Recap / Kamen Rider Ex Aid Ep 28 Beyond Your Identity

Whether you're in Kamen Rider Chronicle or the real world, you can cry when it hurts. There's no such thing as a rule where you can't show feelings just because it's a game.

Written by Yuya Takahashi

Directed by Satoshi Morota

Emu managed to notice Poppy smiling after the Rider's battle against Lovrica. With her sudden change of heart, Emu believes that she was suddenly swept up in all the commotion. Although he was attacked by Kamen Rider Poppy, Emu does not believe she is a bad Bugster. When Kamen Rider Chronicle starts up once again, Poppy Pipopapo is summoned. When Emu confronts her, he shouts "You aren't like this!" to her, just as she appears to deliver the final attack at the Riders who violated the game...

This Episode contains the following Tropes:

• Actual Pacifist: What Poppy returns to being following Emu's reprogramming, which isn't good for her when there are people out for her death and Poppy starts having an identity crisis.
• A Day in the Limelight: This episode is about Poppy's true nature as the DoReMiFa Beat Bugster.
• All-Loving Hero:
  • For Emu, he will NOT kill an ally even if that person is supposed to be the "enemy of humanity".
  • For Poppy, she refuses to fight or hurt anyone just because she's a Bugster.
• Berserk Button: Treachery is among the few things Parado can't tolerate. He attacked Poppy twice for that.
• Break the Cutie: After being reprogrammed again by Ex-Aid Level 99, everything went straight to hell for Poppy: She feels depressed over obliviously killing a human, nearly got strangled to death by Parado, who told her to have fun playing Kamen Rider Chronicle, is called a "monster" by two Ride Players, is hunted down by Hiiro, Taiga, and Nico in an attempt to stop her virus from spreading further, is told by Emu to shoot him, and finally, gets punched in the face by a Parado-possessed Emu. Seeing Poppy, a cute pink-haired Bugster mascot of DoReMiFa Beat who is unwilling to fight, being the punching bag of anyone on sight, including her allies, is rather jarring. The girl really needs a hug.
• Demonic Possession: Parado is not above possessing Emu to hit poor Poppy in the face.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Parado does not understand why Emu is so fixated on returning with Poppy on the Doctors' side or why Poppy does not want to indulge in the human genocide buffet that is Kamen Rider Chronicle. The latter nearly gets Poppy killed by Parado's hands in cold blood, but the former reasoning annoys Pallad enough to possess Emu to forcibly play the game.
  • Before this, it's revealed that Parado sees Emu as a "friend".^note Bugsters operate on competition, so him wanting to fight Emu so much is the closest to bonding he seems able to muster It isn't reciprocated and he cannot fathom why, unable to connect (or blatantly disregarding) his antagonism towards Humanity with Emu's disinterest in him (That's assuming the comment wasn't just an insidious emotional appeal).
• Foregone Conclusion: Poppy throwing her Bugvisor away in response to Emu's demand of shooting him doesn't mean she's retiring from being a Rider anytime soon: Her next fight is against Motors Bugster while teaming up with Nico.
• Heroic BSoD: Poppy gets hit with this after Emu reprogrammed her again.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: Invoked with Emu, who dared Poppy to shoot him as part of a risky gambit to snap her out of her Heroic BSoD. This action resulted with a "Game Clear", which is just as Emu planned.
• Kick the Dog: While Parado is a Fair-Play Villain and a Noble Demon, his Would Hit a Girl moments on Poppy proves him to be no better than Kuroto. To be fair for him though, he's really pissed off both times.
• Only Sane Man: Emu has a point that Hiiro, Taiga, and Nico are not thinking straight and Poppy is not their enemy.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Parado is not amused over Emu's reprogramming of Poppy.
  • He's also unexpectedly hurt by Emu's denial over his offer of friendship, forcing him to resort to Demonic Possession. If he just simply shows some sympathy and quit being an Omnicidal Maniac by using Kamen Rider Chronicle, then Emu would've understand and accept him in the first place.
• Past-Life Memories: Ever since Emu reprogrammed Poppy to recall her old memories, she has also gotten visions of her former host. According to Graphite, this is not only normal, but also something he experiences as well with Saki.
• Player Killing: Anyone is out for Poppy's blood, whether they're Ride Players or her allies.
• Shoot the Dog: Hiiro, Taiga, and Nico are fine with ganging up on Poppy as part of their Doctor Rider business. Emu is rightfully pissed off for this.
• Wham Shot: Pallad having the same red eyes Emu had might've something to do with him being the "other Emu".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Emu calls out Hiiro, Taiga, and Nico over their attempted Player Killing of Poppy even though she's their ally and she's in the middle of a Heroic BSoD. He even tells Hiiro to shut up.
  • A villainous example lies in Parado's jealous attack on Emu's interest in protecting Poppy instead of fighting him. Shut Up, Hannibal! ensues.
• Would Hit a Girl: Parado has no problems strangling Poppy and possessing Emu to attack her.
  Gashat Count: Ex-Aid: 8 Brave: 3 Snipe: 3 Poppy: 1 Nico: 1 Para-DX: 2
  Gashatrophies Collected: 3