I THINK I KIND OF HAVE A LOT TO SAY MAYBE. ill just go off the cuff because im in bed suffering as of right now (i am watching link joker) i think it is insanely interesting how as we have gone on aichi has developed and gotten better, found himself not only friends in the shop but friends from overseas and school. i cannot say he became "normal" but he has definitely become a person with very strong mental. his dependency on kai shrunk considerably, almost nonexistent now. its good seeing how his confidence now manifests in things like leading the club and sticking to his goals and convictions while still being the usual blue idiot. its refreshing to see a protagonist actually tangibly grow like, super mentally ill s1 aichi was really funny and they could have stuck to that and i wouldnt have complained much but they really committed to his journey of bettering himself which is very warm i like it :)

when it comes to kai i think this is the real clincher. they really fooled us huh?? they really made us think this entire time that kai was just a victim of his trauma and nothing more but he turned out way more nuanced that expected, even though the subject of his trauma is honestly fairly nuanced on its own for what it is... in asia circuit kai certainly showed signs of his vices being a part of who he is as a person and not what happened to him. starts out played for plot reasons (being a flake and ditching aichi) or for laughs (him being insanely competitive for no reason, for example when he prepares lobster pasta and feels dejected ren can cook better than him regardless). it really comes to the head the final few episodes where he shows signs of self awareness being all "boo hoo im so sorry aichi i never helped you i wasnt there for you etc etc which makes his subsequent behavior later SO much worse (ofc aichis like nooo king you disnt do anything bad ;__; because he is gay and stupid what can you do). i say later but literally his first response to seeing aichi be toe to toe with void juice leon is to be like damn....hes stronger than me the fuck? 😒 KAI IS KIND OF A BAD PERSON. ITS GREAT. he wanted to be the one to save cray sooooo bad. he is a huge gatekeeper. he was fine with aichi playing and liking vanga until it seemed to him that aichi had pretty much surpassed him, then he started getting kind of nasty about it. hell honestly at some point in asia circuit kai somewhat canonized aichi as some kind of vanguard pain saint and used him to be like "leon you SUCK youre not like AICHI who suffers HONESTLY" but ofc the section kaikun cant be the one to do it he gets pissy about it.... like, ok, im nowhere near where kai even remotely snaps in link joker but you immediately see him being petty on the first episode. its BERIGOO. idk if i said already but its crazy and genius how they distracted us with aichi being a downright mess for two seasons and then you look back and realize kai was one with the screws loose the entire time...... morikawa vs aichi in particular being kai acting SO petty, SO insecure, pure unadulterated mental illness, very nasty behavior its great setup for when he finally does go nuts for real and i look forward to it :)

i think its kind of sad how kai and aichi have never had a real frivolous cardfight, it always has to be something, theyve never fought for fun and it always causes problems. all of season 1 for example. everything is kai toshikis fault... if he just fought aichi normally ://////