Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Episode 8- "Men Fly High!" Discussion
 

Last week, one of the Bugsters escaped with the last Enhanced Gashat. Now it's a race between Riders to get it back!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84urNVsk_ZE[/youtube]

Watched the Speedsubs of it. Definitely intriguing developments here. Kuroto having the same motivations of Kiriya is interesting and why is he working with the Bugsters. That the Riders minus Emu had to have some sort of surgery to use the Gamer Drivers was very different, it reminds me of the old Heisei Rider stories where the Rider's had to have a specific use to use the Drivers. Taiga was definitely motivated here because everyone was his bitch, he was kicking everyone's ass here. I am excited to see what made him this dark, and that I think in his own way he might be trying to protect everyone else from the cost. This keeps getting awesome I can't wait for more E-KI-CITE-MENT.

Okay this episode kinda remind me for faiz where the user must be operated in certain way to use the driver, it turn out you must be "operated" in order to be compatible with drive.
now I finally get when Poppy is kinda "Shocked" when she looking at Emu then she like "what you can use it?!" it seems small scene but honestly kinda bugged me because she already seen past rider before why she so shocked? now i understand also back in episode 1 snipe says "Interesting" this little scene may not mean much but in this revelation kinda make sense to me, maybe taiga kinda observing emu too.
Okay as for Jet combat My god this the most OP gashat yet you can fly, shot gatling gun and missiles!!! Taiga know where is the useful ones it seems :D

lol the subbers accidentally said she for Taiga

There is the backstory for Emu on when he was kid, he was in a terrible accident which requires an operation. What if the development of the Gamer Driver / Gashats and the rise of the Bugster virus was already being seeded back then?

They didn't show the doctor's face who operated on Emu. He could be Dan's father or something like that.

Perfect episode Taiga kamen rider snipe looks like the strongest now. I just wanna know more about Taiga and his past. Also I think Emu is one of the worst main riders in history so far.

Why? I don't think he's the worst. He's just not perfect. He loses which is fine by me for a main Rider. It's bland when they always win.

This episode was really well played out (pun not intended), because it sets a lot of the character motivations.

I mean it makes sense that Emu and Hiiro lost, they both had forms that had long ranged attacks, but long range wasn't their Level 3's Specialty. Not to mention it was clever for Taiga to use the Collabos Bugster against Emu at the end.

He knew Emu would be desperate for a game clear as well as to save the patient so he used that to distract him.

Not to mention it sets up for the Drago Knight Hunter Level 5 upgrade next episode. Not only is Emu completely outmatched against Graphite who needed a level 3 form to just break even with him, now Graphite's getting stronger.

Snipe is a green rider who uses a gun his level 3 uses a lot more guns in an overkill fashion, so that means Snipe is Zolda 2.0 now without butt insertion :D

Emu's not a bad main in my eyes, and this is from someone who hated and still hate his suit's design (Brave's if fine, and the Level 3's for most are nice (Genm is just adorably stupid)).

At worst he's a little bland because so far, this show kinda keeps the rider's character traits dulled, at least to me. At best, he's basically a Shinji/Ryuki rider who's more sure of what he wants to do (save patients) while all the other riders around him are assholes.

Personally I'm just waiting for Brave to properly get back at Snipe at some later point.

I'm not gonna lie, this episode really made me like a Taiga the least. His mannerisms are borderline crazy and I think he tries too hard to cause more problems. To be fair its only the 8th episode but I wish this episode focused more on why he wanted all the gashats. He probably has a "good" motive given his history so far but his actions are out of line. I still like him a lot but probably the least out of all the riders, my favorite being Kiriya.

Man, the intrigue just keeps building. I can't believe what a breakneck pace this show is progressing at, hopefully it won't cause pacing issues down the line. Snipe is such a clever asshole though, distracting Emu with the Bugster so he could pull off his finisher, gotta love dickish secondary Riders. I also liked how all the Riders got some attention this episode, even though it was a Snipe focused one. I wonder what Dan is trying to do giving hints to Kiriya that Emu was not like the others. Trying to brew more conflict or something else? This show is just a delight!

This was a rather interesting episode.
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In plot number 1.

They mainly wrap up the patient's story. Not a lot for me to say here.
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Plot number 2:

Surprisingly they really don't go into Snipe's backstory this episode, but rather just hint at obsession with the gashats more and possibly even an obsession with being a rider.

The rather impressive debut of Jet Snipe (That straight up sounds like some trickshot fps gamers would try to do to sound cool, like the "360 no-scope"), with him beating DoReMiFa Brave and then successfully having Gekitotsu Ex-aid fall for his trap.

The fight ultimately ends with Taiga holding 3 of the new level 3 gashats and dropping some hints that Emu might not be normal due to all the other riders receiving operations in order to become riders. (I guess that was why Asuna was so surprised Emu could become Lvl 2 Ex-aid back in episode 1)

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Plot number 3:

We learn the Proto Gashats are more powerful but harm the user. Implying that the current Gashats are more safe/stable.

Kiriya calls out Dan for his own challenge, this time being able to keep up with Shakariki Genm with his own level 3 form.

But more importantly, we find out that Dan is on his own side, and has been partially lying to the Bugsters too! (Dun Dun Dun)

What's more, it seems that him and Kiriya have the same goal: To unravel the mystery of the bugsters.

Making this, the third time Dan's been revealed to be working against a pair.
No seriously, we have:

-Lying to the CR, and secretly working with Kiriya and Taiga.

-Lying to Kiriya and Taiga (and all of humanity), and secretly working with the Bugsters.

-And now lying to Pallad and Graphite, and secretly trying to get information from them.

The actual character of Dan Kuroto itself seriously needs and Emmy or something for trying to pull this off.

Lastly we get a stinger at the end with Graphite using the proto Drago Knight Hunter on himself to gain more power.

Another really good episode, though much like what happened with 4 and 5 I liked last week's better. Basically they should just rename the show Kamen Rider Lazer and make it about him. :p

- Does anyone else hate the movie promo openings? When you have these things for no less than three movies a year and for at least four episodes each it means around a quarter of the series doesn't get to use the normal one. It's especially frustrating here since Ex-Aid doesn't really have any "disposable" shots that are clearly just filling a space until more toys/characters show up. I know this is a minor thing to go on a tangent about but it bugs me every year.

- I like how the VotW didn't feel like a total afterthought for once. For a show that was advertised as a drama "revolving around patients" I was kind of expecting more self-contained plots than we've been getting. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you.

- The Vending Machine Bugsters continue to be really unimpressive. You can just tie them up? Seriously?! The upside is that it sort of makes Taiga look like a tactical genius for actually exploiting how wimpy they are, especially when he uses it as a distraction at the end.

- They did some cool stuff with Snipe this episode. It was nice how he'd sort of been irrelevant since his debut so it feels like this very proper moment of like "Hey you guys weren't paying attention to me. Big mistake." when he suddenly takes total control of the situation and effortlessly plays Ex-Aid and Brave. Good on him for stealing those Gashats too, that means no more skipping to Level 3 (until Emu starts skipping to Level 5 next ep, but hey). They didn't go as deep into his backstory as they did with Brave and Lazer's Level 3 debuts but they made the information that was given count. I guess a huge part of his motivation is feeling rejected by the CR crew? Sure seems that way given the look on his face when Hiiro tells him he's not fit to be a Rider, along with everything else that would explain about his behavior. Although it begs the question of how much of an a**hole Taiga was before all this happened. If he was always such a bad seed they probably wouldn't have recruited him in the first place, right? Hopefully they delve into that a little more in the future. Especially since it seems he was the ONLY Rider for a while. There's a V-Cinema somewhere in there, I know it. :lol

- Wow, the qualifications for being able to use the Gamer Driver are an actual plot point? After Drive I was SO not expecting that to be any more than some handwavy thing that never gets mentioned again. I sort of wish they had hinted more directly at it being surgery earlier though. It feels a little out of left field as is, but whatever. I'm sort of reaching for complaints at that point. As long as the payoff is good it's not important.

- Only tangentially related to the episode itself, but hey, that's was totally Kouta's actual voice in that Heisei Generations trailer! Given how spotty Toei's track record with replacement voices is (*deep* OOO's in Super Hero Taisen Z is still the stuff of legend), this makes me insanely happy.

EDIT: Also, since these episodes are so jam-packed I'm always forgetting something, Jet Combat's jingle is totally a Jetman reference, isn't it? That's a really nice touch, if a bit random.

I've been thinking since I watched this. If we assume that the mysterious doctor that gave Emu surgery in the past actually did the Rider surgery on him, I can't wait to see the moment when the person Emu idolized and even influenced his career choice is revealed to have done something like that (for possibly less than altruistic reasons). That is gonna be some goooood character development material if they go that route. :D

Taiga is really annoying in this episode.....Snipe Level 3 is too powerful. Maybe Snipe Level 3 is strongest Level 3 Form and I think this form is almost as strong as Drago Knight Hunter form. With his Level 3 powers, he can steal Gekitotsu Robots Gashat and DoReMiFa Beay Gashat from Ex-Aid and Brave....

I am didn't expect there will be explenation about surgery for Gamer Driver user. Except for Emu because Emu can using Gamer Driver without surgery...hmm...maybe Emu is special person....

Proto Dragon Knight Hunter Z Gashat....it seems all Proto Gashat is very powerful but also dangerous when thats Gashats is used...maybe because the Proto Gashats power is still raw power.....

I am really curious to Graphite after he using this Gashat and after he defeated by Ex-Aid......

I really liked this episode. The characters are continuing to be really interesting, even when they aren't being likable. I find myself really disliking Taiga at the moment, but it's because he's doing a really good job of being a selfish prick, not because he's a badly realized character. The show is doing a great job of developing the characters and I'm really enjoying how they all interact with each other.

On the whole, I am absolutely loving Ex-Aid so far. I don't think I've been so immediately drawn into a Rider show since Fourze.

I assume that Emu's ability to use the Game Driver is because of something that happened to him when he was hospitalized as a kid. I suspect we'll find out more soon; Ex-Aid is pretty good about not drawing out its plot so far.

It's been awhile since I've previous episodes, so forgive me, but did they say what was wrong with Emu when he was a kid? Given the rumors circulating around about Mighty Bros XX, my theory is perhaps Emu had a twin brother, and they were both involved in some accident, where Emu's brother had fatal injuries. In order to save his life, the doctor merged M's consciousness into Emu's body and whether this was through intention or just happened to be a side effect of however the hell he managed to pull this off, Emu is able to use the Gamer Driver. Then his brother would get his own body in the form of one of the halves of Mighty Bros. XX. In other words, it's like a weirder version of Another Agito's backstory.

As I've said in the news thread, funnily enough, that's exactly what Heisei Generations reveals, according to people who saw the advance screenings.

Man, 8 eps deep and we're already getting SO many layers to the show thus far, loving every bit of it. Just wondering though, anyone think GENM as a whole won't be the main villainous group by the end of the series? To me it just seems that Dan Kuroto doesn't fit that kind of profile that is befitting of a big time main villain. I think it's highly likely GENM fizzles and we will see Parad somehow betray Kuroto somewhere about 60% into the series.

The episode I've been awaiting. It's seeming more and more likely that Dan Kuroda's motivations are noble, but seriously misguided. Snipe's true backstory had better be a doozy because he's leaning heavily on the "anti" side of anti-hero. Graphite is looking like he's gonna get X's for eyes sooner than later and Parad is the real baddie.

Kiriya / Lazer continues to be real hero, IMO while Emu's mystery broadens the plot.

Total Jetman shout out with Snipe's Jet Combat Gashat jingle - I marked!

Unlike Fish, I LOVE how useless the vending machine Bugsters are without their Gashat. I really enjoyed that they appear to be flimsy, lightweight, automated mannequins when separated from the things.

AWESOME EPPPPP.