[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 20 - “NOCTURNE: THE MESSIAH OF LOVE”




This is one of those Inoue stories where… I’m not sure how generous I want to be to it.

There’s definitely a positive interpretation of what’s going on with Yuri and Megumi in this episode, a way that it’s not just conforming to regressive gender roles. It’s all in what IXA represents to both women, and how that reflects the larger themes of the series.

The positive interpretation is that IXA is a burden, and their happiness depends on freeing themselves from it. Yuri views IXA as retribution for her mother, the physical embodiment of her grief and rage. It suffuses her desire to destroy Rook with obligation, with expectation, with pressure. It’s no longer just her needing to gain control of a horrible outcome, her loss of a parent. It’s a weight on her back, needing to follow through on her mother’s work at the cost of her own identity.

Megumi’s in a similar boat. She needs to be IXA because she expects to be IXA, because it’s woven into her family’s legacy. Once it’s literally in her hands, it’s fraught with decades of regret and disappointment. It’s not a coronation, it’s a poisoned chalice.

Viewing their story - and it’s really their story, singular - in this way, it makes their eventual rejection of being IXA into something heroic. It’s them breaking the chains of fate (or whatever), choosing to fight on their own terms, in their own way. Megumi isn’t any less a warrior for fighting without IXA’s abilities; if anything, her heroism is more unalloyed than Nago’s psychotic need for power and control. Yuri’s tears at her weakness… it isn’t her being some weak woman, unable to fight; it’s her feeling some small despair at how liberated she feels from her self-imposed vows to her mother. It’s a story that’s really no different from Wataru’s. These were two women who were crushed by legacy and obligation, and they found a way out of it, into the light.

That’s the positive interpretation. The negative one is that this episode bends over backwards to contrive a reason why not one but two different badass women find themselves psychologically unable to fight in the same manner as a bloodthirsty Clawolve, a psychotic button-enthusiast, and a lothario with a heart of gold. The optics on that move. Just… I don’t want to say “indefensible”, but it’s an episode that is only rewarding if you can make your brain tilt to a very specific Inoue degree. Mine can, but, shit. I don’t begrudge anyone who finds the justification for Yuri and Megumi’s crises unappealing-to-reprehensible.

Putting aside the, uh, point of this story, I think there were plenty of things that are less controversial and more incredibly awesome?

For one, there’s Otoya acting as a guide to Megumi because he is in the middle of the exact same story with Yuri. The way the ‘08 Otoya immediately diagnoses Megumi’s fixation on her mother’s legacy because he already watched Yuri’s deteriorating mental state due to her fixation on her mother’s legacy… perfect. Terrific, terrific use of the dual timelines, and it made for an episode where Otoya’s relationships with both women flipped around in fun ways. Megumi was classic Yuri, consistently telling Otoya to get away from her while he flirted shamelessly and refused to treat her deflections seriously. Meanwhile, Yuri was less guarded around Otoya, more willing to open up to him about her fears. She’s vulnerable in a way that is incredibly sweet, and it’s another step forward in making Otoya seem like not a gigantic mistake Yuri could make.

But wait! A new challenger arrives!

Holy shit, Maya. What a debut! Absolutely gorgeous from her reveal, I was probably as gobsmacked and awestruck as Otoya was. That face. Jesus. And then everything after that was a TV show that just wants you to feel previously unreached levels of desire and terror, with her detonating a rogue Fangire for the crime of loving a human while looking impossibly perfect and regal. The blood red moon, the thrown-back hood, that face… it’s an unforgettable sequence, and it’s such a stunning debut. In just a few minutes, Maya’s established herself as both a force to be reckoned with, and a #1 suspect for Wataru’s Real Mom. I mean, who knows what could happen in the next few episodes, but her and Otoya had instant chemistry, and the notion of her falling in love with Otoya when her first appearance is her detonating a Fangire for falling in love with a human? I can’t tell if that’s perfect, or too perfect. Very excited to find out which it’ll be!

(There are also a whole bunch of other things that are pointing very emphatically in the direction of She's Wataru's Mom. There's her Kivat, which is probably Wataru's Kivat's predecessor. There's the fact that the first meeting of Otoya and Maya is intercut with a wedding. It's, again... it's so unsubtle about the connections it's making that I can't tell if it's a red herring or not.)

While nowhere near the highs of the last episode, I did like this one. I think the Yuri/Megumi plot is more complex and considered than it appears on the surface. I loved a full episode of two different actors playing Otoya. (I laughed out loud when Real Otoya showed up directly after Wataru’s Otoya, because it was a weirdly seamless transition. It was like they switched actors between shots in a scene. Bizarre.) I liked seeing Yuri’s vulnerability and Otoya’s quiet support. (That shot on the riverbank!) I was thrilled for Megumi to kick ass in a fight scene again. And Maya! Oh god, Maya. Not an easy episode to defend, maybe, but one that worked for me.