Finished with Faiz eps. 30-33. Just as Takumi and Yuji start to have an understanding of each other, Kusaka messes it up again. This is the first time I'm seeing a secondary rider to truly have a dickish behavior. I'm kinda hoping that Kitazaki kills him somewhere near the finale, that would be awesome.

Just saw a familiar face, Go Green of Gogo V is here as one of Mari's former classmates. Though from the looks of it he'll end up as one of Sawada's victims sometime in the future.

I had to check the cast list to make sure it was Go Green that I saw (it was!) and was surprised that Kaido was played by the actor that would play Juuzo in Shinkenger later on. I didn't recognize him but now that I know I do see it and I wonder why I didn't notice earlier. I guess due to them being really different personalities, one's a goofy orphenoc while the other is a blood-thirsty gedou. Seeing as how well he played the guitar in an earlier episode I wish he had a go with Dayu's shamisen in shinkenger, that would have been nice.

As much as I love Fourze, I would probably place Kiva ahead of it. In fact, Kiva would definitely end up being in my top 10 best rider shows, not sure about Fourze.

Kiva was just so damn awesome. Wataru was fully developed throughout the series. Megumi and Ixa were also developed quite well. The Fangires were awesome villains. I also loved the constant shift between the 80s and present day and the effects from it. Unfortunately, the downside to that aspect as Megumi's mother came out appearing useless since the Fangires she hunted always got away. However, I like to think of that happening due to a lack of technology, they just did not have the resources to actually kill a Fangire, just stop them. Dark Kiva was an awesome villain and Maya was one of my favorite characters in the show. The only thing I did not like in the episode was the time traveling two parter when Wataru tries to keep Maya and Otoya separated and Ixa tries to stop his friends from being imprisoned for something that happened in the 80s. I also loved the races who were in the dragon castle and their back stories.

Of course, who knows, I haven't watched Kiva since it ended, so I might see things in rewatching it that I do not like that I did not notice before. It wouldn't be the first time that has happened.

Chase, did you know that Yuji's girlfriend from the first two episodes was TimePink's actress? Also, the Dragon Orphenoch is Zero in Garo.

Kusaka has a recurring role on Cutey Honey the Live, too, alongside Taiga from Kiva. Takumi shows up in a Sentai movie, too. I want to say it's Go-Onger's.

Fourze is just far too goofy for me to ever say that it's better than Kiva. I liked Fourze and found it fun as well, but it's not the same caliber of show that Kiva is.

Really, I just found Kiva to just meander is mediocrity once the Fangire Queen was introduced and Otoya went to a wild ladies man to a more serious demeanor and Wataru lost his character flaw of emotional weakness.
I really found watching it to be more of a chore.

I found Kiva to be a great story overall. Dark where it needed to be, light hearted where it needed to be. Once the Queen arc was introduced I'll admit that it meandered a bit, but once she died things took a much better turn. Kiva is still one of my top favorite rider shows. There are just so many redeeming characters in that show that I can forgive some of the slower sections.

But Wataru over coming his emotional weakness is what shows he has grown throughout the series. That was one of the best things about Kiva. Wataru was the first rider since Shuichi in Agito to grow so much.

Kiva was a pretty awesome show. Although I have to admit I did kinda hate the 86 ending. I never enjoyed maya as a character, it kinda just stepped on what the entire first half of the series was going for for otoya

I will never understand how people can like Kiva on anything but a design level.

Easily. It had a great story with interesting characters on top of spot on designs.