Buraiden Gai Chapter 13 Discussion

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                        I had been wondering about why Gai was such a good fighter.  Abe described him as 1/100 due to his talent.  He showed some great intellect and I had wondered if it was purely instinctual talent paired with logic that allowed him to be so strong.   I'm glad we got some clarity on that.  For 10 months when he lived in that building he read and trained everyday, both of those helping form both the logic and talent that goes into his fighting.  He fought himself in the mirror to the point that he felt faster than the reflection which explains how he tapped into the moments where he punches as someone's consciousness is fading for a second, I presume.  I appreciate that and I found it super charming that he punched his own reflection until he became a pro.  That said hearing his logic and seeing his skills with how much he supposedly trained makes me see him as a prodigy of sorts.  Anyone can hear the advice “extend your fist faster than them”, or “reach out before they get you”.  Utilizing that advice is assuredly not so easy.



Gai wanted to be self-dependant and he trained his fists but through thoughtless harming of others he lost everything.  Maybe Abe was right and he learned from this to not be so quick to fight with violence.  Those gangsters supposedly beat Ikeda so bad they Kiryu Kazuma’d him!



I also want to note that this seems to imply his philosophy has changed overtime, the way he describes the story he speaks as if these are not all of the things he still believes.  So take any of my criticism over these philosophies as my current understanding of this flashback’s Gai’s thoughts.



Edit: I wanted to edit how I relate to the way Gai lives into this post because somehow I forgot to mention it both last and this thread.  I once wrote out how I could imagine being happy in the future.  One such reality was to live a minimalist, comfortable(in a vague sense), and restriction free life.  Something Fukumoto sometimes depicts, also done in his manga Rude39.  I don't know if I could truthfully live like Gai but in fantasy that kind of life sounds enticing to me.  It's truly freeing in a way and when I saw Gai putting his theory into practice and living like this I totally understood the kind of freedom he was speaking about.  I think Sensei in Shin Kurosawa tackles this as well, it's a somewhat cynic freedom.



I also have a prediction, for Gai to escape he will have to learn how to truly depend on others and form a comradery of sorts realizing how great it can be to be mutually dependent.  Specifically with Ishihara and Kurata perhaps as those are the standout characters so far.