[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 31 - "APPLAUSE: A MOTHER-DEDICATED TRANSFORMATION”



There's a simplicity to the Megumi and Yuri story here that I really love. It's a three-parter devoted to exploring why they each fight, and the answer is simple: because they're warriors.

The Rook stuff, for all of its connections to the Aso family, ends up being a bit of a red herring. Defeating Rook isn't something they need to do to stop fighting, to live a life of happiness. It's not the reason they started fighting, denying themselves a life of happiness. It's something they need to do because they're fighters, and that's the place they're most happy. Rook's defeat is necessary to keep being warriors, not as an impetus or a culmination.

There's something really lovely about that, you know? How the three episodes propose alternate paths, and different choices, but the decision from Megumi and Yuri to fight is so primal that they can't be dissuaded or delayed. It's innate. It's their art, the way they express themselves to the world. Opting out of that would be like Wataru or Otoya deciding not to play music. It was never optional. These two women are warriors, and they don't owe anyone more of an explanation than that.

And the way the show dramatizes it! It's the best kind of Kiva fight scene, the kind where it's all one fight across decades. It's Yuri finding the strength from her mother to take out Rook in 1986, and then Megumi finding the strength and strategy from Yuri to take out Rook in 2008. It's a fight that lets Yuri build off of her mother's success by using IXA, and then lets Megumi build off of her mother and grandmother's success by using IXA to follow Yuri's weak-point diagram and finish Rook once and for all.

It's an idea that pays off the previous Megumi/Yuri/Rook story, and dramatically improves on it. It's not about the Aso women being dragged down by familial obligation and misdirected guilt; it's them being lifted up by a lineage of warriors. Grandmother boosts mother boosts daughter. It's a story of support, and of knowing who you are because you can see yourself in the people who helped you become who you are. It's a really beautiful story of undimmable lights and inevitable strength.

The rest of the episode is... I mean, god, who cares? It's the concluding episode in a Yuri/Megumi three-parter where they both Henshin into IXA and defeat Rook! Why even have other plots! Plus, what's here are mostly bits and pieces, nothing that really even adds up to a full idea. Taiga is King, but we only see him in silhouette, so we're denied his movie-star good looks. Mio is (grudgingly) taking her place as Queen, and ends the episode by fighting Kiva. Kengo sees Nago warmly offer to train Wataru and coldly tell Wataru that he never liked Kengo to begin with, because oh man did anyone think Nago was going to end up doing Kengo any favors.

That tiny amount of soul-demolishing actually leads to a neat Shima bit, where Shima tells Kengo - who is crying in the rain and cursing his fate - that eventually he's going to stop crying, so he better figure what he's going to do when that happens. It's a characteristically pragmatic and paternal piece of advice from Shima. It's letting Kengo know that, yeah, losing your dream, your best friend, and your teacher? That is a group of things worth crying over! It's okay to feel angry and sad about those things! But you will eventually stop crying, and you'll need to have a plan of action. It's my favorite type of Kamen Rider life lesson, where all feelings are valid, but you still need to exist in the world. Getting up after life knocks you down is the first step towards making things better, but you can take your time getting up. I really appreciate that lesson.

Anyway, wow, excellent episode of Kiva. Not a ton for Wataru to do (I think his date gets up and leaves during his flashback about the people he cares for abandoning him, which, hoo boy), nor Otoya, but a really memorable story about Yuri and Megumi. Amazing outing for the Aso ladies.



p.s. can't believe this one wasn't called 'finished: mommy fight'