[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 16 - "PLAYER: THE RULES OF CRUELTY”



A little tired, a little punchy, let's see how this goes.

I thought this conclusion was okay? It definitely didn't go in the direction I was expecting, and there's an absolutely killer cliffhanger, but there're a few odds and ends that detracted from a relatively smooth experience.

Like, I honestly don't know if Rook got detonated at the end. He summons a bunch of spare Fangire souls, a CGI monstrosity appears so that IXA can drive his new toy to the fight (baffling to me that W.A.K.E.U.P. designed this weird-ass construction equipment to be their newest weapon in the war against decorative vampire monsters), the CGI monstrosity gets detonated. But, like, Rook isn't shown again. Was he commanding the CGI monstrosity, or inside of it? It's a minor thing, maybe, but I don't love getting to the end of a two-parter and not knowing if the homicidal monster was vanquished?

And, that was the surprising thing: they went all-in on Rook being a killer! Thought we'd see a little bit of Biggie being aware of Rook, and there being a sense of both identities having validity, but nope! Heavy, heavy nope! Rook murders the kindly restaurant owner, the daughter who had a crush on him, and a half-dozen random diners who will probably not be tipping. They even show the daughter shatter after being turned into an exsanguinated transparency! They are pulling zero punches! He's an unrepentant monster!

I don't know if I love that? It makes for a formidable villain that nearly every hero has a vendetta against, but... it feels needlessly cruel, to have such a swing between Cute Flirting and Murder Spree. (They even trot out the classic Inoue Tautology of "Biggie is Biggie”, making me think there's some innate decency to him. They used my fondness for that catchphrase against me!) It's a flattening of the tone, maybe, where it's not worth mourning Biggie because he was never really there to begin with? I don't know. It was a turn in the story I didn't see coming, which was nice, but it robbed the character of some extra angles that I would've preferred they followed through on.

I think the '86 stuff played a little better? I liked the Jirou/Otoya Vs Rook fight better, for sure. The choreography was more interesting, and there was a better attempt at strategy than Drive A Bigger Truck. They got beat, 'cause they always get beat in '86, but it's a more kinetic beating than we'd get at the end of the episode. Seeing the two rivals trade weaponry back and forth in a bid to outmatch a dude who has trumpets on his shoulders to announce his victory... very fun! And still appropriately gross and condescending, considering the men involved!

As you'd expect for a story where Jirou recruits Otoya to defeat Rook so that Yuri doesn't have to, it's patronizing and tacky. They knock her out and steal her purse to get the IXA Knuckle back from her, all in the name of protecting her from herself, which is ridiculously reprehensible. (And then they just leave her knocked out on a sidewalk with all her possessions stolen?! WHAT?!) They are up on the highest of horses this week, somehow managing to come off more delusional and self-involved than a returning Nago, which seems like the meanest thing I can say about those two.

(And, to be clear, I did still enjoy the Otoya/Jirou stuff. They have such great rival energy in their scenes that it's easy for me to overlook that they're treating Yuri like a stubborn child rather than a grown woman who is being kept in the dark. Like, that is all still happening, but the charisma of the actors and their weird dedication to finding notes of Not All IXA or whatever in some tough storylines... it really creates some space for me ignore the more troubling aspects of the story they're in -slash- men they are.)

Hey, Nago's back! And Megumi, sort of! (She's only in one scene, researching W.A.K.E.U.P. cold cases, and I'm not actually certain if the actor is as sick as the character's supposed to be? Or worn out, or something? I can't tell if this is a bit, or if it's covering for an actor that they just couldn't get for a few weeks.) Megumi is hilarious as always, which is something I hope we'll be seeing more of in the future. Nago is... sort of restrained? As always with Nago, he's the most humble (which is to say only 98% self-aggrandizing) when he's certain of his victory, so he's all smiles at Mal d'Amour this episode. He's thrilled for however he thinks the Ixcavator is going to help him defeat a bat-themed superhero (not... not seeing it, myself), so he's only mildly dismissive of Megumi's taunts. It's a cute scene.

It's something I would probably like to see more of. Megumi and Nago seem to be treated the most superfluously of the core hero cast, and it's weakening the '08 storylines, I think. It's been a while since we got a solid Megumi appearance, and Nago is in maybe half of every other episode. He's in, like, two short scenes here? It's not great. This show's gotta figure out a better way to balance its cast.

Anyway! This episode! It was okay. The '86 stuff was gross but engrossing (Rivals teaming up! Always!), and the '08 stuff was surprising but not as compelling. Incredibly excited for the next episode, though, as Wataru got swallowed by a Dragon Cathedral and he's being carried to the opening credits, I think! Very keen to see what happens next! Other than Wataru maybe waking up from a bed of rose petals!