Sakuma telling Kidou he has better freedom as a part of Raimon and that he knows just by looking at Kidou can be a throwback of Sakuma's lines in Shin Teikoku arc. Sakuma said that "he can't see Kidou's world," but in the ending, it became "I've opened my eyes". Sakuma is the one to reassure Kidou in episode 56, as at that point Sakuma is able to look at Kidou with a clear vision.....
in middle of writing my analysis post, it's gonna be pretty long because i want to tackle as many topics in my to-do as i could in a single post than making short post for each. but honestly the reason why am i not finishing it sooner is because i'm not feeling well lmaooo
currently i'm thinking that sakuma is kind of an unreliable narrator in terms of his insecurity towards kidou. episode 38 and everyday frame it as him feeling like he's not as good as kidou is because sakuma himself mistook it as such. he thought that what he's insecure of is his own ability when it's actually of his place as kidou's friend
but it becomes double unreliable narrator in shin teikoku arc as yes, sakuma's (and genda + fudou but this is not about them) judgement is clouded by meteorite brainwashing but because the emotion he displays is very raw it reveals his Real feelings at the same time. "i can't see your world" = i can't understand you As A Person
even then "sakuma is jealous of kidou's abilities" isn't inherently wrong because he is.. because sakuma's insecurity is deep rooted that he feels bad about every single thing at once, and in ares' timeline where shin teikoku arc doesn't happen you can watch sakuma being left in his issues for a year