I second all of the points made that this background information should have gone into the main series proper. That said, I'm admittedly unsure how they'd integrate it. Even if Ex-Aid didn't start perfectly, the show was already front-loaded with information and new Rider forms. The toy-related stuff is non-negotiable, so what do you give up to work what's going to be 40 minutes of story into its place?
And now that I think about it, even if you found room for it, Snipe's story is not a happy one. This is a somber story about a man who lost it all - including the patients - and came out broken. In this context, the advantage of going with a Blu-Ray release is that the writers can aim a bit older and skip the sometimes forced comedy elements of the main series. It's more fitting of Snipe's story. It also lets them go a bit crazy on the blood, though I'm not actually sure if that's a good thing...
Anyhow, qualms aside of splitting this into its own series, I liked this episode. The pacing was perfect - we get just enough time with the new friend to establish him before moving on - and then focusing on the events that led to Taiga becoming Snipe. The ending is of course a cliffhanger, but it feels like the right spot for it to be in. And meanwhile we find out that Asuna used to call Dan "Sir". Ouch, that's harsh in hindsight.
Seeing happy Taiga is a bit weird, though in a good way. I'm so used to him being scowly (and having his two-toned hair) that it's a rather striking difference to see him smiling and being nice with patients. Pre-Snipe Taiga isn't Emu, but as we're going to see, what he's going to go through could break just about any man.
I do wish the episode was a bit longer though. 10 minutes is short (IIRC Tokujo and Hero Alain were around 12-13 minutes), especially when they work in the full OP. So we're down to about 8 minutes of actual runtime. That said, I do like how they reworked the OP, both in terms of footage and in the soundtrack itself. It's a good use of the second verse of the full length OP, and having Snipe take over the OP (and pushing Ex-Aid out!) is a good gag. Heck, I wish there was even more Snipe in the OP than what we got.
Oh, and is the cute girl meant to be Hiiro's girlfriend? Given that this should be leading up to Zero Day, I'd expect so. But without digging through old Ex-Aid episodes, something doesn't look right. I don't think that's the same actress?
Finally, thank you TVN for releasing this now, as opposed to waiting for the end of the series. Given that Toei releases these throughout the year, albeit at a glacial pace, I think it'll be interesting to see if this is a better way to watch the side series, rather than than all at once. Hero Alain was a parallel story, so that was definitely the case. However as this is a prequel to Ex-Aid's main story, maybe not here? Pairing it up with a Snipe-focused episode of Ex-Aid was great though; it's a nice contrast to see both the story of how Taiga was broken and how Taiga put himself back together at the same time.
takenoko wrote:I like his chubby friend. I think he's going to die though considering we don't see him later on.
Agreed. He's a total goner.
VerusMaya II wrote:So why does Maki spew blood when attempting to use the driver, while previous attempts (Nico, for example) merely gave them Game Syndrome? Muh continuity!
Maybe it's a Proto Gashat thing? We know those Gashats had major drawbacks; Proto Snipe had issues (that we'll be seeing more about), and over time it pretty much killed Dan. Not to mention it's been implied that they aren't Bugster-free, since we've seen Dan use them to spread the virus. Taiga was the perfect candidate, so maybe Maki's condition is a consequence of being imperfect?
Though to be clear, it was strongly implied that Nico was already Bugster-infected at the start of the series. Using the finished Bang Bang Shooting Gashat isn't what gave her the virus, it just caused it to activate from its dormancy. And even then, as we just saw in this week's Ex-Aid, that may have been more of a consequence of stress; Nico stresses out when she can't play games, and it's stress that's triggered the virus in everyone else.