KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 39 - "SHOUT: TARGETED BROTHER”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva39a.png

Maybe my favorite final act for any Kamen Rider ever. I've liked Kiva as a series, but I love the show right now. Literally every episode is better than the one before it, and the one before this one was transcendent.

Some of it is in the general approach of an Inoue Rider show, and some of it is in the specificity of the characters.

The general approach stuff... Inoue likes to talk about systems, and how they don't account for individual choice. They provide a strict framework that can't stand up to the messiness of existence. They're good in theory, bad in practice. But we live in a world of systems, so what do we do about that? Do we destroy them, since they're so ill-suited to our true desires? Or do we work within them to bring about change, risking becoming the very thing that was hurting us? Do we work towards integration, or do we try to win a war?

Inoue's answer is frequently that you can't think at that scale, or you'll go crazy. You can't think about your actions as something that would sway a society. You need to be true to yourself, just like everybody else, and hope that something positive will come from your example. Trying to control or destroy systems is a sucker's bet. Living your life as a good person, and finding some way to wring a little happiness out of the endeavor, that's the best any of us can ask for.

It's a smaller-scale look at heroism, and a more pragmatic one than I assume most tokusatsu fans are looking for. It's acknowledging that the world is a series of interlocking systems that one person isn't going to alter, but a caring society can incrementally improve through individual actions. We make ourselves better, and then we make each other better, and then we make society better. That's it. That's all we can really do.

So, an episode that starts sketching out those themes? I love it. I love when I can feel Inoue start to make his point. The structure of the series, a hundred little choices, end up revealing a diagram that has built our hero into something that reflects us as people, in a show that reflects us as a society. That's my favorite part of an Inoue series.

And, god, to do it with this much precision, through characters this complex and compelling? You guys. It is not my birthday until November.

The last episode was wall-to-wall revelations, and this one is all of the consequences. It's all of our characters trying to deal with what they learned last time, and discovering that they can't all get what they want. Having an entire episode where Wataru is let down and betrayed by nearly everyone in his life would seem like a bummer, if it weren't for how hard the show has worked to get everyone to this point.

It starts with Wataru, who is as sweet as ever. While he's initially mopey about his new Fangire heritage, his mother (or a vision of his mother?!?!) reminds him that his culture isn't more important than his identity. He's a human, and a Fangire, and the son of Otoya, and the son of Maya, and a Fangire prince, and a Kamen Rider. But all of that is incidental, things he didn't ask for or couldn't choose. He's Wataru, and that's the part that matters. To fall back on the old Inoue Tautology that we're probably an episode away from someone actually saying, Wataru Is Wataru. He doesn't become any more or less that based on new information. He can still be who he wants to be, no matter the new circumstances.

With that idealistic confidence, he decides to forge ahead with a new mission: unite the worlds of Fangires and humans. It's a great plan with only a single, minor flaw. Namely, literally no one on the show but Wataru wants that to happen.

Shima's happy to look past Wataru's Fangire blood, since Otoya's blood is also in Wataru's veins. (It is sort of insane to me that no one in the last ten months told Shima that Wataru's last name was Kurenai. It was not a secret! Boss knew it! It's definitely come up before! Maybe Shima was just too focused on the deep consideration he was giving to picking IXA's bearer to bother to ask?) But the second Wataru's like Maybe I'll Use My Power To Unite Our Two Cultures, Shima is picturing the crosshairs on Wataru's forehead.

Taiga, pleased to finally have a brother, hugs Wataru close as he offers him the chance to enslave and devour humanity as a Fangire. When Wataru is aghast at Taiga's offer, and defends humanity, Taiga basically laughs in his face. He's already trying to figure out how to draw out the Fightin' Fangire Spirit from Wataru's weak human exterior.

And Mio! Mio, who Wataru has been trying to protect, also hugs Wataru as she destroys his soul. She's as happy as we've ever seen her, because Wataru's new identity as a Fangire prince is going to help both of them. He just needs to kill Taiga, become King, and everything will work out for them. Easy peasy, Zanvat swingy.

The Mio one hits the hardest, but they're all pretty demoralizing. (I super duper love how the Mio/Wataru part is played by her like a lucky break, and by him like a terminal prognosis.) It's everyone opting for a world of violence and cruelty, and they'll kill the sweet boy fighting for love. Even Mio is basically killing the part of Wataru that she fell in love with. It's this entire show looking at Wataru's hope for everyone getting along, and then deciding the only thing they agree on is that he's wrong.

There's a little hope, though? Megumi and Nago, of all people, refuse to follow Shima's orders, buying Kiva a little time in his fight with IXA. (We are so far from the days of Kengo's friendship with Wataru that the show doesn't even hint at there being any conflict or hesitancy in Kengo. He's totally okay murdering Wataru now!) That also falls apart - because it is that kind of episode - as Bishop unlocks Wataru's Fightin' Fangire Spirit, complete with a cool stained-glass mask piece that the Emperor Form Seihou doesn't even come with so I'm canceling my preorder at site sponsor Tokullectibles. It's a huge, ugly rebuttal to Wataru's hopes, and I'm into it. I'm into this show challenging Wataru's idealism, and really stacking the deck against him. He wants to change the world, but the world isn't built to be changed. But he was able to change Megumi and Nago - by accident, by being himself - and maybe that's a good start.

I can't believe how good this show is right now. It's as addictive to me as any Kamen Rider I've ever watched. It's firing on all cylinders as it tightens the net, if I can mix some metaphors. Absolutely obsessed with what this show is doing as it winds down. Thematic weight and compelling characters? Be still my beating heart.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva39b.png

as I've said I've not seen Kiva but which version of Inoue is this the cool version of him we've seen in Jetman (and even then I watched that when I was 14(currently 20) so that seemed like the best thing on planet Earth at the time I'd probably cringe at a few scenes nowadays), the one that felt like being edgy because fuck you in Faiz, or whatever the hell he was doing in Agito

As someone who has maybe enjoyed a Faiz episode or two in the past (was that the train one?), I'd say what Inoue is doing here is a better version of his endgame on Faiz. The various themes and metaphors aren't as strong, and he is juggling his cast badly (I don't think I mentioned 1986 at all in that last episode post because they mostly don't matter right now), but the cause-and-effect is better, and the series plotting is way more sensible and exciting. It doesn't feel like it's lurching as much as other shows did in their final batch of episodes, you know? There's a fluidity to how everything is falling apart around Wataru that has me hooked as a viewer.

What I really loved about this episode is that it's all about Wataru's different worlds starting to pull at him. They all know exactly what he is and they all want something different from him. You mentioned the bridge shot already, but there are a lot of visual parallels here as Shima, Taiga, and Mio have all decided what they want Wataru to be and they put their plans in place for him. Considering how long it took the show to get to this bi-species divide, it is really diving into it head first and it's fantastic.

The only part that doesn't completely work for me is Mio asking Wataru to kill Taiga. I get where she's coming from, but it seems really bloodthirsty for the otherwise shy and awkward Mio. It makes sense for me that she has an alternative future suddenly put in front of her that offers her everything she wants and she's trying to grab it, but it still seems like an abrupt turn for the character.

I think it worked for me because the actor plays it with a level of mania. Wataru's dealing with a lot right now, and their relationship is very rocky, and she knows how this is going to sound, but just hear her out. It's insane, but I feel like Mio is basically going crazy by this point in the series.

Like, I don't think is something she's doing out of happiness? I think she's asking Wataru to kill Taiga because every other outcome ends with her and/or Wataru dead.

On the other hand, I can totally believe that Mio would be genuinely ecstatic at the thought of Taiga, in her view the currently direct source of all her problems, getting smited by Wataru, the boy she truly loves. It'd be like something out of a fairy tale, happily-ever-after and all. For her, anyway.

Wataru can't catch a break! Getting everyone to get along would be quite the feat considering I don't think he could get literally any combination of two characters on this show to get along.

Which is why, I thought Zanvat Sword is nothing special before, based on what I know from the games... and likely the finisher is a part for that too, I was wrong big time when watching the episode.

I know that Mio is in human form, but I do refer to the human form as it's shown before that the Fangires in human form has superhuman physical stats as well like Rook for example. Moreover in ep. 38 Mio did try to push a Fangire on her way..

What I thought your reaction will be on ep. 24 before, that there's time and place (I know execution matters). Otherwise, the part of drama, comedy, etc. are done by different characters who fulfills each of those traits by themselves right? Like Nago and Kengo for comedy, and Wataru or Maya for dramatic part. By this, I'd think to not for example, rag on for example, another character for assigning different roles that is less of certain audience's taste right like not doing comedic stuff (while the ones with comedic stuff here don't do dramatic stuff). I thought for something declared at having it all, it'd can also mean a character being 'versatile', doing all comedic, dramatic, etc. at once, but for this episode, it seems that the characters aren't that. Actually, I'm not too keen on the Rider team up here, Saga only did a watered-down version of his finisher, which is just using long range mode of his rapier! For Dark Kiva, it's similar too, in my thread about improving finishers, Kiwami noted about how lame Dark Kiva's finisher is, the one used in this episode.

So not Faiz's one (or Faiz's one is before Blade therefore overwritten). I know you've said that Kiva is a story about personal love and individual choice, and it seems that the reason for being invested here is about that. But it seems to be more of preference then rather than it being the good/"right" way to do a story than the bad/"wrong" way (well, the execution also counts yeah). Other than preference, I'd not want to push personal notion in every stuff like when it's not meant to be personal. Romantic stories do tend to have everything personal sized, everything revolving around the characters who're going through romance. But for being personal, I'd afraid about it likely protagonist centric moral wise (in deciding which is wrong or right) like if a love interest of a protagonist catches the eyes of someone else, then they're treated as being in the wrong and thus they must be hated just because they can be stolen away from the protagonist, or doing anything heinous to other people for romance is treated as completely right because it favors the protagonists. Even without that, it's common stuff in fandom to ship A and B, and demonize C or any other irrationally just because of getting in the way of their ship.

So Maya is barefeet in her 2008 attire... but still, I already said it before, but I'm right about before that Otoya won't be the one to suffer for Maya's "literal vampire", but Maya instead in 2008, eh? Loving Otoya would mean that Maya suffered instead. And not for King's threatening (so her taunt to King has place), but for the Queen mechanic of losing its power, but also (so it's even worse than I thought than losing her Queen powers) her further suffering that the Fangires will likely hunt her, therefore she's been broken that she had to isolate herself from society, staying away from her sons. Here Taiga's shown to be an abusive offspring to threaten his own mother under his power using his King obligation, with Wataru being someone who had no disdain for Maya despite her leaving him when little (so more of his sweetness here), as it can happen when a parent abandons their child, making the relationship more dysfunctional.

I admit that the part of 7-5-3 being actually Nago's identity is creative joke, na(na)-go-san. I forgot to give my appreciation before for Otoya's joke like him distracting others with a signed idol photoshoot. Though otherwise, the comedy here is the usual mean-spirited humor (so it's not light-hearted), a version of schadenfreude, laughing at other's pain, due to the pariticpants being the self-righteous Nago and the aggressive & brutal Kengo. It resembles Yuri's love to Otoya for some reason here to me, wanting to take back what they've lost, here, about Nago teaching Kengo. I don't know how you can think Nago coaches badly, I mean, Nago san is obviously more experienced at using IXA, so he'd know what the device does in and out. Kengo is the one that, although he turns into badass fighter, his dumb traits stay, and likely even more dangerous combined with his badasssery now, like him shooting at Nago (who is in human form!) due to him being stupid while brutal. Still I wanna ask here, as Kengo's asshole behavior is celebrated here against another male (Nago), what'll make Kengo horrifying for his treatment to another men? As before you noted about Kengo being monumental creep for his behavior to Mio.

Yeah I noticed you once referred to Wataru as a Fangire sometime after the Time Door arc, so I figured you were taking that fact for granted after processing the new information about Wataru inheriting Nago's Lucky Button from Maya and Taiga being Maya's first son.

As for who took care of kid Wataru after Maya abandoned him for his own protection, since he's living proof of forbidden love between human and Fangire, I think Kivat raised him on his own as an adoptive father until Shizuka became old enough to take the mother role. Considering how Kivat is an adult who knows a lot of interesting facts about violins and art, that might be how Wataru got most of his education. Your math checks out though!

I dislike wine as well. I prefer other alcohol like beer and spirits.

So you believe that 2008 Maya is disfigured due to her eyepatch? Well that's a common assumption. But the show never brings it up at any point so I don't think it actually implies anything. As DreadBringer mentioned above, her outfit is just strange in general. Maybe she sold her boots to pay for the eyepatch? Who knows?

So much for you "ruining Episode 39 by mistake". :p

We may live in a world of systems, but those systems were constructed in a world of chaos by people who fear chaos. No good can come from extreme lawful actions like Taiga wanting to suppress humanity or extreme chaotic actions like Mio wanting Wataru to murder his own brother in a mutiny. Taiga and Mio feel closer to Wataru for their own reasons, but Wataru has never felt further away from them. He represents the space between the law of Fangires and the chaos of humanity, so his only inclination is towards neutral good actions that will benefit both sides. While that is unfortunately the most difficult road to walk, it's also what makes Wataru's heroism the most genuine and sincere. Not letting yourself be defined by your affiliation with a system, or inversely, your hostility towards it, is the only way to serve the ultimate good. Wataru shouldn't have to sacrifice either of the people he cares about. He shouldn't have to choose one side of himself over the other. He values freedom, for humans, Fangires and himself. That's the future he wants to create.

Kamen Rider Kiva Episode 39 aired on November 9th 2008. So you can consider this a birthday present which you are now redeeming almost 13 years later.

Technically, "Kamen Rider" isn't canon either. Also, you missed the ダ. But I agree that Dark Kiva looks very awesome and intimidating! He's my favorite Dark Rider and I really like the concept of using the Primary Rider's Final Form instead of their default. No other Dark Rider has done that before or since and I hope Toei takes inspiration from this for future Dark Riders. It makes sense as well, since Tatsulot pointed out that Emperor isn't just Kiva's Final Form, it's also his True Form, unlocked by Wataru unconsciously tapping in to his dormant half-Fangire blood. Whereas Dark Kiva, being a full Fangire, already has total control of his power and doesn't need an inhibitor that's painful to wear. His suit actor is a lucky dude for sure.

Continuing on the Dark Kiva train with his theme from the soundtrack, which you maybe don't hear in the show than much more often than Exterminate Time? It's used in the recap here, but it seems like King's scenes regularly walk hand-in-hand with stock music, which is, you know, fine and all. In this particular case, it's hard to blame them for wanting something else for when Dark Kiva is doing his thing, since for a dude who is essentially the ultimate evil, he has a weirdly jazzy and fun tune, if still foreboding. I do kinda love it though! Adds some nice variety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx8_HmKB11I

Much less upbeat is the second track for today, Sorrowful Thoughts, which is another real mood for Wataru in a scene where his girlfriend is trying to pitch him the idea of killing his own brother. Poor guy's got a lot on his plate right now, but I can't complain too much if it means I have an excuse to share even more pretty melancholic music from this show.

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

...Okay, I can complain a little, though. Or rather, I definitely would've back when I first watched Kiva? I suspect I'd be more open to what it's doing in the back half now, but I distinctly recall the constantly mounting grief in this stretch taking me a bit out of the story. Not even in the sense that I thought "oh this show is BAD now", but simply that it was a bit difficult to feel properly invested in emotionally, the way I was during that second quarter where Kengo debuted. And I mean, look at where Kengo is right now. (That one stung in particular.) It's like Kiva was this charming silly show about an awkward kid making his way in the world surrounded by eccentric personalities, and by this point it's about a young man making his in a way in a world that is actively out to crush his spirit at every turn.

And like, that is completely the right thing for the story, obviously! But I don't know; maybe I was just already having my fix of that from watching Gaim every week back then or something. It's another reason I know this recent turn for Nago was a legit smart move by Inoue, as 753 becoming such a huge source of comic relief and also inexplicably one of Wataru's most supportive and caring friends made him into a sort of anchor to keep me watching through all the trauma. I have to imagine it was the same way for some of the kids at the time, too. You need at least that one guy who can keep things simple, you know?

It feels weird even talking about this, by the way? Like, I'm kicking up feelings I'm long past over already, and I don't think they were ever that serious to begin with. The show was still keeping me watching, for sure, and I don't think I would've ever argued it was worse off for what it was doing by this point. It's just, it's *so* tragic! My heart couldn't take it! :lol

At any rate, I'm very much glad to see it's so gripping for you right now, Die. There's really nothing quite like seeing you shower an Inoue show with glowing praise.

Fratricide does show up in a bunch of fairy tales, so, uh, maybe!

There is something charmingly oblivious about Wataru learning he's a Fangire and then the next day going Not All Fangires and assuming multiple warring societies would buy into that opinion. Like, in a year, Wataru has met maybe three Fangires that don't want to kill humans, and two of them got detonated for trying to kill humans. (The third is Taiga, who definitely wants to kill humans, it's just that Wataru didn't know that.) Shima has dedicated over two decades of his life to protecting humanity from Fangires. Why did Wataru think a sheepish grin and some self-acceptance was going to be the solution to this war?

Sure, it's not the flashiest or best team-up, but it's nice to see Kiva and Saga teaming up for the first time to protect their mom.

Oh, I wouldn't say that finding this part of the episode funny is celebrating Kengo's behavior. Honestly, it's Nago's performance that makes everything work, while Kengo is just the cruel straight-man. Kengo's still a jerk, it's just that Nago's wackiness makes it all easier to watch.

I did? Huh! Yeah, I've had Wataru Is A Half-Fangire in the back of my head basically since Maya showed up, since it felt sort of inevitable that she was going to be Wataru's mom. I've tried not to drop stuff like that in, but I guess I slipped up.

Weirdly, I think I could totally buy Kivat raising Wataru if it were happening right now. There're so many delivery apps and online portals and whatnot that a neck-obsessed Henshin device -slash- surrogate father could probably handle raising a small boy.

In 199X, though? Eeesh, not so sure. Who is buying food? Or fixing water pipes? Or paying property taxes? Or filling out a census? I feel like there needs to be one grown adult to be involved in this kid's life.

Oh, I was more aghast at Maya being provided such a recent (and therefore pedestrian) vintage. She is deposed royalty! You need to treat her with some dignity. You can't buy her wine at a gas station or something.

Maybe she just got pink eye from sleeping in a cave? Maybe that's why she doesn't want Wataru hugging her?

Yeah, this is really one of those Wataru Is His Father's Son moments. Now that he truly understands that being a Fangire doesn't make you innately evil, he's extending his protection to every species that wants to live a peaceful life. It's what Otoya would do, where he was able to see past labels and orders, and just judge a person for their actions and potential. The bit in 39 where Yuri comes in and thinks she's blowing Otoya's mind with the reveal that Maya is a Fangire, and not only does he know, but he doesn't care? That's Wataru! That's his same take!

I think the specific way the show approaches Wataru's despair is what makes it addictively watchable for me.

The first thing it does is avoid a lot of the normal signifiers. I love these types of scenes, but this isn't Wataru moping in a bathtub while Henshin Devices try to cheer him up. If we'd gotten Bathtub Mope into Mal d'Amour mope into Sad Montage, it would be way harder to take. We mostly don't get those scenes, though?

I mean, we sort of do, but they've all got a burst of optimism to them, which I think helps a lot. There's gravity to Wataru's confusion, but there're also new possibilities, so we're seeing him try to make some lemonade out of Final Act lemons. Even when he's trying to deal with Nago's confession that Kiva's been marked for death by W.A.K.E.U.P., he still hops on his bike and races out to stop a Fangire that's threatening his mom. There's never a shortage of energy in this episode, and I think that's what kept me from feeling suffocated by Wataru's growing isolation.

I had always assumed from episode 1 that being Kiva was basically the same thing as being a Fangire, just that the former is a cooler and more marketable version. They're both so clearly derived from vampires after all.

Sure, but the way Kiva's Henshin is from Kivat biting him... there was always a little bit of a grey area there, where maybe Kivat was giving him a boost of Fangire power, and that's what allowed him to become Kiva?

There're a half-dozen things in this show that are very likely to be one thing, but unacknowledged enough to possibly be something else. Kiva being a Fangire is the obvious assumption (Nago and Megumi never think for a second that Kiva isn't), but it's unconfirmed for a long time, so maybe not?

In all this talk about Kiva being a Fangire, and with not much to say about the episode that others haven’t said already, I’ll take this moment for my obligatory “novel discussion” part of the thread.

In the novel, Kiva is reimagined as Wataru’s Fangire form and as a result, Kivat, Ramon and Riki don’t exist. Jiro still exists, but purely as a romantic rival for Otoya (the 86 segments are reimagined as a romcom here).

You'd be surprised how deft Kivat Bats are. One of them invented Kiva's bike, after all!

That was a Ryuki reference, right?

It definitely explains why Wonderful Aozora considered Kiva to be a threat for so long, since Dark Kiva gave them a good reason to be apprehensive.

funny thing was I feel like Agito's endgame was it's best part only because that felt the most focused part of the show

It's almost impossible to believe that, as they're jettisoning elements of Kiva for a novel, the thing they kept was Jiro Is A Creep In 1986. They got rid of the charming Henshin Device and the cute monster friends and the Weird Uncle Jiro stuff, but they kept the most problematic part of this entire series.

Huh.

Would... maybe would not have been the way I'd've gone!

If so, it was only by accident!

I could be wrong, but I feel like it was a part that didn't work great for me. (I certainly don't remember it fondly.) A lot of the Akatsuki-go stuff just didn't deliver for me, and the Spooky Man character wasn't anything I felt the show articulated well. I liked the ending, and I love most of the character arcs, but the plot they all existed in felt undercooked.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 40 - "ENCORE: RETURN OF NAGO'S IXA”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva40a.png

Hmm.

There's a scope to this one that I enjoyed, as it spends a lot more time on how the supporting cast reacts to the whole Wataru Is A Fangire development. The previous episode was mostly focused on how Wataru felt about it, and how he wanted to use his dual-heritage to unite two worlds that would rather kill him than listen to him. This episode is a lot more about what Wataru's status means to his friends, though, and that's very welcome. I love that we get to spend so much time with Nago, Megumi, and Shizuka. The last two have been especially overlooked lately, so I'm glad they're getting some attention.

It's just, a lot of this episode is about Nago becoming IXA again, and Kengo losing IXA, and I don't know that this development clears even the incredibly low bar of Shima's previous IXA disbursements. Like, emotionally? Great episode. Narratively? It feels rushed and illogical. And, again, that's illogical even by Shima's normal standards.

Shima treats Kengo's inability to defeat Kiva and Bishop while being shot at by Nago and Megumi as, like, an unforgivable failure. It's so unforgivable, and so detrimental to killing Kiva, that Shima has no choice but to give the IXA Knuckle back to Nago... the exact guy who not only loudly defended Wataru, not only took shots at Kengo to give Kiva a fighting a chance, but just told Shima that there was no point in fighting Kiva.

That... what?! Nago is literally the last guy you should give IXA to if you're serious about defeating Kiva! There is zero logic to giving IXA to Nago in the current circumstances! Hell, there's zero logic to taking it from Kengo, since it's not like Kengo lost; Wataru ran away. This was only a setback, not a failure, and Shima's completely giving up on Kengo for the most ridiculous reasons. It's a decision that makes no sense in-universe, and it exists just to get Nago into danger at the end of the episode. It's clunky as hell, and I really disliked how clumsily the show moved its plot forward. Bad writing!

The rest of the episode is better, though. Seeing Wataru regress back to his Episode 1 self in the light of his attack on his friends is appropriately traumatic for both him and the viewer. He's unable to trust himself, so he can't be around the very people who'd help him trust in himself again. It's a rough episode, never more so than when he's telling Nago that he'll never fight as Kiva again.

The way it's shot is just heartbreaking. It's Wataru walking away from the camera, and telling Nago that he's thankful for their friendship, and that he wants Megumi to know he's sorry. You can sort of hear Wataru's voice breaking, him holding back tears, but you can't see how much it's hurting him to even exist in the same space as a friend he attacked. It's enormously affecting, misting me up a little bit. Wataru's worked so hard this entire show to be a good man, to be a good friend, and now he feels like he can't be either.

Nago and Megumi and Shizuka, though, are not willing to give up on him. It's a fun little plot, a very Kamen Rider Home Alone adventure, and it's as heartwarming as the Wataru plot is heartbreaking. The way the two plots combine keeps anything from feeling either too silly or too morose. Wataru's struggle is given the proper weight, while his friends' dedication feels charming and whimsical. It's as solid a way to tell this part of the story as I can imagine.

I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the 1986 plots, mostly because I feel like I'd just end up recounting them and saying That Happened. They're not really saying much new, even if they're finding new ways to say it. That's more or less where we're at this time, with Yuri wanting to kill Maya, and Maya pitying Yuri.

They get a cool fight scene in this part, which I dug, but I'm finding that whole plot unnecessarily dragged out. Yuri keeps wanting to confront Maya instead of Otoya, and... I mean, I get wanting to tell that story. I get wanting to take a swing at Yuri putting the blame on the other woman, rather than admit that Otoya isn't the man she hoped he'd be. Having Yuri think that eliminating Maya would fix everything with her and Otoya is the sort of violent thinking that Yuri is known for, and the sort of zero-tolerance Fangire policy her family pioneered.

It's just, I sort of can't believe we haven't had much in the way of Yuri confronting Otoya? Or Otoya deciding between the two women? It's this weird limbo to the triangle that keeps me from understanding what Otoya and Yuri are thinking, and why they're resorting to toku fights instead of talking. Which, yeah, okay, it's a toku show: fights are how they talk. But we've had multiple episodes of Yuri lashing out, and maybe twenty seconds of Yuri/Otoya dialogue. The longer the show punts on them having the argument they need to have, the less I can care about them as characters.

That said, Maya! Still great! I love how much she clearly thinks Yuri is a cool lady that got a bum deal, and that she doesn't need to kill Yuri when she's already beaten her for Otoya. When Yuri calls her out before a duel, and goes over her identity and credentials, Maya gets this look on her face, like Oh Neat Are We Doing Intros, and it's the exact right energy for her as the other woman. She's the better match for Otoya, and Yuri isn't. She lost. The end. The idea that Yuri would keep fighting actually makes Maya like her better as a person, because it's so unnecessary. It's so cute and friendly that I genuinely hope Maya and Yuri can put this Otoya thing behind them and become friends, because they are great together. Otoya isn't worth the loss of female friendships!

So, yeah, good episode for all that non-IXA storytelling, pretty lame for the IXA storytelling. Unfortunately, a lot of this episode was given over to IXA storytelling! (There's also a scene where we find out that Shima raised/”raised” Taiga at Maya's behest, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I don't care about this development occurring this late in the series.) The IXA moves are all obvious plot machinations, and they don't feel based in character, and that's a letdown. This show had been so good at creating dilemmas out of character choices, and then this one's like What If Shima Reinstated Nago For No Good Reason So He Can Get Murdered. It's sloppy in a way the show had avoided for a while, and that's a bummer. Good episode otherwise!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva40b.png

Yeah, the Wataru reverting to Hikikomori mode is definitely the highlight of the episode (though out of context, I got some laughs out of Taiga saying “I will love Wataru”).

And we’ve reached the part of the show where not even the name of the monster can tell me what it is. (But at least it’s not at the ToQger point where most of the monsters don’t particularly look like what they’re supposed to be, even more so if they’re unnamed)

Sea Moon Fangire

True name: The Melancholic Cohabitation of the Grapes and the Radiator (ラジエーターと葡萄の陰鬱な同棲 Rajiētā to Budō no In'utsu na Dōsei)

Human identity: N/A

Class: Aqua

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Yūichi Ishigami (voice)

And this is the second and final appearance of a female IXA in the show. The BYS reason is that the two female IXAs have a different suit actor (Yuichi Hachisuka) to the male ones (Jiro Okamoto) and he generally does Sentai, so he’s not available constantly.

There can be only one way to celebrate Nago's return to Ixa-dom, and that's with Don't lose yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwVgcxh4dhw

It goes unused in the show in favor of continuing his never-ending Fight for Justice, but like, that title was deliberately ironic, and Nago by this point can honestly be said to be fighting for more genuinely selfless reasons, and that's what this song was written for. Self-awareness doesn't exactly come easy to Nago, but it's what the lyrics to this one are all about, representing the huge shift his character takes over the course of the show. It's this clear duology where Fight for Justice is all about fixing the world, while Don't lose yourself is well, exactly what it sounds like. The whole sentiment of it is about self-improvement and not turning a blind eye to your flaws and things of that sort it'd be hard to imagine Nago singing about however many episodes back. Just like Fight for Justice though, it comes out of the gate a tone-setting lyric I really adore, pointing out that everyone's got their troubles by likening it to how even the sun has its black spots. 'Cause, like, Ixa's all about the sun, and Nago probably took that a bit too much to heart! Really good stuff.

Also quite good is Ishida's direction in this and 41. It's definitely most apparent in a lot of the scenes focusing on Wataru. For how much I said I wasn't into the way the show was basically torturing the poor guy, I do honestly appreciate having this huge backslide on his character development so late in the show for Wataru. With the kind of character he is, and what he's representing, I definitely think it's valuable to demonstrate that even with all his growth, he can still have some really bad days like this.

I'd be willing to make the argument that it's entirely character-driven and appropriate for the show to drag out the '86 love triangle the way it has, by the way? Like, you say the limbo prevents you from understanding what's going through Yuri and Otoya's heads, but it's all rooted in the most fundamental parts of their characters. Yuri lashing out at Maya, I feel like that's her avoiding her own difficult feelings by trying to act tough, which is very much a trend with her. She probably knows by now she wouldn't like how that conversation with Otoya would turn out, so she's running away from it. I kind of doubt she even actually believes fighting Maya will solve her problems, but I don't doubt that she'd believe it hurts less to think that way. Otoya is just... I mean, he's genuinely baffled by Maya's remark about stealing something from Yuri more important than her life, and that kind of says everything. He's trying his best, but he's not exactly equipped to even see what the problem here is to begin with.

I have an explanation for this! The Japanese word for jellyfish, kurage (海月), is literally written with the kanji for "sea" and "moon", so rather than "Jellyfish Fangire", we got that instead. My assumption would be that somebody thought this sounded cooler.

I really loved it in context? Like, it's so on-theme for this show for Taiga to dedicate himself to loving his brother, while also coming at it from a very hierarchical, self-aggrandizing way. He's absolutely going to save his brother from this misguided notion that humanity is worth protecting, and he's going to care for his brother the way he would a cherished, valuable underling. Taiga a hundred percent means what he's saying, but it doesn't mean what Wataru would think it means.

I don't disagree! With any of that! I think Yuri's definitely taking out her frustrations in the most violent way possible, and Otoya is unclear on why loving two people for two different reasons is even worth discussing. It's just... I feel like Yuri would also want to argue with Otoya? She's never shied away from telling that dude everything he's doing wrong before, and it rings a little false for her to deprioritize verbally berating him for as long as she has. If there's one thing the show has made as central to Yuri's character as She Loves Fighting, it's probably She Loves Telling Otoya How He's Being An Idiot.

This was kind of a weird one for me and a lot of it boils down to pacing and some odd tonal shifts.

For a start, I will absolutely agree that Shima is basically just the worst at this point. His management style is completely arbitrary in regards to who's currently allowed to use IXA (anyone but Megumi, apparently) and the Taiga stuff implies that a good portion of the show's current problems is at least partially his fault.

On the '86 side, it really feels like the show doesn't have its heart here anymore. There are still some developments with Otoya, Maya, and Yuri, but they feel like more of an afterthought as the show has put most of its energy into the '08 story right now. There's an energy and spark that '86 used to have that really feels lost now.

As for Wataru, I really do like what the show is doing with him now in regards to his pulling back, which is a bit ironic since I've always complained about him sulking in his tub whenever life gets even slightly challenging. It does work here, though, because he is going through a massive amount of shit and it totally tracks that he would try to wall himself off again. What doesn't work for me is that the show uses Wataru's trauma to set up a slapstick routine where his friends run through a series of Home Alone style traps - including a freaking swinging log - when they try to get into his house. It just seems so out of place to make this the big joke scene for the episode.

And then we jumped immediately from Nago getting his ass kicked by McCauley Kurenai to his triumphant return as IXA with absolutely no transition, which is jarring. Also more than a bit anticlimactic, given that Nago reclaims IXA just so he can get smacked down even harder by the same enemies that took out Kengo.

Not a bad episode, but one that definitely had some issues for me. At least we're probably done with Kengo's stupid "hit the IXA Knuckle against the boot" transformation sequence.

Taiga sounds like evil Tsurugi from this post, and that's amusing to me.

Yeah, the 2008 stuff is constantly adding new wrinkles and twists, while the 1986 stuff is mostly just finding ways to delay its climax until it can match up with 2008. It's like the show realized that it ran through the '86 story faster than the '08 story, and now it has to either devote very little time to Otoya/Yuri/Maya/King, or just keep running the same plot for a few weeks.

This sort of worked for me, but in a way that's tough to defend. I liked the earnestness of the sequence, all of Wataru's friends braving electrified doorknobs and plastic insects to show him that they still love him. It's sweet!

That's not a far-off interpretation! Taiga can definitely come off like a non-comedic Tsurugi.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 41 - "LULLABY: RELEASE THE HEART”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva41a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva41b.png

When I describe Inoue's work on Kamen Rider as being "accidentally progressive”, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis is pretty much what I'm talking about.

Like, maybe it's the Pride Month talking, but this whole Otoya/Maya story could easily be read as a story about finding love wherever you want, regardless of society's expectations. Similarly, Wataru's story could easily be read as a story about gender fluidity, and the rejection of binary labels in favor of defining yourself as Yourself. These are stories where characters opt out of impossible choices that don't reflect their truths, instead finding solace in the knowledge that they're following their heart. They love themselves, and that's better than pleasing someone else.

I mostly don't care if I'm reading too much into this episode. I love it, that Inoue's work has these sorts of interpretations available to it. One of his big theses is that Labels Are Dumb, and combining that with his usual passions like Self-Actualization and Systems Don't Care About You gives us these episodes that have some heartwarmingly queer interpretations. It's the sort of story that allows characters to define themselves according to their own feelings, rather than mold themselves into an unwanted shape. Having this sort of big-tent humanism randomly pop up in the same episode where Saga has a flying saucer fleet and Jiro in Garulu Form fails to murder Otoya while they're both bathing, it's such a pleasant surprise. I will always be grateful to Inoue for crafting something I'm able to find such positivity in, even if it's by accident.

It takes a minute to reveal itself, though, which honestly just makes it all the more rewarding. Shima's abysmal leadership causes Kengo to realize that he's been trying to hurt Wataru as a way of covering for his own self-loathing, and I'm not even sure if that's a point in Shima's favor or not. (He basically tells Nago that his leadership style is belittling his employees until they get better or quit, so that dude can just go completely to hell.) It leads to a truly beautiful scene of Kengo trying to mend fences with Wataru, telling him that Kengo only sees him as a human, and would it be okay if they were bros again. It. Is. So. Lovely. It immediately made me forget the last however many episodes of Kengo being a dismissive prick, because him and Wataru are bros. They are. And you can see it on Wataru's face! He is smiling through the tears... as he tells Kengo no. No, they can't be bros, because Wataru can't live as a human.

He has to tell Taiga no as well, in the very next scene. No, he can't join the Fangires. He's saying no to everyone, because they want him to ignore a part of himself. He can't be the human that his friends need, and he can't be the Fangire that his family needs. He's locked himself away from the world because it's full of people who want him to conform to their idea of him.

And then he gets a visit from his mom, in a dream, and it's perfect. She's doing that perfect Kiva thing of letting someone else pass along Otoya's advice to Wataru. Otoya was in love with a Fangire, but he never cared about that label. He didn't love a Fangire; he loved Maya. He loved her soul, and he knew that she loved his soul. The specifics, the way society viewed that love, he couldn't have cared less. And that acceptance, that ability to see past the nonsense of systems to find the truth of a person, that's what made Maya realize that she was really in love with Otoya.

So when she sees her son unable to fit into either the Fangire world or the human world, and how worthless that makes him feel, she imparts that wisdom of his father. Wataru isn't human or Fangire: he's Wataru. Live in the world, and be true to yourself. Don't let anyone make you be anything you don't want to be, and don't let anyone make you feel less than yourself for not adhering to their labels. It's a pep talk that's a million times better than it seemed like it was going to be, because it just side-steps the tokusatsu dilemma in favor of something universal and sensitive. Wataru just needs to stop caring about what the world wants him to be, and find strength in being what he wants to be.

It's just a really beautiful episode. I loved how it wrapped in the Otoya story in such a thoughtful way. We're hitting the end of the show, and this episode clears the air enough to let our heroes fight for what they believe in. Otoya's seen his monster buddies all get turned into roleplay items by King, so he's ready to fight. Wataru's back to believing in himself, and that means opposing Taiga. This feels like a well-earned level-up for our heroes, and it's clearly arriving just when they need it most.

Brilliant episode. Inoue forever.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva41c.png

That's a good way to put it, yeah. That said, I could watch at least two full episodes of King randomly appearing around Otoya. I am so disappointed that he didn't just slowly drop down into frame from above.

While being true to yourself is a common message, I'd not put full belief in 'be yourself' message, especially that here, you talk about it being used to do good for others in a plausible way. I'd think 'be yourself' doesn't equate to 'living your life as a good person' (what you say too here, that'd be different entirely), as 'be yourself' can be abused by rotten people who'd reject any suggestion to better themselves, embracing their nature and insists others to mind their own business, which is being true to yourself in horrific way. And for living life as good person, this can be due to a (actually benefical) system in the world that influences people, like how if people are less likely to be as rude in real world compared to more anonymous place like Internet.

Though for pragmatic? Well you only said that it improves through individual action, but you didn't elaborate on what kind of action. AFAIK I think what pragmatic means is when you'll constantly dirty your hands to get the job done, which'd put them into morally questionable territory. I actually feel that a good number of tokusatsu fans would look for this kind of hero instead, and partly that happens because some can dumb down heroism as merely killing baddies (monsters mostly, but can apply to humans too) or sacrificing yourself (and ignoring what they've done in the past), while true those are some part of heroism, that's a way too broad take of heroism; I want for KR to be used to point out that heroism is not merely about that (but of course free to add characters of any alignment, albeit someone's fault had to be portrayed as in the wrong). And actually it'd take into account for what you said here about smaller-scale individual actions, as for 'no one can think at that scale', it's true that not everyone is an unstoppable powerhouse, or even a fighter or super scientist.

Dunno, actually, this was a part that I glanced about Wataru, that he wants peace between humans and Fangires. but this would reaffirm my stance of Wataru being not a personal-driven person like most other lead Riders. Wanting peace between humans and Fangires is the type of goal that is the "justice, empathy, support" kind, and I think, despite what you said above, this is the 'thinking at big scale' kind of goal? And definitely not pragmatic one (using what I know about the definition) to spare Fangires. You'd probably think it's a change here for 'new mission', but I'd think that this isn't new trait for Wataru as before (at least moral wise), he laments in his bath that why there are conflicts and that the world can't be peaceful. against killing Oomura, and at first trying to remind Grizzly Fangire (albeit this does get him into Kiva Emperor). He puts his mind above personal stuff like Taiga or Mio's happiness at this time when they try to make their more ulterior move to him, but what I think about how Wataru's traits here has been present before is probably the reason I question about your view to Wataru's stance about Mio before. Otherwise, though dunno if later episodes will bring it up, but people here talk about how Wataru being half-Fangire makes sense, otherwise he won't be Kiva (in Faiz, Takumi can become Faiz exactly because he's an Orphnoch!), I'd want to know how did Wataru end up being Kiva. I thought at first Maya died for good here by her disappearing... but she's very much alive running from Fangires later.

Not knowing that Kurenai is Wataru's last name... that's something that people can likely see as dragging out conflicts... there were Faiz before that Yuka and Keitaro only knew their last names. Taiga takes a different stance, he's still nice to Wataru, but for something that against his wishes, which is for Wataru to embrace Fangire cruelty and hinder humans. This should be a reminder that someone who is nice towards a protagonist, particularly the sweet ones, doesn't necessarily mean they share the same morality as the protagonist or is a good person overall (at best he's good to other Fangires). Mio goes through a bit similar to devil-Shizuka before, though outwardly she seems nice, even veering to pushover traits, she's Wataru centric.... and she has a mild yandere trait (obsessive love towards someone, goes to insane lengths to keep their love interest, Kusaka's character is defined by this to another Yuria Haga) here to suggest an idea of killing those that would get in their way of love.

Nago changing his stance about Kiva/Wataru was something that is already established before! The first time Nago learned that Wataru is Kiva. Well, Kengo attacking Wataru without second thoughts is a reminder that, acting volatile and hostile between friends doesn't necessarily mean it's just banter, at least at this time (I've seen that Kengo becomes IXA until ep. 40). I won't think that being brainwashed like Wataru did here is his idealism being tested? It's out of Wataru's control. Won't this be something like Yuji's turn in Paradise Lost, as Wataru won't have moral collapse here, not falling on his own, instead that he's victimized by others like Bishop and likely even in a worse way that it can potentially convince others that Wataru is dangerous and should be killed? Sweet toku hero's ideals being challenged is common implementation for them in numerous KR series though.

I meant "pragmatic" more as "achievable" than anything else. Trying to single-handedly change multiple societies is probably out of reach for the kids watching Kiva, but finding a way to feel comfortable in your choices? And supporting your friends, so they can feel comfortable in their choices? That's something any kid can work to accomplish.

Well, let's keep in mind that Wataru's altruistic goal to bridge the worlds of Fangires and humans didn't occur to him until he found out that he was half-human and half-Fangire. There's probably a small to medium amount of selfishness in this new goal, which is why he completely misses the fact that no one's in favor of it besides the only character on the show who is a human/Fangire hybrid.

I think Wataru generally wants to make things better for everyone (he's a sweet boy), but that "everyone" didn't include Fangires until he saw himself as part of their culture.

I more meant that is was surprising that Nago would go against orders so blatantly to protect Kiva. That's a pretty big deal for Nago!

Kiva Emperor vs the Sagarc fleet is one of the most memorable fights in the show for me, due to how Saga just casually summons them out of nowhere and it's a good way to show that Wataru is back by seeing him bisect Mother Sagarc with Zanvat Sword!

It's good to see Kengo back to his original self as well, after realizing he was lying to himself and he needed to be a better friend to Wataru.

Hey, I hope you all aren't tired of melancholic tracks from Kiva yet, because today I'm starting off with yet another one, played here throughout Wataru's conversations with Kengo and Taiga. The show seriously has like a million of these, and they're all so good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmrVjK8acI

And perhaps more exciting than usual for Die, next up is Maya's theme, which is naturally part ominous, part beautiful, and entirely captivating. Works surprisingly well for a scene where she's cheering her son up, to boot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvAk8NxliM0

You know, it's funny that you should mention this, because now that I think about it, it was almost exactly a year ago you were saying this about Faiz:

And I mean, like, that quote is straight up from June 28 of last year, and this entire Kiva thread even started almost exactly a day before the one year anniversary of your thread for Faiz. Kinda neat how that lines up. A little freaky, too, but also neat!

Anyway, yeah, I'm a Faiz fan, too, so it probably goes without saying themes like this tend to really resonate with me. (渡は渡だもの) I don't remember much about my initial reaction to this episode, but I definitely quite liked what I caught of it looking back through. Such as!

- It's a good episode for Wataru, but it's maybe a great one for Otoya? It's a big showcase for his biggest positive quality (that's also the root of lots of his negative ones), which is how he's truly got as open a heart as a person could have. It's not even only with Maya here; the episode makes a whole point out of how the Arms Monsters can't bring themselves to follow King's orders and kill Otoya because he's just too dang nice to them. It's utter insanity for Otoya to look at Jirou like he's an old pal by this point, but because it's Otoya, you can almost believe it.

- One little touch that I find helps bring that across a lot is how Jirou ends that scene in the bath crying while still in his monster form, and Otoya doesn't really react to anything but the crying. It's definitely only shot that way for the sake of the audience, because it's funnier if it's still a scary werewolf monster bawling his eyes out, which is one of many great Ishida touches here (see also; Riki's cartoonishly large hammer), but even if it's probably not meant to be taken super literally, I like the implications there all the same.

- You mention Wataru telling Taiga no after Kengo in "the very next scene", but one other extremely cool bit of Ishida magic that I don't want undersold is how both those conversations are the same scene, with Taiga seamlessly reacting to something Wataru says to Kengo in the middle (the music doesn't even stop), which, combined with the change in lighting, really smoothly communicates to the viewer that Wataru is having this conversation twice without needing to waste time actually showing two extremely similar scenes. Just a real clever way to show those exchanges.

- Maya reacting to Yuri threatening to destroy the Bloody Rose if she doesn't fight her by just going "you're not being very cute today" is such a perfect moment for both of those characters.

...And that oughta do it! I will say one big missed opportunity is that the scene in 40 where Kiva saves Nago and Kengo before walking off saying he's done forever totally should've made it a point to not use Emperor Form. It would've made Wataru transforming directly into it here that much more impactful (he's breaking the metaphorical chains again), even though it's not the first time that's happened anyway.

It's a fun fight scene, but it's a bonkers fight scene, even for an Inoue show. An entire army of variously-sized space bats shows up out of nowhere! Like this is something Taiga does every episode, so they don't need to set it up or acknowledge it! And then they're all quickly defeated by Kiva! Like this was something he'd trained for! It is one of the weirdest fight scenes I've ever seen on this show!

ha ha ha

Only Inoue shows for Pride Month, now! It's a tradition!

I feel like if you asked Maya and Yuri if they were friends, Maya would tilt her head that normal little bit and say they are, while Yuri would scream so loud and so long that her voice would give out. That weird friction, of Maya treating Yuri like a goofy friend and Yuri treating Maya like a sworn enemy... I really love that. These two are so great together, mostly because they're playing their interactions in two completely different ways. Maya X Yuri for the next Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club project!

Aw, that would've been a really cool visualization of Wataru's regression. I think the only problem the show would've had with it is you'd basically need Tatsulot to refuse to participate, and that would've been too weird. Tatsulot does not do anything but love Wataru! Having a story that's this rough on Wataru that also includes a Henshin Device calling him a failure... um! Not sure that's going to be bearable.

When I first saw Kiva long long ago, not 20th century, and comparing it to his previous works, the first thing I thought was that Inoue should have moved on to telenovela shows after Agito or Faiz. Cause the drama this show has going on is just that. Inoue should seriously give up on anime and toku and just do telenovela shows. He would be the Japanese Robert Kirkman of telenovelas. :lolol

So my favorite part of this episode was that it felt like this is the first time in a long time that Otoya has been on the show. Blatantly untrue, of course, but ever since he and Maya started getting really hot and violin-y he just hasn't felt like himself. There's a very specific kind of manic joie de vivre that I associate with Otoya and this is the first time I feel like it's been visible in ages. The bath scene with Jiro, the confrontation with King, it all felt like Otoya was back. He even had one of his awful jackets on again. Nothing against the '08 stuff, but this was the most I've enjoyed '86 in awhile.

I've long had the theory that by this point Inoue was totally done with superhero shows and just wanted to do dramas (or horror, in The Next's case), but Toei kept hiring him to do more Kamen Rider.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 42 - "THE POWER OF LOVE: THE KING'S RAGE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva42a.png

There are a couple scenes I really liked in this episode that I otherwise found sort of... not great. Luckily, the two scenes are both about the same thing, so it'll be easier to talk about them!

The first scene is near the opening, with Wataru's friends letting him know how proud they are of how he fought back against his depression. It's an incredibly sweet scene of Kengo, Megumi, and Nago cheerfully embracing Wataru after a few episodes of him pushing them away. It's so sweet.

The best part of that scene is Wataru singling Kengo out for a personal apology. He spurned Kengo's offer to be bros, and he wants a do-over. He wants to be friends with Kengo. Cut to Kengo, eyes wet with pride, as he clasps Wataru's hands to say We're Already Friends. It's one of my favorite moments in this entire series. It's maybe the nicest, most gentle thing I've ever seen a show like this do. And it gets to a big thing for this episode that gets explicated in my other favorite scene in the episode.

Otoya's been swiped by King, leaving Maya and Yuri to figure out what to do next. Well, maybe just Yuri, since Maya realizes that pursuing King and taking back Otoya is basically suicide. That leaves Yuri to beg Maya for help in saving Otoya, which stuns Maya. (For a Maya value of "stunned'', meaning her head tilt is a full 10 degrees to the side instead of the normal eight.) Why would Yuri want to save a man who's humiliated and disgraced her? And Yuri says something that, even if it feels weird coming from her, feels universal and true.

Naturally, it's about love.

The Kengo and Yuri scenes are about the same thing: Sometimes love is bigger than the people in love. For better or worse, the feeling of being in love can be so overpowering that logic loses its sway and all that matters is how you feel. It gains a resiliency that keeps it from being broken. Kengo was friends with Wataru when Kengo hated Wataru, just like they were friends when Wataru told Kengo they couldn't be friends. Yuri still loves Otoya, even if she's lost him to Maya.

Maybe that sounds ridiculous? Maya certainly thinks so, even as she's won over by Yuri's dedication. It is a little hard to swallow, considering that Otoya has rarely risen above the level of Vague Nuisance to Yuri. But it sounds real familiar, if you've ever been in love. The idea that people in love can hurt each other and reconcile, or let each other down before swearing devotion... it's a thing! The person you love stops being just them, just their identity, and starts being The Person You Love. It all gets bigger than two people. (Or more than two people!) It has its own weight and size, Your Feelings, and it gets a vote.

So, yeah, devoting a little time to Kengo and Yuri talking about how impossible it can be to turn off your feelings, even when everyone in a relationship is acting like a lunatic... that tracks! That's a neat idea to explore.

That was all I ended up really liking in this episode, though?

The Shima stuff... it's incredibly weird to be devoting a couple episodes right before the end-run to Shima's relationship with Taiga, or Shima's rejuvenation via Fangire magic. If this was a middling detour in the 20s, I don't know, fine. Maybe there're some laughs. Here, it just feels like the show is trying to fill up space before the story really progresses.

That feeling is not helped by a series of Taiga/Wataru scenes that boil down to Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires, then Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires now, and then Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires now. These two actors have solid chemistry (I love how wounded Taiga plays Wataru's continuous rejections), but it's a whole episode to get us back to where we started.

King's abduction of Otoya is a non-starter for those two characters, since it's mostly just King deciding to slowly kill Otoya in a way that a villain from the 1966 Batman TV show would think was unnecessarily delayed. It's a plot that has tons of momentum going into it, but then the show's like Maybe Next Week, and the two actors don't do anything special with their scene. It's just Smug King and Snarling Otoya, and it's a disappointment.

Which... kind of a disappointing episode! I love how much this show is uniting characters in the home stretch instead of the usual Kamen Rider thing of everyone being at each other's throats for the final few episodes, but when it's in the service of weirdly inert plots that focus on fourth-string characters like Shima or my two favorite characters getting lost in magic woods, it's hard to compliment the show for it. There's still some really clever character work being done, but this episode felt like a bit of wheel-spinning before the finale.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva42b.png

So this is the episode where Shima, Mr. The-Only-Good-Fangire-Is-A-Dead-One becomes a Fangire himself. I honestly thought the reveal wasn’t until next episode. Boy do I have more to say there.

And we’re onto the penultimate part of the “Fact Fangire-le” (for this thread), where it’s clear the budget is now relegated to repainted costumes. First, we get another monster where I assume the name is based on the Kanji (it’s based off a seagull)


Sun-gazer Fangire

True name: Afterimage of a Crash Connected to the Water Surface (水面に連鎖する墜落の残像 Suimen ni Rensa suru Tsuiraku no Zanzō)

Human identity: N/A

Class: Lizard

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Katsumi Shiono (voice), Kazuhiko Kanayama (second)

And the one Maya and Yuri fight in the woods.

Silk Moth Fangire

True name: Sincerity Flowed from a Poison Bottle (毒薬の瓶から誠意が溢れた Dokuyaku no Bin kara Seii ga Afureta)

Human identity: N/A

Class: Insect

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Masako Katsuki (voice)

And for a bit of casting trivia I find intriguing, both VAs for the moth-based Fangires were in the same Sentai show as part of the same sub-group (sadly, they were not moth themed. One was flower themed, while the other was bee-themed)

Otoya's compassion is one his greatest qualities for sure. His music redeemed Oomura and now his gift of friendship spurred the Arms Monsters to change as well. Jirou especially has come a long way from trying to murder Otoya to risking his life to protect him and that protection now applies to Wataru who is the legacy of Otoya and his love for Maya.

Oh yeah, Wataru's total lack of surprise at a bunch of sudden UFOs completely sells it. Like, he's the protagonist of a Tokusatsu, he's conditioned to weird stuff happening in his life so cutting down that fleet is like a statement to Taiga that these are his principles and he's not going to back down from them, no matter how alien the enemy.

That's true. Tatsulot might not be a super important character to the plot, but it's nice that his characterization stays consistent. It's probably also due to Takaiwa wanting to wear that suit as little as possible.

It's definitely a more profound type of love than Taiga's love for Mio, since he expects her to love him back. But Yuri shows unconditional love for Otoya, by wanting to rescue him even though she knows he will never love her as much as he does Maya. There's nothing in the world more powerful than that. Again, more reasons why Yuri is such a selfless and awesome character and the best part of 1986! I think it actually increases Maya's respect for her and maybe makes her feel kind of bad for homewrecking her relationship, since Yuri definitely deserves more happiness in her life for how hard she's fought to earn it. Although we know this is only a year before her daughter's birth, so we can conclude that she eventually gets over her heartbreak. Fighting to protect your love without expecting it to be reciprocated isn't ridiculous at all, it's romantic!

In an episode full of slightly inexplicable things (Doesn't Maya live at Castle Doran? Why is it suddenly so complicated to get back there?), it's amazing to me that neither Nago nor Megumi spend even a line of dialogue wondering why Shima is on-site for a Fangire sighting. This is a dude who didn't leave the gym (in the 2008 stories) until, like, halfway through the series! Why aren't they a little surprised to see him armed for battle?

It is! I'm also not sure it's healthy? I kind of like how the show doesn't really give it an ethical or moral coordinate, instead treating it as some undeniable fact of the universe. It's not about what Yuri wants to do, it's about what Yuri needs to do, and the plot rolls with it.

That said... boy, it's not a great thing to risk your life for unrequited love? It's Yuri dedicating herself to someone who is love with another woman more than he's in love with Yuri (god, trying to explain this triangle is a herculean task), and that needs to be a temporary situation if she has any self-respect.

While only a bit of it is actually used in the opening scene with King stealing Otoya away, I'm happy to use that as an excuse to share this awesome track, which is perfect for all those fight scenes that just aren't going great for the good guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BYeC10wW78

...And because I'm just all about those low energy tracks, here's a short but sweet one featured in quite a few of Kiva's talky scenes, including Taiga's latest attempt to win Wataru over to his side here. I mean, I say "low energy", but it's a piece all about creating a sense of gradually rising tension, rather than the typical melancholic stuff I'm always choosing for these, which makes it a bit more unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4BAzXkZM4k

I think the thing about this episode I noticed that I'm most excited to point out is how the year Yuri died written on her grave is conspicuously covered up by flowers when its shown, which is more than a little adorable.

Beyond that, I mean, I definitely see where Inoue is coming from with wanting to tie Shima and Taiga's backstories together and how all this plays into the central themes of the show, giving them another angle to explore the whole human/Fangire divide from and everything, but... yeah, I can imagine it being a little hard to care too much when it's still got that fundamental hurdle of involving Shima, a guy who has so far been most notable in this thread for his consistently questionable management skills, and very little else.

Nope! This time it's simply named after the sungazer lizard! It's worth noting that there aren't any Fangire based off of birds, because they're also all based on birds.

I forget if this has come up in the thread at all or not , but for reasons I'm unclear on, every single Fangire works in a bird of some sort somewhere in their design, and apparently that has something or other to do with the "true names" that you've been sharing for each of them. (Hence the "water surface" bit here, for example? I think?) The whole concept is so insane I struggle to properly grasp it, but man, overly inventive design work like this is such a lovely thing about Kamen Rider. Stained glass monsters was already creative enough! You didn't have to go this far! :lol

It's just a misapplied plot development, since literally the last thing Taiga needed heading into the final seven episodes was an additional motivation. He's Wataru's brother, Maya's son, Mio's fiance, the king of the Fangires, a corporate leader... I don't also need him to have a tortured backstory that involves Shima being, I assume, a capricious and belittling father figure who exercises more than he actively contributes! Taiga was not exactly underdeveloped.

I̶'̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶(̶o̶n̶l̶y̶)̶ ̶k̶i̶d̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶r̶n̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶o̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶u̶l̶t̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶g̶g̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶l̶e̶s̶s̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶,̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶K̶R̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶r̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶v̶o̶i̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶n̶c̶h̶i̶s̶e̶.̶ For supporting friends, yeah it'd depend on them being biased to their friends or not too (it'll mean learning the lesson wrong way too).

It can likely favor those humans who love Fangires and vice versa too I think, after all, Fangire rule had the Queen executing those who love human. Shinji and Ryoko's love story seems to be an example of the consequences, their love story is stunted by this, albeit their love is genuine. If Maya changed and Mio refused, another Queen can potentially take place. And for "everyone" didn't include Fangires until here, I argued about Oomura and Shinji (before he turned into standard vicious one) before, which is before that episode.

I guess the extreme character change for Kengo.... spreads to Shima here. Not to put Nago into danger, they want to return Kengo back to his previous self, and they have to make him go through this terrible shit for him, including Shima harshly treating him, as an excuse to have him parted away from IXA, which is kinda a part of Kengo's character change symbolizing that he's back to his previous self. Though actually Shima blames Kengo for "letting Wataru run away", so it's not about him losing. Though despite Shima giving back IXA Knuckle to Nago, Kengo's the one who becomes IXA again, but he gets knocked out of his transformation, and after Nago and Wataru interferes, Nago takes the IXA Knuckle on the ground. Of course, I wouldn't want for characters to be OOC for plot reasons, including for comedic reasons (that you won't address if this happened) or to make a point about message (don't take existing character and make them OOC), albeit for this one, before and after is written by Inoue. But probably, Shima just really have a... shady side, which is seen on his interactions with Taiga for something later, and likely will support those who argues that Shima is sexist to not give IXA to women (but Jiro explains that IXA is given to him due to his monster nature, but the excuse is to not be clouded by revenge yet Jiro is similar to Yuri in this regard).

So it finally happens, Wataru regressed back into his painfully shy nature. I only want to know what happened in the past that sends Wataru to his self, would it be something as severe here as him turning dangerous to others? I know that in the past Wataru seems to be bullied where Taiga defends him, but.. Not saying that it should be followed, but being a shut in seems to be a suitable response for him being potentially dangerous person, he basically seals himself in his house to prevent himself hurting others, like how defeats for powerful baddies can happen, by them getting sealed. The villains are actually successful to gain upper hand in this case by brainwashing Wataru, they did snap out Wataru, but it demoralized him. The part of Nago, Megumi, and Shizuka being determined to get Wataru back is heartwarming for sure yeah, including what you think about them enduring the traps, but it has a price of Wataru being hostile, that he outright puts dangerous stuff for people who interferes. Seems hypocrite for him here, wanting to prevent himself to hurt others, yet is hurting others himself using the harmful traps.

I feel that there's a new stuff before that Yuri realizes that Maya is a Fangire, and did try to warn Otoya about Maya's status. It can feel that the conflict is added now that it can be potentially about Otoya's safety instead or what would become of the Fangire and humans if Otoya gets close to Fangire. I guess about resorting into toku, this is one of a form of miscommunication plots that drags out that doesn't sit well with some people. I think that at hospital before, Otoya did try to say something to Yuri, but Yuri (understandably) aggressively pushes him away and denies everything he said, I lost hearing about what Otoya's going to say regarding this. Though otherwise still I wanna ask: How about those who resort into unhealthy coping mechanisms (ex: shifting the blame to others, projecting their issues to others, escapism) to cope with problems being ignored and viewed as perfectly okay, while display of emotions (except anger) gets hate? Likely showing that behaviors like shifting the blame to someone else, lashing out in anger, etc. can be as severe as emotions, or even be more unhelpful and unproductive.

Yuri has been a Fangire fighter before, so I get that Yuri here would fight Maya just like her fighting other Fangires. If you're going for Yuri and Maya friendship, I'd like for Yuri's view of Fangires (like to family too) to be touched upon too, because Maya is a Fangire, and I think Yuri fights her here partly as she's a Fangire.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 43 - "WEDDING MARCH: A TIME OF PARTING”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva43a.png

Maybe the worst episode of Kamen Rider I've ever seen?

I hesitate to ever call a piece of art Bad. Bad's an objective term for something that's inherently subjective. So, no, I don't think this was necessarily Bad. If someone out there found value in it, awesome. For me, it was bereft of merit, an almost stunningly inert and misguided attempt at telling a story about love and sacrifice.

I hated watching this. It's disappointing in a way that's worse than all of the weirder problematic decisions Inoue might make in the course of a show, because this wasn't some huge swing that fell apart because it was too singular, or too unprecedented. It didn't invite debate or condemnation. It's just shoddily done, with a half-dozen decisions that undercut whatever it's been building towards, at exactly the wrong moment. Like, god, if I weren't the type of person to follow through on a series, this would've been my last episode of Kiva. It mortally wounds the show, robbing me of any confidence that this thing is going to be landed with grace. This episode was so hamfisted and clumsy that I almost can't believe it.

Centering half of the story on Shima, a character the show never spent time on, and then letting Taiga kill him off to anger Wataru... why? Why make such a huge deal about Shima's views on Fangires, when it's never felt relevant to a story? We never really got the feeling that Shima was anything more than a soldier. The last couple episodes have tried to reinvent him as a genocidal fanatic, but that's super recent and barely explained. His backstory with Taiga would maybe enhance it, but it's just never given the specificity and history to come across as anything other than some late-game retcon. When the show previously wanted to tell a story about a fanatical good guy who realized that Wataru was more than just his Fangire heritage, they chose Nago, so it mattered and it worked. To contrive this ridiculous story about Shima, all to say nice things to Wataru (a kid he had maybe four scenes with in the entire series), and then get killed by Saga in the middle of the episode... it doesn't work! It's too rushed, too inconsequential. It's a waste of time.

But Mio's death... man, that was a failure of storytelling that was consistently funny, right up until I realized they ruined the show.

The staging on all of the Mio and Taiga stuff was surprisingly tone-deaf and amateurish. That wedding! What in the hell was going on with the directing where that wedding scene wasn't completely reshot! Taiga looks ridiculous, like instead of hosting a vampire-themed wedding, he just decided to dress up like Dracula at a normal wedding, but he would not spend more than $25. The Fangires were always vampire-influenced, but this is just sad. I expected more weirdness from a man who henshins into a snake-UFO-cathedral. His costume here was shockingly basic, and that lack of imagination filtered down into everything in that scene. For a wedding that was supposed to unite the Fangires, why aren't any of them there? I know this is the two of them, like, eloping, but why is Bishop skulking around instead of actively participating? How is this even a ceremony if no one's there to see it? The show made a huge deal about how this event would solidify Taiga's reign as King, and to not even have that addressed was disappointing.

It was a scene I was laughing at (TAIGA'S HAIR!!!), and that just kept going when Mio just up and stabs Taiga in the guts. The little blue blood that comes out of the wound, and Mio staring at her hands, and her screaming I'M SORRY... I laughed hard. Nothing about the score or the acting contained even a trace of subtlety or nuance, and it could easily pass for parody. I loved Mari in Faiz, and this level of work is beneath that actor.

It's all so broad, this entire episode. It's big melodramatic moments that feel completely untethered from the dramatic stakes of the show, and are working in a totally different cadence than what Kiva has been using for the last 42 episodes. Worse, it's really all stuff that only matters in how it affects Wataru, and he's mostly sidelined in this episode. Shima doesn't exactly mean anything to him personally, so the one scene they have was, like, Tell It To The Dog. Tell that dog you were proud of him, because that relationship is established. The Mio/Taiga wedding should be a huge deal to multiple characters, but a) Wataru never even finds out about it, and b) it's treated like the third-most important subplot in this episode. It's something the show has been building towards literally since Taiga's debut, and then all of a sudden it's some weird thrown-off moment.

Nominally, it explains Mio's decision at the end of the episode, but I didn't buy that for a single second. Taiga's decision to spare her made sense. This is a guy who desperately wants to believe that he is loved, even if he has to get his guts pulled out to prove it. He also has based his entire sense of self-worth on being King of the Fangires, so he is heavily motivated to salvage his relationship with Mio. (Also, trying to kill your loved ones is a pretty big part of Fangire culture, so maybe this didn't mean the same thing to Taiga as it meant to Mio?) So Taiga denying Mio's attempt on his life? I buy that. I do not buy Mio sacrificing herself to save Taiga for even a fraction of a goddamn second. It's utterly incomprehensible, and I am always willing to give Inoue the benefit of the doubt when it comes to character motivations. Mio hated Taiga! She loved Wataru! Wataru wasn't crazy about her wanting him to kill Taiga, but it's not like they broke up or anything. There's no reason, in this episode, for her to risk her life to save Taiga's. It's a decision that doesn't make sense to me at all.

And now, since she died in process, we'll likely get Wataru feeling monumentally guilty about something that wasn't his fault, and Taiga swearing revenge for something that wasn't Wataru's fault. (Like, Mio doesn't do anything to try to stop this fight before jumping in front of a finisher! She doesn't plead with them first, or anything sensible. She just dives in front of a Wake Up Fever! That is like trying to put out a fire by diving on top of it. Not that helpful!)

It just sucks, as someone who (up until last episode) was really loving how this show was wrapping up. It was doing some smart, character-based storytelling, with empathy and tricky personal dilemmas. Now it's some bullshit fridging, and two men fighting over Their Woman or whatever, and I suddenly couldn't care less about the 2008 storyline. I hate nearly every decision this episode made with those characters. (The Shima/Nago "fight" was great, though. No complaints.)

It bummed me out so much that I can barely muster any enthusiasm for the 1986 stuff. That was generally okay, even if it's sort of rushing through plot developments. Maya hearing Otoya's song while Yuri couldn't was a great touch, but I wish the scene of Maya losing her powers wasn't something that happened without Yuri and Otoya around. It's the same problem I had with the Mio/Taiga wedding, where it's this huge moment the show has been building up to.. and then it just happens in isolation, like it's ticked off of a checklist and that's all that mattered.

God, I hated this episode. I thought the episode of Kabuto where Tsurugi flies home to France was going to be my nadir for Inoue, but it's this episode. Absolutely gutting, if it's not too soon to say that. (Sorry, Taiga!)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva43b.png