Poppy Pipopapo

This article is about a rider in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

Template:Characterinfo Asuna Karino (仮野 明日那, Karino Asuna) is a registered nurse at Seito University Hospital and a personnel from the Ministry of Health. In reality, "Asuna" is a guise for her true identity known as Poppy Pipopapo (ポッピーピポパポ, Poppī Pipopapo), a benevolent Bugster based on the character with the same name from DoReMiFa Beat, who acts as the "navigator" for the Kamen Riders.

Using the Toki Meki Crisis Gashat and the Buggle Driver II, she is able to transform into Kamen Rider Poppy (仮面ライダーポッピー, Kamen Raidā Poppī).

Character History

Past

Poppy is a Bugster based on the mascot of Genm Corp.'s DoReMiFa Beat. During Zero Day, she was born from the Bugster infection of an unnamed host whose life was sacrificed in the process, thus making Poppy a complete Bugster. ^{[Beyond Your Identity]} She was later assigned to be a navigator for the Kamen Riders, taking the guise of "Asuna Karino" in order to blend in more easily. ^{[BANG, That Jerk is Coming!] [A Hollow Beating in the Heart!]}

Second Bugster Outbreak

Five years later, a second outbreak of the Bugster virus occurred. While Hiiro Kagami had been selected as CR's Rider, Asuna proposed a second candidate: a prodigious and anonymous gamer known only as "M". While Kyotaro Hinata seemed hesitant, he agreed that having another candidate was wise after the incident that cost Taiga Hanaya his job. He gave her a Gamer Driver and the Mighty Action X Gashat to give M should she find him, and gave her the orders to reopen CR.

Along the way, Asuna ran into Emu Hojo, a pediatrics intern chasing after his escaping patient. Asuna quickly realized that the patient, Sota Suyama, was experiencing symptoms of the game disease, a diagnosis that was confirmed shortly after. For the boy's sake, Asuna had Emu help bring Sota to CR. After touching base briefly with Haima Kagami, she left for Mighty Action X's press release in the hopes of finding M there, only to find Emu had brought Sota to the release. When she tried to take Sota back, the Bugster took over the boy's body, wrecking havoc on the conference. Asuna was forced to explain the Bugster virus to Emu, and told him about trying to find someone to use the Driver, not expecting that Emu would take it for himself. Much to her shock, Emu was not only compatible with the system and capable of becoming a Kamen Rider, but he had been M all along. After watching him defeat the Salty Bugster, Asuna finally showed him to CR, revealing her true form as Poppy and christening Emu as Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. ^{[I'm a Kamen Rider!]}

Soon after, Poppy was contacted by Kuroto Dan, who requested a recording of the Action Gamer's specs as performed by Emu. As such, Poppy had Emu undergo a brief virtual reality simulation within the CR paitent room using a device designed by Kuroto Dan. She promptly left after the simulation was concluded without explaining her reasoning to Emu. ^{[Ex-Aid Chapter]}

The Dr. Pac-Man Incident

^{[Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Rider]}

Ganbarizing

Asuna accompanies Emu on his way to Genm Corp., the intern having been instructed to return the Kaigan Ghost Gashat back to Dan, only to be intercepted by a Collabos Bugster. When Dan is attacked by the Bugster after providing Ex-Aid with additional Kamen Rider Gashats to fight it, Asuna takes him to safety only to lose him as he secretly joins the battle to collect data as Kamen Rider Genm, culminating in the completion of his Ganbarizing Gashat. ^{[Part. I: Legend Rider Stage]}

Poppy Pipopapo later finds the inert Collabos Bugster which she is unable to budge, projecting a blank Game Area which soon enough manifests as Ganbarizing, causing it to come back to life and go berserk before Ex-Aid arrives, allowing Poppy to get away. After Emu uses the Ganbarizing Gashat to destroy the Bugster, both he and Poppy are confused to find that a Game Clear message has not appeared. The Ganbarizing Gashat then suddenly ejects from the Gashacon Breaker on its own before entering the Game Area from which a figure emerged. ^{[Part. II: Legend Gamer Stage]} Though Emu recognized him as Kamen Rider Hibiki, Poppy mistook him for a malicious demon and ran away. ^{[Part. III: Final Legend Stage]}

Brave's Day

^{[Kamen Rider Brave: ~Let's Survive! Revival of the Beast Rider Squad!~]}

Chou Super Hero Taisen

^{[Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Chou Super Hero Taisen]}

The Bugster Horde

^{[Kamen Sentai Gorider]}

Kamen Rider Chronicle

She is revealed to be a final component of the Kamen Rider Chronicle, thus being targeted by other Parad's forces and her mind is altered by none other than the third Genm Corp. CEO Ren Amagasaki.^{[Go Together, Embracing Your Ambitions!]}

File:Ce8c11cf.jpg

Poppy grabs the Bugster Buckle and Toki Meki Crisis Gashat from the roses.

Now being a part of Kamen Rider Chronicle, Poppy serves her new role as the navigator for the Ride-Players instead. She is later given the Gashacon Bugvisor II and the Toki Meki Crisis Gashat, allowing her to transform into Kamen Rider Poppy, enforcing the game's rules and punishing characters who fail to serve their purpose. ^{[Start the New Game!]} It is later revealed by Parad that Poppy's memory was actually reset, and that her supposedly "benevolent nature" was part of her original programming, as her true purpose was to collect data from CR for the Bugsters. ^{[Players Who Bet on Survival]}

However, it appears that Poppy retained some of her memories which are suppose to be cleared as Poppy was relieved that Emu was saved by Snipe upon Lovrica's defeat.

Other Events

Snipe: Episode ZERO

^{[Kamen Rider Snipe: Episode ZERO]}

Personality

Poppy Pipopapo was created to serve as a guide to the riders in CR. She provides insight on the Bugster viruses, the Rider system, and helps to transfer patients to CR if the situation requires it.

Poppy's true personality is bubbly and energetic. As Asuna, however, she takes on a mature and no-nonsense persona, although her normal personality will momentarily surface if she is addressed by her real name. But there have been times when Poppy as Asuna reverts to her true personality on her own free will. Despite being based on a Vocaloid, ironically, it is revealed Poppy cannot sing very well without music to accompany her and causes distress to those around her when she does.

After being brainwashed by the Bugsters, Poppy still has her bubbly personality, but she seems completely apathetic to the suffering of humans and casually focuses on her job as the "navigator" of Kamen Rider Chronicle. However, if Kamen Riders help the Ride-Players in the "game", which she states is against the rules, she will take on a serious persona briefly with a deeper voice and attack them as Kamen Rider Poppy. When Emu tried to get through to her to snap out of it, her erased memory and programmed loyalty to her kind caused her to knock him aside without a second thought. Fortunately, Emu restored her to normal using his reprogramming powers as Ex-Aid Maximum Gamer Level 99.

However, she has gained the memories of the female patient she killed in order to be brought into existence as a side effect. This briefly traumatized her to the point of almost breaking her emotionally, but Emu tried to reason with her that it was not her fault she was born into the world that way and she is not a killer as she has helped him save countless lives as his nurse. This seems to have made her feel a little better, but it is unknown how much of an impact it has on her emotional guilt.

Powers and Abilities

Arsenal

• Two Energy Blades: As Poppy Pipopapo, she can turn a knife and a fork into energy blades that she can either attack an enemy with or break a Chocolate Block from the Mighty Action X Gashat to receive an Energy Item.
• Teleportation: Like the Bugster executives, Poppy is capable of entering any level selected by the Kamen Riders.
• Dance Influence: Poppy can influence Bugster Viruses into a rhythm dance. ^{[Christmas Special: Targeting the Silver X mas!]}

Forms

• Bugster
• Kamen Rider Poppy

• Default
• Christmas
• Burger

File:Poppi CR 05.jpg

This form is Poppy's standard form. She usually appears in this form when she decides to change from Asuna to Poppy or already in this form.

Appearances: Ex-Aid Episodes 1, "Tricks": Virtual Operations (Ex-Aid), Ex-Aid 2-5, 7-10, Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Rider, "Tricks": Kamen Rider Genm (Legend Gamer Stage, Final Legend Stage), Ex-Aid 11-14, Brave: ~Let's Survive! Revival of the Beast Rider Squad!~, 15-24, Chou Super Hero Taisen, Kamen Sentai Gorider, 25-28, Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episodes 1-12

This form is Poppy's special Christmas form, and it is only obtained by getting the festive Christmas Energy Item during Christmas time.

This form is exclusive to Ex-Aid Episode 12.

File:Burger Poppi.png

This form is Poppy's fast food server form. She turns into this form during the time she interacted with Burgermon in CR.

This form is exclusive to Ex-Aid Episode 17.

Toki Meki Crisis Gamer Level X

Toki Meki Crisis Level X (Red Eyes)

"Buggle Up! Dreaming Girl! Koi no Simulation! Otome wa itsumo Toki Meki Crisis!"

―Transformation announcement^[src]

• Height: 199.0 cm
• Weight: 88.5 kg

Ability Perimeters:

• Punching power: 60.3 t
• Kicking power: 70.1 t
• Maximum jump height: 64.0 m
• Maximum running speed: 100m per 1.7 s

Toki Meki Crisis Gamer Level X (ときめきクライシスゲーマーレベルエックス, Tokimeki Kuraishisu Gēmā Reberu Ekkusu) is Poppy's default form.

In this form, Poppy's stats are slightly lower than Genm X, putting her on par with a Level 50 Rider. She only beats Para-DX Puzzle Gamer Level 50 in punching power, while losing to Brave and Snipe's Level 50, Genm X, and Para-DX Fighter Gamer Level 50 in terms of punching and kicking power.

Despite these disadvantages, her maximum jumping height and running speed is high, beating every Rider that can use Level 50 and Genm X. She is also shown to be very flexible and agile, easily dodging Snipe's attacks with the Gashacon Magnum and counter attacking.

This form's finisher is the Critical Crews-Aid (クリティカルクルセイド, Kuritikaru Kuruseido): Poppy presses the B button on the Buggle Driver II and charges herself with rainbow energy, before pressing the B button again, causing her to float in the air and twirl around continuously, sending pink heart and yellow star shaped energy attacks rapidly at the enemy.

Appearances: Ex-Aid Episode 26, 28, 30

Equipment

Devices

• Bugster Buckle
  • Buggle Driver II - Transformation device. Combined from Bugster Buckle and Gashacon Bugvisor II.
• Rider Gashat - Transformation trinkets.

Weapons

• Gashacon Bugvisor II - Transformation device and primary weapon.

Rider Gashat

DRMFB PPPPP Gashat.png

DoReMiFa Beat Gashat (Poppy Pipopapo version)

Toki Meki Crisis Gashat

Behind the Scenes

Portrayal

• Asuna Karino is portrayed by Ruka Matsuda (松田 るか, Matsuda Ruka), who previously portrayed Katsumi Sasahara in Kamen Rider Ghost: Ikkyu Eyecon! Awaken, My Quick Wit Power!!. As Kamen Rider Poppy, her suit actor is Jiro Uchikawa (内川仁郎, Jiro Uchikawa).

Etymology

• In episode 12, Hiiro Kagami pointed out that her alias, Asuna Karino is simply a wordplay of "temporary nurse" (仮のナース, Kari no Nāsu). As Poppy Pipopapo, she is most likely named after the Hatsune Miku song, PoPiPo.

Notes

• Asuna's cell phone ringtone is the SF for the Gashat's Game Clear.
• Asuna's and Poppy's dynamic is similar to Moka from Rosario + Vampire, as she has two parts to her personality (Outer and Inner Moka) are similar to Asuna and Poppy (one being serious and focused (Inner Moka/Asuna) and the other childish and gleeful (Outer Moka/Poppy)).
  • Coincidentally, both of them are monster girls (Moka is a vampire and Asuna is a Bugster)
• As Asuna Karino, Poppy shared her first name to the female lead of game themed light novel/anime Sword Art Online. Another similarity is how they are related to former gaming company CEO, as Asuna's father Shouzou Yuuki with RECT Inc and Poppy's president Kuroto with Genm Corp. Ironically, whereas Asuna Yuuki is a real life character that gets into a gaming world, Poppy is in fact a game character that gets into the real world.
• Poppy's status of both being an ally and a Bugster could be a reference to how some real life viruses can actually be beneficial instead of harmful to certain living beings, like certain bacteria are.
  • Game wise, it may also because that her base model is a support character whereas regular Bugsters are based on antagonist or rival characters of their respective video games. Episode 19 further revealed that she is a playable character of her respective game.
• Kamen Rider Poppy bears a slight resemblance to Shiori Fujisaki from the Tokimeki Memorial series.

File:Kamen Rider Poppy.jpg

A scan of Kamen Rider Poppy with blue eyes.

• Original scans and the new opening sequence introduced in episode 25 shows Kamen Rider Poppy's eyes as blue instead of red, due to Amagasaki's brainwashing and Kamen Rider Chronicle's effects, then shortly prior her secondary redemption, similar to Kamen Rider Brave Fantasy Gamer Level 50 who had red eyes when the Bugster viruses temporarily controlled his body.

• Being based on a Vocaloid besides her true name, she shares a similar appearance as the character Megurine Luka, such as having a same pink hair color mostly, and white/yellow/pink colored idol outfits.
• Asuna has shown some difficulty with English numbers on two separate occasions. Ex-Aid having to explain to her that '50' translates to 'go-jyu' (五十, 'go-jyu') ^{[A New Challenger Appears!]} and was later seen counting out on her hand to translate '99'. ^{[To The Max, Dead or Alive!]}
• Poppy's transformation sequence into her Level X form is homage to the magical girl genre, namely Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure.
  • Episode 26 has Poppy saying she will "punish" anyone who breaks the rules harkens to Sailor Moon's pre-battle speech: "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Appearances

• File:Icon-exaid.png Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
  • Kamen Rider Snipe: Episode ZERO
    • Episode 1: Trigger of Destiny
  • Episode 1: I'm a Kamen Rider!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 1
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid "Tricks": Virtual Operations "Ex-Aid Chapter"
  • Episode 2: Another Prodigy with No Thank You?
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 2
  • Episode 3: BANG, That Jerk is Coming!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 3
  • Episode 4: An Operation Called Dash!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 4
  • Episode 5: Everyone Gathers for a Clashing Crash!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 5
  • Episode 6: A Hollow Beating in the Heart!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 6
  • Episode 7: The Reason for Some Lies!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 7
  • Episode 8: Men, Fly High!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 8
  • Episode 9: Beat Up the Dragon!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 9
  • Episode 10: Uneven Doctors!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 10
  • Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Rider
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid "Tricks": Kamen Rider Genm
    • Episode 1: Part. I: Legend Rider Stage
    • Episode 2: Part. II: Legend Gamer Stage
    • Episode 3: Part. III: Final Legend Stage
  • Episode 11: Who's the Black Kamen Rider?
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 11
  • Episode 12: Christmas Special: Targeting the Silver X mas!
  • Kamen Rider Information Program: Poppy Pipopapo's Room Episode 12
  • Episode 13: Defined Destiny
  • Episode 14: We're Kamen Riders!
  • Episode 15: A New Challenger Appears!
  • Episode 16: The Paradox of Defeating M
  • Episode 17: A Nonstandard BURGSTER?
  • Episode 18: The Truth Exposed
  • Episode 19: A Sudden Fantasy!?
  • Kamen Rider Brave: ~Let's Survive! Revival of the Beast Rider Squad!~
  • Episode 20: Take Off Against the Direction of the Wind!
  • Episode 21: Chasing the Mystery!
  • Episode 22: Engineered History!
  • Episode 23: To The Max, Dead or Alive!
  • Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Chou Super Hero Taisen
  • Kamen Sentai Gorider
    • Maze 1: Emu, is dead? (fake only)
    • Maze 2: Escape
    • Maze 3: Gorider Forever
  • Episode 24: Go Together, Embracing Your Ambitions!
  • Episode 25: Start the New Game!
  • Episode 26: Players Who Bet on Survival
  • Episode 27: Love & Peace for the Winner!
  • Episode 28: Beyond Your Identity
  • Episode 29: We're Me!?