This was a legit issue I had watching the show; until someone like Otoya or Wataru turned up it was hard at some points to tell which story I was watching. Doesn't help that this is one of those shows where all the girls are interchangeable!

The part of Kengo (so not only Wataru, Mio was the one that caught his interest too, instead of the girls that are lined up purposely to date... the girls being passed over should be a big gut punch to them, feeling betrayed by those who set them up) dating Mio, this shows another aspect of Mio, CMIIW, that she seems to prefer sweet boys to date her, as Kengo, likely other than being loud, is to self-hogging there. Though as you already talk about Megumi being "mom" before, she does it again to Mio here btw, realizing that Mio's the one that is fitting for Wataru, and encourages them in the date.

Oof, I didn't expect your reaction to the date here to be looking at it less. Though dunno why, I somehow feel this has a part where character development is neglected, where Wataru is portrayed as the pushover part in earlier part of subscribing to newspapers, but not long after he shows that he's not that way like refusing the tofu. This one's like the difference between Wataru and Kiva's demeanor, but shown both in person. I kinda feel that the date is meant to be wacky stuff instead of tension or romantic here, finding coincidence after coincidence, piling it up. "You're awkward? All right I'm awkward too! So compartible!", "You're pushover? All right I'm pushover too! So compartible!", etc. Though the date is probably not the most executed well, it seems that yeah, this can seem to be "expected" as both males/females are reserved, asocial type, the ones that would get "lifeless" label, albeit you talked about the reason of it being like more coach/student instead of a date (though this can probably act as a fact that couples should be supportive to each other), I want this to not be used as an example of how any characters in story should have loud, outspoken, or excitable demeanor.

Again yeah, kinda hard to determine (dunno if I get about what you talk here about Yuri returning the ring) if prolonged conflict is due to writing flaw (unintentional), or actually character flaw (intentional). Like you think for Faiz one it's intentional, while others can think it's unintentional, but you seem to think here that it's unintentional. Other than that there's a scene of Yuri finally warming up to Otoya, in tsundere way, now her 'badmouth' to Otoya, like calling him stupid, is a banter. The woman who cons off Otoya is also a part of Inoue writing random one-off characters as assholes, though that would also mean Yuri got it wrong about Otoya, because Otoya saw through the monster's trick and instead took the dress himself so the Fangire would face him (I thought that one's funny).

The phase 1 of Kamen Rider is more experimental that way yeah, they're more daring to try new, unused stuff before, but that can make the shows more controversial though. It seems that for years of experimenting, Den-O is the winner as it's the one seemingly used as the basis of phase 2.

That's not my issue (the experimental nature actually makes me like Phase 1 over Phase 2 most the time), my issue is that Kiva as a show is bad at making it clear which time period you're watching. I'm all for the split time periods if it's done well, but it's just not here

I think this part of the story actually worked okay? It's highlighting how much Wataru has grown over the last two dozen episodes, where he can help Mio try and overcome her social anxiety. Not just in the sense that he can relate to her struggles, but that he can also find the right way to support her path to happiness. It's an idea I'm really fond of, even if I found the execution and resolution to be less interesting.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 23 - "VARIATION: FUGITIVES FOREVER"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva23a.png

Look, I think we can all be honest with ourselves now. The last two episodes weren't subpar because of regressive gender expectations or toxic masculinity or paternalistic marriage traditions or disappearing supporting cast members or conflict-light subplots or anything. That's all problematic, sure. But the reason the last two episodes were subpar was because Maya wasn't in them, a problem that this episode immediately rectifies.

Yep, Maya's back, and she's brought a doomed romance, way more integration for the burgeoning supporting cast, and just a metric ton of horniness. Obviously, I loved this episode.

It's great, from Maya's on-topic execution of a 1986 Fangire who just wants to be in love with a human, to Otoya's Clawolve-pummeled body being thrown into Japan's scenic Inoue Waterway. The whole thing is clever, watchable, and heartbreaking.

It's also, man, so horny. Everybody is ready to bone in this one. Jiro is serious about ending Otoya so he can have Yuri to himself. Otoya is flirting with every woman he can, while coaching Riki on how to flirt. Riki has fallen for Yuri's "cooking”. Yuri is making Otoya's favorite dish (badly) because she definitely doesn't care about Otoya. Meanwhile, our 2008 cast is dealing with Megumi's possible feelings for Nago, and Wataru's clear (and reciprocated!) feelings for Mio. It's a real summertime episode, with everyone across two decades trying to hook up, for a largely-chaste Kamen Rider value of "hook up”. (Like, maybe kiss, mostly just hold hands.) I've seen romantic storylines in Kamen Rider before, but this one's like everyone is in heat.

And I love that, not just for its comedic value (which is high; there's a hilarious Megumi delivery where she's caught out as a single lady by Wataru), but for how everything in both timelines feels integrated. There's a transition between the two timelines in this one that... I both loved it, for how it linked everything together in a fluid, audacious way, and I also hated it for how it portended an upcoming lack of clarity.

We're in 1986, at Mal d'Amour, and everyone's celebrating Boss's 34th birthday. Jiro's taunting Otoya, Otoya's flirting with Yuri, Yuri's threatening Otoya. And then Megumi steps in front of the three of them, passing over to the other end of the cafe, where 2008 Boss and Wataru are sitting. It's shocking, for how little of the old 1986-to-2008 switcheroo signifiers it uses. We're on the set, and now it's a different year. It's fantastic for keeping the comedic and emotional momentum of the scene, for the breathlessness of the timing. But, as folks were recently criticizing a shift from clearly delineated timelines, it's maybe a harbinger of some messier staging. I thought it worked great here, but I can see it being a problem with a lesser director.

But I'd argue you need to do it more, keep the momentum going, since the show is pulling in a lot of outlier characters into the main cast. We'd already moved Kengo into the role of Nago's Nagofer, helping him navigate a world of sin. In '86, Riki and Ramon get their very illegal and very unsafe massage parlor shut down/razed, so they're pitching in at Mal d'Amour. (How is Mal d'Amour, a restaurant with a maximum of two non-Rider guests at any time, paying three full-time employees? Is W.A.K.E.U.P. subsidizing the place as a front? Is Mal d'Amour just charging 9000 yen for a cup of coffee?) In '08, Mio gets enlisted as a model by Megumi. We don't really get a lot with any of them, but it's a really great start.

It makes for a greater diversity in scene partners, which is always welcome. Getting to see Otoya riff off of Riki and Ramon is a laugh, as is seeing how Megumi acts as a different type of support than Wataru. (If there's a flaw to this episode, it's that the spotlight on the guest stars and supporting cast means there's very little for Wataru to do here.) There's a new energy to a lot of these characters, finding different ways of pushing the story forward.

And, speaking of new characters: Shinji and Ryoko! Oh man!

I loved their little doomed romance. Ryoko's a firecracker, someone who loves Shinji despite his sabotaging nature. She's going to safeguard their relationship, even if she's safeguarding it from him. She's exactly the sort of woman you could see a Fangire risking his life for. She's charming (that smile!), and attentive (she knows how he likes his coffee), and is certain of what she wants. While the rest of the cast, in both timelines, is circling around a growing number of potential partners, here are two people who have found each other in the maelstrom of both human civilization and monster politics. But those monster politics have Shinji a little wary. He tries to end things with Ryoko, but he can't. Partly because she won't let him so easily destroy what they have, but partly because... he just can't. He loves her.

And that's it, you know? That's why this story works. He loves her, and it's present in every single frame. It's quiet, and small, and observed. The little scene of domesticity. The brightness of her smile when they're at lunch, and his stammering inability to look her in the eye and lie about not wanting her in his life. It's a love that isn't grand gestures, despite the perfection of the scene where he pleads with her to take him back. It's about commitment, about having that person that you can't imagine living without, and what it means to see that commitment through.

The twist, sort of, is that sometimes the doom of a relationship isn't in the blood-moon punishment of a supernaturally-gorgeous supernatural executioner. It's in time. We see Shinji and Ryoko in 2008, which means (probably) that Maya never does catch up with them. But Ryoko's 22 years older, and Shinji hasn't really aged a day. Ryoko's in the hospital, though. She's not well. She's probably going to die, while Shinji just goes on forever.

But Shinji's still there, still devoted. It's the thing Maya can't understand at the beginning of the episode: Why? Why love a human? Why devote yourself to something weaker than you? Why entangle your life with something so ephemeral? But there's no answer that the nameless Fangire in the beginning could give, just like there's no answer that Shinji could probably give. It's love. It doesn't make any sense. It's a feeling, and it's something the Shinji/Ryoko story excels at. I think I care more about these two than any other characters on the show right now. And I like the other characters on this show right now!

(The two screencaps I used for this post... god, they break my heart in the best way. The vulnerability of the upbeat Ryoko, to admit how precarious their relationship is, and the steadfastness of the previously-evasive Shinji to affirm his commitment to her? It is unbelievably sweet. It's this economy of dialogue, where the actors and the staging are entrusted with delivering that emotional payload. It's not a writer who feels like he has to spell everything out. It's a faith in the process to let the tone multiply what they aren't saying. I really thought it was lovely.)

I thought this one was fantastic. The comedy was relentless and surgical (that whole birthday thing in the beginning!), and the emotional scenes with Shinji and Ryoko packed a wallop. Extremely balanced storytelling, with the comedy going big and broad so the smaller dramatic scenes could feel fragile and delicate. Really, really great episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva23b.png

Well since Fish isn’t here yet and this is the last appearance of Garulu form in the show (not Jiro though, he’s still around and kicking), here’s the form’s theme song, Shout in the Moonlight.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FedHkvWVSvo

And unlike Bassha and Dogga, Garulu gets two songs: one as Garulu (which is above) and one as Jiro (which is below)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=L-FIEGqTPJI

And anyway, time for my regular feature.

Grizzly Fangire

True name: The Funeral and the Carpenter's Secret Pact (葬儀屋と大工が交わした密約 Sōgiya to Daiku ga Kawashita Mitsuyaku)

Human identity: Shinji Takeuchi

Class: Beast

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Kenji Mizuhasi

Next episode features one of the best reaction shots I got from this series, along with my second biggest hype moment. Look forward to it.

Wait to watch the next episode everything is about to change.

Me too!

I would hope so! A twistless conclusion sounds really disappointing.

Isn't Mio the 2008 Maya anyway... still wondering about the completely innocent Fangires like the one Maya killed, instead of just being introduced as fodders.

At least Otoya teaches other male there (teaching to flirt, which would potentially create a competition for him)... would place that above caring for Yuri for list of his noble moments. So yeah, tsundere showing of Yuri there against Otoya "it's not like I care about you or anything...b̶-̶b̶-̶b̶a̶k̶a̶!". And yeah there's a literal integraton of the 2 timelines, the transition where Megumi walks with the 1986 cast in background. I sense an abusive relationship attraction between Megumi and Nago here as the latter's one of the sexist person in the show, and though they did fight Fangire together (albeit I think it's an occupation), there's no bonding between them yet unlike even, Otoya and Yuri. Megumi's a Wataru x Mio shipper, for an objection to you, aside from occassional moments, Megumi only starts acting truly like a "mom" (or older sis) when Mio is involved here, like a parent who pairs up the child with other (potential child-in-law).

Well here we are, finally probably a detailed part of human-Fangire romance, though I only suspect Shinji being a Fangire midway, not really fully (am I having understanding problem?). Though I likely won't think it's exactly quiet, small, and domesticed... at least compared to previous Wataru and Mio's date. I feel like this has the repetitive part of swinging back in forth of Shinji wanting to break up, then actually his face still loves Ryoko, and so forth. Though yeah this is a double casting that makes sense, as Shinji doesn't age as a Fangire unlike Ryoko.

For Maya not understanding to devote yourself to weaker one, that's a concept not even exclusive between monsters and humans. For a human to love someone less physically capable, that's a lesser form of devotion to the weaker one. It's obviously Maya's problem, which seems expected as a Fangire, and a higher ranked one, as actually many women don't necessarily seek strength or physical power, like how some might wish to have a more submissive partner, while there are also other reasons like protecting the mate to feel more confident.

I remember this woman I was dating, and we had a fight. She made some comment she thought was a joke, and I took it hard, and I wasn't great at explaining how it hurt me, and I sort of shut down. It was a ton of hurtful silence. I thought I was mad at her, but then she started to cry. After that, whatever I thought I felt, whatever my own emotional issues were, they got obliterated by the way it broke my heart to see her sad. I didn't care about right or wrong, I didn't care about who was at fault, I just needed her to know that I loved her, and that I couldn't bear to watch her cry.

So, yeah, watching Shinji absolutely lose his resolve to break up with Ryoko when he saw how much it hurt her? Zero complaints about that! Felt incredibly personal and well-observed! When you truly love someone, shit gets complicated! It is very hard to watch them be sad and know that you had a hand in it!