[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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

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 think that Rook was detonated at the end (but I don't know much about Kiva so cmiiw), as he's one of the major villains in the series as Four Checkmate groups. I even think he summons the Fangire souls so Rook gets away scot-free, Kiva's busy fighting his monster while Rook is safe. Though it makes sense for Rook being a full on killer even to those who showed compassion to him before like the restaurant crew, Rook is an irredeemable villain, and he's not the only one on Kiva. Though still, his time as Dai-chan was never touched upon again, other than Rook stating that he lost his memories (so it's confirmed to Wataru that Rook isn't acting two-faced on him), and one of the Fangires who clarifies what happened to him, which is sleeping for 20 years, I'd still like to see what he thought about his time as Dai-chan, even if he shows nothing but disgust for it for acting like a civilized human being. Though still I probably think the "needlessly cruel" part here is a reality-check, just that there's a decent person who just happens to be a member of deadly species, there's also full-on depraved beings on any species (either a completely evil human "humans are the real monsters", or here for Rook), a reminder that there's a good reason why they're the bad guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

I agree that Jirou/Otoya fight is better here, though there's maybe legitimate reason for it, Jirou/Otoya had been preparing to get rid of Rook, while Wataru had sudden reveal of Dai-chan being actually a rotten Rook Fangire and is thrown into a fight he never had a thought of (except the ringing violin). But finally, Jirou/Otoya realizes that they have mutual goal, and can work together temporarily to achieve that. Though the mutual goal here is an evil threat that is jeopardizing to both of them. I mean, even before you had "WHAT?!" on leaving her KOed on sidewalk, I had my pwn "WHAT?!" before that; how did Yuri, a woman fighter albeit is no match to the Fangires, get KOed easily by Otoya?! If Jirou's the one doing that, it may be plausible as he's a monster, Wolfen, but Otoya's another human fighter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Surely not, there's a live stream of Nana Yanagisawa (Megumi's actress) recently, singing Kiva's songs, and she knew some english. Well, for "bat-theme superhero", Nago sees Kiva as villain, for a reason that would be spoiler-y to talk about now. A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶K̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶R̶y̶u̶k̶i̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶B̶a̶t̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶K̶R̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶.̶