It's a little funny you'd bring this up, because I honestly had a couple points where I forgot/misunderstood whether or not Wataru knew that Biggie was Rook. Right in the beginning, Rook runs off from the fight with Kiva, and the next scene is Wataru, Shizuka, and Biggie playing with a ball. It took a few seconds to realize that Wataru didn't just catch up to Biggie after the fight, that they all just reconnected somehow. I feel like there should've been a linking scene, where we see Biggie wake up after the fight and meet up with Wataru? It's a part of an overall sense that this one didn't dot the i's as much as I'd like.

I did scrunch my face a little bit in the Jirou/Otoya vs Rook fight, when Jirou just hands Otoya the IXA Knuckle and then Otoya henshins. Even my undiscerning eye was able to go Doesn't He Need A Driver at that omission. Neither dude consistently wears the belt in the '86 fight? Jirou does to start, for the first henshin, but once he's knocked out of it, the belt completely disappears. It's weird!

(My headcanon for Yuri stealing the Knuckle when she never had the belt is that she knew she wouldn't be able to henshin into IXA, she just wanted a bad-ass gun to use alongside her regular arsenal. She's no dummy!)

I don't think that Rook was detonated at the end (but I don't know much about Kiva so cmiiw), as he's one of the major villains in the series as Four Checkmate groups. I even think he summons the Fangire souls so Rook gets away scot-free, Kiva's busy fighting his monster while Rook is safe. Though it makes sense for Rook being a full on killer even to those who showed compassion to him before like the restaurant crew, Rook is an irredeemable villain, and he's not the only one on Kiva. Though still, his time as Dai-chan was never touched upon again, other than Rook stating that he lost his memories (so it's confirmed to Wataru that Rook isn't acting two-faced on him), and one of the Fangires who clarifies what happened to him, which is sleeping for 20 years, I'd still like to see what he thought about his time as Dai-chan, even if he shows nothing but disgust for it for acting like a civilized human being. Though still I probably think the "needlessly cruel" part here is a reality-check, just that there's a decent person who just happens to be a member of deadly species, there's also full-on depraved beings on any species (either a completely evil human "humans are the real monsters", or here for Rook), a reminder that there's a good reason why they're the bad guys.

I agree that Jirou/Otoya fight is better here, though there's maybe legitimate reason for it, Jirou/Otoya had been preparing to get rid of Rook, while Wataru had sudden reveal of Dai-chan being actually a rotten Rook Fangire and is thrown into a fight he never had a thought of (except the ringing violin). But finally, Jirou/Otoya realizes that they have mutual goal, and can work together temporarily to achieve that. Though the mutual goal here is an evil threat that is jeopardizing to both of them. I mean, even before you had "WHAT?!" on leaving her KOed on sidewalk, I had my pwn "WHAT?!" before that; how did Yuri, a woman fighter albeit is no match to the Fangires, get KOed easily by Otoya?! If Jirou's the one doing that, it may be plausible as he's a monster, Wolfen, but Otoya's another human fighter.

Surely not, there's a live stream of Nana Yanagisawa (Megumi's actress) recently, singing Kiva's songs, and she knew some english. Well, for "bat-theme superhero", Nago sees Kiva as villain, for a reason that would be spoiler-y to talk about now. A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶K̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶R̶y̶u̶k̶i̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶K̶R̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶.̶

Yeah, that was pretty much my read on it, eventually. It's just weird that we don't see Rook escape or anything. He's just all Arise My Minions and then we don't see him for the rest of the fight. Feels like the episode could've spared a few seconds to show him scampering off.

Sure, there's definitely that. Wataru was horrified at Rook's actions and conflicted about fighting someone with Biggie's face, so he was not nearly as motivated/prepared as the '86 team. That's true!

But, really, the whole point of the fight was to show off the Ixcavator and give Nago a confidence-boosting/insanity-supressing win. It was a fight that Kiva was only ever the prelude for, unlike the Jirou/Otoya focus of the '86 fight.

Well, I would say it's a mixture of surprise (she wasn't expecting Otoya to chop her neck) and the fact that Otoya is shown to be no slouch as a human fighter. He's held his own against weaker Fangires, and even gotten a few good shots in on Jirou. He's not a joke as a fighter.

That's what I would say. What Otoya would probably say was that his love for Yuri overcame her defenses, and that his touch was so powerful it rendered her unable to stand. But he's a creep, so let's stick with She Wasn't On Her Guard.

Oh, no, I just meant maybe she had the flu for a couple weeks or something. That or some slight on-set injury might've limited her work. It was probably just that the scripts didn't have room for her!

Not in the Chu Shogi variant though. ;)

I forgot to talk about this before, but I'd like for Wataru's shyness to be touched upon again here. Wataru's experience here can potentially trigger someone's fear for other people, where how someone who he takes care of, at first glance seems to be an adorable big man, but turns out to be an unrepentant monster. I can see Wataru's shyness surfacing back to him, becoming fearful to deal with others as in experiencing something similar to Rook here.

Sure Otoya is, but in my book, Otoya being no slouch for human fighter (which can be used for bad in his first appearence to fight off someone and take their woman away) means he's likely on par with Yuri, not above her. It should be a mid diff for him to deal with Yuri likely, not no diff.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 17 - "LESSON: MY WAY”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva17a.png

I got a real Hibiki vibe off of this one. Some of it's down to the visuals; it's almost insane to see Wataru out in nature, considering I've known people under house arrest that got outside more than he does. But a lot of it is the tone, which is agreeable and curious, and the themes, which are all about teachers and students.

One of the backbones for Hibiki was the struggle to best nurture the talents of children. It was something the show approached from the perspective of both the teacher (the Oni) and the student (all them cute kids). We get a sort of Kiva-y take on that this time. I say "Kiva-y” because, while there's plenty of time spent on trying to strike a balance between imparting wisdom and listening to feedback, there's still a Nago storyline where the world's most deranged do-gooder gets so fixated on his inability to secure a trophy that he relentlessly hounds a monster to the degree that it inadvertently homages one of my favorite Kids in the Hall sketches. It's... it's Hibiki-adjacent, but it is not Hibiki.

It's great, though, the whole episode. It's drawing from two frequent storytelling buckets for the 2008 stuff, Wataru Is Depressed and Wataru Needs A Mom. They're both pretty naturally applied, considering recent storylines. Wataru, too genre-savvy by half, wakes up (wake up, wake up) from after his rose petal skin treatment at a Dragon Cathedral day spa to ennui and betrayal, a sad realization that nearly every new person he's met for the last couple months have been Fangires. This would normally be the point where he'd confide in someone he trusts, but there's literally no one he can talk to about his Rider status. None of his friends or substitute parents know he's Kiva (I don't think Shizuka does?), and half of them want to murder Kiva, so he's got no one to help him through the Rider's dilemma of fighting to save happiness in a world that is giving him nothing but heartache. He's isolated and depressed, so he opts to get out of town.

I'll be honest: I think I like this show best when Wataru is depressed. I'm not even sure why. It just feels like stories borne out of his disappointment and uncertainty connect with the major themes of the series in a more visceral, impactful way. It leads to stories about familial obligation, and nurturing talent, and defining your self-worth, and all of the things Wataru struggles with on a daily basis. It's all-caps KIVA stories, you know? So an episode that swerves away from monsters and resurrections to let Wataru try to puzzle out why he's not engaged with violin-making (well, it is a day that ends in Y, maybe he didn't realize that), that's going to really feel like the show is focused on its thematic storytelling.

Wataru spending the rest of the episode as a student being coached by Megumi and Kurasawa, it's a lot of fun. It's that teacher's dilemma of trying to find a way to encourage Wataru's talent, but also being able to let Wataru discover his strengths for himself. It's just done through territorial pride and one-upmanship, because Inoue. Megumi losing her goddamn mind and nearly abducting Wataru? Yes, of course, huge fan. Her immediate feud with Kurasawa over who is the Best Mom is exactly the sort of stuff I've been missing while Megumi's been a little sidelined, and it's a view of teaching as being too much about the teacher that the 1986 story also hits on.

The 1986 story is, basically, amazing. It's this ridiculous story about Yuri needing to find a violin tutor for a kid (who I assume is Young Kurasawa, since Kurasawa was like Wait Violins to Wataru on the beach), enlisting Otoya with the promise that Yuri will go on a date with him if the kid passes her audition, cue adorable hijinks and some minor child endangerment. It's Otoya at his most frustrated and nearly feral, complete with a billiards duel against Jirou. It's not a really deep dramatic plot (the 2008 stuff feels more careful in the ways it's exploring Wataru's need for structure and direction), but it's fun to watch this kid and Otoya at each other's throats for an episode.

Just a top-to-bottom great episode, even the psychotic Nago subplot. That gives us a bonkers climax, as Kiva faces off against the same Fangire that Nago's been hunting, and Nago swipes the Garulu Saber on delivery to kick the asses of everyone else in the fight. It's a completely weird new ability of IXA's (Garulu Fake Whistlestle?) that changes the equation of the fight while it asks a major question about how W.A.K.E.U.P. knew to build something that could fake Kiva's abilities. Not sure it's going to get explained (Inoue show), but it definitely got my attention at the finale.

I had such a good time with this episode! I was only mildly distracted by the thematic significance of Wataru spending the episode in a shirt that said Stupid on it in big letters. Stupid Riders need the most attention, after all. I'm glad he's finally getting it!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva17b.png

This one felt weird to me. It's a bit hard to explain, but there was something about it that felt off, mostly in regards to the Otoya section. Otoya is behaving really weirdly, even by his own standards. As it turns out, this episode is weird: this two-parter is written by Shoji "Kabuto" Yonemura, making these the only two episodes of Kiva not written by Inoue.

They aren't bad, but the characters do tend to feel just a little bit off-base to me. I did enjoy the Wataru sections, though. Overall, I feel like Wataru is growing on me a lot more on the second time through the series. We'll see if he can maintain that.

Not only is it never explained, but - like Shoo Doran before it - the Fake Fuestles will never be used again.

So yeah, this two-parter was by a different writer and it kind of shows in how it’s slightly more committed to selling toys (namely, IXA’s fuestles).

Kurasawa’ actress was also in the Old Dopant two parter of W as a woman forcing her child into a career she doesn’t want, which in light of the girl in the 86 plot, seems karmic.

And now, here’s my main feature.

Seastar Fangire

True name: The Proposition Related to the Guillotine and the Nest Box (断頭台と巣箱に共通する命題 Dantōdai to Subako ni Kyōtsū suru Meidai)

Human identity: Sakichi Sakaguchi

Class: Aqua

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Shuhei Kii

Next time: Kiva gets his own equivalent of wing wolf mode/space jet mode/hydra mode/death cannon. (I have no idea how familiar you are with the Japanese transformers shows, hence the links).

One of the ways Kamen Rider Kiva leverages the supposed drawback of a large cast is that it sort of turns the show into It Takes A Village To Raise A Rider. It makes Wataru a character that needs connection, needs to be fixed, so badly that it motivates other characters. Wataru becomes both star and story-generator, and I think it keeps his shy, withdrawn Rider in a multi-generational ensemble melodrama from ever feeling overshadowed by more charismatic characters. Even when Megumi's killing me (the fact that Shizuka enlisted her aid by informing Megumi that Wataru had been acting strangely, all depressed and withdrawn, and Megumi's response was I Thought You Said He Was Acting Strangely, that destroyed me), the second she falls back in Wataru's orbit, her high-energy comedy turns into just another pair of hands that are trying to build a better Wataru.

They are really in an IXA Has The Best Toys section of this show, aren't they? I wonder if anyone on the production team wished they'd gone with IXA's whole thing as the main Rider.

Though probably there's Hibiki vibe with teacher and student, I'd not think that this reminds me of Hibiki (likely the visual yeah), as this episode is actually a contrast about how Hibiki is, where Hibiki has grounded cast and people interacting with each other in civil and amicable way, this one has over the top cast and full of squabbling between people. I know there's a part of teachers teaching someone, Hibiki's not only one where it had people teaching others, I'd say this reminds me more of scenes like... teachers teaching Tsurugi in Kabuto.

So it actually happened. Wataru being socially withdrawn, and it really makes sense that for all Wataru had to deal when trying to be sociable, he had to be given consequences that is undeserving to him despite him not doing anything wrong. It's not touched upon for Wataru's past, but dealing with what Wataru did here, like the person being close to you actually being depraved including turning on you, can be a trigger to turn someone shy and timid. The thematic explanation here, about Wataru's inner struggles, can probably help to explain deeper about character archetypes that is looked down upon like those who had ordinary flaws (non-toxic ones), and is hated instead due to being relatable, like how the timid characters are deemed by some to less likely to take decisive action and are more likely to be pulled along by the current of events.

The writer here is Yonemura. So this episode kind of reminds that Megumi, although had to grown to care better for Wataru when they're held captive by Spider Fangire, can still act tactless and spew condescending remarks or behaviors. For just being near Wataru, both Wataru and Kurasawa fall victim into Megumi's badmouths like Kurasawa being an old woman or Wataru being abducted, though Kurasawa responded with similar spat towards Megumi. I know that Wataru is a shut-in while those 2 woman are sporty, but I guess not even Wataru's fight as Kiva earns him enough physique to lift weights... (some characters after becoming Riders, can do things like, fending off monsters in human form). Other than that, Wataru finding archery... I'd like if the archery is related to developing his fighting skills as a Rider... but he already got all of the 4 main forms of Kiva. And the key of being actually the best mom is.... to drop the petty behavior those 2 has, neither are worthy.

Well yeah, this part's another tokusatsu bratty kid making headaches for the cast, although Otoya deserved that (but obviously not done for right reasons). The one that is endangered is not only the child, but Otoya himself for the child's prank involving dropping a violin on him (while Otoya's "The Worst", she didn't know her teacher yet). Though the girl also got punishment herself to be forced to clean the toilets (I hope if you find this part fun to watch, you won't chastise the ones giving punishments to the girl because it'll likely change the girl's behavior to become better). There's also Otoya trying to act cool while playing billiards with Jirou, but ends up getting his arm stuck in the pocket. He then proceeds to break his stick in half while trying to pull of a ridiculously tricky shot...which just happens to work.

I know the whole episode is bonkers, but I didn't think that the climax here would be labeled as bonkers too, it's merely a brutal beatdown that also has happened many times in Rider, especially those who aren't shy to show family-unfriendly violence. So IXA's power is revealed to be able to steal weapons from other Riders like Kiva with Garuru Fake. There's also another one of something that Nago is obsessive with, which is... buttons, where he wanted to capture them from a Fangire criminal to collect them as memento.