#pour one out for BURGERMON

[elfiepike]

one does not ever simply "finish" a kamen rider series but we have ONE movie left for mainline exaid movie experiences and 13 episodes of build to watch before we get to it & so here are some thoughts:

S-TIER:

kujou kiriya, how often does a children's show have a lying liar who lies actually do so with motivation in interesting & gay ways (he's gay okay) (you are invited to tell me your thoughts about children's show characters who lie in compelling ways) (he is emu's first boyfriend!! we CRIED OKAY!!!!!!) (he's the BEST ONE!!!!!!)

nico-chan, who single-handedly turned taiga from the absolute worst (the character who nearly made us nope out before kiriya's introduction) into someone interesting bc nico-chan is interesting & they gave her a real character arc (no lamp-sister here!!). i love you toxic gamer girl, please don't say a slur on stream bc i would be forced to defend you. nico-chan mainline series when!!!!!!!

emu 🥰 the plot pacing of exaid was sometimes bizarre to me, but as a whole it was VERY effective at building up this medical intern (who is like. a baby) in complexity and giving him the omega harem he deserves. wait what. no you know what i stand behind it. he may not have been a native to lying on the ground like kamen rider ghost but he did so with aplomb.

A-TIER:

parad!!!!! i need to find some gamer lougewear so i can casual cosplay him. he's focused and deranged in exactly the ways i love in my BL leads (this is a bl). occasionally his baby face was simply too baby for words. that he's a-tier shows you just how high a bar s-tier is honestly.

graphite, who frankly is here bc the face actor is. so beautiful and committed. and the suit they designed was the best in the show (a high bar!!!)

tomato dan, excuse me, dan kuroto god. early on i made a joke about his face looking like a melty tomato and it turned out the performance of being a melty tomato was in fact what he was going for? the physicality of the suit actor was also INCREDIBLE & matched the energy of the face actor's performance so well. like by the end i loved dan simply bc he was so fun to watch

poppy pipopapo, the PERFECT character design, who eventually gets to become a REAL CHARACTER even. i love you poppy. i don't care about your nursona but i love you.

B-TIER:

taiga is here bc after the nico introduction i really liked the two of them together so much. the actor's performance gives off such "tired 30-year old" energy that we definitely made some inappropiate jokes (the actor is not yet thirty NOW and the show was made 8 years ago).

lovelica, so fun to watch & sometimes voiced by one of my faves!

the chicken-heads. i don't know what they're called. you know, the basic bitch grunts that get in the way, and, in this one, have roast chicken heads? my favorites were either lovelica's maids or the ones doing half-hearted dancing in the woods.

C-TIER:

hiiro. look you are very beautiful but they really could have gone harder on your guilt storyline instead of just having it be a dead-girlfriend one. they tried but i would have liked it even more explicit.

papadan. at least this bad dad was just as deranged as his son, and the plot wasn't "bad dad" so much as "this guy has too much power."

FORGOT HE EXISTED WHENEVER HE WASN'T ON SCREEN:

hiiro's dad. literally anytime he showed up we were like, oh right. this guy exists i guess.

SPECIAL PERFECT BOY TIER:

BURGERMON.... LOVE YOU BURGERMON. WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU BURGERMON

kamen rider ex-aid: we decided it was time to put out a BL, hope you enjoy!!