[BrokenDreams]

I think the reason he works so well as being the most hateable villain in the franchise is that he is the embodiment of the worst of humanity. Kusaka was the biggest asshole prior to this for sure. He was a selfish person, for sure, and he actively ruined the lives of people who got in his way. But he, at the very least, did care for a few people at the very least like Mari.

Gai is just the worst. He embodies everything one would hate in a human being. Selfish, arrogant, greedy, exploitative, racist, bigoted, etc. He created an entire terrorist organization for the sole factor of selling his product to people and taking down his rival corporation. He cheated and broke rules and did whatever it would take to win in the end, all while pretending he had nothing to do with it. The kind of person he is is the kind that exists in real life. A corrupt corporate CEO who cares only about his own arrogance and profits. He only sees everyone below him as literal tools for him to use, much life in real life. Kusaka is a kind of generic hateable villain, but Gai is so much worse because it reflects the real life corporate greed that affects a lot of people.