When I first saw Kiva long long ago, not 20th century, and comparing it to his previous works, the first thing I thought was that Inoue should have moved on to telenovela shows after Agito or Faiz. Cause the drama this show has going on is just that. Inoue should seriously give up on anime and toku and just do telenovela shows. He would be the Japanese Robert Kirkman of telenovelas. :lolol

So my favorite part of this episode was that it felt like this is the first time in a long time that Otoya has been on the show. Blatantly untrue, of course, but ever since he and Maya started getting really hot and violin-y he just hasn't felt like himself. There's a very specific kind of manic joie de vivre that I associate with Otoya and this is the first time I feel like it's been visible in ages. The bath scene with Jiro, the confrontation with King, it all felt like Otoya was back. He even had one of his awful jackets on again. Nothing against the '08 stuff, but this was the most I've enjoyed '86 in awhile.

I've long had the theory that by this point Inoue was totally done with superhero shows and just wanted to do dramas (or horror, in The Next's case), but Toei kept hiring him to do more Kamen Rider.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 42 - "THE POWER OF LOVE: THE KING'S RAGE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva42a.png

There are a couple scenes I really liked in this episode that I otherwise found sort of... not great. Luckily, the two scenes are both about the same thing, so it'll be easier to talk about them!

The first scene is near the opening, with Wataru's friends letting him know how proud they are of how he fought back against his depression. It's an incredibly sweet scene of Kengo, Megumi, and Nago cheerfully embracing Wataru after a few episodes of him pushing them away. It's so sweet.

The best part of that scene is Wataru singling Kengo out for a personal apology. He spurned Kengo's offer to be bros, and he wants a do-over. He wants to be friends with Kengo. Cut to Kengo, eyes wet with pride, as he clasps Wataru's hands to say We're Already Friends. It's one of my favorite moments in this entire series. It's maybe the nicest, most gentle thing I've ever seen a show like this do. And it gets to a big thing for this episode that gets explicated in my other favorite scene in the episode.

Otoya's been swiped by King, leaving Maya and Yuri to figure out what to do next. Well, maybe just Yuri, since Maya realizes that pursuing King and taking back Otoya is basically suicide. That leaves Yuri to beg Maya for help in saving Otoya, which stuns Maya. (For a Maya value of "stunned'', meaning her head tilt is a full 10 degrees to the side instead of the normal eight.) Why would Yuri want to save a man who's humiliated and disgraced her? And Yuri says something that, even if it feels weird coming from her, feels universal and true.

Naturally, it's about love.

The Kengo and Yuri scenes are about the same thing: Sometimes love is bigger than the people in love. For better or worse, the feeling of being in love can be so overpowering that logic loses its sway and all that matters is how you feel. It gains a resiliency that keeps it from being broken. Kengo was friends with Wataru when Kengo hated Wataru, just like they were friends when Wataru told Kengo they couldn't be friends. Yuri still loves Otoya, even if she's lost him to Maya.

Maybe that sounds ridiculous? Maya certainly thinks so, even as she's won over by Yuri's dedication. It is a little hard to swallow, considering that Otoya has rarely risen above the level of Vague Nuisance to Yuri. But it sounds real familiar, if you've ever been in love. The idea that people in love can hurt each other and reconcile, or let each other down before swearing devotion... it's a thing! The person you love stops being just them, just their identity, and starts being The Person You Love. It all gets bigger than two people. (Or more than two people!) It has its own weight and size, Your Feelings, and it gets a vote.

So, yeah, devoting a little time to Kengo and Yuri talking about how impossible it can be to turn off your feelings, even when everyone in a relationship is acting like a lunatic... that tracks! That's a neat idea to explore.

That was all I ended up really liking in this episode, though?

The Shima stuff... it's incredibly weird to be devoting a couple episodes right before the end-run to Shima's relationship with Taiga, or Shima's rejuvenation via Fangire magic. If this was a middling detour in the 20s, I don't know, fine. Maybe there're some laughs. Here, it just feels like the show is trying to fill up space before the story really progresses.

That feeling is not helped by a series of Taiga/Wataru scenes that boil down to Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires, then Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires now, and then Taiga asking if Wataru will join the Fangires now. These two actors have solid chemistry (I love how wounded Taiga plays Wataru's continuous rejections), but it's a whole episode to get us back to where we started.

King's abduction of Otoya is a non-starter for those two characters, since it's mostly just King deciding to slowly kill Otoya in a way that a villain from the 1966 Batman TV show would think was unnecessarily delayed. It's a plot that has tons of momentum going into it, but then the show's like Maybe Next Week, and the two actors don't do anything special with their scene. It's just Smug King and Snarling Otoya, and it's a disappointment.

Which... kind of a disappointing episode! I love how much this show is uniting characters in the home stretch instead of the usual Kamen Rider thing of everyone being at each other's throats for the final few episodes, but when it's in the service of weirdly inert plots that focus on fourth-string characters like Shima or my two favorite characters getting lost in magic woods, it's hard to compliment the show for it. There's still some really clever character work being done, but this episode felt like a bit of wheel-spinning before the finale.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva42b.png

So this is the episode where Shima, Mr. The-Only-Good-Fangire-Is-A-Dead-One becomes a Fangire himself. I honestly thought the reveal wasn’t until next episode. Boy do I have more to say there.

And we’re onto the penultimate part of the “Fact Fangire-le” (for this thread), where it’s clear the budget is now relegated to repainted costumes. First, we get another monster where I assume the name is based on the Kanji (it’s based off a seagull)


Sun-gazer Fangire

True name: Afterimage of a Crash Connected to the Water Surface (水面に連鎖する墜落の残像 Suimen ni Rensa suru Tsuiraku no Zanzō)

Human identity: N/A

Class: Lizard

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Katsumi Shiono (voice), Kazuhiko Kanayama (second)

And the one Maya and Yuri fight in the woods.

Silk Moth Fangire

True name: Sincerity Flowed from a Poison Bottle (毒薬の瓶から誠意が溢れた Dokuyaku no Bin kara Seii ga Afureta)

Human identity: N/A

Class: Insect

Rank: Pawn

Actor: Masako Katsuki (voice)

And for a bit of casting trivia I find intriguing, both VAs for the moth-based Fangires were in the same Sentai show as part of the same sub-group (sadly, they were not moth themed. One was flower themed, while the other was bee-themed)

Otoya's compassion is one his greatest qualities for sure. His music redeemed Oomura and now his gift of friendship spurred the Arms Monsters to change as well. Jirou especially has come a long way from trying to murder Otoya to risking his life to protect him and that protection now applies to Wataru who is the legacy of Otoya and his love for Maya.

Oh yeah, Wataru's total lack of surprise at a bunch of sudden UFOs completely sells it. Like, he's the protagonist of a Tokusatsu, he's conditioned to weird stuff happening in his life so cutting down that fleet is like a statement to Taiga that these are his principles and he's not going to back down from them, no matter how alien the enemy.

That's true. Tatsulot might not be a super important character to the plot, but it's nice that his characterization stays consistent. It's probably also due to Takaiwa wanting to wear that suit as little as possible.

It's definitely a more profound type of love than Taiga's love for Mio, since he expects her to love him back. But Yuri shows unconditional love for Otoya, by wanting to rescue him even though she knows he will never love her as much as he does Maya. There's nothing in the world more powerful than that. Again, more reasons why Yuri is such a selfless and awesome character and the best part of 1986! I think it actually increases Maya's respect for her and maybe makes her feel kind of bad for homewrecking her relationship, since Yuri definitely deserves more happiness in her life for how hard she's fought to earn it. Although we know this is only a year before her daughter's birth, so we can conclude that she eventually gets over her heartbreak. Fighting to protect your love without expecting it to be reciprocated isn't ridiculous at all, it's romantic!

In an episode full of slightly inexplicable things (Doesn't Maya live at Castle Doran? Why is it suddenly so complicated to get back there?), it's amazing to me that neither Nago nor Megumi spend even a line of dialogue wondering why Shima is on-site for a Fangire sighting. This is a dude who didn't leave the gym (in the 2008 stories) until, like, halfway through the series! Why aren't they a little surprised to see him armed for battle?

It is! I'm also not sure it's healthy? I kind of like how the show doesn't really give it an ethical or moral coordinate, instead treating it as some undeniable fact of the universe. It's not about what Yuri wants to do, it's about what Yuri needs to do, and the plot rolls with it.

That said... boy, it's not a great thing to risk your life for unrequited love? It's Yuri dedicating herself to someone who is love with another woman more than he's in love with Yuri (god, trying to explain this triangle is a herculean task), and that needs to be a temporary situation if she has any self-respect.

While only a bit of it is actually used in the opening scene with King stealing Otoya away, I'm happy to use that as an excuse to share this awesome track, which is perfect for all those fight scenes that just aren't going great for the good guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BYeC10wW78

...And because I'm just all about those low energy tracks, here's a short but sweet one featured in quite a few of Kiva's talky scenes, including Taiga's latest attempt to win Wataru over to his side here. I mean, I say "low energy", but it's a piece all about creating a sense of gradually rising tension, rather than the typical melancholic stuff I'm always choosing for these, which makes it a bit more unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4BAzXkZM4k

I think the thing about this episode I noticed that I'm most excited to point out is how the year Yuri died written on her grave is conspicuously covered up by flowers when its shown, which is more than a little adorable.

Beyond that, I mean, I definitely see where Inoue is coming from with wanting to tie Shima and Taiga's backstories together and how all this plays into the central themes of the show, giving them another angle to explore the whole human/Fangire divide from and everything, but... yeah, I can imagine it being a little hard to care too much when it's still got that fundamental hurdle of involving Shima, a guy who has so far been most notable in this thread for his consistently questionable management skills, and very little else.

Nope! This time it's simply named after the sungazer lizard! It's worth noting that there aren't any Fangire based off of birds, because they're also all based on birds.

I forget if this has come up in the thread at all or not , but for reasons I'm unclear on, every single Fangire works in a bird of some sort somewhere in their design, and apparently that has something or other to do with the "true names" that you've been sharing for each of them. (Hence the "water surface" bit here, for example? I think?) The whole concept is so insane I struggle to properly grasp it, but man, overly inventive design work like this is such a lovely thing about Kamen Rider. Stained glass monsters was already creative enough! You didn't have to go this far! :lol

It's just a misapplied plot development, since literally the last thing Taiga needed heading into the final seven episodes was an additional motivation. He's Wataru's brother, Maya's son, Mio's fiance, the king of the Fangires, a corporate leader... I don't also need him to have a tortured backstory that involves Shima being, I assume, a capricious and belittling father figure who exercises more than he actively contributes! Taiga was not exactly underdeveloped.

I̶'̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶(̶o̶n̶l̶y̶)̶ ̶k̶i̶d̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶r̶n̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶o̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶u̶l̶t̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶g̶g̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶l̶e̶s̶s̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶,̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶K̶R̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶r̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶v̶o̶i̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶n̶c̶h̶i̶s̶e̶.̶ For supporting friends, yeah it'd depend on them being biased to their friends or not too (it'll mean learning the lesson wrong way too).

It can likely favor those humans who love Fangires and vice versa too I think, after all, Fangire rule had the Queen executing those who love human. Shinji and Ryoko's love story seems to be an example of the consequences, their love story is stunted by this, albeit their love is genuine. If Maya changed and Mio refused, another Queen can potentially take place. And for "everyone" didn't include Fangires until here, I argued about Oomura and Shinji (before he turned into standard vicious one) before, which is before that episode.

I guess the extreme character change for Kengo.... spreads to Shima here. Not to put Nago into danger, they want to return Kengo back to his previous self, and they have to make him go through this terrible shit for him, including Shima harshly treating him, as an excuse to have him parted away from IXA, which is kinda a part of Kengo's character change symbolizing that he's back to his previous self. Though actually Shima blames Kengo for "letting Wataru run away", so it's not about him losing. Though despite Shima giving back IXA Knuckle to Nago, Kengo's the one who becomes IXA again, but he gets knocked out of his transformation, and after Nago and Wataru interferes, Nago takes the IXA Knuckle on the ground. Of course, I wouldn't want for characters to be OOC for plot reasons, including for comedic reasons (that you won't address if this happened) or to make a point about message (don't take existing character and make them OOC), albeit for this one, before and after is written by Inoue. But probably, Shima just really have a... shady side, which is seen on his interactions with Taiga for something later, and likely will support those who argues that Shima is sexist to not give IXA to women (but Jiro explains that IXA is given to him due to his monster nature, but the excuse is to not be clouded by revenge yet Jiro is similar to Yuri in this regard).

So it finally happens, Wataru regressed back into his painfully shy nature. I only want to know what happened in the past that sends Wataru to his self, would it be something as severe here as him turning dangerous to others? I know that in the past Wataru seems to be bullied where Taiga defends him, but.. Not saying that it should be followed, but being a shut in seems to be a suitable response for him being potentially dangerous person, he basically seals himself in his house to prevent himself hurting others, like how defeats for powerful baddies can happen, by them getting sealed. The villains are actually successful to gain upper hand in this case by brainwashing Wataru, they did snap out Wataru, but it demoralized him. The part of Nago, Megumi, and Shizuka being determined to get Wataru back is heartwarming for sure yeah, including what you think about them enduring the traps, but it has a price of Wataru being hostile, that he outright puts dangerous stuff for people who interferes. Seems hypocrite for him here, wanting to prevent himself to hurt others, yet is hurting others himself using the harmful traps.

I feel that there's a new stuff before that Yuri realizes that Maya is a Fangire, and did try to warn Otoya about Maya's status. It can feel that the conflict is added now that it can be potentially about Otoya's safety instead or what would become of the Fangire and humans if Otoya gets close to Fangire. I guess about resorting into toku, this is one of a form of miscommunication plots that drags out that doesn't sit well with some people. I think that at hospital before, Otoya did try to say something to Yuri, but Yuri (understandably) aggressively pushes him away and denies everything he said, I lost hearing about what Otoya's going to say regarding this. Though otherwise still I wanna ask: How about those who resort into unhealthy coping mechanisms (ex: shifting the blame to others, projecting their issues to others, escapism) to cope with problems being ignored and viewed as perfectly okay, while display of emotions (except anger) gets hate? Likely showing that behaviors like shifting the blame to someone else, lashing out in anger, etc. can be as severe as emotions, or even be more unhelpful and unproductive.

Yuri has been a Fangire fighter before, so I get that Yuri here would fight Maya just like her fighting other Fangires. If you're going for Yuri and Maya friendship, I'd like for Yuri's view of Fangires (like to family too) to be touched upon too, because Maya is a Fangire, and I think Yuri fights her here partly as she's a Fangire.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 43 - "WEDDING MARCH: A TIME OF PARTING”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva43a.png

Maybe the worst episode of Kamen Rider I've ever seen?

I hesitate to ever call a piece of art Bad. Bad's an objective term for something that's inherently subjective. So, no, I don't think this was necessarily Bad. If someone out there found value in it, awesome. For me, it was bereft of merit, an almost stunningly inert and misguided attempt at telling a story about love and sacrifice.

I hated watching this. It's disappointing in a way that's worse than all of the weirder problematic decisions Inoue might make in the course of a show, because this wasn't some huge swing that fell apart because it was too singular, or too unprecedented. It didn't invite debate or condemnation. It's just shoddily done, with a half-dozen decisions that undercut whatever it's been building towards, at exactly the wrong moment. Like, god, if I weren't the type of person to follow through on a series, this would've been my last episode of Kiva. It mortally wounds the show, robbing me of any confidence that this thing is going to be landed with grace. This episode was so hamfisted and clumsy that I almost can't believe it.

Centering half of the story on Shima, a character the show never spent time on, and then letting Taiga kill him off to anger Wataru... why? Why make such a huge deal about Shima's views on Fangires, when it's never felt relevant to a story? We never really got the feeling that Shima was anything more than a soldier. The last couple episodes have tried to reinvent him as a genocidal fanatic, but that's super recent and barely explained. His backstory with Taiga would maybe enhance it, but it's just never given the specificity and history to come across as anything other than some late-game retcon. When the show previously wanted to tell a story about a fanatical good guy who realized that Wataru was more than just his Fangire heritage, they chose Nago, so it mattered and it worked. To contrive this ridiculous story about Shima, all to say nice things to Wataru (a kid he had maybe four scenes with in the entire series), and then get killed by Saga in the middle of the episode... it doesn't work! It's too rushed, too inconsequential. It's a waste of time.

But Mio's death... man, that was a failure of storytelling that was consistently funny, right up until I realized they ruined the show.

The staging on all of the Mio and Taiga stuff was surprisingly tone-deaf and amateurish. That wedding! What in the hell was going on with the directing where that wedding scene wasn't completely reshot! Taiga looks ridiculous, like instead of hosting a vampire-themed wedding, he just decided to dress up like Dracula at a normal wedding, but he would not spend more than $25. The Fangires were always vampire-influenced, but this is just sad. I expected more weirdness from a man who henshins into a snake-UFO-cathedral. His costume here was shockingly basic, and that lack of imagination filtered down into everything in that scene. For a wedding that was supposed to unite the Fangires, why aren't any of them there? I know this is the two of them, like, eloping, but why is Bishop skulking around instead of actively participating? How is this even a ceremony if no one's there to see it? The show made a huge deal about how this event would solidify Taiga's reign as King, and to not even have that addressed was disappointing.

It was a scene I was laughing at (TAIGA'S HAIR!!!), and that just kept going when Mio just up and stabs Taiga in the guts. The little blue blood that comes out of the wound, and Mio staring at her hands, and her screaming I'M SORRY... I laughed hard. Nothing about the score or the acting contained even a trace of subtlety or nuance, and it could easily pass for parody. I loved Mari in Faiz, and this level of work is beneath that actor.

It's all so broad, this entire episode. It's big melodramatic moments that feel completely untethered from the dramatic stakes of the show, and are working in a totally different cadence than what Kiva has been using for the last 42 episodes. Worse, it's really all stuff that only matters in how it affects Wataru, and he's mostly sidelined in this episode. Shima doesn't exactly mean anything to him personally, so the one scene they have was, like, Tell It To The Dog. Tell that dog you were proud of him, because that relationship is established. The Mio/Taiga wedding should be a huge deal to multiple characters, but a) Wataru never even finds out about it, and b) it's treated like the third-most important subplot in this episode. It's something the show has been building towards literally since Taiga's debut, and then all of a sudden it's some weird thrown-off moment.

Nominally, it explains Mio's decision at the end of the episode, but I didn't buy that for a single second. Taiga's decision to spare her made sense. This is a guy who desperately wants to believe that he is loved, even if he has to get his guts pulled out to prove it. He also has based his entire sense of self-worth on being King of the Fangires, so he is heavily motivated to salvage his relationship with Mio. (Also, trying to kill your loved ones is a pretty big part of Fangire culture, so maybe this didn't mean the same thing to Taiga as it meant to Mio?) So Taiga denying Mio's attempt on his life? I buy that. I do not buy Mio sacrificing herself to save Taiga for even a fraction of a goddamn second. It's utterly incomprehensible, and I am always willing to give Inoue the benefit of the doubt when it comes to character motivations. Mio hated Taiga! She loved Wataru! Wataru wasn't crazy about her wanting him to kill Taiga, but it's not like they broke up or anything. There's no reason, in this episode, for her to risk her life to save Taiga's. It's a decision that doesn't make sense to me at all.

And now, since she died in process, we'll likely get Wataru feeling monumentally guilty about something that wasn't his fault, and Taiga swearing revenge for something that wasn't Wataru's fault. (Like, Mio doesn't do anything to try to stop this fight before jumping in front of a finisher! She doesn't plead with them first, or anything sensible. She just dives in front of a Wake Up Fever! That is like trying to put out a fire by diving on top of it. Not that helpful!)

It just sucks, as someone who (up until last episode) was really loving how this show was wrapping up. It was doing some smart, character-based storytelling, with empathy and tricky personal dilemmas. Now it's some bullshit fridging, and two men fighting over Their Woman or whatever, and I suddenly couldn't care less about the 2008 storyline. I hate nearly every decision this episode made with those characters. (The Shima/Nago "fight" was great, though. No complaints.)

It bummed me out so much that I can barely muster any enthusiasm for the 1986 stuff. That was generally okay, even if it's sort of rushing through plot developments. Maya hearing Otoya's song while Yuri couldn't was a great touch, but I wish the scene of Maya losing her powers wasn't something that happened without Yuri and Otoya around. It's the same problem I had with the Mio/Taiga wedding, where it's this huge moment the show has been building up to.. and then it just happens in isolation, like it's ticked off of a checklist and that's all that mattered.

God, I hated this episode. I thought the episode of Kabuto where Tsurugi flies home to France was going to be my nadir for Inoue, but it's this episode. Absolutely gutting, if it's not too soon to say that. (Sorry, Taiga!)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva43b.png