Buraiden Gai Chapter 11 Discussion

THIS IS AN MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER.

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                Good stuff.  I like Gai's attitude about his contradictory philosophy - once it's pointed out to him, he changes his life to fit his ideals.

Yeah, I agree. Can't wait for more chapters (I know that 12 13 is the latest, not 11).



Good stuff indeed.

I haven't read that much Fukumoto yet but still, getting such a clear backstory for a character is something I’d never expect.  Despite this being a more traditional way of exploring character background it’s fresh compared to Kaiji or Kurosawa.



As for Gai’s philosophy, at first it made me think of Kurosawa.  Gai wanted to be free from the endless and meaningless cycle of time consumption, the chaste atmsophere, the dull conversations, and the dumb classmates.  
This aspect reminds me of chapter 20 of Kurosawa.  Specifically in that chapter Takashi is much like Gai wanting to quit middle school because he feels he is going absentmindedly, just going with the flow and showing up everyday.  As Gai is sick of the fakeness in his environment, Takashi is too, he doesn’t want to be controlled, he wants to be true to his own feelings. This is a common theme in Fukumoto work, the feeling of being trapped, of wanting to move forward but not knowing how. We saw it earlier with Abe too, he wants to change instead of scurrying around like bug in the same places.  Another take on this is in Shin Kurosawa
where master Shonen says life is like being trapped in a barrel but explains how one can feel free within the barrel.  By focusing on what they are free to do, dancing with their trapped limbs, using his free mind to imagine jumping around smiling, by listening to the connectivity you have to the world around you.

But beyond that Gai shows two things.  The first is that he isn’t so different from the director.  He hated hearing the kids around him be so greedy and rotten by not treating their parents with respect.  If they hate them they should be independent not trash talk he thinks, as he respects a father and mother for their hard work.  And in the same way we see the director judge them Gai uses “rotten, spoiled, stupid” to describe those around him.  The second is that he holds himself to a high standard.  Despite never complaining about the orphanage that takes care of him he feels as if he is dependent then he cannot criticize others for being so.  It inspired him to try and get a job.  I have to wonder if that’s a good path to go on though.  I take it the orphanage and the school are full of fakeness, but so would a job.  Life is full of restrictions, so is a job, although he would feel more in control and less so moving through the motions I suppose.



In fact, this high standard of integrity Gai shows is the opposite of the director, whereas Gai feels he is the pot calling the kettle black for something so small, the director does the evil and cruel things the kids do back to them without shame.  The director on the other hand holds himself to an incredibly low standard of integrity!



I think Gai had his scar since he was abandoned.  His life seemed rather tame up until now and he still had that huge thing.