This very one, in fact! The wiki doesn't state it here, but Episode 45 of Super-1 featured a monster designed by children in a contest; ShokaKing (no relation to Shocker. Or Zi-O). They even featured a BUNCH of other kids' entries in the opening scene of the episode where Super-1's actor is going over them all; I gotta imagine the kid who won this was riding this high for months after!

https://kamenrider.fandom.com/wiki/ShokaKing

I believe I said "garish design", and ShokaKing's design is awesome. (He's like an elephant/turtle who shoots acid!) Good on some kid for coming up with it, and good on Toei for choosing it.

And good on you for the heads-up! Thanks!

As someone who saw Super-1 fairly recently, the ShokaKing episode was awesome. Very fun watch, and Toei definitely did a good job at making that kid's' creation look cool.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 32 - "NEW WORLD: ANOTHER KIVA”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva32a.png

One of the things I like about Inoue's Kamen Rider shows is that, for an endgame, they're really less about villains and schemes than they are about systems.

Which, y'know, not to say that there aren't villains; this is still a superhero show, so there are obviously going to be supervillains. It's just that the threats that need to be overcome are indifferent systems that the heroes and villains alike both chafe under, where individual choice and self-determination become death sentences.

With Kiva, it's a show about love. Romantic, familial, platonic. It's about one-to-one affection. So the systems that are working against our characters are ones that don't value love as a concept. They value patriotism, or fidelity to a culture. Suggesting that love conquers all is tantamount to treason.

It's here that we find Mio and Wataru, caught in a very familiar interspecies battle that tests their ability to follow orders when they want to follow their hearts. It's a lot of what we'd seen in Faiz, with Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch getting all hornt and then questioning the inflexible edicts of the previous generation. Mio likes Wataru, but she's destined to marry the Fangire King. Wataru likes Mio, but he's also trying to stop the Fangires, whose Queen is Mio. It's a very tokufied Romeo & Juliet, and it works better than I'd've thought.

I think it worked for me because of how ground-down and boxed-in Mio is by her role as Queen. She's got these rules that she has to follow, a society she's now beholden to, and none of it's making her happy. We don't get to spend a ton of time with Wataru and Mio lately (some cute bandaging in this one, that's about it), so an episode that adheres itself to Mio's duties and the cruel indifference of the culture that supplies them really makes her affection for Wataru seem like an oasis worth hiding in. It draws strength from how shitty she feels in every situation except being with Wataru.

She's even glum in her first meeting with Taiga, and I imagine that he's all anyone's going to want to talk about from this episode. For my money, it's a good one by dint of treating Mio's concerns as worthy of documentation. It's a great one for Taiga's debut.

Does any creator in Kamen Rider land a debut as reliably as Inoue? Taiga's premiere is a goddamn riot, starting with Wataru being forced by Nago to "train” by acting as a bounty hunter. It immediately goes sideways, since Nago's instruction to a very sweet boy who barely interacts with strangers and weighs about 100 pounds soaking wet was Go Arrest That Criminal. I get that Nago's unable to see his own flaws, but he is able to see Wataru's flaws, right? There is no way this mission is going to end in Wataru succeeding, no matter how angry Nago gets at Wataru's polite attempts at hunting bounties. (Nago gets SO MAD, and it's a highlight of the episode. He's shouting across an outdoor restaurant at Wataru, waving a chair around to motivate a foot chase. It's terrible, terrible mentoring.)

So Wataru chases after the bank robber, and catches a beating for his troubles. As he's getting a beatdown in a playground, as if he were a child, who should return but his missing childhood friend, Taiga!

It's an absolutely memorable reintroduction, with Taiga saving Wataru, admonishing a criminal for spoiling the tranquility and safety of a playground, absorbing a beating, staring down a criminal with such inner strength that the criminal flees in terror, and then celebrating his reunion with Wataru by building a sandcastle with him. It is incredibly sweet, which is why it's a mild bummer that Taiga is both trying to woo Wataru's girlfriend, and also King of the Fangires. Pretty big step down from Kengo!

(With this episode's debut of Taiga and last episode's emotional scouring of Kengo, along with Shizuka's disappearance post-Kengo, I like the subtle sadness to the way Wataru is only ever allowed one non-work friend. No wonder he's so psychologically fragile and prone to moping! The only way he gets a new friend is if an old friend abandons him! OH MAN!)

A lot of what we get from Taiga this time is... I sort of like how it doesn't pretend he's going to be a great guy? This isn't Nago or Kusaka, where we need to wait a couple episodes to figure out he's a villain and/or a lunatic. Right away we're shown that his friendship with Wataru is exactly as Wataru remembers it, but that he's also fully dedicated to his role as King. He's going to make the best of his marriage to Mio (he's trying to impress her, but it's more about him bragging than it is trying to understand her), and he's definitely going to keep murdering any humans who could be a threat to the Fangires.

He's got a real interesting energy, for a villain. (I'm assuming he's a villain? He seems pretty villainous, but on this show, what does that even mean? I'm pretty sure Jiro slots in as a hero in the '86 stuff, at least from how the show portrays him.) Unlike Mio's barely-hidden despair at executing Fangire traitors, Taiga seems to view his role as, like, a hero for the Fangires. He's confident and fulfilled, giving his kill orders with an air of nobility. He's able to have affection for Wataru, and even to save a stranger from a beating, while still working to keep humanity from becoming a threat to his people. It's a very neat way of approaching a story about indifferent systems, to have the face of them be Kamen Rider Privilege, basically. He's benefitting from an unjust system, so he can't see its injustices. He only sees justice.

Besides Taiga and Mio, there's a little runner with Otoya, and it feels like something that'll matter more next time.

Yuri's going full-on domestic in the aftermath of Rook's defeat and she is terrifying Otoya with statements like I Am Going To Quit My Job And We Should Get Married. Otoya fell for a warrior, and he became a warrior for her, but now it's all just ironed shirts and matrimony? Is that who he is? Is that who Yuri should be?

But then he runs into Maya, who plays his violin just like he would. (Oh, she learned to play the violin 300 years ago from Vivaldi, nbd.) She has a connection to Otoya that's maybe deeper than Yuri's, and she blows on his fingertip with such erotic force that the soundtrack drops out. She's got Otoya's number, which is a way bigger problem when he discovers that she's also a Fangire. I'm sure that'll be a front-and-center problem for next time.

Incredibly solid episode of Kiva! I loved the exploration of the forces that pin in our heroes and villains, and thought Taiga had a perfect debut. There's even a new Kamen Rider coming up, maybe? Pretty good time to be a Kiva viewer!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva32b.png

So yeah, as I said before, this episode has what is probably my favourite exchange in this show.

Nago: Do you know why I am a bounty hunter?

Wataru: Is it to collect buttons?

Nago: NO!

And you find out why I referred to Mio as “Pearlshell Fangire II”. Because Maya was the original.

And, onto this week’s Fangire. (I’ll wait until he gets a fight to do both the new Rider and his MV)

Moose Fangire

True name: The Sun, or a Furrow Carved into a Fisheye (太陽、あるいは魚の目に刻まれた轍 Taiyō, Arui wa Uonome ni Kizamareta Tetsu)

Human identity: Kurosawa

Class: Beast

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Kazuoki

And my reprise of the Shurikenger joke on the previous episode comes back to bite me here, as Kazuoki (surname Takahashi) is a Super Sentai alumnus, better known as Shou Hayate/ Change Gryphon in Dengeki Sentai Changeman. If you were into Sentai, I’d recommend that series more for its plot than its length (its 55 episodes).

Except here, the thing stopping humans and Fangires from co-existing socially and romantically is hierarchical rather than biological. It's all due to the evil Fangire law that believes they're the ultimate race that will dominate all others, including humans and Arms Monsters, even going as far as to try and wipe out those races who resist their influence. It's a lot more despicable than Smart Brain, who were also fighting for their own survival.

In that case, Paris got a serious upgrade here!

I think Taiga's official introduction is pretty good and I like how he brings out Wataru's Kiva side more often, since they have a history and a special connection that allows Wataru to act less restrained around him and more honest about how he feels. Unfortunately, their friendship is going to become difficult due to a new love triangle appearing in 2008 between them and Mio who they both love. But while Wataru's love for Mio is genuine and requited, Taiga believes she must be his wife since Fangire society demands it. He tries his best to act like a good partner and accommodate her, but doesn't consider her feelings and insists that they must be together due to his upbringing. It's a shame since he does have an honorable side with his willingness to co-exist with humans and how he considers Wataru his best friend, as long as the humans stay inferior to the Fangires.

So now we have all members of Checkmate Four and the chess motif continues to make no sense. Like, you have Bishop, of whom there is one, who is clearly manipulating events behind the scenes and now you have Taiga, the King, who looks intimidating and can probably move a lot more than one space at a time. While he does delegate to his pawns, he doesn't consider himself above getting his hands dirty either, quite literally with the sandcastle building. So much for Kivat saying the Queen is the most powerful piece, you wouldn't think so by watching this show.

Otoya probably would have been less surprised about Maya being over 300 years old if he found out she was a Fangire first. Unlike Yuri, who thought that Ramon casually saying he was 105 years old was just funny and not even questioning it further. It's got to suck for Yuri though, she finally got a chance to be happy for a while and then Maya immediately reappears to continue charming Otoya, who is constantly finding her more and more intriguing due to her mysteriousness and the feeling that she truly understands him.

Yeah, that's totally a new Kamen Rider walking dramatically in to focus after the most forced use of the admittedly awesome Supernova so far. And his name is Kamen Rider Saga.

Obviously he's not as severe as he was in the very beginning for his shyness, but it still shows (good thing) when he introduces himself in the class.

I won't know if this part of Kiva is already its endgame. And before there's a part of Otoya and Yuri acknowledging that "love conquers all". The new stage of Fangire here is typical villainy to human stage here as the Fangire had to execute those who aid humans. For villains I mean, Kiva has multiple irredeemable villains, like all the Four Checkmate except Maya, and the one Wataru is enraged to (Rhino Fangire, the one that lures Kengo), so even with the necessary existence of villains, it's not that Kiva's "lacking" in the ferocity. I guess for both heroes and villains alike chafe under, it's about Wataru having to love someone who has Queen role (I guess by her rule, she'd had to kill herself, but ofc it'll be despair for Wataru), and for villains, it's about other Fangires under Queen's thumb to not love humans (though most Fangires who love human seems to live normally)? I guess for that it applies to other shows too as the hero wouldn't only deal with villains (and for example, to Rook, the heroes only fight him off) for instance, and villains would have a hard time if they had an abusive boss for any reason (for Kiva here, it's love).

Well, Wataru is trying to stop the Fangires, but not all, even not talking about Mio here, he did before to Oomura and Shinji (at first). Mio can be easily given that same treatment as those 2, the problem is the other Fangires, which Wataru likely would fight, regardless with or without Mio involvement. For how the Queen here is forced to obey Fangire standards, it seems that the title Queen isn't what it means to be, the Queen is more like puppet ruler for the Fangires, likely to prevent Fangires being 'weakened' by marrying inferior creatures. A ruling role should be actually...benefical to... influence Fangires like dropping their opposition to humans, if they actually treat her as actual Queen and serving them, though I won't think Mio does that, she's focused on Wataru.

No offense but, I'd think you can't put "land a debut as reliably" as if it's a fact, it's subjective and can be pompous for doing so. Nago breaking down other's flaws, I guess that's how his character is to keep himself at the top above others especially before. Nago doesn't deserve to be a mentor if he views himself as high and mighty, a mentor had to know both of their strengths and shortcomings, like you said terrible mentor. But for Taiga letting the criminal flee in terror... isn't that just the same letting him escape (which Wataru is tasked to capture)? Taiga helps Wataru but didn't seem to help his case. For Taiga's other parts, can't say much about it. Though Taiga not pretending to be a great guy by how his friendship with Wataru is the same, well, this is why, I think character's morality is better judged more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them. Taiga is a close friend to Wataru, but what would Taiga do to the people who aren't friends or family? That's the thing to judge for his morality.

Regarding Otoya only wanting her as a warrior, that'd mean Otoya is in love with the idea of someone rather than the actual person, which is a flaw for loving someone. This'd mean Otoya fails to actually comprehend Yuri beyond the warrior trait, and it's common for someone to fall in love with a girl because of being incredibly beautiful, or brilliant fighter, or incredibly smart, etc. but only for that reasons. So I realized here Otoya didn't realize that Maya is a Fangire.

This whole scene with Nago and Wataru is, like, textbook Inoue. Nago's such a memorable collection of quirks by this point (psychotic button-enthusiast who can't admit a mistake decides to train former sworn enemy because he had a crush on a monster girl during a time travel adventure) that you couldn't ever play this moment as anything other than comedy. Nago's ridiculous, and Wataru's sweet, so we get this hilarious moment of honesty that Nago is infuriated by. It's great.

I also really like how unhelpful Nago's instruction is for Wataru. Nago, as full of himself as always, is very good at talking up his philosophy, and how the unerring truth of his worldview created the great man that Wataru is currently basking in the glow of. It's just, Nago's sort of terrible with the nuts-and-bolts of training? Like, how to get better at a task? He gives Wataru absolutely no direction (other than Go Over There), and then is furious that Wataru didn't do a job he wasn't trained for as perfectly as a pro like Nago would have. It reminded me of this old Penny Arcade strip, which made the scene even funnier to me.

I feel like Taiga views what the Fangires are doing as ensuring their survival, just in a more proactive way.

And it's... there's always some assumption at the heart of all of these systems in an Inoue story, a zero-sum reason to be adversaries. In Kiva, it's not even necessarily only the Fangires who are keeping humanity at a distance, it's also people like Shima and Nago who are executing Fangires. (Nago's changed maybe a little, but we haven't seen him spare a Fangire in 2008 yet. He's still killing every one he meets.) It's obviously a greater focus from the Fangires, but humanity isn't exactly a bastion of understanding and acceptance in this show.

Yeah, there's a neat tone to their date, where it's ostensibly Taiga charming Mio, but his emphasis is on explaining his hopes, his goals.. he's obsessed with himself. This is his grand story that she's now lucky enough to a part of, and he knows that she's going to be fascinated by him as soon as he talks about himself for hours and hours.

I sort of figured! Haven't gotten a great look at his suit yet, but I do appreciate some of the theming, and how it fits into the story the show is telling. Like, for a show as horny as Kiva is getting to be, I like that Saga wears a birth control dial on his belt? That's a good lesson for older kids, that contraception is the responsibility of both partners when there's a risk of pregnancy.

You're right, which is why I phrased it as a question! With a question mark and everything! It was to promote discussion! I am excited to hear about another creator who does reliably good character introductions!

Yeah, maybe? It's not clear, at this point in the story, if Otoya's to blame for what's happening in their relationship. He might find less to love in a more domestic Yuri, but we could also be seeing a Yuri that's overcompensating in her interpretation of being a good partner. Maybe Otoya is getting cold feet after realizing Yuri isn't exactly who he thought she was. But maybe Yuri's changing herself in ways that aren't true to herself, and that's making Otoya uneasy? It's a complicated sub-plot.

I don't think I'd fully realized it until I watched this episode, but in continuing my thesis of "Kiva = Recycled Inoue Tropes" this episode made me realize that there is a definite subset of Inoue-penned character debuts that I'm going to start referring to as "peacock intros." I hadn't connected the dots before, but going back through so many of these shows again has helped me start seeing some more patterns.

In particular, the Taiga portions of this episode reminded me a lot of the alleged 30th episode of Hibiki and the introduction of Kiriya. But it also got me thinking about the first appearance of Kusaka and, after double-checking some writing credits, the first appearances of Kitaoka in Ryuki and Tsurugi in Kabuto. The thing that all of these peacock intros have in common is that not only do they add a new character to the show, but they do so in a way that's designed to make them look impressive as hell from the outside. A lot of Taiga's scenes as president of Fangire Inc., LLC are all about this, but the one that really clinched it for me was his dinner with Mio, where the two are the only couple in the expensive restaurant and the entire wait staff is standing in orderly rows to watch her eat a fancy gourmet meal. So many of these episodes are about really highlighting a new character's wealth, prestige, success, and authority in ways that are meant to make them appear really intimidating. But again, that's from the outside.

The other thing about peacock introductions is that Inoue uses them on characters who are all about putting up an imposing front to mask their real insecurities or failings. Again, Kiriya would be the poster boy for this if I acknowledged his existence. He looks like the successful golden boy but it's a cover for his real self-doubts and need for attention. Kusaka is really a sociopath, Kitaaoka is a narcissist, and Tsurugi is barely functional manchild. They look like they have all the accomplishments that anyone - especially the protagonist - could ever want, but it's shortly revealed to just be a mask for their inner failings (or delightful wackiness, in Tsurugi's case).

Taiga's introduction reminded me so much of these other peacocks, but with a little bit of a twist. That twist is his interactions with Wataru and his obvious joy at seeing his old friend again. There's an honest happiness to him that wouldn't fit with many of the other characters that Inoue has highlighted like this. I actually think his meal with Mio came off as far less controlling and creepy than a Kusaka or Kitaoka could have pulled off. The character seems more complex and less potentially douchey than many of his predecessors, basically, and I'm excited to be reminded of what his whole deal is and how it plays out (I'm finding that on a lot of these shows that I haven't seen in years, I've forgotten a lot more about the back halves).

That feels pretty on-brand for Otoya, though. His entire pursuit of Yuri started because she was a hot girl who randomly hugged him. He didn't really have much sense of who she was as a person and he blatantly ignored her when she said she wasn't interested, but often felt like he had the right to decide what was best for her himself. I'm not going to say he hasn't gotten better, but I think one of his big flaws is that he's still very much a romantic. Not inherently bad, but he's the kind of romantic who creates an idealized version of the person he's interested in and then expects her to live up to that ideal. One of the biggest reasons why he and Maya click so much more strongly is because she has a very similar perspective on the world, especially compared to the far more pragmatic Yuri.

For sure, which is why I was so gratified that Inoue cut to the chase. We've all seen this type of intro from him, so why not just reveal that, yeah, Taiga is an evil Fangire who is totally fine with his role as Humanity's Conservationist/Gamekeeper. I assume there's more left to learn, but Taiga's debut here is so multi-faceted (we see him with Wataru, with Mio, with Megumi, in the boardroom, in an action scene... it's a buffet of Taiga scenes) that it doesn't feel repetitive or one-note.

I'm very excited to be to this episode, because this marks the point I'm finally going to start sharing tracks from the second volume of Kiva's soundtrack. Tunes from it have been a regular feature in the show for a while now, but I figured for a few reasons that this was the right point to begin highlighting them. And to make up for lost time, it's even a double feature today!

First up is something that made it *very* difficult to restrain myself this long – Emperor Form's theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a12-znME0uw

This is tied with Ixa's BGM for my absolute favorite track in the show. I didn't even realize it was specifically Emperor Form's music until this thread started; all these years, I simply knew it as that awesome one that sounds more grand and heroic than anything else in the show. But put like that, it makes sense it would be for Kiva's super form, doesn't it? The epicness of this one probably speaks for itself, but one thing I'm particularly fond of is how despite that initial build-up taking so long, it still doesn't really feel like it finishes? Like the triumphant main portion just sort of explodes out without bothering to wait the whole time. So cool!

And then to complete that showdown on the cover image, it's the theme for the new guy in town, Kamen Rider Saga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBM99N-t6mY

(Plus, unlike Emperor's theme, this one is actually in this particular episode!) This is obviously a massively different tone from that last bit of music. Not something I'd be in a rush to listen to when I want to feel pumped, but perhaps the surface-level imposing bluster undercut by discordant chaos, as though the song is literally falling apart trying to play itself, is deeply appropriate for the character? I guess Die will just have to wait and see!

On an unrelated note, something I very much want to note about this episode is that it has one of my favorite Rider gags ever – something I still vividly remembered from Kiva all this time – and it's Otoya's reaction to Yuri casually suggesting they should get married, which is just the worst, and that's why it's the best!

https://i.imgur.com/89XhxAV.png
https://i.imgur.com/wma5Ab2.png
https://i.imgur.com/co9ipPR.png
https://i.imgur.com/OC4R8r5.png

I just love how many stages there are to it in those couple seconds, you know? You can see Otoya have to rattle the thought around in his head for a moment before he panics, and only after he panics does he realize he's also disgusted. To be fair to the guy, the motivation behind the reaction is a little more complex than it might seem, but man are those facial expressions ever priceless. Fantastic bit of acting from Kouhei Takeda, and almost certainly a strong bit of direction from Tasaki (who handled 32/33) as well.

Everything in that scene is great, with Yuri in a real Finishing Each Other's Sandwiches mindset, completely missing what Otoya is trying to articulate. He feels uncomfortable with their new domesticity and how little their lifestyles overlap (she's ironing shirts he didn't want ironed), and as he's trying to tell her that she's changing from the person he was attracted to, she's suggesting they get married and start a family.

It's a more nuanced scene than just Otoya Is Scared Of Commitment, and I really appreciated that. There's almost no way it works out for Otoya and Yuri, and I definitely am not rooting for them as much I am Maya and Otoya, but they're still two characters that have a weirdly intriguing relationship. Lots of fun performances from those two.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 33 - "SUPERSONIC: SAGA OF BATTLE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva33a.png

There's a real trick to doing a long-form romance like this. When you're juggling multiple timelines, secret identities, unknown fates, and capital-d Destinies, the pacing needs to be at the front of your mind when the series is getting plotted. Answer questions too quickly, and you've got nowhere to go in the late game. Answer questions too late, and the frustration factor will smother any affection the audience might have for the characters. You need to wring every last drop of drama out of the situation, and then immediately switch it up.

I think this episode is a really great transitional chapter, blowing up as much of the status quo as it possibly can while still leaving us a story that feels... redeemable? Salvageable? It's a series of massive setbacks and crushing defeats for most of our main characters, but it's not over yet.

The Wataru/Mio plot gets the most attention here, as one of their major secrets comes to light. (They both have so many secrets from each other! That's bad! That's not how a healthy relationship between a superhero and a supernatural executioner should look!) I thought the show was going to swerve away from it, in the restaurant. I actually laughed out loud at Mio arriving just after Wataru excused himself, thinking I was in for another few episodes of them narrowly missing each other. That would be fine, if a little predictable. I like romantic comedy stuff like that, and I'm okay with preserving the tension. But then, no, that's not at all what happened. Wataru saw Mio, and Mio saw Wataru, and their entire relationship disintegrated in a heartbeat.

I love the ordinariness of that. It's not a story about a superhero and a supernatural executioner who can't be together because their species are at war. It's a girl who lied to a boy, and his heart was broken. It happens in a restaurant, and continues in a dining room. It's not done on a battlefield, or under moonlight. It's real spaces, normal environments. The mechanics of it are immaterial, because the emotions of it are universal. Mio lied to Wataru, and she doesn't know how to make things right with him. Wataru cares about Mio, but he can't trust her. Add into this that Wataru risks sacrificing his friendship with Taiga if he pursues Mio, and you've got a pretty combustible love triangle.

The Otoya/Maya plot is a dynamo. It's the best. Those two have chemistry for days, as shown in a not-at-all-metaphorical scene of them gently interlocking their bodies to bring something new into this world. The creation of Bloody Rose is Otoya sharing something intimate with a woman who is definitely not the woman he is living with, and doing it directly above their bedroom, which is why Yuri is rightfully destroyed when she secretly witnesses it. It's another scene where it's profoundly small and personal. Yuri wanders outside in tears, certain she's stumbled onto proof that she should never have trusted Otoya, that they were never right for each other. It isn't some contrived misunderstanding. Maya and Otoya really do share a deeper bond than Otoya and Yuri. It's a sweetly devastating scene.

The rest of the episode is more time spent with Taiga, and I think his natural tendency to support his friends is really refreshing in a villain. (Or, "villain”, since he mostly just murders a Fangire in this episode.) He's giving Wataru a pep-talk when Wataru looks like he's feeling down (because Taiga is marrying the girl Wataru likes), or supporting Mio when she's having a tough time at work (because she's forced by Taiga to murder for reasons she doesn't agree with). It's this fun combination of Really Supportive and Utterly Oblivious To His Role In Making People Miserable that I find entertaining. He's a charismatic presence that's equally heartwarming and despicable, which is a very tough line to walk.

Oh, and he's Kamen Rider Saga! We get to see Saga in action this episode, as he takes out one of the weakest, dorkiest Fangires of all time. Much like IXA's debut was in battle against a sympathetic Fangire who was subject to the most ornate finisher yet, Saga's is bizarrely over-the-top, considering the weakness of his opponent. It goes on forever, and I don't know that any of it worked for me. His little rapier is hilariously unimpressive, even if it fits the nobility of his station. The way it loops through his mid-air emblem to allow Saga to lasso the Fangire and eventually crush it... not that into it! It isn't even close to Dogga Fever's Death By Baseball Swing, which is easily the best finisher this show has had to date. Asking any finisher to follow that one would be tough. Choosing Saga's finisher to do so is a joke.

I like the suit, though? Just last episode I was like Inoue Likes Doing Stories About Indifferent Structures And Taiga Is The Face Of This One, so here's Saga's suit, which is literally a structure. He's a castle, and that seems about right for the newest Rider on this show. It's got the ornate stained glass motif of the Fangires right on its chest. It's got the spires and arches and it just feels impressive, everything in the torso and shoulders coming off as regal and immovable. It isn't the showy gold of Emperor Form. This is timeless and resolute, authority as birthright rather than personal achievement. I think it 100% reads as the suit of a king.

Anyway, good episode! It's full-on romantic complications, which is maybe not everyone's thing. I thought the evolution of the character relationships here was nicely observed and pretty relatable, a mix of heady excitement and dashed hopes. All that, and Nago's new role as Wataru's life coach continues to pay hilarious dividends. Good stuff!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva33b.png

And so we come to the debut of our Fangire rider, contrasting Nago’s (and Otoya’s) status as a human Rider. And here’s his music video (which is, incidentally, the last song in this show to receive a music video)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=i0HrAYcAO1Q

(If you ask me, half the lyrics to this song are just weird)

Before my usual fact file, a bit of lore behind Saga. That armour was what the Fangire kings wore before they discovered the effects of Kivat bites. Those beeps Sagarc makes? That’s the ancient language of the Fangire, which no one but him speaks anymore.

And, on with why I’m here.

Kamen Rider Saga

True name: Unknown

Human identity: Taiga Nobori

Class: Unknown

Rank: King Apparent

Actor: Shouma Yamamoto

And for that hilariously weak Fangire.

Tortoise Fangire

True name: A Steep Slope Winking at a Lining (粘膜にウインクする坂道 Nenmaku ni Uinku suru Sakamichi)

Human identity: Numakawa

Class: Lizard

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Makoto Sakamoto, Yoshimitsu Shimoyama (voice in Fangire form)

Not much to say about this episode. I might have more for the next two. (And I’ll begin to move onto the Re-Union album songs)

So Saga might be the biggest memeic loser in Kamen Rider history with Kiva himself right behind Saga. the biggest reason for this is how Saga has NO posable figure outside of I think a Motion Revive (a precursor series to both SODO and Shodo) as the only official figure I know for sure is the vinyl figure that every rider and form gets

While Kiva was the last main Rider to get a base form SH Figuarts while IXA got all of his forms years before hand even Kiva Emperor and REDACTED got one befor base Kiva>

Not entirely true: there is at least one physical SH Figuart Saga that was shown off at a toy show about 10-ish years ago. It was never mass manufactured and released, but it does exist.

does an unreleased one of a kind prototype actually count as a posable figure that anyone who's a fan of the suit can purchase though?

So, the whole reason I'm so excited to be sharing tracks from the second OST is because I find there's a more weighty, much moodier sound to many of them compared to the show's initial batch of tunes, appropriate for Kiva's shift towards heavier and heavier melodrama in the back half, and this one that plays in this episode as Wataru is trying to comfort Mio early on exemplifies what I'm talking about. This show's music is good, you guys.

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

And now that Saga has made his proper debut, I'd like to actually talk about him a bit, because I'll never get tired of praising this show's design work. First of all, that finisher is amazing. I've mentioned how in these later stages of Kiva, the absence of the elaborate stock footage finishers is a bummer, but not only does Saga make it night here, his go-to killing blow is to literally hang his foes, which is such a fantastically characterful thing for Taiga, as "executioner" is legitimately part of his royal day job.

Then there's the name. Like every other Rider in Kiva, it's actually just an ordinary Japanese word that describes the character. (Rey was "cold" and Arc was "evil", by the way.) The word saga (性) basically refers to the innate nature or destiny of things, and thus Saga as a character is defined by his unwavering belief in the status bestowed upon him by birthright. This is on top of the English meaning of saga, which also somewhat describes how Taiga probably views his life story – part of a grand lineage of the world's righteous rulers. I love it.

I also love a lot about that suit. The blue snake eyes are great, and the whole thing works nicely as, well, another Kiva, while still feeling entirely like its own thing. I think the ornate nature of a lot of the body actually prevents me from liking Saga as much as I want to, but I have to admit the theming is very well thought out. As in, it turns out Saga's creation was something of a saga in of itself.

The original motif concept for him was actually space, with the thinking being that the mysterious nature of the vast unknown would surpass even the many monsters the show was already using. This survived into the final design in some fashion, as Sagarc being a flying turntable originated with the idea of blending Kiva's musical theming with a UFO. Pretty neat! ...But obviously that sort of cheesy sci-fi idea is pretty outside Kiva's theming, and the concept for the third Rider himself didn't end up having anything to do with this. Instead, they came up with the very obvious idea of "make him a Fangire because the last one was a human", and from there incorporated there the whole focus on European architecture, complete with the stained glass that fits so perfectly. Also, his ears are both an "S" for "snake"! Neat!

It's a really good design, and especially because of that stained glass, I feel like Saga is sort of the epitome of everything about Kiva aesthetically, more so than even Kiva himself. Again, it's never quite been as much of a favorite for me as I want it to be, but I deeply appreciate what it's doing.

Also exciting for me is the man inside the suit. Eitoku continued to move closer to his destiny of playing secondary Riders by getting to be Kiva's tertiary one. Funnily enough, much as their untransformed actors are the same, Eitoku was also the suit actor for Rey in the movie prior to this. Saga's restrained body language doesn't give him too much room to show off, but still, it's cool to see him climbing that ladder over the years.

That depends on how much money you have and whether or not you have access to someone who works at Bandai Japan.

I didn't mention this before, but I like that Taiga has a little droid buddy who's been with him his whole life. That's an adorable touch for Fangire nobility, the sort of humanizing note that you don't normally add to a new rival on their second appearance.

I feel like we could be getting a Seihou Saga sometime over the next year? They've done every other TV show Rider for Kiva, and multiple Kiva suits (base, Emperor, Dark), so I don't think it's crazy to assume that they'll do Saga to close things out. Assuming that even closes things out? I don't know!

It's also a bit Delta, in its whole Tertiary Rider Who Shows Up Late In The Series With A Black And White Suit And Walks Slowly. Even the shoulders are sort of similar!

Possibly but I find the idea that Kiva as a series just keeps getting shafted when it come to figuarts to be a funny thought

Saga suit is simply put a great mix of elegance and archnemesis vibes.

Hmm.. I did say about how Taiga's debut feels like just failing Wataru's mission, the criminal just ran away unprovoked, albeit scared. Taiga succeed in saving Wataru, but what Taiga did seems equal to Wataru just letting the criminal go or losing track for him. I guess I was refering to merely the Taiga intervention here, as it's the 'debut'; Nago and Wataru are already established characters before with continuation of their arc.

Not saying it was OOC or not, but it's quite a reveal here for Otoya that, even he still had flawed approach to his beloved ones, which is a women (and as a womanizer he'd love all women) who had been building relationship with him. Which is here, he's loving a shadow. Though it can be Yuri being the one to overcompensate to be a 'good partner' as Die said. Otoya actually having a flawed approach to beloved ones like in love with an idea of a woman, that reminds me of Tendou's approach of Hiyori, one of the few people who Tendou is fully affectionate with, that even Tendou unwittingly treat her as object to protect her while neglecting her take on that.

I do admit that Mio arriving after Wataru went away made me chuckle, though my personal feelings is that, if there are secrets from each other, I kinda want for them to get to know about them quickly for some reason, which actually they do as Wataru and Mio did meet face to face in Tagia's dinner, and I'd hope for Taiga to get to know that they know each other, but they actually pretend to not know each other. I mean I actually think they still had affection to each other in that case, though yeah of course they're painfully shy, but I guess them pretending to not know each other had reasons that they're dead silent in their next date or something. But still, I thought Wataru sees the good in others (despite being shy, I mean one of the reasons to be shy is to be afraid of others, and he sunk into that way again when Dai-chan is actually Rook), but it only takes this part to make Wataru distrustful to her? It takes monsters like Rhino Fangire to send Wataru outright into hateful state.

For Shizuka kicking Mio afterwards, well... Shizuka and Mio feud isn't completely gone, and albeit the one at ep. 29 can be OOC, what I said regarding Shizuka still applies for how "Sweet and Protective" exclusively is applied to Wataru; someone could act drastically different towards loved ones, or those who aren't. Wataru gets her "Sweet and Protective" persona but Mio is... not Wataru, so she'd not necessarily getting that; moreover though Shizuka is otherwise normal to non-Wataru person, just that she can be forceful or pushy sometimes to others regarding Wataru, which is here for Shizuka being hostile and kicking Mio out for Wataru's behalf without getting through her. This one's probably the non-OOC take of Shizuka's personality there, unlike ep. 29 where she's outright evil.

I guess for Yuri, you only treasure what you've lost. Throughout the series Yuri is hostile towards Otoya, though it's for good reasons as Otoya was flirting inappropriately to her. It's irony about how Otoya spends most of the story chasing Yuri, but now, Yuri's chasing for Otoya who had been falling in love with someone else. From the beginning of the episode, I guess it was revealed that the one narrating the trivias are Kivat, and for this part of the episode, the twist is that Maya probably had higher skill cap than what she suggests, what I catch is that, for Maya copying his play, that only means that Otoya's skills on the violin she hears is sub-par to her. This part's a message about own potential to create own violin to draw 100% of talent... though I still don't fully capture of own violin being different except likely more passion to show off your creation's capability aside from your abilities. I wonder if this would apply for Riders too, creating own Riders instead of being handed would make a better fighter (the creator of IXA for example should use the IXA itself by that then).

I have to remind that if the villain status is ambiguous (with brackets) because 'he mostly just murders a Fangire', evil vs evil can exist in media (as well as good vs good), like for KR series, Kitazaki vs Arch Orphnoch in Faiz. And especially there's Daguva in Kuuga, who is one of the most irredeemable villains of the franchise, whose depravity is him killing his own species (for being too weak). Otherwise, there's a term called anti-villain, which means a villain with redeeming qualities, which'd apply for Taiga but probably can't be talked about here. Saga's finisher (where do you get the name of it being Saga? iirc wasn't mentioned in the series) is also one of those I like better in Kiva series, it's a different take of finishing an opponent by hanging them, instead of brute force attacks, though it doesn't look that deadly still. Kiva Emperor also unveils more of his abilities, in using Dogga Hammer, and the Emperor Thunder Slap.

Everybody knows Anti-Villian. We not Idiots.

Yeah, it feels like a midway point between Kiva and IXA. It brings over the immaculate white of IXA, but then fills it in with Kiva's gothic vibes. Good suit!

I mean, This Time It's Personal, you know? This isn't a random person who betrayed another random person. This was Wataru getting his heart broken by a girl he liked. A girl who is engaged to his childhood friend! Wataru is dealing with it as well as he probably can in the immediate aftermath. He's not a saint, you know? He's a sweet boy who is trying his best to navigate a horrible situation.

I think it's more that she's using the Bloody Rose as a metaphor for Otoya trying to please other people, fulfill other people's expectations. The Bloody Rose is him manifesting all of himself into the world, rather than working through someone else's vessel. She's basically telling him that he is wasting himself trying to be anything other than Otoya, and that includes being Yuri's boyfriend.

Some stuff I've just heard through the fandom (all the Kiva Seihous made it relevant recently), and some other people confirmed it in this thread.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 34 - "NOISE: MELODY OF DESTRUCTION”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva34a.png

This episode, despite being incredibly tight thematically, felt like it was spreading itself too thin. There's a lot going on right now in Kiva, from character returns to shocking reveals to diabolical schemes to heartache to whatever else I forgot to mention. With so many things to address, it makes for an episode that doesn't really tell a memorable story.

The smartest thing it does is focus in on Wataru's problems, and then reexamine those issues through different characters. It makes sure that Wataru is central to every story, even the ones he doesn't really interact with. It feels like this is his show, which has frequently been a problem.

Wataru is putting on a brave face regarding his recent break-up with Mio, and it's as funny as it is phony. He bakes himself a cake to celebrate another milestone on the way to adulthood, which is honestly enviably mature, but then he shrugs off Kivat's reminder of Mio's dedication with an Oh She Was Just Lying To Spare My Feelings, the sort of complete misinterpretation that tells us that Wataru is in really bad shape. I mean, he throws a party to celebrate getting dumped! There's seeing the bright side, and then there's this lunacy. (Like, the fact that Nago thinks this is a good idea should be a huge warning sign!) It's admirable that Wataru would try to make lemonade out of Doomed Romance lemons, but he's so clearly repressing his real feelings that it all comes off as cringe comedy. Still funny! But, like, funny because he is being incredibly weird.

From there, he lets Taiga try to cheer him up by... spending an afternoon on an amusement park outing with him and Mio. It's my favorite recurring gag on this show right now, Taiga trying to be a good guy to people he is emotionally atomizing. (When he's on his lunch date with Mio and is like It's So Cool To See You Love Me Like I Love You, while she's a second away from sobbing her eyes out? Hilarious!) Mio tries yet again to let Wataru know that she prefers him to Taiga, but Wataru is quick to deflect it, talk up Taiga, and then act like everything is going great.

It's a plotline that culminates with Wataru literally trying to drown his anger and sadness in the bath, a repression so painful and self-destructive that Bloody Rose cracks under the strain. In an episode where not a ton stuck in my brain, that shot of Bloody Rose bearing the physical manifestation of Wataru's emotional damage was something special. It's misinterpreted yet again by Wataru, thinking it happened because he couldn't force himself to be happy enough for his heartache and isolation.

It's sort of the flipside to what Wataru's talking about in the beginning. He's proud of his loss, since that's a part of growing up. But the point of your first heartbreak isn't to tick it off of a list. It's not that experience that's valuable. It's what you do with that pain, how you acknowledge it and grow from it. Wataru definitely hasn't acknowledged it. He's acting cheerful when he wants to scream, and it's making everything worse.

We get to see flashes of Wataru's pain across a couple other different plots, some that get more attention than others.

Mio's and Yuri's are the bigger ones, with Mio suffering under the yoke of Queendom, and Yuri suffering under the yoke of cuckqueandom. The Yuri story is zero percent subtle, just scene after scene of Yuri sitting in the dining room while her boyfriend and a supernaturally-gorgeous supernatural executioner make the most erotic musical instrument 1980s Japan had to offer. Mio's stuff is equally repetitive, with her looking for outs and getting nothing. She does schedule a meeting with Maya, however, and I'm very much looking forward to whether or not they can see eye-to-eye.

The other big Brave Face storyline is KENGO! Kengo's back! And he's basically Snipe from Ex-Aid! Which is another way of saying he's no longer Here To Make Friends! There's really not much more to Kengo's story this time than his shocking reappearance, violent attitude, and militaristic makeover, but it's still a hell of a return. Beyond the questionable timeline (so Kengo became a brutally-efficient operative for W.A.K.E.U.P. after a month of training?), I really don't mind the changes the show made to Kengo. There'll always be a place in my heart for the very sweet and supportive friendship he had with Wataru, but this is an Inoue show. I am not going to be mad at Kengo returning as a bloodthirsty asshole hiding his desperate need to make friends, especially if it makes me think of Snipe. Hard to call it an improvement, but I don't mind it as a substitution.

All that, and I didn't even touch on Bishop's interest in Wataru, Taiga's interest in Kiva, or the Super Fangire being created by a former W.A.K.E.U.P. scientist. It's an overstuffed episode! It's still got a solid thematic core, but it's got a few too many plates spinning right now.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva34b.png

And come to think of it, it kind of is the Delta to Kiva's Faiz; tertiary rider, black-based suit with white trims, evil and destructive, the works.

I don't care much for Emperor Form, and I never got the hype behind Supernova. But I'll tell you what's a design I fell in love with at first sight: Saga! And a song that I've yet to get tired of listening to? Roots of the King!! Absolute criminal that my favourite snake-ufo-castle themed Rider has been so neglected among all the flux of recent Kiva-shelling merch, hmph!

Also hey! Snipe is way cooler than Kengo! (But will that Taiga be cooler than this show's Taiga in the longrun for you? I'm curious to see...)

Well, I can finally post Bishop’s information.

Swallowtail Fangire

True name: The Ascetic and a Left Foot Sock (禁欲家と左足だけの靴下 Kin'yokuka to Hidariashi dake no Kutsushita)

Human identity: N/A

Rank: Bishop

Class: Insect

Actor: Mitsu Murata

And now for our mad doctor’s (who is, by the way, played by the same guy who plays Nira on Drive) patient.

Horsefly Fangire

True name: The Decaying Fish and the Poetry Anthology Filled Cradle (腐敗した魚と詩集の詰まった揺籃 Fuhai shita Sakana to Shishū no Tsumatta Yōran)

Human identity: Kaede

Class: Insect

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Tomomi Miyashita, Kaori Mine (voice in Fangire form)

So yeah, this is where all the problems Wataru’s been suffering really get to him. Can I just say that I’m pretty fond of these sorts of stories where the hero is having the problem that drives the plot, rather than a secondary character or a victim.

And I’ll close off with a rare case of a sequel to a song on the soundtrack, Prayer - Message 2.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8tT9ZNXejTo

It may be Wataru's show, but the Saga hype sure isn't stopping, as 34 marks the first use of his own personal insert theme, Roots of the King... which is kinda sung by Wataru, but you know what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-cxQ9GwPmo

Following in the footsteps of Destiny's Play and Individual-System, Saga gets a single to himself that's no less cool. Really, I might even argue it's way cooler? Not to say I necessarily like it way more, or anything, but just, Saga is a guy who thinks he's the best, and his song wants you to know it. The egotistical lyrics put even Nago to shame, with basically every other line being about how much Taiga has earned his dark privilege (literally just by being born), and how much more important and just plain better he is than you because of it. It's got some massive bad boy energy, with a suitably edgy sound, and I kinda can't get enough of it. Throwing out the word "favorite" as much as I'd like to with Kiva's songs is going to make it clear how little that word means, but yeah, there you go. This one is another favorite for me.

Sort of on the subject of Saga as well, I mentioned how the suit is a clear counterpart to Kiva, and that got me to consciously realize for the first time that's it's specifically a counterpart to Kiva Form, with the top-heavy armor and relatively plain legs. (Oh, and Kiva's base form is literally called "Kiva Form", by the way, which I will never not love.) I guess most of why I want to mention this is because that random thought allowed me to put together something I found moderately interesting about Emperor Form's fighting style. As I very briefly touched on earlier in the thread, Kiva Form tended to be more about punching dudes, but reflecting the much more balanced armor layout, Emperor's fights often place a huge emphasis on him kicking monsters, which can be seen both in its debut, and in this episode. Sort of a neat way to differentiate them, if weirdly specific. (Maybe it's because Takaiwa finally could move his legs a lot easier again with the Emperor suit...?)

I assume the lack of Saga merch is specifically to allow the non-Saga merch to sell. I mean, Saga's only been in the show for two episodes, and I can't get anyone to talk about anything else! Why would a Seihou Emperor Form sell if there was a Seihou Saga instead?

Yeah, it's certainly made for more propulsive serialized storytelling. We're basically well past the point where anyone's problems are going to start in one episode and end in the next. It makes it feel more of a story about Wataru, him falling apart and it cascading through the rest of the cast, rather than a story featuring Wataru.

I will always be a fan of little short stories that elevate and explore the themes of the series (Shinji and Ryoko forever), but it's a more enjoyable second half when the stories are internally generated.

You're not wrong! Emperor Form, maybe because of those kicks, is also a little bit more of strategic fighting style? It's a form that paces itself a little better, as opposed to Kiva Form's rushing and punching.

I.. was saying this because Mio seems to fare better regarding this to Wataru judging from your comment before, though it makes sense as Mio's the one who put into this difficult situation while Wataru doesn't know fully yet about the situation. I don't know yet what makes you label him as 'not a saint' btw (moreover you continued with 'sweet boy'), though otherwise, I wouldn't want for negative traits to be overlooked, but I'm also not keen into using personal (not saying this is right) argument to make someone (mostly those with 'Rider sensibility') look more ulterior than they're; it's sometimes used to paint something as more realistic.. but it's scummy view. From what I read too, Wataru not spitting out about his relationship with Mio to Taiga is a form of him being nice.

I don't know if Wataru celebrating his break-up with Mio is done by himself or if it's by Shizuka's persuasion (Wataru has developed to not be a total doormat anymore though, albeit Wataru did listen to Shizuka and decides that it's good for him). For Nago well, it seems that he becomes more amicable with Wataru, misguided mentoring in last episode aside, like he even joins Wataru in the bathtub!

Though for above, Wataru not spitting out about him and Mio is him being nice, it's what sparks the problem here for Taiga unwittingly atomizing Wataru emotionally, though Wataru revealing it to him... dunno what would happen. For Wataru not acknowledging it, still I wonder if if he's shy because of going through even worse part of those breakdowns (what he'd experienced here can be a trigger to make someone timid, due to being afraid of dealing with those kind people or situation again), compared to the ones seen in the series like, Dai-chan stuff, Mio stuff here, Kengo stuff (Dai-chan stuff was the one iirc made him adverse to contact with others. He's definitely depressed here, but isn't about shyness I think for breaking Bloody Rose.

Mio is shy yeah, mirror of Wataru, but like I said before I don't feel like the 'Queen' role is actually , when others are the one to control and pressure her into doing what's ruled for Fangire, if Mio isn't shy, her Queen role should be probably able to shake the whole Fangire species, shaping into what she wants (e.g. not forbidden loving humans). Albeit probably, it's the King role in Taiga that decides everything and King has total and full authority including the Queen and making sure that the Queen acts according to the rules set up by the King. For Yuri watching Otoya and Maya making the masterpiece instrument... it's especially that Yuri is a dreadful musician that she's really out of touch for this.

It's surprising that Kengo goes from weaker fighter when he worked for Aozora before, to someone who kicked Nago's ass without problem. That seems to be too fast of an evolution, surprassing a good number of characters like almost instantly from non-fighter self before. Otherwise still, this is probably the one that others talk about Kengo being a jerk, it's this part about him being outright aggressive and distrusting, which you won't know yet that Kengo's still the one with supportive friendship to Wataru. Though btw what differentiates Kengo's change here, to Yuji's change in Faiz at near end to you?

I'd want to know about Bishop's interest in Wataru, as he's another major villain like Rook before. The implication of Dark Kiva is going to be important like other Riders such as IXA, though I wonder about why if it's the 'original', its name has addition (Dark Kiva) compared to the 'imitation' that is only 'Kiva'. The Super Fangire gives me the vibe that she's added up as the Queen's replacement, considering Mio's stint is less than satisfactory.

Boy, I feel like this series is maybe not going to be for you! This isn't the standard Rider series that's about justice, or empathy, or how we work together to support one another. (I mean, some of that is in here, but it's not the focus.) Kiva's a show about personal love, and individual choice, and how those things exist within structures that may not value them. It's absolutely going to feature characters - heroes! - who occasionally make selfish choices and don't deal with their emotions well. That's part of the story that's being told!

Oh, I definitely thought this was all Wataru's decision. Shizuka's just trying to support her son as he's going through a rough patch. She's a good mom!

Yuji was a lead character whose personality and goals completely inverted in the final four episodes. Kengo's a supporting player who the show spent a few episodes deconstructing before bringing him back as Kamen Rider Snipe. It's a big swing, but it's a little less abrupt, and it certainly isn't as central to the show as Yuji's turn was.

I'm appreciating the show's pacing as we move into the mid-30s. The love triangle stuff is taking up multiple episodes, but it doesn't feel drawn out at this point and there are still consistent developments with it. There's definitely a version of the show where Taiga gets introduced earlier and the triangle gets dragged out for 5-10 episodes, but bringing it in this late in the game does add some urgency to it that the Otoya/Yuri/Jiro triad lacked.

In general, I'm finding that the modern era is more engaging for me right now. Otoya and Maya making a violin while Yuri angsts downstairs is an important plot point, but the forward momentum is a lot slower than what we're seeing in the present. Also: damn it, Otoya, if you're going to emotionally cheat on your girlfriend at least have the common decency to do it while she's not sitting there watching it. That's still bad, but at least its polite.

Nice to see that the Fangires are finally, 30+ episodes later, showing some concern about this new Kiva guy that's running around killing them.

The series arc pacing is such an improvement for me over the last few shows. We had a solid start, where the show was more about random Fangire plots. We had a middle section, where it was about testing our cast and finding their limits. And now we're back to the Fangires, but with a sense of them as more of an organizational force, because Inoue. It keeps the show from feeling too repetitive, and the way the show switches from one mode to another has been pretty fluid.

My headcanon is that this is all a very specific kink of Otoya and Yuri's, and it's just that no one told Maya. She's the victim here!

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 35 - "NEW ARRANGEMENT: FLYING ROSE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva35a.png

I really wanted to like this episode! There's a thing it does with Wataru that is in my Top 3 Wataru things for this series! But I didn't like this episode!

It's all over the place, unfortunately. Kengo's in one scene to be installed as the new IXA, and then that's all we see of 70% of the 2008 cast. (Megumi! Poor Megumi!) Jiro randomly appears to Wataru to give him the next instruction for his plotline. Yuri's in the most thankless role she's had yet, and that's saying something. The Super Fangire never coheres as a villain, despite an early-episode twist. (She just... she isn't about anything. She's just a victim who becomes a crazy power-mad monster. It's not saying anything about this show's themes or plots!) It ends with a bunch of CGI nonsense, and I'll never ever care about that. It's sloppy, and overstuffed, and it lacks a throughline.

All of that would be forgivable if I thought the show landed its big Bloody Rose moments, but I don't think it does.

And I like some of it a lot. A lot. The idea of Wataru playing the song his dad always plays, and then adding more music of his own to the end of it... brilliant. Such a perfect encapsulation of Wataru's journey, and a lovely visualization of how Wataru draws strength from his absent father. Incredibly touching, and a thrillingly constructed scene.

It just... it just doesn't connect to the rest of this story at all.

Wataru's dilemma in this story wasn't that he lacked direction, or that he couldn't live up to his father's legacy, or that he couldn't feel his father's presence in his life. That's all general Kiva stuff, but it's nothing that was going on in the last two episodes. What was going on in the last two episodes was that Wataru had his heart broken, and he was pretending everything was fine. Bloody Rose cracked because he was denying his pain. But this episode has the resolution to that problem be a random confession to Taiga in the middle of the episode, and makes the emotional climax something that could've landed at the end of nine or ten other stories. It's nothing specific to this story, and that sucks. It makes a huge emotional breakthrough from Wataru into something generic and perfunctory. It's a beautiful moment that feels haphazardly shoved into this episode.

The Otoya story is sort of the same thing. It's him testifying to his love of humanity, when we're in the middle of a story about him neglecting his girlfriend for another woman. It's a great Otoya moment, something drawn from long-form characterization, that somehow feels dropped in from nowhere. It's possible that you could look at Otoya's story as being about Suffering For Art, what with him looking like Maya's a literal vampire now, but it'd be another random metaphor in an episode that can't keep a coherent theme.

God, I felt so let down by this one. It's getting back into the value of art, the way a family of artists (like, say, tokusatsu writers) deal with their dedication to art, how art has life-destroying and life-saving properties... but all of that comes out of nowhere, when we've had an episode and a half of metaphorical adultery and emotionally-repressed teenagers. It's all stuff I wished the show spent more time talking about, but it inexplicably opted to do so midway through this episode with almost no setup.

Just shoddily constructed. Some good ideas, but clumsily executed. If this was how they wanted to address some of these themes, I'd've rather they stuck to the romantic melodrama.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva35b.png

So here we are, at the debut of Kiva Flight Style in show. And though this song wasn’t specifically written to represent it (I think that was the update of Destiny’s Play), given that the whole theme of the episode is Wataru connecting with Otoya’s music, here’s Wataru’s version of “this love never ends”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6fi-_Gw2ZoA

I wonder how Taiga felt about Wataru having that suspiciously Kiva-looking emblem on Wataru’s bike.

And as for the episode itself, all I can say is “Don’t you just hate it when someone puts random swords in your drywall?”

tfw I came too late to gush over Emperor form (The ONLY Ultimate form I like as much is Mugen Damashii from Ghost) and the best ultimate form theme BY FAR

I think this subplot was never really about her or the mad scientist despite them driving it, but rather Shima, who seems to be pretty strongly against working with Fangires. It's rare that we get to hear his opinion on stuff outside of managing Wonderful Aozora.

I would like to talk about what Flight Style represents for Wataru's arc though. This is what I meant earlier regarding how Emperor Form isn't at its full power yet and this is another step towards reaching that potential, which was significant enough for Maya to detect it from her cave. It's thematically appropriate as well, since conventional vampires are capable of transmogrification in to bats. There's still more to see of Emperor Form!

I haven't really thought about it before, but I suppose the Bloody Rose story does seem a little tangential to pretty much everything about the Wataru/Mio/Taiga triangle, even if that was the catalyst for it. I think it's still a good story though, for how it allows Wataru to make more progress in getting closer to Otoya and understanding something new about himself. But yeah, I suppose it might be at the expense of the main plot, as you say, since even Wataru's confession to Taiga about his feelings for Mio is just a small thing that sets up the next part. Taiga's not going to step aside when he believes so strongly in his birthright.

Plural? Mio fits the description, but the only other main character who's a teen here is Shizuka and she doesn't seem very emotionally-repressed.

Personally, I enjoyed this episode for what it was, but if your judgment is that it needed more of Inoue's classic romantic melodrama, then I can totally agree with that!

BTW, what do you think of 2008 Maya's gothic hermit fashion sense?

Maybe he assumed Wataru was a Kiva fan like Kengo. Or maybe he didn't notice, like how Nago didn't notice Kivat rotated 180 degrees, or how people never notice Tridoron under the SCU emblem. People in this franchise can be very unobservant sometimes.

With how much apocalyptic shimmying Castle Doran goes through, those must be some load-bearing swords.

Never too late!

Maybe? But even then, it's mostly just him saying Please Stop Experimenting On Fangires, and there're really no levels to it.

Sure! I definitely appreciate the idea of Wataru finding resolve in his father's legacy, but turning it into something new that better represents his worldview, and then turning Kiva into something new that reflects his goals. That's great!

I don't like that CGI BatDragon, though. Just... I don't! I can't! I'm sorry!

It turns Wataru's heroic dedication to saving people into some incidental thing, a realization he made accidentally while he was trying to get over his break-up. I'm not saying that he couldn't rededicate himself to Kamen Ridering in the aftermath of heartbreak (in fact, I would love that story), but there's just not enough effort made in connecting the romantic melodrama with the heroic declarations.

Even with no makeup and an eyepatch: that face.

Other than that, I can't say her 2008 cavewear made much of an impression on me. Maybe next time!