Buraiden Gai Chapter 37 Discussion

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                        Really powerful chapter here. This might be my new favorite Fukumoto series so far (although I haven't read a lot of his manga and the fact that I don't get mahjong helps whoops)



Listening to this song really helped the mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO8gPwwlms0&list=PLoKYn-zLHTdxkTMNrVH65dJt0QpbS0Yc_&index=13

This is giving me heavy Kurosawa vibes.  I seem to recall the same language even being used of “fight to become human”.  But I cannot chop the events of this chapter up to being a mirror of what I’ve already read because Gai just did like the coolest thing I’ve seen a Fukumoto protagonist do.  



The situation was clear, Hirata being a big dumb bad guy wanted Gai to see with his own eyes just how futile his actions were and by doing so he’d give Gai a chance to win.  Yadda yadda.  So, Gai has a simple task.  He must get the crowd here to fight with him, for if they don’t Gai has lost.  To get the crowd he must convince them he has the keys to victory, that by them fighting for his sake they won’t be left behind to live a torturous life.  This creates a game of he said, she said.  Hirata says he’s lying, Gai says he’s not.  Gai appeals to his peers humanity by saying they are humans and this is their chance to fight, but it doesn’t work.  I want to note I was super curious on why we got a focus on the kid with big lips a few times, when he ignored Kurata and Yukio and later when he was standing in the rain, but as soon as this chapter started I was expecting him to be the first to fight back.  I’m pretty sure we saw his eyes opening wide for the first time on the “but they’re humans” page, as someone who was resigned to their fate awakening once more.  



All that happens and it doesn’t work.  So what does Gai do?  He literally slits his wrist as the ultimate form of saying “this isn’t about me”.  In fact, he says anyone can take the tape outside, the point is to take Hirata down.  And if that doesn’t say everything then I don’t know what does.  It was a desperate action but the situation called for one and it was metal.  Hirata is going down.



Also, I want to note that this manga started with “stand alone!” and here Gai is relying on his peers to “stand up” together.  If we end up on that line it’ll be charming, but even if not, it has certainly and implicitly shown that Gai has grown from his stubborn insistence on self reliance and sees the value of unity and mutual reliance.