[AkibaSilver]

Yeah, after a lot of jokes going round about Gai's redemption for the last week, this was surprisingly alright? Maybe even pretty good?

As others have said, Gai is in no position to be redeemed. He's done some bad stuff. And this episode doubles down on that. He tries to kill the Vice-Prez, of all people, the most ineffectual joke character there is! And, I think most notably, the episode ends on him actually saving Aruto. Even structurallyy, the show knows this is a big decision, and actually has him doing something that starts him on the path to redemption *before* the main cast decide he's secretly good all along. This episode shows that, while it doesn't erase your past actions, you can confront your past traumas and try to better yourself. I get the feeling he's not gonna come out on top by the end of the show - your consequences do come back to haunt you, after all - but he can at least try to be better than he was. Obviously, there's still time to make future judgements, and how Fuwa/Yua react to this is gonna be a big factor. But right now? I'm more optimistic about this than I was.

In other, non-Amatsu news, Yua and Fuwa continue to be great together, and they've even picked up their own squad! I won't lie, I don't remember which iteration of the Hard Boyz these two are, but given they seem to like Yua, I'm gonna guess it's the ones we assumed died off screen 8 episodes or so ago. Nice to see that AIMS don't entirely agree with ZAIA's policy of having them get their arses kicked every episode. Aruto is still great, especially in his utter brushing off of Gai. He couldn't stand the guy a few weeks back, but he's been so humiliated by everyone that even Aruto just makes jokes at his expense.

(Seriously though, no comments about how Gai Amatsu, 45 year old president, named his big bad Rider form after his tin dog?)