Seto Kaiba: The King of Petty
Seto Kaiba is a man of many talents. He is a self-made billionaire, a brilliant engineer, but above all, he is a world champion Duelist with three unstoppable Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Whether viewed as a villain or an antihero, there is one thing about Kaiba that defines him more than his brilliance, billions, and dueling skills combined: his pettiness.
Here are 10 unforgettable moments that showcase why Seto Kaiba is the undisputed King of Petty.
Ripping Apart Grandpa’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Ep. 1)
Kaiba’s petty train takes off in Episode 1 with him performing one of the most disrespectful acts in anime. Kaiba overhears Yugi in class telling his friends about an ultra-rare card at his grandfather’s card shop, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Kaiba appeares at the game shop later to try to buy the card off from Soloman. However, Solomon refused to give in, stating the card was a precious gift from a dear friend. Enraged by his refusal, Kaiba leaves but hires his employees to deliver a message challenging Solomon to a duel. Solomon accepts the duel, hoping to teach the young CEO a lesson about the “Heart of the Cards”. Yugi and his friends arrive at the card shop after school to find his grandfather missing. Kaiba calls the shop phone, ordering them to come to pick up his grandfather from KaibaCorp.
When they arrived, they see that Kaiba defeated Solomon in the duel, with both wagering their most valuable card as the prize. Kaiba holds up his newly acquired Blue-Eyes White Dragon and, instead of adding it to his deck, he tears it in half. The reason he ripped the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card (1 out of 4 in the entire world, by the way) is that he did not want it used against him.
The “If You Win, I’ll Yeet Myself” Stunt (Duelist Kingdom Arc, Ep. 24)
If you thought ripping up a ultra-rare card was wild, Kaiba took his pettiness to a whole new level during the Duelist Kingdom Arc.
For a chance to save his brother, Pegasus offers Kaiba five Star Chips and a proposal. If he could defeat Yugi in a duel, he would set Mobuka’s soul free. Kaiba challenged Yugi to a duel, but Yugi refused, because he already had earned 10 Star chips to earn a duel with Pegasus to win his grandfather’s soul back.
Kaiba taunts Yugi, stating he cannot defeat him without relying on the “Heart of the Cards” or Exodia the Forbidden One. Since their first Duel, Kaiba has been obsessively searching into how Yugi won and has been wanting a rematch to restore his honor as a Duel Monsters Champion. Yugi gives in and switched places with The Pharoah and dueled Kaiba on top of Pegasus’s Castle.
When Kaiba summoned his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Yugi pleaded to the “Heart of the Cards” for guidance. He unleashed a deadly triple combo on Kaiba’s Ultimate Dragon and was one turn away from winning the match. Realizing he was not going to save Mokuba, Kaiba slowly walked backwards until he stood on the castle’s ledge. He forced Yugi to make a choice. If Yugi attacked on his next turn, the resulting shockwaves would knock him over the edge. If Yugi does not attack, he will forfeit his chance to save his grandpa. The Pharaoh, seeking victory, chooses to attack, but Yugi quickly switches them back and calls off the attack. Despite Yugi showing him compassion, Kaiba chastises him for throwing away his chance to win the game.
Deliberately Excluding Joey Wheeler from Battle City (Battle City Arc, Ep. 6)
While Kaiba’s rivalry with Yugi is the heart of the series, his feud with Joey Wheeler is where his pettiness truly shines. Whenever these two are in a scene together, expect a class in high-tier hating and roasting. Their cat-and-dog dynamic consists of Joey berating Kaiba for using his wealth to assert dominance over others, with Kaiba retaliating with his legendary one-liner of calling Joey “a third-rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck.”
When Kaiba announced his Battle City Tournament, Yugi and Joey decided to register for it together. To ensure only the best duelists participated in the tournament, KaibaCorp compiled data on the best duelists worldwide and their rarest cards. Yugi qualified with a high rank given that he was the newly crowned “King of Games” after defeating Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom. However, Joey was unable to register because Kaiba hacked the system and rigged the results to make him appear as a low-ranked duelist.
Allowing Cheating in His Own Official Tournament (Battle City Arc, Ep. 8)
When Joey’s Red-Eyes Black Dragon is stolen by one of Marik’s Rare Hunters, Yugi challenges the thief to a duel to win it back. However, the Rare Hunter stacked his deck with multiple copies of pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One. While observing the duel via satellite, Mokuba and Kaiba discover that the Rare Hunter marked each piece with invisible ink to identify them during the duel.
Mokuba wanted to disqualify the cheater, but Kaiba stops him for two reasons. He wanted to use the Rare Hunter to track down Marik Ishtar, who possessed The Winged Dragon of Ra. Having already acquired Obelisk the Tormentor, Kaiba was obsessed with collecting all three Egyptian God Cards to become the world’s most powerful duelist. The other reason? Well, Kaiba relished the thought of Yugi getting crushed by Exodia—the same card that handed him his first L back in Episode 1.
The Five-Minute Lightning Rule (Battle City Arc, Ep. 40)
In the Battle City finals, Joey faces off against Odion, who pretended to be Marik. During Odion’s turn, he was horrified to see that he had drawn The Winged Dragon of Ra. However, this card was a counterfeit. Marik slipped the fake Ra card into Odion’s deck to maintain the illusion that Odion was the real Marik. Because the tournament’s “Ante Rule” which required the loser to hand over their rarest card to the winner, Marik created counterfeits to protect the real Ra and gave them to his Rare Hunters. Unfortunately, those who played the cards suffered the wrath of the real Ra, who viewed the fakes as an insult.
When Joey begins to suspect that Odion is not Marik, the real Marik orders Odion to summon Ra to dispel his suspicion. Odion hesitates, but Marik convinces him that by summoning the God Card, he will finally be accepted as a tombkeeper and become a part of the Ishtar family. Odion caves in and summoned the counterfeit card. The real Ra appeared and unleashed its wrath, striking both duelists down with lightning. Roland questioned Kaiba if they should terminate the duel. Kaiba, who does not believe in “ancient Egyptian mumbo jumbo”, dismissed Ra’s wrath as a freak lightning storm, and that his latest duel disks were not responsible for injuring Joey and Odion.
Since they were tied with 200 LP each, Kaiba announced each had 5 minutes to get their feet. Whichever duelist gets to his feet first will be declared the winner and will move on to the finals. Mind you, Odion and Joey were hit by lightning from an Egyptian God, which pretty much guaranteed they were probably dead. The fact that Kaiba had two possibly dead bodies on his airship and immediately started laying out his liability clauses is wild.
The Post-Tournament Island Evacuation (Battle City Arc, Ep. 46)
After being defeated by Yugi in his own tournament and The Winged Dragon of Ra no longer within his reach, Kaiba was officially done with everything and everyone and decides to blow up the island hosting the Battle City Tournament. He told everyone that they had an hour to evacuate before it explodes. Yugi and friends race to find a way to stop the island’s destruction. Kaiba was the only one who knew how to stop the countdown, but he was nowhere to be seen. Mokuba claimed the airship (damaged from the Noah Arc) was repaired for everyone to escape on, but the engines were still not working. They managed to scramble onto a helicopter minutes before the island exploded.
On the helicopter, Yugi and the others watched as the island exploded and sank into the ocean. They worried that the Kaiba brothers had gone down with the island. Suddenly, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon-themed jet appeared in the sky with Seto Kaiba cackling maniacally in the pilot’s seat. Mokuba asked his brother why the others were traveling in the helicopter. Kaiba, acting innocent, says, “Oops. I guess the other ship wasn’t fixed yet.”
Kaiba’s Legendary Roast (KC Grand Prix, Ep. 12)
In the final duel of the KC Grand Championship, Yugi faced off against Leon Wilson for the title of “King of Games”. Zigfried von Schroeder, the CEO of Schroeder Corp, a gaming company that once rivaled KaibaCorp, entered the tournament under a false identity to embarrass Kaiba and restore his company’s honor.
Before the match, Zigfried was defeated by Kaiba and eliminated from the competition. Although his initial plan failed, Zigfried’s thirst for revenge did not wane. He surprised Leon before the match who was actually Leon von Schroeder, his younger brother. Leon had always lived in his brother’s shadow and discovered his gift for dueling at a young age. He hacked into the system to change his name to prevent his family from finding out about his dueling career. Zigfried praises his brother’s talents and manipulates him into joining his revenge plan, promising they could be a family again.
When Kaiba discovers Leon’s true identity and attempts to disqualify him, Zigfried taunts, saying that disqualifying Leon and stopping the match will be breaking the rules of his own tournament. However, Kaiba literally laughs in his face and delivers one of the most cold-blooded roasts in Yu-Gi-Oh history:
“There’s a little problem with your plan, Zigfried. There’s only one duelist in the world who is talented enough to defeat Yugi, and that’s me. And as I see it, your plan only works if he loses. But then again, that’s only one man’s opinion, isn’t it, Zigfried? So, I’d say your brother has much of a shot at winning as your company does at ever succeeding!”
Creating Duel Academy’s Dorm System (Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Ep. 2)
Ten years after the original series, Kaiba created Duel Academy, a school where a new generation of aspiring duelists could learn and develop their skills. He designed the academy’s student ranking system based off the Egyptian God cards, ranking them from what he considered the best to the worst.
Named after his God Card, Obelisk Blue housed the most skilled duelists with the highest grades and the wealthiest connections. Being the top rank came with perks, such as lavish dorms, gourmet food, and other high-class amenities. Obelisk Blues viewed themselves as the superior duelists, often looking down on lower-ranked students, especially Slifer Reds.
The second-highest rank was Ra Yellow, named after The Winged Dragon of Ra. While Obelisk represented Kaiba’s ego, Ra represented his indifference because he never owned the card. These students were average, possessing excellent grades and solid dueling skills, but lacking the wealth and skill of Obelisk Blues. Their dorms were less luxurious than Oblisk Blue’s, but they still enjoyed high-quality food and dorms.
The last and very much the least, there was Slifer Red. These students were the worst of the worst in terms of academic performance and dueling skills. Because Yugi owned Slifer the Sky Dragon, Kaiba channeled all his petiness to make Slifer appear inferior to the other ranks. Their dorms were cramped, food was subpar, and they were looked down by higher-ranked students.
Launching Cards into Space to Teach Aliens to Duel (Yu-Gi-Oh GX, S2, E10)
In addition to building to Duel Academy, Kaiba hosted a global competition for duelists to create a new card. The winning cards chosen will be launched into space in a KaibaCorp satellite, exposing them to energy from space before being produced. Kaiba’s reasoning for this competition was:
If there is intelligent life up there, let’s teach them how to duel!”
So, Kaiba, you don’t believe in “hocus pocus” Egyptian magic, but you believe in aliens…? …Sir.
What’s even more unbelievable is that he was actually right! In Yugioh GX Season 2, Jaden Yuki was revealed to be the winner and his designs were exposed to the that transformed it into his Neo Spacian deck.
Disrupting the Pharaoh’s Eternal Rest (The Dark Side of Dimensions Movie)
In the movie, Kaiba cannot accept that The Pharaoh, his greatest rival, is gone. Obsessed with settling their score, he developed a new duel disk system and battled against simulations that recreated Atem’s deck, strategies, even his perfectly quaffed hair (that part took the longest). He sets out on an ambitious plan to resurrect Atem from the dead for one last duel. He funds an excavation in Egypt to find the Millennium Puzzle. He builds a space elevator that leads to an orbiting KaibaCorp space station, where he uses an advanced supercomputer and a zero-gravity chamber to reassemble the puzzle. The final piece he needed was Yugi, The Pharaoh’s original host.
Kaiba organized a Duel Tournament to force Yugi to complete the puzzle and channel Atem’s spirit back into his body. Despite Yugi telling him that The Pharaoh is gone, Kaiba persisted, wanting to prove once and for all that he was the superior duelist. After Aigami’s defeat, Kaiba used Quantum Cube, an object capable of transporting people to alternate dimensions, to travel to the afterlife. Kaiba goes to The Pharaoh’s palace and stands before the throne. Atem, who did not seem too surprised Kaiba was there, stands up to accept his challenge.
Which of Kaiba’s petty moments lives rent-free in your head?
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