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06-14-2021, 02:13 PM | #571 |
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Second - and I'm afraid I'm going to be stepping on Androzani's toes here - I want to highlight this episode's big guest star. We actually have a returning player this episode as we welcome back, in the role of "Kengo's sublot," none other than Kamen Rider Faiz's very own "Kaidou's backstory.". Quote:
I didn't really bring this up, but since the show hasn't either: when exactly did Kengo hurt his hand? Was it supposed to be during the Nago time travel two-parter? I know he brawled with one of the Fangires, but it's hard to remember if he took any sort of stiff shot. I assume he did, despite that whole ending being very confusing in a basic cause-and-effect sort of way.
I don’t have much to say about this, other than labelling Kengo storming out on Wataru “Top 10 Tragic Anime Break-Ups”, to which someone nominated Sento Ryuga as the rest of the list. I have a lot more to say about next time, where one wait in the Fact Fangire-le pays off and I get to resurrect a personal running gag from my Hurricaneger watch thread. |
06-14-2021, 02:21 PM | #572 |
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Kaido's backstory from Faiz was that he injured his hand, making him both unable to play guitar and furious at the world. A lot of his more... unheroic qualities stemmed from his feelings that he'd been (if you'll pardon the expression) dealt an unfair hand by the universe.
It's a little similar to what Kengo is going through here.
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06-14-2021, 03:18 PM | #573 |
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Yep. One of Inoue's favorite things to do on his shows is push heavy pathos and one of his very favorite gimmicks for that is the artist who loses their ability to perform. It was a big part of Faiz and it popped again in Kabuto and OOO. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other examples that I'm not aware of/forgetting, too. What makes the situation with Kengo different is that it is so directly similar to Kaido's story on Faiz. For me it's one of the most egregious examples of Kiva being a hodgepodge of reused plot lines from Inoue's older work.
Also, while Kengo has grown on me this time through, he will never hold a candle to how great Kaido is and it does him a real disservice to force the comparison. |
06-14-2021, 05:46 PM | #574 |
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It doesn't ~particularly~ fit this exact episode or anything, but Otoya is at about the right point in his arc that I feel it's time to talk about another of my absolute favorite Kiva songs, This love never ends.
Remember all the times I've said I knew Kiva's characters through the songs before I knew them from the show? Well I think there's a legitimate chance I only like Otoya as much as I do because this was my first impression of him. Like, the overall sound of it is way up my alley, beautifully mixing that poignant violin with the rocking beat in a way that just screams Kiva to me. It's obviously cool that it's Kouhei Takeda is singing it himself. But those lyrics, man! So good! Fujibayashi just goes hardcore on this one, to the point I'm inclined to jokingly say she's my favorite writer for Otoya, except I'm not sure how much that would be a joke? Obviously the song can only happen by the grace of the show and the hard work that went into that first, but a good character song is all about distilling the raw essence of that character into its purest, most idealized form, and, even more so than usual for Kiva, that's the case with this anthem for Otoya. It's a notably flattering depiction of the guy that gets at the real core of his role in the story as someone who is just genuinely thrilled to be alive and following his passion, and it brings across how big that personality truly is by straight up starting the first and second verses with him dismissing the stories of Icarus(!) and the Tower of Babel(!!) respectively as being totally lame and less grand than the love he shares with... well, with a generalized "you", but I like to think of the song as being specifically directed at Yuri myself, since it's all about how Otoya is willing to become a warrior – to become stronger – for his love, which is very much his story with her. A song about single Otoya definitely would not sound this heroic, you know? My absolute favorite bit of the lyrics is from the chorus, which starts with this brilliant bit about dying the blue sky a deep red, which is a great use of figurative language to further illustrate how important Otoya sees everything he's singing about as (red being the color of passion and all), but it goes beyond even that. Even though the concept of the song was apparently to essentially be his version of Supernova, this is also kinda Individual-System OTOYA Ver. when you get down to it, except Otoya's irrepressible spirit is so strong it just becomes a unique thing that's entirely his own. So if you remember what I said that family name means, those lyrics make extra sense if Otoya Kurenai's role as Ixa means far more to him for personal reasons rather than for the wishes of the Blue Sky Group, yeah? Maybe I'm overthinking it? It goes to show you how much I love this song, though. Kiva has a great soundtrack! I actually have to remind myself every now and then that This love never ends is one of the songs that didn't make it into the show, because it feels like it deserves to be somewhere. Getting back to what IS in the show for a second, I have to agree I think the action loses a little something around the point Emperor shows up. The funny thing about Kiva's base suit apparently being a huge strain on Takaiwa is that they had him doing some exceptionally energetic stunts to get across how this is a more bestial Rider than usual, with my particular favorites being the rapid punches he'd always do, and any time he enters a scene hanging down from the ceiling, because he's a bat. And again, those stock footage finishers were genuinely glorious, and the momentum conveyed by the surreal exaggeration of the perspective on his original Rider Kick is simply not going to be beaten by Emperor Form's much more traditional variation. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of effort there to make everything look super cool (Garulu Fever makes his sword into a rocket, for example), and we have not run out of finishing moves for me to praise in this show yet, but, yeah, I do think the show struggles a little to keep up the standards it set early on. Also on the subject of changes to the show's style, this is the first episode where Kivat and Tatsulot do a plot recap instead of the trivia, which is, just like the action, an understandable yet sad change for me. It makes sense to try and keep viewers aware of an increasingly complex plot, but the way early Heisei Rider loved to throw you into the deep end with an out-of-context replay of the previous week's climax was always charming to me, and having a cartoon bat giving unrelated educational fun facts over top of that was once again, a very distinctive element that I would've liked to see continue the whole way through. There are still a few more episodes with trivia before it totally switches over to the recaps, but still, it's a bummer.
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06-14-2021, 07:15 PM | #575 |
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Quote:
Yep. One of Inoue's favorite things to do on his shows is push heavy pathos and one of his very favorite gimmicks for that is the artist who loses their ability to perform. It was a big part of Faiz and it popped again in Kabuto and OOO. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other examples that I'm not aware of/forgetting, too. What makes the situation with Kengo different is that it is so directly similar to Kaido's story on Faiz. For me it's one of the most egregious examples of Kiva being a hodgepodge of reused plot lines from Inoue's older work.
Also, while Kengo has grown on me this time through, he will never hold a candle to how great Kaido is and it does him a real disservice to force the comparison. Kaido's story is about how he fits into society, and how society supports his choices. Coming into the narrative with a huge chip on his shoulder forces the series to deal more viscerally with his frustrations, resentments, and tentative reconciliations. It's a story explicitly about how he's going to find a culture/family that can help him find a use for himself. With Kengo, it's about slightly different things. (So far! Let me be clear that I could be reading Kengo's story totally wrong!) It's more about Kengo not being able to deal with a sudden change in his life, which we never saw Kaido have to confront. Kengo's like a Kaido who hasn't yet calcified into a ne'er-do-well. There's still a chance he can be salvaged, and that'll depend on how his friends support him. It's more about individual choices than it is a metaphor for society. Characters like Nago and Wataru have a lot more say in what happens to Kengo than anyone in Faiz did for Kaido. But time will tell! Quote:
It makes sense to try and keep viewers aware of an increasingly complex plot, but the way early Heisei Rider loved to throw you into the deep end with an out-of-context replay of the previous week's climax was always charming to me, and having a cartoon bat giving unrelated educational fun facts over top of that was once again, a very distinctive element that I would've liked to see continue the whole way through. There are still a few more episodes with trivia before it totally switches over to the recaps, but still, it's a bummer.
And, man, most of those facts were related to the upcoming episode. Is omelet rice going to factor heavily into the episode's plot? Time for Kivat to give you some tips for preparing the best omelet rice! Does a major gag depend on knowledge of mid-80s pop culture? He's some info about Onyanko Group! I mean, sure, there were a lot of random facts about violins (a thing that used to factor heavily into this superhero romance show), but it always felt additive to the experience and relevant to the world of the characters.
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06-14-2021, 08:51 PM | #576 |
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KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 31 - "APPLAUSE: A MOTHER-DEDICATED TRANSFORMATION”
There's a simplicity to the Megumi and Yuri story here that I really love. It's a three-parter devoted to exploring why they each fight, and the answer is simple: because they're warriors. The Rook stuff, for all of its connections to the Aso family, ends up being a bit of a red herring. Defeating Rook isn't something they need to do to stop fighting, to live a life of happiness. It's not the reason they started fighting, denying themselves a life of happiness. It's something they need to do because they're fighters, and that's the place they're most happy. Rook's defeat is necessary to keep being warriors, not as an impetus or a culmination. There's something really lovely about that, you know? How the three episodes propose alternate paths, and different choices, but the decision from Megumi and Yuri to fight is so primal that they can't be dissuaded or delayed. It's innate. It's their art, the way they express themselves to the world. Opting out of that would be like Wataru or Otoya deciding not to play music. It was never optional. These two women are warriors, and they don't owe anyone more of an explanation than that. And the way the show dramatizes it! It's the best kind of Kiva fight scene, the kind where it's all one fight across decades. It's Yuri finding the strength from her mother to take out Rook in 1986, and then Megumi finding the strength and strategy from Yuri to take out Rook in 2008. It's a fight that lets Yuri build off of her mother's success by using IXA, and then lets Megumi build off of her mother and grandmother's success by using IXA to follow Yuri's weak-point diagram and finish Rook once and for all. It's an idea that pays off the previous Megumi/Yuri/Rook story, and dramatically improves on it. It's not about the Aso women being dragged down by familial obligation and misdirected guilt; it's them being lifted up by a lineage of warriors. Grandmother boosts mother boosts daughter. It's a story of support, and of knowing who you are because you can see yourself in the people who helped you become who you are. It's a really beautiful story of undimmable lights and inevitable strength. The rest of the episode is... I mean, god, who cares? It's the concluding episode in a Yuri/Megumi three-parter where they both Henshin into IXA and defeat Rook! Why even have other plots! Plus, what's here are mostly bits and pieces, nothing that really even adds up to a full idea. Taiga is King, but we only see him in silhouette, so we're denied his movie-star good looks. Mio is (grudgingly) taking her place as Queen, and ends the episode by fighting Kiva. Kengo sees Nago warmly offer to train Wataru and coldly tell Wataru that he never liked Kengo to begin with, because oh man did anyone think Nago was going to end up doing Kengo any favors. That tiny amount of soul-demolishing actually leads to a neat Shima bit, where Shima tells Kengo - who is crying in the rain and cursing his fate - that eventually he's going to stop crying, so he better figure what he's going to do when that happens. It's a characteristically pragmatic and paternal piece of advice from Shima. It's letting Kengo know that, yeah, losing your dream, your best friend, and your teacher? That is a group of things worth crying over! It's okay to feel angry and sad about those things! But you will eventually stop crying, and you'll need to have a plan of action. It's my favorite type of Kamen Rider life lesson, where all feelings are valid, but you still need to exist in the world. Getting up after life knocks you down is the first step towards making things better, but you can take your time getting up. I really appreciate that lesson. Anyway, wow, excellent episode of Kiva. Not a ton for Wataru to do (I think his date gets up and leaves during his flashback about the people he cares for abandoning him, which, hoo boy), nor Otoya, but a really memorable story about Yuri and Megumi. Amazing outing for the Aso ladies. p.s. can't believe this one wasn't called 'finished: mommy fight'
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06-14-2021, 09:24 PM | #577 |
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Yes I knew you will love this episode.
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06-14-2021, 09:26 PM | #578 |
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I really did! It sort of made my night!
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06-14-2021, 09:27 PM | #579 |
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So this is my absolute favorite episode of Kiva unironically as there's a lot of things to love about it,
On the 86 side there's Yuri when confronting Otoya and the Arms Monsters about their attempts to white knight her taking charge and coming up with probably the best plan to defeat a major monster in the franchise, dupe him into becoming one of the riders and have it's drawbacks severely injure him. While the 08 side is mainly setup for the last quarter of the show it does a really good job wrapping up Megumi's core story and allowing her to develop without this shadow hanging over her head So yeah thank god that ProtoIxa is a total mess or odds are Rook would of actually killed all of them. And thank god the show actually let Yuri and Megumi transform into Ixa and deal the finishing blows in both eras as I feel there was a version of the script where it was Otoya and Naga who did the deed. Another thing I love about this episode is that the moment Nago learned that Wataru was Kiva he immediately did a 180 on his opinion on Kiva, due to legitimately liking Wataru as a person. And while it's super terrible that it ruined the final lifeline Kengo had; that Nago wants to help Wataru in any way he can. As considering he was at one point basically Kusaka 2.0. |
06-14-2021, 11:00 PM | #580 |
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So yeah thank god that ProtoIxa is a total mess or odds are Rook would of actually killed all of them. And thank god the show actually let Yuri and Megumi transform into Ixa and deal the finishing blows in both eras as I feel there was a version of the script where it was Otoya and Naga who did the deed.
Quote:
Another thing I love about this episode is that the moment Nago learned that Wataru was Kiva he immediately did a 180 on his opinion on Kiva, due to legitimately liking Wataru as a person. And while it's super terrible that it ruined the final lifeline Kengo had; that Nago wants to help Wataru in any way he can. As considering he was at one point basically Kusaka 2.0.
Also, man, Nago's got some revisionist-ass history going on in that scene with Wataru at Mal d'Amour. He's like (and maybe it's just the translation) Oh I Always Heard There Was A Chance That Kiva Could Be An Enemy But Now I Know Better, and it's like, a chance?! Nago has never in his life been anything less than absolutely certain, so for him to be like A Lot Of People Were Saying It, like, come on. He can't ever admit that he's wrong! Even when it shows his magnanimity! NAGO!
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