[SloopSloop]

"I think...I really just wanted to beat someone strong in a game...that was my wish."- Nico, episode 40 (I may be paraphrasing slightly).

Welp. This episode, along with the show ending tommorow, was what finally motivated me to catch up on Ex-Aid again (hopefully it's ok to bump this thread), and this episode confirmed what I've always known since a couple weeks ago: that having Taiga become Cronus instead of Nico was a dumb idea that cheated Nico out of her character resolution.

I was hoping this would be like Lazer dying early or Parad becoming good: the idea initially sounded like a huge mistep, but the writers and actors of Ex-Aid were brilliant and made it work in a way that I now don't see how it could go any other way. It...was not like that.

To their credit, Taiga's resolution was still done pretty well, and they get major points for having him go back to Bang Bang Simulations after he got beaten as Cronus- Snipe still gets to be Snipe, instead of suddenly becoming a different rider. That was a big worry of mine with this development, so that's good.

The justification was terrible, though. Taiga's had the virus longest and had the most time to develop an immunity? I mean, sure, except for, y'know, the main character, who's had it for over a decade, but sure. There's also several characters in the main cast who outright are bugsters, making them immune to every strain but Gamedeus. Not that I want any of those characters to become Cronus either, I'm just saying that justification is not only bad, it's blatantly wrong. He never even had the virus really, he only had the compatibility surgery. I could really be mistaken here, but I'm pretty sure antibodies don't really get stronger unless the person keeps getting exposed to the disease, right?

Nico on the other hand, had been infected with many strains of the virus through playing Chronicle, presumably including some off-screen, since she's defeated every bugster. She's a genius gamer nearly at the level of M, and she's spent the whole season looking for the right opponent for her to fight- first she thought it was Emu, then Parad, then, in the quote above, she finally admitted she didn't know who, she just wanted to fight against someone strong. Everything was building up to her being New!Cronus. And even if you don't agree with that, I think we can agree it wasn't building up to "lol let the men handle this, sweetie".

I said this half-serious before, but I honestly wonder if that wasn't the plan and Bandai told them no at the last minute because....female rider merchandise doesn't sell, or something? Like, there had to be a mandate or something, right? I honestly don't believe the Ex-Aid writers were dumb enough to build all that up and then dump it. That's some Ghost level nonsense, and the rest of the show has been so well written. I...I might just choose to believe that to put my little heart at ease, regardless.

Anyway, that...turned into more of a rant than I expected, I'm a little embarrassed I wrote that much about this. But I think I made a good argument, dangit!

Nonetheless, excited to watch the last two episodes. And Build, of course!