kaiba gozaburo

Gozaburo was the original founder and CEO of Kaiba Corporation, which at that time was a successful arms manufacturer. He was also a world-renowned chess champion, which is how Seto and Mokuba heard of him at their orphanage. When Gozaburo visited, Seto challenged him to a game of chess, threatening to tell the press that Gozaburo was scared of a child if he refused. Confident in his abilities, Gozaburo agreed to the game, with Seto stipulating that if he won, Gozaburo would adopt him and his brother. In the manga, Seto cheated, while in the anime, Seto had studied Gozaburo's strategies and defeated him. Gozaburo had to keep his end of the bargain. However, he was a cruel father to Seto, forcing him to spend all his time studying and forgoing any joy or fun associated with childhood. His biological son Noah died, and with his intended heir digitized, Gozaburo decided to groom Seto as his successor, pushing him even harder. His fatal mistake was giving Seto 2% of Kaiba Corp shares as part of a mission to earn 100 times the amount within a year—something Seto achieved easily. Later, Seto, along with the board of directors, bought 49% of the company, ousting Gozaburo from power with his own 51%. He reportedly committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the Kaiba Corporation building (in the English anime, he ran away and disappeared). It was revealed that Gozaburo instead digitized his mind like he did his son's and hid inside the Kaiba Corp computer banks. When Noah lured Seto and others, including Yugi Muto, into the Virtual World, Gozaburo had Noah and the Big Five try to defeat Seto and his friends. As they failed one by one, Gozaburo revealed himself as the mastermind, unveiling his plan to digitize mankind and reign as king of the Virtual World (in the English anime; in the Japanese version, Gozaburo plans to use missiles to destroy the world). Noah pretended to lead the group to an exit but instead split them up, leaving most wandering a virtual Domino City. Realizing his father was only using him, Noah used Mokuba's body to escape and initiated the fortress's self-destruct sequence. While Yugi and others tried to escape, Seto and Gozaburo fought a duel, with Gozaburo intending to use Seto's body to escape to the real world. Still bitter over his loss in chess years ago, Gozaburo challenged Seto to a duel to give him the same defeat he once delivered. As a further insult, Gozaburo used Exodia Necross—a ghostly dark version of Exodia the Forbidden One. Exodia Necross gained 1000 attack points every time it attacked and could not be destroyed unless its parts were removed from play. Seto used Soul Demolition to neutralize Exodia Necross, destroying it with his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Gozaburo lost the duel and his chance to escape. With the fortress about to explode, Gozaburo attempted to take Kaiba's body by force. Yugi entered and helped Kaiba escape to the roof. Noah, having had a change of heart, immobilized Gozaburo and opened an exit to the real world. As Seto and Yugi emerged on the airship and escaped, the fortress exploded, deleting Noah. Gozaburo briefly became 'real' as a beast of flame but was left to sink into the waves as Seto activated the airship's thrusters. Although this was Gozaburo's first and final appearance in person, he appeared in flashbacks before and after the Virtual Arc. Kaiba's goal to defeat Yugi at Alcatraz (Kaiba Corp Island) was not only to defeat Yugi but to overcome Gozaburo's legacy and move on. Kaiba felt he could only forget his past and step out of Gozaburo's shadow by becoming the Duel King atop the Duel Tower. Alister (Amelda in the Japanese version) of Dartz's group also harbored a grudge towards Kaiba, believing Gozaburo funded a military attack on his town (he later realized Dartz, disguised as Gozaburo, ordered the attack). Finally, in the Grand Championship arc, Gozaburo Kaiba made brief appearances in two flashbacks concerning a party where he and Mr. Schroeder discussed a deal, which unfortunately Gozaburo had already made. In the Japanese versions, Gozaburo is voiced by Unsho Ishizuka in the first series and by Tetsuo Komura in the second series. In the English dub of the second series, he is voiced by David Willis.