Very true. But it does make it a lot easier to tolerate when the show itself appropriately acknowledges it as bizarre behavior and not something that's normal.

I'd argue that the fact we don't see Poppy a lot but more so Asuna also helps

Fair enough. Onari did get that occasionally (Takeru even says he's kind of a pain in the butt in the second episode, and Takeru is a saint), but it definitely isn't to the extent they've been doing with Poppy so far. I'm pretty sure the show is now actively making it a point that little kids hate her. :lol

Poppy is definitely the butt monkey of the show so far and it's pretty funny :lol




Also, you know what I just realized is cruelly ironic? Not only was the coroner the first main character to die in the series, but he was also killed by a guy with a zombie motif lol

OBJECTION! Just because he was brought back by the Gashat somehow doesn't mean Dan's alive. His HP bar is permanently 0 if you look closely

This episode ending was so dark, I actually tried to rewatch the first half to cheer myself up.

Anyway onto the analysis, like this episode I'll start with the good first and the shocking second.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zombie Genm's transformation was flat out amazing.

The creepy music, the posing, the design itself, everything just worked together so well. Even after seeing it in the magazine scans, my initial reaction to seeing it in motion was still "Holy s#$t, what the f%&k is that?!"

What's more, it seems Dan or possibly "Dan" is now a bugster.

- He has a human form and uses the Gashacon Bugvisor to transform like Graphite did.

- He can summon minions based on the game he's from.

- Even with his physical body dead, he can comeback with his mind fully intact.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kiriya's Death.

I'm very conflicted about this.

On one hand, they kinda resolved/ended the whole "nobody trusts him" dynamic he had with the others last episode. Meaning now would be the perfect time to write him off, rather than later when there could be things left completely unresolved if he died.

And with the information he acquired, he could potentially unite all the other riders against Dan, like he almost did this episode. So it sorta makes sense for Dan to get rid of him first and as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, he still could have provided an interesting dynamic with the other riders even now that they all trust him.

And with him gone, the plot now has to move along by having the heroes just react to the villains actions, unless one of them tries to investigate the bugsters on their own.

I just hope this ends up making more sense in terms of the big picture when the series ends.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lastly the brief introduction of Saiba Nico, I not really sure what to think of her right now. but she does seem like she'll be a interesting character opposition to Emu with the Mighty Action X, Bakusou Bike, Bang Bang Shooting, Taddle Quest, Giri Giri Chambara pins all over her backpack.

Oh, have I forgotten to mention how much I like Zombie Genm yet? Because Zombie Genm is sweet. Judging by some of the avatars around the site already I don't even need to say that though. :lol

You know, that's sort of the assumption I'm running on (especially because it would give a reason why he's not using the Gamer Driver anymore), but I really wish Ex-Aid would find some room to get just a little exposition somewhere in there every now and then. I don't consider it another Gaim-esque warning sign for the show, since the details haven't been important (hence why they don't get brought up), but it really would be nice to get some elaboration on some of this stuff. The Stage Select still hurts my brain. :p

Basically my thoughts.

You know, I honestly think that scene was mostly in there just to give Taiga a bit more screentime this week, since nothing really happened in it besides basically just announcing her presence. That's not a complaint mind you. Obviously this episode was doing a sort of "end of Act 1" switching up the status quo thing, so it does make sense to introduce her here.

Ugh, yeah, Dangerous Zombie Genm looks amazing. It could end up as my new favorite suit design. It's kinda like a grimdark, inverted FangJoker.

After we has Dangerous Zombie Gashat, it will be interesting too if Bandai create Rider Gashat based from other horror creatures like vampire, werewolf, mummy, and frankenstein.

It's so strange that Genm gets one of the best designs in the show after getting one of the worst.