[Tokumonkey]

I largely loved the episode, but the plot point that Poppy - and apparently only Poppy - could cure everyone of the Bugster virus by killing herself was pulled outta nowhere. Parado was standing *right there*. "Hey, I'm pretty sure I'll sacrifice myself to atone for my crimes in the next twenty minutes, so why don't I do it instead?" While I'm on the topic, it cured infected humans, but did nothing to Masamune or the other Bugsters walking around? Also, the trope of the female who nobly sacrifices herself is just ecch.

Despite the out-of-left-fieldness, I otherwise enjoyed the episode. The Build mistaken identity was surprisingly satisfying given that it nearly didn't serve the plot. (I'm assuming the one way in which it did was to establish that Genm is down to three lives that will be inevitably consumed in the finale.) Unless it does something offensively stupid in its finale, this'll go up there with Gaim, Den-O, OOO, and Kabuto among my favorite Rider series... and considering how ugly that damned driver is, that's quite a feat.

I'm not looking forward to the end of this show, which is a pretty significant compliment given that I'm looking forward to Build. It's also rare to see a Rider show about which so many folks on this board seem to be on roughly the same page. I'm hoping against hope that Build is as enjoyable, but as it is, I suspect it'll suffer the Drive problem of having to follow a generally-beloved series.