[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The second-to-last scene in the episode is Otoya serenading Yuri by moonlight, and the final scene is Yuri approaching Zanki to flirt with him. The audience is absolutely supposed to be, at least to some degree, invested in Otoya's attempts to win over Yuri. The placement of those scenes is to make you care about the Yuri/Otoya/Zanki love-triangle.

What would you say to the audience that wouldn't be invested in the shipping? There would be likely those who would be grossed out by Otoya and hope for Yuri to get a much better pairing for her best. And show don't tell means to not rely on narrative's word to decide on morality or if the character should be cheered or condemned, as in the story dictates for the audience's 'supposed' reaction to the characters, and their role can play a part in this (protagonist/antagonist).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 09 - “SYMPHONY: IXA, FIST ON”

I really liked the start of this episode. I liked Wataru realizing that he’d built himself a prison of Almost Bloody Roses over the last eight episodes. It’s a ballsy cold open, the hero of the show feeling so disappointed in his art that he needs to watch it be destroyed. It’s sad, and awkward. Wataru throws a little fit. It’s childish and slightly obnoxious. I get it, though. It definitely fit this episode, a story about how much we care about art and the ways we try to protect it.

I'm a perfectionist too if able for what I do, but I wouldn't completely burn the failures I've done, I may also will start over, but will keep the old ones intact for reference, as I can lose the creation mind I had if it's poured out already. And expressing and caring about art would mean tolerating those who aren't someone's preference being created too, to force the show to tell what the person wants to be told and rejecting those who aren't their preference, it's limiting their expression in art. If Shizuka claims she's "Wataru's mom", this is something she had to help Wataru get over with and she's just... somehow forgetting the fire is there to pick the violin that is burned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Because, like… Oomura is maybe just misguided? There’s a lot of time in this episode given over to adding nuance to the monsters of Kiva. Oomura is a decades-long murderer, but he’s also someone who clearly cares for Wataru. He believes in the work they’re doing, and treasures the music that work could create. He just cares about it to, like, a fanatical degree. He doesn’t come off like someone who’s thrilled to battle a Kamen Rider. He comes off like a craftsman who regrets his choices. He’s not exactly innocent or evil, and that’s a way more interesting story to tell.

Omura is the first Fangire that appeared in the series who wasn't truly evil from the start yeah, though to reply about what you said here... this seems to employ protagonist centered morality here. To state that he "clearly cares for Wataru", character morality doesn't depend on how much favor they carry with the "good guys", or how they're worthy of praise, condemnation or indifference. I think more about Omura will be revealed on the next part, so can't say more about him here. And talking about someone doing atrocious stuff they do rooting from having too high standard for the world, it's also 2 dark trait; likely social darwinism and/or lack of empathy to treat others around you as lesser beings. The guidance he gave to Wataru is a valuable lesson though, to believe in yourself and place confidence in your own skills, comparing yourself to another figure like own father even if they're supremely good isn't fair, as it can hurt your confidence and potentially just holding you back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

So, of course, he has to fight Nago. The eventually-returning Nago officially takes up the mantle of IXA in this episode, the infuriatingly obvious choice made by the higher-ups at W.A.K.E.U.P. (I like the suit! He looks like Kamen Rider Catholicism, and that's exactly right for the secondary Rider of a vampire show.) There’s a nice move made by this episode to at least have Megumi argue for her candidacy, even though this is a franchise that’s always going to have some handwavey reason why the strong, capable woman can’t be a Kamen Rider. (Kiriko can’t be Drive why, exactly?) Here at least, the frustration caused by Nago’s inevitable coronation is sort of the point, where him shouting Henshin feels like a huge mistake. His inflexibility matched against Oomura’s inflexibility makes for a fun thematic concept, as well as an eventually tragic outcome.

Though you say this is the franchise, this is the sexist part of Kiva people talk about of how they see people like Megumi lowly enough, and enforce the role of how women is only exist to fall in love and have babies. Though there are complaints (memes or not) revolving this that is I think baseless like for Faiz one, ignoring that Keitaro is unable to become Faiz too (though Rina did perform horribly as Delta). Or at least this is character-enforced that Nago is the one to invoke sexism towards Megumi. And for the talk of strong woman, again, other than combat-related jobs like Fangire Hunter, I don't want for this to set the notion of women needing to be ‘loud’, ‘expressive’, or ‘aggressive’ to be strong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The 1986 portion of the episode adds more of those details, as Zanki meets up with the other members of the Monster Squad to talk about why he’s working with Yuri and the rest of W.A.K.E.U.P. It’s a scene that’s mostly about later payoffs, considering we know that the kid is a Gillagoon and we still don’t know what the other monster is, but it does manage to fill in some more backstory. All the other monster races, the Clawolves and Gillagoons and Yummy Mummys (?), they were all nearly wiped out by the Fangires. The Monster Squad is all that’s left, and Zanki’s like Hey What If We Worked With Humans To Kill Fangires. It’s a very Inoue take on teamwork, more about briefly-aligned goals than about deeply-held altruism. It makes Zanki a nicely pragmatic antihero, someone who can be counted on but not trusted. I dug that scene for how it added some new shades to the monsters, slotting in well with the tragically misguided Oomura.

N̶o̶w̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶t̶i̶-̶h̶e̶r̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶s̶.̶.̶.̶ even if it's true that Jiro is an anti-hero, as he shares the same goal with the heroes, that he'd benefit others by doing that, but the negative trait he has is that he doesn't give a damn about human life. The thing is, I questioned because in discussions the term won't be used on something like, secondary Riders who all occupy that role. I also don't think that this is Inoue take of teamwork, as there's series like in OOO's Wonderful movie where the Greeed give Eiji their medals in order to help him defeat Garal, Gaim where Kouta sometimes helping Yggdrasil to keep an immediate threat in check despite having no love for them, or Ex-Aid to invoke teamwork between doctor Riders the first time against Graphite, and even pulls someone as depraved as Kuroto on the protagonist side with their shared goals, not to mention buttloads of examples in media outside KR.