[Fish Sandwich]

Despite how dark it gets by the end (outside of Ixa's silly new ride at least), there's enough space for lighthearted antics in this episode that the show's go-to piece of music for that, appropriately titled Awkward Wataru, gets to play in no less than three separate scenes, so I figure this is as good a time as any to give it some attention. It may not be the coolest tune, but it's a real workhorse that you'll be hearing plenty when you watch Kiva.

Anyway, yeah, as part of that group of people who haven't seen Jetman that Inoue was hoping to get with this one – this one got me pretty good, as I recall! It's pretty simple, you know? Amnesiac Rook's childlike innocence is super endearing and it feels bad having it ripped away so suddenly and completely. Even though, unlike Wataru, you can gather early from the '86 parts that it's all essentially one big lie, I think the episode does a great job making you want it to be true all the same.

Two quick things about Ixa this episode also made me want to bring up:

- So, we're already at the point where the show treats the Ixa Knuckle as if it were the entire belt, which is something I don't think has been mentioned in this thread yet? It's just a strange little thing since the show DOES make a point to show characters actually putting the belt on separately... except for when it doesn't at all. It's easy to poke fun at, but of course, for a Rider system being passed around between all these characters, it's kind of more simple, striking, and flexible for filmmaking purposes to center that all around just the Knuckle, so I get why they did it.

- And speaking of how many people use Ixa, I'm noticing just from the bits I'm catching skimming through the episodes that Okamoto does a pretty freakin' good job differentiating everyone's body language? Nago is a lot more restrained, Jirou is wild, Otoya is flamboyant... considering it's only the one suit too, unlike Den-O, it's honestly quite impressive that the performances don't start blending together more.