[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 14 - "POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE: THE SHOCKING PURPLE EYE”





Middle chapter of a three-parter! Was not completely expecting that!

It's more the Otoya part that doesn't really wrap up this episode. The Wataru part... I mean, it mostly does, depending on how weird things get with him trying to explain I Detonated A Monster Who Was Fleecing You And Wanted To Feast On Your Dreams Of Stardom to Kengo in 15. That's either going to be a whole additional episode, or something that's blown-off before the opening credits. Inoue! Tough to predict sometimes!

I liked the Wataru story, incidentally. It's not a very robust part of the narrative (it's basically just Shizuka getting Megumi to tell Wataru that Kengo's getting fleeced and may have his dreams of stardom devoured by a decorative vampire monster), but the emotion behind the final fight with the Rhino Fangire was nice. We've seen plenty of fights where Kiva was competent, and a couple where he was reluctant, but I think this is the first one where he was righteous. He's not just defeating a monster; he's punishing an evildoer.

That side of Wataru... I mean, obviously, not something you want to see all the time (he's a very sweet boy!), but it's like Otoya's new strain of self-sacrifice and quiet heroism: it's adding dimensionality to a character that you could feel like you've already seen all the sides of. It's an episode that wasn't really twisty in plot, but had a few surprising character turns.

Like Otoya not blowing the whistle (or Whistlestle) on Jirou! Took me a minute to figure out why he wouldn't just show up at Mal d'Amour and go This Man Is A Clawolve, but I think I get it. (Well, the main reason why he doesn't say anything is to prolong this story, but I think there's some narrative cover for the decision, as well.) Otoya is trying to protect Yuri from Jirou, and that's heroic, but it's still Otoya being heroic. There's a top layer of heroism now, but everything underneath that is still The Worst. He doesn't want to, like, tattle on Jirou. That's cheap, and unmanly. It's cowardly. (It's also exactly what Jirou does.) Otoya wants to defeat Jirou, to end his threat against Yuri with his own hands. He also needs to do it in secret, because this, strangely, isn't about showing off for Yuri. It's about keeping her from harm, but a patronizing A Woman Shouldn't Bear This Pain type of harm. He's toxically masculine, in his need to shield Yuri from painful knowledge. It's more bullshit paternalism, but it's also exactly the sort of bullshit paternalism that Otoya would reflexively go for.

It makes for an episode that just, like... delivers. Nothing was a huge surprise, but the fundamentals were rock solid. It's another episode where the visuals are insanely good (there's this shot of Jirou lounging on the roof of Monster Squad Massage that is disgustingly clever), the humor is whip-smart (Otoya's answering machine greeting!!!), and the character relationships are specific and engaging (Shima and Megumi trying to, like, manage Nago's fragile but bottomless ego).

It's still a middle installment, though, so I don't really have a ton to comment on, really. It's weird to see Kengo spurn Wataru, but there's some impatience in Kengo that was bound to bristle against Wataru's sweetness at some point. There's Nago's new Ixcavator, or whatever, but I think my feelings towards CGI monstrosities are abundantly clear by now. And then there's Kiva's new purple Whistlestle, which turns him into Titan Form With A Hammer. (I liked it, but: it's literally just Titan Form With A Hammer.) Good stuff, all of it (well, Ixcavator), but nothing I have a lot to say about.

I feel like I'm underselling this episode! I really did like it. It's progressing multiple storylines, but it's just harder to comment on them when you're in the middle of them. (I also want to order dinner now.) Good episode, though! Delightful to watch!