One of the best episodes yet this season. Really really solid power up episode with a couple of great reveals. The Genm identity twist was kind of obvious, it was certainly what I was expecting from the get-go, but just seeing the level of crazy in his eyes after he de-henshined, and the way he spoke...damn. Also LOVED seeing Graphite henshin, that was unexpected and AWESOME, nice twist on the henshin..jingle? A nice, dark twist on it for the Bugsters. I can see myself digging Graphite. Emu, he really does change when he gets in the zone, he did a complete 180 there when he was being taunted by Genm.

Really good action too, the video game effects were present still, even if scaled back to mostly props and background details, but it's nice to still see them. And again, I'm impressed just how much I actually like the level 1 forms and fights with them.

Does anyone here watch Virtual Operations? While they're pretty much just toy commercials, they do have a few tiny bits of character interactions that are actually quite interesting. Just watched Virtual Operations 4, I think that was the number, and lets just say that Gemn was not happy that Kiriyo was trying to figure out his identity

I do. But I can't understand them. Nobody has subbed them yet.

TV-Nihon subs them. I know most people prefer...just about everyone else over TV-Nihon but I still think its worth mentioning.

I'm not sure it's most people so much as that the people who dislike their subs tend to be very vocal and sometimes derisive. I strongly prefer them, so seeing someone say that nobody has subbed the Virtual Operations puzzled me, too.

Even though the Virtual Operations are majority advertising, there's just enough (front-loaded) actual content to make me watch them... at least until it switches to being a Ganbarizing advertisement.

I've looked at them. They're alright, but I usually prefer my Rider bonus material to be a bit more insane.

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, and I'm eager for the next episode, if a little anxious about it. The anxiety is that the first five episodes were concerned with introducing new Riders and the villains (and villain-Rider), so this is kinda the first episode that will need to develop a story outside that structure. They can probably manage it. (And there's the distraction of introducing another new power-up, which I assume will be the structure of the next two, as well.)

Brave isn't at all what I expected before the show launched. His risk aversion skirts the line with cowardice, which I suppose is the point of the apparently-ironic name. I expect he'll get fleshed-out as we go.

I'm enjoying that most of the Riders are problematic personalities. Snipe just doesn't seem to be built to work well with others, Brave is often inclined to run away, and so far as I can tell, Kiriya is a either highly manipulative or a compulsive liar. Well, and Genm... I still don't feel like I know what his deal is. Madness? Infection by the bugsters? My suspicion is that he's less secretly-evil and more a Jekyll-and-Hide case.

I'm actually going to be the voice of dissent in defense of what little integrity Kiriya has.

I think he was telling the truth, I just think the truth is more complicated. I'm willing to bet that BOTH Graphite and Dan are Genm, just not at the same time.

I'd bet you dimes to donuts that when Genm has the Bugvisor it's Graphite in the suit, while without it's Dan. It's more a hunch than a truly thought out theory, but I have found my hunches to be dead-on more often than not.

Has Genm appeared without the Bugvisor so far? I know he doesn't have it gor Level 1 and 3, but I don't remember him not wearing it.

It's a nice theory (one I wish was true if only so my belief that Graphite was GENM was even slightly correct), but nah, he was just lying. We can say that for sure because in Virtual Operations Dan speaks to him in his unaltered voice and he is not surprised to hear it.

It's also the only thing that makes sense taking his actions in the episode into account. There's no reason for him to get all up close with GENM to sneak in the information that he knows who he is when he already told everyone else. And when he's telling them, you see he has to think about what he's going to say before he says it.

There's also the fact that Parad addresses Dan as Kamen Rider GENM and nothing else. It doesn't exactly make sense for him to do that if there's more than one of them and the other one is standing right next to him.

Sadly, Ex-Aid is preemted this week. No new episode until the 13th.

Beginning horrified histrionics in 3... 2... 1...

:eek:

This episode was incredible. I didn't get spoiled by scans so I was quite "AH-HAAA!" when Genm's identity was revealed. So who is Graphite then we wonder?

Bring on the next ep - can't wait! Loving this show

Sports event or something else?

Might be some Shakariki Sports.

I see what you did there.

You know, I wasn't really feeling Ex-Aid for the first few episodes but this one won me over, it reminded me of my favorite rider Series Kabuto. I love that all the riders have their own agenda and not friendly mcfriendly off the bat just like in Kabuto.

Wow! That ending was pretty dark