[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan

I love that you like the show so far. I am a big fan of it, despite it's many flaws. The designs are fantastic, by and large, obviously Kiva is the best looking of all Kamen Riders, the music is great, I liked that the stories took place in two times, and the crazy stuff like the Wake Up finisher causing an eclipse is awesome.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the show.

I hope so, too! The energy this thing has so far is nicely surprising. I was expect a darker, more introspective show, and it's not really that? There's a ton of humor, for one. But there's also a huge amount of action in the premiere, more than I would've bet on. Just... like, Yuri throwing a candelabra at a decorative vampire monster's face, delivering this killer thesis statement on Why Fangires Need To Get Detonated, and then having a fight afterwards? Fun! Very fun!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Man, this is unexpected. I haven’t even had time to pre-write my recurring thread for this season. But I’ll try to cope, since this is something I’ve been looking forward to you doing (Kiva is my number 1 Rider show).

I am sorry to force you to Wake Up so suddenly! Thanks for the info!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomos

You want me to praise Kamen Rider Kiva? No, I can't see myself doing that!

On a serious note, it felt to me like it was the last of a certain type of 2000s Kamen Rider show that I do miss whereas I wasn't a big fan of the direction the franchise ended up going in around that time, and Den-O was at least probably better than Decade, even if I did really hate Ryotaro even when compared to Wataru! When OOO came along though I felt like it was just what I needed at that time and some since then have been enjoyable enough so it's swings and roundabouts, but I did love so many songs from Kiva too, especially the movie theme and it is strange that no-one seems able to do a really good tribute or comeback Kiva thing.

It's a show that, while I've only got one episode as a sample size, really straddles the Phase 1/Phase 2 line a lot more than Den-O did. Kiva feels equally indebted to the horror-esque vibes of Faiz and Blade, as it does the goofier antics of Double. There's echoes of later Phase 2 characters (Wataru looks like Takeru's twin and feels like the inversion of his character, more to come on this topic later), but there's plenty in the supporting cast that makes me think of Kabuto (whoever Yuri and Megumi are working for) and Agito (Shizuka has serious Mana From Agito vibes).