I never really had a problem with Houjou. At least, not any problems the show didn't want me to have with him. I think his role, as cheap a drama tactic as it may be, works nicely to give the G3 team someone to bounce off of during their scenes, and there's always the clear undercurrent of "this guy is really just a giant loser" that makes him tolerable. The way his stint as G3 early on ends is great, for example. I honestly feel the show would be a lot more boring without him around.

Houjou's run as G3 is one of my favorite damn moments in the whole series. Followed fairly closely by the V1/G3-X encounter.

I can accept that his role is being a secondary antagonist and just being a dickweed
But since Ghost I've been more critical, and there is no reason Houjou should still be an officer and never face consequences other than running away

Skyrider 53

I thought they'd finally found a way to make Admiral Demon, and the show itself, interesting, and I was ready to give them props for that, even if it was just for the last few episodes. But it all turned out to be a boring ruse.

How disappointing.

Kiva 47

So I'll just say I strongly dislike the confidence=instant hypercompetence trope, which should give an idea of how I've been feeling about Wataru these past couple of episodes.

Also have no idea why he felt the need to cosplay as the last king. He really just looks silly in leather.

Anyway, I'm guessing at this point my chances of getting an explanation for Tatsulot are about the same as the chances of Kiva being an actually good show.

Never did find out how Maya turned into a pirate either...

I'm almost tempted to watch Kiva some time, from the way people are talking about it in here. But is it like, amusingly bad, like it's sounding from the comments, or is it just boringly bad, like Ghost was? Cause if it's the latter, I think I'll pass.

Oh, yeah, no. Kiva never fucking explains anything. Tatsulot and Maya's eye all have the same backstory as Yuri's death, the tiny Castle Doran baby from that one episode, and Ixa's fake fuestles: none.

I've now finished both Skyrider and Kiva. I'll post my thoughts on the former later when I have more time. I don't really have anything to say about Kiva that I haven't already.

Except maybe that I have no idea why people rag so much on Wizard and Ghost when this show exists.

Anyway, yeah. It ended like it lived.

Tell it like it is. :p

A few more thoughts...

I was waiting to see if the last episode would address this is any way (secretly i knew it absolutely would not) but this:
This is by far the most baffling thing about Kiva. Like, you know, after all the other dumb stuff in Kiva. That Yuri got married and died, and none of it actually had anything to do with the show's story is just so freaking weird to me.

Like...actually, not even just the death, but the Aso ladies' entire role in the show is strange to me. What even was their point, again? Yuri was basically just an object for Otoya and Jirou to fight over for the first part of the show, then Otoya "won," after which she was just there so Maya could "steal" him from her (uuuurggg). Then she died, who cares (not the show, is the answer).

And Megumi...was there to trick us into thinking that Yuri mattered? I mean, I don't know. Don't ask me. I could not tell you. I guess she also provided one extra person for 753 to be a dick to on a regular basis. Other than that...

It's like the only reason they were involved is misdirection. But it's pointless misdirection. It's just...pointless. Nothing of interest even comes from it. Nothing meaningful happens because Otoya dates Yuri but then falls for Maya, just more awful pretentious spiels about people's inner musics and what the hell ever.

And speaking of pointless things related to Yuri, I'm really struggling to figure out what role Rook could have possibly played in the Fangire organization. King, Queen and Bishop have pretty well defined roles. But Rook is just...in charge of games? It's...something. Meh.