[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

That's basically what all the losses were leading up to this point, Gai just pushed to the breaking point where he sort of... just kind of... reevaluates things?

Gai's a lunatic, but even a lunatic is eventually going to look around and realize they can't win. There's no way for him to succeed by running Hiden like ZAIA, and he sees that now. With victory out of his grasp, and it makes sense to me that he might take a breath and try and accept There's gesture. I'm not sure that you could tell a Gai Gets Even Crazier story, so you might as well pivot to some character examination after so many episodes of character assassination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nokination

For me personally, I just can't get into redeeming Thouser, I did like the story with Thouser (the dog), but it's not enough to let me overlook him, you know, allowing a bunch of people to die so that he could sell more Raidrisers. I honestly kind of liked the redemption when I first watched the series, but even with the rush caused by Covid, I'd assume they could've left out that scene from the last episode where Gai says he's fine with letting some people die, and even if I might've shed some tears when Gai reunited with Thouser, having a bad childhood isn't enough to gain my forgiveness. This episode is perfectly fine, but after all Gai's done, it's hard to forgive him. But, I can get why a lot of people do like the redemption, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, personally.

I don't... it's easy in these types of stories to think of what's been asked of the audience as "forgiveness", and I don't think that's correct? Heroes aren't perfect angels, and villains aren't inhuman devils. You can do good without necessarily being good, you know? Gai might not be a hero, but he's attempting to find a way to contribute, to offset his villainy with some altruism. We can hope for him to get better without condoning his transgressions.