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Voice Actor Kenjiro Tsuda Relives Kaiba's Greatest Moments in Yu-Gi-Oh

Seto Kaiba is one of the most iconic rivals in all of anime from one of the most iconic anime of all time, Yu-Gi-Oh!. At Anime NYC, the Japanese voice actor Kenjirō Tsuda and show producer Teruaki Jitsumatsu made an appearance to discuss their history with the franchise. Not only was it an excellent opportunity to look back on the series from its humble beginnings, but we even got some insight into some of the more recent projects that involved our dragon-loving duelist.

Jitsumatsu mentioned that one of the things that staff keep in mind when casting the main characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! was that they explicitly wanted to go with voice actors who were not as well known. The logic was that, when a voice actor lands a very prominent role, they are often compared to that role, or you can hear their other roles in their later performances. Casting relatively unknown actors at the time allowed the showrunners to land on a distinct sound for the characters that would ironically then be compared to others in the future. Tsuda recounted how, ever since he started working on Yu-Gi-Oh!, he has been in numerous other anime and television projects. No matter where he goes, there's always at least one person who recognizes his name or his voice and points out that they were once a Yu-Gi-Oh! player. You could tell that Tsuda still has such a strong reverence for the character, even though he also fully admits that he would never want to be friends with Kaiba in real life.

In fact, Tsuda's work on Yu-Gi-Oh! set expectations for his future career. Usually, in shonen battle series, the plot can be very intense. But there are also periods when characters have downtime. Yu-Gi-Oh!, however, starts very strong and only continues to escalate. Tsuda was left with the impression that all battle series were like this until he ended up working on more and discovered that Yu-Gi-Oh! is a distinct exception.  

Jitsumatsu pointed out that the performances in Yu-Gi-Oh! are incredibly distinct and that Tsuda brought a specific theatrical energy to the character Kaiba. Typical line readings and reactions weren't going to work with him. This was apparent in some of the fan-selected scenes displayed at the panel. Three scenes from the anime were picked as the top Kaiba moments. The third best scene was when Kaiba summoned Obelisk the Tormentor from the ground in the Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions movie. The second top moment was when he sacrificed that God to summon his Blue-Eyes White Dragon during the Battle City Arc. The final moment was actually a very emotional monologue that Kaiba gave Yugi during the climax of their Battle City duel. I had never listened to the speech in Japanese, as I grew up with the English dub for the series, so it was interesting to hear Kaiba discuss how violence and hatred had always been a part of his life, so that he would succeed at everything with more violence and hatred. Yugi turns around and says that it is only going to make him lonely in the end. Tsuda pointed out that despite their bizarre rivalry, Yugi tries to befriend him.

Tsuda also points out that one of the things that makes Kaiba so great is that, in the context of the show, he loses a lot. But he always thinks that he's winning, so there is a level of confidence to the character that always needs to be front and center. Jitsumatsu recalled how, when Tsuda said his first “draw,” he felt like there was a breeze in the room. Tsuda then participated in a live-dubbing session on stage, re-creating one of the scenes from the Dark Side of Dimensions movie.

Speaking of the Dark Side of Dimensions, they shared some interesting tidbits on that movie as well. The decision to make Kaiba the main character of the film was driven by the lack of a practical or narrative reason to put the pharaoh as the center, given the events of the main series' finale. Tsuda made a joke about how the film was an excuse to not only explore the dark side of Kaiba, but also the dark side of Jitsumatsu. Before making that comment, Tsuda told a fascinating story about how, before being asked to return to the role of Kaiba for the Dark Side of Dimensions movie, Tsuda had recently voiced Kaiba in a few video games after a ten-year absence from the series. One of the first things he saw online after his voice lines were made public was a comment from somebody saying that Kaiba sounded old. Tsuda admitted that the comment got to him, so he put everything he could into his performance of the Dark Side of Dimensions.

Kaiba is probably one of my favorite characters in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, so getting a panel strictly dedicated to him was a treat. However, it has gotten me itching for more Yu-Gi-Oh! anime in the future. We haven't had a traditional Yu-Gi-Oh! show since Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. No one knows what the future has in store for us, but that's all the more reason why looking back on these moments still feels so wonderful.