That would probably the best course of action. Besides, even when I am standing firmly by my own interpretations I am not always aiming to convince my interlocutor to take on my interpretation. I simply state why I think of my interpretation of more fitting based on the entire series. It's however always intriguing to see where other people get the base for their interpretation from, especially when they can be based on more than just one line of dialogue or interview-statement.
It's exactly that: I don't clearly see where there is something missing in Axel's "change". He changed from his old ways over the course of KH2.
Now looking at Days-scenes again (Youtube-Walkthrough, thank you), he acts subtly like his CoM-persona even there, as in being casually joking around (with Xigbar and Saix, which the latter seems to be often annoyed at) like he also did with Vexen in CoM (who reacted similar to Saix) or cold indifference (towards Larxene in CoM, Xaldin and partly Luxord in Days). The only one he seems to act really friendly around is Roxas, even with Xion it took a while for him to get to really like her in some fashion.
Saying he was a "goofball" from the beginning is probably also not the correct course of describing him, as the more I look at his role as a whole (excluding Dream Drop Distance and the last parts of KH2), he is a pretty selfish and cold, calculating individual. Roxas truly seems to be the only exception where he acts nicely as a big brother figure, and since we see Days mostly from Roxas' perspective we see more of Axel's "goofball"-persona. Even in Days when Axel is talking with i.e. Saix without Roxas around you see that he's much colder and distanced, like in CoM.
Lol, it's almost as if Roxas is a sort of strange morality pet for Axel.
The "pedo"-hammer, depending from which "faction" it comes, is clearly a way overblown interpretation. I have no clear overview on the warring armies in the fandom, but I can imagine this statement mostly coming from the oversensitive, overly
conservative dickheads who see in any form of affection or attraction of a male character towards another male always the impending downfall of the occident and a sexual interest. As if gender(or rather, biological sex) control your feelings towards someone, it's all in the head. That being said, to me it's more than obvious that Roxas means something
special to Axel/Lea, in what form and shape is up to debate (and I personally highly doubt that it is romantic in nature), but there is something, also because the kid is the only one Axel acts friendly towards most of the time.
Why it is that way is not clearly shown, and as we alerady talked about, was a missed opportunity in Days by making it all too quick.
So from this perspective I'd agree that there is something missing in Axel's development, only not in the sense that his ruthless, cold demeanor shown mostly in CoM was all he was capable of. He had always the more caring side he showed towards Roxas (and later Xion) in Days, what they failed to bring over to us is
why Axel choose to let that side out and not treat Roxas like all the other Org members, either with cold indifference or ruthless professionalism. Even with Saix, his supposed "friend" he was not friendly at all, even before the factor "Roxas" started to meddle into the affairs.
I can only assume that, given he acted friendly to Roxas even before he met Sora in in CoM, that he already felt some subconscious attraction (maybe Roxas' just born heart? Ven's crippled one within him?) that made him act differently towards him than to the other members? After reading the secret reports again, Axel seems to be somewhat satisfied with Roxas' development on Day 22 while when coming back at Day 72 he already muses on how special Roxas. The way to the point when he later states that Roxas was "the only one he liked" is shown, but the reasons for that are mostly left ambigious.
As for his change in KH2, I would assume that a big part of it also comes from his interactions with Naminé, which were sadly omitted in the actual game which made him eventually realize that continuing on his lone crusader path would in the end only benefit Xemnas and that if Sora is lost he loses Roxas as well since he's now trapped inside Sora and at the time of KH2 (in-universe) there was no way of reversing that process (because old jerkass DiZ choose to keep his mouth shut about his research, hiding it in Sora instead).
KH2's writing is also not the best in da house. It has been a while since I played KH2 and I don't remember if it has been made ever clear (or was made clear only in the Final Mix)
why Axel choose in the end to abandon his plan to get his best friend back the hard way. After all, Riku did exactly the same, taking
his best friend away by force and end his existence to save his own best friend.
In the end though, Axel's sacrifice was truly mostly to save Roxas, which is even lampshaded in his journal entry in DDD:
DDD Character Files said:
One of Organization XIII's more unique personalities. He was especially close to Roxas, another of their members. Axel expired while fighting to save Sora—or perhaps someone else.
Blatant, isn't it? ;P