[Switchblade]

Ah, the Spider Fangire. Probably the show's most memorable villain on account of just how completely fucking weird he was. The puppets, man. The puppets.

I'm kind of mixed on the episode. I liked the parallel stories playing out across both eras and the first attempts to find something about Otoya beneath the horndog surface. Kenji Matsuda being a badass is also always welcome. The really fast back-and-forth between eras got really distracting as the episode went on, though, especially in the build up to the final fights.

One of the things that I find interesting about Kiva from a design perspective is how much of a throwback the show is to Kuuga and Agito. Kiva's alternate forms are the same as Kuuga's: speedy blue, shooty green, and the other one that hasn't been seen yet but can be guessed from the pattern. The transformations are like Agito's, though, with the base suit not changing apart from an arm, the chest, and the eyes.