Ah yes, one of the most memorable episodes of the show, partially for everyone seemingly being happy at Riki murdering his date (the joke is that in Japan, “to eat” is a euphemism for sex).

And after thinking about it, I’m going to do Maya’s “Fact Fangire-le” alongside this week’s Fangire. I’ll just refrain from identifying what she is for now.

Chameleon Fangire

True name: The Married Couple Hidden in the Salt Crystal Lattice (塩の結晶格子に潜む夫妻 Shio no Kesshō Kōshi ni Hisomu Fusai)

Human identity: Yamashita

Class: Lizard

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Yūrei Yanagi, Keiko Sakai (voice)

True name: The Blood Relatives of the Grim N?wa (冷厳なる女鍋の血族 Reigen naru Joka no Ketsuzoku)

Human identity: Maya

Rank: Queen

Class: Aqua

Actor: Saki Kagami

Deleted scenes this time include Nago’s date forcing him into a photograph (which he destroys) and Ramon coaching Riki on his romantic lines.

Ramon: You are my sunshine (taiyou)

Riki: You are my captain (taichou)

Sorry but I can't help but derive a bit of schadenfreude from how your previous post was singing the praises of the writer and then the very next post is lamenting as the show throws its worst yet at you, haha....... Anyhow, its not like this show was actually made in 1986, nor do I believe its trying to offer any commentary about the norms of the time or whatever. Its just 'oof' all around.

Also what!! I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know Mio was played by the same actor as Mari from 555. That's kinda funny to me? Its like if, I dunno, Airi from Den-O and Hina from OOO or something were played by the same person.

I will bring up that in Japanese culture, there is a big thing about the potential groom asking the brides' parents (particularly their father) for permission to date or marry their daughter, which I assume is what's going on here. It is something that dates a while back and does extend past childhood. But, well, even putting aside opinions on that...

A) As you've said, Shima is barely at all established as a real father figure for Yuri. At best this is like, dramatically inert and incompetent; and at worst it, yes, comes across as asking a woman's boss for permission to date her.

B) The tradition typically follows the couple already deciding they're in love and want to be with each other? Which is kind of the big thing here! I'm no expert or anything, and perhaps this isn't totally unheard of (and this is the 80s we're talking about rather than modern day or late-2000s Japan), but usually when I hear or read about this it does follow some sort of mutual love. At the very least, as something presented in the show it isn't really great or engaging!



Like... man, I dunno, this really is a mess. Perhaps I, KivaHater8934 is the last person you wanna be hearing from on this at the moment, but it is pretty illustrative of my issues with the show and I agree with most everything else you said here

Maya is a pretty exciting character and her introduction is a major turning point for the 1986 story. Even though she's the enforcer for Fangire law, responsible for punishing forbidden love with humans, she is also one of the most human Fangires in the show who is vulnerable to that same crime. Due to the longevity of Fangires, she has seen a lot of the world and this gives her a strong curiosity to experience that culture, including from other species. Unlike Nago who zealously believes in his crusade, Maya does the whole Queen thing as a job society demands her to do but doesn't have her heart in that, which might be why a carefree chaotic guy like Otoya provokes such a powerful unknown feeling from her. Humans have something that Fangires don't, the ability to choose their own identity separate from their species without judgement from others and that freedom is embodied in Otoya, making him one of the brightest examples of mankind and he possesses something that intrigues Maya, at least on an unconscious level.

This is where Inoue's talent for writing love triangles really escalates to the next level! While the number of people involved is less than in Faiz, I think the intensity of the love triangle here is increased. Specifically, the fated meeting between Otoya and Maya and the progression of the Jirou-Yuri-Otoya triangle are definitely connected stories.

Fangire law is more immoral than Smart Brain law as well. The latter doesn't have a reason to forbid love with humans, since they require humans who can survive mutation in to Orphenochs. But humans and Fangires are completely unrelated species, therefore the only reason why Fangires kill humans is due to seeing them as competition and prey to be hunted, much like how the vampires they're derived from are often portrayed. This is also the reason why they exterminated all but one each of the Clawolves, Merfolk and Frankens. They want to stand on top of all the species and reject any of their kind who doesn't agree with that philosophy. Unfortunately for them, they can't control who the Queen power goes to, so it's a very flawed system.

Thanks for the explanation! Sort of thought that was what they were getting at, but wondered if I was being too dirty with my inference. I was not!

https://media.giphy.com/media/wloGlwOXKijy8/giphy.gif

The thing I like about The Waitress here and Mari's character in Faiz is that the actor approaches them differently enough for them to feel unique. Like, Mari is standoffish and curt, while The Waitress is clumsy and shy. They're neither of them outgoing and talkative, but they come by their withdrawn behavior in different ways. It's a part that both seems written for one actor, and also played by an actor who wants to stretch some different muscles.

I mean, there's a Western tradition to getting the parents' approval to marry their daughter, but it's usually the last thing you do, not the first. (It's also considered polite, not some final hurdle to clear. If the parents don't approve, it ain't like the couple is breaking up! It just means the wedding is going to be awkward!) It generally helps to know that the person you're going to be marrying even thinks of you in a romantic context?

Like, the main problem with this storyline is that we know that Otoya is obsessed with Yuri, and we know that Jiro is obsessed with Yuri, but we've gotten zero insight into Yuri's feelings for either of them beyond Omnipresent Dismay. It's a storyline that centers all of the drama on How Will These Two Guys Defeat Their Romantic Rival instead of, like, Why Doesn't Yuri Run Screaming From Both Of Them?

The bummer for me, as an Inoue fan, is that this story started off so well for Otoya and Yuri. It jettisoned the more controversial elements of the previous story's conclusion to focus on Otoya's sweetness and Yuri's understandable gratitude for his support when it mattered most. And then the whole episode becomes Otoya and Jiro fighting over her like she's the IXA Knuckle in a pantsuit! I mean, Shima gave her away to Jiro without even telling her, so she might as well be the IXA Knuckle!

Yeah, it definitely feels like we're in that phase of the narrative. It doesn't feel like the introduction of Maya and The Waitress, along with all of these group dates, is some coincidence. Putting aside the problem of Yuri's (continuous, inescapable, eternal) lack of agency, there's some real energy to the '86 romantic comedy stuff. I just wish it didn't require a meek Yuri to work!

I definitely need to share the aptly titled Wake Up at some point, which is probably a rather iconic track for the show between being played for Kiva's finishers and at the start of so many episodes. 21 is a case where it's used for both, so I figure this is nice enough timing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3FMgzcUyG8

Real shame Kiva totally whiffs on that Kick here though. Maybe it would've gone better if he had remembered to do the cool stock footage.

Also!

Yeeeeeeah, suffice it to say, this isn't my favorite '86 plot in the show. Honestly, in general, as funny as I find Otoya, I recall not being particularly emotionally invested in more than a few of those past sections of Kiva, especially compared to how much I warmed to the '08 cast. It sounds like this episode is pretty much an example of why taken to the extreme.

Well, there's the reality. While Inoue does get the memorable and comedic parts right, like when he's appointed to write slice-of-life episodes, and he can deliver when the TV production team kept him on the leash, Inoue's controversial part actually takes the bigger part in how his stories are full of misogynistic, homophobic, and generally toxic tropes... which is why I can't stand for treating him as beyond criticism in any form and those who don't like him are wrong, and (even if you're joking) I want to encourage practicing wise discernment, no matter how successful the author is or how much you like the works of those authors (other example is, authors like Lovecraft who writes successful horror stories, but has racist and supremacist views), where though he did write characters like Ozawa from Agito, the other times he had not been kind to women, such as writing for them to be killed just to give the male heroes motivation to fight the villains, or something to angst about. Cannot be condescending as in considering your views of Inoue are the only right one (especially if bias is involved), and treat others as insignificant or invalid. Though for the better take regarding this, it can be that the characters are the ones that is misogynistic, instead of the show, the characters acting sexist are supposed to be in the wrong. Then again this would show another part of his that the characters are all assholes, and their acts cannot be overlooked for "comedic purpose", seen clearly here. Though here it's the first time that Jirou shows his abusive boyfriend aspects.

Oh right the conflict between Otoya and Jiro is wacky, though I just don't want for it to be considered as their "type of mating" or such, making light of transgressive acts (the part of the wacky date is also a Fangire eating one of the woman dates). The only part of them legitimately bonding is when they legitimately work together for Yuri's sake, like their tag team against Rook.

Her name's Mio Suzuki (w̶h̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶m̶o̶t̶o̶r̶c̶y̶c̶l̶e̶-̶y̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶w̶a̶y̶,̶ ̶Y̶a̶m̶a̶h̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶M̶i̶o̶ ̶m̶o̶t̶o̶r̶c̶y̶c̶l̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶S̶u̶z̶u̶k̶i̶!̶), and yeah so far she's basically made to be the female version of Wataru, for her shyness and doormat tendencies..... but dont' expect her to be as innocent as Wataru is. I wouldn't say anything more for her though, for you claiming it's 2008 version of Maya's introduction. And for the group date, Megumi (and for anyone else in the real world too... as the reserved type like Wataru is more of a minority among humans) should learn to not force people to act loud, stand out, etc., seen in a woman who finds Wataru's timid nature appealing. Also, Kengo asking for Nago to teach rock? That's a death sentence... Nago's someone who hates music based on his "humanity full potential" mindset, and he literally smacked you before for playing music in front of him!!

I mean, I didn't like one plot in one episode. It's not like every other Inoue thing I've ever watched is bad and should feel bad. Shit, it's not even like Kiva as a series is something I dislike now. It's one bad plot! Let's not give it too much power!

Well, that only really works if the show let Yuri call Jiro, Shima, etc on their sexist nonsense. It completely doesn't, and she absolutely would, so there's really no way to spin this as the show using regressive tropes to comment on them.

Yeah! What's up with them not doing the whole finisher? And shouldn't there be a big Kiva emblem burned into the ground? What an embarrassing mistake in an otherwise flawless episode.

So Dogabaki form. CLEARLY another attempt at cashing in on the residual Den-O hype.

I think is more based agito trinity form

That too but I cannot help but think they were cashing in on the Den-O hype as well considering both forms have sentient beings as parts of the armor.

I can see it being a bit of both. The way Kiva's Quaternity Form shows up for one episode and never appears again is so Agito it hurts. But the idea of all of Kiva's helper monsters powering him up is a total Den-O riff.

While I'm here! No episode post tonight after all. Just a tad too beat after the last couple days. You've got a couple more days to really sit with Otoya and Jirou largely forgetting that Yuri is a woman with hopes and dreams outside of them. Enjoy! See you on Wednesday for Episode 22!

Something I observed when I found the music video for Otoya’s image song on YouTube. Note the way the woman in the video is dressed. Look familiar?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=j9bQgR8tH38

Who says every other Inoue thing is bad? I put "no matter how successful the author is or how much you like the works of those authors" which means I'm refering to authors that has success of course (I even gave Lovecraft as the other example). I also said "While Inoue does get the memorable and comedic parts right, like when he's appointed to write slice-of-life episodes, and he can deliver when the TV production team kept him on the leash", which obviously is the opposite of "every other Inoue thing is bad". This seems like a strawman response, no offense.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 22 - "OVERTURE: AN INTERSECTION OF FATES”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva22a.png

God, I just found this story exhausting. The second part saved it from being a complete disaster, but it managed that by also being about 80% less fun?

Like, this episode drills in on the Wataru/Mio and Otoya/Yuri plots from last episode, to the exclusion of nearly every other entertaining element. Nago bugs out almost immediately, rightly horrified at the thought of being in another episode for this story. Kengo is an incredibly gracious friend, cheerfully stepping aside when his date with Mio goes terribly, but then he's done in this episode. Megumi is a pseudo-matchmaker, but it's a part that could've been played by Shizuka or even Kivat. All of the crazy 2008 personalities that supported last episode in some incredibly delightful ways, they are way underutilized in the conclusion.

And, sadly, the show doesn't do a whole lot with the Wataru/Mio pairing. They're cute, and it's a nice little moral about letting people engage with the world at their own pace, but it's pretty dull in practice. There's no real spark to their scenes. It's two sweet kids having a sweet afternoon, and I'm not mad at that, but there's not really any tension. Mio feels confident, but she's still too clumsy to keep her job as a waitress, so she sort of gives up on herself (I guess it's not a nice little moral?) and sort of breaks up with Wataru. It's mostly about her coming out of her shell and regretting it, which makes Wataru more of a coach than a boyfriend. He's totally supportive, but it doesn't work out, and I'm just... okay? I guess? It's barely asking anything of either character, and it's too weightless to get emotionally invested in. I love that actor who played Mio, but I honestly couldn't care less if she didn't come back to the show after this.

The 1986 stuff is mostly in the same boat, sort of weightless and pointless, but that's actually an improvement over the previous episode's bleak outlook on Yuri's sense of self-worth. Here, she makes up her mind to put her career ahead of two men she sort of tolerates and maybe finds attractive. It's... I mean, my problem with the last episode's turn was that the best case scenario was that this thing would conclude in a way that negated itself, and that's pretty much what happened. No one's really better off than they were at the end of 20, and all we got was a creepy take on courtship. This episode wasn't nearly as funny as the previous one (the whole Otoya Is Being Fleeced plot was basic and obvious, and the two men's rivalry was mostly cordial instead of hilarious), but it also wasn't as dispiriting. Largely and hopefully forgettable, that's where we're at.

And that... god, worst two episodes of this show so far? The 1986 thread is all about possessive men, and the 2008 thread wraps up with a clumsy girl blaming Wataru for making her happy (?), none of which I'm aching to see the show follow up on. Nothing ends up permanently tainting the show, which is both the nicest thing I can say, as well as the meanest. These two episodes were either horrifying and fun, or unexceptional and dull. Not anything for anyone involved to feel proud of!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva22b.png

This was definitely an episode that felt longer than it was. I actually paused the episode one point and was surprised that it had barely been ten minutes. It's not bad to see our main Rider have a romance storyline - that's a rare beast - but this one was just kind of bland. Mio's vomit-inducing date with Kengo was far more entertaining. I'm definitely glad to have Yuria Haga back, but I'm with you on this arc not being the strongest.

The '86 stuff... well, the main thing I have to say now is that I forgot which villain we were on and thought that the episode was going full Sentai with a fake wedding monster trap. There's more I want to say about it, but it will tie in to some later events so I'll come back to it.

Something I noticed about this one, though, and I'm afraid it will become common but hope it won't: this arc stopped doing the stained glass and whistle effect when switching time periods. There were definitely a couple times when I wasn't entirely sure which era we were in.

To celebrate Dogga Form's second appearance, here's its insert theme, Silent Shout, which uh, doesn't actually get used in the episode!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA-PgIJFopw

I'm sharing it now though because this is also Dogga Form's last appearance in the show, as it turns out. And they wouldn't even play the poor guy's song for it! Ah well, naturally, Silent Shout is a total jam as usual, and I think I'm realizing the trick to the Arms Monster songs' lyrics is that they're simultaneously about the forms AND the characters? Like, it wasn't obvious to me at first because I only remember the basics of the ones that aren't Jirou, but I mean, even just from the title here, Riki's whole thing is being a monster of few words, right? Makes enough sense to me, anyway.

Pretty unfortunate the episode Dogga Form went out on was apparently such a bummer for you, too. Dogga really can't catch a break, it seems! All I can really say that is I found Wataru and Mio hitting it off in these episodes cute enough that I can't imagine being bothered by a lack of tension. It's like I said when Kengo showed up: sometimes it's just nice when things go nice for Wataru.

I really did love how the episode seemed to be pointing towards some big fight between Kengo and Wataru over Mio, and instead we get Kengo acting as a supportive friend. As always! There's this brief moment where Kengo is hurt that Wataru was spending time with a girl Kengo took out on a date, but then you can kind of see this look on Kengo's face, this Oh Yeah That Was A Terrible Date, and he literally steps out of Wataru's way.

It's always such a nice surprise when this show subtly supports Wataru and Kengo's friendship.

I'd have to go back and rewatch the episode to know for sure (and I am absolutely not going back and rewatching the episode), but I feel like it's just that there was less cross-cutting between time periods inside of acts. Like, I think they'd do a thing where when they came back from commercial, it'd be a different time period. I remember there being a few of the black-and-white lead-ins, with the stained glass borders. Just, yeah, not a lot.

Oh! One minor thing about Dogga Form, since we're talking about it. I like that Dogga Form only gets used when it's Wataru's non-work friends who are in trouble. Wataru used it to avenge Kengo, and he uses it to save Mio. I know that there are in-story reasons why it needed to be that Form to defeat the monster, but I like the headcanon that Dogga gets used to defend the weaker people in Wataru's life. Or, the idea that Wataru is at his least empathetic with those monsters, since they've endangered people he cares about, so he uses his most stoic and unfeeling form.

I guess Wataru doesn't have any non-hero folks to look after going forward, maybe?

This was a legit issue I had watching the show; until someone like Otoya or Wataru turned up it was hard at some points to tell which story I was watching. Doesn't help that this is one of those shows where all the girls are interchangeable!

The part of Kengo (so not only Wataru, Mio was the one that caught his interest too, instead of the girls that are lined up purposely to date... the girls being passed over should be a big gut punch to them, feeling betrayed by those who set them up) dating Mio, this shows another aspect of Mio, CMIIW, that she seems to prefer sweet boys to date her, as Kengo, likely other than being loud, is to self-hogging there. Though as you already talk about Megumi being "mom" before, she does it again to Mio here btw, realizing that Mio's the one that is fitting for Wataru, and encourages them in the date.

Oof, I didn't expect your reaction to the date here to be looking at it less. Though dunno why, I somehow feel this has a part where character development is neglected, where Wataru is portrayed as the pushover part in earlier part of subscribing to newspapers, but not long after he shows that he's not that way like refusing the tofu. This one's like the difference between Wataru and Kiva's demeanor, but shown both in person. I kinda feel that the date is meant to be wacky stuff instead of tension or romantic here, finding coincidence after coincidence, piling it up. "You're awkward? All right I'm awkward too! So compartible!", "You're pushover? All right I'm pushover too! So compartible!", etc. Though the date is probably not the most executed well, it seems that yeah, this can seem to be "expected" as both males/females are reserved, asocial type, the ones that would get "lifeless" label, albeit you talked about the reason of it being like more coach/student instead of a date (though this can probably act as a fact that couples should be supportive to each other), I want this to not be used as an example of how any characters in story should have loud, outspoken, or excitable demeanor.

Again yeah, kinda hard to determine (dunno if I get about what you talk here about Yuri returning the ring) if prolonged conflict is due to writing flaw (unintentional), or actually character flaw (intentional). Like you think for Faiz one it's intentional, while others can think it's unintentional, but you seem to think here that it's unintentional. Other than that there's a scene of Yuri finally warming up to Otoya, in tsundere way, now her 'badmouth' to Otoya, like calling him stupid, is a banter. The woman who cons off Otoya is also a part of Inoue writing random one-off characters as assholes, though that would also mean Yuri got it wrong about Otoya, because Otoya saw through the monster's trick and instead took the dress himself so the Fangire would face him (I thought that one's funny).

The phase 1 of Kamen Rider is more experimental that way yeah, they're more daring to try new, unused stuff before, but that can make the shows more controversial though. It seems that for years of experimenting, Den-O is the winner as it's the one seemingly used as the basis of phase 2.

That's not my issue (the experimental nature actually makes me like Phase 1 over Phase 2 most the time), my issue is that Kiva as a show is bad at making it clear which time period you're watching. I'm all for the split time periods if it's done well, but it's just not here

I think this part of the story actually worked okay? It's highlighting how much Wataru has grown over the last two dozen episodes, where he can help Mio try and overcome her social anxiety. Not just in the sense that he can relate to her struggles, but that he can also find the right way to support her path to happiness. It's an idea I'm really fond of, even if I found the execution and resolution to be less interesting.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 23 - "VARIATION: FUGITIVES FOREVER"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva23a.png

Look, I think we can all be honest with ourselves now. The last two episodes weren't subpar because of regressive gender expectations or toxic masculinity or paternalistic marriage traditions or disappearing supporting cast members or conflict-light subplots or anything. That's all problematic, sure. But the reason the last two episodes were subpar was because Maya wasn't in them, a problem that this episode immediately rectifies.

Yep, Maya's back, and she's brought a doomed romance, way more integration for the burgeoning supporting cast, and just a metric ton of horniness. Obviously, I loved this episode.

It's great, from Maya's on-topic execution of a 1986 Fangire who just wants to be in love with a human, to Otoya's Clawolve-pummeled body being thrown into Japan's scenic Inoue Waterway. The whole thing is clever, watchable, and heartbreaking.

It's also, man, so horny. Everybody is ready to bone in this one. Jiro is serious about ending Otoya so he can have Yuri to himself. Otoya is flirting with every woman he can, while coaching Riki on how to flirt. Riki has fallen for Yuri's "cooking”. Yuri is making Otoya's favorite dish (badly) because she definitely doesn't care about Otoya. Meanwhile, our 2008 cast is dealing with Megumi's possible feelings for Nago, and Wataru's clear (and reciprocated!) feelings for Mio. It's a real summertime episode, with everyone across two decades trying to hook up, for a largely-chaste Kamen Rider value of "hook up”. (Like, maybe kiss, mostly just hold hands.) I've seen romantic storylines in Kamen Rider before, but this one's like everyone is in heat.

And I love that, not just for its comedic value (which is high; there's a hilarious Megumi delivery where she's caught out as a single lady by Wataru), but for how everything in both timelines feels integrated. There's a transition between the two timelines in this one that... I both loved it, for how it linked everything together in a fluid, audacious way, and I also hated it for how it portended an upcoming lack of clarity.

We're in 1986, at Mal d'Amour, and everyone's celebrating Boss's 34th birthday. Jiro's taunting Otoya, Otoya's flirting with Yuri, Yuri's threatening Otoya. And then Megumi steps in front of the three of them, passing over to the other end of the cafe, where 2008 Boss and Wataru are sitting. It's shocking, for how little of the old 1986-to-2008 switcheroo signifiers it uses. We're on the set, and now it's a different year. It's fantastic for keeping the comedic and emotional momentum of the scene, for the breathlessness of the timing. But, as folks were recently criticizing a shift from clearly delineated timelines, it's maybe a harbinger of some messier staging. I thought it worked great here, but I can see it being a problem with a lesser director.

But I'd argue you need to do it more, keep the momentum going, since the show is pulling in a lot of outlier characters into the main cast. We'd already moved Kengo into the role of Nago's Nagofer, helping him navigate a world of sin. In '86, Riki and Ramon get their very illegal and very unsafe massage parlor shut down/razed, so they're pitching in at Mal d'Amour. (How is Mal d'Amour, a restaurant with a maximum of two non-Rider guests at any time, paying three full-time employees? Is W.A.K.E.U.P. subsidizing the place as a front? Is Mal d'Amour just charging 9000 yen for a cup of coffee?) In '08, Mio gets enlisted as a model by Megumi. We don't really get a lot with any of them, but it's a really great start.

It makes for a greater diversity in scene partners, which is always welcome. Getting to see Otoya riff off of Riki and Ramon is a laugh, as is seeing how Megumi acts as a different type of support than Wataru. (If there's a flaw to this episode, it's that the spotlight on the guest stars and supporting cast means there's very little for Wataru to do here.) There's a new energy to a lot of these characters, finding different ways of pushing the story forward.

And, speaking of new characters: Shinji and Ryoko! Oh man!

I loved their little doomed romance. Ryoko's a firecracker, someone who loves Shinji despite his sabotaging nature. She's going to safeguard their relationship, even if she's safeguarding it from him. She's exactly the sort of woman you could see a Fangire risking his life for. She's charming (that smile!), and attentive (she knows how he likes his coffee), and is certain of what she wants. While the rest of the cast, in both timelines, is circling around a growing number of potential partners, here are two people who have found each other in the maelstrom of both human civilization and monster politics. But those monster politics have Shinji a little wary. He tries to end things with Ryoko, but he can't. Partly because she won't let him so easily destroy what they have, but partly because... he just can't. He loves her.

And that's it, you know? That's why this story works. He loves her, and it's present in every single frame. It's quiet, and small, and observed. The little scene of domesticity. The brightness of her smile when they're at lunch, and his stammering inability to look her in the eye and lie about not wanting her in his life. It's a love that isn't grand gestures, despite the perfection of the scene where he pleads with her to take him back. It's about commitment, about having that person that you can't imagine living without, and what it means to see that commitment through.

The twist, sort of, is that sometimes the doom of a relationship isn't in the blood-moon punishment of a supernaturally-gorgeous supernatural executioner. It's in time. We see Shinji and Ryoko in 2008, which means (probably) that Maya never does catch up with them. But Ryoko's 22 years older, and Shinji hasn't really aged a day. Ryoko's in the hospital, though. She's not well. She's probably going to die, while Shinji just goes on forever.

But Shinji's still there, still devoted. It's the thing Maya can't understand at the beginning of the episode: Why? Why love a human? Why devote yourself to something weaker than you? Why entangle your life with something so ephemeral? But there's no answer that the nameless Fangire in the beginning could give, just like there's no answer that Shinji could probably give. It's love. It doesn't make any sense. It's a feeling, and it's something the Shinji/Ryoko story excels at. I think I care more about these two than any other characters on the show right now. And I like the other characters on this show right now!

(The two screencaps I used for this post... god, they break my heart in the best way. The vulnerability of the upbeat Ryoko, to admit how precarious their relationship is, and the steadfastness of the previously-evasive Shinji to affirm his commitment to her? It is unbelievably sweet. It's this economy of dialogue, where the actors and the staging are entrusted with delivering that emotional payload. It's not a writer who feels like he has to spell everything out. It's a faith in the process to let the tone multiply what they aren't saying. I really thought it was lovely.)

I thought this one was fantastic. The comedy was relentless and surgical (that whole birthday thing in the beginning!), and the emotional scenes with Shinji and Ryoko packed a wallop. Extremely balanced storytelling, with the comedy going big and broad so the smaller dramatic scenes could feel fragile and delicate. Really, really great episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva23b.png

Well since Fish isn’t here yet and this is the last appearance of Garulu form in the show (not Jiro though, he’s still around and kicking), here’s the form’s theme song, Shout in the Moonlight.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FedHkvWVSvo

And unlike Bassha and Dogga, Garulu gets two songs: one as Garulu (which is above) and one as Jiro (which is below)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=L-FIEGqTPJI

And anyway, time for my regular feature.

Grizzly Fangire

True name: The Funeral and the Carpenter's Secret Pact (葬儀屋と大工が交わした密約 Sōgiya to Daiku ga Kawashita Mitsuyaku)

Human identity: Shinji Takeuchi

Class: Beast

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Kenji Mizuhasi

Next episode features one of the best reaction shots I got from this series, along with my second biggest hype moment. Look forward to it.

Wait to watch the next episode everything is about to change.

Me too!

I would hope so! A twistless conclusion sounds really disappointing.

Isn't Mio the 2008 Maya anyway... still wondering about the completely innocent Fangires like the one Maya killed, instead of just being introduced as fodders.

At least Otoya teaches other male there (teaching to flirt, which would potentially create a competition for him)... would place that above caring for Yuri for list of his noble moments. So yeah, tsundere showing of Yuri there against Otoya "it's not like I care about you or anything...b̶-̶b̶-̶b̶a̶k̶a̶!". And yeah there's a literal integraton of the 2 timelines, the transition where Megumi walks with the 1986 cast in background. I sense an abusive relationship attraction between Megumi and Nago here as the latter's one of the sexist person in the show, and though they did fight Fangire together (albeit I think it's an occupation), there's no bonding between them yet unlike even, Otoya and Yuri. Megumi's a Wataru x Mio shipper, for an objection to you, aside from occassional moments, Megumi only starts acting truly like a "mom" (or older sis) when Mio is involved here, like a parent who pairs up the child with other (potential child-in-law).

Well here we are, finally probably a detailed part of human-Fangire romance, though I only suspect Shinji being a Fangire midway, not really fully (am I having understanding problem?). Though I likely won't think it's exactly quiet, small, and domesticed... at least compared to previous Wataru and Mio's date. I feel like this has the repetitive part of swinging back in forth of Shinji wanting to break up, then actually his face still loves Ryoko, and so forth. Though yeah this is a double casting that makes sense, as Shinji doesn't age as a Fangire unlike Ryoko.

For Maya not understanding to devote yourself to weaker one, that's a concept not even exclusive between monsters and humans. For a human to love someone less physically capable, that's a lesser form of devotion to the weaker one. It's obviously Maya's problem, which seems expected as a Fangire, and a higher ranked one, as actually many women don't necessarily seek strength or physical power, like how some might wish to have a more submissive partner, while there are also other reasons like protecting the mate to feel more confident.

I remember this woman I was dating, and we had a fight. She made some comment she thought was a joke, and I took it hard, and I wasn't great at explaining how it hurt me, and I sort of shut down. It was a ton of hurtful silence. I thought I was mad at her, but then she started to cry. After that, whatever I thought I felt, whatever my own emotional issues were, they got obliterated by the way it broke my heart to see her sad. I didn't care about right or wrong, I didn't care about who was at fault, I just needed her to know that I loved her, and that I couldn't bear to watch her cry.

So, yeah, watching Shinji absolutely lose his resolve to break up with Ryoko when he saw how much it hurt her? Zero complaints about that! Felt incredibly personal and well-observed! When you truly love someone, shit gets complicated! It is very hard to watch them be sad and know that you had a hand in it!

The Ryoko and Shinji story didn't do much for me, to be honest. It's not a bad story per se, but do you remember my issue with Biggie's story being recycled from Jetman? My issue with this story is that several aspects of the love story are not necessarily identical to, but at least very similar to a subplot from Kamen Rider the First. I won't go into spoilers in case your love for Inoue ever overcomes your Showa resistance to try out a Kamen Rider movie that's mostly a romance drama (and its bonkers sequel: Kamen Rider as a mid-00s J-horror), but there's a lot of tonal similarity between these episodes and an irritatingly large percentage of The First's run time.

So, as mentioned, this is Garulu Form's last time to shine in the series, following on from Dogga's that I also brought up, and, don't be too shocked, but Bashaa's appearance in 19 with its insert theme? That was also the last episode it was in. Just what could be going on here!? Well, if the answer isn't clear yet, you can always ponder it while listening to the third and final Arms Monster song, Shout in the Moonlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWwLQEADPQ

Not that it's a very orthodox choice for thinking music, mind you! It's naturally a super aggressive song basically all about how Garulu is going to come and mess you up with his savage instincts and there's nothing you can do about it. (Otoya learned that lesson the hard way in this one too, so... topical!) It's also been endlessly hilarious to me over the years because there's a lyric in there about breaking out from the "boring sofa", and let me tell ya', it's real hard to make yourself sound cool when you're talking about furniture. Like, it just makes me think of a puppy trying to hide from bad weather. It's such a weirdly specific metaphor to bust out; maybe one of the goofiest lines Shouko Fujibayashi has ever come up with, and I love it to bits.

Well of course it's no issue with this director, because 23/24 are Ishida's next set! (I'm also pretty fond of the way Shinji appears from behind the train right before those screencaps.)

Oh, and speaking of those screencaps! I know I'm still retired from translation policing, but since you're putting that exchange in such a spotlight, I really feel compelled to elaborate here a bit. The whole point of it which is getting lost in the translation here is that it's one of those things where they're both literally talking about something mundane instead of what they're clearly saying.

The translation looks like this:
"How far... is the train station?"
"It's right where I'm standing."
"Is it okay... if we're together?"
"Yes."

But, assuming I'm not messing this up too, it should be more like:
"Do you know... how to get to the train station?"
"I was just heading there myself."
"Would it be okay... if we went there together?"
"Of course."

I think this makes everything you were praising about the scene even more true than it was? Like you say, so much of it is the staging and performances, and they utterly nailed all that.

Oooh, that sounds incredibly appealing. Maybe! I'm going to put Inoue Does A Kamen Rider Romance at a Maybe!

Aw, I really like that phrasing. Thanks! It was sort of clear that they were talking around their feelings (Ryoko's comment about them "being together" feels more like "in the company of one another right this second" than some huge declaration of eternal love, and Shinji's comment about the train station lines up with them being in the mountains in the next scene) but this really gives it a deeper resonance. It's Ryoko saying that she wants to run away, and Shinji saying that he'll always run away with her. It's the lived-in nature of their relationship, when just having this other person around is the most important thing in the world.

Such a good episode! Perfect time to watch another one!

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 24 - "EMPEROR: GOLDEN FEVER”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva24a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva24b.png

This is a real Halfway Point In The Series type of episode, you know? We get a new Upgrade Form for Kiva. We resolve the big Otoya/Yuri/Jiro triangle, probably. And Wataru gets to bear witness to a story that's equally about his past and his future. It's an episode that ends up feeling like the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end.

It's not the tightest episode, unfortunately. While 23 felt like it was coherent and focused, using the Ryoko/Shinji brilliance to let a bunch of other sweet love stories branch off, this episode is mostly about the costs of love instead of the rewards. It gets at that theme in a variety of ways, which is nice, but there's some tonal stuff I wish they'd been more aware of.

Like, that scene where Riki flirts with Yuri using Otoya's tips and tricks? Funny, but 1000% the wrong episode to have it in. It's in a lighter part of the episode, but its ridiculousness runs in contrast to Wataru's newfound self-confidence and the slow-motion tragedy of Shinji and Ryoko. It's a gag that's way too over-the-top for an episode whose central thesis is, as Superchunk once sang, "Everyone gets crushed/And every kind of love rushes out". This is one where we don't need to laugh at the Frankenbury who thinks Yuri is pretty.

Because, god, Ryoko and Shinji! Again! I don't care about half of the other reveals and twists, because this episode creates an entire, indelible love story in just a few scenes.

It's dumb to even try and put into words why the Shinji and Ryoko stuff works. It sounds so minor and basic when it's spelled out. Shinji and Ryoko spent a life together on the run, and now Ryoko is dying. Shinji never got to give her the life she deserved, but she got the life she wanted: they were together. It's a beautifully sad sentiment. It's simple. They were in love, and it didn't last. It never does, for anyone, one way or another. It's still sad.

It's sad because it's minor and basic, maybe. It's not a story about skinny superheroes and supernaturally-gorgeous supernatural executioners, despite the presence of both. It's a tragedy that's all about human choices, human heartbreak, the sacrifices we make for the people we love. It's a story where a man can feel like a failure for all of the ways he wasn't able to do more for his wife, and then be confronted by the way their love grew massive over the decades. It's only tangentially a tokusatsu story. It's arguably cheapened by adding more toku to it, which you can tell in a lot of the staging. Wataru's frequently kept to the side for the truly emotional moments, since this story isn't about him, despite being for him. He's a witness to something he maybe shouldn't be, hanging around the periphery of a marriage that's ending in illness and grief. It'd feel too weighty for a TV show designed to sell toys to Japanese children, if it also wasn't integral to the entire next phase of the show.

Because, yeah, we're seeing real love develop between Otoya and Yuri, plus some very strong feelings between Wataru and Mio, and that isn't going to always be blushing and flirting. It's going to mean compromise. It's going to mean sacrifice. It's going to mean getting mauled or kidnapped by a Clawolve, or finding out that your new girlfriend is the latest incarnation of a supernatural executioner. Things are going to get complicated for Wataru real quick (and they already have for Otoya), and he needs to see what it really means to care about someone as much as Shinji and Ryoko cared for each other.

As for the rest of this episode... I mean, this show pretty much shot itself in the foot by having that big Ryoko death scene in the middle of the episode. Everything after that, Jiro's insanity and Mio's reveal and Kiva Emperor Form and Tatsulot, is going to feel like karaoke at a wake or something. It's inappropriate, and vaguely offensive. It's not reading the room, you know?

I think Shinji's whole Suicide By Rider thing with Nago worked out the best. Shinji's a guy who lost his last tether to this world, and here's the physical manifestation of the things that kept him from feeling like he wasn't dragging Ryoko down with him. IXA isn't Maya, but he's one more thing that wouldn't let them be happy. Sure, why not fight IXA until one or both of them is dead.

The introduction of Emperor Form... again, not sure this is the best place for a hilarious new Henshin Monster! Tatsulot is, uh, a lot. It's chipper and goofy and a man's wife just died. The suit it generates is, like, Why Are You Wearing That To A Funeral. It's a plot development that expects us to see more emotion in Mio getting knocked out (for maybe actual good reason, if she's the new Queen!) than Shinji's devastating grief, and that is such a total miscalculation. It ain't like I'm rooting for Mio or Kiva to get demolished or anything, but I'm not feeling excited about some new duds for Kiva. Let me mourn, dudes.

The Jiro stuff, while being the Shout It To The Cheap Seats melodrama that the minor key Shinji/Ryoko stuff strenuously avoided, worked... I don't know. It's there to complement the 2008 story, to double-down on love as being something you don't experience without at least a little pain. It's full-tilt crazy, with Jiro screaming in Yuri's face for her to love him, and the shift from Shinji feeling the weight of his dead wife on his back and just standing there, rooted to the ground just like that tree... the shift from that to Yuri getting strung up by some fake-looking vines while Jiro cackles maniacally, it's not great. It is some tonal whiplash that this episode didn't need.

I don't know how much I care about the parts that didn't work for me, though. It sounds stupid to look at a toku episode and say I Loved Everything But The Toku Parts, but I did. The Shinji/Ryoko story is probably one of the three things I'll remember after I've forgotten everything else in the first 24 episodes. (The other two are Kengo's return to save Wataru from bullies and that Fangire chef's hat getting stuck in the doorway.) It's so evocative and tragic, a world apart from the overheated whatever of Otoya/Yuri/Jiro. It's hard to care about Wataru and Mio's upcoming betrayal and/or star-crossed lovers bit when a man is mourning his dead wife. I don't know. Maybe the problem isn't that everything else in the episode couldn't measure up. Maybe the problem is that the Shinji/Ryoko story was just too good?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva24c.png

So I'm reminded of the toaster bit from the last episode of faiz here. It was also an odd bit of comedy in a dramatic episode, but that worked, but it sounds like the comedy didn't work here. For reasons I can't explain, I feel like this is very reflective of Inoue as a writer. It has heart-breaking tragedy, intense drama, odd bits of comedy (that sometimes work and sometimes don't), and then some toy advertisements tacked on.

I'm glad I read this analysis even if I havent read most the analysises. Just gonna steal this whole sale.

Ha ha, thanks!

Yeah, Inoue and comedy... it's usually deployed a little better than it is here? It's one thing for a minor bit of business, like Keitaro going back for the iron (which is maybe the thing you're referring to? I don't remember Faiz that great!), but when it's a whole thing with Riki floating off to the heavens on wings of love? I don't know! Felt weird to me.

(And, to be fair, I think the comedy did work, in isolation. It's a very funny bit that's a great callback to the previous episode. It's wholly based on characterization. It's just not the episode I'd've maybe dropped it into.)

I think the big problem with this episode is just that it had Ryoko's death occur way too early. The real over-the-top comedy still might not've worked in retrospect, but I think more of the toku fight scenes and Jiro stuff would've. It's... the Ryoko death scene is pretty much the climax of the story, and then there's still twelve minutes of show left? Including Kiva's upgrade? Weird structure to this one.

Emperor form was introduced so early for real life reasons called the base form was too heavy and almost killed the suit actor, so odds are it was never meant to show up in this episode in the original version

Also tied into that is that the core idea of Emperor form is being extremely lightweight and easy to do stunts in but it comes at the cost of literally the entirety of Kiva’s arsenal being abandoned except for the base Kiva form like I’m pretty sure due to Emperor form being able to kill the soul of a fangire we’ll never see castle Doron ever again same with the bike

Huh! That's a bit of a bummer. Obviously I'm a-okay with a show opting not to murder of its main artists, but it's a shame they couldn't find some way to tweak the base suit. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on Emperor Form in the next episode, when it won't exist so much in the shadow of The Greatest Love-Story In Tokusatsu, but the hot take version of it is: It's okay. I like it less than the base Kiva suit, but not a ton less. I pretty much hate Tatsulot so far, though.

And here we are, at the debut of what I recently called my favourite final form, Kiva Emperor. I like how sleek and regal it looks, I like some of the gimmicks it shows off and most of all, it has the best Rider insert of all time accompanying it.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hWFSXgHdGjA

And to be honest, I wasn’t getting invested in the one-off character’s love story, because… well, it’s a one-off character’s love story. And given this show has tragedy as a major element, it was just as likely not to work out as it was to work out.

And lie, I said, the rest of the episode did give me this reaction image.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3D_cCEX...jpg&name=small

Awwwwww yeah! It's finally time to talk about Supernova!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKCT9maoVnA

I mean, there's probably not even that much that needs to be said though, is there? I'm pretty sure the song for Emperor Form has a legitimate reputation among anyone who even slightly cares about Rider insert themes as being that god tier, grade A, greatest of all time material. The show certainly loves to play it at any given opportunity, at least!

And it isn't hard to see why, because it really is pretty much the perfect theme for it. It's especially interesting for how it contrasts with Destiny's Play to create this duo of themes that essentially portray Wataru prior to his character arc and after. Supernova is infinitely more straightforward as a song for a hero, with a rocking sound that would make Kengo proud and lyrics all about how much Wataru isn't doubting himself for once. It's pretty amazing. They took a character themed around night and the moon and stuff and then named his final form's theme song after the brilliant light of an exploding star. Supernova is maybe a favorite for everyone, and that's no less true for me. Again, I'd like to emphasize that I knew Kiva's cast entirely through the soundtrack for a good few years, and I was kind of predisposed to like Wataru going in thanks to character songs with this much character in them.

Emperor Form itself is just spectacular, too. It's not even a matter of whether or not it's a favorite for me as much as it being basically an objectively perfect concept for Kiva? It's Wataru after literally breaking his chains. It's so perfect I don't know if anything more than that one simple sentence is even necessary. The design itself informs you about the context and meaning behind it in a very clear way, and it does all that while being all gold and pretty and named after royalty and having a cape. It's textbook. God tier, grade A, greatest of all time material in its own right. And if meant Takaiwa got to feel just as unburdened as Wataru was, then all the better! I can't even begrudge the series for losing interest in the cool form changes at that point. You really can't go wrong with this suit!

...I wasn't the biggest fan of the episode it debuts in though, if I'm being honest!

First of all, on the '86 side, I vividly recall finding the whole plot to be so insultingly embarrassing and tacky for Yuri that I had trouble taking it seriously, to say the least. And then over in '08, Shinji being so fundamentally sympathetic made it extremely difficult to feel good watching Wataru off him with such little hesitation, regardless of whatever danger you want to put Mio in. It stung especially because the episodes that made me start truly liking both Kiva the show and Wataru in the first place were the ones that ended with him refusing to kill a sympathetic Fangire. I can see what the show is going for in both cases – more so in 2008 – but, at least on an initial watch, I wasn't a huge fan of how this one played out. I guess maybe that Shinji/Ryoko story really is just too good!