Gai Yuki, the Black Condor – The Growth of a Hero

Choujin Sentai Jetman is easily regarded as one of the best shows in Toei’s long running Super Sentai franchise. Aside from its drama elements, and its story, there is one character that easily stood out from the rest, and his name is Gai Yuki.

Unlike your standard heroes in this kind of show, Gai is an anti-hero. A jerk with a heart of gold, a guy who likes women the same way he likes his booze, and the most likely person to search the best online casino or live dealer casino if given the chance to search it on Google, this son of a gun has all the qualities that make him a bad influence to children, but for some reason, I ended up liking him as a character.

It was back in the late 90’s when I first got a chance to watch Jetman, and the first character that struck me as interesting was Raita aka Yellow Owl, the fat guy in the group, the character who is least likely to be in the team. But after watching the show every week, I started to notice Gai aka Black Condor. He’s a jerk, but as time went on, he slowly gained heroic qualities, something that I noticed as a child. Yes, he is still a jerk, but a jerk who now cares for other people not named Ryu. Sadly, I wasn’t able to see the end of his development as a character thanks to its schedule and my parents preferring soap opera.

Thankfully years later and with the power of the internet, I finally saw the series in its entirety and saw Gai’s growth from jerk, to jerk with a heart of gold, to the man with a heart of gold who is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his friends’ happiness. Yes, he started rough around the edges, but at the end, what matters most is how he got to the end. He was a jerk but as time went on, he mellowed down, and became the man you can depend on, and that is what makes Gai Yuki a very interesting character, that is why his death at the end of the series doesn’t feel right at first. It took me years to accept it and realized that the Gai we met at the start of the series will not do such a thing, adding this extra layer to this already interesting character.

P.S. Thinking about it, since he died during the early 90’s and Google wasn’t a thing until the late 90’s, guess he didn’t have the chance to check the best online casino or live dealer casino just for the heck of it.