Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

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How do you like KR Ex-Aid?

Poll ended at Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:13 pm

☆☆☆☆☆ Game Clear
35
42%
☆☆☆☆ Level Up
31
37%
☆☆☆ Run and Jump
4
5%
☆☆ Grind
8
10%
☆ Game Over
6
7%
 
Total votes: 84
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by takenoko »

Come to think of it, it is nice for Ex-Aid to break the 2-episode arc that has been plaguing Rider series for a while now.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by Catastrophe »

But the thing with the 2 episode arcs is that sometimes they are enjoyable enough to not really notice, and other times its business as usual.

Kabuto did it well, mostly because the ending of the arc dovetailed into the start of the next. But Ghost/Wizard was the way not to do things.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by Kuchiri »

Gaim didn't have the two episode rule exactly, if I remember right. Drive definitely ditched it early (the whole middle of the season was one long arc basically) Ghost had a few solo episodes in it with I think one bigger arc, I don't remember.

Wizard was the last KR that was nothing but two parters, I do remember that.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by OOOKaiser »

at the beginning of the show it was a bit weird but after episode 12, I feel like things were popping off on the show. The recent episodes that we've been seeing has been great. It seems like they're pushing back the final form debut farther and farther now.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by mholden020 »

I stopped watching Ex-aid to let the series build up some episodes after episode 23 because the events of that episode provided a good starting point. This week I got caught up and can honestly say, if they keep up with the style they have going, Ex-Aid is easily going to the top of my favorites list. Like usual with mid-season votes, I'm going to vote 4-star right now. If the series keeps its momentum up, it'll get a 5 at the end of the season.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by darkmage02 »

Since we're only a few episodes away from the series finale ( I heard it's ending at 45... isit true? :shock: ) I shall give my rating now (might change depending on how the finale plays out).

I enjoyed the series alot when it first started. Maybe it's the 90s video game nostalgia, or maybe I'm a sucker for a mixture of 2D animation and live action. After the dreadful Ghost (sorry, I really dislike Ghost for many reasons but those reasons are strictly my own, as I know there's a number of ppl who enjoyed it) Ex-Aid was a breath of fresh air for me. It was entertaining, serious at times, dark at times, and I thought the fight scenes are cool. I like how "level" plays a role here and despite numerous ppl hating the Lvl 1 look I thought it was a nice call to how real video games are (you look cheap and ridiculous at level 1) and the villains seem threatening enough. Parado was mysterious at the time, Graphite is full of angst and Kuroto was the sneaky mastermind. I feel that the start was reminiscent of Gaim, where it was lighthearted and more fun oriented until shit rained down (when Lazer died in Ex-Aid and the revelation of Helheim in Gaim) and I really like that transition.

However, for a good chunk of the series after Lazer's death the series seem to struggle finding that balance of seriousness and humour (to this date, only Den-O and Fourze managed to nail that) and at times the series feel like it can't decide on which pace to keep up with. The hospital director is a nuisance (I mean, how can someone like that even be a director incharge of people's lives?!) and his antics often throw the show off-balance when at one moment we have a patient close to death and it's all serious business and then you have the director at the side pulling his inappropriate antics.

Then we have Kuroto, who at the start is someone composed and calculative and full of schemes and suddenly he's relegated to this eccentric over-the-top genius psycho who act all deranged just for comedic effect. I know he's now on CR's team but even when he was a villain, I don't find him threatening as his own menace was undercut by his deranged antics.

But that being said, the show is still a strong one for me. I love that all the CR riders (except for Lazer, he has a few good moments but now he's just mainly background props) are pretty well flashed out and interesting on their own right. I like Hiro's saga alot. How he humbled down from a proud doctor to the teamplayer he is now. I like how Taiga slowly let go of his ego and stop treating lives as a game. I like how Emu is not a very talented doctor, but he still tries his best and his character is not only about saving lives but also saving the soul of people. I also like how each of them constantly felt conflicted and having to make difficult choices. It keeps the narrative exciting for me.

My top 3 favourite scenes/battles:

1) Lazer betraying Chronos and Emu gained Hyper Muteki for the first time, kicking serious asses
2) Hiro letting go of Saki to fulfill her wish of becoming the world's best doctor, and teaming up with Emu to kick ass
3) Emu and Parado teaming up for a co-op battle against Chronos. To me, this brings on so much satisfaction as the entire show literally build up to that team-up since episode 1. Kinda reminds me of Eiji and Ankh.

Overall, Ex-Aid isn't an outstanding series to me but it's one I enjoyed for the most part.

A 4 star from me.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by takenoko »

Yeah, I feel pretty ambivalent about the series too. There's parts that I really like, but there's a lot of which that I think is really, really bad too.

If plotted on a graph, my enjoyment of the series would probably look like a parabola. I hated it at first, got really into it, felt it had got to a real good place, then things just went to shit as it entered the end game. Like you said, the show never finds its balance between drama and comedy and it really suffers for it in my eyes.

Also, why even make Poppy and Nico Riders if you're not going to use them? Ten years later, and we're still no better than Yuri and Megumi rejecting the Rider system for no other reason other than they're women.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by OOOKaiser »

I really wish they didn't just make kuroto as a comedic relief when they brought him back. They should have just left his character as it is and continued on with the story. Honestly, if Ex-Aid just stayed on the serious tone like Gaim did then it would have been very good.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by nanamarfo »

Final Judgement:

I recommend to toku and video games fans. The first arc may piss you off, but other than that, it's a good show.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by Draccy »

With the end of the series having come, I'm going to give it a 4.
I mean, my bottom tier is Ghost and Wizard and my top tier is W and Gaim.
Everything in the middle is closer on the W/Gaim spectrum, so Ex-Aid would be between that and Wizard/Ghost.

Starts out rough, does a nice pick up , gets really solid, and then becomes a heart monitor.
The best characters being Kiriya, Kuroto, Parad, and Masamune. Had the former two not returned, I think this series would have dropped to Ghost level.
Actually, maybe worse than.

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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by TypicalStandUser »

An alright series despite the lackluster drama narrative and the not-so-subtle execution of some parts from episodes 44 and 45.

I hope the post-season V-Cinema has a villain that uses Gashats based on deconstructive games like Undertale and/or Pony Island.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by fenrir »

finally done watching the full series. i go with 4, or perhaps 3.8 actually.
DEFINITELLY BETTER THAN GHOST FOR SURE!!!
but compare to Drive....... hmm... perhaps quite similar in the end. drive even give a better ending in my opinion.
(It never goes into the level of Gaim or AMAZONS thou, so ya I should stop with that expectation i guess.)

i do have the same thought with Take about the parabola thing about Ex-Aid. It goes into the CLIMAX in the middle of the series. starts with Kiriya death, maximize when Kuroto disappear & keep getting into climax when Parad start to killing players in the beginning of Chronicle BUT..... for me it becomes very off as soon as Chronos appears.

i dunno why but after chronos come to the scene, the series become less and less attractive. i do like the design, but somehow his appearance just kinda make the series being down.

sad that Poppy & Nice not being used like Iyu/Malika and only fight for a while. but these 2 girls deliver a good acting and importance for their side character i guess. Taiga arc wont be clear if its not bcoz of Nico. while Poppy serves a very good assistant for all the CR & the duo bugster as well. she's somehow like a bridge betwen this 2 liveforms.

Hiiro arc is good. the closure when he accept and let go is also good.
Emu development well....he's develop but (sorry it's Gaim again) he's not develop as what Kouta did from a part-time worker ---> GOD.

Kiriya is my fav chara until his disappearance, sadly when he's back he just become a so so but still clever character.

Kuroto ---> He's the STAR character for the series i guess. as a calm 1st Kuroto ok, God complex Zombie Kuroto BEST in my opinion.
and the comeback as Shin Dan Kuroto & Dan Kuroto Shin which more less only a a comedic character. but hey, he succeed in every type of form in all of that.

the design of all riders mostly kinda same. Genm, Dangerous Zombie, Giri2 Chanbara, Snipe & Taddle Fantasy is perhaps my favourite.

1 thing the best for the series = EXCITE song & THE OP SCENE ---> 1 of the Best in recent KR series for me
(although Build ost sounds good as well for now)
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by takenoko »

Changed my 3 to a 2. The theme song and middle of the series were good, but I can't really recommend anything else in the series. It's weird, because Chronus is fun to watch, but I don't feel like he was additive to the story.

Detailed breakdown:

Story: 1 - Terrible drama, no real sense of consequence, limited to almost no character growth

Characters: 2 - Characters are affable enough but most of them are terrible. They either are unmotivated, don't do anything, or act in ways counter to their character/goals. A lot of examples of passive heroism.

Acting: 1 - Initially this was a 2, but a 1 seems more appropriate. Think that Poppy was probably the best actor, which is ironic since she had the least dramatic roles. Emu was bad, he never disappeared into his role. Hiiro was stilted and had no emotions and couldn't perform any of the drama related to his story arc. Nico was a fine actor. Taiga was fine. Kuroto and Masamune were awesome in a scene-chewing aspect.

Action: 3 maybe? I dunno, it's pretty forgettable.

Comedy: 2 - Had some funny bits, but it wasn't nearly as funny as it thought it was initially. Toei really wants to hit that quirk quota that it had in the early 2000s, but you need good writers for that.

Writing: 2 - Like I said, the middle parts were good, but taken as a whole, the story was a sloppy mess. Props to Takahashi Yuya for writing the whole series, but writing a year's worth of story was probably too much of a challenge for him. The first quarter was unbearably bad. And the last quarter ruined everything good about the middle of the series. Chronus wasn't an effective enough villain to sustain the entire last arc. There was too much padding and poor character arcs at that point. It's hard to take the drama seriously when death is reduced to a symptom.

Everything else: 1 - Why have female Riders if you use them twice in the show? Both female Riders and even the secondary Riders spent too much time standing to the side and watching.

There's fun and enjoyment in this series to be found, but it's not worth watching the rest of it to get there. I didn't watch Ghost, so I'll have to trust other people when they say it's better, but I wouldn't recommend Ex-Aid to anyone. There's better TV out there.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by Cyborg-Lucario »

Overall so did I like it. Was it better than Fourze and Gaim? Maybe not.
I don't think it's worse than something like Faiz, Den-O, or even Drive (I need to make a proper list of my favourite Rider series). But it's definitively better than Ghost, that's for sure.

I can agree with some that the middle was the best part. While Kuroto and his god complex was still funny when he turned over to the good side so did part of me miss him being the vile, atrocious main villain.

And it felt like a waste to have the two female Riders stand on the side and watch most of the times.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?

Post by mholden020 »

Shifted my vote from 4 to 5 since the show didn't fall on its face 5 episodes from the end. Easily my favorite of the Post-Decade era.
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