[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 38 - “I AM 1000% YOUR FRIEND”

I get that it’s probably not going to work for everyone. It’s a bold swing to follow last episode’s casual suggestion of multiple homicides with this episode’s attempt to resolve Gai’s childhood trauma. Gai’s seemed an absolutely irredeemable character, and I get it if this turn comes far too late (or far too random) to be convincing.

And Nachi Sakuragi himself who had talked about how he wanted to make Gai as hated as possible, surpassing Kusaka, who was his inspiration. So they're on the way to make an irredeemable character, and honestly yeah, how Gai was handled was why some (including me here) would prefer KR letting villains stay evil, especially the more depraved ones, while the one who'd get redeemed are the characters who actually are planned to be redeemed, like Alain or probably Parado and Gentoku. Though yeah, those villains are also not close to be as terrible as Gai. In Ex-Aid, someone who did many atrocities like Kuroto was not made redeemed too, just happened to have mutual goal with the heroes, and he'd return to his old ways in alternate endings.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

For me, it worked perfectly. I love the mundanity of it all: how Gai was a kid with a shitty dad, and he couldn’t process those feelings of inadequacy, so he pushed himself to be a hyper-competent asshole. He had this one friend, an AI from Hiden Intelligence, and the loss of it became this psychic wound that warped him in the weirdest ways. His hatred of AI was the absence of a friend; his desire to take over Hiden was a chance for a connection to something that used to make him feel worthwhile; his push to grow its profits at any cost was proof that his affection for Thouser was reciprocal, and valuable. It’s all sort of pathetic, but it’s a recognizable kind of pathetic.

Because horrible people don’t come from nowhere, and that’s worth acknowledging. Gai’s a terrible human being, but there were things from his past that made this terrible outcome feel right to him. It's everything this show's been talking about with intolerance and hatred, how they have a root cause rather than an innate presence. This isn’t an episode about forgiving Gai; this is an episode about understanding him, and maybe seeing if there’s anything to be salvaged.

I mean, I do like how Aruto and the other cast handled him, as they don't immediately give him an easy time and would want for him to actually prove it and no BSing. While you have talked about horrible people not coming from nowhere before, but, didn't you say that people don't change 180? I'd think Gai's "redemption" here is a case of changing 180, after the series tried to write him as someone who'd stoop at any low to achieve something consciously without ever considering of others, even those that work closely with him, he just suddenly realizes what he did is wrong here. Much better people (well, almost anyone would be) like Fuwa or Yua would make use of a therapist to get themselves lifted off the burden. Gai's father is a stereotypical Asian strict parent, and I do think it'd suck to live with him, but still, Gai's crimes are just disproportionate compared to how he went through in his backstory. His dad is annoying, but didn't pull real atrocities that Gai would put others at far more miserable state than his dad did.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I will always give the benefit of the doubt to a Kamen Rider episode that wants to try and rehabilitate someone rather than destroy them. I love stories that don’t ask what punishment someone deserves, but what forgiveness they might earn. Bestoying just a bit of grace on Gai is worth doing if there’s a chance he could work to redeem himself. It’s not wiping the slate clean or anything – I’m not even sure if Gai could ever make up for all of the people and Humagears he harmed – but it’s allowing for the scales to be brought closer to balance.

I'd not stop Kamen Rider trying to rehabilitate someone and not destroying them, but, I also don't want for rehabilitating someone to look bad or BS. Because if rehabilitating someone is done badly, that can encourage the destroying path more for people due to rehabilitating people being proven stupid. The stupid one can come in some forms like letting villains go completely and have them backstab or continue their rampage, or for Gai's case, a case that is so unbelievable, it's be something seen as stupid to attempt that it's basically suicide realistically, some can swore off rehabilitating altogether.