The Last Smile

is the forty-fourth and penultimate episode of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. It features Kamen Rider Build's first televised appearance following his theatrical debut in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: True Ending and the apparent deaths of Poppy Pipopapo and Parado (for the second time), who will return at the next episode.
==Synopsis==
Gamedeus Cronus has grown massive and become the strongest Last Boss! The Gamedeus Virus expanded and the pandemic has gotten worse. The Gamedeus Virus can now be transferred from person to person, turning the infected into Bugster Virus foot soldiers! Two Bugsters witnessing this symptom, Parado and Poppy Pipopapo, decide to take action. "There is something that only us Bugsters can do…" Poppy says as she rushes to Ex-Aid…
==Plot==
A newswoman alerts the public of the Bugster virus pandemic as the infected-turned-Virus foot soldiers chase victims down, even breaking into her studio and infecting her. Super Gamedeus summons Kaiden, Aranbura, Salty, and Revol to face the Riders, Nico noticing the spreading infection; Super Gamedeus reverts to Gamedeus Cronus as he says that defeating these infected people will kill them. Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer, Brave Legacy Gamer Level 100, and Snipe Simulation Gamer Level 50 try fighting the Bugsters while keeping the infected people at bay without hurting them, a watching Parado and Poppy deciding to take action. Brave defeats Aranbura before running into the infected Virus Kiriya; Snipe keeps the infected away from Nico, defeating Revol and Salty, as Nico tries helping other people escape, but is shocked when she sees Riku and his mother among the infected. Elsewhere, Genm Action Gamer Level 0 decides to fight the infected people, but is interrupted by a surprise arrival, Kamen Rider Build, who mistakes him for Ex-Aid and tries to collect a sample. Build switches from RabbitTank to GorillaMond when Genm fights back, but accidentally takes out one of his lives, realizing this isn't Ex-Aid before apologizing and leaving.
Hiding from the infected, Ex-Aid thinks of using Doctor Mighty XX to cure them when Poppy takes it and leaves. Emu follows her to the hospital's roof, where she explains that she will plug the Gashat into herself to disperse the vaccine's effects to every patient, but doing so will make her disappear; she always knew that all Bugsters, even herself, would eventually have to die to truly keep humanity safe. Emu pleads for her not to, but Poppy insists she wants her last act to save the patients, apologizing for not keeping their promise to play DoReMiFa Beat before plugging the Gashat into herself. It drops and she fades into a cloud of sparkles as she tells Emu to protect everyone's lives and smiles; the cloud rains down on the city, reverting all of the infected Viruses back into people. Her voice tells Hiiro not to eat too many sweets, Kiriya not to lie so much, Taiga to be nice to Nico, Nico to take care of Taiga, and Kuroto to not cause trouble and to make fun games. Kuroto says she can't disappear without his permission, but her image appears and silently comforts him before fading, the last sparkle disappearing in his hand as a rainbow appears overhead.
Masamune sees the pandemic has been stopped and is confronted by Hiiro, Taiga, Kuroto, and Kiriya; he says he has dedicated his whole life to building his dream for Genm Corp. to be the best game company in the world into a reality and that it will come true, becoming Super Gamedeus again. Parado tells Emu they can't waste Poppy's sacrifice. As Brave Level 100, Snipe Level 50, Lazer Turbo Proto Combat Bike Gamer Level 0, and Genm Zombie Action Gamer Level X-0 fight Super Gamedeus, however, they quickly realize they are doing nothing to him, being taunted to have Earth's entire population join Kamen Rider Chronicle to face him. He knocks them all back when Emu steps up, taking out Mighty Action X and transforming into Ex-Aid Action Gamer Level 1. Ex-Aid jumps and rolls around to avoid Super Gamedeus' extending arms before landing a successful hit to everyone's surprise; he quotes Asuna that only Level 1 can separate Bugster from patient, which they can use to separate Gamedeus from Masamune. The other Riders take Snipe Shooting, Brave Quest, Genm Action, and Lazer Bike Gamers Level 1 and join in, kicking, slashing, and shooting, Snipe performing his body bullet attack before Super Gamedeus knocks them all back with a barrage of lasers from the eyes lining his arms. He flips around to use his lower half as a sword, but Para-DX Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99 catches it, freezing Super Gamedeus in place with a blue glow; the five Riders take this chance to use Taddle Bang Bang Bakusou Mighty Critical Strike. The resulting explosion knocks them all out of their transformations and separates Masamune from Gamedeus, but Parado is still holding Gamedeus, Doctor Mighty XX in his Driver. Parado tells Gamedeus they'll die together, Gamedeus evaporating; Parado hopes that this made up for even a little of what he's done, thanking Emu for the brief but fun ride, who runs over as Parado fades away, the last speck of him disappearing in Emu's hand.
The moment of silence is broken by Masamune, noting that Emu now can't transform, and without Muteki Gamer they can't hope to defeat Cronus. He raises his Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat and proclaims that their fate has led them to a Bad End.
==Continuity and Placement==
*Kamen Rider Build: The Build that appears in this episode is Takumi Katsuragi, approximately two years before Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders and his identity change to Sento Kiryu.
==Cast==
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*Narration, Gashacon Bugvisor II/Buggle Driver II Voice, : 
===Guest Cast===
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*TV Announcer: 
===Suit Actors===
*Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer: 
*Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level 1, Kamen Rider Genm Level 1: 
*Kamen Rider Brave Level 100: 
*Kamen Rider Lazer Turbo Level 0, Kamen Rider Brave Level 1: 
*Kamen Rider Lazer Level 1: 
*Kamen Rider Snipe Level 50, Gamedeus: 
*Kamen Rider Snipe Level 1: 
*Kamen Rider Genm Level 0, Level X-0: 
*Kamen Rider Para-DX Level 99: 
*Kamen Rider Cronus: 
*Kamen Rider Build: 
*Salty Bugster: 
*Aranbura Bugster: 
*Revol Bugster: 
*Kaiden Bugster: 
==Rider Gashat==
*Gashat Used:
**Ex-Aid
***Maximum Mighty X, Hyper Muteki, Mighty Action X
**Brave
***Taddle Legacy, Taddle Quest
**Snipe
***Gashat Gear Dual β (Bang Bang Simulations), Bang Bang Shooting
**Lazer (Turbo)
***Bakusou Bike, Proto Jet Combat
**Genm
***Gamer Driver
****Proto Mighty Action X Origin, Dangerous Zombie, Proto Mighty Action X
**Para-DX
***Gamer Driver
****Gashat Gear Dual, Doctor Mighty XX
**Poppy
***Doctor Mighty XX
**Cronus
***Kamen Rider Chronicle
*Level Used:
**Ex-Aid
***Muteki Gamer, Action Gamer Level 1
**Brave
***Legacy Gamer Level 100, Quest Gamer Level 1
**Snipe
***Simulation Gamer Level 50, Shooting Gamer Level 1
**Lazer (Turbo)
***Proto Combat Bike Gamer Level 0, Bike Gamer Level 1
**Genm
***Action Gamer Level 0, Zombie Action Gamer Level X-0, Action Gamer Level 1
**Para-DX
***Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99
**Cronus
***Gamedeus Cronus
==Fullbottles==
*Bottle Used:
**Biotic: Rabbit, Gorilla
**Abiotic: Tank, Diamond
*Form Used:
**RabbitTank Form, GorillaMond Form
==Errors==
*It is unknown how Kuroto reclaimed the purple-colored Proto Mighty Action X Gashat, since said Gashat was one of the Proto Gashats that were returned to Masamune after the first Reset.
*When the Level 1 Kamen Riders are knocked out of their transformation after the finishers, "Gashun!" was played from their Gamer Drivers, even though it has already been played when they removed their Gashat to activate the Critical Strike attacks.
**It's possible this was for the Gashats' removal from the Kimewaza Slot Holders instead.
*When Emu transforms into Level 1, he is briefly seen putting his palm up to touch his profile, but it doesn't select until he brings his arms down.
==Notes==
*As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside episode 26, .
*Viewership: 3.2%
*Closing Screen:
**Text Color: Pink
*Count at episode end
**Gashats in Ex-Aid's possession: Mighty Action X, Gekitotsu Robots, Shakariki Sports, Bakusou Bike, Giri Giri Chambara, Mighty Brothers XX, Maximum Mighty X, Hyper Muteki
**Gashats in Brave's possession: Taddle Quest, DoReMiFa Beat, Drago Knight Hunter Z, Gashat Gear Dual β, Taddle Legacy
**Gashats in Snipe's possession: Bang Bang Shooting, Jet Combat, Gashat Gear Dual β, Kamen Rider Chronicle
**Gashats in Lazer Turbo's possession: Bakusou Bike, Proto Taddle Quest, Proto Bang Bang Shooting, Proto Bakusou Bike, Proto Gekitotsu Robots, Proto DoReMiFa Beat, Proto Giri Giri Chambara, Proto Jet Combat, Proto Shakariki Sports, Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z
**Gashats in Genm's possession: Proto Mighty Action X, Proto Mighty Action X Origin, Dangerous Zombie
**Gashats in Ride-Player Nico's possession: Kamen Rider Chronicle
**Gashats in Cronus' possession: Kamen Rider Chronicle (Master ver.)
**Gashats in unknown possession: Ju Ju Burger, Doctor Mighty XX, Tokimeki Crisis, Gashat Gear Dual
**Kuroto Dan's Life Points remaining: 3
**Bottles in Build's possession:
***Biotic: Rabbit, Gorilla
***Abiotic: Tank, Diamond
*Video Game References in this episode:
**The Riders realize that they had to use their Level 1 forms to defeat Gamedeus. This is similar to several games where final bosses are nearly impossible to defeat, but the actual secret lies in spamming the player's weakest move, which are often forgotten due to the player receiving stronger forms and abilities later on. This has also been alluded to in Episode 31, where Para-DX's Level 99 form was shown to be more powerful than the other Riders up till then, including Ex-Aid's Level 99, but he was defeated by Genm's Level 0 form, which is technically the weakest level.
**Masamune Dan claimed the Riders have received a bad ending. In games like visual novels which include nonlinear stories and endings, a "bad ending" occurs when the player's decisions lead to unhappy consequences or unsatisfactory conclusions. These types of games also include "good endings", which if the player made the right choices, can also unlock the "true ending".
*It features the final appearance of Gamedeus and Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer.
*Genm being the one to encounter Build is fitting, as Genm had cameoed himself during the penultimate episode of the previous season.
*This features the return of
**Ex-Aid Action Gamer Level 1 since episode 16.
**Brave Quest Gamer Level 1 since episode 16.
**Snipe Shooting Gamer Level 1 since episode 18.
**Lazer Bike Gamer Level 1 since episode 12
**Genm Action Gamer Level 1 since episode 8
**Genm Action Gamer Level 0 since episode 31.
*This is the first time Genm assumes both Level 0 and Level X-0 in one episode.
*This is the first time Genm enters battle as Level 1, as he had previously only stood on the sidelines in it before taking a higher Level.
*This is the first time Kiriya takes both Lazer and Lazer Turbo forms in one episode.
*This is the first television cameo where a Rider from a new series assumes more than one form, though it happens often in early movie cameos.
*In this episode, the final silhouette in the Gamer Driver's profile array has been replaced with Genm Action Gamer Level 1, which was previously exclusively available to a Rider using Proto Mighty Action X. This is also seen when Emu transforms in Kamen Rider Zi-O.
*When Ex-Aid Level 1 turns and briefly runs from Super Gamedeus, it is a repeat of the scene from episode 1 when he first faces Salty's Bugster Union.
*This is the first episode a Level 1 Kamen Rider performs a Critical finisher.
**This episode also marks the highest count of several Critical finishers being performed together, at 5, beating episode 10's previous record of 4.
*Final appearance of Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer, Lazer Proto Combat Bike Gamer Level 0, Para-DX Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99, Gamedeus Cronus and 5 main Riders' Level 1 forms.
*As revealed in Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders, the identity of the Build that appears in the episode is actually Takumi Katsuragi. However, this would actually cause some minor inconsistencies which would be fixed during the final cut of the film shown in theaters and released on home video, as the time-gap would be properly explained in both Build and the film itself: 
**The Build Driver announces Best Matches, which is not possible as this episode occurs approximately two years before Sento himself modified the Driver to do so. 
**Build is voiced by Atsuhiro Inukai and closed captioning for the TV-Asahi broadcast of the episode refer to Build as "Sento Kiryu." This was done for promotional reasons to introduce the actor and character early before his debut, as the identity switch is intended to be a plot twist. Continuity-wise, Takumi may have modulated his voice to match Taro Satou's.
==DVD/Blu-ray releases==
*Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Volume 12 features episodes 43-45: White Coat License, The Last Smile and Endless Game.
*Blu-ray Collection 4 comes with 9 episodes.
Ex-Aid Vol 12.jpg|Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Volume 12, DVD
91F8ZR9rxIL SL1467 .jpg|Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Collection 4, Blu-ray
==External Links==
*TV Asahi's official episode guide for 最期のsmile
*Toei TV's official episode guide for 最期のsmile
==References==
Category:Crossovers
Category:New Kamen Rider Episode
Category:Rider Death Episode
Category:Pre-Series Cameo Debuts