Fish, please try not to hate the series because people are getting histrionic over it!

Personally, it's still too early in the game (eh, eh?) to really make a judgement as to whether the STORY is going to be any good or not. I'm half wondering if Ex-Aid might turn out to be a series of insane spectacle and little substance since very little actually happens per episode, it's very... decompressed. Of course if it goes DBZ batshit with the endless upgrades (which may be happening regardless), I'm fine with that, too, provided to minimal story remains sensical.

I don't hate it! It's just I'm kind of amazed people are so into it already. I feel like that doesn't happen too often.

Maybe I can't understand because I wasn't actively counting down the days until Ghost ended? I suppose I'd be pretty pumped for Ex-Aid too if I'd just spent a whole year being completely disinterested in Rider.

I dunno, I wasn't really actively paying attention to Ghost myself since I was watching old seasons. I was watching Hibiki though, so that might explain my immense enjoyment of it.

(Also Doctor Gamers is almost as awesome a concept as Dual Detectives, so there is that.)

I hated Ghost and dropped it at episode 30. Ex Aid seems to have elements of both my favorite Rider series, so with that kinda combo, how could I not be into it?

Honestly, to moderate this problem so it doesn't go into far stretch is simple. Actually, the reason why most people judge Ex-Aid so early is because of Ghost. Really, back in the first quarter of Ghost, many people still had a very big hope for it. IIRC, even Switchblade and Kiwami was still had some hope for Ghost despite how hammy Onari was. But now what, many people got bored and hated Ghost, even I couldn't lie if I didn't get bored with Ghost; though I'm like Fish, I was still enthusiastic enough to watch Ghost till the end. Some people might have a very big hope that Ex-Aid will surpass Ghost 10 times much better, but you can't lie if you aren't worry whether Ex-Aid will repeat the same mistake like Ghost.

Anyway, time to dive in to the episode. For once, really, this time we get a really dickish Rider! Despite some people still trust Kiriya, for once, I think he's the least good Rider despite his concerns to his patients. I mean even people like Hiiro still has some degree of honor and professionalism while Taiga still fight fair and square and he isn't your type of jerkish Rider. While Kiriya, he's the least favorable Rider for me. If Ex-Aid will follow Gaim's route, I think Kiriya would have the biggest probability to betray Emu again despite they might warm up later.

Though, once again this episode really got much better than the last episode too. I didn't see Hiiro's father or Popi's overacting; even Emu's acting and comedy was more consumable than before. It's just weird to see Emu was too concerned with the patient here. I mean I know he's super concern to his patient, but man, he could just beat the Bugster much faster if only he had listened Kiriya. But, yep, plot-wise and it's to fill the time slot. It's super awkward to see Takuya Negishi here and I still found his acting was a bit overwhelming. He is much better in happy and smiling expression but he needs to improve his expression during tense situation. But, still I was happy to see him with Runa Natsui after a long time.

As what Fish said before, I know that Genm has appeared for the course of recent episodes. But, man, I still found his over-appearance to be a bit overwhelming. I know every of his appearances have it's own worth, but it's awkward to see him continue to appear and give some beating to the Riders without a problem. Even I felt his appearance in this episode was only for toy-commercial. You can't blame it since he USED Sports Action Gamer in the last 3 minutes of the show! It seems that his appearance in the last part was a bit of slapstick and for commercial only.

I was also super disappointed that Kiriya showed his true colors too early. I'm already suspicious at him when he said his friend was Zero Day's victim 5 years ago but he found about Zero Day 3 years ago. Since, it would be bland for him to use Level 2 without a Rider in it. It would be better if they save it for the next 5-6 episodes, especially he gets Chanbara Gashat. But, despite how I antipathy toward Kiriya, I found his relaxed and joking attitude to be super enjoyable. His comedy and antics were acted very good by the actor; you could enjoy how much heart the actor put to this character, especially in his and Emu's short pact. Actions somewhat got lowered a bit than yesterday, but maybe it was because half of the action was a racing action; which surprised me since this was directed by Sakamoto. But, the bike scene was pretty enjoyable too. The stunt and the CGs here were so top notch either and it still lives up Ex-Aid's great action despite it wasn't as WOW as the previous episodes.

Okay, so first of all, this episode was so goddamn fun. Kiriya is fun and it's nice to see the full Rider cast assembled. They're a pretty eclectic bunch and I look forward to seeing them play off of each other over the course of the series. I'm also hopeful that Lazer's limitations mean we'll be getting a lot more bike action scenes on Ex-Aid.

On the downside, I'm still really confused about how the Riders and the games work in this world. Did Emu and Kiriya actually go into a video game? How did that transport Riko to them? I'm having trouble following all of this.

Also, ye gods is Genm's level 3 armor fucking terrible. I think we've finally found a suit that surpasses Masked Sasword on the Awful 90s Action Figure scale.

I think what's doing it for me is something about Ex-Aid sorta reminds me of the early-2000s Heisei series, which was my favorite era of Kamen Rider. But of course, it has a distinctly "Neo-Heisei" tone to it. And I just enjoy the dynamics of the Riders already. Not to get into a Ghost mini-rant again, but one of the things I enjoy seeing in Kamen Rider is seeing how the Riders play off of each other, and this is something I feel is best done in a show where the extra Riders are treated as their own fully-developed characters with their own separate motivations and goals and NOT as just backup for the lead or an extension of them.

I feel this interplay was largely missing from Ghost where as soon as Specter (and even Necrom to a lesser extent) joined the "good" side, they sort of stopped being their own people and literally just became extra muscle for whatever Takeru was doing.
Even Drive I think did this extremely well by giving the main 3 riders distinct personalities that made it so we actually saw them interact and bicker with one another rather than "Takeru is so great, isn't he?" "Yes, Takeru is amazing!"

I can't say for sure whether or not this will remain true for Ex-Aid, but so far, there's a lot of interplay between all of the Riders and it's keeping the show interesting for me, as they're treating each Rider as an actually different person, and not just a standard sidekick.

I just hope the four riders will start acting like a team later on.

Emu will learn a lot from the other three and understand them.

Kamen Rider can be about friendship too right?

That's pretty much guaranteed to happen.

Unless this turns out to be another Gaim where everybody is trying to kill everybody else.

Maybe not Snipe. But even then, they might have some trouble against Paradox and Zombie Genm.

I wish for all four riders to become "Team Blade"!

One of the things I simultaneously love/respect/hate about Gaim was the way it actively refused to get the main four Riders on the same team for so much as one fight. At least in the main series. Seeing the Blade guys get their s*** together was one of the best parts of the show, but a little variety never hurts.

Given how harmonious the Ghost gang ended up being I wouldn't mind them doing something similar to Gaim this year. Or maybe do something like, they keep ending up on the same team but their motives are totally different and they don't necessarily like it, like Faiz and Kaixa.

Also I'm kind of bummed we're just diving into Level 3 stuff first quarter. I knew it was coming but I don't want Lazer to lose his whole gimmick less than 12 episodes in. The whole idea of a bike that is also a dude is just too much potential to waste. There's a reason people love Battle Hopper so much.

This continues to be an EXciting series. I am not really disappointed that Kiriya was lying about his history, I mean he's still very interesting and fun. I am intrigued with why he wants to know more about Bugsters. Snipe vs Brave has been great and I like this rivalry between them. Genm is powerful and I can't wait to learn why he is doing this. It was fun seeing the guy who played Hikaru from Ginga back it was different for him but he was awesome. Emu continues to be amazing and I just love his character right now. This is a fun series so I can't wait for more.

Like Obama getting the Noble Peace Prize for, essentially, not being Dubya Bush!

I'm wondering if there's more forms in the wings, because all of these toys are pouring out WAY too early.

Maybe when he gets his level 3 upgrade, he'll realize how he treated Emu and start coming to his aid and be a real friend to him for once.

I gave Ghost the benefit of the doubt for a long time. I kinda hoped it would turn out like Drive: weak beginning before eventually coming together into a really strong show. It did not.

I wouldn't categorize my like for EX-Aid in relation to Ghost, though. There's a lot about the show's tone and character interactions that really click for me. I actually still hate the suits and I doubt that will ever change, but everything else is working for me so far.

Kirya gives me a Kaixa vibe for some reason. Maybe it's just that he sort of looks like him, but yeah, he was a dick. I felt the alliance of Ex-aid and Lazer in the same episode as Lazer betrays him was way too soon IMO. I'm sure they'll both come back together at some point since Lazer doesn't have his second Gashat yet.

Interesting that Genm and the monster that took the lady both use that same weapon. Maybe the monster is Genm or the stronger Bugsters use that as their weapon since Lazer knows that Genm is working for the Bugsters.

You know, I like it a lot when Genm uses Shahariki sports as an item. It's the most genuinely video gamey thing in the show so far, just randomly whipping out this item to beat on your enemies, like something out of Dead Rising. The Level 3 obviously looks very ridiculous and mismatched but I think that's kind of the point.

You know I would ask how the hell the game world thing works, but considering this is the first episode they've dne this in, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Although considering the rules of how the Genesis Driver worked was never consistent, I wouldn't have high hopes.

So Lazer is basically a Comic Relief or what?

Anyway, I am lovin this show so much! Better than Ghost! :)

Yeah, hoping for them to make sense out of 90% of this stuff is setting yourself up for frustration - "where does the armor come from / go to" alone is enough to drive one to muttering. I use weaponized suspension of disbelief to maximize Rider enjoyment!!