Honda vs Kaiba (I saw your Jounouchi vs Kaiba one so I'm curious on how well Honda would stack up against Kaiba)
“vs.” for who I think would win a fight
It would be about the same. Kaiba would still lose.
Honda is not as adept at hand-to-hand combat as Jounouchi, given that there are several context clues in canon that let us know that he hasn’t had to have the same life experience that Jounouchi has. While Honda has been in street fights and was acting as a bully at the start of the manga, he was never a part of Hirutani’s gang. We also (thanks to the context clues) have a pretty good idea of what his home life is like, and it seems to be exponentially better than Jounouchi’s, given that he has enough spending money (without a job) to drop on things like blank puzzles without worrying about it, but at the same time he has to have Yuugi buy his soft-core porn (which means that while his parents are probably overbearing and overprotective, they’re still present and active in his life). While his nephew, Jouji, is a little brat, he also seems to be well cared for. Honda may not be (well, is not) as trusting as Jounouchi, but it’s also safe to say that he hasn’t had the same amount of street experience as Jounouchi has. In fact, it’s even safer to say that he probably learned much (if not all) of what he knows about fighting from Jounouchi.Â
But even with all of that said, Honda is still no slouch in a fight. There’s a reason why he’s able to back Jounouchi up—why Jounouchi trusts Honda to back him up. It’s because Honda is able. Honda doesn’t use weapons either, but we do know that he has enough confidence in his fighting ability that, when he sees one of Hirutani’s gang lackeys alone, he makes a remark about how he could take three of the guy by himself. Jounouchi and Honda are able to clean up the shoe thieves by themselves when it’s a face-to-face fight, and Honda was also able to help Jounouchi take on Kaiba’s guards, despite the fact that both of the guards had guns. Honda has had a somewhat safer life than Jounouchi has, and I think that he has less experience when it comes to fighting than Jounouchi does, but he’s still damn good in a fight. He’s strong, he’s smart, he’s capable, and he still does have experience. Honda has proven his fighting skill in canon.
On the other hand, Kaiba has done no such thing. For starters, Kaiba doesn’t fight unless he has a weapon of some kind. Whether that weapon is taking the gun off one of Pegasus’ goons, or using his briefcase as a bludgeon, Kaiba wouldn’t even fight Yuugi, someone half his size, bare handed. Not once in the entire manga do we see him fight in honest, hand-to-hand combat. He always has a weapon or trick of some kind in order to tip the odds in his favor, even when he is (once again) fighting a classmate who stands at 5′0″ and weighs about 93 lbs. The fact that we never see him in hand-to-hand makes it a bit harder to judge his abilities, but I think the fact that he won’t fight in honest hand-to-hand says a lot about how he sees his abilities. You could argue that he’s just trying to get as much of an advantage as possible, and while that is a valid argument when considering Kaiba’s personality (i.e. that he’s far and away not afraid to cheat and does want to have the most opportunity and power available to him), I still think that it’s equally as valid to point out that he doesn’t have any experience whatsoever in fighting hand-to-hand, since we never see it. (And no, the second series anime does not count. I go strictly by manga canon.)
In addition to all of this, we have no reason to believe that Kaiba would have experience in hand-to-hand, or that he would be trained in any sort of martial art. Gozaburo was training an heir to take over KaibaCorp; martial arts, despite what Dwight Schrute may believe, have no place in business and thus wouldn’t feasibly be an item on Kaiba’s tutoring regimen. After Gozaburo’s suicide, Kaiba was focused wholesale on KaibaCorp and defeating Atem and Yuugi, and with all of his focus on business and gaming he wouldn’t have believable motivation to chase after a martial art, which requires a metric ton of dedication and commitment. Since we never see Kaiba mention this, and never see any indication that it takes place, I think it’s fair to say that it doesn’t. Kaiba doesn’t study any martial arts. Since he also doesn’t get into street fights (given that he is a CEO of a multi-billion yen corporation and wasn’t a delinquent in his earlier years), we can reasonably say that he doesn’t have any street fighting experience, either.
In addition to all of this, Kaiba’s job doesn’t require that he exercise or build any muscle. Again, he’s a business CEO. That type of white-collar career doesn’t require heavy lifting. While Honda doesn’t have a job at all, we do know that (again) he does get into street fights sometimes, which would require him to be in shape and build up muscle. Given how he can knock people around, it’s safe to say that he has that muscle and power to throw behind his punches. He also has a motorcycle, and he presumably maintains it himself. Working on a vehicle—any vehicle—requires some degree of muscle to be able to jack it up to work underneath it, carry tires around, and that sort of thing. It’s not easy labor, and so Honda reasonably has the muscle to deal with that as well.
At the end of the day, however much he may be able to throw Duel Monsters cards like throwing stars, Kaiba Seto is not a fighter. He’s not going to win in a fistfight against someone who is, and he knows it, which is why he relies on weapons and/or tries to trick and disarm his opponents. Honda, on the other hand, does have a good number of fights under his belt in canon, and victories at that. He might not be as experienced as Jounouchi, but he doesn’t have to be in order to lay Kaiba flat. All the cards are in his favor.
This fight goes to Honda Hiroto.
