It's very interesting, though, how they're treating the Emu/M thing. On one hand, they're like separate entities, but at the same time, still fundamentally the same person...ish?


Like they made it clear that even when Emu was just Genius Gamer M, he wanted to be a doctor; the only thing that the bugster persona did was steer him along the right path. And even when he was just Genius Gamer M, he wasn't a total jerkass either, he congratulated Nico on being a worthy opponent. It's like you can see elements of Emu in M and vice-versa, the split personality thing is just a way of bringing out those extremes. Therefore, what you have here is a very well-done way of presenting a character with two personalities while not invalidating whichever one happens to be the "fake".

Oh man, Dan is totally onboard the crazy train now. His actor is doing a really good job with it, it's really fun to watch his slowly get more and more insane, much like Micchi. I am seriously doubtful Dan is going to last much longer with Parad now against him, although I wouln't be at all surprised if he came back to life somehow down the line. Other notes:

-Aww, Hiiro is really sweet in his own way.
-Poor Emu. Emu's actor has also really been impressing me with his performance.
-It was nice to get some confirmation on Parad's motivations.

I'm not quite on the same BEST SEASON EVERRR boat as everyone else yet, but the game is only getting started, so Ex-Aid has plenty of time to get there.

Dang it, and I managed 17 whole episodes before fundamentally disagreeing with people on Ex-Aid. It was nice while it lasted, I guess.

I thought it was alright? I mean, I liked it fine and everything, and I doubt Ex-Aid is actually losing my interest as much as something was just kind of off this week, but man. It's probably just my Gaim PTSD acting up again.

Still not sure if that's a joke...

Getting back on track, and in no particular order:

- So right off the bat I'd like to extend my thanks to the show for patching over some things that seemed like plot holes, first having Emu upfront ask Hiiro about Genm's blatant hint dropping. Since it didn't seem like he really reacted last week, I was worried they'd just forget it happened. Much like Emu apparently never thought everybody's mentioning of his ability to transform being odd was worth looking into until now. I'm starting to think Emu is kind of a moron, but, to be fair to the show, he's consistently been shown to be pretty stubborn and short-sighted for an otherwise upstanding guy, so this isn't anything inexcusable.

- Also on the subject of patching things up, it was really nice of Parad to explicitly explain what his problems with Dan are.

- On the subject of Dan... he's kind of lost his appeal to me. Credit where credit is due, he FINALLY got around to actually retrieving the other Riders' Gashats after setting out to do so about two months ago, and he's clearly threatening and all, but man, he's getting so impossibly petty and over the top, it's mostly just making me chuckle. Props to his actor for acting the s*** out of all his scenes though.

- Oh, and Genm totally saved the VotW! What a hero!

- Kind of an underplayed reveal for what Kamen Rider Chronicle is all about. Although I'm happy to have a theory about Ex-Aid that was confirmed instead of shot down for once.

- Motorz is getting away! Drat, if only Ex-Aid had some sort of vehicle to chase after him on. Maybe some kind of motorcycle? No? Okay then...

- Where's the dang opening?! It's been a month now! And the (I assume) contractually obligated use of EXCITE as an insert has been pretty hit or miss. This week was okay. Just okay though.

- So as a counterpoint to all my naysaying this week, I'd just like to point out that I'm digging Hiiro as much as I wanted to at the start. I remember back in the episode 4 thread I even said something like "well if Kiriya isn't going to be pals with Emu hopefully they can start putting some emphasis on Brave actually being a reliable ally in spite of his personality", so... wish granted. At a greater cost than I imagined at the time, but hey.

- Speaking of which, next week looks freakin' HYPE. I'll probably rave about it as much as everybody was raving about this episode. I'm always more about cool character stuff than the almighty Plot, so I guess that's no surprise.

Hm. See, I can't speak for anyone else, but a big part of why I liked this episode so much is because I would personally file it under the cool character stuff category at least as much as I would plot stuff. It did have plenty of cool character moments for Hiiro, for Parad, and definitely for Kuroto, who I actually think I'm enjoying more now than I have at any other point in the show.

While I suppose it doesn't make for an especially nuanced character, I do greatly enjoy how they're peeling back the facade of Kuroto as some sort of smooth villainous mastermind to show quite blatantly that he's really just a petty lunatic with a god complex the size of Jupiter. Because like, I don't think Kuroto is all that threatening--or I guess I mean, intimidating. He hasn't been since Level X Ex-Aid gave him a whooping in episode 13--hard to recover his image after that. Since then he's been coasting solely on his immortality, his alliance with Parad, and the amazing powers that come with being a dick. Seeing him further degrade into his true absurd self and seeing him being knocked down a few pegs in the same episode makes for some great entertainment.

The only reason I think they could use is because it is Kiriya even if its not actually his body. I mean would you want to be with basically a mannequin of your dead friend? Though they probably forgot and if we are lucky they will bring up.

You will now die from Dan's MEGA Rape Face.

I was expecting Emu and M to not merge, but instead one rides Shakariki Sport, while the other one rides Bakusou Bike to chase him down. Really disappointed.

If that did happen it would obviously be Emu on Shakariki Sport because M would so call dibs on Bakusou Bike that by the time Emu gets a work in M is already halfway down the road so Emu would have to pedal is ass there. At least that is how I picture it.

Okay... finally got the motivation to post here. Now I can say what I liked abo- *sees other posts* ...DANGIT, you guys said everything already! And even stuff I didn't think about!

Oh well. That means less for me to type. One thing I will say is that I also really liked the actors in this episode. Just... I honestly felt something for each of them, and that's a rare feeling for me (even towards real people sometimes). And if I scared more easily, Emu's face at the end would be haunting my nightmares.

Also:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/c6cpf69qh6w...Smile.gif?dl=0

I just realized something. Now that the Pallad/Dan alliance is pretty much all but severed at this point, then that means that the Gamer Driver that Pallad needs to reach Lvl. 99 HAS to be Kiriya's, right? Confirmed Heel-Face Turn?

Parad could always rob an extra from Dan or something though.

Yeah, I don't know, I guess maybe my problem is that it didn't really feel focused on the characters? Mostly I think I'm just being kind of irrational but, despite being pretty good, this is the least I've enjoyed an episode of Ex-Aid in a while, even though I still liked it.

I did love all the stuff with Hiiro though. It's kind of funny how the plot becoming about Emu's big secret caused the show to start focusing more on everybody BUT Emu, who's mostly just been running around being clueless about things for 6 episodes. :lol

I think for me the problem is the mastermind egotist part of him sort of counteracts the whole "taking him down a peg" thing. Like, yeah, Chibi Ex-Aid smacked him around a while ago, and Para-DX beat the crap out of him this week, but he just brushed that off and ruined Parad's day by way of ruining Emu's day.

He's sort of untouchable in that sense. His inflated ego means he never feels like he's failed in any way, ruining the satisfaction that would usually come from seeing him get beat up, and even when he seemingly loses things still end up going his way. Like, literally the entire gimmick of his current form is that getting his s*** kicked in just mildly inconveniences him.

So he's in this weird position right now where he's simultaneously a gigantic loser and yet also always wins, which sends me mixed messages. It doesn't help that his shtick has been kind of stagnant since killing Kiriya. I suspect my opinion of Genm will pick back up once this Kamen Rider Chronicle business starts.

Ah, but my fishy friendo, think about it
This means his eventual death will be THAT much more satisfying. And he's fighting Brave LV50 next week so Hiiro could knock his ass out again, but Kuruto doesn't have anything to get the last laugh

I'm trying to sort out the mechanics of gashats, riders, bugsters, and the infection, all of which apparently were created by Dan

So he designs a virus that takes the form of a video game come to life.

It's transmitted into a human hosts, who is disabled from the virus initially

From the disabled host springs forth a bugster, of various levels

As the disabled host gets more stressed, the bugster gains power and increases in levels

Gashats are tools used to fight the bugsters, and therefore are the solution to the spread of the virus, BUT, to use the gashat, you have to either be:
1) a bugster (like how Parad can use them)
or
2) a regular human in fected with a strain of the game virus that doesn't turn you into a bugster

Emu is the "first" person infected, how does that give him super powers to create gashats and use them?

For that matter, is Dan even human anymore, or has he infected himself with something we haven't seen?

I'll echo what others said, he's stupid for giving that Lv 50 Paradox gashat to Parad if its stronger than the Zombie gashat.

KR zombie was at least even, possibly even stronger than Might Bro, level XX (since he never was finished by mighty bros)

Paradox has pwned everyone including zombie

I think you're making one big mistake/assumption there. That Dan is the one who created the virus in the first place. I dunno about you guys, but I didn't get the impression that he's actually THE guy behind that one, and that it's actual origin is the big secret he offed Kiriya to protect.

Maybe that's just me.

Emu's virus is a lot stronger, the blank gashat was said to make Bugsters stronger, and his virus really flared up after that.
Dan isn't human, he's undead now after the...11th episode?
Mighty Bros couldn't beat Genm because they weren't strong enough to absolutely overpower him
I feel like you skipped an episode or two

Oh man, that last scene was intense, Dan and Emu's actors really sold it. I think the real reason Kiriya was killed was so Dan could become the best character on the show by killing the best character on the show :p.

The whole bit with Parad about the Bugsters following the rules of the game could prove to be a really interesting deconstruction of video game characters and their relationship with developers and players, if they keep exploring that, which I expect they will. Video games are a really easy theme to screw up if the people involved aren't invested and educated in the medium, but damn if this show isn't doing it right.

The Kamen Rider Chronicle reveal has been pretty obvious for a while now, but it doesn't make it any less interesting. Truly, MMOs are the most evil of all game genres.

Also, I will be very surprised if the game Tsukuru is working on for the game jam doesn't turn out to be Maximum Mighty X.

One thing I love about Ex-Aid is how the other riders also play as big a part to the story as the main rider. And I mainly mean Hirou in this case.

Like there aren't many other secondary riders that move the story along as strongly as the main with the exception of like...Baron. I mean Brave almost feels like he's a co-primary rider at this point.

But what about the OG really-important-to-the-plot knight, uh... Knight? Baron and Brave are really just biting his style, when you get down to it.

Damn, this was a great episode. That last fight scene between Dan and Parad was fantastic and the cliffhanger really has me pumped for the next episode. It feels like the characters' relationships are starting to settle into a good status quo - the Riders are showing legitimate concern for each other finally and I really like Nico's role as Taiga's sidekick.