KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 16 - "PLAYER: THE RULES OF CRUELTY”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva16a.png

A little tired, a little punchy, let's see how this goes.

I thought this conclusion was okay? It definitely didn't go in the direction I was expecting, and there's an absolutely killer cliffhanger, but there're a few odds and ends that detracted from a relatively smooth experience.

Like, I honestly don't know if Rook got detonated at the end. He summons a bunch of spare Fangire souls, a CGI monstrosity appears so that IXA can drive his new toy to the fight (baffling to me that W.A.K.E.U.P. designed this weird-ass construction equipment to be their newest weapon in the war against decorative vampire monsters), the CGI monstrosity gets detonated. But, like, Rook isn't shown again. Was he commanding the CGI monstrosity, or inside of it? It's a minor thing, maybe, but I don't love getting to the end of a two-parter and not knowing if the homicidal monster was vanquished?

And, that was the surprising thing: they went all-in on Rook being a killer! Thought we'd see a little bit of Biggie being aware of Rook, and there being a sense of both identities having validity, but nope! Heavy, heavy nope! Rook murders the kindly restaurant owner, the daughter who had a crush on him, and a half-dozen random diners who will probably not be tipping. They even show the daughter shatter after being turned into an exsanguinated transparency! They are pulling zero punches! He's an unrepentant monster!

I don't know if I love that? It makes for a formidable villain that nearly every hero has a vendetta against, but... it feels needlessly cruel, to have such a swing between Cute Flirting and Murder Spree. (They even trot out the classic Inoue Tautology of "Biggie is Biggie”, making me think there's some innate decency to him. They used my fondness for that catchphrase against me!) It's a flattening of the tone, maybe, where it's not worth mourning Biggie because he was never really there to begin with? I don't know. It was a turn in the story I didn't see coming, which was nice, but it robbed the character of some extra angles that I would've preferred they followed through on.

I think the '86 stuff played a little better? I liked the Jirou/Otoya Vs Rook fight better, for sure. The choreography was more interesting, and there was a better attempt at strategy than Drive A Bigger Truck. They got beat, 'cause they always get beat in '86, but it's a more kinetic beating than we'd get at the end of the episode. Seeing the two rivals trade weaponry back and forth in a bid to outmatch a dude who has trumpets on his shoulders to announce his victory... very fun! And still appropriately gross and condescending, considering the men involved!

As you'd expect for a story where Jirou recruits Otoya to defeat Rook so that Yuri doesn't have to, it's patronizing and tacky. They knock her out and steal her purse to get the IXA Knuckle back from her, all in the name of protecting her from herself, which is ridiculously reprehensible. (And then they just leave her knocked out on a sidewalk with all her possessions stolen?! WHAT?!) They are up on the highest of horses this week, somehow managing to come off more delusional and self-involved than a returning Nago, which seems like the meanest thing I can say about those two.

(And, to be clear, I did still enjoy the Otoya/Jirou stuff. They have such great rival energy in their scenes that it's easy for me to overlook that they're treating Yuri like a stubborn child rather than a grown woman who is being kept in the dark. Like, that is all still happening, but the charisma of the actors and their weird dedication to finding notes of Not All IXA or whatever in some tough storylines... it really creates some space for me ignore the more troubling aspects of the story they're in -slash- men they are.)

Hey, Nago's back! And Megumi, sort of! (She's only in one scene, researching W.A.K.E.U.P. cold cases, and I'm not actually certain if the actor is as sick as the character's supposed to be? Or worn out, or something? I can't tell if this is a bit, or if it's covering for an actor that they just couldn't get for a few weeks.) Megumi is hilarious as always, which is something I hope we'll be seeing more of in the future. Nago is... sort of restrained? As always with Nago, he's the most humble (which is to say only 98% self-aggrandizing) when he's certain of his victory, so he's all smiles at Mal d'Amour this episode. He's thrilled for however he thinks the Ixcavator is going to help him defeat a bat-themed superhero (not... not seeing it, myself), so he's only mildly dismissive of Megumi's taunts. It's a cute scene.

It's something I would probably like to see more of. Megumi and Nago seem to be treated the most superfluously of the core hero cast, and it's weakening the '08 storylines, I think. It's been a while since we got a solid Megumi appearance, and Nago is in maybe half of every other episode. He's in, like, two short scenes here? It's not great. This show's gotta figure out a better way to balance its cast.

Anyway! This episode! It was okay. The '86 stuff was gross but engrossing (Rivals teaming up! Always!), and the '08 stuff was surprising but not as compelling. Incredibly excited for the next episode, though, as Wataru got swallowed by a Dragon Cathedral and he's being carried to the opening credits, I think! Very keen to see what happens next! Other than Wataru maybe waking up from a bed of rose petals!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva16b.png

Well it is the title of the episode rules of cruelty so that is why going for? But yeah it sucks they tried make Rook that he is has some good in him only turn him evil again after he got memory again. It like what the point?

Ha ha, fair! Working as intended!

But, yeah, there's definitely a sense of... futility? Inevitability? I guess you could take it as a tragedy, that Biggie was bound to be swallowed up by Rook's malevolence at some point in the story. It just didn't feel like the show was really interested in the complicated reality of the situation, so much as they were the SHOCKING TURN of the gentle giant massacring his friends.

I just realized Biggie is Die's way of calling Dai-chan. I was beginning to wonder why Die started mentioning Biggie Smalls outta the blue. :lolol

So, I want to talk about Mort Weisinger for a minute. Weisinger was an editor at DC comics back in the 1940s-60s, most famously known for holding an ironclad grip on the reins of Superman family. I bring him up because he held this belief that comic books' target audience was around for about four years before they grew out of the hobby and moved on. As such, it was really common during his editorship to see old stories get reused every few years under the assumption that nobody reading comics in 1956 would have been reading the books when the same story appeared in 1953.

This brings me to Gentlemen.

Wait, sorry.

This brings me to Jetman.

I think I talked about this show back in the Faiz thread, but 1991's Choujin Sentai Jetman is the show that put Toshiki Inoue on the map. It was long cited as the most beloved Super Sentai series in Japan, with particular praise going to its darker and edgier tone (which is ridiculous, as the real praise should go to Noodle Dimension, the greatest tokusatsu monster of all time). Like most Sentai series, Jetman had a core group of main villains who persisted through most of the show. This group was led by a man named Radiguet. I bring all of this up because one of the most iconic episodes of Jetman is the one where Radiguet is turned human and given amnesia as punishment for failing to destroy the Jetmen. During this period he meets a sick young woman and falls in love with her. At the end of the episode he gets his memory back and kills her without hesitation or regret. It's a shocking moment and one of the most memorably twisted actions by a Sentai villain.

It's also something that Inoue uses again here on Kiva, 17 years later. Probably just figured that no one who watched Jetman would still be watching these shows so many years later.

It's not a bad story concept - fantastic way to demonstrate how monstrous the villain is, in fact - but if you know Inoue's back catalog it definitely feels like he's essentially plagiarizing himself. It won't be the last time in Kiva.

On the whole, I do like these episodes, although its more for the past segments than the present ones. I get more interest out of watching Jirou teaming up with Otoya to team up against Rook while Yuri gets knocked unconscious repeatedly. the modern day stuff with Dai-chan gets old for me really fast. It leads to a big pay-off in the end, but it's something that feels like Inoue recycling old plots.

The modern story does properly introduce the Powered Ixer, though. Because nothing fits the "holy knight Kamen Rider" aesthetic like a barrel-throwing dinosaur crane.

Oh gosh, I hope not! Please, Die, if you remember anything from this post, let it be this: Tipping is generally discouraged in Japanese culture.

The point of the reveal of Dai-chan's true identity as Rook was probably to further show how Wataru has gone from trusting nobody but Shizuka to trusting everybody and teach a moral that a little skepticism can be helpful sometimes, continuing from Kengo getting deceived in the previous arc. It's like Takumi acts after he commits to being Faiz in Episode 10, he starts overcompensating for his inferiority complex which causes him to look like an idiot. Here it's Wataru thinking how awesome people and the world are now that he has a few better experiences, but he forgets that people and the world can also be terrible, which prevents him from heeding Shizuka's advice about being cautious of strangers. Sometimes character development has to go backwards before it can go forwards.

Anyway, I'd like to point out how ridiculous the minor chess motif is for the Fangires. There's more than 8 pawns but only 1 rook! What even? Maybe they should have gone with Shogi instead.

Based on the screencap, it seems to be a translation by whatever subs Die is using. Over-Time do this sometimes, like for Kei-chan (Kairi's nickname for Keiichirou) and Ansatsu-chan. But TV-Nihon just keep the original names.

IXcAvator on the other hand, why isn't that the original name?! :lol

Damn, I was going to make a joke about this but then you beat me to it! Oh well. However, I will point out that this episode is also one of many written by Inoue to be titled "[x] Dies!" and immediately follows the episode with the memorable elevator scene.

Yeah, I got subs that just call him Biggie the whole time. Sorry for any confusion!

Yeah, I guess I got lucky in that, since I didn't know the origination of this plot, it was able to surprise me a little. I didn't think things would work out great for everyone (as soon as Shizuka and Wataru were like Everything's Working Out Great, I immediately went Oh No), but I did not imagine it would be as clean of a break from Biggie to Rook as it was.

Plus... I don't know, I found all of the Gentle Giant stuff really charming? For all of the death and destruction the plot ends with, it's a nicely low-stakes middle section, with mistaken deliveries and forgotten miso soups.

I think it's that the actor for Rook does a good job in portraying Biggie's innocence as... it feels fleeting, even when there are a half-dozen scenes of him screwing something up in an adorable way. The intercutting with his past villainy and the general foreboding nature of This Is Going To Fall Apart makes those little segments... yeah, real charming. The 1986 stuff was better, for sure, but I did enjoy the 2008 stuff.

It's weird when they start adapting stuff straight out of Bram Stoker's Dracula, like with the Ixcavator, without giving it a toku twist, but at least it's grounded in theme and tone.

Maybe! I think his need to care for Biggie is a little more about his dad, and the way Wataru latches onto different male figures to fill a void in his development. They flip it around here, with him needing a son more than a father, but it's still him trying to configure a healthy family dynamic out of spare parts. Wataru is, like the Fangires, grabbing whatever he can from other people to complete his emotional development.

But, yeah, I can see it being an outgrowth of his recent (few!) positive experiences with people. Although, man, I don't know if Wataru should be feeling too open to people after Kengo vanished following a fight and the Rhino Fangire was such an object lesson in how manipulative people can be!

Nah, then that would be opening another whole can of worms given that Shogi has a rule where you can utilize captured pieces. :lolol

Nah, it's fine I just had to brought it up cause it reminded me of that one South Park episode. Plus I was listening to Biggie Smalls songs at the time. :lolol

Despite how dark it gets by the end (outside of Ixa's silly new ride at least), there's enough space for lighthearted antics in this episode that the show's go-to piece of music for that, appropriately titled Awkward Wataru, gets to play in no less than three separate scenes, so I figure this is as good a time as any to give it some attention. It may not be the coolest tune, but it's a real workhorse that you'll be hearing plenty when you watch Kiva.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnAQTP7GUcE

Anyway, yeah, as part of that group of people who haven't seen Jetman that Inoue was hoping to get with this one – this one got me pretty good, as I recall! It's pretty simple, you know? Amnesiac Rook's childlike innocence is super endearing and it feels bad having it ripped away so suddenly and completely. Even though, unlike Wataru, you can gather early from the '86 parts that it's all essentially one big lie, I think the episode does a great job making you want it to be true all the same.

Two quick things about Ixa this episode also made me want to bring up:

- So, we're already at the point where the show treats the Ixa Knuckle as if it were the entire belt, which is something I don't think has been mentioned in this thread yet? It's just a strange little thing since the show DOES make a point to show characters actually putting the belt on separately... except for when it doesn't at all. It's easy to poke fun at, but of course, for a Rider system being passed around between all these characters, it's kind of more simple, striking, and flexible for filmmaking purposes to center that all around just the Knuckle, so I get why they did it.

- And speaking of how many people use Ixa, I'm noticing just from the bits I'm catching skimming through the episodes that Okamoto does a pretty freakin' good job differentiating everyone's body language? Nago is a lot more restrained, Jirou is wild, Otoya is flamboyant... considering it's only the one suit too, unlike Den-O, it's honestly quite impressive that the performances don't start blending together more.

I feel like this sums up like 80% of Kiva. Alot of it feels like Inoue looked at his past works and decided he wanted to do a "Best Of" for himself and thus, Kiva was born.

Whether or not that works out is of course up to the specific viewer, but still, it's something I noticed.