One of the biggest criticisms given to Gai is that he only trained Rock Lee to kick Neji's prodigy ass, without making an effort to train Neji or even remembering Tenten.
Which is stupid.
We KNOW that the Hyuuga clan privately trains their children with their own techniques; Neji was no exception. Gai, despite being his sensei, could not intervene in Neji's studies because come on, those of the Main Branch would not react very well to seeing a guy "deforming" his ancient techniques with more dynamisms and foreign movements since, after all, Gai knows, apparently, almost all the martial arts and weapons of the ninja world, and surely he would try to teach it to Neji, which would possibly be an aberration for those of the Main Branch.
Neji wasn't helpless; he was actually a great ninja though Gai won't train him like he does Lee. I honestly think that Gai put more dedication into Lee, not only because he would remind him of himself, but because only he, as a ninja that lacked of large or even medium sources of chakra, could teach him to be a ninja without the need for chakra, even if it was twice as hard.
Now, Tenten… whoever says that Gai doesn't even remember her is an impressive airhead because, seriously, do you think a twelve or thirteen year old would learn to handle all weapons on her own? Gai was known to have vast knowledge of all ninja weapons, goddamit! He obviously would have taught Tenten how to master each one.
Gai gave his students what they needed. Neji was given respect and recognition as a formidable ninja while urging Lee to catch up, while Tenten was given all the materials (where do you think Tenten got the scrolls, dudes) she needed like the knowledge to master each weapon.
it is not that i disagree, but i have seen many people saying that gai is the few in naruto that treat the main characters like actual children, what is the reasoning behind that? like what is the difference between how he treats those kids compared to some other adults?
oh man its really hard to explain without outright going back 1200+ chapters/episodes and finding examples
just off the top of my head, gai;
listens intently to his three students when they grieve about their problems, and gives advice an adult should give a preteen (encouraging, openminded, gentle)
like look at the test he gave fresh-genin graduates neji, lee, and tenten and how believable it is, its like an actual test you give to 12-year-olds and not kakashi’s ridiculous mindgame that made things wayyyy more complicated and manipulative than it needed to be
when he’s disciplining, he does it in a way that i cant easily explain but its obviously the type that works well because its firm but forgiving and it makes preteens feel like they want to do better
is super free with his physical displays of affection towards the kids (ALL kids, not just his students) even though they’re at an age where they might cringe and try to wiggle away, because we may not all like hugs but its always nice to know that someone’s gonna be there no matter what with their arms open and a warm smile
(i tried my best to find the clip but i cant im sorrrrry IT WAS FOUND FOR ME, ITS HERE) the anime has 16-year-old choji run up to gai because none of the genins have eaten dinner and choji’s hongry and gai’s reaction is to ‘scold’ as if choji’s whining about trivial stuff, but one hand immediately sneaks him a package of cookies with a sneaky thumbs up, choji isn’t even his student hes just some random kid
like look at this clip, its one of my absolute favorites because it features just how much of a dad/family this whole group is, plus its made even funnier knowing that this is happening as gaara is dead
so look at all that wholesome stuff and compare to kakashi’s depressed mid-twenties ass and how he chose to tackle the whole teaching-middle-schoolers thing. he doesn’t talk to them, he doesn’t engage their goals or their ambitions, he arrives late to lessons he put up, literally his first formal introduction to them is that he’s not gonna share anything about his interests or history with them. now, im not saying kakashi’s a complete shit or anything, just that he’s more of a dissociating babysitter than gai’s loving dadness
and its not just in comparison to kakashi, its also about the parents that we see - the hyuuga clan, gaara’s royal family, the third hokage and how he ‘raised’ naruto, jiraiya’s whole shitty self and his role as ‘mentor’, even tsunande with sakura even. gai’s one of the few who knew how to interact and nurture his students
also fun fact; what i also like about gai is how he looks like half the young adult men of my dad’s generation, seriously all of them were trying to emulate the bruce lee aesthetic back during the late 70′s/early 80′s
Info on Mr. Ukki is strangely hard to come by… It’s not mentioned on the narutopedia at all.
But apparently one of the handbooks clarify that Mr. Ukki was a gift Naruto gave Kakashi while Naruto was a genin, so Kakashi hasn’t had it for very long.
My first thought was that Gai got his sunflower recently too as a way to compete with Kakashi, but then again, wasn’t Himawari (Sunflower) named that way because Neji liked sunflowers?
Maybe Gai’s sunflower was a gift from one of his genin too, specifically Neji.
Maybe it's silly, but does anyone know if Kakashi and Gai live in the same building?
Please I need to know!
Gai’s apartment is very spartan but otherwise unexpectedly plain. Exercise equipment and weights scattered everywhere.
He has some books, photos ,and a plant by the window like Kakashi’s room does, but in true Gai fashion, his is a sunflower. One of the photos is probably team Gai, so I guess the other might be Team Choza or maybe Duy.
He has a Konoha spiral flag hanging up on his wall, pretty simple bed sheets, random papers on his wall, a scroll that says something.
Edit: @hesiona-himawari says that the seal says 熱血 (nekketsu), which means “passion”!