[Fish Sandwich]

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

I'd never get tired of the usual kind of martial arts you get out of these toei toku shows, but these episodes of Kiva stand out so much in terms of cheography and aesthetic, that I can't help but wish the franchise would spice it up more often!

I don't even have the words to describe how much I love Kiva's style. It's like, between the gothic aesthetic and what have you, there's this real emphasis on the beauty of everything above all else that results in a Rider show with an insanely strong and cohesive visual identity. Like, the Darkness Moon Break, right? Easily one of the best Rider Kicks ever, because they went out of their way to make every single motion and frame of it memorable. The extremely dynamic pose where Kiva raises his leg (which was apparently director Ryuuta Tasaki's idea, inspired by a popular baseball manga, by the way); the unnaturally large but striking moon; having Kiva fly into the air upside-down; I mean it – every part of it is a masterpiece.

And that's only like one aspect of the show! I'd be here all day if I actually tried to talk about Kiva's body language and everything else right now! So yeah, long story short, Kiva's romanticized fight scenes are amazing. (As much I love Kiva's bestial posture though, I've always been convinced it's half the reason the role was so hard on Takaiwa.)

There's also something I forgot I wanted to bring up which thankfully ties into all this, – the rather notable use of stock footage sequences. The lack of them for transformations and finishers was something Kuuga set a precedent for as part of Heisei Rider's unique identity, probably because it felt more "realistic" that way, which is why it makes sense then for Kiva to be the series that only partially stuck to that concept. I remember the form changes in particularly bothering me a bit at first, being so used to the other shows, but nowadays, I can completely understand and even agree with why the decision was made. Those sequences were what allowed for so much of the show's most extreme visual flair, and looking back, they still hold up great. It's the kind of stock footage where you're glad to see it a bunch, you know?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kiva shoves a plastic ampule into Kivat's mouth

He shoves a whistle into his mouth. A Fuestle, to be more specific. (fue is Japanese for whistle, naturally.) I really like your idea too though!

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Originally Posted by Kurona

I mean hey, it was you that said something along the lines of "Agito doesn't get talked about much? That's a crime, everyone should be talking about Agito in every situation!!" so you're getting that very justified wish, right?

I mean, I never said I was complaining.

(Also wow I totally forgot I said that, and have absolutely not been taking my own advice in all this time. Turns out I was the criminal all along!)

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really looking forward to when die gets told the lore behind kivas bike

I just found that out the other day doing my obligatory Wikipedia reading! There I was, perfectly ready to lazily skim past the section about Kiva's bike, when the words 馬のモンスターの脳 happened to catch my eye, prompting a huge "WAIT WHAT" from me.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's definitely a little weird how randomly high the bodycount is in this relatively subdued (no pun intended) Kiva adventure. It's this story about Wataru needing to understand that his father wasn't perfect, but there's still those two guys Otoya wronged who get monster murdered, plus that one dude who was just camping? It's a little unnecessary, and it smacks of some production fears that the Otoya/Wataru story wasn't action-y enough for kids.

I believe the bodycount is part of a conscious decision to make the monsters as threatening as possible again so that there's an inherent catharsis to them getting blown up that arguably wasn't there in Den-O, where the focus was on having fun chatty bad guys for Momo and the rest to bounce off of. Like Switchblade said, Kiva was still playing by some older rules.