Kiva: Worth continuing?
 

Hello!

I finished episode 33 of Kiva earlier today (we see Taiga henshin into Saga for the first time), and I'm a little concerned that the series is now going to hit the same plot beats (oh-god love triangles) for the rest of the series. Is it worth it to keep going, or have I pretty much seen the entire show? I'm already miffed by the show's treatment of its female characters. (I'm not sure Buffy was a trope that needed to be subverted.)

Personally, no. I honestly don't feel Kiva is a series that's really worth finishing.
However, that's just from my own disinterest in how poorly the series handled it's plotlines and characters.

At 33 episodes in if you haven't jumpe ship yet I'd stick with it, even though I hate Kiva.

As a general rule my thoughts towards Kiva are: No, go watch Den-O instead.

No! Kiva is terrible! I wish though a new monster theme like that can start over.

I love Kiva, but if you're not into it by now, you won't ever be. At episode 33, the best is behind you anyway.

I love Kiva, I would finish it if you feel you can keep going.

Wow! A lot more "no" answers than I was expecting. (But we're not a monolith. There are fans lukewarm on Gaim and fans who felt Wizard was great from start to finish.)

That latter sentence is a good summary of my problem: I don't like how it's handled its plotlines or characters. Yuri and Megumi initially freeze up, unable to transform into Ixa for no! Apparent! Reason! The sexist implication isn't lost on me. Yuri goes from disdaining Pepe LePew to falling in love with him, and it feels in no way organic or earned. For the first half of the series, there's a complete disconnect between Wataru's behavior in and out of the Kiva suit. People keep working for the Wonderful Aozora Organization despite their total inability, prior to 2008, to kill any Fangires. Mio never tries to use her Fangire-killing power to, for example, kill any of the Fangires that essentially hold her hostage. Nago keeps failing to show new dimensions as a character. Frankenmonter and Lagoon Boy are barely sketches of characters, and they didn't have to be.

Pretty much the elements I like about the series are the opening sequence, the base Kiva suit, a few of the actors, and some of the core ideas. Tatsulot is just a world of no, and showcases all my fears about Kamen Rider Ghost's puppet thing.

I tabled the notion for now and watched OOO 37.

Yeah, Kiva's intro is the bst part of the whole show. Badass music, awesome shots of an amazing costume, cool cinematography and designs, and an awesome bike.

Well for Wataru's in and out of suit behavior, I like to think its Wataru letting this seperate entity do the fighting because Wataru is a good human and Kiva is an evil Fangire and the two are seperate and always will be. And by killing Fangires, Wataru is trying to absolve himself of the sin that is his Fangire heritage and uses Kiva as a means to an end, a necessary evil. But as the series progresses, Wataru realizes that he and Kiva are one in the same and he comes to terms with it.

Also Mio doesn't like her Queenship so why would she want to use that power? And if I'm sounding hypocritical considering the above, Mio doesn't care about being a Fangire like Wataru does, she just doesn't want to be Queen.

I like to think Wonderful Aozora initially wanted to just drive off the Fangires back in the 80s before deciding to just start killing them in 2008, like setting up a scarecrow and fence to keep deer out of your garden before giving up and grabbing a shotgun to deal with the problem permanently. They most likely ARE aware of Fangires having human identities and wanted to prevent any issues that would have been raised from all the disappearances from civil authority or Fangire Royalty.

All of that gets worse after the 30s, you've seen the best part of Kiva, you are just missing more underused characters, forced drama, incredible derailment.
If you are not into it by now, you probably never will.

Belatedly: I really appreciate all these responses, positive and negative!

Personally, I have watched it from beginning to end. Twice. Like every other Kamen Rider show, no matter how much I liked or disliked it. I think every show should be given a chance as a whole, even if the last episode might make the impression more positive or negative.
While I did stop watching other anime and drama, I never did for any Toku, basically because Tokus are so dear to me. Also, I think as a fan who discusses opinions with others, you should know what you're talking about and I think that works best if you've seen the whole thing.

Kiva doesn't really get better or anything, but it is at least worth getting the full picture for that show.

That mentality made me finish Kuuga.
I've never regretted watching a show until that came into my life...

I'd argue that Kiva wasn't worth starting, but if you're hoping that it's going to get better and less melodramatic, then no. No, it's not.

I don't know if "mess melodramatic" is the goal. I mean, Kamen Rider Gaim was melodramatic as hell, and I loved it. I just want the characters to act more like people and less like plot devices.

Also, I want Tatsulot to be crushed underneath a 200-ton weight.

There's issues yes, and once the Kivathon starts I'll probably see what in-universe justifications I can find if any before calling them major flaws (see my reasoning on why Wataru being a wuss and Kiva being a badass is actually brilliant).

And Tatsulot is a mixed bag. You will either love him, loathe him, or be entirely indifferent to him.

I like him. If you don't, I understand.

Maybe it's just me, but I did felt like Kiva was head of it's time. I would have like the show better if it had a stronger cast of characters and if the show didn't get so boring after episode 30.

Nago takes a complete 180 from the badass to the sidekick and it just comes from out of fricken nowhere....yeah needless to say, I liked him better as a button crazed douchebag.

Kiva isn't a bad show by any stretch, there's certainly things to like about it but as others have already stated it's an incredibly flawed show, its a lot like watching a train wreck.

I'd compare it more to Apollo 13. The mission starts out pretty good everything going the way it should, but then some unforeseeable error happens (in this case the base Kiva suit being a detriment to the suit actor's health) or an oversight occurs (like introducing and ignoring the Buroon Booster, ShuDoran, Ramon and Rikki's character and weapon modes, Fake Fuestles) and the crew work to try and get everything running correctly again, but some things are too late to remedy and you have a trip that was very bumpy but everyone survives and there is still a grand success to be had.

It takes some headcannoning and a level of "Yeah... But who cares? It's still a kids show made to market toys, take it seriously but not THAT seriously" to get past it. Note my constant bringing up of Wataru probably having severe self-loathing issues and an identity crisis as part of his character or me honestly not caring about stuff like there being a time portal that the old King could have used to kill as infants all those who want stop him.

I never quite understood the deal with that. I've heard the suit was too heavy, but it barely seems less bulky than Emperor. Later Rider suit designs have been much more bulky than the Kiva suit, too. Was it the materials that it was made from which caused the problem?

I read it was the way it was built. The chest is all one big ridgid piece with not a lot of flex room. Emperor is heavier, but the chest area has more flex and segmentation so it's is easier to move in.

Kiva's suit is a good example of improper weight distribution and design.

I think one of the main problems with the default suit was the chain on his leg though. In some episodes (especially the first one) you can actually see that Takaiwa had major problems to lift his leg.

Yup weight distribution is the major problem with the suit. The chest was too heavy and like Suzu mentioned the chains on the legs caused major problems. Later Suits like Decade are heavier overall but the weight is better distributed.

But it' so cooooool though.

I think Kiva would've been been far less convoluted had they made Otoya the main character from start to finish. Let him be Kiva instead of some ween.

Or have the first act of the series be a prequel then focused on Wataru's generation in the later half.