I'm not sure you're wrong, but I feel like this is in the "test" category, not the "obvious no" category.
There are many cards that are "good on paper", which are pretty obviously terrible, but still worth testing - however, even in this category, Kabu is definitely a very bad card.
Usually these "bad cards with potential" have one thing in common - if you arrange a nearly impossible scenario, they will put you miles in front, possibly winning the game. However, with Kabu, he doesn't even have that - you have absolutely no control over his
one good scenario, because it happens before you get to play the game. Instead of things going impossibly well for you, he requires that things go terribly bad for you. And, worst of all, after you hopelessly miss your opportunity, he becomes a dead card that doesn't do much at all for the rest of the game.
In the one scenario he's good, Professor's Research or Cynthia are marginally worse - but in 99% of other scenarios, he's hopelessly bad, while the other cards are pretty great. He doesn't really "save" you more than Prof/Cynthia into Quick Ball into Dedenne would.