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06-13-2021, 07:01 AM | #561 |
Warrior of Delusions!
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06-13-2021, 09:03 AM | #562 |
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There are a lot of Champions Of Justice in this franchise that are also sort of terrible people (Ex-Aid! Almost the entire cast!), so I guess I didn't think that I was implying that Otoya had suddenly become a shining beacon of altruistic service or anything. He can fight for justice as IXA and still have problems.
Though yeah, I'd likely reserve the "champion of justice" (if you use it as pinnacle moral/heroism term) term towards those who are at least not sort of terrible people, and I'd consider people like you mentioned here as those who had power to contribute more, but overall I'm only making sure for Otoya's nasty traits to not be overlooked, because it happens that people treat anyone who fights for good as shining beacon of altruistic service, excusing all their dark traits (like treating aggressiveness as assertiveness, etc.) as they fight for good, and this happens even villains who for example, claims they had noble goals. Quote:
KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 29 - “WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN: I AM KING”
The Megumi storyline is the best, despite a lot of it coming from out of basically nowhere. Megumi’s younger brother (!) shows up to remind her that the three years he promised her (!) to pursue her dreams of being a warrior are just about up, and it’s time to come home and work in a dry-goods store (!). It’s the most random dilemma Megumi could face, short of Nago telling her she needs to build a ¼ scale model of the Tokyo Dome or he’s going to die of heart failure. But the thing is, it mostly doesn’t matter, this thing with her brother and him bribing W.A.K.E.U.P. to cut her loose. (Shima doesn’t seem to care about enforcing the deal, since he already got paid. Quite a racket he’s running!) None of that’s really the point. The point is about how Megumi feels about her mother. Quote:
Back in 1986, Yuri is wondering what it means to be a warrior at peace. She’s trying to turn Otoya’s house into a home, and it just doesn’t feel right. She loves Otoya, but she also loves fighting for justice. She needs to get some closure with Rook, since a lot of her identity is wrapped up in avenging her mother.
Back in 2008, Megumi is feeling like she’s letting the memory of her mother down. If only she could take out Rook, she’d feel like she was making her mother proud. Her sense of self-worth is wrapped up in her mother’s legacy, and she can’t let go of that mission. Quote:
The other big storyline this episode is Mio and Shizuka, which… uh. It’s not… it’s not good? It’s Shizuka moving from her normal role as Wataru’s Mom into a more possessive, jealous role as his would-be girlfriend. It’s a pretty gross story, with Shizuka being so awful that the show keeps doing insert shots of her dressed as a devil. It’s not subtle! None of this story is subtle!
It’s also not really funny or anything. It makes Shizuka entirely unlikable, even if her motivations are sort of relatable. She feels pushed aside by Wataru, and she’s not really wrong. She’s completely irrelevant to the plot now. Wataru’s outgrown whatever caregiving and defense she might’ve offered, and he’s falling for Mio. There’s no room in Wataru’s romance for Shizuka, and so she’s acting out. It’s not just her being a possessive brat, it’s her trying to keep Wataru in her life, no matter the cost. It’s just a bummer of a plot to watch, though. It makes Shizuka horrible from pretty much nowhere, since there’s not really been any build-up for this story. She went from Sweet And Protective to Manipulative And Controlling more or less between episodes. It’s all a bit much, and I don’t feel like Shizuka deserves this kind of story.
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06-13-2021, 11:29 AM | #563 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
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Keeping things simple this time and just sharing one of the general Fangire tracks that's in like every episode whenever a monster is about to do something bad. (Including this one, of course.)
This episode has one of those weirdly specific things that occasionally sticks in my head – in this case, Megumi's little brother criticizing her for not eating in a triangle or whatever, because I naturally had zero clue what he was on about, but apparently it is a real concept in Japan? (Megumi's whole energy in that scene is fantastic, by the way. Rewatching these bits of the show is really reminding me why I like her so much.) The stuff with Shizuka resulted in me straight up kinda hating her at the time, but you know, time has passed, I'm a huge Hidenori Ishida fan now, and I think what he does with Shizuka here is hilarious; just going as over-the-top melodramatic as possible. The whole subplot is this unfortunate result of a character who's been left behind by the evolving status quo of Kiva's second half, but they at least picked a director for this script who knew how to have fun with that.
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06-13-2021, 11:50 AM | #564 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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It is a little strange to unpack and examine, yes!
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The stuff with Shizuka resulted in me straight up kinda hating her at the time, but you know, time has passed, I'm a huge Hidenori Ishida fan now, and I think what he does with Shizuka here is hilarious; just going as over-the-top melodramatic as possible. The whole subplot is this unfortunate result of a character who's been left behind by the evolving status quo of Kiva's second half, but they at least picked a director for this script who knew how to have fun with that.
And I like the idea of the character realizing that, and deciding to become a jealous creep, just to stay alive. If she wants to be on a show that's now only about romantic complications, she better get complicating a romance in a hurry. Basically, I'm sort of into Shizuka becoming a gigantic psycho as a form of self-preservation.
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06-13-2021, 12:14 PM | #565 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,416
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I know I said the same about the movie, but this was another weird one for me. The bits with devil Shizuka and the cowboy Fangire feel like they're taken from one of those episode 29/30 broad comedies that we got with Ryuki, Blade, and Kabuto: very over the top and kind of wacky. But at the same time we've got Rook back and are diving back into Yuri's quest for vengeance and now dragging Megumi into it as well. First of all, that's great because Megumi is one of the show's MVPs and focusing on her is always a good idea. Second, it feels really at odds with the broad comedy stuff that's squeezed in around the edges. Not at all sure what the show was going for here.
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I don't know that I found it as funny as you did (first scene yeah, second scene maybe, third scene no; real diminishing returns on that gag), but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the metaness of Shizuka's story. She's the usual Protective Sibling Or Parent character that's enormously important in the first, but barely acknowledged in the second half. It's worse for Shizuka, because Kiva as a series is now a full-blown romantic drama, and she's completely outside that dynamic.
And I like the idea of the character realizing that, and deciding to become a jealous creep, just to stay alive. If she wants to be on a show that's now only about romantic complications, she better get complicating a romance in a hurry. Basically, I'm sort of into Shizuka becoming a gigantic psycho as a form of self-preservation. |
06-13-2021, 12:26 PM | #566 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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I know I said the same about the movie, but this was another weird one for me. The bits with devil Shizuka and the cowboy Fangire feel like they're taken from one of those episode 29/30 broad comedies that we got with Ryuki, Blade, and Kabuto: very over the top and kind of wacky. But at the same time we've got Rook back and are diving back into Yuri's quest for vengeance and now dragging Megumi into it as well. First of all, that's great because Megumi is one of the show's MVPs and focusing on her is always a good idea. Second, it feels really at odds with the broad comedy stuff that's squeezed in around the edges. Not at all sure what the show was going for here.
(The Mio/Shizuka stuff is another atonal plot, since Shizuka is playing everything as a goofy lark and Mio is playing everything as her one lifeline to normalcy getting ripped from her hands. I'm not sure if this is a comedic story about a confused girl or the beginning of the end for a scared young woman.)
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06-13-2021, 08:35 PM | #567 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 30 - "CURTAIN RISING: KIVA'S IDENTITY”
Uh oh! It's the middle part of a three-parter! That was unexpected. Not really a ton to say about this one, because of that. It's mostly addressing the same things as last episode (Yuri/Megumi vs Rook/Men Who Try To Put Them In The Corner; Kengo's thematically relevant loss of identity via inability to perform his craft; Shizuka vs Mio), but now with the addition of Nago's attempt to uncover Wataru's secret. It's a lot of fun content that is also, narratively, more of the same. While I really liked it, any analysis would just be me rephrasing any praise from 29. It's good, but it isn't really resolving anything from last time. (Well, it does resolve the Shizuka/Mio stuff, and it's okay-to-good. Like a bunch of problematic storylines on Kiva, it ends better than it started, but it'd've been better had it never started. Shizuka expresses the appropriate amount of contrition for her wacky scheme to save Wataru from a presumed-toxic relationship, and she resolidifies herself as Wataru's Best Mom. Episode 29 bugged the hell out of me on Shizuka's behalf, but she was well-served in this one.) So, in lieu, of any deeper insight (or, more honestly, "deeper insight”), let's talk Kiva fights! There are a bunch of fight scenes in this episode, including a pair of five-person brawls. And, since I never really talk about the fights in these shows, I figured this could be a chance. Let's see how it goes. For one, I sort of don't like how little Kiva Emperor fights. It's a form that spent the first few appearances with a one-minute Henshin that led to a quick finisher. It's not a form that Kiva has been brawling with, up until recently. It's mostly just felt like some additional stock footage to have to sit through before Kiva's new finisher. With this episode, it's more of the main action form, and it's... fine? It has roughly the same physicality as the base form, and it doesn't really come with a new weapon or additional power, so it all just feels like Regular Kiva Fights But Gold And Takaiwa Won't Die. It's a very lateral move, Takaiwa's survival notwithstanding. I feel like it maybe needs a weapon? I don't know. You look at Rising IXA, and it's got that MouthPhoneGun (did not check the wiki), so it gives IXA double the weaponry to take on Fangires. It's a clear upgrade, and that's before we get into the brutal finisher. With Emperor Form, it's just Gold Kiva, and it plays as weirdly underpowered. The last couple episodes have done a great job of making the fights run in parallel, and that's made them feel more integral than usual. Honestly, a lot of the Fangire fights have been sort of bland, since it doesn't really feel like the Fangires have cool individual powers or movesets. Once they get into their decorative vampire form, they're all the same. Sometimes there's emotional weight to the battle (Shinji, Oomura, anything where an Arms Monster form debuts), and that makes it memorable, but most of the monster fights lack distinction. Suits are great, fights are not great. But these last couple episodes, the fights have been great. Mostly it's because the parallel nature of them makes the fights feel eternal, continuous through the decades. When Megumi and Yuri are doing the exact same moves to fight Rook, it's a fight that feels monumental and personal. The fights become an extension of their commitment and connection. It's the ass-kicking version of the bit where Wataru and Otoya play the same song on their violins, decades apart, because Yuri and Megumi kick ass. That's what their passion is, that's their art. They are warriors, and they're the most related when they're sparring with a Fangire. And then there's the massive 10-combatant, two-timeline brawl that ends this episode. If this middle part of the storyline never had anything more than this fight, I think I'd've still enjoyed it. A lot of it is just your basic Rook Is Unstoppable stuff, but crowding that out with Jiro, IXA, Rising IXA, Riki, Ramon, Megumi, Kiva Emperor, and a completely separate Fangire (a cowboy who is killing magicians, which is unbelievably only a minor story in this three-parter) makes it all feel like a buffet of non-stop excitement. The actual fight may be basic (there aren't any moves that really stick out in my mind) but we're so firmly into Quantity Over Quality territory that I don't really mind. And that's maybe why I don't talk that much about the fights on Kiva? I don't think there's really a lot to the actual fights these days. Without the Arms Monster stuff, Kiva doesn't really do anything more than have two Henshins. The Fangires have a ton of personality in their human disguises, but once they shed those for the monster forms, they're all interchangeable. The more superheroic it gets, the more generic it gets, if that makes any sense. The real action is in the acting and performance, but the Kiva fights have largely abandoned both of those for different reasons. But hey! A 10-person brawl that extends the spotlight on the Aso women for another episode is nothing I'm going to call a failure! (p.s. I don't care that these screencaps have nothing much to do with this post, because I loved this whole ridiculous scene.)
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06-14-2021, 02:20 AM | #568 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,416
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Before I get to anything else, I want to point out that the baseball cap Megumi wears near the end of the episode says that she was "selected in a goblin coordinate." I don't know what that was supposed to mean, but I love how much it missed the mark.
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." It's been a long time, but it's nice to see that he's still out there, ruining promising guitarist's dreams with a vaguely defined finger injury that affects nothing else they ever do with their hands. Good to see you again, buddy. So the cowboy Fangire is kinda growing on me at this point. We haven't seen a ton of the Fangires' social hierarchy, but I dig the idea that there's a guy going around trying to overthrow the leader and take over the role himself. It's a neat plot hook and it ramps up the threat level of the specific villain. Still not sure why he's a cowboy, though. Overall, a better episode than the last one and it sets up a lot of stuff that's going to pay off big-time in the very near future. Quote:
With this episode, it’s more of the main action form, and it’s… fine? It has roughly the same physicality as the base form, and it doesn’t really come with a new weapon or additional power, so it all just feels like Regular Kiva Fights But Gold And Takaiwa Won’t Die. It’s a very lateral move, Takaiwa’s survival notwithstanding. I feel like it maybe needs a weapon? I don’t know. You look at Rising IXA, and it’s got that MouthPhoneGun (did not check the wiki), so it gives IXA double the weaponry to take on Fangires. It’s a clear upgrade, and that’s before we get into the brutal finisher. With Emperor Form, it’s just Gold Kiva, and it plays as weirdly underpowered.
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06-14-2021, 02:29 AM | #569 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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It's good for me that you brought up the action in Kiva, because its something that I've thought about too! I really liked the fight scenes in the earlier episodes, specifically the way Kiva fought and moved himself. He fought in what I thought was a distinctly brutal, monstrous manner that still lend itself to elegant and graceful movements, fitting for a vampire, you know? And the Arms Monsters form changes each had their own style which I think still fit that idea.
The action is considerably less exciting once Emperor Form debuted, in my opinion. First off, I really don't have much opinion on the suit itself. It's just alright? I'm glad its no longer killing the suit actor, at least. But more importantly is the way it fights. So like the obvious visual storytelling I can tell they were going with is that this more 'regal' and 'refined' version of Kiva would fight in a more controlled, sophisticated way and less like the wild wrestling monster he was before. Problem for me is, that just translated to him fighting like 95% of other toku characters, and dropping what made Kiva's style unique in the first place. |
06-14-2021, 11:53 AM | #570 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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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." It's been a long time, but it's nice to see that he's still out there, ruining promising guitarist's dreams with a vaguely defined finger injury that affects nothing else they ever do with their hands. Good to see you again, buddy.
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So the cowboy Fangire is kinda growing on me at this point. We haven't seen a ton of the Fangires' social hierarchy, but I dig the idea that there's a guy going around trying to overthrow the leader and take over the role himself. It's a neat plot hook and it ramps up the threat level of the specific villain. Still not sure why he's a cowboy, though.
But, yeah, I'm also a fan of these monster cultures having their own weird rivalries and goals outside of the Riders. I feel like, as much I really enjoyed Wizard's Rider-centric series plot, I'm a bigger fan of the Riders attacking a problem from the outside, rather than being central to it. Something more like Blade than Den-O, you know? There was an early Heisei show that really set the tone for a Rider story about warring monsters and hierarchies and killing each other to become the leader... nope, can't quite get to it. Maybe if I had more skills at my disposal! Quote:
It's good for me that you brought up the action in Kiva, because its something that I've thought about too! I really liked the fight scenes in the earlier episodes, specifically the way Kiva fought and moved himself. He fought in what I thought was a distinctly brutal, monstrous manner that still lend itself to elegant and graceful movements, fitting for a vampire, you know? And the Arms Monsters form changes each had their own style which I think still fit that idea.
The action is considerably less exciting once Emperor Form debuted, in my opinion. First off, I really don't have much opinion on the suit itself. It's just alright? I'm glad its no longer killing the suit actor, at least. But more importantly is the way it fights. So like the obvious visual storytelling I can tell they were going with is that this more 'regal' and 'refined' version of Kiva would fight in a more controlled, sophisticated way and less like the wild wrestling monster he was before. Problem for me is, that just translated to him fighting like 95% of other toku characters, and dropping what made Kiva's style unique in the first place.
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