[Switchblade]

Okay, having properly gone through the first episode again, some musings.

I really wish Yuri was the main character. I have some thoughts on the split timeline element that I'll probably get to later, but even without it factored in, I think Yuri is by far the most interesting character in this episode. Maybe it's the part of me that watched Buffy back in high school/college, but I would be absolutely down for a series about a badass woman with a Castlevania whip fighting vampire monsters in modern-ish Japan. It's a pity that she's not the primary focus of the whole series.

I say that in part because Yuri is great, but also because Wataru does not make a good first impression on me. Ryotaro was kind of a weenie, especially at first. Wataru feels like Inoue saw that and gave it a "Hold my beer." I am not drawn in by the panicky dude in the mask, gloves, and coat crawling around for discarded fish bones and communicating via signs. Now, in fairness there is a reason for this. Wataru is meant to be a hikikomori - an extreme social recluse. This was an issue that was gaining a lot of attention in the 2000s. Basically, it's a population of young Japanese adults who are essentially hermits, having minimal contact with other people and rarely leaving their house. It's an interesting social phenomena but a really weird trait to have for your super-hero protagonist.

It's a decent premiere, I think, although starting with Wataru already having and knowing how to use his Kiva abilities does mean that we're thrown into the deep end right from the start with a lot of stuff that doesn't immediately make sense. Some of this will be explained later. The rest of it... well, it's Kiva and Kiva doesn't always feel the need to explain things.