[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Die, I'm pretty sure you got some things mixed up here, but considering the thread this is in, I guess we can brush it off by saying that this, too, is all Decade's fault.

I mean, sure, the unobservant Kiva viewer may say that it was Megumi who teamed up with Yuri to defeat Rook across the decades. They may even point out that Maya doesn't even appear in that episode. But, Fish, I thought you were the kind of true fan who recognized what Inoue was really doing in that story. It's Maya's influence that gave Otoya the inner strength to help Yuri defeat Rook in the 80s, while Megumi was part of a diffused effort in 2008. Pretty big mistake for you to make! I thought you were better than this.

Apropos of nothing, let me announce a CONTEST I'll be running for the rest of this thread. Buried in these episode posts, I will intentionally misname characters. (It's always intentional! I don't know why you'd think otherwise!) Whoever collects the most instances of these purely intentional "mistakes", and posts them in this thread, will win a prize. Either:

-For folks in the United States, I will ship out a tokusatsu prize pack. Some stuff from my store, maybe some unopened figures from my collection, probably some toku stuff made by local artists. It'll be fun, but probably nothing that's going to make you feel like I went to too much trouble.

-For folks outside the U.S. or folks in the U.S. that would prefer not to have anything shipped out, you will get a digital good of equivalent value.

You can't enter until I post the THREAD WRAP-UP post, and we'll let the contest run for a week so people can dig up the very carefully placed and totally known to me misnaming "errors". Fish just totally spoiled the contest by pointing out the first one, and I know for a fact there's a second one. Uh, I mean, I know exactly how many there will be! At least two, though!

(These are instances where the wrong proper name is used, not when I make up some dumb name. Calling Megumi "Maya" is a valid entry. Calling Wataru "Wee Wataru" is not.)

Good luck, everybody!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

These episodes also have the version of Newsuke I remembered, who actually does feel like Kuuga, albeit without the serenity Yuusuke had, which really just fits the idea of a guy who's character arc is about growing into that name all the more. Really good episodes for the guy, and like with Wataru, I recall being endeared to Newsuke quite a bit thanks to this story. Running around helping some kid just because is so fundamentally Kuuga it's probably the thing that made me forget he started out as kind of a jerk.

Yeah, and it's also this nice look at how fundamentally different Kuuga and Kiva were as shows, how divergent the attitudes of the writers were. Seeing Kuuga try to win over a Kiva character... I mean, Kuuga's definitely going to get briefly chewed on for his trouble! This is an Inoue world! That's the cause and effect of trying to help people!

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Kiva Arrow is also one of my favorite Final Form Rides purely because of how it functions, pulling back and the chain breaking to reveal the arrow. And also it isn't just a straight up redo of an older concept like Kuuga becoming Gouram is. But yeah I will admit, given the flash at the end of the Kuuga Arc, Kiva's ended relatively tame in all honesty.

I also liked the Kiva Arrow (is it seriously not called "kivarrow", how did they miss that), and the presentation of it all was very cool. The Wake Up leg-piece breaking open to be the arrowhead is awesome, full stop.

There's also this tiny bit of comedy beforehand that I wasn't expecting. Just as Decade is about to open up Kiva's back, Kiva turns around to see what he's doing back there. There's a beat as Decade looks at Kiva, like he's been caught, and then Decade slaps Kiva's shoulder and says "Eyes front." It's this minor but crucial acknowledgement that Final Form Ride is so weird and gross.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

This is the AR Rider choice that stood out to me the most as their being intentionally distinct characters and that they were doing something with this idea, rather than just waving it off as 'well we can't get the old one back so just do whatever'.

Agreed! They really swung for the fences on this story, as far as not really giving a shit how much they pulled from Kiva. They took the parts they needed (duality, societal isolation, overcoming judgment, Arms Monsters) and then jettisoned the rest (romance, IXA, siblings). It's the strength of this approach, to reshape what they're homaging for maximum Decade effectiveness.

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Originally Posted by TheRaizin

Seeing kid Wataru morph into fully-sized Kiva was wild.

Part of wishes they'd gone the Tiny Den-O route from that Den-O movie, but I imagine that those fights would Decade look like way too much of a dick. Funny to think about, though! And definitely not out of character for Tsukasa at this point in the show!

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Originally Posted by Sunred

Two years prior to this show, Arashi Fukasawa who played Wataru/Kiva was Jan/Geki Red in Gekiranger in an episode where Geki Red became a child(and Geki Blue a Baby) due to the MOTW's attack if I recall(also, he later reprised the role in a flashback scene for a later episode). So seeing him come back was a surprise to me two years after. While I loved his portrayal as the boy king who is unsure of his position as a monarch, I do think these episodes suffer from bad placement. Reason being Onodera suddenly being this big brother figure felt a little rushed? I think if these two episodes were say 10 and 11 it would have solved that problem for me. Not bad.

I guess? I think some of it is a necessary course-correction from how mostly unheroic Onodera is Episodes 2 and 3. He needs to be at least moderately Kuuga-y, or it's hard to care if he joins the team. Also, helping out some kid is, like, the lowest-hanging fruit of being a Kamen Rider. Even Gills helped out a kid, and... like, Gills.

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Originally Posted by Sunred

Side note, It is now confirmed that Decade's most horrible and unique ability is... have other riders experience body horror. It's kinda messed up when you think about it. He makes them twist and turn just so he can use them as weapons. I mean he does have the courtesy to revert them to their normal state after, but still, kinda messed up.

It's so gross.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

I like the take on Weetaru (sticking with it and looking forward to seven more portmanteaus to join him and the Yusuke one I'll be dusting off soon enough). He's basically a cross between Wataru and Taiga, which is a new but recognizable spin on Kiva. There are two broad approaches that Decade takes to its worlds and I always prefer the ones that feel like they tie into the original series' plot or themes. We'll definitely be seeing some cases where the homage feels like it was written by someone who'd never watched the show they were paying tribute to.

I sincerely thought the mopey prince was Taiga. I thought this was going to be a story where Tiny Taiga became Kiva. Finding out it was a Wee Wataru was a little surprising!