Kaiba’s Bipolar af. Hear me out.
Ok guys I got a Kaiba headcanon that’s been super stuck in my head lately. @queeriboh made this post the other day and it totally helped move things forward in my head.
Basically Kaiba reads as Bipolar to me and I’m going to get into the why in a sec. In the post listed above the question of if Mokuba ever found out about Kaiba trying to kill himself in DK came up and what his reaction might be. I personally think that he would try and have a real conversation with Kaiba and bring up seeking mental health care. I can see Kaiba being extremely stubborn about it and trying to blow it off at first but Mokuba finally wearing down on him. I can see something along the lines of “I can’t lose you like I’ve lost everyone else” coming from Mokuba to make Kaiba see how serious Mokuba is about the situation and that making him seek what he needs.
Something about Bipolar disorder to know is that it often gets misdiagnosed as Depression at first. So what happens is you usually get prescribed an antidepressant. A lot of the time that will actually feed into manic episodes and give you like a super high. So let’s say Kaiba goes and gets on medication after DK. He starts feeling ‘great’ so he thinks everything is ‘fixed’ and doesn’t really think anything else of it.
Which leads me into Battle City. Kaiba’s character in Battle City gets amped up in my opinion and I think it’s because he’s experiencing manic episodes on the regular. He’s got this huge confidence boost and feels unstoppable. He becomes increasingly more obsessive and hyper fixates on being best and winning everything back. Boiii already had a big ego but like damn it popped off in Battle City. Like borderline starts getting a God Complex at points. Which in my personal experience is something that can happen when your mania gets too high. He gets more angry in general but then also switches back to the calm, cool, collected asshole that we all know and love. That super fast switching of emotions is pretty common in Bipolar Disorder.
I feel like his behavior in general reads very bipolar but is often written off as him just being an eccentric, teenage, millionaire CEO with severe baggage. Which Holy shit he’s totally got a laundry list of issues. How he ‘deals’ with the problems makes more sense when you put into consideration that he probably has Bipolar.
I know this is kinda long and winded but if you took the time to read this I really appreciate it! I don’t know everything about Bipolar Disorder but from what I have personally experienced with myself, friends and family members, it really wouldn’t surprise me if he did have it. If you have any questions or want me to explain something better please reach out to me! I’d love to get more in depth with my thinking but this has probably already been too long 😂😂😂
i only just got diagnosed w bipolar 2 in december but ive lived w bipolar family members my whole life and i agree wholeheartedly
its the throwing himself into every new challenge with insane gusto like maybe this one will fix me, maybe this time the high can last, maybe if i destroy the last part of my father, maybe if i beat yugi, maybe if i own the rarest cards in the world, maybe then, finally finally ill be happy and wont have to hate myself anymore and this cycle can end
also the way he treats mokuba backs this up imo, bc he obviously loves him very much but he never listens to him. he treats mokuba as more of a trophy or beloved pet than a brother. seto thinks mokuba couldnt possibly understand whats going on in his head and that he himself is the only person who can fix things. hes the most tortured person on earth and also the only savior. also mokuba constantly showing us that no, seto wasnt always like this, he used to be more content and loving, it really reads that he developed bipolar when they were living with their adoptive father. being around someone else whos really unstable can make your symptoms a thousand times worse
it also makes sense for why he hates yugi and gang so much is bc how could you possibly think that friendship and rainbows will fix this, ive been dealing with this for as long as i can remember (the bad can overshadow the good and make you forget the past), and youre just gonna waltz in and tell me to get some friends and have some faith and ill be fixed? friends couldnt get it either, i dont know why i feel like this so how could you possibly know
I really love the points you added to this!!! Thank you for reblogging this 3 years later 😊
I've been diagnosed with Bipolar 2 for almost a decade now and having a name for what was going on with my brain helped so much! Seeing a lot my symptoms in Kaiba's character also helped me process a lot too! It's crazy and beautiful that these silly little gooses that play a children's card game can make such an impact on us! 🥹
