Yu-Gi-Oh!, Vol. 4: Kaiba's Revenge

Yu-Gi-Oh! #4

by Kazuki Takahashi

Kaiba plans revenge when Yugi beats him at a collectible card game, and Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu must survive the "Death T," a theme park that has among its features electric chairs and guillotines.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Shonen, Young Adult

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 1997

About the author

Takahashi (高橋和希) started as a mangaka in 1982. His first work was Tokiō no Tsuma (闘輝王の鷹), published in 1990. One of his earliest works was Tennenshokudanji Buray (天然色男児BURAY), which lasted for two volumes and was published from 1991 to 1992. Takahashi did not find success until 1996 when he created Yu-Gi-Oh!

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never did like the character of Seto Kaiba; even in the anime, he was a jerk, which made it all the more shocking that the guy who introduced me to Yu-Gi-Oh! used that character's name as his online handle. This volume shows what a horrible person Seto really is; the lengths he goes in order to enact revenge on Yugi makes him all the more despicable. I also liked how Téa/Anzu was with Yugi and their other friends while they're suffering Kaiba's wrath; I've always admired strong female characters. While the creepy stuff didn't bother me that much, some of the sexual references did. When the commentators on IMDb were saying how much edgier the original Japanese version of the anime was, they apparently weren't kidding; this definitely goes beyond "TV-Y7" territory. Still, those who grew up watching Yugi and friends on Kids' WB are now mature enough for such content; this is more like a mild "PG-13" than an "R".

[≈ Disheveled Reader ϟ ≈ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how Yugi"s friends remind me that I have shitty friends

[Lissibith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy. Ohhhhh boy. Hahaha. Have I mentioned how ridiculous this series is in previous reviews? I must have. And I love that aspect.

It seems like a lot of people went from the anime to the manga. I went the opposite way -- in fact, I only just checked out the anime recently. And one of the things that bothered me about it was how much of an adaptation wimp it seems like they made Jonouchi. In the manga, the dude's kind of a goofball idiot, but he's also kind of a badass. The anime seems to have stopped halfway in an effort to put him in a bit more of a box, which is sad because it doesn't just take some great scenes away from him, it also changes his character. and that sucks.

See, in the anime, when he shows confidence in physical confrontation, half the time it comes across like he was just too dumb to understand the full scope of the situation and how he measures up. Whereas in the manga, it's more a case of his confidence coming from a genuine ability to hold his own in a bad situation.

I say all that to lead into the first story here, where a gamer in an arcade gets beat by Yugi at a fighting game and decides assault and robbery is the best way to deal with it. He punches Yugi out and takes the puzzle while Jonouchi is off getting drinks. So when he returns and finds out what happened, he can't leave it alone and goes after the guy. Which leads to a fight that made a lot more sense in Yu Yu Hakusho than in Yu Gi Oh, but it's here, so enjoy. :D

This little story is a prelude to one of the longest arcs in this first series, and quite possibly the most ridiculous. <3 <3 the pair of friends are picked up, allegedly on Kaiba's orders, and brought to the family mansion. After a deliciously unsettling dinner party with Mokuba, we get to the real meat of the arc -- Kaiba wants Yugi to go to Kaiba Land, an amusement park based on Kaiba's love of games. But this theme park has a surprise -- an entire deadly section called "Death-T" (because of course it is) built to do a murder on Yugi and his friend. Of course, Yugi would normally just turn right TF around and leave rather than face a literal murder attraction. but Kaiba has an ace up his sleeve to make him go through with it.

Y'all. It's ridiculous. From the laser tag with deadly targets to a creepy ride on literal electric chairs to a haunted house full of booby traps with an ACTUAL LITERAL SERIAL KILLER in the basement, this whole thing is just a trip. Yugi's friends have a chance to show off their unique talents in a variety of ways. Really the only part of this that I don't care for is the weirdly pervy baby Honda has along with him.

Are there problems here? Oh god yes. But like I've said a few times, this series just really hits all the right notes to really entertain me. :D

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good: I never did like the character of Seto Kaiba; even in the anime, he was a jerk, which made it all the more shocking that the guy who introduced me to Yu-Gi-Oh! used that character's name as his online handle. This volume shows what a horrible person Seto really is; the lengths he goes in order to enact revenge on Yugi makes him all the more despicable. I also liked how Téa/Anzu was with Yugi and their other friends while they're suffering Kaiba's wrath; I've always admired strong female characters.

The Bad: The creepy stuff didn't bother me that much, but some of the sexual references did. You might want to think twice before handing this book to a young child.

Content Concerns:
• Sex: References to someone being "pervy"; a reference to a guy touching a teenage girl's private anatomy. 3/5
• Nudity: Short skirts. 4/5
• Language: D-words, h-words, and euphemisms such as "butt". 3/5
• Violence: The entire volume is about one guy's vendetta against another guy; several battles, including everything from a sci-fi style blaster fight to a martial arts melee; the protagonists nearly have their arms sliced off; a clue is written in blood. 2/5
• Drugs: A villain attempts to poison two people. 4/5
• Frightening/Intense Scenes: Along with the violence, plenty of tense moments, and some rather hideous monsters. 2/5
• Other: The dangerous game Russian Roulette is referenced. 4/5

Score: 4/5

[Sarah Maddaford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite having an awful lot of plot points and action, this volume didn't feel rushed at all. I actually thought I had read two volumes on my reader, but no this one was just really jam packed. I could have done without the extremely pervy toddler. He ups the rating on this one. I can't imagine any 10 year old reading that, but that was the target of the TV show. Other than that, the action was awesome, Anzu is extremely corny and I'm not a fan of her at all, but everyone else is absolute gold. The level of violence is a bit more graphic in the mental torture area, but other than that it's about the same.

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seto Kaiba is diabolical. I mean we all know how power hungry he is from the tv show, but he is straight up sadistic in these.

And what the heck is up with Jouji???? Creepy pervy child! I was cringing.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thèse books are very clearly for 12 year old boys (and me, they are fun!)

[Burberi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kaiba has always been a sore loser

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read as a Kid, Review from 2025)

Probably the wildest YuGiOh volume I read as a kid. Sometimes they're playing the card game, other times they're strapped to electric chairs, sticking their hands in guillotine holes or facing off against the franchise's version of Jason Voorhees. Crazy stuff.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ten boy scouts were murdered all in one night. Those boys were mincemeat. After that, the suspect came to be known as The Chopman. He is still at large. Cruelty is considered an asset at Kaiba Corporation...we scouted the Chopman to manage this attraction at the Theme Park of Death! Meh heh heh..."

Volume 4 is Yu-Gi-Oh! at its most unabashadely unhinged, and while that's not to everyone's taste, it's definitely to mine. The amount of disbelief you have to suspend to get on board with the plot of this arc is equal to the amount of dark matter in the universe, and I think that's great; choo-choo: full steam ahead.

Volume 4 marks the beginning of the 'Death-T' arc, itself a sort of sequal to Yugi's first (manga) duel with everyone's favorite corporate executive, Seto Kaiba. Apparently, Kaiba was meant to be a one-off 'villain of the week' but the fandom demanded more, and this is what Takahashi delivered. Love that for us.

Seething from his defeat by, at this point, nobody Yugi Mouto, Kaiba uses his immense wealth and power to build an amusement park of death to punish him for that humiliation.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The manga opens with a filler story involving a fighter game at the arcade we're going to skip over, and then Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi are invited by Mokuba back to the Kaiba mansion. Because this is 'Season 0' and everyone in the story is constantly at a 10, Mokuba tries to poison our two heroes in a food version of Russian roulette before they even meet up with Kaiba the next morning (why would you even stay there after the poisoning incident? Morbid curiosity? Sunk-cost fallacy?).

Kaiba, in true 'Season 0' style, laughs and says 'that was bad of him' when told of the poisoned food, and then shuttles everyone off to KaibaLand 1.0(don't get too invested in KaibaLand at this point, because they open it at least 2 more times between the manga and the anime) and puts on a 'nice guy' act I guess just to be unsettling (???)

We then get the big reveal of the Kaiba v. Yugi's Grandfather Duel Monsters match as well as the first introduction of Solid Vision (Side Note: I'd forgotten the the inspiration for Solid Vision was originally the first Shadow Game Kaiba played against the Pharoah in volume 2, but I actually kind of like that; it fits in well with Kaiba's whole 'my technology will always overcome your 'magic'' creed that comes home to roost in DSOD).

Blah blah blah, Kaiba beats Yugi's Grandfather using his newly aquired Blue Eyes White Dragon cards (and I do mean newly aquired given that he doesn't own one himself back in volume 2) and we get the backstory of how he got them involving the Mafia and one of the three original owners comitting suicide. No time to dwell on that, though, because it's time for Death-T!

Enter the reason volume 4 gets 4 and not 5 stars: this incredibly obnoxious and gross baby that Honda/Tristan is babysitting for his sister who exists really for no other reason than to say incredibly out of pocket things to Téa about her boobs (I die a little inside every time I read this section). But let's just ignore this.

The concept of Death-T is so cool, and Takahashi got to use his horror chops, which you could tell how much he enjoyed by how neat all the designs were.

Basically, each floor of the building is a different game or puzzle turned deadly. The first level is a version of laser tag where the team they're up against is made up of specialized military veterans and an assassin using real laser guns against our boys, who have fake laser guns. The idea that they could possibly win is insane, and how they manage even more so, so we're off to a good start.

The second stage includes a mini game where the gang gets transported to the next level while strapped into a haunted house ride where they all sit in electric chairs. If they scream, they fry. I really liked the execution (if I may) of this concept and I hated how it was resolved, so let's just leave it at that.

The penultimate stage we get in volume 4 is also a 2-parter. I'm pretty sure this one makes it into the actual 'Season 0 anime.' They all have to stick one of their hands into these holes in the wall marked by different number combinations. inside, they are each able to press a button. If they press the right button, their hands get released and they can move on to the official 'game', but if they press the wrong button, a guillotine will fall and chop off their hands. Their one clue? A piece of paper with the word 'bllood' written on it. It's not that hard to figure out the answer, but it's at least a game you as the reader could participate in, so that's fun.

The correct switch reveals what the next level is, and it's probably my favorite just because jumping the shark this early in the story was only necessary because we started at 100. And if you just uncritically accept the premise you have to accept (which I do, without question) that Kaiba located this 'Fridy the 13th' style serial killer the police couldn't catch, who apparently butchered 10 boy scouts, and paid him to fight to the death against a couple of teenagers in his haunted house revenge park just because it fit the aesthetic. Oh, and while all this is going on, Kaiba gets to watch via a screen on the serial killer's stomach, like the most demented teletubby possible. Also, I don't know why, but they decided to have this serial killer talk like he has a stuffy nose ???

Joey/Jonouchi defeats the killer, no surprises there, due to some unimportant shenanigans.

We then move on to the final stage for this volume, which is my least favorite, just because it's visually the least interesting. It involves the gang being stuck in a room where blocks keep falling down from the ceiling, and they have to both climb the blocks to get to the exit, but also avoid getting smashed by them. It's ok, but even Takahashi didn't seem to care about this level that much because they figure it out super quickly, and the only real drama is that they think Honda/Tristan gets smushed (spoilers: he doesn't).

The Kaiba lore is strong in this volume. We first learn of Kaiba being in charge of Kaiba Corporation, we get the first mention of the question that is never really answered directly of 'did Kaiba or did Kaiba not murder his step-father to take over the company?', we get to see the Kaiba estate for the first time, and as well, I think this is the first time we get to see the aftermath of a penalty game which, for Kaiba, is super PTSD (this is implied to have inspired Death-T in the first place, and the real thing he's out to get Yugi for, not losing at Duel Monsters. Something to think about). This is also where we first get what later become pretty expected 'anti-friendship' speeches from Kaiba: "friendship is just an illusion...everyone cares most about himself. When they find themselves in real trouble, they'll soon betray their friends to save their own hides!"

Not gonna lie, some of the fashion choices were...questionable. When Kaiba first comes downstairs I assumed he was in like, a silky pair of pajamas with a silly fur-trimmed housecoat thrown over the top, but no, that was his official Death-T ensemble (girlie, what were you thinking??).

Oh, and a piece of trivia for the real stans: Pegasus is not the first person to call Kaiba 'Kaiba boy'; it's actually Johnny Gayle, former Green Beret commander with a specialty in guerrilla warfare when he says: "sure was nice of Kaiba Boy to put a bounty on their heads!" in Duel 28. So there's that.

There was something truly funny about how committed to the whole 'this is an amusement park/escape room' bit Kaiba was. Knowing full well he brought them there to kill them, Kaiba still lets Yugi and Joey/Jonouchi try out various normal rides and games at the park and brags about how awesome and cutting edge the technology is. And then during Death-T, between levels, he'd project himself on-screen to give them clues and introduce them to each new game, and was just seemingly living his best life watching all of this chaos.

We don't really know how much time elapsed since his first duel with Yugi and all of this happening, but we have to assume it wasn't much, which means, I suppose, that right after that happened, Kaiba went home, did 60 lines of coke, and then put Death-T together over a weekend. We stan an industrious king.

Volume 4 has all the I-want features: ridiculous, over-the-top, campy plot points with even more ridiculous, over-the-top campy resolutions. It's also a Kaiba-centric arc so you know it's going to be diabolical and entertainting. And also, you can't tell me that you've never wished you could 'Death-T' someone before.

It's wacky, it makes no sense, a lot of the dialogue is cheesy. It's Yu-Gi-Oh!

I love it.

On to volume 5!

[Matthew Lauderdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

So over the top you can't help but love it! Where else will you find a story where the characters work their way through a theme park of death? The games literally include laser tag against professional hitmen, a fight to the death with a serial killer, and so much more. This was a goofy and fun read.

[Burden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bar a standalone chapter at the beginning, the whole fourth volume of Yu-Gi-Oh! is one single tale. This extended format is exactly what I have been claiming the series needed, and whilst I was right to a degree, perhaps this particular story isn't the answer I was hoping for.

In Volume 4, Kaiba traps Yugi and his friends in a theme park full of games, each one more deadly than the last! Sure, this dark take on The Crystal Maze is a lot of fun, and the author clearly had a great time devising every one of the 'Death Games,' but it's all a little too preposterous for me. Yes, I know this manga was written for children, but that doesn't mean that there cant be a little common sense. It's just hard to believe that an adolescent child, who is the billionaire CEO of the world's biggest company, has spent tens of millions on building a theme park, just to enact revenge on someone who beat him at a game of cards.

Sorry, rant over.

Anyway, like I said, the individual games in this book are a lot of fun, and this volume is an enjoyable read, but for me, something is lacking. The story fails to develop beyond a senseless string of games and doesn't make any attempt to unearth any new revelations about 'Dark Yugi' or the 'Millennium Puzzle,' and that in my opinion, is this volume's shortfall. 3/5.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is actually ridiculous. It's over-the-top with diabolically cruel villains who are evil for no reason at all other than they're jerks. Seto Kaiba returns and has spent tens of millions of real-life dollars to create a murder park just to humiliate and literally KILL Yugi as revenge for that one time Yugi defeated him in a children's card game. Is that legal? No. Does it make sense that his high school dork would have this level of control over a large company and personally hire serial killers and torturers? No. But... whatever. Everyone in this world is terrible. What I love most about this volume, compared to all the others, is how much the side characters take the spotlight. Yugi doesn't really do anything here, other than stand around and be a target for Seto Kaiba's rage. Instead you get Honda taking control, multiple instances of Jonouchi being a badass, and Anzu... she gets groped a lot and is the object of sexual advances but also has this one speech about friendship so I guess that's about as much as you can except from a shounen type series.

[Leandro Escobar-herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best Yu-Gi-Oh book by far, and it is a testament to how strong the art, cast and premise was before everything was about the card games.

It is also the first timez they manage to utilize the entire cast and the effect it brings the storry is immense, even yugi gets a proper yami less spotlight. A new charecter is added to the cast, and George plays as an amazing foil to the rest of tbe cast, and gives some mich needed tention to the well knit group.

The book itself is extremely dark, especially when taken into account that it is suppose to be a childrens book. They literally burn a villain alive. Kaiba is also a perfect villian, having the personal story and just menacing presense.

The story has escalated beyond the reasonable, and it is in this sweet spot of camp and seriousness that this book thrives. A remember liking yhis book a lot as a kid, but reading it again it maneged to blow expectation. Belive the hype, it is better than nostalgia.

[Joseph B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth volume of the original Yu-Gi-Oh sees Seto and Mokuba Kaiba begin their ultimate plan of revenge against Yugi. There is a standalone story in the beginning about arcade games and it is a serviceable throwaway tale. However the real meat of Vol 4 is "Death-T." Fittingly ridiculous as the rest of the series has been; Kaiba spends millions on an amusement park that has one purpose; take Yugi down. We see Yugi's grandpa play Duel Monsters against Seto, a game of laser tag, and multiple life or death puzzles. It is great seeing Yugi, Anzu, Jonouchi, and Honda bond throughout the Death-T chapters and it is a real highlight of the extended story arc. I do feel the story gets a bit too crazy at times but for teenage boys, the target audience of Yu-Gi-Oh, I'm sure it wouldn't faze them. Also there is some gratuitous Anzu scenes that I remind myself weren't uncommon in the 90s; but some may find it off-putting.

If you've stuck with YGO so far; you won't regret continuing.

[Ophélie Regat · Rating 3 out of 5]

On continue avec la saison zéro.

Après sa défaite contre Yûgi (tome 2), Seto Kaiba a doucement préparé sa vengeance. Il a créé Kaiba Land, un parc d'attraction qui cache en fait des épreuves pour se venger de Yûgi. Il affronte tout d'abord son grand-père au duel de monstres, le bat et déchire sa carte du Dragon blanc aux yeux bleus puis le perturbe tellement avec les apparitions de monstres en 3D qu'il l'envoie à l'hôpital.

Yûgi et ses amis doivent affronter plusieurs épreuves (beaucoup trop dangereuses pour un manga pour enfants, bref) dans le but de rejoindre Kaiba et le réaffronter au duel de monstres.

Clairement, une ambiance très différente de l'anime dans laquelle les frères Kaiba sont véritablement machiavéliques.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jonouchi (Joey). In the manga, he’s Sam Gamgee and Yugi is Frodo. The friendship and loyalty in this series is awesome.

Everything that happens in this series is so completely ridiculous and over the top. Middle school kids killing adult CEOs to take over their company? Playing Russian Roulette games and poisoning each other? Extortion, murder, espionage, etc. all by fourteen year olds? Defeating Green Beret and SWAT team leaders at laser tag? At first I thought it was just too absurd to be worth reading, but after giving it a chance I see how it totally works.

I will say though that there is some crudity that just isn’t necessary - lower rating because of that.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the series is getting a little too ridiculous for me. It's entertaining enough, but every other person is in a gang including middle schooler that have guns. I just want to tell the characters to call the cops. Here we have a middle school aged kid trying to poison two teenagers to which he really gets no punishment and a high school aged kid who leads a huge company torturing an old man in front of a stadium of kids who are cheering. Then he sets the main characters through an amusement park where he has hired professional soldiers and an actual serial killer to kill Yugi. I have come to the conclusion that Japan has no police.

[Kassy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Yu-Gi-Oh manga is definitely an amazing series and I am loving it. All of the different puzzles and such are cool and the characters having their Japanese names are interesting and fascinating.

Kaiba is an insane character and I don't know if Yugi made him that way or if he's always been a little insane, like all of these challenges and Death T - 1 and such are very deadly and the characters literally have a baby with them, does Kaiba care about his revenge so much that he would kill a baby, and I am curious if he actually killed his father for the sake of his revenge.

[Ben Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Death-T arc begins. This is a good idea for a longer story in this series. The theme park setting gives a lot of opportunities for games. Having Kaiba set up challenges for Yugi instead of the other way around is a change of pace, but I am a little sad to see the series move to this more traditional relationship between protagonist and antagonist. I preferred when Yugi was a just Jigsaw enacting revenge on those who terrorize his friends. It was way more morally fraught, but it was also much fresher.

[Inge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. It is sometimes quite disturbing when I realize it is also for kids and people are tortured or die in these series...
I do have to say I find them very interesting but I have my questions about this.
It is another book about revenge and I'm curious if it is going to have the same silver lining as the 3th one.
Revenge shouldn't be so much in the books... it is like the main character inspires revenge against him but he really doesn't act that way at all...

[Warda | وردة · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great as always, there were many plot holes, and it did feel like they were winning every game just because they are the main characters. But that is what makes it a fun, silly, and feel-good manga (to me at least)
However, one very important thing is that I just find it annoying to sexualize the only female character whenever they have the chance to. And the way none of the guys in the group help her get rid of that little shit is kinda upsetting, like, isn't she your friend?

[Jane Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empleado: pero señor gastara millones de yenes en una atracción.
Kaiba: ¿y?
E: para matar a unos adolescentes
K: ¿y?
E: matar es ilegal, ¿no recuerda lo que paso con...?
K: ¿Y?
E: .... ¿Le busco su chequera?


me voy a tatuar ese gif uno de estos días...

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the volume where people who only watched the English Dub of Yugioh might recognize parts of it. As we get the iconic scene where Kaiba rips Grandpa's Blue-Eyes and seeing how obsessed Kaiba gets about being number 1 in anything. The build up for the Yugi vs Kaiba duel is pretty good and games are messed up. But the perverted random baby is a really distracting.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, Kaiba is one messed up kid. I am pretty sure he gets redeemed in the TV show but I cannot see how at this point. I am pretty sure none of this first series is in the show. Lastly, perv baby was weird.

[chris]

Soooo every time I read this I got into a silly mood because everything was so over-the-top ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh at all the dramatic things that kept happening, but it didn't really detract from the plot so it was fine.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really thoroughly enjoyed this volume. It is super interesting to see the early iterations of the characters and especially Kaiba and Mokuba. The art was also fantastic with gorgeous double page spreads and detailed monsters.

[Zaira's Bookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so freaking nuts. It’s hilarious and wildly creepy. But also was not impressed with the crude jokes—they are over the top in this volume. Which is a shame because if they weren’t in this volume, it’d probably be my favorite volume so far.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume really steps it up in terms of ridiculousness and stakes. It’s a little too goofy at times, and the kid character is extremely annoying. However, it’s a breeze to get through and has some really great character moments (especially for Jonouchi and Honda).