WARNING:This episode contains scenes of blood. Viewer discretion is advised!
Who's the Black Kamen Rider? (Who's黒い仮面ライダー?,Husu Kuroi Kamen Raidā?) is the eleventh episode of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. It reveals the true identity of Kamen Rider Genm to the Riders and features a first look at the Dangerous Zombie Gashat.
Emu gives Kiriya another chance to earn his trust. Kiriya then takes the chance to finally reveal Kuroto's intentions and expose him as the Black Kamen Rider that is working with the Bugsters.
Plot
Emu is now only one week away from finishing his 3-month internship at the Seito University Hospital, and goes to see off his latest patient of a broken leg, Shuhei Yamanaka, and his mother just in time for Christmas, but Shuhei glumly says he hates Christmas. Meanwhile at Genm Corp., Kuroto Dan is working with a new blank white Gashat with Parado, but to complete it, he needs "the data of death"; Parado comments on temporary in-game deaths vs. humans' permanent deaths. At the hospital, as Shuhei walks away and his mother says she'll need to go back to work, he drops his crutches and runs, laughing in an altered voice. Emu and Asuna follow him outside, where he collapses in pain before globs of orange virus material jump off of him and form the Salty Bugster. Emu is surprised the Bugster already separated from the patient, recognizing Salty from their first battle, but noticing he's slightly different; Salty confirms he has leveled up, to Level 3. Emu transforms into Ex-Aid Robot Action Gamer Level 3, overwhelming Salty, but Genm Sports Action Gamer Level 3 arrives. Ex-Aid changes to Hunter Action Gamer Level 5 Full Dragon, overpowering Genm but flying out of control and crashing into a nearby building, letting Genm and Salty escape.
Shuhei's downer attitude continues in CR; remembering Hinata cheering him up with a gamepad after his own operation, Emu asks Shuhei's mother to find out what would do the same for Shuhei: cake, but before he can get some, he is called to Kuroto's office. Kiriya is already there threatening to find Kuroto's secrets before Emu, Hiiro, and Taiga arrive; Kuroto assigns them to clear the tenth and final Gashat, Shakariki Sports, and say that the black Ex-Aid is working to spread the Bugster virus. Emu is still opposed to the idea of Hinata's surgery on him being suspicious, rejecting Kiriya's claim that he needs a reason to trust Hinata is a good person.
At a hospital, Kiriya continues investigating Emu's surgery, a nurse saying nothing was suspicious during the procedure, and that the entire team trusted Hinata. Emu meanwhile is fighting a large crowd to get a cake; finally bringing one to Shuhei, the boy replies that he hates cake. Emu is saddened by not being able to cheer his patient like Hinata had done for him, but is called by Kuroto: Emu needs to transport Shuhei elsewhere, as the Ministry of Health appears to be behind the Bugster virus, the revelation and Kiriya's speech shaking Emu's trust of Hinata. After the call, Kuroto takes the 10 Proto Gashats and says goodbye to his office. Walking along, Emu's speech gives Kiriya a revelation about trust.
Arriving with Shuhei to an empty skate park, Emu and Poppy are attacked by Genm Sports Action Gamer Level 3, stating himself to be after the data of death from killing Shuhei. Emu transforms to Ex-Aid Hunter Action Gamer Level 5 Full Dragon and fights, Genm claiming to work for Hinata and mocking Emu's lack of Hinata's doctor skills; something inside Ex-Aid snaps, and he goes out of control, but Kiriya tackles him down, reminding him not to let his trust of Hinata slip so easily, and bringing him back to normal. Kiriya says he'll believe in Emu as Hiiro and Taiga arrive, the four Riders taking their partial-dragon Level 5 forms. They attack Genm, knocking him out of Sports Action Gamer Level 3 down to Action Gamer Level 2 and almost depleting his Rider Gauge. However, Genm puts the white Gashat into the Gashacon Bugvisor and attacks Shuhei and Poppy with a ShakarikiCritical Strike, but Ex-Aid jumps over and swats Genm away with his dragon tail, emptying Genm's Rider Gauge and clearing Shakariki Sports; Ex-Aid catches the Gashat. Before dying, Genm stabs the Gashacon Bugvisor onto his Rider Gauge, absorbing away the data of death from his own body and saving himself. No longer needing the charade, he announces his name to the other Riders for the first time, "Kamen Rider Genm", untransforming to reveal himself to them as Kuroto Dan; Hiiro admits Kiriya had been telling the truth before. Questioned on his actions, Kuroto tells them they were test subjects so he could collect data for the ultimate game. He reprises his metaphor of Emu keeping the crystal of his heart from breaking and tells them the Bugster virus has already spread across the city before shooting with the Bugvisor to cover his escape.
Staggering back to his new hideout with Parado waiting, he removes the white Gashat from the Bugvisor, and its image appears from the death data: Dangerous Zombie. A new game is starting.
Though Dan as Genm has his voice distorted again in this episode, unlike episode 5 and episode 6 his voice is not pitched higher and heavily modified. Instead, his voice sounds deeper and more recognizable.
Again, when Emu activated his Mighty Action X Gashat, the title screen doesn't appear behind him. Instead it appears after Emu inserts his Gashat to his Gamer Driver.
Genm's Rider Gauge seemingly replenishing after being emptied (actually just flashing red to show it had been used up) may be a reference to how many video game bosses have multiple health bars, sometimes each a different color, which must be depleted in sequence to actually defeat them.
It also is a reference to how some games have cheats to gain extra lives, gain unlimited health or become completely immune to damage.
If viewers pause the video of Kiriya's conversation with Kuroto, they can see on top of the ping pong table in Kuroto's office are some toy Tetris blocks.
The place Kuroto wants to meet the other Riders has a skate park, a common game environment for extreme sports video games such as the Tony Hawk game series.
It is unclear how defeating Genm cleared Shakariki Sports, as he wasn't a Bugster from the game's data; having been used by Kuroto from the beginning, however, this particular Gashat may have been built to function differently, or Genm's power may have somehow been connected to the Bugsters or that game's data.
This is the first episode of Ex-Aid to not feature the debut of a new form for any Rider, though it does debut a new Gashat to be used for a new form in the next episode.
Ex-Aid assumes all the forms he's got so far in this episode.
This is the first time since its debut that Snipe doesn't assume Combat Shooting Gamer Level 3.
This is the first time a Rider Gauge has gone down to 0, although said Rider, Genm, doesn't die due to interference.
This is the first time Brave and Snipe change from their Level 1 forms to their Level 5 forms.
This is the first time since their respective debuts that Brave and Snipe don't wield their Gashacon Weapons.
The preview for the next episode at the end of the show has the theme EXCITE replaced with a fast-paced chiptune version of "Jingle Bells", as the next episode is a Christmas episode which aired on Christmas Day.
The Sponsor bumper is also altered to reflect the Christmas season as well, as Ex-Aid is wearing a Santa hat and beard and running through a Christmas version of the level he walks though with snow and Christmas trees decorated with Rider Gashats.
The nurse mentions that Emu's internship is almost up, with Emu saying he can hardly believe it has been almost three months. This is the near exact amount of time the TV series has been airing at this point and could imply that Emu became a Rider not long after he started his internship.
Alternatively, this could simply be a meta reference, as certain episodes (such as 1 & 2, and this and the next) are clearly not meant to be set a full week apart to match their airdates, implying instead either variable times between episodes totaling 3 months, or that Emu's internship had been going for a while before finding CR.
This is the first time Kuroto himself announces his Rider identity's name, Genm, which was first mentioned by Parado in episode 5.
Final appearance of Ex-Aid Hunter Action Gamer Level 5 (Dragon Fang), Lazer Hunter Bike Gamer Level 5 (Dragon Claw) and Genm Sports Action Gamer Level 3. Also the final appearance of Genm Action Gamer Level 2, even though it will be recycled into Action Gamer Level 0 (Proto Origin) later.
This article is about an episode in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.
episode 42, Ep. 42: The Future of this Planet
episode 42, 
