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- Nov 14, 2010
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Sure, that's stuff that gives the character a shock appeal considering the type of show he's in, but there's a lot more to Gai than that that I find appealing. Even without that stuff, he's still an edgy, different kind of character for Super Sentai. Sentai had already had a couple of characters who were reluctant heroes, but Gai takes it to a whole other level and...well, he's an interesting contrast to the stock type of heroes who are always presented as flawless.
Gai screws up. He can be selfish, he can be an asshole, he can be bullheaded. But deep down, he's a good guy, he has a sense of justice, a code of honor. He shows that every hero doesn't need to be a hero who emptily spouts "Guts! Seigi! Heiwa o mamoru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He's a real '90s character in how he's supposed to be a hip character who comments on that tired, traditional type of hero -- by going against and hating everything Ryu, who is that type of hero, stands for. He's initially cynical and isolated, but there's a growth to the character where he's made a better person by the series' end. There's a sense of redemption for Gai. He's just a really interesting character, played by a great actor who really brings him to life and keeps him from falling into areas of unlikability. There are layers to his character, and I think he has a heck of a lot more going on for him than a character like Jiraiya.
And that's exactly why I'm still a Gai fan
That said, Ryu is more than "exactly that type of hero"; even if he always says that "we're warriors of justice", deep down, he's a broken man who's lost his fiancee, and who is at least as much driven by a sense of revenge (even if he would never admit it) and a faint hope to save his lover; that's why episodes 31 and 32 of Jetman are so compelling, because when Ryu finds out that Rie is Maria, he completely loses it, the "selfless hero" guise he always shows disappears, and he falls into madness; in a weird (but awesome) paradox, it's Gai himself who has to remind him of the fact he's a hero. After all, when Gai asks him "do you think everyone wants to fight? we have a life, we have dreams", Ryu could have answered him "I've lost all my dreams; fighting is all I've left".
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