Kuroto Dan

Kuroto Dan (檀 黎斗) is the CEO of Genm Corp. He is also the true identity of Kamen Rider Genm (仮面ライダーゲンム), also colloquially known as the Black Ex-Aid (黒いエグゼイド).

Past
16 years ago, Kuroto had met the 8 year old Emu which was related to his ability to transform without the need of surgery. The entire detail is yet to be known.

Kuroto has been CEO of Genm Corp. for at least five years. He was present during the beginning of Zero Day, when the Bugster emerged from the glitches in ten of the games his company was developing. Working with the Ministry of Health, Kuroto helped design the Gashats and Gamer Driver as a countermeasure to the Bugster, managing to keep Zero Day hidden from the public eye.

During Zero Day, Kuroto assigned the CR Radiologist at that time, Taiga Hanaya, to become the first Doctor rider, giving him the Proto Bang Bang Shooting Gashat and also a Gamer Driver. However, upon his defeat to Graphite, Taiga left CR, and left his Gashat and Gamer Driver as well.

Two years later Kuroto was confronted by Kiriya Kujo, a coroner who had found out about Zero Day. Kiriya was given a Gamer Driver and the Bakusou Bike Gashat in exchange for his silence.

Second Bugster Outbreak
Five years after Zero Day, Genm Corp. had finally completed one of the ten games, Mighty Action X. At the press release, the Salty Bugster emerged from Sota Suyama. The Bugster was defeated by Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

Soon after the incident, Kuroto met with Kyotaro Hinata. Hinata thanked Kuroto for providing the Driver and Gashats. Kuroto responded humbly before asking how the incident was covered up. Sometime later, Kuroto appeared as Genm to interrupt Ex-Aid and Brave's fight against Aranbura. He attacked the two riders, allowing the Bugster virus to escape. After the incident, he was approached by Taiga Hanaya, who had been the rider during the first outbreak. After receiving large piles of cash, Kuroto gave Taiga a new Driver, along with the Bang Bang Shooting Gashat.

Kuroto was confronted by Hiiro Kagami soon after CR learned that Taiga was a Rider again. Kuroto acknowledged the incident that cost Taiga his medical license, but defended his decision, saying that Taiga was both compatible and capable.

Kuroto came to CR later to apologize, claiming that he underestimated Taiga and didn't predict the latter would take Emu's Gashat. He assured Hiiro that there would be more Gashats ready within a few days. He interrupted Brave and Snipe's fight as Genm, depleting their Rider Gauges. After Ex-Aid and Lazer defeated the Motors Bugster, he finished the monster off to prevent Lazer from getting a sample to study. Using the Shakariki Sports Gashat, he upgraded to Sports Action Gamer Level 3, taking out Ex-Aid and Lazer with one move.

Encountering Ghost
Without speaking a word, he arrives already transformed into Level 2 as Deep Specter and Necrom are fighting a group of Gamma Commandos and Superiors. He joins in fighting the Gamma, summoning his bike with the Shakariki Sports Gashat before performing a Critical Strike finisher to clear away the Gamma, immediately riding away.

For unknown reasons, he stands holding the Shakariki Sports Gashat while looking upon the city during a lightning storm. Later, he triggers the Gashat and a purple digital circle expands from him, but it and the Gashat are pulled into a Gamma Hole resembling a Great Eye interface. When Ayumu steps out holding the Gashat, Genm tries taking it back, but is interrupted by Makoto and Alain, recognizing him from earlier. He fights Specter and Necrom using the Gashacon Bugvisor, disappearing when they counter with the Gan Gun Hand and Catcher. The sketch Ayumu drew of Genm later leads Ghost to mistakenly attack the near-identical Ex-Aid when the Rider tries saving Ayumu from a group of Bugster Viruses and retrieve the Shakiriki Sports Gashat, but a sudden attack by Genm shows Ghost his mistake. The attack knocked away the Gashat, which he takes back before fading into thin air.

Genm's True Identity
Dan calls Poppi Pipopapo and informs her that the newly-developed Gashats have all stolen by a hooded man. Dan also secretly informs Taiga and Kiriya, giving them the special stethoscope. Dan is later seen on Robots Collabos location, already transformed as Genm Level 2 before changing into Sports Action Gamer Level 3. Thanks to his interference, Robots Collabos is able to flee. He himself also successfully vanished.

Dan is later seen in CR and gives a proper welcome to Emu. He asks Emu if he knows who Genm really is, and Asuna claims that the thief is Genm. After witnessing Emu quarreling with Hiiro, Dan gives chase to Emu, who fled to a helipad. There, Dan tried to comfort Emu by saying that it's only natural for a doctor to have a desire to save the patient. But, he agreed with Hiiro, since the man is responsible for the stolen Gashat. He then compares Emu to a crystal, that once shattered by a malicious patient, it won't able to shine ever again. However, Emu still persisted with his idealism and left, stating that he'll regret the day he can't save a patient, much to Dan's astonishment.

Deciding to teach Emu a lesson, Dan transformed into Genm Sports Action Gamer Level 3 and with Robots Collabos, they able to beat Brave Level 2 and Lazer Level 1. The thief soon joins as Emu asking Genm why did he attack the doctors, he states that he might refer to the thief. The thief later turns out to be Graphite, and this enrages Snipe as they collide with each other, ended in Snipe's defeat.

Genm soon provokes Emu that his idealism didn't work on a real battlefield, and also survival for the fittest. Finally, Emu snapped and transformed into Ex-Aid Level 2. Ex-Aid successfully beat Robots Collabos using Mighty Critical Finish and claims the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat in the process. Ex-Aid then changed into Robot Action Gamer Level 3 and successfully beat Genm using Gekitotsu Critical Strike. Genm then retreats, while Ex-Aid roared in rage.

As Dan staggers, he reverts to Level 2. Dan cancels his transformation and covers his face. Graphite asked if he was afraid of Emu. Dan then shows a psychotic smile as he said that only his genius is the one thing who he feared. Parad then christened Dan as Kamen Rider Genm, as Dan showed an evil grin.

Collecting data for the Ultimate Game
As the Beat Collabos Bugster is fighting Ex-Aid and Brave, Graphite enters to try and defeat the Riders. Dan, who is watching from afar chooses to transform into Genm for the first time on screen and tells Graphite to retreat with the Bugster, which Graphite begrudgingly does, after which Dan himself proceeds to escape.

As Emu and Hiiro extract the Collabos Bugsters from Yoshio Okada, Dan intervenes and fights off both Emu and Hiiro as Sports Gamer Level 3, allowing the Bugsters to escape. When Hiiro later tries fighting the Chambara Collabos Bugster, Dan steps in again and fights Brave Level 2 which gives Emu and Kiriya enough time to obtain the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat. Dan then fights Kiriya as the now Chambara Bike Gamer Level 3 after having his identity exposed. After some fighting, Dan is defeated by Lazer's Giri Giri Critical Finish, but Parad appears and creates a protective barrier to allow Dan to escape and fool Emu and Hiiro by pretending to have been the Black Ex-Aid. When Parad later comes to give Dan back his Gamer Driver and Proto-Mighty Action X Gashat, Dan concludes that no one will ever believe Kiriya now.

While sitting in his office, Parad warns Dan that while the Proto Gashats have great potential, prolonged use will damage his body. A moment later, Dan receives a call from Kiriya Kujo. The next day, Dan confronts Kiriya under a bridge, denying he knows anything about Parad before the two proceed to fight as Genm Sports Action Gamer Level 3 and Lazer Chambara Bike Gamer Level 3 respectively. The two are evenly matched and even after colliding with their respective Critical Finishers, do not revert to human form. When Kiriya questions why Dan helps the Bugster, Dan says that he does it to figure out why the Bugsters came into their world and developed the Gamer Drivers and Rider Gashats to help doing so. Dan then brings up the fact that to use the Gamer Drivers, one had to undergo a compatibility surgery, and like Kiriya, had done so to become a Kamen Rider. When Kiriya questioned why Dan is mentioning this now, Dan proceeds to hint to Kiriya that one of the Kamen Riders has not received the compatibility surgery, which Kiriya quickly identifies as Emu Hojo.

Genm Identity Revelation
After revealing himself to the other Riders, Dan revealed that there was a large amount of people infected with the Bugster virus, pointing out that no-one knows when a break-out might happen. He then challenges the other Riders to save those people with the ten Gashats, saying that it was up to them whether they will be saved or not before shooting them with the Gashacon Bugvisor to make his escape.

"Tricks": Virtual Operations
Kuroto Dan calls Poppi Pipopapo and orders her to record Emu's specs using his specialized VR for later use.

After a point of time, Kuroto Dan visits CR, only to be intercepted by Taiga Hanaya, who demanded him to simulate him by using the VR. Dan actually wants to record Emu's specs again, but Taiga had confiscated Emu's Gashat beforehands. Disappointed, Dan prepares to leave, only to be threatened by Taiga to expose the Protoype Gashats responsible for the Zero Day incident to the public. Leaving him with no choice, Dan finally simulates Taiga, but only once.

After the simulation ends, Taiga asks him to give the data later and to relay his rematch acceptance challenge to Emu before he left, leaving Dan speechless.

As Kuroto Dan visits CR again, Hiiro had been waiting for him in front of the CR Lift. Hiiro demands Dan to simulate him because he can't accept his defeat to Genm. As Hiiro asks what Gashat did Genm use, Dan says that Genm uses the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat, which basically had the same ability perimeter as Ex-Aid. Hearing this, Hiiro became flustered and demanded Dan to simulate him right now. Dan finally agrees to simulate Hiiro.

At the simulation, Dan changes the enemy to Genm and sets the difficulties to Easy (presumably to hinder him for leaking Genm's true power to Hiiro). After the simulation ends, Dan decided to refuse recording Hiiro's data for his own good before he left.

While Kiriya is recovering from his injuries late at night in the hospital, Dan forces him to use the VR and simulate him while he is unconscious. He then orders Kiriya to transform in order to collect his data, and stated that the simulation is a game he created, which allows no escape from him. However, Kiriya thinks he is lying, but had no choice but to listen to Dan's commands. Dan then for unknown reasons, controls Kiriya's movements to transform into Level 1 and Level 2, while threatening that he will let him pay the price of knowing his identity.

After that, he takes the Bakusou Bike Gashat out of Kiriya's Gamer Driver and inserted it into the Kimewaza Slot Holder, thus activating the finisher. However, during this time, he did not sit onto Lazer, causing Lazer to accelerate uncontrollably on his own and crashing into a wall, ending the simulation. Before he left, he threatens Kiriya to stay away from him, causing him to tremble in fear.

After a point of time from simulating Kiriya, Dan was by himself at his office late at night. He then decided to use the VR on himself and plugged his Proto Mighty Action X Gashat in the simulation device, thus starting the simulation.

At the simulation, he was surprised to find out Graphite was there as well. He then questions Graphite about him almost spoiling his identity as Genm, which the latter replied that no one cares about that. Dan then gets upset and holds his equipment up, which leads Graphite to be confused.

He then transforms into Kamen Rider Genm Level 1 and Level 2. After that, he pulls his Gashat out, plugged it into his Kimewaza Slot Holder and presses the switch, ready to activate his Critical Strike finisher. Graphite questions him if he is serious about this, which the latter replied he definitely is. He presses the switch again, activates his finisher, and defeats Graphite, ending the simulation.

Returning back to his office, while he pulled the Gashat out of the simulation device, he laughed madly and stated that no one will interfere in his way. He claimed that he will create the ultimate game. The chapter then ends with him holding the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat in front of the Mighty Action X poster.

Personality
"I was using you guys as test players to collect data. It was all for creating the ultimate game!"

- Dan explains his determination to the Riders.

To the people of CR he appears to be a polite and humble man, who despite having a sense of sympathy and compassion, makes decisions that are of questionable morality though are in some ways practical. But behind closed doors, Kuroto's real self is shown to be a psychotic and heartless narcissist, who believes that survival of the fittest is the only thing that matters in battle. Adding to the CEO's already demented behavior is his cold-blooded and murderous side and ruthless determination, which is demonstrated by the fact that Kuroto is willing to kill anyone who hinders his goals regardless of whether they are humans or Bugsters. Kuroto states that his true goal is to make the 'ultimate game', where the user can't die regardless of the damage taken. Apparently, he has succeed this goal by taking the data of his 'Game Over' after he failed to kill a patient, showing that his mind is beyond sanity. In spite of his ruthlessness and instability, Kuroto does have a sense of self-control and is extremely intelligent, allowing him to manipulate others and maintain his facade of a kind and caring individual for his own personal gain.

Powers and Abilities
As stated by him, Genm's parameters are the same as Ex-Aid's, so his overwhelming power didn't come from his equipment, but his own combat experience and ability. This is shown when he easily defeated some of the Ex-Aid Riders, even veterans like Taiga Hanaya, many times. He's even on par with Kamen Riders Specter and Necrom, even while the former is in his strongest form.


 * Bicycle Proficiency
 * He is extremely skilled in bicycling, which allows him to effectively use his Sports Gamer bicycle as both a weapon and a transport to defeat a large group of Gamma Commandos and Superiors.


 * Close Combat Skills
 * He has proven himself to be a formidable combatant, as he easily overwhelmed two Ghost Riders at once.


 * Quick Retreat
 * Through unknown means, after he recovered his Shakariki Sports Gashat, he faded into thin air. This is also shown when he decided to save the Aranbura and Collabos Bugsters.


 * Acquired Game Disease Immunity
 * As a result of a secret compatibility surgery not unlike the standard one for CR candidates, Kuroto Dan is immune to the Game Disease, and able to transform into a Kamen Rider.


 * Death Cheating
 * When he stabbed the Gashacon Bugvisor into his emptied Rider Gauge, he gained the ability of the Dangerous Zombie Gashat, allowing him to cheat his death for an unknown period.

Devices

 * Gamer Driver - Transformation device.
 * Rider Gashat - Transformation trinkets.
 * Kimewaza Slot Holder - Carrier strap for the Rider Gashats.
 * Bugster Buckle - additional buckle device When attached to the Gashacon Bugvisor to become the Buggle Driver.
 * Buggle Driver - Secondary Transformation device combined from the Gashacon Bugvisor and the Bugster Buckle.

Weapons

 * Gashacon Bugvisor - Standard sidearm weapon.
 * Gashacon Sparrow - Zombie Gamer Level X's weapon taken from Kamen Rider Lazer Chambara Bike Gamer Level 3
 * Trick Flywheels - Sports Action Gamer Level 3's personal weapons

Vehicles

 * Sports Gamer - Genm's Level 3 Rider Machine summoned by the Shakariki Sports Gashat.
 * Kamen Rider Lazer Bike Gamer Level 2 - Lazer's Rider Machine Mode that Genm can use to ride.

Relationship

 * CR:
 * Emu Hojo: Emu respects him and see him as a good man. Although Dan helps him in his civilian form, Dan acts hostile/even murderous to him as Genm. However, Emu is oblivious of this fact until Dan reveals himself to the Riders once his battle data gathering has been completed. Turns out, Kuroto have met Emu 16 years ago around the same time when Emu had an unknown illness and placed in a special surgery held by Kyotaro Hinata.
 * Asuna Karino/Poppi Pipopapo: Asuna affectionately calls Dan as 社長 and greatly respects him. Dan in return also trusts Poppi for information regarding Gashats and the CR in his civilian form. Apparently, Poppi soon learns she was just a pawn to Dan when he reveals himself to Riders that he is Genm, after he gathered enough battle data for his next plan.
 * Hiiro Kagami: They didn't interact much, but Hiiro shows some respect to him, although is somehow dubious of Dan's behavior, until Dan reveals himself to the Riders being Genm all along once his battle data gathering has been completed.
 * Kiriya Kujo: Kiriya saw Dan as his nemesis after he saw Dan's transformation into Genm. Dan however outsmarts him with Parad's help. Kiriya's hatred grows even further after that incident, even blackmailing him just to vent his anger. Strangely enough however, he claims that he's committing all these actions to find out the truth of how the Bugsters came to the real world, not unlike Kiriya's search for the truth behind the Bugsters. Unfortunately, Kiriya was too late to notice and stop Dan's next move, after Dan finally reveals himself to the Riders once his battle data gathering has been completed. As Kiriya is a greater threat to Dan for his meddling, he then murdered Kiriya as Genm Zombie Gamer and stole his Gashacon Sparrow for his own personal use.
 * Taiga Hanaya: Taiga mocks him because of Dan's laid-back behavior in civilian form. Although, Dan paid him no heed, even when Taiga bought his Gamer Driver back. Dan states that his Rider skills are undeniable despite how dangerous he is. Once Dan reveals himself to the Riders after he gathered enough battle data from Snipe and other Riders' battle, Taiga finally found out that he's being used by Dan.
 * Ministry of Health:
 * Kyotaro Hinata: Dan helped Kyotaro in the Gamer Driver and Gashat development. As such, they seem to be on good terms, until Kuroto reveal his true color to the four doctor Kamen Riders once he completed his first evil plan.
 * Bugsters:
 * Graphite: Dan seems to see Graphite as a tool for his goals, Graphite in return didn't like Dan either.
 * Parad: Dan is often helped by Parad regardless of his mission as Genm. Parad also noted that Dan's necessary for his plan.
 * Masamune Dan: His father and the first CEO of Genm Corp before Kuroto. His relationship with his father remained unknown.

Portrayal
Kuroto Dan is portrayed by Tetsuya Iwanaga (岩永 徹也)

As Kamen Rider Genm, his suit actor is Satoshi Fujita (藤田 慧) in Level 1 and Yuya Nawata (縄田 雄哉) in Level 2, his bike action suit actor is Keigō Arizono (有薗 啓剛).