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.