[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamen rider bara

Lame. So Geiz's resolve is just to do what he did from the start?

What did you expect, Geiz is vocally hard headed like that.

But that's what makes it interesting. He's internally fighting against how much Sougo is growing on him. How Sougo has been reaching out to him. Even Sougo going so far as saying "I need you to stop me if I do turn into Oma."

Geiz isn't saying it, he's keeping that gruff exterior, but he's warming up to Sougo. He brought the chicken dinner home. He remembered. He has a home to provide for. He has a home to protect and look out for. Winner winner, chicken dinner. xD

He's not saying it, and it's part of his growing internal conflict that's reaching resolution, but Geiz is changing, even if it's subtle. Even if the other characters are letting him play it up as he hasn't changed, but he really kind of has. He was tempted, and instead, he came back and formally made himself part of the family though he's saying otherwise in his reasoning. But hey, he still has his pride, and doesn't want to admit it, but he has a place he belongs now that's watching out for him, and needs him to watch out for them. That's what I love about this show. It's true to the personas, and subtle character development. Not overt and arm waving in the air to say "look at me I've changed" but gradual and very human.

He might be saying "I'm watching you and will stop you" but his actions are saying, "this is my family now, and I will protect it from all inside and outside threats." And Sougo accepts Geiz for that. Sees what he's saying, but also gets the undertone, that "glad to have you home now."

Geiz is so the tsundere of the series. Has a prickly exterior, but you know he's growing fond of them whether he'll admit it or not. That's another thing I really love about this series. The gradual trope inversions. This show for what it is held to itself, has so much amazing that's easily overlooked because of how subtle played it is, but it's that subtlety that makes it so very real and fun. It's more than skin deep, feels refreshing in that regard. This episode especially gave us insight into that with how it peeled back the orange.

This is also why Faiz armor is his. He's so Takumi in many ways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Glad to see God Kouta was able to influence that much just by getting Sougo to realize Geiz should try and escape using his own skills instead of being helped.

But he was helped. What Sougo was going to do was save him outright and do the work for Geiz to bring him back. What Kouta pushed was to give Geiz the means and ambition to find a way, and give him a reason to find a way, something to fight for himself. That was the mistake in the previous loop that caused the loss. Sougo never gave Geiz the help and instead was going to force his way/will in an attempt to save Geiz, and in the end Geiz was lost from that(which considering Geiz's inherent pride and ego, seems about right). But in helping him save himself, Geiz is now an ally that's come home and the growing bonds have altered time itself. Because sometimes a little help can go a long way in letting someone save themselves and trusting in their own abilities. Whereas forcing your way to save them can backfire and has repercussions and consequences that can cause loss and mistrust or create a downward spiral from feeling useless and incapable or powerless. It would cement those self-doubts that manifested. Forcing the saving like Sougo almost did, would have re-enforced the powerlessness that Geiz was caving into in Helheim itself. But that reached out hand, that literal little messenger of help and hope, that fruit of life, lifted Geiz up to do it himself. He wasn't alone, they believed in him to do this. They needed him to succeed and trusted that he would. That push is what he needed, that reminder as he was caving into self-doubt. Which is extra poignant in how it was Melon arms that did it. The fruit you share with family and friends as tradition goes that it's a more communal fruit.

There's a lot more to Geiz being trapped in Helheim that wasn't directly conveyed(it is still a kid's show!), but how Sougo was attempting to rewrite time that Another Gaim never happened to save Geiz, suggests there was more to it than simply pulling him out of helheim. Because as we saw with the victims getting free at the end, all it took to free Geiz was to defeat another Gaim. But in that path, Geiz wouldn't be the same and would have been ridden with self-doubt in how Sougo saved him and effectively would have become useless with little will left to strive forward. (We get this in the side remarks at Geiz while in Helheim. His "not strong enough to fight fate" and the rest of his literal self-doubts being given voice by an outsider watching him. Stuff that was making his inner narrative manifest outwardly to convey it to the audience.)

But instead, saving himself first, he now has renewed will in his own abilities and will continue to fight for and change the future.

There's a lot of extra material in those 3 missing days we didn't see, that 3 days later Sougo didn't want present day Sougo to experience either. That Geiz had to save himself first before they could defeat Another Gaim. Which goes back to Sougo's ability to read people and personalities as we've seen repeatedly conveyed. He's a little bit of a manipulator in that way, but the implementation of it is really interesting. He's not manipulating to control or impose his will, but trying to use it in ways to best help all he can and who he can. He's pushing dominoes but doing so in cautious ways to try and make things better. Present day Sougo picked up on this really quick, they were in sync. He knows himself too well of course.

Woz notes this himself. That Geiz wasn't part of Oma's rise. That Geiz is inconsequential and useless to Zi-O. But now that's changed as Geiz has conquered his self-doubts because of a little help from his friends believing in him and showing him that they do.