[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

He's a lot more outgoing by this point in the series, but I think it also has to do with the specifics of Natsuki's story. She's a young woman with a complicated relationship to the violin, thanks to her absent parent. That is something that Wataru is going to take a very keen interest in!

Obviously he's not as severe as he was in the very beginning for his shyness, but it still shows (good thing) when he introduces himself in the class.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 32 - “NEW WORLD: ANOTHER KIVA”

One of the things I like about Inoue’s Kamen Rider shows is that, for an endgame, they’re really less about villains and schemes than they are about systems.

Which, y’know, not to say that there aren’t villains; this is still a superhero show, so there are obviously going to be supervillains. It’s just that the threats that need to be overcome are indifferent systems that the heroes and villains alike both chafe under, where individual choice and self-determination become death sentences.

With Kiva, it’s a show about love. Romantic, familial, platonic. It’s about one-to-one affection. So the systems that are working against our characters are ones that don’t value love as a concept. They value patriotism, or fidelity to a culture. Suggesting that love conquers all is tantamount to treason.

I won't know if this part of Kiva is already its endgame. And before there's a part of Otoya and Yuri acknowledging that "love conquers all". The new stage of Fangire here is typical villainy to human stage here as the Fangire had to execute those who aid humans. For villains I mean, Kiva has multiple irredeemable villains, like all the Four Checkmate except Maya, and the one Wataru is enraged to (Rhino Fangire, the one that lures Kengo), so even with the necessary existence of villains, it's not that Kiva's "lacking" in the ferocity. I guess for both heroes and villains alike chafe under, it's about Wataru having to love someone who has Queen role (I guess by her rule, she'd had to kill herself, but ofc it'll be despair for Wataru), and for villains, it's about other Fangires under Queen's thumb to not love humans (though most Fangires who love human seems to live normally)? I guess for that it applies to other shows too as the hero wouldn't only deal with villains (and for example, to Rook, the heroes only fight him off) for instance, and villains would have a hard time if they had an abusive boss for any reason (for Kiva here, it's love).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s here that we find Mio and Wataru, caught in a very familiar interspecies battle that tests their ability to follow orders when they want to follow their hearts. It’s a lot of what we’d seen in Faiz, with Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch getting all hornt and then questioning the inflexible edicts of the previous generation. Mio likes Wataru, but she’s destined to marry the Fangire King. Wataru likes Mio, but he’s also trying to stop the Fangires, whose Queen is Mio. It’s a very tokufied Romeo & Juliet, and it works better than I’d’ve thought.

I think it worked for me because of how ground-down and boxed-in Mio is by her role as Queen. She’s got these rules that she has to follow, a society she’s now beholden to, and none of it’s making her happy. We don’t get to spend a ton of time with Wataru and Mio lately (some cute bandaging in this one, that’s about it), so an episode that adheres itself to Mio’s duties and the cruel indifference of the culture that supplies them really makes her affection for Wataru seem like an oasis worth hiding in. It draws strength from how shitty she feels in every situation except being with Wataru.

She’s even glum in her first meeting with Taiga, and I imagine that he’s all anyone’s going to want to talk about from this episode. For my money, it’s a good one by dint of treating Mio’s concerns as worthy of documentation. It’s a great one for Taiga’s debut.

Well, Wataru is trying to stop the Fangires, but not all, even not talking about Mio here, he did before to Oomura and Shinji (at first). Mio can be easily given that same treatment as those 2, the problem is the other Fangires, which Wataru likely would fight, regardless with or without Mio involvement. For how the Queen here is forced to obey Fangire standards, it seems that the title Queen isn't what it means to be, the Queen is more like puppet ruler for the Fangires, likely to prevent Fangires being 'weakened' by marrying inferior creatures. A ruling role should be actually...benefical to... influence Fangires like dropping their opposition to humans, if they actually treat her as actual Queen and serving them, though I won't think Mio does that, she's focused on Wataru.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Does any creator in Kamen Rider land a debut as reliably as Inoue? Taiga’s premiere is a goddamn riot, starting with Wataru being forced by Nago to “train” by acting as a bounty hunter. It immediately goes sideways, since Nago’s instruction to a very sweet boy who barely interacts with strangers and weighs about 100 pounds soaking wet was Go Arrest That Criminal. I get that Nago’s unable to see his own flaws, but he is able to see Wataru’s flaws, right? There is no way this mission is going to end in Wataru succeeding, no matter how angry Nago gets at Wataru’s polite attempts at hunting bounties. (Nago gets SO MAD, and it’s a highlight of the episode. He’s shouting across an outdoor restaurant at Wataru, waving a chair around to motivate a foot chase. It’s terrible, terrible mentoring.)

So Wataru chases after the bank robber, and catches a beating for his troubles. As he’s getting a beatdown in a playground, as if he were a child, who should return but his missing childhood friend, Taiga!

No offense but, I'd think you can't put "land a debut as reliably" as if it's a fact, it's subjective and can be pompous for doing so. Nago breaking down other's flaws, I guess that's how his character is to keep himself at the top above others especially before. Nago doesn't deserve to be a mentor if he views himself as high and mighty, a mentor had to know both of their strengths and shortcomings, like you said terrible mentor. But for Taiga letting the criminal flee in terror... isn't that just the same letting him escape (which Wataru is tasked to capture)? Taiga helps Wataru but didn't seem to help his case. For Taiga's other parts, can't say much about it. Though Taiga not pretending to be a great guy by how his friendship with Wataru is the same, well, this is why, I think character's morality is better judged more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them. Taiga is a close friend to Wataru, but what would Taiga do to the people who aren't friends or family? That's the thing to judge for his morality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yuri’s going full-on domestic in the aftermath of Rook’s defeat and she is terrifying Otoya with statements like I Am Going To Quit My Job And We Should Get Married. Otoya fell for a warrior, and he became a warrior for her, but now it’s all just ironed shirts and matrimony? Is that who he is? Is that who Yuri should be?

But then he runs into Maya, who plays his violin just like he would. (Oh, she learned to play the violin 300 years ago from Vivaldi, nbd.) She has a connection to Otoya that’s maybe deeper than Yuri’s, and she blows on his fingertip with such erotic force that the soundtrack drops out. She’s got Otoya’s number, which is a way bigger problem when he discovers that she’s also a Fangire. I’m sure that’ll be a front-and-center problem for next time.

Regarding Otoya only wanting her as a warrior, that'd mean Otoya is in love with the idea of someone rather than the actual person, which is a flaw for loving someone. This'd mean Otoya fails to actually comprehend Yuri beyond the warrior trait, and it's common for someone to fall in love with a girl because of being incredibly beautiful, or brilliant fighter, or incredibly smart, etc. but only for that reasons. So I realized here Otoya didn't realize that Maya is a Fangire.