I think Kiva is more well received in Japan than those in english speaking countries and Gaim is the opposite.

Finished Den-O and the first two Den-O movies.

Guess I'll move onto Kiva next, and Decade. Then I'm done with the Kuuga -> Decade era.

Kiva has a pretty interesting looking costume so hopefully it's pretty cool.

Sort of tempted to maybe take a Rider break and watch some Sentai though.

Decisions, decisions.

I too finished Kiva, today in fact, and my sentiments are rather similar to ShyGuys: I am actually baffled by how much I enjoyed this show.

In fact, the only negative thing I can say about it is that it wasn't better. Because it could've been, easily. They had all of this lore available with those different monster races, eons of unexplored legends, so many mysteries to tell us about - and they didn't do anything with that setup.

I still have no idea what a Kivat is, where Castle Doran comes form, why it sometimes eats Fangire souls and sometimes not, how monsters have actually managed to stay hidden among humans - and that's just the basics.

Don’t get me wrong, this post isn't meant to criticize Kiva. I love this show. The characters are great, the story is worthwhile, and the constant juggle of two different time periods with a great cast of characters and stories for each is so unique and fun.

I didn’t hate anything about Kiva, maybe it was my low expectations after having witnessed Faiz (bleh) but Kiva just kept going and going and I couldn’t stop watching. They didn’t introduce a single character I didn't like, not one story was boring and let's not even get started on the suits. Because they are simply drop-dead gorgeous, among the best in the entire franchise. And the action can support them too, that's probably the best part.

It's just - you have all of that, but you could’ve had more. It may be simply because at the end of the day this was a show for Japanese children to advertise toys, they couldn’t go any further, but if there ever was the need for a spin-off to flesh out the world of a Rider even more, Kiva definitely needs it. A tale of a past King or something, maybe the "Dracula" of the Kiva universe, just to make use of the lore.

That's just me complaining though, at the end of the day Kiva really is an all-around fun show which I happened to enjoy quite a lot. I could find more problems if I wanted to dig deeper, but my entertainment of it was so overwhelming that I don’t feel like doing that. I didn’t expect to say this like ever, but Kiva is probably among the most entertaining Rider-shows I’ve seen. Not the best per se, but very enjoyable to watch. I’d definitely recommend it to people who don’t know if they should give it a try or not.

Man, I don't think I've ever seen this much love for Kiva all at once. It's actually really refreshing.

I have to give special props to Kiwami, though. I was almost certain Kiva would drive you insane by the end, so I'm sincerely happy you had a good time with it.

This is also one of the best summations of Kiva I've ever heard. For as much as I make fun of it, I have to admit Kiva was honestly some of the most fun I've ever had watching a Rider series. Despite all the holes you can poke in it (and there are a LOT of holes you can poke in it), I do think in a lot of ways it's more than the sum of its parts.

I'm almost finished Decade and it's turned out far, far more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. Only negatives really are Kuuga being pointless and Diend's summons being confusing in what they actually are. Otherwise I'm having a great time and I've even greatly enjoyed arcs other people have said they don't like, like the Faiz arc being a high school AU.
Den-O was probably the weakest arc so far, but I watched its movie right after that and was surprised how much I loved it so that's made up for it. And Momotaros' appearance in the Hibiki arc was... just wonderful.

I dropped in to say the exact same thing. As someone who has had to incessantly defend my love for Kiva over the years, I feel somewhat vindicated. :lol

After 3rd in to faiz high school notice could easily well be what original president of smart brain wanted to do due to old grade school female lead attended

I finally finished Den-O. To give you an idea of when I started, remember the Let's Watch Wednesdays? Yeah, then. I've been stuck on episode 40ish for the last two years, but tonight I bombed through the last 8 or so. And you know what? They were good. Very good. I'm annoyed I didn't get around to it sooner, because the pay-off of the plot is really well done. It's not entirely clear what goes down, but the show sells it as dramatic, and considering the strong point of Den-O always was the emotional core, that's good enough for me. I don't think it's my favourite series ever, but it knew how to do emotional slice-of-life stuff balanced with an overarching plot pretty well, and I'll love it for that. I can now see why it's a fan favourite.

Now, to put off Climax Deka for years.

Climax Deka is absolutely worth putting off for years.

Oof, I'd heard it was bad, but you make it sound dire. Which almost makes me want to see it... more...

But I'd also like to see something Showa, considering I haven't yet watched anything pre-ZX at all. Or Black/Black-RX, unless you count the MMPR episodes with Masked Rider in them. Kinda wanna check out Super-1, or maybe X. Are either of those considered 'good', or should I try and power through from Ichigou?