[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Second - and I'm afraid I'm going to be stepping on Androzani's toes here - I want to highlight this episode's big guest star. We actually have a returning player this episode as we welcome back, in the role of "Kengo's sublot," none other than Kamen Rider Faiz's very own "Kaidou's backstory." It's been a long time, but it's nice to see that he's still out there, ruining promising guitarist's dreams with a vaguely defined finger injury that affects nothing else they ever do with their hands. Good to see you again, buddy.

I didn't really bring this up, but since the show hasn't either: when exactly did Kengo hurt his hand? Was it supposed to be during the Nago time travel two-parter? I know he brawled with one of the Fangires, but it's hard to remember if he took any sort of stiff shot. I assume he did, despite that whole ending being very confusing in a basic cause-and-effect sort of way.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

So the cowboy Fangire is kinda growing on me at this point. We haven't seen a ton of the Fangires' social hierarchy, but I dig the idea that there's a guy going around trying to overthrow the leader and take over the role himself. It's a neat plot hook and it ramps up the threat level of the specific villain. Still not sure why he's a cowboy, though.

Cowboys hate magicians! It's a pretty standard trope!

But, yeah, I'm also a fan of these monster cultures having their own weird rivalries and goals outside of the Riders. I feel like, as much I really enjoyed Wizard's Rider-centric series plot, I'm a bigger fan of the Riders attacking a problem from the outside, rather than being central to it. Something more like Blade than Den-O, you know? There was an early Heisei show that really set the tone for a Rider story about warring monsters and hierarchies and killing each other to become the leader... nope, can't quite get to it. Maybe if I had more skills at my disposal!

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

It's good for me that you brought up the action in Kiva, because its something that I've thought about too! I really liked the fight scenes in the earlier episodes, specifically the way Kiva fought and moved himself. He fought in what I thought was a distinctly brutal, monstrous manner that still lend itself to elegant and graceful movements, fitting for a vampire, you know? And the Arms Monsters form changes each had their own style which I think still fit that idea.

The action is considerably less exciting once Emperor Form debuted, in my opinion. First off, I really don't have much opinion on the suit itself. It's just alright? I'm glad its no longer killing the suit actor, at least. But more importantly is the way it fights. So like the obvious visual storytelling I can tell they were going with is that this more 'regal' and 'refined' version of Kiva would fight in a more controlled, sophisticated way and less like the wild wrestling monster he was before. Problem for me is, that just translated to him fighting like 95% of other toku characters, and dropping what made Kiva's style unique in the first place.

It's really hard for me to even see the slight differences you're talking about between Original Kiva and Emperor, since so much of Emperor has been just him posing before a finisher. As much as the show portrays Emperor (through stock footage) as a powerful upgrade to Kiva's power that Wataru has unlocked through his emotional growth... it really just feels like a new base suit? And that's it?