Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Episode 6- "A Hollow Beating In The Heart!" Discussion
 

Four of the newly-created LVL3 Gashats are still missing. Who will find them first???

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlRzuqR4aA[/youtube]

Actually it starts at 5:30 PM EST now, thanks to daylight savings time ending. I should know since I just missed it.

Got to say I love Gekitotsu Robots stock footage transformation. It's simple but it works so well.

Also the DDR Sequence with the LvL 1 Forms was hilarious, just seeing Brave stand there without a clue of what was going on is great.

That's what Brave gets for not learning how to play video games. He's gotta learn a thing or two from Emu for once.

Brilliant episode for Hiiro, it was great to learn more about him and slightly more with Taiga as well. I thought Emu and Hiiro were great in this episode. I love the Robot form of Ex-Aid. I also love Graphite and Genm too. This series is really exciting from the get go and I can't wait for more.

Huh. I'm confused about the Collabos Bugsters. I thought they were artificial ones since the Robots one didn't appear to come from anywhere, but I guess it came out of that musician guy? I guess Dan must have beaten its Level 1... Bit perplexed why they have the Gashats sticking out of their noggins, but what the hell.

Beat Collabos was pretty funny. "Yo" indeed.

Pretty good episode. Fun fights, and the rhythm portion was just priceless. Emu dancing away while Hiiro just stands there perplexed. It's wonderful. And finally getting some backstory is nice. It's a bit cliche I suppose, but it works well enough.

I like Graphite. I hope he survives past the first quarter. Between this and...well, everything (particularly VO), though, you can really feel the tension building between Graphite and the other Bugsters. And GENM's next stage is a zombie...yep. No way he isn't going to cannibalize Graphite for parts.

Also interesting that complete Bugsters don't just take on the appearance of the human they are born from. That's usually how something like this would go, so that's...different.

And I like the subtle changes to the op now that GENM's identity has been revealed. I expect Parad will turn into Paradox in a couple of months as well.

If nothing else, these season is trying to give all the current riders a form each level, rather than leaving some behind in the dust.

Time will tell if this show suffers the Kureshima curse (in other words, gets a cool new form but doesn't use the finisher, just switching back to their basic form/one they do use the typical finisher for).

Also, Hiro is totally Ren now, with the whole girlfriend-motivation.

The Gekitotsu Robots stock transformation footage was pretty cool though I feel like it was a bit too fast. And damn, Hiro. Having a bad relationship, losing it and constantly eating sweets that you don't like as a result. I really, REALLY think he needs a hug

Good episode keeping up the chaos - seriously, this show is frantic - with some great humor. I'm a little worried about the pacing of the plot - it feels like it could be wrapped up in the next ten episodes and we have 40 to go. Still enjoying this bat-shit show!

i love this episode, im starting to feel that asuna and emu are starting to get really close

Yup, Hiro is totally our Ren Akiyama for this season. I even bet his girlfriend is really in some sort of pseudo-coma right now and not actually dead.

Hmm..finally...one of Hiiro's past is revealed.

Hmm...looks interesting about Hiiro's past esepcially about his girlfriend and about Snipe to beat Graphite in 5 years ago...

The Brave Level 1 and Ex-Aid Level 1 fight is quite longer when campared to previous episode.....

Brave's ice finisher looks cool and Brave Beat Quest Gamer looks cool too. I am love Ex-Aid opening theme used for Brave Beat Quest Gamer musical abilities.

Next episode....it seems Kujo will finally join with Emu and CR....

Interesting Episodes
-Dan is totally Ryoma but get kick ass kicked for few battles unlike ryoma :D
-Hiro joining girlfriend Club after Garren :D
-Okay i was hoping poppy showing up more since this is her game but well asuna is nice too
something i notice KR ex aid still have rule to game over i see when M de-transformed that is not because the attacks that is because M de-transformed himself nice little detail, the past episode i see the gashat being "pulled-off" instead de-transfoming attacks i wonder they will break the rule
-also i like doremifa beat gashat its hard to use in my opinion but also this is most useful ones :D if all battles is simply just playing DDR games then graphite have to rethink his strategies :D
Well Ex-aid has been rocks so far good job Writer and Toei
Next episode "Finally humanoid form!!" :D

Oh man, more of this please, Ex-Aid. This episode was basically exactly the simple but important character-building plot I'd been wanting for 5 episodes. Hiiro probably needed fleshing out more than anyone else, too. I'm actually kind of coming around to his character, and that's the best compliment you can give a focus episode like this. Random thoughts!

- Happy to see so much Level 1 action, I guess, although they quickly replace the worry of not seeing them with the worry of just skipping to Level 3.

- I liked the climax a lot, but I'm still confused as to this whole stage select business. I get that it justifies Toei Geography™, but like, what purpose does it serve in-universe?

- On a similar note, I'm mildly disappointed by how the MotW is another glorified vending machine. I get the stuff last time with Genm and here with Graphite was more important but it'd be kind of nice if these guys put up a fight. I mean, why do they even have Gashats jammed in their skulls if it doesn't make them tougher or something?

- Also, sooo cool to see Emu actually step aside and let someone else be the hero for once. He still gets his big moment taking a hit for Brave but Hiiro gets to actually do the hard work.

- Sort of an aside here, but part of me was hoping the irony of the stoic knight having an upgrade based around upbeat music would be a deliberate symbolic thing, where maybe Hiiro getting it coincides with him learning to loosen up a bit, but once again I guess I was expecting too much. What they did worked well enough.

So yeah, I really liked it, despite appearances. All my complaints relate mainly to niggling little things with Ex-Aid's unexplained (nonexistent?) internal logic that I honestly don't think the show needs to elaborate on, but it sure would be nice if it found the time somewhere down the line.

Next week looks to be doing this same routine with Lazer, a character I already like, so I'm pumped for that.

While this episode didn't quite hit the hype levels of the previous ones, it was once again really good. It got some giggles out of me (Hiro completely tanking the rhythm game was great) and while Hiro's backstory isn't exactly the most original it could lead to some interesting places down the line. They've been doing pretty well balancing the focus riders so far too, which is great. Really interested to see more of Kirya next episode too. Keep 'em coming Bandai!

Right now as it is, the pace, story, even the little comedy elements are making me love this series year. If it keeps this up, I may have to add this on my favorite Rider series list.

I'm cool with this. I really love the chibi's - again, they're super weird and that's what I want in my violent children's entertainment!

Just pullin' this out the ol' manhole (eh? eh?) - maybe it allows the Riders to contain the danger within the level's virtual reality? They may never tell us so I'm going with that.

Ah, see I think they're just avatars for the Gashats and useless without them. When the Gashat goes to the Rider, it's combined with other Gashats which makes them that much more powerful. "YO!"

Yeah, Lazer is my favorite (Snipe being my favorite design - dude is just a sneer so far) - for one, Kirya's the freakin' coroner, his LVL2 is wildly weird and totally illogical (very well and hilariously summed up on my fave Rider related podcast, Rider Club Radio) and his dress sense is probably the most "realistic" out of everyone - but it's still absurd.

I really loved this episode, it had lots of good moments that just make the little kid in me smile.

- Seeing the relationship between the evil trio is interesting. Compared to Dan and Parad treating things like a sick game(pun not intended), Graphite's chaotic nature ends up making him the third wheel of the group.

- Lvl 1 Ex-Aid dancing perfectly to the song while Lvl 1 Brave just stands there completely befuddled as the music plays, was great.

- The shot of Graphite menacingly leaving immediately followed by the DoReMiFa Bugster backing away saying "Yo" was hilarious.

- The VoTW plot acting as mirror to Hiiro's own backstory was a nice touch.

- (Appropriately) The theme/background ost for DoReMiFa Brave is really good.

All around, just a really solid episode.

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On an unrelated note. I can't help but notice that every episode so far has had a reveal or debut.

Episodes 1-4 were the debuts of the riders and Shakariki Genm

Episodes 5-8 seem to be the debut of the Lvl 3s.

I wonder if they're going to try to do something for episode 9 and beyond just to keep the "Every episode involves something important" theme going?

More story with Hiiro is great. Can't wait for next episode, looks interesting.

Not really a new thing - Ghost did the same until Benkei appeared (then there was a little break until Boost), and I'm pretty sure Gaim and Drive did too.
It's kinda more noticeable though, since it's a multiple Rider show where each Rider gets a power up.

Drago Knight Hunter Z will almost definitely debut in episode 9 - it's titled "Dragon assault!". After that I'm guessing there'll be a break until Double Action, just like Ghost. Meanwhile, maybe each Rider using Drago Knight will be spread out over a few episodes.

Okay, so the level 3 suits are still just as awful as the level 1s and 2s. Everything else about this episode was great. Both the goofy level 1 fight and the more serious Brave vs. Graphite fights were really well done and the backstory for Hiiro was engaging and interesting. I'm continuing to be completely won over by this series.

Sometimes I don't get why level 1 can still fight the bugster. They take lots of time still to henshin. So are Hiiro and Graphite meant to fight each other forever or is it Taiga and Graphite.

Actually, Level 1 forms are physically stronger than 2 according to official stats

Overall, I enjoyed this episode greatly, although a couple of things rubbed me the wrong way:

- WOW, this show spends a lot of time on the stock transformation sequences. We got Gekitotsu Robots twice in one episode.
- I was disappointed that Brave managed a Game Clear on DoReMiFa Beat without actually succeeding at a rhythm game. That felt like a missed opportunity.

Still, I felt it was a relatively strong episode, even if I'm getting hungry for an episode that doesn't introduce a Rider or a power-up.