Aaaagh why does Kiva have to be so dumb? It should be easy to not be this dumb. But damn. Only 4 minutes into episode 34 and I am compelled to post once more.

How do you just go from Wataru's stupid little celebration of being rejected by Mio to the two of them sitting in a cup ride??? Does Inoue not know what scene transitions are? Or logic? Or how to write???

More and more, I'm inclined to believe the answer to all these questions, and more, is a resounding no.

Man, seeing you and Mars gradually descend into madness watching Kiva has been fascinating. :lol

Man, I'm mildly compelled to rewatch Kiva since it's apparently the apex of stupidity, and I don't remember it being so :lol

That's just your brain's way of coping with the trauma. :p

Kiva is a mess but I can’t help but love it to pieces anyway. I love the madness of it all. :lol

Wow ok, so funny story, after episode 34 offended me so much with its cup ride antics, I stopped the episode and posted that complaint up at the top there. Then I left the episode paused like that for over three hours. Turns out if I'd waited 20 more seconds I could have seen there was kind of an explanation!

I guess I owe another apology to Kiva, I got a little ahead of myself there. It's still a dumb show, but I guess not for this one thing in particular. It is kind of worrying that randomly transitioning to these guys in an amusement park ride for no reason is something I could easily see Kiva doing though. It really is that kind of show. Still, I should probably wait until I actually finish an episode to comment on it. There's plenty of bad stuff in each already, I don't need to make up any more.

And hey, it's Kengo. Seems he's achieved his final form as well: Big Ol' Jerk Form.

And hey, Maya is a pirate. Cool.

So Wataru turned into a big CG dragon thing. I assume they wanted it to be a bat, but it's a dragon.

I'm like. Going to go ahead and assume that's gonna end up as one of those things in Kiva that happens and then doesn't matter or get explained again.

It helped Riki find a sword at least, but....no! Riki, don't you realize?? Once he has the Zubat sword he won't ever draw you guys out ever again, even occasionally! Well, not that he was doing that anyway, but...eh (rip in peace, ramon).

Anyway, episode 35 actually wasn't bad. Wataru finally fessed up to Taiga about liking Mio, which is really something. I would have expected Kiva to draw out the m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s for at least 10 more episodes, so this is cool.

I wonder when I started caring more about the 2008 stuff than the 1986 stuff though, that used to be the more interesting part....although "caring" is a bit of a strong word at this point. I guess I'd blame Maya for that though. Well, not her specifically I guess, just the Romantic Plot Tumor she's involved in, not unlike the other Queen. But at least other stuff is happening in 2008, ever since Rook was defeated literally nothing has happened in the 1986 side but Otoya and Maya being weird. Meh.

I was pretty sure I'd used that here at some point. It totally fits the situation, though.

Already finished Drive and now marathoning Fourze. I sense a new batch of SH Figuarts for me in the near future... ������

So I'm watching episode 17 of Super-1, and...

Did XIG really translate kendo as "fencing?" but why.

That's some real jelly-filled donuts shit.

...Anyway, Super-1 actually isn't too bad. It's not like, super great, and Kazuya's actor has a really punchable looking face, imo, which is distracting (as is his poor fashion sense) but it's not bad. This episode in particular was alright, because it had a nonstandard kaijin. 99.9 times out of 100, Showa kaijin all act the same way, and may all as well be the same damn character. So it's fun when one comes around with a different personality. Lonely Wolf was a weak loser of a monster, so he was a nice departure from the norm.

Also

https://i.gyazo.com/692976ee061597a1...d5f90c10c4.png
https://i.gyazo.com/ce4d26d9abcf44f1...fd0443897f.png
WE ARE!! MIGHTY...BROTHERS...DOUBLE, um, wolf...


or, you know, whatever


...I still can't get over the fencing thing, though, it's dumb.

Don't get your hopes up too soon, you haven't seen the worst of the 2008 romance yet. And the worst of Mio, for that matter.

I love pretty much everything about Kiva, despite its many flaws and wasted potential, but I remember really disliking everything about Mio.

It's been a couple weeks since I finished and my mind has gracefully washed most of Kiva's plots and characters away! Bliss.

Workin' through Kuuga!

Hibiki Episode 1: Singing? I get the idea of music already XD and Asumu is a really likeable character so yeah, I’m glad I’ve decided to give this a second try. And Wow is Hibiki heroic XD how many others would dive off a boat to save a kid. Perhaps its just the version I’m watching but there seems to be an ever present glare that’s kinda jarring and makes it hard to watch. If it’s the version I’ll find somewhere else if it’s the show itself then I may just have to deal with it but it’s going to be hard that’s for sure. Overall it was a decent episode especially for a show that wasn’t really a Rider show to begin with XD at least that’s what my memory tells me.

Are you watching the TV-Nihon subs? The video quality on those is absolute garbage; it looks like someone rubbed Vaseline on the picture. It's a real pity that every other attempt to sub the show has died.

Down the final stretch with Fourze. Starting OOO next.

Yeah, the early episodes are sludgy but, hang in there, they get better. Not great but, improved.

I'm currently picking up on Gaim again from episode 20 or so, and about to start Ex-Aid. I got to about episode 30 something of Ghost, but just couldn't bring myself to finish it right now. Oh well, I will someday haha.

Thanks to a huge backlog I've had to put it off for a while, but I've finally watched the last two bits of Faiz media I needed to see to finish the series - Paradise Lost and the Hyper Battle Video.

First up, Paradise Lost - why couldn't the whole series have just been this?!

The movie was fantastic. The AU setting where the Orphnochs had taken over suited show perfectly, and I loved seeing all the human cast as this ragtag bunch of rebels living in a shanty town. A lot of the plot was a bit too convenient thanks to the short running time and plenty of it was batshit insane (Murakami as a head in a jar topping that list) but the whole thing was the big thing Faiz wasn't - enjoyable from start to finish. Psyga was cool as hell (especially with all the completely out of place English speech :lol) and the Orga suit was pretty neat as well. Definitely my favourite AU Rider film and quite possibly my favourite overall as well.

It gave me major Kabuto vibes, in that I also pretty much hated the show but ended up loving the movie. Maybe I just need a completely dystopian Rider series in my life?

Meanwhile the Hyper Battle Video. Yeah....I take everything bad I've ever said about Faiz back, it's the greatest Rider series of all time based solely on this. Words cannot describe those wonderful 10 minutes of insanity.

So that's Faiz over and done with. Not sure if I hated it as much as Ghost, but it's definitely at the very bottom of my favourites list out of the stuff I've seen. Was really good to end it on two good things though, rather than just more squandered potential and disappointment.

Can’t say anything to your post since I won’t read it because... goddamn I haven’t made any progress on Faiz ever since we last spoke about it in this very topic. I really need to get a move on or I won’t finish it this year…

SkyRider Episode 7: Well NeoShocker seems to being growing tired of SkyRider fast with having a worldwide meeting to discuss it. They definitely knew how to show evil here. MantisMan was creepy especially going around as that clown. This was really straight to the action here and great battles once again. I also loved seeing more of SkyRider's abilities like increased hearing and enhanced vision. Loved the flying to find the enemy too. The Rider Break is still amazing and I love him crashing through all the time. I can't wait for more.

Finally reached up to finishing episode 12 of Ex-Aid. Well, damn. :(

So far, this has kept my attention much more than Ghost ever did. I don't know exactly what made me fall off of the latter, but Ex-Aid itself feels like a general improvement. Such a silly mash-up of video games and medical dramas shouldn't work, but that's part of the beauty of tokusatsu.

You BETTER catch up on the latest episode then

Caught up on Ex-Aid, now. Hot damn, that show is awesome :D

Currently watching the Ghost movie, Kamen Rider #1. Debating between continuing Ghost or Fourze, or try starting up Gaim.

Back to Kiva. Yippee.

Starting up 37.

Having to watch all these stupid love triangles and rectangles and other assorted n-angles play out is starting to become physically painful.

TIL if you add a wolf man to a mer man to a franken man, you get a bats.

Makes sense to me.

Also thank god the last scene in 37 happened. The quicker these idiots stop being all coy about their identities the better.

Also, wish they'd figured out that Nago works best as a comedic character earlier. His way of praying last episode was just great ("God, you're wrong. Please fix this.") and trying to tape thumbtacks to the IXa Knuckle? Absolute Perfection. It's like how petty can one man be. This petty, it appears.

Also thought Yuri would finally be able to do a thing again when she stole IXA but lol.

Hang in there! Just 10-ish episodes until the suffering finally ends! :thumb:

Late-series comedy Nago is one of the highlights of the entire show for me. I'm amazed how much I started liking him once they realized he's a total nutcase and just decided to lean into it hard.

SkyRider Episode 8: Another good episode. I just love this format of getting right to the plot of these episodes. The Centipede Man was an interesting villain though it was weird because I thought Shindo and Centipede Man were there at the same time, well it might have been an illusion effect or just a mishap. Still love Hiroshi's need to help people and wanting to stop NeoShocker too. Love how he broke through the ceiling of the base and overall just kicked ass on both foot and motorcycle. Great heroic action, I can't wait for more.

I don't understand this. Why do I want a 753 shirt??? Nago is just...too precious.

Haha, wow. I thought this guy was named King, not Joker. He just said something funny though. "IXA has destroyed many of our comrades." Haha wow. Silly King, IXA's only functionality in 1986 is to let Fangires get away, duh.

And wow, Kengo, jeez. I know sometimes people have to think outside the box to have an unique henshin pose, but your boot? That's just overdoing it.

https://i.gyazo.com/eebd2de5ed18365a...e2d6da651b.png

753 is by far the best part of this show at the moment. I'm gonna be so sad when he gets IXA back.

As Kiva goes, episode 38: not too bad.

Your enjoyment of this show pleases me greatly.

It didn't take long for episode 39 to correct my error in judgement. 753 is still good, but I'd somehow forgotten that Riki is the true MVP. God I love him.

Also my goodness, Maya, what a fucking liar you turned out to be. Did we already forget how one of the early plots was about how Otoya totally bamboozled a ton of people out of their money and stuff? Wait, who the hell am I kidding, it's Kiva, of course we forgot. Also he's a womanizing weirdo but I guess that goes without saying.

"Stay away from her, she's a Fangire"
"Yeah, I know"
"So that means...you knew??"
"Yep."

quality_dialog.txt

Wow, here I was thinking that my stockholm syndrome was making me think maybe Kiva wasn't going to be so bad in this final stretch, but this, this is some crap. So what the actual hell, Mio? This is so ooc. My goodness.

Also, damn it all, 753 turned back into Nago. Was fun while it lasted...is what I had typed, but at least he "slipped" during the fight at the end so hey, I guess he's starting to graduate from being an incorrigible ass.

Episode was alright until Mio went full Kiva on me.

Ok, so Nago is no longer being the funny man, which is sad, but for just about the first time ever, he's actually being a respectable human being, so I guess I'm okay with this outcome as well.

...? So this Aozora guy hates Fangires because Taiga hurt him, which is why he wants to defeat Wataru, so...he asks Taiga for help? Keep being logical, Kiva.

So Yuri gets to transform a third time. And accomplishes nothing still! Woo.

Eight more episodes. Soooon, freedom.

Yeah, don't get too excited. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one currently posting around here that actually likes Kiva, and I thought Kiva was terrible.

TV-N's fault?

Come on, I believe in you!

And the best part is, after this, whatever you watch next will seem AMAZING by comparison! Maybe do Wizard. :p

Nope, that was just the show. Well, not literally,the flippant translation is me, but the "I knew" "So...you knew??" is completely accurate.


I've already seen (and loved) Wizard. My original plan was actually to watch 555 after Kiva, but I don't think I'm too into the idea of getting Inoue's number 1 all up in my face right after getting his number 2, so...was originally thinking of skipping ahead to the next thing on my list, Kabuto, but...I think I'm gonna go ahead and take a bit of a break from Rider and go with Go-Busters after all. Should be fun. More than this.

I'll take your word for it then. Maybe Mars was onto something with that joke about Inoue writing Kiva while on the toilet. :lol

Oh wait what? That works for me then. :thumb:

Yeah, Faiz, despite being a more solid show than Kiva, has a lot of the same problems and quirks, so you probably want to build some endurance back up before tackling it.

Naturally I still wholeheartedly support the idea of watching Go-Busters. It may be "boring" in the eyes of a lot of people, but I think everyone would agree it at least won't cause physical pain the way Kiva does. :p

Man, I'm being so harsh. It's okay Kiva, I only mock you because I care.

KIVAAAAA!!!
Barny, you should watch Faiz, it's nowhere near as stupid as Kiva just... not right after Kiva.

If you do decide to do another Rider - go Kabuto; it's a bit filler laden in the middle but, mostly, it's pretty awesome.

Of course, a lot of Kabuto was also written by Inoue, so that still isn't a great idea if the goal here is steer clear of the guy for a while.

Not to worry, I eventually plan to watch all the Kamen Riders. Just not at the moment (or well, the moment after I finish Kiva anyway), probably...'course, even if I'm watching Go-Busters I'll still be watching the original show and Super-1 on the side, so I'm not cutting off the franchise anyway.

...speaking of the Showa side, I'm like 7 episodes away from finishing Skyrider, so I should be able to wrap that up soonish as well. Got opinions on that too...

...oh, and Saban's Masked Rider. Also making progress on that every once in a blue moon. I'll say this for it: if nothing else, it's written more consistently than Kiva .-.

Inoue's fingerprints are all over the pre-W Heisei era. It's hard to find a show that he didn't contribute at least a few episodes to, plus almost every movie.