Dressing as the devil you say... for a metaphor you say?
https://themajority.scot/wp-content/...he-Baddies.jpg

That'd mean it'd apply to literally every single Riders who aren't villainous. But because of that I'd think your usage of the term "champion of justice" is way too broad, which seems for your implementation here, is about everyone who becomes Riders and fights off evil monsters. That I feel is like using the "heroes are people who beat up bad guys, and the bad guys are bad because the heroes beat them up" definition.

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.

Megumi had been acting like a big sister to Wataru and Mio, but she's given an actual little sibling that she also acts like that towards him. This is regarding parents who would involve both male and female... but this can veer towards overprotective category? Yuri doesn't want for Megumi to follow her bloody vengeance footsteps.

What I get is that Yuri is cleaning Otoya's house, but I don't know what would make it feel like home for her warrior heritage. Also, there's Otoya making a deal with Jiro and his companions, out of Yuri's sake, this is likely the first time the promise, and likely how those 3 ends up becoming Kiva's weapons is touched upon in the story itself.

Well yeah, this is what I talked about before, the part to acknowledge Shizuka's existence, that at first glance this seems to be just a throwaway moment for Shizuka, but this will play much important role later, revealing dark sides of the people involved. In a disappointing way yeah, but this is how it plays out. Shizuka being implied to be jealous at that scene in episode 25 is not just for show, but Shizuka actually acts upon it by causing a rift between Wataru and Mio to keep Wataru for herself. This is another part of the love triangle Kiva had. Though still, regarding "Sweet and Protective"...this is a reminder about how different someone would act towards loved ones, or those who aren't. Though this may be OOC, I'm going on it; while Shizuka is otherwise normal to non-Wataru person, just that she can be forceful or pushy sometimes to others regarding Wataru, at drastic times like this for Wataru being taken away, she can take drastic measures as her primary person to confide is Wataru, and Mio is... not Wataru, so she'd not necessarily getting the "Sweet and Protective" persona. Though if this is OOC, likely she'd not take this as far as what happened here. I know this part can have similarities to Yuji turning evil at Faiz, but at least the previous arc of Shizuka is done by Inoue, and this one's still done by Inoue, I mean not about him adding sinister traits to different writer's work.

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.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY8tKGnzOxk

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.

It is a little strange to unpack and examine, yes!

Good for her! There should be some perks from all the crap she's had to go through in 1986!

One of Megumi's day one characteristics is that she doesn't really modulate her personality for the situation. She's 100% Megumi at all times, and that's part of her charm!

I think it's the overall domesticity, and how that makes her feel like she's ignoring a major part of herself. She doesn't feel like she can start a life with Otoya if everything with Rook is still unfinished... but maybe Rook is just an excuse to keep doing what she really loves? That's sort of where I took the character's reaction in this story so far.

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.

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.

I can see that, yeah. This is what, the second time she's appeared in the last ten episodes? And the first one where other characters actually acknowledge her presence. I'd probably lash out if I was being demoted to a recurring role, too.

There are some legit tonal issues in this episode. Even within Megumi's storyline, there's the impetus, which is INSANE (this is a plot that has literally never even been hinted at, and it's been a sword hanging over Megumi since the first episode) and ridiculous (her brother swans around like he's responding to a laugh track), but then the rest of her story is this sort of unsolvable personal riddle? It starts off being a Wacky Hijink and then becomes a kind of quarter-life crisis? It makes for a bumpy transition, even if I liked where it ended up.

(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.)

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 30 - "CURTAIN RISING: KIVA'S IDENTITY”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva30a.png

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!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva30b.png

(p.s. I don't care that these screencaps have nothing much to do with this post, because I loved this whole ridiculous scene.)

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.

There's still 18 episodes to go. I'm sure that there may be time to work something new for Kiva's arsenal. I bet it will be something really cool, too, and nothing that is easily misconstrued by prurient minds. It definitely wouldn't have an unfortunate nickname among the fanbase, that's for sure.

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.

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.

Cowboys hate magicians! It's a pretty standard trope!

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!

It's really hard for me to even see the slight differences you're talking about between Original Kiva and Emperor, since so much of Emperor has been just him posing before a finisher. As much as the show portrays Emperor (through stock footage) as a powerful upgrade to Kiva's power that Wataru has unlocked through his emotional growth... it really just feels like a new base suit? And that's it?

Lucky for you, I have no idea who you’re talking about.

Yeah, I think that was the intention.

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.

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.

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.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY_G8nw9s1Y

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.

I obviously can't say how similar the plots end up being, but, while I'll totally acknowledge the similar origins, it feels like they're plots that are about different things.

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!

It is 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.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 31 - "APPLAUSE: A MOTHER-DEDICATED TRANSFORMATION”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva31a.png

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.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva31b.png

p.s. can't believe this one wasn't called 'finished: mommy fight'

Yes I knew you will love this episode.

I really did! It sort of made my night!

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.

Oh man, them both using IXA - their family's weapon - is so integral to the climax of their story that I can't think Otoya And Nago Bravely Shoulder The Burden was ever ever ever on the table. There've been some dodgy decisions made for both women by the men in/making the show (the way Yuri is laughing triumphantly with Jiro there!), but you don't have an ending to this story without Yuri and Megumi using IXA to defeat Rook.

As some other folks noted, it probably also has something to do with Nago's crush on Maya. By being able to find something redeemable in one Fangire (i.e. that face), it allowed him to think that there could be another Fangire out there worth sparing. Luckily, it was that skinny kid he grew to tolerate!

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!

Well I promised I’d resurrect one of my running gags specifically for this episode and I am nothing if not a man of my word.

In this episode, Rook uses the IXA Knuckle and if you’re not convinced he’s Sazer-Tawlon, he does the Earth Tribe Gransazer pose.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3XGrHYW...jpg&name=large

Yuri meanwhile, seems to be doing the Flame Tribe Gransazer pose.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3XGcFkW...jpg&name=large

And Otoya breaks with the others by doing the Ichigo/Ryuki pose.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3XGcFiX...jpg&name=large

With that out of the way, this is the last we see of the Rook (obvs). There is an S.I.C story where he comes back as a Sabbath, but it’s non-canonical.

I feel that Abel only existed so Wataru would have something to do in this episode (beyond his pit crew selling DVDs).

And, for my second promise, here’s Mio’s Fangire data.

Pearlshell Fangire II

True name: A Dress like an Isolation Cell (独房のようなドレス Dokubō no yō na Doresu)

Human identity: Mio Suzuki

Class: Aqua

Rank: Queen

Actor: Yuria Haga, Naoko Kamio (suit actress in Fangire form)

Next time, we get what is probably the best exchange in this show and get to the roots of the king.

Oh well, I didn't expect for this part to be this brief, I did read about the love triangle Kiva had and about Shizuka regressing to this. There were parts where Shizuka atones for her sins against those 2 which is directly setting them up like here. Though her previous behavior wasn't forgotten that this resolve is made by touching upon what she did before (with angelic metaphor.... but I don't understand why there's still evil laughing there). Other than that, Kengo for now becomes more of an unpleasant man (I know he had terrible moment but still), I guess this is what others meant when talking about Kengo's jerk moments. There's also the reveal of Wataru being actually Kiva to Nago.

Well, I think Kiva's base form is used more than I thought here, but Kiva's Emperor form is used (likely this episode is the start of it being the main action form) because of a real life reason, the Kiva base form is heavy with the actual chains attached to it. Though I guess, Kiva Emperor's kicking repeatedly (not the Wake Up Fever) before was implemented as a part of its finisher on games like Climax Heroes due to "one-minute Henshin that led to a quick finisher". I mean, Kiva Emperor has not used other weapons finisher yet except for Garuru one iirc, not even its own Zanvat Sword. Though at least Kiva Emperor's kick actually feels like an upgrade, lack of night aside, unlike DoGaBaKi's. I think about the monster fight lacking distinction, that's something commonly happened in other Rider fights as well.

I agree for the parallel parts that it creates significance in their fight, like above, carrying emotional weight but on the heroes side. Albeit don't know if Megumi and Yuri similarly getting beaten up brutally to be saved by others later would sit well with the audience. Though you describe their fight as "personal" here, I don't want for being personal to be used to measure the fights (or others) being good or bad, as I think this can veer into false use of the term "one-dimensional", that those who don't have potentially darker traits like revenge and the lengths they go to achieve it as "unrealistic, lacking depth, one dimensional, etc.". I mean like, don't want for this to be an example of how main Riders like Wataru should view his oppositions as, they should be turned like this.

So yeah, this part reminds of when series with many Riders had most of the Riders gathered there for fights against each other, but for this, it applies to every fighter but not all them are Riders. But... Kiva Emperor is actually overpowered like usual final form, and Rook isn't the final boss of this story, there will be a real proof about why the final fight is made that way, due to the overpoweredness of it.

Why shouldn't Yuri be laughing triumphantly with Jirou though? Remember, Rook is their mutual arch enemy, he killed Yuri's mother and Jirou's clan so it makes sense that they would both be happy about finally getting their revenge. It's not just Jirou who Yuri is laughing with either, there's also her bf Otoya, as well as Ramon and Riki. It was a team effort and I think Yuri appreciates that after being alone in her personal struggle for so long, they finally conceded to let her be their comrade and equal and gave her the honor of using IXA to deal the coup de grace to Rook. All she needed was that little bit of validation from them, to realize that her revenge wasn't the most important thing in her life, but the life that she can enjoy freely from now on and her friends are a part of that, cause they believed in her and rooted for her success.

Maybe you misunderstand why Yuri is so happy here? Her quest for revenge was a burden that made her feel guilty for being happy, perceiving it as a betrayal of the obligation she made to her mother. She's not sadistically laughing that Rook's dead for 22 years, she's laughing cause she can finally give herself a chance to be happy and balance her life as a soldier with her new life with Otoya. I'm honestly surprised and curious how you can see this beautifully heartwarming scene with Yuri expressing her most genuine happiness in years as she runs towards her friends in celebration as a "dodgy decision". Don't you think that she deserves to have a life outside of fighting? Doesn't she deserve to enjoy a little moment of happiness after denying herself that experience for so long?

I recall that the cliffhanger at the end of Episode 30 was the one that left me in the most suspense, but unlike Takumi's and Kiba's initial hostility towards each other after finding out their secret identities, the first scene between Wataru and Nago in Episode 31 is surprisingly at Mal d'Amour and all of Nago's antagonism towards Kiva is immediately gone. And yeah, I would totally attribute his change of heart to his seemingly insignificant and small development in the Time Door arc.

Maybe that's why it seemed so insignificant and small at the time, since the real payoff to that is here, as Nago reasons that Kiva might actually an okay guy since it's Wataru. Sure, if Wataru betrays that trust, then Nago won't hesitate to kill him, but for now they can be friends and partners in fighting Fangires. Usually, I think it would be a narrative letdown to have the conflict resolved so easily (like my minor complaint about Akira's and Mochida's 1 episode-long conflict in Hibiki), but after understanding that Nago is a changed man, I had to feel kind of a fool for expecting anything else and it made me see him in a better light.

This was a little thing, but it's worth calling out. Yuri does the Knuckle activation the way Otoya does it, and Megumi does the activation the way Nago does it. It's specific to the IXA of its era. I really appreciated that touch.

It honestly felt like a bigger fight scene than the movie, which is crazy. It felt like pretty much the entire cast was teaming-up, and that's not what I was expecting in the middle part of a three-parter that is 18 episodes away from the end of the show!

It's not that she's happy (I like Yuri being happy with her choices!), it's that she's happy around Jiro, and that's a problem. Jiro's the guy who kidnapped her and threatened to breed her just a few weeks prior. For her to be all Forgive And Forget when that guy did nothing to redeem himself after his, frankly, irredeemable transgressions? To see her laughing with the guy who vowed to assault her? That's a massive miscalculation, and it was a decision that it feels like the show didn't think through all the way.

But, yeah, I am totally okay with Yuri celebrating her hard-fought victory with everyone else. It's a very nice moment for her, and I wish it wasn't tainted by Jiro being a part of it.

I wonder if some of it also isn't that Kiva's way more powerful than Wataru, so molding and shaping Wataru suddenly becomes more appealing than before (or than acting as a mentor to Kengo). Like, I think Nago is in a real Not All Fangires mindset, but some of his turnaround on Kiva might be less that Wataru's a sweet boy, and more that Nago now can direct Kiva to serve Nago's purposes.

So you think Jirou needed an arc like Alain where he sees the error of his ways and resolves to become a better person? I guess that might have made the scene work better. However, it's probably okay for that to be water under the bridge after 7 episodes. Even though he didn't do much to redeem himself, he did ultimately accept Yuri's feelings for Otoya and spare their lives, so he does have some heart deep down.

I think one of the morals of this episode is about how holding on to grudges and letting hatred fester can have a toxic effect on a person. Yuri shows an admirable amount of maturity and wisdom by being able to forgive and forget. By doing that, she was able to share her burden with the others and that's probably why Otoya decided she was mentally prepared to finally use IXA.

I don't know if any of this can convince you. Maybe we just have to agree to disagree here?

Well Nago is a skilled manipulator, so it makes sense that he would want to capitalize on his friendship with Wataru after the revelation, but then, Kiva and IXA were already aligned in their fight against the Fangires, just not with each other until now. So it's mostly that their teamwork is going to be more synchronized from now on, with Nago resuming his role as Wataru's mentor to shape him in to his ideal image of a hero.

Poor Kengo though. Rhino Fangire didn't crush his dream, but it still got crushed anyway. Maybe he should try and focus on his singing talent?

I haven't talked much about the 2008 side of the fight, since I thought Yuri's was more emotional, but I will praise Megumi for destroying Rook using Burst Mode, showing once more how superfluous Rising is.

Sure, I don't really love revisiting one of the most problematic stories that Kiva's done to date. I am totally fine to move on from this one!

I'll just add that:
-I was using "Forgive and Forget" sarcastically, since the show never gives Yuri a scene to confront Jiro. It's the narrative opting to ignore a terrible action, and that's way worse to me than if they'd contrived some redemption arc for Jiro or some forced acceptance from Yuri.
-I feel like saying that Yuri needing to not hold a grudge against Jiro is a stretch? For one, it continues to make the resolution dependent on Yuri changing to accommodate her attacker, which, no. The other problem is that I'm not sure I'm seeing a lot in this story that's about letting go of anything, since it's largely about a bunch of men telling Yuri and Megumi what their motivations are and getting them pretty much entirely wrong.

And they said Megumi wasn't good enough to be IXA! She's the best IXA they've had yet!

For how Aso family are born warriors and that they're the most happy in their fightings, this can impact those people's lives negatively (which I guess is the one touched upon Yuri cleaning Otoya's home? though that one refers to their revenge). Like when the fight ends, they can feel that life by then doesn't longer fit their ideals, only being able to define themselves through conflict and would be lost without it. Though I guess these 2 has multiple jobs like how Yuri is a waiter and Megumi is a.. foodie model. Though it's undeniable that support is important, the part of Megumi remembering her mother to gain upper hand to Rook.. that's commonly implemented in media as 'power of friendship/love' that can seem like cop out to others (and memed), like Megumi retrieving IXA gear when Otoya tosses it to fire. And this episode will be the only one they use IXA.

This is another spiraling down for Kengo, he's further becoming more jerk due to his misery he had received, apparently for here losing his faith in humanity. It's ok to feel angry and sad (but from here you can only feel those if disaster happens and impacts you only and not if others had unrelated misery? this will be glorifying selfishness then) about those things, but it's not ok to lash it out to others who are undeserving for your grief for those who do that, it cannot be used as an excuse to justify immoral deeds (not talking about Kengo here albeit he's more of a jerk now, but characters in general if they turn evil due to ). But other than that, Nago finally stops his feud with Kiva knowing that he's Wataru in the present, likely teaching the lesson about how power depends on who uses it, if it's Wataru then he's typical KR main Rider heroism, but it can be the ultimate evil if it's the one Nago experienced in the past.

This was one of the episodes I remembered the most, given it was the big moment where both Yuri and Megumi got to be IXA. It was a good finale for Rook as a villain, too, although I find it a bit dumb that such a brawny dude died from a shoulder injury.

Why is that/?

Just about the easiest choice in the world for me this time, as it absolutely couldn't be anything other than Feel the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umrMR0PKows

A song that apparently exists specifically because the actors for Yuri (Yuu Takahashi) and Megumi (Nana Yanagisawa) wanted to perform a duet together, everything I could possibly say about it is pretty much summed up perfectly by that title alone. Unlike the vague longing and uncertainty that defines Wataru's relationship with his dad, the Asou family has a very specific connection that's been passed down through the years, and there's a confidence to that which the song reflects nicely. It's just kind of a base-level Kiva character song, but keep in mind how high the average for Kiva is when I say that. Definitely a treat for fans of Yuri and Megumi!

And I mean, s***, after watching this one, a lot of people were probably fans of Yuri and Megumi? Kiva's treatment of these characters has its ups and downs, but it did right by them at maybe the most important possible moment, resulting an episode with a level of fiery intensity that surpasses the very sun Megumi is standing in front of in Ixa's stock footage, as her mother declares in the past how her very soul will rise up to destroy Rook no matter how many times he comes back. GAAAAH this is a good one! I had really forgotten just how awesome it was before going back to it, and it's another occasion where I was straight up rewatching huge chunks of the episode because of how attention-grabbing it is. It's really got it all, and I especially love how Rook is defeated in the past with a smart plan, which is a plus in any superhero story, but even better here, because it's entirely Yuri's plan.

No, it's definitely what he says! At a glance, it seems like Inoue can't remember his own show, but, as you point out, this is pretty typical behavior for Nago? Which is worrying on so many levels, but hey, like I said earlier, that's our Nago-san! He's just a big goofball when you get down to it, you know?

Well, I mean, he used to be a bit more serious, but especially with the benefit of knowing how the show progresses, I can see why Inoue resolved his rivalry with Kiva in such a surprisingly cleanly fashion. The story is maybe well past the point where Nago's whole Van Helsing shtick is useful to drive Wataru's growth, so redefining their relationship like this freshens things up and allows Nago to be more in the loop going forward, lest he end up like poor Shizuka.

Oh, man, exactly the opposite for me. I always hated those little trumpeteers on Rook's shoulders, so I'm glad they led to his demise.

Nago is so pleased with himself for not seeing Wataru as a soulless beast that's only gift to the world is his death at Nago's hands. He's so warm, in a smarmy way, that I can't imagine anything better for a resolution to this problem. It's way more interesting to have Nago declare that Kiva is now his apprentice than any dumb My Code Demands Your Soul death-duel would ever be. Like, this outcome is arguably worse for Wataru? Nago taking an interest in his training? Because, look at how Kengo is doing.

It's a Transformers joke. In Transformers the Movie the Autobot Brawn dies from being shot in the shoulder.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA HYPER BATTLE VIDEO - "YOU CAN BE KIVA TOO!”

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

Oh, HBVs. I really do enjoy them. This one's the first in what would be a few years of Branching Path HBVs, with a couple minor choices you make throughout the story. (The last one I remember doing it this way was... Gaim? I think Drive was back to the linear short film approach.) It's cute, in an emerging-technology way. Nothing's too perilous of a choice, and it's easy to feel like you accomplished something.

It's a little weird to see it applied to Kiva, though? It's a goofy story about Nago, Otoya, and Wataru training You The Viewer to be as strong as Kiva. It's fun in a minor Net-Movie way, with some good-natured teasing and a lot of enthusiasm. There's some exercise (IXAcise, of course), some action, and a new HBV-exclusive form that is like Kiva lost a fight with a box of crayons. Everything is built to make you think you're getting physical and emotional support from the men of Kamen Rider Kiva, and that you could be the next Kiva.

It's just... are those things any kid wants? Or should want? Any of it?

I mean, not to get into something I'll probably spend a bunch of time talking about in the Series Wrap-Up post, but, who would want to hang out with any of these characters? This isn't Den-O, where you're going on an exercise adventure with all of your favorite monster friends. This is Kiva, where your tutors are a sweet boy who is just starting to get wrapped up in romantic turbulence; a dude who thinks the main skill a child should learn is how to pick up women; and Nago, who is psychologically unfit to be a positive role model to anyone. They are all horrible mentors! Even the very sweet teenage boy who is the star of a superhero action show!

And, like, that's not just for children. (Although: do not let any of these men instruct children.) I'm an adult, and I definitely would not want to spend time with these guys. The show's funny, and I love how crazy they all are, but, like... to watch on TV. I would never, ever want to be in the same room as Otoya or Nago, because they're lunatics. Even Wataru is a shy/infatuated teenager, and I am not looking to spend time with someone like him. He's a very compelling character to follow over the course of a TV series, but I can't deal with some real-life mumbling teenager who is dating a supernatural executioner. No thanks!

But, setting aside how No Thanks the entire premise of this HBV was, I still enjoyed it. The stars have some great chemistry, the fights are a great reminder of how kneecapped this show has been without the Arms Monster forms, and there're "bad” endings where Nago scrubs your back in the bath and Otoya teaches you how to flirt with a mannequin. It is the most Not For Kids children's entertainment around, and I dug it.

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

Ah yes, the appearance of the best worst Kamen Rider song ever (at the very least, it was iconic enough to make it onto the reunion album as Nago’s contribution). So good that Otoya came back from the dead just to take part.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=OPgq4cCthaE

That aside, I haven’t seen much of this beyond images of DoGaBaKi Emperor which… it doesn’t look good, put it that way (plus, it’s redundant, since Emperor can already use all of the Arms Monster weapons).

DoGaBaKi Emperor is pretty bad, but I mean, it's also something quickly kitbashed together for a friggin' HBV... so it's the worst suit in Kiva by a long shot but I can't exactly blame it for that? What I WILL note that I discovered recently is that it strangely removes Emperor's thigh armour, and I cannot fathom why. So random!

Anyway, uhhh. Yeah! Aside from Wataru himself I completely agree, to probably no surprise, I would never want to hang out with these guys! It's, like, possibly one of the most scary combinations of people to be in a room with aside from Kusaka. But all of that hardly matters when Ixa-Cise is the best thing ever, and also it blessed me with a screenshot I get so much use out of

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...94/unknown.png

I've been sort of lukewarm on the whole Kiva Is Aping Den-O debate, but even I got a little squinty at Kiva's first segment for an HBV being a workout video.

Oh, for sure, it's not at all a big deal that Quaternity Emperor has a color scheme that makes you wonder if your retinas detached. It's a "secret form", not the culmination of a story or anything. It's in maybe one optional minute of the HBV. I'm not mad at it being ugly!

I wonder if there was even a brief amount of hesitation in doing a story where Nago and Otoya get directly involved in a child's upbringing. Some flicker of Do We Have A Responsibility As Storytellers before deciding to do a story where a psychotic button-enthusiast and a womanizer with a heart of gold shape the youth of Japan.

I don't know what's the deal with Yuri handing IXA to Otoya, especially that she does that while gaining upper hand (kicking away the enemy), unlike Megumi who gets actually overwhelmed by Kamen Rider Rey (Takoto). I'd also say Yuri in 1986 when Wataru is there, by just attacking without second thought, it can be completely dangerous method to use in fighting off baddies like it being applied to Wataru here, if Wataru is killed?

I don't know about the other ways to improve the relationship if it's 'too easy', but I'd want for no other choice than Wataru and Otoya being completely sweet towards each other. I don't want for drama to be shoved into anything, or glorifying conflict (and potentially giving free pass to Otoya if he's being bad parent for this... remember Den-O's Kasumi) and that conflict isn't only about people on each other's throats, and that drama isn't necessarily "right" way to tell story as it can be exhausting aside from being entertaining. I'd want for It's obviously guaranteed for Wataru to be completely sweet to Otoya, but it can be not for Otoya, like if he notices about his son's 'lameness' compared to him. Though the only one I fear about this is about how Wataru unfailingly supporting his dad, I'm afraid of Wataru excusing unappropriate things he did just because it's family without regard to others. While Otoya completely loves Wataru, their early interaction shows how Otoya views men though, as a womanizer he'd hate them (directly claims it) and can be unreasonably hostile to them for the sake of women (albeit he assumes Wataru is Fangire). I'd likely want for the Otoya's legacy part to be touched upon, and I just reminded for that while reading here that Wataru is about Otoya's legacy, though I still hope that it's done without strife between those 2.

In this movie the part where he was friends with Nago is touched upon too, with them greeting each other at present time. But I guess it's true that their relationship is touched upon a little here, other than how Nago claims he's no longer himself in the past as he defeats him. What he does is clear that he made himself into a Legendorga so he could use the artificial Rey Kivat and become a Kamen Rider, though it's unknown that if he's someone that is power hungry, or truly had an animosity towards Nago and seeks to ,ake sure to surprass him. Regardless of personal feelings, still think that there's no such thing as zero character, enjoyable or not, when spending time with the heroes, I'd describe that he seems formal and uptight, and seemingly had high standards to appreciate legendary stuff such as meeting Otoya, and badmouths his inappropriate behavior to a (Fangire) girl.

I was afraid of Natsuki noticing Wataru's 'lameness' and likely turned enemy or something (it can happen when someone befriended a socially withdrawn person, then betraying them after knowing their 'lame' traits), especially that it's blatant with his performances at soccer and shogi. For the soccer part though, I guess this is one of the media where a shoe bottom left its mark on something above it (the keeper's face). I thought for the part of Natsuki playing violin and handing it to Wataru after, it's about her hating violin because of Wataru's deep ties to it and knowing his 'lameness', but it turns out to be animosity for her mom. I also think that Wataru opens up unexpectedly faster despite his shyness? (I know he's sweet boy but... there's shyness that goes hand to hand with sweetness like how by being shy they won't want to disappoint others, cause conflict, etc. which doubles as a form of sweetness).

Terrific gag yeah, someone literally named Sanjou, so ore sanjou can be used as introductery scene for them. Other than that, in this scene, it's a showing of a cop that isn't excessive to the inmates, asking if Otoya's all right.

Me too! I didn't mean to suggest that the movie would be better with some uncomfortable conflict or actual animosity. That would be bad! It's more that I wanted the dialogue to feel more nuanced, to make the relationship feel less simple. These are two people who don't really know each other, but they both act like they've had this bond forever. I guess I was hoping for a few fun angles on this new information from them, rather than them just being Father and Son after a couple scenes.

He's a lot more outgoing by this point in the series, but I think it also has to do with the specifics of Natsuki's story. She's a young woman with a complicated relationship to the violin, thanks to her absent parent. That is something that Wataru is going to take a very keen interest in!

Another extremely easy choice this time, it's Ixa-cise, which might just be the pinnacle of all human achievement. Everything was leading up to that glorious moment in 2008 when this starting existing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA472hgrTfs

(Obviously this loses something without the accompanying video, but thankfully Androzani has us covered there already! Please let Nago help you get in shape too!)

So yeah, this is pretty peak Nago-san right here, and I have to imagine there are Rider fans who have never watched Kiva that know the guy entirely from this, which is a hilarious thought, all the more so because it's honestly a reasonably good summation of Nago's character? Just one more thing that's rather worrying about him, I guess! ...I have to admit being in a room with Nago and Otoya sounds like it will inevitably end poorly. We should all want to hang out with Wataru though, if only to get him out of that environment for a bit.

(And that description of DoGaBaKi Emperor as Kiva losing a fight with a box of crayons is priceless, by the way. It's almost sort of endearing, put like that.)

I don't know if it's a product of where we're at in the series, or just because Wataru is the only one of the three men who can be a voice of reason, but Wataru's nicely assertive and level-headed in this special. He's quick to support Nago's workout regime, but also quick to tell his dad to maybe be less of a horndog around impressionable children. He's bright and upbeat here, a million miles from the Ghost Boy of the early episodes.

If it wasn't for the non-Emperor version of this suit already debuting in the actual series, I'd've bet this suit was the winning entry in a Design Kiva's New Form contest for kids ages 4 to 7. But then, what company would ever pick such a garish design from a children's design contest?