Subs are up on kissasian, a different group

This show honestly just keeps getting better with each episode. Absolutely love Emu pulling an Agito at the end there.


And yeah, I can just sense an epic villainous breakdown coming from Dan down the road.

Episode 5 is up but EXCITE will no longer be doing DDL, so I gotta wait until the king of hardsubs, jps317, does the deal.

This show is just rocking so far! The plot is picking up a lot and all of the Riders are interesting to me (plus the effects are really nice). This show stands a solid chance of becoming my new favorite honestly. Can't wait for rhythm game Brave next episode.

So that was pretty cool. Kind of breaks the trend of me liking each episode more than the last but hey, this one had a lot of Plot stuff to exposit so whatever.

- I kind of knew they'd start doing Bugsters who are conveniently already dudes in suits but I actually expected them to keep up the CG poop monsters for at least a little longer. I'm sure we'll still see more in the future but it seems like the Level 1 forms are on the track to becoming token things in-between the Riders transforming and the Riders actually transforming.

- I would complain that the reveal of Genm's identity would've worked better if Dan had actually been in the show for more than 2 minutes up to this point but given the way it plays out it seems like it's actually a pretty low-key reveal. It's less that it was a mystery and more that this is Genm's "debut episode" and he'll actually be a character from now on. Like he was only around from the start because it made sense he would be.

- Hey, so Emu's hot-blooded tendencies ARE going to be a recurring thing. Neat. Presumably they're going to backfire on him again at some point? Like, it's supposed to be his big flaw right? Because here Ex-Aid pretty effortlessly backed up all his talk and kicked the crap out of the previously untouchable Genm. Gotta sell those new toys I guess.

Wow, this was a good episode, albeit I felt like forcing it down into a conflict between Ex-aid and Genm kinda messed with the tension the episode had going for it. I don't think I've ever seen a Rider fight this early on where the stakes are this high. So many Riders and the villains all gathered together in what? Episode 5?

I love how Graphite's Bugvisor does the sort of a "Level Up" sound except for going into Bugster form. Makes me wonder if he too might get a gashat and put his bugvisor on his belt to strengthen him or go into some sort of Level 3 equivalent.

Oh, and Genm is actually the CEO. This puts a whole new spin on things. He seems to be cooperating out of his own will given that last scene, rather than being forced due to Parad and Graphite giving him the Virus or some other reason. Also explains why that dude got away with theft. But then why is he cooperating with the CR and the other Riders and giving them Gashats and Drivers? Maybe to make it look like humanity at least had a fighting chance against the bugsters?

It feels like this show is getting to key plot points pretty quickly so far. Makes me think that the current set of villains are probably not just the entire show's villains, kinda like Gaim and the Overlords.

Also, I need some high res images of Emu in his shirt so I can try and read the binary. Anyone willing to help?

Yeah, one thing I'm worried about is that Ex-Aid seems to dealing a lot with its main plot early on, hell, even the VotW plots have been mostly background noise. On one hand, this keeps the show very interesting early on, in contrast to Drive and Ghost where they felt like they were running in place early on. On the other hand, I hope this doesn't mean a middle section that drags on and on and relies on filler. I'm hoping it is indeed a Gaim situation where there's other stuff going on that we haven't even seen yet.

It has? What's really happened so far that's any different from any other show?

Five episodes in Drive was filling in important backstory about the Global Freeze and also fleshing out Shinnosuke (and Kiriko) a bunch.

Five episodes in Ghost had introduced a mysterious new Rider who teased bits of backstory and also totally shattered Takeru's already delicate self-esteem in just two appearances, allowing the show to flesh him out some more.

Five episodes in Ex-Aid has introduced its expansive cast of Riders and teased bits of backstory.

It all seems about normal to me. It might look like a lot because of how busy the show feels but not much has actually happened yet. It's basically been all setup all the time.

Interesting dynamic for the "patient" this episode, I would've liked it if he wasn't Graphite, and they went further into the "should criminals be saved?" debate, although this is a kids show so they probably didn't want to.

Just as the scan revealed, Genm's secret identity is actually (and logically) Dan Kuroto.

Speaking of Dan, I gotta say, it takes a lot to have 3 different alliances going on at once. He's got play the trustworthy benefactor to the CR. Carefully make deals with Taiga and Kiriya, both of whom are fairly clever and know important information. And fool all of humanity while working with the Bugsters.

I'd be amazed if Dan manages to keep up the charade past episode 10, and either blown away or greatly disappointed in the CR if he pulls a Micchy and doesn't get revealed to the rest of the cast until the later episodes.

Lastly, my favorite moment in this episode was where Brave, Lazer, and Snipe all transform together. I know it happens all the in almost every other toku series. But I really love the one in this episode, possibly because the riders aren't friends and it feels more like a rare moment I won't see often. (On a side note, if more of these group transformation happen constantly throughout the rest of the series, feel free to laugh at me for this when the show ends.)

Yeah, the show is so far into full blown conflict mode it's hard to predict how it can sustain for another year without there being some other, deeper, yet unseen plot and characters.

Pretty great episode - with Fish in that it was the first that I didn't like more than the last.

Poppi is a mess, they need to better define the Poppi / Asuna divide.