[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 19 - "FUSION: AURA STORM”



I don't know if I've enjoyed anything in my life as much as I enjoyed this episode of Kiva. It is a perpetual happiness delivery mechanism, using every frame to generate endorphins in my brain. I am a grown man, and I was bouncing in my chair as I watched this TV show designed to sell toys to Japanese children. I was Jirou getting a girl group autograph, losing my detached and critical eye to just squeal in delight at whatever Inoue thought up next.

(One of an infinite number of laugh-out-loud moments was the joke in the beginning that Onyanko Club was beloved by middle schoolers, when it's literally only two grown men that we've seen stan these girls on Kiva. It's a joke that works great from what we've seen before, and then explodes later in the episode.)

There's absolutely no way I can do justice to either this episode's wall-to-wall brilliance, or to my own love for it. If you do nothing else this weekend, please rewatch Episode 19 of Kiva. It's exceptionally funny in a way that maybe only Inoue is capable of. It's a type of logic he uses in his comedy stories where... it's like everything in the plot sounds like a parody of a Kamen Rider story, but not only is it 100% true, it's riotously funny and totally in-character. He makes insanity seem sane, and I love that wavelength.

What this one's about... harder to talk about than why it works? It's a story where Kengo is trying to figure out what Kiva means to the rest of the cast (KENGO IS BACK!!!), while Yuri and Megumi are feeling some massive pressure with their connection to the IXA System. The way those two threads connect, I'm not completely seeing it yet. There's bound to be some relevance to Yuri and Megumi freezing up at the exact same time that Otoya is taking over as Kiva, but I can't get there in my brain.

(I am giving the Yuri And Megumi Freeze Up plot a pass in this story, even though the concept sets my teeth on edge. I desperately want to believe that they're going somewhere worth going with this plot, so I'm holding off judgment until after 20. For this one's part of it... I think there's some value in showing a potential weakness for both women, especially if it's a connection between them. I just wish part of that weakness wasn't easy to read as Girls Shouldn't Be Kamen Riders!)

It's possible that my brain is too unbelievably jazzed at Otoya's spirit possessing Wataru's body, though. Because, THAT IDEA.

If there were no other great moments in this story, seeing Wataru play Otoya would make this episode unforgettable. The only real bum note in this episode is Otoya announcing his presence in Wataru's body at the end, because Wataru's actor nails Otoya's delivery and mannerisms from the jump, and any announcement is unnecessary. The very first scene, where he's swanning around the room and flirting with Megumi, it's so on-point it's deadly. I could've died watching that performance, and I wish the producers had been more careful in deploying it, so as to save lives. It's as unexpected as it is excellent, and I did not know that kid had it in him. Seeing him hit those notes, after eighteen episodes of bashful anxiety, it's epic.

The rest of the episode is full of tiny little moments of insanity, the overriding logic being What Is The Most Insane Thing That Could Happen Next. There's a blinding pace to this story that never lets you dwell on the minor details (why were Kengo and Nago wandering through a forest?), because it's always there to distract you with a terrific joke (Nago's anguished plea to stop being called "Gramps” by Kengo, a man who is only one year younger than him), as well as some clever, character-based action.

The action in this one! So great! Yuri's multiple stand-offs with Rook (who is also back, at least in 1986!) were tense and beautifully shot, with his passive demeanor ratcheting up Yuri's fear. Kiva's quick take-out of the Moth Fangire, where he just walks away because the Fangire drops BUT WAIT now he's being attacked from behind because Kiva completely forgot to do a finisher. (My assumption is that Otoya is Kiva at that point in the fight, and since no one in 1986 ever finished off a Fangire, he didn't think he needed to do anything special to kill it.) The breathtaking (and rocking!) Megumi/Nago team-up; a fight that's so badass that Nago completely forgets to Henshin, he's so into kicking ass.

It's... yeah, it's not the most logically sound episode. There are a bunch of little details that get glossed over or contradicted in order to keep the story moving. But none of them rise above the level of nitpicky for me, and they're all overshadowed by how awesome this episode was.

Even the stuff I was initially not too thrilled to see eventually won me over. Like, man, was not hopped up for another story where Yuri wants revenge and the boys don't let her! Even if we can see more of Jirou's reluctance to part with the IXA Knuckle as being about his own selfish need for vengeance (plus some paternalism), it's still tacky to trot this plot out again. But then the episode swerves away from theat, having Otoya hilariously lift the IXA Knuckle from Jirou (while infuriating him as a bonus) to give it to Yuri so she can get her revenge. It's a huge moment of growth from Otoya, with him letting Yuri do what she thinks is best, while doing what he can to support her. It's a genuine moment of kindness from Otoya, and it's best punctuated by Yuri thanking him for his help and then punching him in the stomach because he completely had that coming after knocking her out before. It's these weird people finding little moments of empathy amidst hilarious and poignant emotional struggles.

The whole episode was like that, and I adored it. This thing was overflowing with memorable nonsense, and I never even talked about Otoya finding his heaven in a 2008 maid cafe. World's Greatest Kiva Episode, right here.