[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 27 - “80s: ANGRY RISING BLUE”

The first thing to go wrong is Rising IXA, which… I mean, what the hell is even going on with Rising IXA. It’s got a cellphone that appears out of thin air, like we’re watching Faiz or something (it even unlocks with a variation on Kaixa’s 9-1-3 code!), and then it’s just a mess of a suit. The chest panel is now some red starburst furnace? The helmet is a samurai? There’s a heart-shaped choker?! And the color palette, man. Red and blue and white and gold and silver? Crazy. Way too busy. I don’t know why I was expecting more from the W.A.K.E.U.P. design team that gave us the Ixcavator, but I suppose I was. I guess some things just peaked in the 80s.

Remember how I said I was going to complain about IXA's final form when it appeared? Now is that time. And you've already brought up a lot of the same reasons why I don't like IXA Rising.

But before that, I will mention that the IXAriser phone comes from his mouthplate, which may be a Showa reference to Kamen Rider X's detachable Perfecter mouthplate, considering that X is the middle letter of IXA and their given names are both Keisuke as well, except with slightly different kanji.

Save and Burst Mode give the impression of a high-tech modern crusader, which is perfect for being exactly what Nago considers himself to be. But Rising just kind of exists as a purely technological upgrade without adding anything to the theme. Honestly, I think all those electronic details make it look more generic and take away from the chivalrous knight design. It looks less Nago, which is the opposite of what it should look like! I mean, it's not quite Beast Hyper levels of lame, but I think it just does everything wrong. Frankly, I'm impressed you were even able to infer a samurai motif from the head, cause with so much going on, I can't tell what I'm looking at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

So, Nago’s boxed in. Tanahashi’s already taken out 2/3rds of W.A.K.E.U.P., and confiscated the IXA Knuckle to boot. If only IXA hadn’t ruined Tanahashi’s life 22 years ago, none of them would be in this mess now. If only Nago could go back in time and fix things!

Which, he can? Thanks to a not-trapped Jiro? And a Castle Doran that was underground? And Castle Doran’s heretofore-unmentioned Time Door? That sends Nago back to 1986, to interact with Otoya and Yuri?

I’m pretty sure this is the point where I completely checked out of this episode. I admire the goddamn brass balls of Inoue to resolve a complicated problem with Time Door, but, come on. It’s such a massive cop-out that I could not have been less interested in what happened next. The entire plot ceased having any appreciable stakes or consequences, because, like, what if there’s a Nago Wins door, too. It’s phenomenally lazy, even by Inoue standards. Just… Time Door. Man. Whatever.

On one hand, Kiva's concept of time travel is very simple to understand. On the other hand, why is there suddenly time travel in Kiva?

It's totally just a plot device without any explanation and I'm not even going to try and justify its existence, but at least the plot that it facilitates I think is pretty good in this Nago focus arc.

First of all, Nago accepts an offer from one of his arch enemy Kiva's friends. This shows that his development from the previous episode, feigning humility to be deemed worthy of IXA, continues here with him being willing to use the enemy's resource to accomplish a better long-term outcome, even if it makes his soul feel unclean for having to resort to that.

Secondly, Nago's adventure in 1986 allows him to have interaction with Otoya, similar to how Megumi met him in 2008 through Wataru as a medium, so this will be a chance for Otoya to tell Nago how much he sucks and what he needs to do to get better. Nago is here on his quest to fix the past, but again, that's just the story of this arc providing an admittedly lazy plot device to further the overall plot of the show. I think the best we can do here is work with the plot on its own terms and enjoy what happens between the characters. Cause if there's anything that Inoue excels at, it's character interactions.