[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

... man. I knew this day would come.

Time for me to defend the only Tokusatsu show in existence I despise!

You are just the best, you know that?

(Also, my exact words were "I was never watching Faiz because I cared if the Orphenochs would be defeated", if that matters at all.)

I'm not passionate enough about Kiva to really contribute here, but I have a huge soft spot for it for a lot of different reasons. (I'll probably be repeating all this to Die in a few months, by the way.)

Like, just to give you all an idea of weirdly personal they get, one of my fondest memories of it is actually just getting cold feet when going to download it, both because of its reputation, and because it was one of the last two Heisei shows I had yet to watch at the time (during Gaim), and instead going to watch the entirety of its Super Hero Time contemporary Engine Sentai Go-Onger on a total whim instead. I do not regret that decision one bit!

But it's not really because I ended up disliking Kiva or anything; Go-Onger is just awesome. Kiva is... it's what I consider the objective worst Heisei Rider show because of all the undeniably weird, aggravating quirks of its writing. I'm not sure how much it'd hold up if I went back to it, but I had a ton of fun with it, all the same.

It's my favorite Rider show to make affectionate jabs at, but the emphasis there is on affectionate. There were plenty of genuinely good episodes in there, and I especially remember it having some of the funniest comedy bits I'd ever seen in Rider. Another one of those fondest memories, for example, that I can still picture vividly, is Wataru getting dragged around by Megumi in the first episode, refusing to say a word, only feeling the need to speak up to let out a gentle chigaimasu~ when she jokingly suggests he must just be so stunned by her beauty that he's speechless. Like, it's kind of a stock gag on Megumi's end, I know, but the execution of the gag, the timing, just how weird Wataru is, covering his mouth and everything, and how that's his first ever word to her, it was a riot. And there were so many bits like that throughout the show. Not for nothing is 753 one of the most memorable things to come out of it.

Kiva is a series where I think you either need to be very into what it's doing from the outset to really have it click with you (I really respect people who unironically say Kiva is their #1 Rider show), or you can just have a really high tolerance for nonsense (yo!), and roll with everything it throws at you. It's not a show I'm in any rush to defend, per se, but I'll always try and stick up for it where I can. And Wataru is a very sweet boy; leave him alone!