Maybe they just screwed up their punctuation, and it was supposed to be "Unfinished Daddy: Fight"? Otoya is a remarkably unfinished daddy so far...

He's just super understanding of Wataru's more off-putting behavior? He's not going to let Wataru throw him, you know? He's like Proto-Gentaro: He is going to befriend every reclusive Rider with daddy issues! It's Shakin' Time!

It's a nice reminder that Otoya can take stuff seriously? When he first runs into Jirou in the forest, he's typical Otoya. He's jokey, he's crude, he's confrontational, he's flippant. So Jirou kicks the crap out of him. After that, Otoya approaches him as less a rival and more a monster. He's serious and dedicated, ready to end Jirou if necessary. It's, like the stuff with Oomura, this other side to Otoya that we don't get to see that often. (I think the last time was maybe Episode 2?)

When Ikemens is practicing, and Kengo's like One More Time, for a second I thought we were going to get, like, Break The Chain or something. Nope! Just Destiny's Play, again, forever. It's a good song, but, like... how did they even put on a concert? Did that crowd just show up to hear a brand-new band play one song one time and then leave? I mean, I'd do a lot to piss off Nago, but that sounds like a bit much.

Eventually, yeah, just not in that shot. It's a reversal of that earlier scene. This time Jirou's coming in and taunting Otoya, while Otoya gets more incensed, until Otoya beats the crap out of him. It's a very cathartic scene!

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 14 - "POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE: THE SHOCKING PURPLE EYE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva14a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva14b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva14c.png

Middle chapter of a three-parter! Was not completely expecting that!

It's more the Otoya part that doesn't really wrap up this episode. The Wataru part... I mean, it mostly does, depending on how weird things get with him trying to explain I Detonated A Monster Who Was Fleecing You And Wanted To Feast On Your Dreams Of Stardom to Kengo in 15. That's either going to be a whole additional episode, or something that's blown-off before the opening credits. Inoue! Tough to predict sometimes!

I liked the Wataru story, incidentally. It's not a very robust part of the narrative (it's basically just Shizuka getting Megumi to tell Wataru that Kengo's getting fleeced and may have his dreams of stardom devoured by a decorative vampire monster), but the emotion behind the final fight with the Rhino Fangire was nice. We've seen plenty of fights where Kiva was competent, and a couple where he was reluctant, but I think this is the first one where he was righteous. He's not just defeating a monster; he's punishing an evildoer.

That side of Wataru... I mean, obviously, not something you want to see all the time (he's a very sweet boy!), but it's like Otoya's new strain of self-sacrifice and quiet heroism: it's adding dimensionality to a character that you could feel like you've already seen all the sides of. It's an episode that wasn't really twisty in plot, but had a few surprising character turns.

Like Otoya not blowing the whistle (or Whistlestle) on Jirou! Took me a minute to figure out why he wouldn't just show up at Mal d'Amour and go This Man Is A Clawolve, but I think I get it. (Well, the main reason why he doesn't say anything is to prolong this story, but I think there's some narrative cover for the decision, as well.) Otoya is trying to protect Yuri from Jirou, and that's heroic, but it's still Otoya being heroic. There's a top layer of heroism now, but everything underneath that is still The Worst. He doesn't want to, like, tattle on Jirou. That's cheap, and unmanly. It's cowardly. (It's also exactly what Jirou does.) Otoya wants to defeat Jirou, to end his threat against Yuri with his own hands. He also needs to do it in secret, because this, strangely, isn't about showing off for Yuri. It's about keeping her from harm, but a patronizing A Woman Shouldn't Bear This Pain type of harm. He's toxically masculine, in his need to shield Yuri from painful knowledge. It's more bullshit paternalism, but it's also exactly the sort of bullshit paternalism that Otoya would reflexively go for.

It makes for an episode that just, like... delivers. Nothing was a huge surprise, but the fundamentals were rock solid. It's another episode where the visuals are insanely good (there's this shot of Jirou lounging on the roof of Monster Squad Massage that is disgustingly clever), the humor is whip-smart (Otoya's answering machine greeting!!!), and the character relationships are specific and engaging (Shima and Megumi trying to, like, manage Nago's fragile but bottomless ego).

It's still a middle installment, though, so I don't really have a ton to comment on, really. It's weird to see Kengo spurn Wataru, but there's some impatience in Kengo that was bound to bristle against Wataru's sweetness at some point. There's Nago's new Ixcavator, or whatever, but I think my feelings towards CGI monstrosities are abundantly clear by now. And then there's Kiva's new purple Whistlestle, which turns him into Titan Form With A Hammer. (I liked it, but: it's literally just Titan Form With A Hammer.) Good stuff, all of it (well, Ixcavator), but nothing I have a lot to say about.

I feel like I'm underselling this episode! I really did like it. It's progressing multiple storylines, but it's just harder to comment on them when you're in the middle of them. (I also want to order dinner now.) Good episode, though! Delightful to watch!

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Shouldn't you be happy to put all that Time Nonsense behind you though? The best parts of Den-O is when it's not focusing on that.

She finally sees the real Ryutaros! I was very happy for him in that moment!

I mean, that's the least I expect from any Den-O content. Sure, it's nice to have a deep and meaningful story with development for the main characters, but a movie where the Denliner crew are cops, Momotaros has a cool bike chase scene, Ryutaros goes nuts arresting anybody who looks suspicious, Urataros uses his deception to help Yuto, Kintaros has a cool fight scene and Kohana beats a bunch of people up on her own? Virtually every character is doing something cool here. So I'll take it!

The movie is indulgent comedy that gives the Denliner crew the excuse to experience all those espionage and detective tropes for the first time, which they have an awesome time doing, with even Ryoutarou getting in to it at the end.

I think the reason why people may not like this movie is due to taking it too seriously and not appreciating it for what it is, just a cute adventure. I understand that not being invested in Suzuki's story is going to get in the way of that. It's mostly a simplified version of Wataru's story, but I thought it was good enough.

I don't think Negataros and Kai are that similar, other than getting bored easily. Where Kai is apathetic and sick of everything, Negataros is motivated in the pursuit of his clear goal. It's like he took inspiration from the Showa style bad guys and decided, "I want to do that but better." Negataros' whole generic evil organization is totally to be a parody but that's pretty appropriate for a movie that parodies the cop comedy genre. It's just another part of the fun of the movie. He's also the first Dark Rider to debut after his heroic counterpart's show is over.

Fun Fact: Flashman Episode 14 was Inoue's writing debut!

But yeah, a crossover between Team 86, my favorite 80s Sentai and my favorite Metal Hero? I've been wanting that before you even mentioned it! Maybe I'll make a fanfic of that one day.

And here we are with the final of the arm monsters, Dogga the Frankenstein (alias Riki, and I’m sure of this this time). I’ll reveal now that all three are named for onomatopoeia (garulu is the howl of a wolf, basha is the sound of something hitting the water and dogga is the sound of being punched).

And next time, my Gransazer comment from earlier will become all too apt.

This is too far in the opposite direction, though. Instead of poorly-defined rules that suddenly take on massive significance, this is all just Whatever and nothing seems to have any weight to it.

Probably the best moment in the movie, and the sort of thing I was hoping we'd see more of.

I think the more likely reason people dislike this movie (aside from legitimate criticisms regarding theme and Ryotaro's insignificance) is that it takes place after the series, but then doesn't do anything with that placement. If this had been the summer movie during the show's run, instead of I'm Born, I don't think there'd be as many haters. As far as dumb fun goes, yeah, it totally delivers some ridiculous shenanigans. But as the first Den-O project after the series finale, it aims way too low. This was a chance to expand our understanding of the finale and set up a new status quo. Instead, it feels like a regressive money-grab, something where everyone involved was just aiming for Good Enough. That, ironically, isn't good enough.

Sure, I can see that. I found the whole Purposeful Disinterest of Negataros to be very similar to Kai, but that's maybe me projecting some on Negataros. In fairness, he is not very well defined!


I did a real double-take when I thought Kivat had called for the Doggo Hammer. Good to know the reason for the actual name!

And still don't get why it took so long to get final form.

Flashman be comparing Otoya and Yuri to Spielvan and Diana. And music showdown between Otoya and Lie Kopflen. Violin vs Pipe Organ of Horrors. lolol

I assume that the Dogga Hammer and Powered Ixer were part of a new wave of toys, which is why they both debut here. I'll save my comments on the Ixer for when it actually does something. I do like Dogga form, even if I agree that it's just Titan Form with a hammer. I appreciate a good slow but steady beatdown, though, as we saw with the Kintaros fight in Climax Deka.

I have to say that I was kinda disappointed with this one. Not that it was bad, because it wasn't, but because my favorite moment played out differently than I remembered. The way I remembered Yuri's phone call with Shima was that Otoya had randomly created a massive street dance in the background. I hadn't realized at the time that the dancers were already there and he just joined in. Still adorable, but less perfectly random and bizarre.

And now that Dogga Form is finally here, so is its theme!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKEOMeNR1FA

Again, terrible at describing these things, but I like that it manages to be aggressive in a different way than Garulu's BGM. Something I guess I could say about the form itself, too? I mean, Garulu probably should be my favorite Arms Monster form hands down when it fits three of the descriptors that most guarantee I'll like a thing (those being "blue", "fast", and "is a dog"), but, aside from all three of them just being equally cool to begin with, something about the way Dogga Form is held off on for so long combined with the timing of its use in the story make it especially memorable to me. Like, Wataru is swinging that hammer around for Kengo, man! It stands out a bit, despite not being a particularly elaborate fight scene.

EDIT: Also I just realized the soundtrack spells Dogga as "Dokkaa" for some reason. Huh.

Dogga Form rocks and is probably my favourtie of all the archetypical "strong and slow" form changes in the franchise. I really like the added bits of armour, that first slow walk it does while dragging behind its weapon sells it imposing power way really welll, and that massive fist-shaped hammer that opens up, and also drops down an even bigger fist made of energy on the enemy to crush them into a million pieces? Best thing in the world.

Oh yeah, and IXA is pretty cool too honestly. I think I like the 86's closed visor slightly more than the 08's classic bug eyes, but 08's IXACalbur is maybe one of the coolest weapons? Its a submachine gun that turns into a sword, which isn't that unique or anything, but its pretty wonderfully elegant how it manages to be a weaponised cross in both modes.