As for Genm, he had used X-0 prior to the level 2 henshin before he Game Over'd again. So coming back into the fight, he just used PMAXO

So after surviving Hurricane Harvey and finally getting power restored my first order of business was watching Ex-Aid's Final Episode. Priorities I know but it's late for me so there's not much I can do.

So I gotta say that was a pretty solid episode, gotta love sparkles, truly those are the lifesavers. But yeah, a fairly good ending, and really glad that they pulled an Ankh in terms of the Game Disease patients, that it will happen eventually. It's a positive note to end on and slight bittersweet as well.

Not to mention this ending basically ties up the one big thread which was Masamune, his story is basically done at this point. That being said it does leave enough open and I'm glad they didn't do the whole, "There's no reason for these Riders to exist" that some other series pull. They left it open enough to where any of the Riders can make a reappearance in a believable manner but closed it off enough to where yes, this felt like an ending.

As much as I love this show....I gotta say....THAT FINALE WAS TRASH. There are SO MANY issues with the way this show is ending.

1. How is Cronus using the Gamedeus weapons when Gamedeus was deleted already?
2. Emu being able to move in the timestop....HOW??? And NO, Parado being inside him doesn't explain it, as Parado still gets affected by it too.
3. As much as I LOVE the harkening back to Episode 1....THEY BEAT CRONUS, THE CURRENT STRONGEST RIDER, WITH Lv.2s, with NO EXPLANATION WHY OR HOW?!! COME ON!!! In the previous Episode they were smart enough to give solid reasoning on the Lv.1s fighting Gamedeus, and there, it was just to separate it from Masamune. But here?! They just say that Parado suppressed Gamedeus, and that's why he's so depowered??? How does that even make sense?!! He's basically at the status he was in his debut, where he effortlessly plowed through everyone. I was hoping that this Episode they would cleverly use the Hyper Muteki Gashat to instead pass it around so people can temporarily use Muteki Mode to fight him, but NOPE....
4. Correct me if I'm wrong but why are there still people infected with Bugster virus...? I thought beating Kamen Rider Chronicle should've fixed that automatically....? And it's not like there's anyone out there who could revive the Bugsters---*Remembers Johnny Maxima took the Buggle Driver I* OOOOHHHHH.....Ok, they have a POSSIBLE chance of fixing a plothole if this gets addressed in the Movie....
5. The announcement that they're working to revive those lost via the Proto Gashats and restore their humanity.....SIGH...This is probably the WORST misstep this Series can go. Why? Because this can possibly COMPLETELY undo any major consequences that the Riders have bad to face in the past. This ESPECIALLY hurts for Hiiro's developnent, who as I've said in the past, jumped up IMMENSELY in character development in the last couple Episodes. We don't need a complete happy ending of hope, Ex-Aid....There can be losses here & there....
6. Speaking of losses, PARADO & POPPY ARE BACK, JUST 1 EPISODE AFTER THEY SACRIFICED THEMSELVES....WAY TO MAKE THEIR ACTIONS MEAN SQUAT, TOEI.....I was hoping they wouldn't show up again till the Movie, but.....SIGH......

Regardless, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid overall was AMAZING. Shame it had to get bogged down SO BADLY at the Finale, but regardless, I have to say, this show came up as a contender for possibly beating even the likes of Gaim, and now I think it's safe to say this show has now taken the throne from Gaim as the #1 Best Heisei Kamen Rider Series to date. Yuya Takahashi was able to make such an amazingly consistently good Series, and I applaud this show for being so great from start to e---.....Episode 44.

1: Getting possesed by Gamedeus pretty much unlocked the weapons similar to how Emu can get the Keyslasher in any of his Levels

3: They literally say Chronus got weakened, Masamune goes "HOW CAN THIS BE?" and Emu answers that

4: The virus was still there WAY before Chronicle started, it was never implied beating Chronicle would end it. It just means it won't spread as easily

5: This isn't regressing character development or anything. Masamune got rid of the master lock and considering True Ending takes place a year later and doesn't seem to have Saki or other victims of the virus, it means it'd either take a long time or won't happen.

Also I deleted the point about Poppy and Parad but realized something I wanted to say about it. I think it's SIGNIFICANTLY less bullshit than W's ending because Ex-Aid has already established that this can happen, and it did

I rewatched that part and found what maybe a plothole. Emu said Parad had weakened him, but that was last episode. If he is already weakened, how come lv100 Brave, lv50 Snipe, Lazer + Genm can't defeat him? why do they only defeat him when using level 2?

Oh man, I should be satisfied that someone isn't just letting Ex-Aid off the hook for stuff Ghost was burned at the stake for, but also... lay off Ex-Aid, this episode was awesome? I'm so conflicted... :confused:

Hey let's be real here, Phillip was basically a Bugster before it was cool. :p

So... what are the odds Build plays around with the concept of mortality in the same drama-killing way as the past couple Rider shows? I figure they're pretty good. We literally haven't gotten away from this stuff since Double.

Or maybe because Ex-Aid took things to the extreme and refused to kill a single person on a permanent basis, they'll finally stop? I mean, where do you go from here? Even the show itself failed to die, since we're getting a whole trilogy of V-Cinemas announced before Build even starts.

Fair point, but maybe they were fighting defensively because they expected him to be as strong as he should be. Confidence is everything. Plus Emu cracked his driver, so not only was the virus suppressed, but his hardware was unstable as well. Not to mention he was simply taken off guard by all of this, making him vulnerable.

Please don't leave me Ex-Aid... :(

It won't. At least not until next April when the V-Cinema BluRay comes out. Hell, it might never end. After Another Ending we might get Another Another Ending with the way things are going. :lol

"Unlocked the weapons?" Um, NO....Where do you get that it works like that??? Especially given that the source of those weapons is now gone...? And Emu has to go at least Lv.50 before popping out the Maximum Mighty X Mech Suit before using the Keyslasher, so don't see your point here....

And his "answer" is BS, as I pointed out. It makes no sense. Is he saying that beating Gamedeus surpressed Masamune's BUGSTER VIRUS?!! And what does that even have to do with the power of Cronus in of itself? Heck, how can he even transform into Cronus if that's the case then? The answer Emu gave was WAY too vague & doesn't answer much of anything.

But the reason why the Bugster Virus was there before Chronicle was because of Zero Day where the Bugsters first came into the world, and the only reason they could keep continuing to revive was because someone would always gather their erased data via the Buggle Driver. If Masamune's dead, and Poppy had her Buggle Driver II with her, then that means the only person who could possibly have one right now is Johnny Maxima, as it was hinted a couple Episodes earlier, and therefore, HE's the only possible reason why the issue of Bugsters being around can still exist.

Never said it REGRESSED character development, I said it RUINS THE CONSEQUENCES. It dampens the meaning behind their deaths and removes the feeling of the character progressing forward after the losses they had. And we don't know either way. I'm just worried, as all. I'd rather they just left the dead dead, and move on from that. (We already had some issues with dead characters coming back in this show, we don't need this to have this happen to LITERALLY JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WHO DIED IN THIS SHOW....)

Remember just how much I praised Hiiro's small Arc that gave him so much character development in so little Episodes? The point of Hiiro's character was to move on from his past mistakes with his girlfriend that he can't fix, and look towards the future as a doctor. But what happens if Saki is revived? Well, no need to put his mistakes behind anymore, cuz she's right here now! -__-

Just because it's possible doesn't mean they should do it....

I loved Ex-Aid, sad to see it go. I definitely think the ending was kind of a mess, but I liked some elements (not reviving everyone). Honestly, I think some of the final arc was rushed through due to ending at 45 episodes rather than 50. Still, what a great show.

Wondering now just how Heisei Build is gonna be.

Considering that this show had so much happen and a few episodes less than others, for what we got this ending was pretty good. Though does anyone know why Ex-Aid had four episodes less than others?

Cronus was the one who killed Gamedeus the first time. Given the show's internal "video game logic" it's not too far a stretch to believe he simply looted those weapons from the kill. Have we been told that's how it works? No. But we haven't been told he can't do that either. Masamune's implied before that Cronus has many more abilities at his disposal than we've seen, and obviously he's ended up with these weapons somehow, so fill in the blanks. Personally I think that's acceptable enough.


No, no, no. He's talking about when Para-DX stalled Super GameCronus before they split. He used Mighty Doctors then to suppress him. Remember that Masamune is still a Bugster. He became one when he fused himself with Gamedeus and remains one even after they've separated. Mighty Doctors' antivirus clearly affects all Bugsters, (it vaporized Parado and Poppy; Dan and Kiriya were only safe because their Lv0 abilities counteracted it) so the effect from before Masamune and Gamedeus split carried over and his abilities were weakened going into the finale battle.

Just finished watching the finale... And I actually really like it.

Admittedly not everything was perfect, Cronus using the Gamedeus weapons was rather pointless especially when they're knocked out of his hands a few minutes later.

But the fight itself was great! I always like a finale that makes an effort to include the opening into the final battle, and the fact that they made it nighttime to reference the opening even further was awesome, and the revolving/spinning shot around Cronus and Ex-Aid in their Rider Kick clash was fantastic.
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On to more relevant topice:
Actually that's not true, in the earlier episodes Bugsters have shown that they can revive by themselves given a fair amount of time.

In episode 1 Salty was Critical Striked by Ex-Aid, but was never shown to have been absorbed into the Bugvisor/Buggle Driver 1. And yet he then came back in episode 11, by just cultivating in the Christmas VotW who was infected by his virus at some earlier point.

The same goes for Aranbura, he got Critcal Finished by Brave in episode 2, and naturally came back in episode 13 after manifesting from the VotW.

Now I'm actually not going to debate with you on that, as I feel very similarly on that subject in most media. But I do feel that in this case, Emu (according to Excite Subs) said it best:

I think the big problem is the difference in perspective between audience and character. Basically, the CR have taken the stance that;

Rather than thinking that the people defeated in Chronicle are dead and therefore should be left resting in piece. The CR consider them as "game" dead, and are being trapped in a death-like state, like a coma or complete head-to-toe paralysis. So as Doctors they are morally obligated to help them.

EDIT: TheGloryXros, I really hope this doesn't come off as me and others ganging up on you for your different view on the ending, I just felt that some of your points of discontent could be answered by the way I saw things.

I thought it was pretty cool that Taiga is starting to create his own hospital. I hope its successful

I'll probably write my full thoughts on the show at some point but for now I'll just stick to what I think of this episode.

As as finale, I think it's alright. It wraps up the events of the show while still leaving room for some future stories. The final fight with Masamune was fine enough and I liked that they mainly used the base forms for the fight, even though the reasoning for how they were able to keep up with Cronus seems like a bit of an asspull. The scene where they recreated the shot from the first episode was really cool. Both Drive and Ghost did something similar in their finales (though in their case they were refrencing the opening), but I think this is probably my favourite.

The epilogue was fine as well. All the characters individual stories got wrapped up nicely and I'm curious to see where they will lead to in the V-Cinemas/Movie War Crossover. I admit, I was expecting them to revive everyone at the end which they didn't, though they did leave it as a possibility which I suspect they will follow up in either the V-Cinemas or the Movie War Crossover. They did revive Poppy and Parado however, something which I totally called since even when you ignore the existence of the True Ending movie, the way their deaths were handled especially in the case of Poppy made extremely obvious that they were going to get revived.

Okay, for real this time:

https://i.imgur.com/GIswgmz.jpg

Hey look, they even referenced the cold open from the first episode without having to shoot the entire narrative in the foot first. Eat s***, Gaim!

I'm a bit late on this one considering I watched the finale a couple days ago at this point, but just to make sure it was still fresh in my head I went ahead and watched it again. Having seen it twice, I can safely say that it's a darn good finale to a darn good show.

While there are admittedly some slightly flimsy elements to the final showdown with Chronus, it can't keep it from being an appropriately exciting climax. Ill-defined internal logic has ALWAYS been a thing in Ex-Aid anyway, from vague Resets that turn back time without actually turning back time, to Emu suddenly willing himself to not go berserk using Full Dragon with the closest thing to an explanation coming way later when Hiiro has similar problems with Taddle Fantasy for all of a couple minutes, to whatever the heck the Stage Select was (Woo-hoo, got one last Stage Select nitpick in there!). It's not so much that it DOESN'T make sense. It's just that the show is extremely disinterested in explaining what sense it does make.

What Ex-Aid IS interested in is flashy action, engaging Plot developments, and a fun cast of characters, and that's exactly what we got, right up until the very end. One thing I really appreciated about this episode was how it puts that big action climax right at the start, leaving a larger than usual amount of time devoted simply to "boring", non-action drama. With an entire movie (and then another one with Build, and then another three...) to further wrap things up, you might expect Ex-Aid to skimp a bit on the denouement, but frankly if the show actually did end right here, you wouldn't hear any complaints from me. Emu's speech was great, the characters all got their own satisfying and logical new status quo, right down to Tsukuru, of all people.

It's just wonderful all around. I can't even say much more about it than that. This episode was wonderful. I haven't thought a list out, but I'd imagine if you were to rank all the various Rider finales, this would unquestionably be in the top half, and I'm sure you could argue it being in the top three without too much trouble.

--

Now, having said all that, I've still got the series as a whole to reflect on, so let's get to that. It's difficult to know where to start here. I guess the Riders themselves are as good a place as any. How about the villains go first?

Ex-Aid seems to have a pretty popular pair of main baddies. Kuroto "Shin-chan" Dan is a living meme at this point, and I get the impression Masamune was a creepy enough dude for everyone. I must admit I don't hugely care for either of them. Masamune won me over a bit in these last couple episodes through sheer persistence. There were like, 3 or 4 different "final" fights with him. I have to respect that kind of determination. But between his EXTREMELY questionable business practices (I've ranted many a time about how baffling it is KRC got as big as it did), and an almost total lack of motivation or backstory, I just found it hard to take him seriously a lot of the time.

Kuroto went from being a potentially interesting two-faced schemer, to a potentially threatening master planner, to finally becoming everyone's favorite pet sociopath/court jester for the heroes. At no point did he ever truly grab me. I'm not entirely sure why. Part of it is definitely his own lack of motivation or backstory, which was admittedly sort of retroactively, indirectly explained by him having an EVEN MORE NUTS dad (with little motivation or backstory), but still. It also didn't help when he spent an entire quarter of the series with the superpower of losing constantly, which would always somehow circle back around into a victory, not just in his literal immortality but in his plans too.

However, even with all my complaints, I have to admit that both characters served their roles in the story well and were definitely bolstered by strong, occasionally scenery-devouring performances on the part of their actors. I absolutely don't begrudge anyone for thinking either of these guys are one of Ex-Aid's best qualities, even if I have a hard time seeing it myself.

Then there's Parad. Obviously the way things ended up playing out he's not exactly a straight bad guy, so I'm using him as a sort of transition. I LOVE Parad. He's easily one of my favorite characters in the whole show. Maybe it's just because he reminds me a lot of Heart from Drive? I love a villain with their own, twisted sense of morality, and while Parad's values were often a little contradictory and/or self-serving, I latched onto him very quickly in a way I just couldn't with the likes of Mr. The Game Master because he actually has clear reasons for being the way he is. He's a video game character with wicked existential angst, a resentment of humans, and an inability to see the world outside of the rules a video game usually plays by. He makes sense, and because of that, I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising that Emu was eventually able to talk some sense into him. I wasn't actually expecting it until just before it happened, but redeeming himself the way he did was a pretty logical choice for his arc, and looking back I'm happy they did what they did with Parad.

Poppy... actually didn't end up doing much AS a Rider, but, hey, she's still a main character, and I wanna talk about her. Especially since she represents a pretty big 180 for me. It's not like I disliked her at first, but I was kind of shocked how much I came around to her in the back half on the series. Once the fact that she was a Bugster started being relevant to the show (they casually dropped the information as a joke during the Christmas special), she quickly became a genuinely interesting character with her own motivations outside of those of the main heroes, culminating in making a big sacrifice that saves the day all by herself. Poppy's cool! I don't how else to put it. You just don't usually get this level of agency from a supporting character in Kamen Rider. I mean, I still love Onari, but when did he ever do anything that impactful?

Moving right along, we have Kiriya. He's Kiriya. Duh.

As for the main trio (yes, trio. Sorry Kiriya, but being dead for 22 episodes is a great way to become the "plus one" of the group), we have Taiga and Hiiro. I'm talking about them both at once because there's a lot of overlap and in many ways they're also a package deal. Two rather stock character archetypes that quickly developed the nuance needed to make them legitimately engaging instead of unlikable losers. Taiga backed up his edgy loner persona with a level of genuine skill and intelligence that was often downplayed enough you might not notice it. Bandai didn't forget to give him one last form, he just didn't need one. Hiiro, similarly, compensated for being a emotionally detached prick by having actual, justifiable reasons for acting that way thanks to his profession, and by having a strong moral compass underneath all that. Only his angst over his dead girlfriend could get to him to do anything sketchy, and even then he's doing it out of a desire to make amends for being a crappy boyfriend. It takes real talent to have your most selfish acts still somehow be sort of selfless.

And then there's Emu. Emu has it rough. For weeks now I've been considering if I wanted to have a compilation of all the screenshots I've taken of him getting violently beaten up over the year to send off the series (I decided I'm eating enough page space as it is), but it's more than just that. On top of the borderline perverse amount of times writers have had him get stabbed, bruised, and occasionally just plain killed, he's also had to deal with a main bad guy who basically dictated his whole life for him from the shadows, and a head writer who frequently dictated he not be the star of the show that's named after him. All this is to say, I wouldn't blame you for thinking Emu was one of the least interesting parts of his own show. He reminds me a lot of Kenzaki in Blade. Not just in personality but in how he can easily get lost in the explosion of charisma that is the rest of the cast. And like Kenzaki, I find this a darn shame, because Emu is also a very solid lead who holds the show together even when you don't think he is. A lot of this is thanks to "M", who it's important to note was never literally Parad, outside of episode 19. All he did was make parts of Emu that are always there more pronounced. The result is someone with a little more emotional range than your average Rider protagonist. He's as kind and gentle as they come, yet is also extremely headstrong, confident, and not above lying to people to achieve a greater good. The way in which he redeems Parad illustrates all of this perfectly. Simultaneously shockingly cruel AND surprisingly merciful. That unique brand of duality is what elevates Emu so much in my eyes. He's someone who can both hate the guts of the bad guy he's fighting, and yet, upon beating them, simply make a heartfelt request that they work to atone for what they've done. Emu was always all about three things. Fighting fate, the value of human life, and making people smile. I suppose it's not hard to achieve this when your motivations are essentially a combination of Blade, Ryuki, and Kuuga thrown into a blender, but Emu is honestly one of the most saintly Riders out there, and in spite of this he avoids the usual pitfalls of being "boring" the way someone like Takeru is. He's a hugely underrated character and while it ended up being a VERY tight race at the end, I think Emu juuuuusssssttt manages to pull ahead as my favorite Rider in Ex-Aid now that all is said and done.

About fighting fate though. I've got a rant I've been saving up for months now. Back before Ex-Aid started, I was under the impression "changing fate" was going to be something of a theme for the show, but I have to say, it's totally skin-deep. I never thought I'd (almost) miss Gaim's confused ravings on the subject, but because Ex-Aid never really defines what exactly fate IS, the whole thing is left meaningless. As far as I can tell, by Ex-Aid's logic, I'm changing my fate of being hungry with my own hands every time I eat breakfast in the morning. Hardly a profound message, but hey, at least it's applicable to everyday life. The word is nothing more than part of a catchphrase that Emu says to sound cool. Even more bizarrely, the show doesn't pay much attention to gift-wrapped opportunities when characters actually ARE fighting against something predetermined, rather than something that could totally go either way. Parad's entire goal is for Bugsters to transcend their role as mere game characters, and he personally even rejects his status as a villain towards the end, yet outside of mirroring that aforementioned catchphrase once or twice, little is done to connect this to any sort of larger, underlying theme of the show.

Having said all that, it's not really a problem. Ex-Aid was never really about fate anyway. It isn't necessarily about anything, to the extent of all the recent Rider shows that have a simple, glaringly obvious one word central theme, but if I had say it had one, it'd be "death", and it handles this one significantly better than it handles fate. The show about doctors trying to save lives that deliberately plays up how "lives" in a video game come far cheaper. It's an intriguing parallel that justifies a premise that might otherwise seem pretty arbitrary. One thing I also found very interesting about the way the last stretch of the show played out was the decision to let EVERYONE, ambiguously (everyone who died to KRC) or otherwise (Kiriya and Shin-chan), have a second shot at life. This may seem SERIOUSLY hypocritical of Ex-Aid at first, but I think this is far more well thought out than it appears.

I always like to say that Ghost was about "life", and the crux of that was the notion that people never truly die. They don't carry on as literal ghosts, mind you, but through their actions, their beliefs, and their connections with those around them, they continue to leave an impact. To get this message across, Ghost naturally had to focus on death as well, between power-ups based on historical figures and even, *gasp*, killing off some characters for real. Ex-Aid flips all of that completely on its head. Rather than show how precious life is by emphasizing how it can be eternal, it emphasizes how fragile it is. There may be a legacy left behind, sure, but when a person is gone, they're gone, and they can't just be replaced. Which is where the Doctor Riders come in. A doctor's job is to fight tooth and nail to stave off that inevitable end. In that sense, maybe this is what the show actually meant by "changing fate"? At any rate, where Ghost showed that death was not the end, Ex-Aid instead shows that death is not something you should lie down and accept when given the choice. And I think that's why it was important to leave the door open for the victims of the Game Virus. Because, simply put, Life Is Beautiful.

If that makes any sense? I'm kind of out of my depth here. Kids' shows about spandex men punching people usually don't require me to get pseudo-philosophical. :p

Anyway, that's... probably not even close to it, but I better start to wrap this thing up all the same. Ex-Aid was a hell of a ride. It knocked my expectations out of the park if you consider how worried I was this would turn out to be another Gaim for me. It's a show I respect even more than I like, thanks to the very clear heart put in, as well as the general sense of creative weirdness about the whole thing. The suits that were awesome and you know it. The crazy special effects for the attacks. The constant momentum of the Plot. It's nuts. I also like the show a whole lot though. I'm not too good at picking favorites so I can't tell where Ex-Aid fits on a top 10 or anything, but I was made genuinely, lastingly sad for a solid couple days after realizing I'd just watched the last episode. I think part of that is how unique an experience this show has been. This is the first time I've ever posted in every episode thread every week (and I can be quite verbose, too!), which is a level of engagement with the fandom I've never really had, even if it's just on this (relatively) tiny forum. We couldn't have asked for a better "water cooler talk" type show, for one, but nonetheless, and if you'll forgive me being a bit sugary, I'd just like to thank everyone for all the interesting discussions and opinions and whatnot. I know this is a pretty trite thing to say, but it really is a great crowd on this site, and I was happy to share such an awesome show with some awesome people.

And, with all of that finally out of the way, I can finally say, once and for all...

https://i.imgur.com/1jJWJtV.jpg

I'll miss you Ex-Aid, I swear, but we've got the the TV size verision of Be The One now and I'm in the "listen to the new theme song on loop for hours" phase of being between Rider shows, which is to say, I'm finally hyped. Build looks cool, and if it can provide half the entertainment Ex-Aid did week after week, it'll have done a good job. See you all in a couple days* for episode 1, where hopefully I won't have quite this much to say. ;)

*Well I mean, if I post somewhere else you'll see me again sooner but I'm strictly talking about- oh you get the idea!

I'd like to suggest that there's actually a connection here. Because I think it's equally important to note that Emu's loneliness and fascination with games as a child shaped Parado's personally just as much as Parado influences his own. Remember that Masamune infected himself with the same stuff Parado came from, only his complete strain of the virus was never extracted. All the same though, there is something inside of him influencing and exaggerating his own personality traits. Parado manifested within a child who got really good at brainstorming and playing games because he was alone and it shows through in his personality, which then comes back around and influences Emu. Masamune's virus developed within the body of a CEO for a popular game corporation. While he was definitely crazy enough to infect himself in the first place, I believe the character as we've come to know him is entirely a caricature of who he was beforehand. His view of the world as a product for him to exploit, his fascination with judgment, his hunger for power, his wish to return as the CEO of GENM, and his desire to control all things - it's all influenced by the Bugster virus he's fostered inside him for much longer than even Emu had carried Parado.

This is why I think Ex-Aid and Para-DX vs. Cronus was the pinnacle of the show thematically. It was two parts of the same exact virus sample converging paths. One took a trail corrupted by profit, cynicism, power, and objectivity; the other went the way of hard work, innocence, compassion, fun. All of which draws an apt parallel in the context of the gaming industry as well.

I want to see that compilation, actually. :p (I love Emu, I really do! I just couldn't help laughing at how badly he was treated by almost everyone in the show.)

Agreed! I tend to root for the villains (which can be frustrating), plus I love Access - but to my surprise, Masamune was easy to hate as the aggravating, op video game villain / over-the-top crazy, evil gaming company CEO. I do wish that we had gotten more backstory on him and his weirdly distant relationship with his son, but both Dans were still incredibly fun to watch. Also, IXRollOutIX's post (among others) made me think and appreciate this show even more.

I'm not sure how Emu was able to superman punch Cronus' driver like that, but it was awesome. I loved the final fight (all of the final fights, really, these last few episodes sure were exciting), especially the way they used their earlier forms - and that Rider Kick was fantastic! Ex-Aid's video game logic has never bothered me, I've thoroughly enjoyed this fun (and surprisingly emotional) ride.

At first I was really confused by the fact that they still had the data of the game-dead people, wasn't that supposed to be Cronus' last f you to the heroes? ("Only I get to pass judgment on myself, oh and you will never be able to revive those people!") But I guess with him gone, nobody knows how to bring those people back, they can only stay optimistic that one day they will. Eh, I'm a sucker for happy endings, so that little bit of hope at the end wasn't a problem for me. (I've seen a lot of complaints that the ending was too family-friendly, so I guess many of us expected this season to be darker and edgier than it really wanted to be.)

I liked how Emu respected the victims by saying their names and we got to see reactions from their loved ones. It's always nice to see characters from previous episodes return. I liked the epilogue, too. All in all, I couldn't be much happier with the finale.

I'm not done with Ex-Aid and I'm so happy that this isn't quite the end yet. After two years, my love for Rider is back in full force!

I GUESS that makes sense....but still, it'd have been alot better if they explained that. (And I'd advise you not argue using the "but we weren't told he can't either" argument, that's burden of proof fallacy.)

I guess, but that still doesn't help justify the MASSIVE difference in power, to where frickin LV.2s CAN BEAT HIM....From a narrative standpoint, I just don't see that as a satisfying way of beating our Final Boss, when the explanation for how was so vaguely described. Again, they had NO PROBLEM with this in the previous Episode explaining the reasoning behind the usage of the Lv.1s, so I don't see why they couldn't properly give a reasonable explanation for using the Lv.2s here....

Yes, it was never shown, but that was because that's before Genm was revealed to be Kuroto. Of course they wouldn't show it, cuz that'd blow the secret of who's behind it all.

Regardless, if this does go through, this is bad from a narrative perspective, because it undoes the effects on the people that have been affected by it. I said this before, but Hiiro's huge character development is one of the biggest things that'll suffer from this, because now, he doesn't have to "get over" Saki's death & grow stronger in spite of it, because Saki will be back anyway.

No problem, I'm not offended. I like debating(not because of conflict, but because it's a way of learning for both sides), and besides, I won't lie, you guys do have SOME points. But yea, overall I just don't think this was a "GOOD" ending, I think it was OK at best.

I touched on this a couple pages ago,
I think Lv2 was the perfect way to put Cronus in his place. He was down for the count for multiple reasons already, and finishing him off at such a low level is perfectly humiliating for someone with an ego like his.

If you've ever lost someone very important to you before, it's really not that simple. Even if I knew it was theoretically possible to bring a life back, that doesn't negate the loss and heartbreak that came with their death in the first place. It doesn't negate how I've grown as a person making it through the stages of grief.
When Hiro learned she could be revived the first time, he was irrational, impatient, and easily manipulated. He was overtaken by his emotions and did some stupid things. But he pulled through to realize his selfishness and gave up his own wishes to do what's right. That is character growth that can't just be undone. Because even if Saki is eventually brought back to life, he's learned immensely from all of this and it's changed him for the better.
Not only that, but she 'aint back yet. This... this is more like if your child went missing for 10 years. You've learned to accept that they're dead and move on completely, but then you find some sliver of possible evidence that they might be alive out there somewhere. They haven't come back. They still might never come back. But there's hope.
Hiro, having been through what he has, understands all of this. He also well knows that those on the job will be trying their hardest to solve the Proto Gashat problem. Right now though, he has his life to move on with in the meantime - there are more important things he's needed for and there's no point jeopardizing more lives to go crazy over reviving Saki again. It's what Saki would want anyway.

Emu has definitely shown brief spurts of super strength whenever his virus kicks in at least a couple times before. I can specifically recall him throwing Dangerous Zombie out of the way at one point when MBXX is being taken from him.

Once again, late to the party, finally got this one watched. Hopefully I'll do better at keeping up with Build.

Anyway, pretty good finale. Great last fight scene with Cronus, a great development with the game disease victims that makes for a bittersweet ending and gives Masamune one last chance to be a psychopath, and a REALLY great "where are they now" sorta epilogue. And best of all, it's not even over yet! We've still got two Endings, a Hyper Battle DVD, and a movie war! And I think bits of Episode Zero still?

But I have to agree with some people here- as great as the choreography was, the last fight was a plot hole nightmare. Ok, so Parad using DMXX weakened Cronus to the point where he could be beaten by a bunch of level 2's. So....why was he still able to beat the supporting rider's final forms, then? Why did that allow Emu to move during pause and crack Cronus's driver? I guess it could have been a gradual weakening and M reawakening as Parad reinfected Emu, respectively...but they didn't say that, so...

Honestly, I don't think using the level 2's was necessary at all. I don't really like the trend of the final boss being defeated by the rider's base form (please break that streak, Build), and they already kinda did it with the level 1's in the last episode anyway. I know they were trying to do the Gaim thing of acknowledging the first episode's cold open, but they didn't even do that. If that was supposed to be the same scene, where was the army of Bugster Unions?

I think it would have worked better if they had used the level 2's for a fight with the Bugster Unions, then fought Cronus in final forms. They could free up time for that by shortening the epilogue, namely by removing the pointless deaths of Poppy and Parad. I'm not against characters being revived the episode after they die like most people seem to be, but we knew they were coming back anyway because of the movie...and it was the last episode anyway...seriously, what did their deaths do for the narrative?

So, final thoughts on the series. Obviously, it's amazing! It's one of the best rider series, though admittedly I haven't seen many. I think the real question is whether or not it beats Gaim as #1, and, well.....I'm not sure. They may be tied, in my opinion, because I think there's stuff Gaim does better, and there's stuff Ex-Aid does better.

I think the overall plot was better in Gaim. I find the ending a little iffy, though not nearly as much as most people. I think it had bigger, more world-affecting stakes that were handled in a more realistic way, whereas in Ex-Aid, there's simply no way Kamen Rider Chronicle would have made it past the first week. And Gaim annihilates Ex-Aid in regards to female riders- I maintain Marika's detah was pointless, but overall she's probably the female rider that kept up with the guys the best. Poppy and Nico are great characters for sure, but noooooot so great of riders. Kamen Rider Poppy was only used in like, what, 4 episodes? And I've already ranted about how Nico got screwed, so I won't go into that again.

Ex-Aid, on the other hand, has better characters- every damn person in the cast is super likeable and shows good development. It also absolutely kills it with the video game theme. And did I mention the characters, because holy crap I love every rider on this show.

Looking forward, especially to the Trilogy, I think what I really want to see is more elaboration on the origins of the Bugster Virus. All we really got was that it had something to do with Y2K, Young Kuroto found it, for some reason his maniac dad infected himself with it, he infects Emu out of spite, Dr. Pacman somehow gets involved and harvests it (that part might be explained, I haven't seen the movie), and that's really it. It looks like Genm and his past is going to be a big part of the Trilogy so maybe we'll see that there.

And on that note, seriously- I really hope Genm doesn't go back to being a villain in the Trilogy. I've enjoyed seeing him become a hero, albeit an evil, lunatic one. Don't do me like that Ex-Aid.

I thought it was good for Parado's redemption arc and I like that it was included in the show. As for Poppy... well, she got to say her last words to everyone, even if we all (kids included) knew they weren't really her last words. That scene with Kuroto especially made it worth it for me.

I agree that everything could have been handled better, though! I admit I'm lenient with shows I love. (I'm a Faiz fan, so I guess I can't be too harsh. :p)

Ah, I hadn't thought about this, so it kind of felt like a "Superman punches the universe" type moment when he punched Cronus' driver.

Emu is a kick-ass Main Rider and stronger than he appears, in many ways.

After Kamen Rider Ex-Aid last episode, what happened to JuJu Burger Gashat?

Still destroyed.