall. Kaiba is a character i always admired in the series after Yugi and Atem. One hour or another, i always believed he wouldn't stay in his grudge and anger for the past any longer, and keep moving forward to follow his long lost desire to achieve his old dreams that he promised to Mokuba and himself, finally forgetting about the past, being open more open towards people and living life in the best way he was restricted from doing. In other words, an awesome character to be respected.
I never realized how beautiful the story is behind Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I've always been drawn to them and Kaiba and this Character Analysis just shows me why
The lore behind some Yugioh cards, even ones you would never expect, is unreal. Some of them have absolutely no right being as good/in depth as they are. Like the ones used by MC's and their friends and antagonists, sure. But there's even just some random cards that go surprisingly hard.
I think at the time he didn't understand the true meaning of his vision. He just knew that he trusted in Blue-Eyes. At first, he was drawn to it, because it was (in his view) the most powerful monster in the game, but in this situation Obelisk is superior. Choosing Blue-Eyes over Obelisk is technically against his normal philosophy of always using max power to crush his enemy, yet...it just felt right to him. I think at that time, he would just reject the vision as a day dream and nothing more, after all we all know magic is occult nonsense, he doesn't believe in that stuff (even after witnessing it first hand).
@marvelsandals, well, it's not that Kaiba doesn't believe in it. He's seen it first hand. The English Dub just makes him out to not believe in it whereas the sub has him acknowledge fate and destiny but still hold true to his own philosophy regarding abandoning the past. Kauba wholehearted thinks to himself if Ishizu actually can see the future and asked her if her vision of said vision included Blue-Eyes? Does a Guy who doesn't believe in such things ask another that?
@@SuperSayianWarrior I don't think that's true. In the sub he routinely laughs at the others and refers to anything magical as "more of your occult nonsense"
@marvelsandals yes he does, but he never outright denies its existence, plus real talk, how the hell could a man obsessed with God's and the like not believe in such things when he's seen jt, and seen people die because of it, then acknowledge said deathees as being worthy duelists?
@@SuperSayianWarrior Well, he does come around during season 5. When Yugi is dueling Atem, yes, he accepts the reality of what he's seeing, and the fact that his rival is Atem, not Yugi. Prior to season 5, he is extremely stubborn, and tries to explain away anything weird, a bit like Mr. Satan did during the Cell Games. If he sees a monster, then it was just a hologram, like the holograms his technology can produce, or perhaps he was just influenced by hypnosis or some trickery. Everyone knows that magic isn't real hahaha
Love it. I will say that it's interesting that Kaiba's unwillingness to let the past go this time was the thing that saved the day at the end of the movie, kind of showing not only one (power of unity/friendship) but both his lessons fully learned in the end.
Yes and no since him not being able to let go of the past started the entire plot. Like Diva and the others wouldn't have been in the tomb to be corrupted by the Ring if Kaiba wasn't there.
In a way, he accomplished what he once spoke of: letting go of the past, to build his future. To do that, he had to let go of the person he used to be (a lone wolf driven by hatred) to grow beyond the things that once held him back. He also had to let go of his goal of becoming the duel king/king of games and settle for just playing his favorite game with the player he respected the most.
This really explains Seto Kaiba's character very well. As someone who watched sub, I always thought Kaiba is well-written character. As much arrogant, drastic and angry jerk he can be, you can always see that he still have that honor and heart of gold deep inside him. His rivalry with Atem is LEGENDARY
I can't believe I just saw an almost 1 hour video talking about a character I thought I knew, just to realize how much I overlooked him. This "documentary" is by far the best and most complete analysis of Kaiba I've ever seen. You took the time to analize him from the season 0, from the manga and from the anime, even knowing there are remarkable differences between them; highlighting his evolution, passing from being the narcisist, egoist and arrogant jerk of the first episode, to become the man who accepts that he was never meant to be the best. A man who has no more demons inside. A man who didn't achieved nothing what he wanted, but got everything he really needed. A man who accepts his place as the second best duelist of history
I relate to Seto a lot, especially in the sense I feel like I lost my parents too early but I always had my brothers with me. Being the youngest though, I admire the strength of Seto and his willingness to forgo emotions if only to get him and his family (Mokuba) to the top.
There is a lot to unpack. I'm watching it like 5th time now. Not in a row, I'm just getting back to it every now and then and every time taking something else out of it. Great analysis, but I've also got to applaud the series itself for having such competent/appealing writing even if lacking at times.
I love that your channel is full of marvel and live action videos and then SETO KAIBA. You nailed this character analysis! I love Seto Kaiba. Would LOVE to see an analysis on Joey Wheeler/Jounouchi Katsuya!
Kaiba is the definition of a male Tsundere with infinite determination - he didn't get to say goodbye properly to the only person who he saw as an equal, so he found a way to. And that's what makes him the best character across all of YuGiOh - there is no doubt or hesitation - Seto Kaiba simply does what he determined to be right and that's that. Mortal logic or puny reasons do not sway him and he will march through hell and back to achieve his goal. He also doesn't have an inferiority complex like Jack that forces him to scream about how he is the "king" at every opportunity, nor is he blinded by emotion like Kaiser. He also has the maturity that Kaito lacks. The only ones that came even close to emulating two halves of him were Shun & Reiji from Arc V, one having his intensity and obsession, the other his calculation and skill.
@@paranidherc Your whole comment made no senese - not just the Kaito bit. How in the hell is Kaiser blinded by emotions? The Hell Kaiser who didn't hold a grudge against Edo for deafeating him? The guy who only cared about having a perfect duel. Kaiba is the one who shoots himself into another dimension because he totally isn't blinded by his petty emotions about losing to Atem.
@@cackle529 Because Kaiser only acts based on his desires, even if it kills him. He sees no reason to bear responsibility if it hinders him having an adrenaline rush. Shit, basically his whole arc of being Kaiser was him trying to stop being a pain-slut after getting addicted to it in the underground arena. Have you even watched the series? XDDD Please just sit down
I am very grateful for taking the time on making this great video, it brought me backs good old memories of Yu-Gi-Oh when i was a kid and appreciate all the good virtues that it taught us.
The lesson we can all take from Seto Kaiba's story is that denying your past doesn't get you anywhere. Accepting whatever happened and making peace with it is what we're supposed to do. This video was fascinating!!
I still call him Yami/the Pharaoh. For 99% of the series, not even he knew his own name. I think "Atem" represents the person he was in life, but when his soul was put into the puzzle/shared a body with Yugi, he lost his memories and took on a new form. He stopped being Atem and re-invented himself. The most important thing to Yami wasn't Egypt or people he knew thousands of years ago who were all long dead, but Yugi and his friends. We also see on many occasions how Yugi changes Yami for the better. Maybe at first Yami acted a lot like Atem, but knowing Yugi taught him the value of kindness, friendship, etc. I guess Yugi's partner through his adventure was just that. Only at the end, after completing his journey and saying goodbye could he be Atem again.
@Cloud strife's son I mean "Yami" is just short for "Yami Yugi" so I fail to see the issue lol. I prefer the sub to the dub, but as an english speaker I still call Jonouchi "Joey," because its obviously the same character, just the english name for him. Its odd that people actually dislike the nickname Yami for the Pharaoh, since it is pretty accurate. Even back in chapter 1 of the og manga, before we knew what was going on, we knew Yugi had a mysterious "dark side" that was like a different person, a "Dark Yugi." Yami is Japanese for dark. What's the issue here lol
@Cloud strife's son Interesting, I guess that makes sense. I mean sure, Yami is cool, but its unfortunate that people actually hate on Yugi as a character. Who solved the Millennium Puzzle? Who freed Yami from his 3000 year prison? Who shared his own body with his soul, because he didn't have one? In fact, you could argue that every time Yami possessed Yugi to play games, it wasn't 100% Yami, but the combined gaming skills of both minds working as one. Yugi grew up in a damn game shop. Before he solved the puzzle he didn't have any friends, so he probably spent his childhood playing games, not to mention his grandpa taught him how to play duel monsters in particular. What deck did Yami use throughout the series? Yugi's deck, the deck his grandpa gave him. These things didn't hinder Yami, they helped him. Ironically, in the final season (& the latest movie), Kaiba initially has the same attitude, as does Yami Bakura/Zorc. He attributes all of Yugi's talent to Yami, who he sees as the "true" king of games, and has no respect for Yugi, but in the duel between Yugi and Bakura, who wins? Who beats "Atem"? In the movie, who beats Kaiba? Yugi beats all of them, and he does it with his OWN deck, not the deck he took to Duelist Kingdom, but one he built himself. Yugi has always been the protagonist imo. Joey is one of the few who recognizes that. Joey is Yugi's best friend, not Atem's. He respects Atem, but Yugi is his bro.
Ugh this character analysis was so good! I literally almost cried at the end. It hurts that so many people miss out on these characters true development due to the English dub and changes made. Kaiba is an incredible rival and friend to the group and works so well as a foil to Atem and Yugi.
He's an incredible rival but he's not a friend to the group. He doesn't give two shits about anyone but Atem. If any of the geek squad drop dead in front of him, he wouldn't care one iota. and why would he? He barely has any interactions with any of them throughout the entire series. Think about it, Seto is almost always off on his own and most interactiosn with the main cast is directly with Atem, and a little with Yugi. The rest is just trash talking Joey.
@@Deathmare235 He only really grows to respect Yugi at the very end, when he beats Atem (and even then) and a bit more in the DSOD movie (Which isn't canon with the show). As for Joey, he never, ever respects Joey. Not even a little bit.
I first found this channel with the Hulk videos. Then I watched the Loki video and now this one. I am very impressed! My biggest regret with Yu-Gi-Oh was watching it dubbed vs subbed. It wasn't until after I watched Zexal in sub and saw sub clips on TH-cam that I realized what I missed. Kaiba is one of my fav Yu-Gi-Oh characters. His ambition and love for his brother makes him a fascinating character. What I like most is how he persevered despite the abuse he suffered. It helped shaped his character but didn't excuse his actions which I also liked. As much as I like Chazz and Ryouga Kaiba will always be my Yu-Gi-Oh rival GOAT.
This was hands down the best Kaiba video I ever watched. Perfect dissection of his character and everything that he is about. I need to watch DSOD again 🥇
Gozuburo also later revealed that he knew Seto had cheated. He only played on a whim thanks to the balls Kiaba showed and had origionally no intention of holding his end of the bargain if Seto won. He felt no shame if a kid called him a coward for not playing since he was a proven champion and could easily just make Seto disappear. The media meant nothing as he owned the media, and no one would be any of the wiser that he lost at a game of chess to a kid or went back on a bet. He instead conformed that it was Kaiba's willingness to cheat for the win that convinced him to adopt Seto. Gozubura felt a ruthless conviction to win no matter what was nessisary for good business and saw potential in Seto as an hier for doing this. Seto's skill meant nothing and wasn't even a part of why they were adopted, just his tenacity to win even by sacrificing his morals and personal pride.
It's kinda neat that even with the different ways the animated adaptations handled the original material, including the infamous green hair in the 98' series, Kaiba's character arc remains somewhat still consistent between both versions. Well, at least that's the impression I got from the video. Well done!
Kaiba is one of the best characters from the franchise & this character aged very well. This video is pure gold for someone who has got into the franchise during gradeschool.
29:32, it is often the people that try to destroy or bury the past and ridicule others for thinking about the past who are the ones that have fetishized the past. Seto doesn't define his future by what it could be, but by how it is not his past. Atem and Yugi however are the men with clear senses of the future and they define it by what it could be, it's atleast poetic if not outright ironic the man that acts like he is focused on the future is the one with the obsession with the past.
I appreciate the work you put into this analysis. I think you did a wonderful job of explaining Kaiba’s character and his experiences in his life shaping him to be the person we see at different points in the series. He’s a multilayered character and you broke down all of what makes him up. I hope you can do another analysis video of another character in the series!
For those who may be thinking "Kaiba didn't technically lose to Yugi since his life points didn't hit 0" yes....yes he did. If you keep up with what cards are in Kaibas hand and on his field at the time Yugi launches his final attack Kaiba only has 1 card in his hand (Monster Reborn) and two face down cards, 1 of which is a Trap that lets him activate a Spell from his hand during Yugi's turn and the other is Polymerization. He uses the Trap and Monster Reborn right before Yugi summons the Dark Magician. At this point Yugi has 1 monster, the Dark Magician, while Kaiba has no monsters on his field, in his graveyard, and no cards in his hand. The only card left is his facedown Polymerization. Simply put. Yugi won.
@@KenDaKingArrives Yup but I know a lot of Kaiba fans want to believe that he could have won still especially if they didn't follow the duel closely. I have to imagine Takahashi wanted that to be clear since this is probably the easiest duel to keep track of what is in both players hand's.
One could argue that Obelisk the Tormentor is a metaphor for Kaiba's step-father. They are both powerful entities that Kaiba ultimately utilizes, but only by casting aside Obelisk in the duel can Kaiba reach his own destiny. Only by conceding Obelisk to Yugi, can Yugi defeat Marik. And only by discarding his obsession with his step-father can Kaiba be freed of his past. The Duel Tower is also something that Kaiba obsesses over and represents Kaiba's ambition and power, but also represents his learned ideologies of destroying the past from his step-father, as it was built on top of his orphanage. Ultimately, he has to discard the Duel Tower to control his destiny. And to further intertwine these ideas and metaphors, the duel tower is literally an obelisk.
Connecting it to his dad is good stuff. I always just saw Obelisk as generically his goals of power/victory/etc, where as Blue Eyes, obviously, was more about love and compassion, representing his soul mate and he chose to achieve victory with that instead of purely negative ambition. But I like the idea of it representing his dad.
That was the best Kaiba analysis video I have ever watched. The work and passion here is incredible. I actually got emotional at the end. Thank you so much for your hard work. Kaiba is an amazing character.
You: "I completely forgot that I watched the dubbed version of YuGiOh, which is....nothing like the original." You speak like someone who watched the dubbed version, hence using Yugioh abridged phrases.
People, Kaiba didn't cheat against Gozaburou. Kazuki Takahashi himself explained how he won the chess game. Here's his explanation : This is a bit out of order compared to the content of the actual volume but I’d like to elaborate on the chapter where Seto and Mokuba were adopted by Gozaburou when they were still children. Seto and Mokuba, the two who had lost their parents at a young age. Betrayed by the adults they knew, they were sent to an orphanage, Seto at the age of 10, Mokuba at the age of five. It was one day that the head of the Kaiba Corporation, Gozaburou, was invited to visit the orphanage. Seto, in an attempt to flee from their life in the orphanage with his younger brother Mokuba, set up a game of chess with the victory condition of the two of them being adopted into the Kaiba household, however, their opponent was a chess grandmaster who had continuously won several chess world championships. What’s more, with his corporation occupying a space in the defense contracter industry, even there, he had made it to the very top - that is just the kind of tactical genius we are talking about here. The likelihood of Seto, at the mere age of 10, winning against Gozaburou was very close to 0 per cent. So, how did he pull off that win then? It’s not portrayed in the manga but I want to explain Seto’s way of cheating. As a matter of fact, with his first move already, the moment he moved his first pawn, he had already won the gamble. However, that required for certain conditions in the match with Gozaburou to be met. That condition was “I want you to play a game of chess against the two of us at the same time. Also, if just one of us manages to win or draw, you will adopt us into the Kaiba household.” - so in other words, he set up a two versus one game. For Gozaburou, who was the ruler of chess, to walk past this challenge from two children was unlikely, so he accepted these conditions. Unknowingly that his sense of pride lead to a blind spot. Gozaburou had two tables set up opposing him at opposite ends with him in the center, playing against both of them. At Seto’s table, Gozaburou moved his pawn, making the first move. Next in turn was Mokuba’s table, with Mokuba making his first move. That is when Mokuba copied the exact same move that Gozaburou had made at Seto’s table. It was at this moment that Gozaburou had already walked straight into their trap. All that was left was waiting for Gozaburou to make his second move against Mokuba. For Seto, it was enough to replicate that move. Gozaburou was now facing his own self in chess, with Seto’s chances for victory being guaranteed. Furthermore, Gozaburou’s shallow thinking of children in general made him overconfident from the get-go, so when he saw Seto who had opposed him calmly and set up this cheating scheme, he might have seen a glimpse in him becoming his own successor. The young Seto had no way of knowing that when he moved his first piece on that little chessboard, he was about to set his own fate into motion. - Kazuki Takahashi, Year 19 of Heisei, 18th of October
i love this video so much, it just brings back so much nostalgia and an appreciation for this character. it's so well done and well articulated. wow wow wow!!
Kaiba is the King of the Future. Just as Priest Seto was the King after Atem's fall with Zorc, Seto took up the reigns and with Obelisk ruled to make Egypt great, it is why the Millennium Tablet exists as it is because Priest Seto made it so, he prepared for the eventuality of Atem's return and chose to reincarnate with Atem within the same time 3000 years later. Seto will lead the future in regards to Atem's return preventing the Prana's dimensional ascension from happening and sealing off their powers. As Seto has practically developed technology in equal terms to the Prana's powers. And considering that the Prana are reincarnations that means Ishizu, Yugi, Mokuba (Maybe this was influenced by the Anime for me) and Seto, himself are also Prana but Seto realized it in the eventuality of Atem's return unconsciously. All Prana chose to reincarnate into harsh lives, for Atem and Yugi it was his loneliness, for Seto and Mokuba it was their relatives wasting their fortune and sending them to an adoption center, for Ishizu it was being a tomb keeper, and for Shadi Shin well he explains it and suffers the life as a tomb keeper and its eventuality. (It's pretty wonky and interesting, Atem gets sealed for 3000 years, his reincarnation completes the puzzle, then defeats him then goes back to the afterlife 3000 years ago to reincarnate as Yugi but before that Priest Seto as his reincarnation as Seto Kaiba comes to challenge in the afterlife, it's a relationship that transcends 3 lifetimes, their past selves, their past selves' afterlives, and their current lives)
10:15 remember this is also the same point in time where Kaiba is about to introduce the rule where you have to tribute high-level monsters, symbolizing his new respect for rules and fair play.
This was actually beautiful, it legit had me crying a little in certain parts, thank you for making this video! I genuinely hope to see more of this with other Yu-Gi-Oh! characters!
Yugioh has been about Kaiba the entire time! A great arc for his character, it was awesome that kaiba built the means to go into the underworld just to find atem and duel him again most excellent
The next YuGiOh character analysis should involve Yugi and Atem, given the I believe confirmed theory that Yugi is the reincarnated body of Atem and is Atem's Innocence, Timidness, and Kindness in modern day. And when Yugi resurrected Atem, that put Yugi on the path of regaining his courage through his time with Atem and Atem regaining his kindness through his time with Yugi and during and after the final duel and then Atem passed on, Yugi became the complete modern day reincarnation of Atem. Especially when you got by the dub when Atem's inner thoughts were changed into Yugi's.
Literally the best Kaiba analysis I've ever seen in my life...and I'm watching Yugioh since the show's very beginning!!!!!!! I checked the channel and saw that you have done only one video on Yugioh. Does this mean that you watched the entire DM series plus youtube theories plus DM manga plus season zero, only to make one video? You're amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great manga canon video that doesn't wrongfully insert anime original material. I only started disagreeing with you starting at 52:48 to the end (which I explained in my comment below), but that was one of the parts I was expecting. lol Anyway, Takahashi showed why Kaiba is the best rival in manga.
I kid you not, I bet kaiba would pull a lego batman and would go to either the same orphanage that he and mokuba were sent to or other orphanages just to make the children there happy, basically giving them the happiness that he didn't get. It just sounds like something he would do, or at least mokuba
"He inherited a weapons development company and turned it into the world's greatest games company" And he did this while he was in the grips of the psychosis his adoptive father cursed him with. Lesser individuals would have fully succumbed to greed and powerlust and continued Gozaburo's iron mongering even in a far more stable state of mind. We actually also see something like this with Death-T - the "death traps" aren't actually deadly and seem to have failsafes built in, with the idea being more to simulate deadly scenarios rather than actual death, effectively making the whole thing an extreme thrill attraction. We saw that Honda survived being "crushed" by the falling blocks - in the manga, he's rescued by Mokuba, while in Season 0 we find him trapped in a giant hourglass. If I were to give Kaiba a D&D alignment overall, I'd say he's a very rare example of a heroic Lawful Evil character. His arrogance and lack of any self-accountability for his past actions, along with his selfishness would easily put him in the evil category, and his adherence to rules and a personal code of honor classifies him as lawful. But even so, his motives (at least once he breaks through his psychosis with a bit of help from Atem) are ultimately either benevolent or at worst neutral. A perfect example of "good is not nice" - much like Yami Yugi in Season 0, actually.
First off, I have to thank you for this very informative and well-made video, it's visible from far away that you made it all great, and to be fair, I haven't seen almost any similar analysis close to yours, I've almost all the time created similar analyses and theories in my head and sadly I couldn't see much similar stuff from others (the difference between similar videos from others and this here, is the fact that you've focused on analyzing the characters and not talking mainly about the duels and monsters, etc, but instead get right in the core of characters' feelings and motives), no matter where I look and I've always seeked to see more detailed and deep analysis of my favorite characters (which in my case are most likely from Yu-Gi-Oh) and you just gave me the needed satisfaction and showed me that there's somebody with the same ambition to even create a video about this. For future reference, do you mind checking next Jack Atlas's character and analyse it? (maybe even in the future if it's possible to check Yusei Fudo too). I know that these types of videos are incredibly hard to do and take a lot of time, however, I want to leave you notified that you made my day with this video, and someone making my day rarely happens.
lol true Kaiba is the modern day Pharaoh and king of games, his empire is beyond anything Atem could have imagined. He doesn't have magic, but he doesn't need it: he has the "magic" of modern science which can conjure up holograms of the monsters with ease.
Can you imagine being some rando duel monsters fan in DSOD and having to listen to kaiba and yugi ranting about a pharaoh during the most anticipated match of the games history.
This video is so well made I don't understand why don't you have more subscribers It is crime that you havd so less subscriber to appreciate the content you put out
I love that even almost 20 years since the series ended with really no other continuations besides DSOD people still talk about Yugioh (the original) passionately. Goes to show how legendary of a series it is.
Probably my favorite thing about this analysis, is the subtlety of every single detail in a character's development. Both the anime and manga, while they talk pretty much into your face what a character needs to learn and how they're supposed to do it, they proceed to show the development rather than even mention it. Like Kaiba's believe in unity is shown slowly but surely throughout both stories, but we're only shown that he learns his lessons rather than being told to us that he has actually changed. It's that sense of progression and respect for the reader that makes YGO a very interesting series to watch.
That was amazingly well done. I absolutely adore the original Yu-Gi-Oh series, and have seen and read all of its incarnations. And I must say that this analysis was thorough, well researched, thought provoking, and even heartfelt. I admire how much you respected the source material and even chose the perfect clips to prove every single one of your points. I would like to see even more of these studies with the other characters if possible! But regardless I simply must commend you on this extraordinary video essay! ❤
I don't often leave comments, but damn this was such a good video. In depth analysis, perfect explanations 10/10. You earned yourself a sub. Hope to see more of these.
I wonder if that guy who was rude to Takahashi at a Magic the Gathering tournament ever found out he's the inspiration for the greatest rival in all of anime.
Dude, Kiaba turned the world into a cyber punk, Syfy badass realm of coolness, because he wanted to make a game more serious. I’m pretty sure the man created time travel because he was not gonna let his rival duck out of a rematch. He’s like if Elon musk and Tony Stark had a kid that was really into gaming. He’s pretty cool.
Oh my this is the best character analysis of Kaiba I've ever seen...perfectly quoted, interpreted and delivered I was fighting back tears by the end. Beautiful! Original Yu-Gi-Oh really was The King of Games!
From an orphaned child wronged with a cruel past, to a teen with nothing but bitterness, anger and hate in his heart and eventually a man of honor integrity and humility. All of these make seto kaiba who he is; he carved his future, leanred to accept his past, reforge his heart and become whole once more. He and vegeta are the pinnacle of shonen rivals and true epitomes of a redemption arc. Though i wonder considering kaiba has traveled into the afterlife and by extentsion priest seto soul back home will he have finally seen kisara once more though if anything im certain seto at long last has found peace.
I watched this video in its entirety and I have to say: hats off, my friend. This is was both a great analysis and a perfect tribute to Seto Kaiba. Looking forward to see more of your work.
Kaiba is my favorite character in Yu-Gi-OH, Mostly Because he cool and He can change Destiny or make the Impossibe possible. The man is willing to sacrifice God for Her his Wife.
29:08 I'm gonna assume he just wore whatever oversized suit was around because he was gonna grow into it or maybe it would just turn smaller after washing it so that it fit him in time for the season 5 tournament.
Nah. It's just a filler arc meant to give the manga time to get ahead. Unfortunately, filler arcs in those days were seen by those working on the project as an excuse to phone it in.
Yo I watched the old anime a lot as a kid. And now like 20 years later I'm just realizing the hand mark tattoo between the duel friends is a smile face. Omg I always just saw a bunch of squiggly lines. I feel dumb
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This was awesome! Would you ever do more character analyses like for Atem or Yugi?
Syrus vs Makoto
You deserve a lot mre subcribers my friend
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Do one about Jaden Yuki
Kaiba as a character has thought me a valuable lesson
Get yourself a dragon god woman that will fight to protect you from across space and time
I mean, if you can’t get a dragon waifu…what are you doing with your life?
And sacrificing god he taught me that too
Facts
I ask myself if Kaiba would drop Blue-Eyes for Dragonmaids if it was released in his time.
Luke Stanojevic: *taught
Kaiba didn't want to duel Atem in DSOD just because of his obsession with becoming Duel King; dueling Atem was his way of gaining closure and saying goodbye to his friend (he had this motive even before dueling Yugi and was grieving throughout the whole movie the loss of his only friend). Also, I don't think his smile in the match against Yugi means he's letting go of his ambition to become Duel King (I don't think Kaiba would ever let go of his ambition to be the best), it's more likely that he was relieved that Atem lost to a worthy opponent and that Yugi's victory wasn't a mere fluke.
It is hard to view DSOD as a continuation of the Manga if the main source of Yugioh was the anime. As Kaiba got his closure in the Anime. Since he attended the duel between Atem and Yugi in that version of events. While in the Manga he wasn't there.
But the manga was directly written by Takahashi, even though he probably had some influence on the anime and it was more popular, that doesn’t discredit the mangas version of events which is definitively canon
@@jalencunningham2012 yes let us remember the manga came first.
That’s if he even lost. He had a face down card and we never got to see it because the duel got interrupted.
@@Theoriginalotaku96 I think there’s a video online that shows that it was a card that wouldn’t get Kaiba out the situation
I love that he acknowledges the supernatural, because he just got physical access to it, by his own terms.
Kaiba by the way we are opening tours to the after life
In the original he always did, he simply argued that he didn't care and had nothing to do with him, which I think is much cooler, he sees magic and downright says he doesn't care
One thing not mentioned in the video is how the Gods perfectly mirror Yugi and Kaiba. Slifer draws his power through the unity of Yugi's deck gaining ATK for every card in his owner's hand , just like Atem becoming stronger through friendship. On the other hand Kaiba is willing to sacrifice even his allies in order to achieve victory just like Obelisk's effect is to tribute two monster on the same side of the field in order to deal enough damage to win most if not all of his duels. Also Slifer's attack can dwindle down to zero if you have no cards at your hand just like Atem almost surrendered when he felt alone in his duel with Darts whereas Obelisk has a determined 4000 attack reflecting the confidence of Kaiba to win under any and every circumstance.
That’s some good analysis right there mate 🤓
And Ra is just an ass like Marik
Thought Kaiba should’ve had Slifer at some point because it was a dragon. But one, its too iconic now, two the colors feel right, and three this analysis
And Ra’s abilities costing Life Points mirrors Marik’s pain and suffering, even literally through his style of Shadow Game?
Huh.... interesting. Never really thought about that before.
That closing line punched me in the throat.
"Kaiba will never be King. But that's okay. Because he's already won so much more."
The love he has for his kid brother, Mokuba, makes Seto a winner in my book!
@@leociresi4292 My pride in him doesn't end there. He was a fantastic rival to Atem and his morals.
Kaiba is king. Not of something as meaningless as games or dueling, but of the world. Dude is literally the richest man on the planet and I don’t believe the law means much to kaiba.
Yes. Kaiba finally won self-respect.
@@BoggiFroggy He had that from the beginning. Why do you think he didn’t want associate with Joey?
"He would be inexplicably drawn to the image of her dragon"
*shows Blue-Eyes statues, jets, lottery machine, and more* LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Well, Blue-Eyes is the strongest monster in the game, the rarest card in the world and a symbol of power, so it's natural to use it as mascot when possible. Although his Blue-Eyes jet in the anime was a little too much imo.
@@kindlingking You mean his jet is not enough WE NEED MORE
Yu-gi-oh is a lot more deep than most people think or expect it to be. Honestly dark side of dimensions was an epilogue we all needed for the longest time and seeing this was so emotional. It's such a shame the creator is dead. I would've loved to see one day he returns to continue the story but this story is perfect as it is.
It's actually very deep and fucked up. I love it.
@@cutekitty1212 very fun lore.
@@locodesert2 suicide, serial killers, gambling, and child abuse sounds like some good old Japanese children literature
@@mrnukes797 true
If I know my stuff (and boy I sure hope I do) I don't think Takahashi has been involved in any of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime or Manga since the Dark Side of Dimensions movie.
Probably for the best really. I don't know how much he truly cared about the card game aspect of his story that eventually spun into its own massive enterprise, I'm sure he was proud but was fine with leaving it in the hands of others since to begin with the card game part of the original Yu-Gi-Oh story was like a single chapter or something.
Maybe he could've done something else but it felt like as soon as he basically concluded the DM Manga with DSOD he did all he had to do and was satisfied with leaving it there.
I could be totally wrong though but that's how I'd do it if I was him.
I really love the analysis with Kaiba sympathising with Ishizu. One of the best moments Kaiba had in the series imo
So true! The best.
The conversation they had in the Japanese version was much friendlier than the dub
That's actually not an analysis but a mere fact. I really hated that the anime cut that scene for it was so valuable and very meaningful! OG Japanese Anime Seto is less cruel, more sane and less crazy than the OG Manga version but on the other hand even the Japanese Anime removed scenes like this when you feel that the less sane Manga version Seto is even "better" than the Japanese Anime character.
@@duomaxwell2293 they don't stop spreading bs, please
It's a shame subbed Yugioh is such a rarity among fans.
While the dub is iconic in it's own right, the original story's depth and meaning is unmatched and sadly less well known than it should be.
Learned a lot more about Kaiba and the threads woven throughout the story from this video, Thank you!
And thank you Kazuki Takahashi for writing a story whose lessons will live with me so long as I draw breath.
Thank you! I really wish more people would give subbed Yu-Gi-Oh a chance! The 4kids dub had the side effect of now making it appear too childish to be enjoyed
english dubs have their problems but they were great for expanding the industry. for us who care, its so easy to find fan made english translations of manga and anime, because dubs helped people worldwide discover japanese series
@@hawshimagical Agreed entirely, I am a yugioh fan today because of the 4Kids dub making my childhood. It's just a shame that despite the enjoyable experience, Takahashi's deeper story elements never made their way to the vast majority of people who came in touch with yugioh
I love the dub and I'm a sub guy 90% of the time. Having the dub and sub be so vastly different allows me to have 2 different Yu-Gi-Oh! shows. It's like having an official Abridged version. It's too over the top to be un-enjoyable.
For sure, I heard about season 0, and had a morbid curiosity, so I tried it. I ended up loving it, but I was bummed when it ended. Then I decided to try the main anime with subs, and holy crap its like an entirely different show, it's nuts. The soundtrack alone is god tier, so epic, so emotional, its one of the most underrated soundtracks in anime tbh.
"Joey" (Jonouchi) has a similar role in sub and dub, but in the sub, his significance in the plot seems much more justified. As cool as Kaiba is, the heart of this story is not Yugi vs. Kaiba (the first episode of the main anime). Its Yugi and Joey (the first episode of season 0/chapter of the manga). Even their names are a pun on the Japanese word for friendship (Yujo).
Yugi wants to solve the puzzle, because it is rumored that the one who solves it will have a wish granted. His wish is to have a true friend (as he has none at this point in his life). In that episode, Yugi almost solves the puzzle, but he fails, because he is missing the final piece. That piece represents Joey, the person who COULD be his friend, but isn't. Ironically, Yugi has it backwards. He doesn't need the puzzle's magic to have a true friend. He can only solve the puzzle with the help of a friend.
Yugi saves Joey (someone who bullied him daily) from a bigger bully, thus proving his own bravery and compassion, but this act is not enough to solve the puzzle. Friendship is not about 1 person helping another. It is about 2 people working together. Yugi can only solve the puzzle when Joey retrieves the final piece, returns it to Yugi, and comes to his rescue to protect him from the bully. His wish came true BEFORE he solved the puzzle.
Yugi and Joey are a representation of friendship, while Kaiba is a lone wolf with the polar opposite philosophy on life. That's why Kaiba is obsessed with defeating Yugi: because Yugi represents a challenge to Kaiba's most deeply held beliefs. Yugi represents friendship, something Kaiba rejects. If he can defeat Yugi, he can prove his way of life superior, but he can't. Each time he loses, he is forced to consider "what if I'm wrong? What if HIS way is superior?"
One often overlooked aspect of Seto is why he is reincarnated the way he has been. It was a choice of his own. He refused to go to the afterlife without Kisara so his spirit remained in part on earth. It is established that souls can be split in this universe and we see a good example of it in the main character. Yugi is supposed ot be both a vessel for Aten as well as a reincarnation of him. Then the vessel dies, the part of the soul that contains one's memories remains in the afterlife and the rest that defines their base personality reincarnated. That's how the Pharoah and Yugi can exist as seperate entities while also being the same spiritual being. The soul of the Pharoah version never passed on properly. This is part of why memories becomes such an important aspect as it is the key definer of different incarnations of the same soul. We see a version of Priest Srto beyond the doors waiting for his Pharoah after the final duel. THIS is why Seto still has suncosious understanding of his past but not consuous recognition. Some of his past self had to move on but he refused to let that entire version of himself leave kissara behind. A part of the old priest Seto was transfered into his reincarnation when it shouldn't be unlike Yugi who was his own individual from Atem. Pegasus, Yugis Grandpa and Tea were all reincarnation of past Egyptian selves as well who refreshed when reincarnated, whole Kaiba remains the one retaining that link. This link is also why Kaiba has his obsession with the BEWD and feels continuously incomplete. He needs to constantly fill a hole he doesn't understand and can't fill. Something to note is that Preist Seto became the Pharoah after Atem in both the origional and memories world. When Shadi is first introduced, it is in the manga where they are in a museum. Shadi stands before a mummy of a Pharoah on display and has tears streaming down his cheeks but no other sign of sadness on his face. Yugi asks if he is ok and Shadi explains that the tears are not his but those of the Pharoah before them. He explains the Pharoah's spirit is unable to fully move on to the after and is forever earthbound in suffering as a result. Since the mummy can't cry, he is crying through Shadi as a vessel. This mummy is part of an exist from around the time period of the nameless Pharoah and millennium items buy could not be Atem as his own tomb has never been successfully excavated. The tombs location is a secret to all but a few natives, is guarded by the graveskeepers and protected by boobietraps. The outsider to enter and survive was Yugi's grandpa, the reincarnation of the highpriest who designed that tomb. The mummy Shadi is in front of is also tall, thin and with an older appearance than the child Atem would have been at birth. It seems yo be some extreme foreshadowing but I feel the implication is that the mummy is actually preist Seto. He would have immediatly succeeded Atem and still utilized the millennium items for his rule. It was the same kindom structure thanks to those items and his followers. This is just further proof that the spirit of Seto is facing a self inflicted torture as a result of his refusal to let go of Kisara. His suicide to face the Pharoah at the end of DSoD makes sense as he is literally sending himself to the same afterlife as the Pharoah. He thinks it is just to resolve the buisness of his current life but in reality he is also ensuring that missing piece of the Priest finally travels with him to where it was meant to be. The coat was the life of the his present incarnation and preventing it from going to whatever afterlife it should have been destined to but Kaiba's entire life was already altered by the priest's decision and his fate changed repeatedly. Kaiba would have and should have lost to Ishidhu but it was the piece of his past life's soul that responded to Rod (the past item he weilded) and altered his fate as it had done before and would do again. This is also why Yami Merik is not an ancient spirt. The ancient spirit tied to the Rod is already defying it's destiny and residing in its incarnation. This is similar with Atem and Bakura but for different purposes. Yami Bakura is a piece of Zorc Necrophedes sould implanted into the ring by the Thief King Bakura who was partially possessed by it and Atems soul was trapped in the puzzle with most of the remainder of Zorc. This caused the natural fates of all thsoe involved to be altered and why things happened the way they did in the modern day. Atem never intended for himself or Zorc to be freed but it had to happen. Shadi was also a part of this in the manga. It's revealed that he was a spirit all the time (gets confusing woth the DSoD lore.) He was a spirit servant called by Atems father toward the end of his life. It was believed the Pharoah died of grief when he learned the truth of the items but in reality he gave his life in a reverse deal to a light spirt to protect his son from he inpending consequences. Shadi was unsuccessful so he too was bound to earth until this wrong was righted. He set everything in motion and took the forms of Babosa and Mahdora to ensure Atem would finally get to go to the afterlife. This would finally allow Shadi to also rest, completing his agreement. Pegasus is a good example of a reincarnation who was brought into he mix but still void of his prior spirit. The high priest and uncle of Atem (father of Seto) had his own soul also tainted by Zorc but bound to his mummy. This is why Pegasus was still the rightful inherited of the eye but had none of his own past memories nor the evil corruption his past self was afflicted by. This was revealed in RPG game Bakura and Atem played with the mummy itself present to act as a side character in the role it previously played withing the world of the game. When Zorc was defeated, a physical slash showed up across the priest mummies face representing the destruction of its bound soul since it was intertwined with a piece of Zorcs. Bakura as well is an incarnation of the Thief King but without the memories or tasting of Zorc's soul. That part remained sealed in the ring. This and the part in the Priest's mummy where how Shadi was able to reverse the spell Atem cast using the Puzzle. When he sealed himself ans Zorc, he did not know zorc had already split his soul several times as a backup and hid them in other objects. When the ring came into contact with the Thief King's reincarnation, that piece of soul awake and when it came close to the ring containing the majority of Zorcs soul, it stengthend his powers and memories. This would allow the merely freed but also somewhat trapped spirit of the Pharoah to defeat Zorc in a way that allowed him to pass on. The one ancient soul that did not fully pass on or get destroyed before DSoD was that of priest Seto. This was the true final step of setting all the past events to rest for everyone involved. Even though Kaiba really shouldn't be in that afterlife designated for the Pharoahs and their servants, Atem embraces Kaiba's presence as it was the only way to finally complete the spirit of Seto who was both his own servant and a Pharoah in his own right. Pharaohs are viewed as gods incarnate by the Egyptian people both in our reality and Yugioh. This is why Atem not only and three natural Ka over the typical one but also Divine Ka. The importance of those Gods getting back to their place in the afterlife was very important. The entire events purpose were to get Atem back home so it makes sense Seto would also need to return by any means..even if it was his own decision not to go in the first place. Kazuki Takahashi expressed that he had intended to do a lot more with the Priest Seto character and his impact on Kaiba but had to cut things short due to time limits. I think these were at least aprt of his intentions as laid out by the set breadcrumbs throughout the series. DsoD was a way for him to make up for it, abliet in a still shorter manner.
How can Kaiba kill himself in DsoD if he also has to be alive and present to create Duel Academy for GX? Or some fan theories and think it's his (Kaiba Corps) fault for the explosion at the start of 5DS.
Kazuki dead.
Yeah no it’s canon kaiba left the afterlife there’s art of him and yugi playing the game yugi made and it’s stated to be canon and after the movie
@@logandelaharpe6362 So are there two Kaibas in ancient Egypt now?
@@DodgeDart just one. Priest Seto is now complete and is now pharaoh Seto and we got Seto kaiba back in the present time of the manga now that the ancient spirits have been unified with Mahad and Kisara being restored again in death.
To answer your question on Shadi though, DSOD Shadi is showing us prequel events that is solving a big cliffhanger that had existed for about 20 years. Shadi was once a living person before becoming a ghost by the will of The god of the Egyptian afterlife Anubis. Bakura evil was released because of his dads archeology dig about 5 years before yugi solves the puzzle. We know how Bakura got the ring and basically the memory Bakura gives us in the anime is a false one implanted by Bandit king Bakura and Zorc in the ring itself.
The dub sorta butchers it saying something akin that bandit king Bakura killed him millennia ago. Technically this could still be true as ancient Shadi could have died fulfilling his duties only for his reincarnation master shin to also die at the hands of Bakura.
Shadi would likely have a more complex memory that either Yugi or Seto combined but was prohibited to act unless needed because Shadi responded to the will of The Egyptian god of the dead and afterlife Anubis.
Anubis I imagine would be petty as technically several people died before their time as a sacrifice to save the world and their pharaohs from Zorc.
Zorc is likely a representation of the entity of chaos apep. But apep continues to come back so just like it’s mythology counterpart. every new villian in the yugioh extended cannon being a representation of darkness in human hearts likely are all going back to apep.
This whole video is pure gold. The depth and comprehensiveness of the analysis, the effort put into citing the source material, the organization, the seamless transitions. There was so much love and thought put into this project, and it shows. Thank you so, so very much. This fandom owes you a big one.
Kaiba is honestly one of the greatest examples of redemption in anime history. First he was a kind and visionary boy, whose dreams were to create the greatest lands for everyone to play, which were distorted by his foster father and made him corrupted enough to commit atrocities, sacrificing people, including that of his own blood, to achieve his goal. After several defeats, Kaiba slowly begins to return to his state of origin, yet with his desire to become the King of duelists and get rid of his harsh past. He had no friends in life, but with Yugi and his friends appearing in his way was the blessing he needed that battles do not always need to be faced alone, even making him be indebitted with the persons who help him. His first life as the high priest was probably the sweetest and cruelest of all the characters of the first series, yet he overcame fate, knowing he needed nothing else other than trust his belief and in the one card in his hand: The Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba always knew that when something was out of control, he would end up forgetting assignments of his opponents, including Yugi, to join forces to face this unkwown power, even giving him the power they need should he fall.
Kaiba is a character i always admired in the series after Yugi and Atem. One hour or another, i always believed he wouldn't stay in his grudge and anger for the past any longer, and keep moving forward to follow his long lost desire to achieve his old dreams that he promised to Mokuba and himself, finally forgetting about the past, being open more open towards people and living life in the best way he was restricted from doing. In other words, an awesome character to be respected.
He didn’t really get redemption though
His redemption only happened cause he was mind crushed, he’s probably the most evil villain in the series after yami Marik and zorc
Kaiba is Vegeta
@@LamarcusMassey-eo1lp but Vegeta was actually good
I never realized how beautiful the story is behind Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I've always been drawn to them and Kaiba and this Character Analysis just shows me why
The lore behind some Yugioh cards, even ones you would never expect, is unreal. Some of them have absolutely no right being as good/in depth as they are. Like the ones used by MC's and their friends and antagonists, sure. But there's even just some random cards that go surprisingly hard.
Sucks that blue eyes white dragon outshines red eyes black dragon in everything, even in lore
@@Johnwillson-n7vthe best ones are the ones that are game original, like albaz
He had easily one of the greatest character development any anime character has ever had.
Easily top 20, yeah.
Kaiba is one of the coolest anime characters for sure
He’s not necessarily evil, but he is lost in greed
@@leociresi4292he was definitely really evil
Also, it's ironic that Kaiba hates the past when he has a vision of the past to allow him to forge his own future.
I think at the time he didn't understand the true meaning of his vision. He just knew that he trusted in Blue-Eyes. At first, he was drawn to it, because it was (in his view) the most powerful monster in the game, but in this situation Obelisk is superior. Choosing Blue-Eyes over Obelisk is technically against his normal philosophy of always using max power to crush his enemy, yet...it just felt right to him. I think at that time, he would just reject the vision as a day dream and nothing more, after all we all know magic is occult nonsense, he doesn't believe in that stuff (even after witnessing it first hand).
@marvelsandals, well, it's not that Kaiba doesn't believe in it. He's seen it first hand. The English Dub just makes him out to not believe in it whereas the sub has him acknowledge fate and destiny but still hold true to his own philosophy regarding abandoning the past. Kauba wholehearted thinks to himself if Ishizu actually can see the future and asked her if her vision of said vision included Blue-Eyes? Does a Guy who doesn't believe in such things ask another that?
@@SuperSayianWarrior I don't think that's true. In the sub he routinely laughs at the others and refers to anything magical as "more of your occult nonsense"
@marvelsandals yes he does, but he never outright denies its existence, plus real talk, how the hell could a man obsessed with God's and the like not believe in such things when he's seen jt, and seen people die because of it, then acknowledge said deathees as being worthy duelists?
@@SuperSayianWarrior Well, he does come around during season 5. When Yugi is dueling Atem, yes, he accepts the reality of what he's seeing, and the fact that his rival is Atem, not Yugi.
Prior to season 5, he is extremely stubborn, and tries to explain away anything weird, a bit like Mr. Satan did during the Cell Games. If he sees a monster, then it was just a hologram, like the holograms his technology can produce, or perhaps he was just influenced by hypnosis or some trickery. Everyone knows that magic isn't real hahaha
Love it.
I will say that it's interesting that Kaiba's unwillingness to let the past go this time was the thing that saved the day at the end of the movie, kind of showing not only one (power of unity/friendship) but both his lessons fully learned in the end.
Yes and no since him not being able to let go of the past started the entire plot. Like Diva and the others wouldn't have been in the tomb to be corrupted by the Ring if Kaiba wasn't there.
In a way, he accomplished what he once spoke of: letting go of the past, to build his future. To do that, he had to let go of the person he used to be (a lone wolf driven by hatred) to grow beyond the things that once held him back. He also had to let go of his goal of becoming the duel king/king of games and settle for just playing his favorite game with the player he respected the most.
@@marvelsandals4228his motive was still the same though (beating Atem) so he hasn’t really changed
This really explains Seto Kaiba's character very well. As someone who watched sub, I always thought Kaiba is well-written character. As much arrogant, drastic and angry jerk he can be, you can always see that he still have that honor and heart of gold deep inside him. His rivalry with Atem is LEGENDARY
I can't believe I just saw an almost
1 hour video talking about a character I thought I knew, just to realize how much I overlooked him.
This "documentary" is by far the best and most complete analysis of Kaiba I've ever seen. You took the time to analize him from the season 0, from the manga and from the anime, even knowing there are remarkable differences between them; highlighting his evolution, passing from being the narcisist, egoist and arrogant jerk of the first episode, to become the man who accepts that he was never meant to be the best. A man who has no more demons inside. A man who didn't achieved nothing what he wanted, but got everything he really needed. A man who accepts his place as the second best duelist of history
I relate to Seto a lot, especially in the sense I feel like I lost my parents too early but I always had my brothers with me. Being the youngest though, I admire the strength of Seto and his willingness to forgo emotions if only to get him and his family (Mokuba) to the top.
There is a lot to unpack. I'm watching it like 5th time now. Not in a row, I'm just getting back to it every now and then and every time taking something else out of it.
Great analysis, but I've also got to applaud the series itself for having such competent/appealing writing even if lacking at times.
I love that your channel is full of marvel and live action videos and then SETO KAIBA. You nailed this character analysis! I love Seto Kaiba. Would LOVE to see an analysis on Joey Wheeler/Jounouchi Katsuya!
"Kaiba upholds the rules"
Must resist Little Kuriboh reference
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
“As President of Kaiba Corp, I declare this invalid!”🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
“Screw the money, I have rules”
Kaiba is the definition of a male Tsundere with infinite determination - he didn't get to say goodbye properly to the only person who he saw as an equal, so he found a way to. And that's what makes him the best character across all of YuGiOh - there is no doubt or hesitation - Seto Kaiba simply does what he determined to be right and that's that. Mortal logic or puny reasons do not sway him and he will march through hell and back to achieve his goal.
He also doesn't have an inferiority complex like Jack that forces him to scream about how he is the "king" at every opportunity, nor is he blinded by emotion like Kaiser. He also has the maturity that Kaito lacks. The only ones that came even close to emulating two halves of him were Shun & Reiji from Arc V, one having his intensity and obsession, the other his calculation and skill.
Bruh - more mature than Kaito 💀 Kaiba is an autistic manchild with whom Kaito would mop the floor with. Kaito was everything Kaiba wanted to be.
@@cackle529 LuL, we found the one guy who likes Kaito
@@paranidherc Your whole comment made no senese - not just the Kaito bit. How in the hell is Kaiser blinded by emotions? The Hell Kaiser who didn't hold a grudge against Edo for deafeating him? The guy who only cared about having a perfect duel. Kaiba is the one who shoots himself into another dimension because he totally isn't blinded by his petty emotions about losing to Atem.
@@cackle529 Because Kaiser only acts based on his desires, even if it kills him. He sees no reason to bear responsibility if it hinders him having an adrenaline rush. Shit, basically his whole arc of being Kaiser was him trying to stop being a pain-slut after getting addicted to it in the underground arena. Have you even watched the series? XDDD
Please just sit down
@@paranidherccause kaito is a better character
This makes me want to watch the sub and/or read the manga. More of these types of videos please!
It's also amazing that all of this character work surrounds a children's card game!
Bro I was waiting for somebody to do a serious analysis on the Yu-Gi-Oh crew
I recommend it. Give season 0 a try at the very least.
*#lolz*
@@marvelsandals4228
Indeed..!
I am very grateful for taking the time on making this great video, it brought me backs good old memories of Yu-Gi-Oh when i was a kid and appreciate all the good virtues that it taught us.
Thank you so much!
The lesson we can all take from Seto Kaiba's story is that denying your past doesn't get you anywhere. Accepting whatever happened and making peace with it is what we're supposed to do.
This video was fascinating!!
Knowing Atem's name has the same energy as knowing Kurama's name
I still call him Yami/the Pharaoh. For 99% of the series, not even he knew his own name. I think "Atem" represents the person he was in life, but when his soul was put into the puzzle/shared a body with Yugi, he lost his memories and took on a new form. He stopped being Atem and re-invented himself. The most important thing to Yami wasn't Egypt or people he knew thousands of years ago who were all long dead, but Yugi and his friends. We also see on many occasions how Yugi changes Yami for the better. Maybe at first Yami acted a lot like Atem, but knowing Yugi taught him the value of kindness, friendship, etc. I guess Yugi's partner through his adventure was just that. Only at the end, after completing his journey and saying goodbye could he be Atem again.
@Cloud strife's son I mean "Yami" is just short for "Yami Yugi" so I fail to see the issue lol. I prefer the sub to the dub, but as an english speaker I still call Jonouchi "Joey," because its obviously the same character, just the english name for him. Its odd that people actually dislike the nickname Yami for the Pharaoh, since it is pretty accurate. Even back in chapter 1 of the og manga, before we knew what was going on, we knew Yugi had a mysterious "dark side" that was like a different person, a "Dark Yugi." Yami is Japanese for dark. What's the issue here lol
@Cloud strife's son Interesting, I guess that makes sense. I mean sure, Yami is cool, but its unfortunate that people actually hate on Yugi as a character. Who solved the Millennium Puzzle? Who freed Yami from his 3000 year prison? Who shared his own body with his soul, because he didn't have one? In fact, you could argue that every time Yami possessed Yugi to play games, it wasn't 100% Yami, but the combined gaming skills of both minds working as one.
Yugi grew up in a damn game shop. Before he solved the puzzle he didn't have any friends, so he probably spent his childhood playing games, not to mention his grandpa taught him how to play duel monsters in particular. What deck did Yami use throughout the series? Yugi's deck, the deck his grandpa gave him. These things didn't hinder Yami, they helped him.
Ironically, in the final season (& the latest movie), Kaiba initially has the same attitude, as does Yami Bakura/Zorc. He attributes all of Yugi's talent to Yami, who he sees as the "true" king of games, and has no respect for Yugi, but in the duel between Yugi and Bakura, who wins? Who beats "Atem"? In the movie, who beats Kaiba? Yugi beats all of them, and he does it with his OWN deck, not the deck he took to Duelist Kingdom, but one he built himself. Yugi has always been the protagonist imo. Joey is one of the few who recognizes that. Joey is Yugi's best friend, not Atem's. He respects Atem, but Yugi is his bro.
@Cloud strife's son Nah Yugi was probably still partially there during their date ;)
@Cloud strife's son I forgot about that. Poor Yugi can't even be the third wheel in his date. He needs to just get with Rebecca ffs lol
Ugh this character analysis was so good! I literally almost cried at the end. It hurts that so many people miss out on these characters true development due to the English dub and changes made. Kaiba is an incredible rival and friend to the group and works so well as a foil to Atem and Yugi.
He's an incredible rival but he's not a friend to the group. He doesn't give two shits about anyone but Atem. If any of the geek squad drop dead in front of him, he wouldn't care one iota. and why would he? He barely has any interactions with any of them throughout the entire series. Think about it, Seto is almost always off on his own and most interactiosn with the main cast is directly with Atem, and a little with Yugi. The rest is just trash talking Joey.
@@RenegadeVilehe respects Yugi and Joey also if she finds out tea’s dueling record he’d have a new crush
@@Deathmare235 He only really grows to respect Yugi at the very end, when he beats Atem (and even then) and a bit more in the DSOD movie (Which isn't canon with the show). As for Joey, he never, ever respects Joey. Not even a little bit.
@@RenegadeVile he respect Joey when he nearly dies
I first found this channel with the Hulk videos. Then I watched the Loki video and now this one. I am very impressed! My biggest regret with Yu-Gi-Oh was watching it dubbed vs subbed. It wasn't until after I watched Zexal in sub and saw sub clips on TH-cam that I realized what I missed.
Kaiba is one of my fav Yu-Gi-Oh characters. His ambition and love for his brother makes him a fascinating character. What I like most is how he persevered despite the abuse he suffered. It helped shaped his character but didn't excuse his actions which I also liked. As much as I like Chazz and Ryouga Kaiba will always be my Yu-Gi-Oh rival GOAT.
This was hands down the best Kaiba video I ever watched. Perfect dissection of his character and everything that he is about. I need to watch DSOD again 🥇
Gozuburo also later revealed that he knew Seto had cheated. He only played on a whim thanks to the balls Kiaba showed and had origionally no intention of holding his end of the bargain if Seto won. He felt no shame if a kid called him a coward for not playing since he was a proven champion and could easily just make Seto disappear. The media meant nothing as he owned the media, and no one would be any of the wiser that he lost at a game of chess to a kid or went back on a bet. He instead conformed that it was Kaiba's willingness to cheat for the win that convinced him to adopt Seto. Gozubura felt a ruthless conviction to win no matter what was nessisary for good business and saw potential in Seto as an hier for doing this. Seto's skill meant nothing and wasn't even a part of why they were adopted, just his tenacity to win even by sacrificing his morals and personal pride.
It's kinda neat that even with the different ways the animated adaptations handled the original material, including the infamous green hair in the 98' series, Kaiba's character arc remains somewhat still consistent between both versions. Well, at least that's the impression I got from the video. Well done!
Kaiba is one of the best characters from the franchise & this character aged very well. This video is pure gold for someone who has got into the franchise during gradeschool.
After all that, he founded a dueling school on an island, because.
I've been meaning to read the manga. This has given me the push I've needed. Thank you for this video about the best-dressed man in all of fiction.
29:32, it is often the people that try to destroy or bury the past and ridicule others for thinking about the past who are the ones that have fetishized the past. Seto doesn't define his future by what it could be, but by how it is not his past. Atem and Yugi however are the men with clear senses of the future and they define it by what it could be, it's atleast poetic if not outright ironic the man that acts like he is focused on the future is the one with the obsession with the past.
I appreciate the work you put into this analysis. I think you did a wonderful job of explaining Kaiba’s character and his experiences in his life shaping him to be the person we see at different points in the series. He’s a multilayered character and you broke down all of what makes him up. I hope you can do another analysis video of another character in the series!
For those who may be thinking "Kaiba didn't technically lose to Yugi since his life points didn't hit 0" yes....yes he did.
If you keep up with what cards are in Kaibas hand and on his field at the time Yugi launches his final attack Kaiba only has 1 card in his hand (Monster Reborn) and two face down cards, 1 of which is a Trap that lets him activate a Spell from his hand during Yugi's turn and the other is Polymerization.
He uses the Trap and Monster Reborn right before Yugi summons the Dark Magician. At this point Yugi has 1 monster, the Dark Magician, while Kaiba has no monsters on his field, in his graveyard, and no cards in his hand. The only card left is his facedown Polymerization.
Simply put. Yugi won.
Let's not forget to mention that the LP didn't finish dropping to zero only because of Aigami's tampering. Yugi won, fair & square for sure.
@@KenDaKingArrives Yup but I know a lot of Kaiba fans want to believe that he could have won still especially if they didn't follow the duel closely. I have to imagine Takahashi wanted that to be clear since this is probably the easiest duel to keep track of what is in both players hand's.
Great character analysis of Seto Kaiba in the yugioh manga continuity.
Wow. Incredible vid.
One could argue that Obelisk the Tormentor is a metaphor for Kaiba's step-father. They are both powerful entities that Kaiba ultimately utilizes, but only by casting aside Obelisk in the duel can Kaiba reach his own destiny. Only by conceding Obelisk to Yugi, can Yugi defeat Marik. And only by discarding his obsession with his step-father can Kaiba be freed of his past. The Duel Tower is also something that Kaiba obsesses over and represents Kaiba's ambition and power, but also represents his learned ideologies of destroying the past from his step-father, as it was built on top of his orphanage. Ultimately, he has to discard the Duel Tower to control his destiny. And to further intertwine these ideas and metaphors, the duel tower is literally an obelisk.
Blue eyes Whit Dragon best describes Seto
Connecting it to his dad is good stuff. I always just saw Obelisk as generically his goals of power/victory/etc, where as Blue Eyes, obviously, was more about love and compassion, representing his soul mate and he chose to achieve victory with that instead of purely negative ambition. But I like the idea of it representing his dad.
But unlike his father obelisk actually cared for him, maybe that’s his true father
@@Johnwillson-n7vobelisk still cared for him though, it wasn’t just power
That was the best Kaiba analysis video I have ever watched. The work and passion here is incredible. I actually got emotional at the end. Thank you so much for your hard work. Kaiba is an amazing character.
Also also, I'd like to remind the audience that Kaiba did all of this to fight a dead man in a children's card game.
You: "I completely forgot that I watched the dubbed version of YuGiOh, which is....nothing like the original."
You speak like someone who watched the dubbed version, hence using Yugioh abridged phrases.
That’s not technically wrong but that’s like saying a police officer goes on patrols to catch bad guys when there’s _so_ much more to it.
People, Kaiba didn't cheat against Gozaburou. Kazuki Takahashi himself explained how he won the chess game. Here's his explanation :
This is a bit out of order compared to the content of the actual volume but I’d like to elaborate on the chapter where Seto and Mokuba were adopted by Gozaburou when they were still children.
Seto and Mokuba, the two who had lost their parents at a young age. Betrayed by the adults they knew, they were sent to an orphanage, Seto at the age of 10, Mokuba at the age of five. It was one day that the head of the Kaiba Corporation, Gozaburou, was invited to visit the orphanage. Seto, in an attempt to flee from their life in the orphanage with his younger brother Mokuba, set up a game of chess with the victory condition of the two of them being adopted into the Kaiba household, however, their opponent was a chess grandmaster who had continuously won several chess world championships. What’s more, with his corporation occupying a space in the defense contracter industry, even there, he had made it to the very top - that is just the kind of tactical genius we are talking about here.
The likelihood of Seto, at the mere age of 10, winning against Gozaburou was very close to 0 per cent.
So, how did he pull off that win then?
It’s not portrayed in the manga but I want to explain Seto’s way of cheating.
As a matter of fact, with his first move already, the moment he moved his first pawn, he had already won the gamble.
However, that required for certain conditions in the match with Gozaburou to be met. That condition was “I want you to play a game of chess against the two of us at the same time. Also, if just one of us manages to win or draw, you will adopt us into the Kaiba household.” - so in other words, he set up a two versus one game.
For Gozaburou, who was the ruler of chess, to walk past this challenge from two children was unlikely, so he accepted these conditions.
Unknowingly that his sense of pride lead to a blind spot.
Gozaburou had two tables set up opposing him at opposite ends with him in the center, playing against both of them. At Seto’s table, Gozaburou moved his pawn, making the first move. Next in turn was Mokuba’s table, with Mokuba making his first move. That is when Mokuba copied the exact same move that Gozaburou had made at Seto’s table. It was at this moment that Gozaburou had already walked straight into their trap.
All that was left was waiting for Gozaburou to make his second move against Mokuba.
For Seto, it was enough to replicate that move. Gozaburou was now facing his own self in chess, with Seto’s chances for victory being guaranteed.
Furthermore, Gozaburou’s shallow thinking of children in general made him overconfident from the get-go, so when he saw Seto who had opposed him calmly and set up this cheating scheme, he might have seen a glimpse in him becoming his own successor.
The young Seto had no way of knowing that when he moved his first piece on that little chessboard, he was about to set his own fate into motion.
- Kazuki Takahashi, Year 19 of Heisei, 18th of October
i love this video so much, it just brings back so much nostalgia and an appreciation for this character. it's so well done and well articulated. wow wow wow!!
Kaiba is the King of the Future. Just as Priest Seto was the King after Atem's fall with Zorc, Seto took up the reigns and with Obelisk ruled to make Egypt great, it is why the Millennium Tablet exists as it is because Priest Seto made it so, he prepared for the eventuality of Atem's return and chose to reincarnate with Atem within the same time 3000 years later. Seto will lead the future in regards to Atem's return preventing the Prana's dimensional ascension from happening and sealing off their powers. As Seto has practically developed technology in equal terms to the Prana's powers. And considering that the Prana are reincarnations that means Ishizu, Yugi, Mokuba (Maybe this was influenced by the Anime for me) and Seto, himself are also Prana but Seto realized it in the eventuality of Atem's return unconsciously. All Prana chose to reincarnate into harsh lives, for Atem and Yugi it was his loneliness, for Seto and Mokuba it was their relatives wasting their fortune and sending them to an adoption center, for Ishizu it was being a tomb keeper, and for Shadi Shin well he explains it and suffers the life as a tomb keeper and its eventuality.
(It's pretty wonky and interesting, Atem gets sealed for 3000 years, his reincarnation completes the puzzle, then defeats him then goes back to the afterlife 3000 years ago to reincarnate as Yugi but before that Priest Seto as his reincarnation as Seto Kaiba comes to challenge in the afterlife, it's a relationship that transcends 3 lifetimes, their past selves, their past selves' afterlives, and their current lives)
Atem's English VA is probably one of the few times, the English is MORE dramtic then the japanese
10:15 remember this is also the same point in time where Kaiba is about to introduce the rule where you have to tribute high-level monsters, symbolizing his new respect for rules and fair play.
Tbf he wasn’t the one who made the rules at first, hell he was the one who bought the real rules to the game
@@Deathmare235 True, the Pegasus era rules were random bullshit.
Then again Battle city is the arc fans praise as the most accurate.
This was actually beautiful, it legit had me crying a little in certain parts, thank you for making this video! I genuinely hope to see more of this with other Yu-Gi-Oh! characters!
Yugioh has been about Kaiba the entire time! A great arc for his character, it was awesome that kaiba built the means to go into the underworld just to find atem and duel him again most excellent
This is exactly why yugioh is so much more powerful than just a children's card game. I can't wait / really hope you do another of these soon
The next YuGiOh character analysis should involve Yugi and Atem, given the I believe confirmed theory that Yugi is the reincarnated body of Atem and is Atem's Innocence, Timidness, and Kindness in modern day.
And when Yugi resurrected Atem, that put Yugi on the path of regaining his courage through his time with Atem and Atem regaining his kindness through his time with Yugi and during and after the final duel and then Atem passed on, Yugi became the complete modern day reincarnation of Atem.
Especially when you got by the dub when Atem's inner thoughts were changed into Yugi's.
Literally the best Kaiba analysis I've ever seen in my life...and I'm watching Yugioh since the show's very beginning!!!!!!! I checked the channel and saw that you have done only one video on Yugioh. Does this mean that you watched the entire DM series plus youtube theories plus DM manga plus season zero, only to make one video? You're amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great manga canon video that doesn't wrongfully insert anime original material. I only started disagreeing with you starting at 52:48 to the end (which I explained in my comment below), but that was one of the parts I was expecting. lol Anyway, Takahashi showed why Kaiba is the best rival in manga.
I kid you not, I bet kaiba would pull a lego batman and would go to either the same orphanage that he and mokuba were sent to or other orphanages just to make the children there happy, basically giving them the happiness that he didn't get. It just sounds like something he would do, or at least mokuba
"He inherited a weapons development company and turned it into the world's greatest games company"
And he did this while he was in the grips of the psychosis his adoptive father cursed him with. Lesser individuals would have fully succumbed to greed and powerlust and continued Gozaburo's iron mongering even in a far more stable state of mind.
We actually also see something like this with Death-T - the "death traps" aren't actually deadly and seem to have failsafes built in, with the idea being more to simulate deadly scenarios rather than actual death, effectively making the whole thing an extreme thrill attraction. We saw that Honda survived being "crushed" by the falling blocks - in the manga, he's rescued by Mokuba, while in Season 0 we find him trapped in a giant hourglass.
If I were to give Kaiba a D&D alignment overall, I'd say he's a very rare example of a heroic Lawful Evil character. His arrogance and lack of any self-accountability for his past actions, along with his selfishness would easily put him in the evil category, and his adherence to rules and a personal code of honor classifies him as lawful. But even so, his motives (at least once he breaks through his psychosis with a bit of help from Atem) are ultimately either benevolent or at worst neutral. A perfect example of "good is not nice" - much like Yami Yugi in Season 0, actually.
If that happened he’d be iron man
It's sad that Kaiba hates the past so much and yet can't help but to keep stewing in it.
A really well made video. Great to see such an in-depth Kaiba video. Nice Job!
Yugioh DM is so deep and well written. I really wish more people could see past the abridged series and 4kids
EPIC CHARACTER ANALYSIS! You have truly done Seto Kaiba the way he deserves, three blue eyes for you!
First off, I have to thank you for this very informative and well-made video, it's visible from far away that you made it all great, and to be fair, I haven't seen almost any similar analysis close to yours, I've almost all the time created similar analyses and theories in my head and sadly I couldn't see much similar stuff from others (the difference between similar videos from others and this here, is the fact that you've focused on analyzing the characters and not talking mainly about the duels and monsters, etc, but instead get right in the core of characters' feelings and motives), no matter where I look and I've always seeked to see more detailed and deep analysis of my favorite characters (which in my case are most likely from Yu-Gi-Oh) and you just gave me the needed satisfaction and showed me that there's somebody with the same ambition to even create a video about this. For future reference, do you mind checking next Jack Atlas's character and analyse it? (maybe even in the future if it's possible to check Yusei Fudo too). I know that these types of videos are incredibly hard to do and take a lot of time, however, I want to leave you notified that you made my day with this video, and someone making my day rarely happens.
He doesn't really need to be a king. He has a empire already. It's called Kaiba Corp.
lol true Kaiba is the modern day Pharaoh and king of games, his empire is beyond anything Atem could have imagined. He doesn't have magic, but he doesn't need it: he has the "magic" of modern science which can conjure up holograms of the monsters with ease.
This video is amazing and even made my cry. I loved Kaiba since childhood and it was so utterly beautiful visiting him again. 🥲
48:28 Lol, now he has machinery in his exaggerated shoulder pads! That's hilarious.
Please, we all knew that he won't become the king of game because he is a blue-eyes player.
Can you imagine being some rando duel monsters fan in DSOD and having to listen to kaiba and yugi ranting about a pharaoh during the most anticipated match of the games history.
That telling of his story just won you a subscriber. It's always nice to meet a fellow Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast.
This video is so well made
I don't understand why don't you have more subscribers
It is crime that you havd so less subscriber to appreciate the content you put out
I love that even almost 20 years since the series ended with really no other continuations besides DSOD people still talk about Yugioh (the original) passionately. Goes to show how legendary of a series it is.
Probably my favorite thing about this analysis, is the subtlety of every single detail in a character's development. Both the anime and manga, while they talk pretty much into your face what a character needs to learn and how they're supposed to do it, they proceed to show the development rather than even mention it. Like Kaiba's believe in unity is shown slowly but surely throughout both stories, but we're only shown that he learns his lessons rather than being told to us that he has actually changed.
It's that sense of progression and respect for the reader that makes YGO a very interesting series to watch.
That was amazingly well done. I absolutely adore the original Yu-Gi-Oh series, and have seen and read all of its incarnations. And I must say that this analysis was thorough, well researched, thought provoking, and even heartfelt. I admire how much you respected the source material and even chose the perfect clips to prove every single one of your points. I would like to see even more of these studies with the other characters if possible! But regardless I simply must commend you on this extraordinary video essay! ❤
I don't often leave comments, but damn this was such a good video. In depth analysis, perfect explanations 10/10. You earned yourself a sub. Hope to see more of these.
Stellar. Absolutely stellar.
This brings to light so much meaning I've never seen before. He's truly an amazing character, even moreso than I thought.
That was an AMAZING video! Thank you for the effort into putting a piece like this together
I'm not tearing up because of this video. I'm cutting onions!
"he will be drawn to the dragon loving it" he then proceeds to rip one up in the first season of duel monsters . _.
Thank you so much! Kaiba is such a moron with a heart of gold.
This is an incredible video and a very clear labor of love, thank you.
im so happy you used the unadultered japanese voice
Maaan, I'm 10 minutes in and this is so exiting to watch, your narration work is impressive!!
I wonder if that guy who was rude to Takahashi at a Magic the Gathering tournament ever found out he's the inspiration for the greatest rival in all of anime.
Anyone else feel like the algorithm has been purposefully ignoring this guy?
Amazing analysis! Thanks so much for the breakdown; really nails down the whole premise perfectly to see it from this perspective!
What an AMAZING analysis of literally every single detail!! 👌🏻 thank you for the video really
Dude, Kiaba turned the world into a cyber punk, Syfy badass realm of coolness, because he wanted to make a game more serious. I’m pretty sure the man created time travel because he was not gonna let his rival duck out of a rematch. He’s like if Elon musk and Tony Stark had a kid that was really into gaming. He’s pretty cool.
Oh my this is the best character analysis of Kaiba I've ever seen...perfectly quoted, interpreted and delivered I was fighting back tears by the end. Beautiful!
Original Yu-Gi-Oh really was The King of Games!
Damn bruh I loved this video it’s kind of all over the place but the core ideas you wanna show are there and now I’m a fan.
To lose is to die but you can say no to death even a loss. Sometimes..not all.. you may be blessed with the miracle of continuation.
Nah wtf the manga is FUCKING INSANE
I NEED TO READ THIS
From an orphaned child wronged with a cruel past, to a teen with nothing but bitterness, anger and hate in his heart and eventually a man of honor integrity and humility. All of these make seto kaiba who he is; he carved his future, leanred to accept his past, reforge his heart and become whole once more. He and vegeta are the pinnacle of shonen rivals and true epitomes of a redemption arc. Though i wonder considering kaiba has traveled into the afterlife and by extentsion priest seto soul back home will he have finally seen kisara once more though if anything im certain seto at long last has found peace.
So basically he’s Yugioh’s Tony Stark. Using his own intellect and tech to face against magic and supernatural dieties.
I love this video essay. Kaiba has now became of my favorite things in anime! I never knew how deep his story went until this video.
What a genuinely amazing video, i hope to see more content like this in the future.
I watched this video in its entirety and I have to say: hats off, my friend. This is was both a great analysis and a perfect tribute to Seto Kaiba. Looking forward to see more of your work.
That was a great video 👏🏾
Kaiba is my favorite character in Yu-Gi-OH, Mostly Because he cool and He can change Destiny or make the Impossibe possible.
The man is willing to sacrifice God for Her his Wife.
29:08 I'm gonna assume he just wore whatever oversized suit was around because he was gonna grow into it or maybe it would just turn smaller after washing it so that it fit him in time for the season 5 tournament.
Nah. It's just a filler arc meant to give the manga time to get ahead. Unfortunately, filler arcs in those days were seen by those working on the project as an excuse to phone it in.
Yo I watched the old anime a lot as a kid. And now like 20 years later I'm just realizing the hand mark tattoo between the duel friends is a smile face. Omg I always just saw a bunch of squiggly lines. I feel dumb