Recap: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Episode 4 – The Name of the Operation is Dash!

Ex-Aid 4

While Emu wonders how he can save people without a Gashat, he still has his other job to do. He welcomes in pediatric patient…actually it’s Kujou Kiriya, a grown man who’s the coroner.

Kiriya brings in his partner Nishiwaki who has been infected with the Bugster virus. He knows all about genius gamer M and promises to retrieve Emu’s Gashat for him if he helps Nishiwaki.

Ex-Aid 4

Down in the CR, Kuroto Dan apologizes to Hiiro and Poppi for underestimating Taiga after taking Emu’s Gashat. Hiiro asks to be provided with all the Gashats, but Kuroto explains that the commercial games can’t be used to henshin.

Five years ago, GENM developed 10 types of games but they all contained Bugster viruses which is how Zero Day happened. To fight the Bugsters, GENM reworked four of the games into Gashats. And four more will be complete in the following episodes/days.

Ex-Aid 4

While Kiriya pays Taiga a visit, Emu confirms Nishiwaki is infected. Hiiro and Asuna arrive. Asuna explains that three years ago, Kiriya learned of Zero Day and blackmailed Kuroto Dan into giving him a Gamer Driver.

Kiriya brings Taiga to them after accepting an offer for a duel. Kiriya says his friend fell victim to the Bugster virus on Zero Day and he’s made a vow to never let that happen to anyone else ever again.

The virus inside Nishiwaki evolves. The deal is Taiga gives Emu’s Gashat back if Kiriya wins. If Taiga wins, he gets Kiriya’s Gashat. They both henshin.

Ex-Aid 4

Kiriya is able to separate Nishiwaki and the Bugster. Taiga levels up. Hiiro henshins and levels up to fight him. Kiriya is able to grab Emu’s Gashat from Taiga.

Kiriya levels up and he becomes a bike. Asuna explains that Kamen Rider Lazer requires a partner.

The dark Ex-Aid appears and plays a little bit with Hiiro and Taiga, causing their gauges to drop fast before leaving.

Back at the CR, Nishiwaki tells Emu that his little sister Riko was taken by the Graphite Bugster. That is causing his stress. Emu vows to find Riko. He walks out of the room and runs into Kiriya who wants Emu to ride him. They decide to work together to pass this racing game and save Riko.

Ex-Aid 4

Kiriya henshins and goes level 2. Emu hops on and chooses the racecourse. The Motors Bugsters arrives and they race. Emu henshins along the way to get a boost.

Emu is able to stop Motors Bugster and save Riko which also saves Nishiwaki.

Kiriya ejects Emu from his person and walks over to the dying Bugster to get a sample. He explains to Emu that he never had a friend die on Zero Day and just needed some help to unravel the mystery of the Bugsters.

The dark Rider arrives and shoots at them, including Motors Bugster which is completely destroyed.

The dark Rider levels up with his bike attaching to him and that allows him to deliver a Shakariki Critical Strike towards Emu and Kiriya who both have to dehenshin immediately.

Ex-Aid 4

Episode Thoughts

Okay, so Kiriya wants random men to ride him? I don’t understand.
Or was that just part of his plan and he actually isn’t always a bike. Like, what in the world is going on?

It’s Episode 4 and nothing about Ex-Aid has really hooked me yet. That doesn’t really mean anything about how the season will turn out though. This season could very well be a slow burn. And I’ve been immediately hooked or hooked early on to seasons past before those seasons eventually fell off the rails.

So, there’s no chance really of me dropping Ex-Aid outright. But I definitely hope they pick things up and hurry along with this early episode foundation setting because it’s all been very slow for me.

I noticed no hair blowing and smile before Emu’s henshin this episode. I kinda enjoyed that little quirk so it was noticeable this episode when it wasn’t there.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Episode 4 – The Name of the Operation is Dash!

  1. The show said that there are actually ten genre games created, which seems to be a hint that there would be at least one or two more additional Riders later in the story. So it looks like they are trying to do the Rider War formula again ala-Ryuki and Gaim. But for that, they really need to show sooner or later that this one is indeed a high-stakes game (see what I did there? hehehehe!). And Ex-Aid is actually compelled to do that more than the two previous shows, since the Rider theme is obviously about doctors saving lives. It would be rather if a show that has adults that have to deal with professional responsibilities end up being tamer than a show about delinquent teenagers.

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