[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I don't think we've really got a big enough data-set to say that, like, Otoya won't protect men, or that he only protects people he cares about. Maybe previously some of that was true, but, again: character arc! He is a little better of a man than he was before! He's never going to be, like, Ryotaro from Den-O, but he's clearly growing as a person.

I guess I feel like how it all traces back from Otoya's womanizer trait. As a womanizer, who actually values women, Otoya inherently views all women as treasures and allies himself with any of them. His demeanor to women can put them off (or instantly charm them), but he entertains all women, and protects them when they're in danger. And I thought most of Otoya's scenes are him interacting with Yuri and caring for her, which is ofc a woman, which is the womanizer trait above, albeit doubly affectionate as she's the one he had chance to build a meaningful relationship with, his affection to Yuri doubles even more so. He also spent his time at odds with Jirou, which is another man (though he's a monster, but fighting Fangires), and the only reason they can temporarily team up is, again, woman, which is Yuri. I guess his relationship with Jirou finally changes for the better in this episode as he became honorer of Otoya's promise, but I guess this shows how different the treatment to women and men for Otoya, where men can need long dispute, tension, and various difficulties interacting with Otoya before finally bonding with him (albeit it's not one-sided, the vicious Jirou takes part of it as well), while women would just need to get used to and tolerate Otoya's antics. Probably yeah he's little better of a man than he was before, and you admit that he's never going to be like Ryotaro here, but the thing is I catch refering to him as "champion of justice" before as treating him equal to the likes of Ryotaro.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 28 - “REQUEST: TIME-ALTERING BATTLE”

I thought this was okay. It’s got a firm focus on Nago, and it says some interesting things about whether or not Otoya is fulfilled as IXA, but there are a few things that just didn’t quite work for me.

Well I don't think that Nago actually fell in love with Maya, unless Nago's going tsundere with him only being in denial for his love to Maya, which will mean yeah it's all sudden to me too. What I think is that Nago already had the burning passion (hatred) to exterminate all Fangires, so I'd think it's redundant for Nago to get 'playful' side to be passionate. I also kinda want to show that passionate doesn't mean you have to act flamboyant or something, which they don't here. Like how I despise educational insitute equating passionate for shouting your lungs out (and doesn't take it well when a student doesn't shout it loud).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I’ll tell you what did work for me, though. It’s the Maya/Otoya/Yuri stuff. That was goddamn electric, and it got at some real murky questions about relationships.

Otoya was already a warrior actually before, well I mean about fighting skills, as he fights off men to take away their women. I guess Maya should really meet with Kengo... he thinks Kiva or IXA's performance in fighting as a rock, which is a form of music, and a form of art. Though I feel like I was left hanging on Tanahashi's fate... what Nago's doing was, sending a shockwave to separate Tanahashi from the Fangire? I also thought Tanahashi's beef comes from how Maya never come again.. how about that part for Maya coming again or not?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Besides that, it was fine. The action sequences were fun (the Kengo/Wataru training scene was a funny diversion), and the additional clues in the mystery of Maya are sure to pay dividends (Taiga, the fact that Wataru’s mother gave him the button Nago gave to Maya in 1986), but I didn’t end up loving a lot of this episode. Everything with Maya was great, but I mostly didn’t buy into Nago’s arc over this story. When he does his little dance as Rising IXA at the end, I couldn’t figure out how the episode thought it’d earned that. It’s a story that clearly thinks its saying something profound about Nago, but it really just felt like a plot that went from A to A.

I thought Kengo and Wataru's training is, like Nago, a plot that went from A to A.... as Wataru's already a Kiva, and dunno if it's a problem to reveal Kiva identity to Kengo. It's shown that fighting as Fangire Hunter with Aozora organization can temporarily delay the Fangires, but doesn't really make an impact to the Fangires, as seen in Yuri or Megumi always needing help from the Riders, and of course it'll be worse for someone like Kengo doing it. Dunno what you refer as Rising IXA's dance... but I thought it's just how the finisher work, firing an orange beam then Rider Kicking it.