[Annuga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

You mean RealTime? I don't recall which other Rider apparently owed their tragic backstory to Gai's actions, but considering how he caused the destruction of an entire city, there's probably a lot of people who could claim that. But yeah, I'm referring to post-show content, where he suffers some misfortune. He tried to reform ZAIA in to a good ethical company, but Isamu and Yua don't take him seriously and Metsuboujinrai blew it up before he could make any real progress. He tried to start from zero with his new company, Thouzer Intellion, but (and I'm not making this up) he got infected with Shin Dan Kuroto Kami-sama, who revived again and forcefully took over his position as president.

Fuwa's implanted false memories were done because of Gai and even if they were real, the event that would have lead up to them would still be Gai's fault, Aruto losing his Humagear parent happened due to Gai's shenanigans iirc, Yua was clearly extremely unhappy working under him while having the chip in her head to force her obedience (plus the implication of her being a victim of sexual harassment exists), Jin, Horobi and Ikazuchi would have never become evil if Gai didn't have an absurd reaction to having a strict father which ended up with him in a massive position of wealth and power, I don't remember Naki's deal off the top of my head but he/they was used as part of Fuwa's false memories and I think Eden or Lucifer's wife died due to infected nanomachines which of course, Gai was to blame for them getting infected.

Fuwa and Yua have good reason to doubt his sincerity as I already explained and although I haven't seen the post series stuff so this is clearly just how it sounds to me, but Gai is wealthy so it seems to me that when starting a new company, he was in a significantly better shape than Aruto was when Gai forced him out of Hiden Industries. Getting infected by Dan the Man is fucking hilarious though and I welcome it, he does seem to actively be trying to atone but everything he did feels waaaay too big to ever make up for in his lifetime.

Also, bringing up Kuroto is interesting here, he doesn't really *have* a redemption arc and is pretty much held on to a leash by the heroes, who still very much don't like him, while also holding a grudge against his dad which might have been a good motivator for him to be with the heroes for a while. I think the key difference is that while Kuroto technically had noble intentions if I remember correctly, he never really gets this redemption arc but is still a total dickweed the entire time whereas Gai has been a massive asshole only to turn to the camera and go "waaah my dad was strict so I'm not evil anymore". I can guarantee that Gai would have been more popular if he just stayed a villain the entire time, instead they pulled a Gangrel and nobody likes it when that happens lmao, haven't seen post series Ex-Aid stuff either so I don't know all the details that well tbf

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Even if he'd prefer force Riders out, he'd not bat an eye if Riders died in his pursuit of goals (like Shirowe), including if he directly throws them under the bus (Keiwa, Ace, Niramu), if it can get closer to his plans. Before he'd also have no qualms murdering Neon because she was infected (he'd also wish her dead after she got cured) which carries over in how he approaches the phase 2 Jamatos. Though Ace's real circumstances behind his wishes manages to have him gradually let go of his worldview, it's not that what Michinaga did was what's necessary and needed, but it was him being blinded by his cynicism, to be so caught up in his negative bias, always assuming the worst in others and doing what "needs" to be done. Cynicism isn't the sensible approach people make it out to be (often being lauded over idealism), it's a dogmatic and narrow-minded view with unearned sense of superiority that leads to laziness, negligence, cruelty and callousness, even if you mean well.

I agree that what Michinaga did was undeniably bad, the guy himself agrees that he's a hypocrite in that regard but that's part of why he's so interesting to me, he does a lot of bad shit to achieve his goal but it doesn't seem like he gets any enjoyment out of it outside of wanting to wipe Ace's smug smile off his face as he could not beat him, Michinaga did what he felt was needed even though he clearly got quite a few people killed because of his actions, I think the reason he feels particularly bad about getting Sara killed because by then, he found out there was another way beyond having like, a large scale trolley problem. Personally, I would have added a scene of Michinaga breaking down after realizing just how much he screwed up and added to people's suffering just because he hadn't realized sooner that another way was possible but I'm also a sucker for "My god, what have I done?" Shit being done right lol. Fantastic writeup, I could not have written that better myself