Yeah, I wouldn't... it's not a theory of mine that I can justify as anything more than Please Don't Ruin Kengo. I wanted his reintroduction to be more than just conflict for conflict's sake.

But her constructive criticism would mostly just be I Am Being Held Captive By Your Society, and that's not going to make a ton of difference if Taiga meets a nice girl at a Starbucks.

More than that... it's still not Mio's job to "fix" Taiga, or even in her best interest to try? Giving him ways to fix himself is like giving him hope that she'll change her mind, and that's the worst thing she can do for either of them. She gave Taiga the truth and a clean break; I think that should be enough for him.

I honestly think if the Kiva suits weren't so heavy 36 would be right around the time Emperor shows up also a problem I have with Kiva(as a late joiner) is there are WAY TOO Many tonal whiplashes like for example if an episode of Den-O had some depressing crap happen they would wait a bit before a joke happens again Kiva it's depressing scene some screwed up stuff and then RANDOM FUNNY JOKE TIME XDDDDDDD

(I prefer darker stories but I don't mind Den-O since at least it felt tonally consistent and it knew what it was Kiva feels like it's trying to be dark as Inoue's other work but has so much random BS thrown in to the point where I'm like uhhhhhhhh what)

Ideally, it would've first appeared in 35 instead of Flight Style. That moment of Wataru repairing Bloody Rose, feeling his father's hopes for humanity's safety, and it all combining with Wataru finding his own path? THAT is when you want to have the chains break off of Kiva's suit, and for it to glow with a newly-discovered inner strength. It's a way bigger moment than My Girlfriend Got Shoved By A Monster.

It's not always effective, and it's occasionally to the story's detriment, but I've always liked how Inoue can try to insert a little absurdity to offset the harrowing emotional stakes. These stories can get dark, so having some jokes can be a benefit.

Probably I'm catching something that feels wrong in your eyes, regarding Wataru, but please don't assume me as someone who only prefers justice/empathy/work together to support. For personal and individual stuff I already frequently pointing out someone's bad traits, not ignoring/forgiving/minimizing them, I just don't find any/much for Wataru yet, and I was talking based on your insight for him 'not trusting Mio'. For the part of 'don't deal with their emotions well' it's really true for Wataru though, albeit I feel that it's ordinary flaw instead of toxic one (e.g., not lashing it out to others).

She's only 14 though...

Poor Megumi for not keeping IXA? Yeah ep. 31 was the only time she got to be one... besides not much to say about Kengo turning IXA, other than how he became an expert fighter in the blink of time. What do you mean about Yuri being thankless btw? For the Super Fangire, true... despite the role of absorbing other Fangire's powers and the hype about her becoming the strongest, she feels just like a standard MOTW, she's just disposed in the same way as usual Fangires that the Rider fought, doesn't even feel different when she was beating up Wataru.

I feel like for Wataru not feeling his father's presence in his life, Jiro has turned into a better person from his stint in 1986 where he's turned into an aloof father figure to Wataru. He's the one that gives him a bit of a clue regarding who Otoya was, especially that they've turned into an old friend by then (one of previous scene in Otoya is still about him refusing to help the Arm Monsters' problems, unless Yuri is involved), with him promising something to Otoya too. Not saying about this being good or not, but I feel like Wataru's trying to solve the rift more quicker here regarding him, Taiga, and Mio, by telling him the source of the problem here as Wataru liking her too, albeit vague enough that it makes Taiga accept Wataru's help to rescue Mio from the Super Fangire (the danger likely pushes Wataru to confess further, especially for someone who doesn't have courage to tell others due to the fear of disheartening them), continuing from that, Bloody Rose being fixed here represents Wataru moving on like what he "celebrates" before, with Jiro directing him for properly completing Bloody Rose, too quick or not.

Though Otoya seems to suffer for Maya's "literal vampire", the 2008 seems to had Maya suffer for it instead, where it's revealed that the Queen nature had the punishment of the Queen power being taken away when they actually love humans and had someone else be chosen at random, as Mio approaches Maya to have her decline the Queen role. I do feel that this answers a bit for the Queen role before, that the reason the other Fangires egg the Queen to do their job is just following the nature of the Queen mechanic, but for Maya talking about how she lost hers by loving a human, I do feel that it gives Mio actual tips to let herself go from the Queen role, despite Maya insisting her to keep the role.

I'm honestly starting to get a little tired of this phase of the show. This is part where you really need to be invested in the Wataru/Taiga/Mio love triangle because it is eating up most of the show's screen time anymore. Nago and Megumi are largely getting isolated to one scene per episode and the '86 cast isn't faring much better. I know I praised the pacing of this arc a few episodes ago, but I think I'm going to have to clarify that primarily in comparison to a show where these issues got dragged out even longer. The whole "one episode, one step forward" approach is definitely progress, but given how invested in this triangle I'm not it still feels really drawn out for me.

And Kengo? Stop creeping on Yuria Haga's character. I knew Masato Kusaka and you, sir, are no Masato Kusaka.

You know the Zanvat Sword must be serious business when they're busting out the literal Melody of Fear first thing after the opening in this one! Probably don't need to waste time describing a tune with a name like that, but this one definitely fits the gothic vibe of Kiva particularly well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UrczEdSezE

The only thing I've really got to add about the episode proper this time is that I quite like the opening scene with Wataru stepping out in front of Shizuka to politely deal with his grouchy neighbors complaining about his music? It's the show rubbing in how much growth Wataru has had again, by giving him such a new reaction to such an old scenario, and it's appreciated. He's always got something new to worry about, so I feel this might be easy to forget, but the show has seriously allowed Wataru to make massive strides compared to where he used to be. That kind of first quarter era problem doesn't even crack a top ten list of things he's angsty over anymore.

(I also approve of Shizuka attempting to handle the problem by telling those people they simply must not appreciate quality music. It's totally unproductive, mind you! ...but I do have to respect her taking such a strong stance in the name of art.) :p

36/37 are also Nakazawa's second and final set of Kiva episodes, if that ends up meaning anything. There's a nice shot in this one when Kiva and Saga are fighting in that fountain and the camera pans along with them super smoothly as Saga forces Kiva back that feels straight out of Wizard to me for whatever reason, but I wouldn't be able to say exactly from where off the top of my head, if I'm even remembering something specific.

Oh, no, I mean "poor Megumi" because the show has nothing for her right now. She doesn't have a plot or an arc or anything. She's just sort of randomly around in group scenes? That's such a waste of a talented performer.

I feel like her inability to confront Otoya is leading to some repetitive scenes? She was a badass warrior who stood up to decorative vampire monsters, and now her only role is look miserable while she's metaphorically cheated on. It's not the best storyline I can imagine!

(That said, I did like how the show used Yuri in the most recent episode. Some of it was for the timeless outfit she had on - the plaid shirt, olive pants, and black All-Stars totally worked for her - but some of it was just for her taking her anger out on a bunch of monsters. Crying Yuri is something I'm not looking for nearly as much as Murderous Yuri.)

Sure, that's fair. I'm mostly enjoying how the show is pacing the 2008 romance (as opposed to the repetitiveness of the 1986 one), but it isn't leaving a lot of room for other stories. As long as the '08 romance is just a triangle, it's going to be tough to find roles for other characters. It's definitely a limitation of this approach.

Yeah! This was a very cool callback. Nice to see Wataru stepping up, even if Shizuka feels even more unnecessary as a result. (She's remarkably genre savvy!)

The one thing that sort of cracked me up, though, was the specific complaint of the neighbors. They're complaining that the music is bad, which is something I don't the show's ever suggested? It sounds fine to me. Not really what I thought they'd be complaining about?

What they should be complaining about is Wataru playing a single minute-long piece of music for about nine straight months. Just... just play another song! ANY OTHER SONG! In his non-jerk days, Kengo had the presence of mind to practice his one song in an abandoned warehouse or an empty arboretum. It's maybe not your talent that's the problem, Wataru!

I hate to say it but Taiga's introduction is honestly where Kiva starts to fall apart and go to shit due to the utter unnecessary love triangle only here for that trademark Inoue melodrama

You are... probably not going to love tonight's episode post!

I also know how this pointless plot tumor ends as well which is heavily influencing my opinion on the show