Yu-Gi-Oh Creator Shares Hilarious Inspiration Behind Seto Kaiba’s Character

If you were to ask Yu-Gi-Oh fans what kind of Duel Monster pro they’d want to be, a good few would give Yugi at their answer. The character is known for his true love of the cards, and it’s hard not to root for the hero even when he’s the underdog. Still, there are others who prefer Seto Kaiba, but they may change their minds after learning how the duelist was created decades ago.

Recently, a user on Twitter known as Manga Maverick posted an update about their recent Yu-Gi-Oh reread. It was there the fan shared an interview excerpt from the creator Kazuki Takahashi, and it was there the artist revealed Kaiba was inspired by some less-than-admirable people.

“A friend of mine told me a story once:’ The other day, I met this guy who plays collectible card games. I asked him to teach me how to play, and he just said ‘Hmph! Come back when you’ve collected 10,000 cards!’ I couldn’t believe it!’,” the creator shared.

Continuing, Takahashi said this unnamed elitist became the rough outline for Kaiba, and the creator warned against becoming like the duelist.

“That story made me mad, but I thought the card collector would make a good character. And that’s how Seto Kaiba was born! Everybody be nice when you play cards!”

In every fandom, you will find people who want to gatekeeping their passion, and Kaiba did act like one of those people for much of his life. His genius intellect and desire to win made it easy for Kaiba to plow others down, but there were those who proved him wrong. Underdogs like Yugi showed true skill doesn’t come in numbers and stats; Sometimes, duelists have to believe in something greater to get them to victory. Clearly, the man who inspired Kaiba did not subscribe to that belief, but there’s always a chance Yugi changed him for the better… or perhaps not.

Are you surprised by this Seto Kaiba reveal…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally created by Kazuki Takahashi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and ran from September 1996 to March 2004. The series follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy who solves an ancient puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian pharoah. Being skilled at deadly games, the Pharoah goes on to create and solve problems for Yugi based on deadly games of chance.