[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I feel like her inability to confront Otoya is leading to some repetitive scenes? She was a badass warrior who stood up to decorative vampire monsters, and now her only role is look miserable while she's metaphorically cheated on. It's not the best storyline I can imagine!

(That said, I did like how the show used Yuri in the most recent episode. Some of it was for the timeless outfit she had on - the plaid shirt, olive pants, and black All-Stars totally worked for her - but some of it was just for her taking her anger out on a bunch of monsters. Crying Yuri is something I'm not looking for nearly as much as Murderous Yuri.)

My Yuri's outfit of choice is the goth-like one, that she wears when first appearing on ep. 1. I know Yuri takes her anger on monsters here which is benefical, but I don't want for "hiding one's emotions except anger" to be glorified due to it making them "cooler" or "tougher" (you did praise the Aso family's rejection to IXA in ep. 20, but you start with a reminder of 'the crying isn't being a weak woman, unable to fight', implying that the norm means crying is those 2 which is misconception). Those who resort into unhealthy coping mechanisms (ex: shifting the blame to others, projecting their issues to others, escapism) to cope with problems shouldn't be ignored and have people pretend as if it’s perfectly okay, while display of emotions (except anger) gets hate. Audiences shouldn't put display of emotions below behaviors like shifting the blame to someone else, lashing out in anger, “tuning out”, etc. Those 'hardcore' behaviors can be as severe as emotions, or even be more unhelpful and unproductive. I guess you had a take that didn't resonate with you well for Kengo's portrayal in ep. 36 so...

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 36 - “REVOLUTIONARY: SWORD LEGEND”

I mean, this is an episode that has the incredibly-pious Nago angrily demand that God fix the mistake He made that resulted in Nago losing IXA. That is the most Nago thing of all time, maybe. That is Nago’s incalculable sense of self-regard actually overpowering his commitment to his moral code for only the second time in this series, and it’s perfect. It’s done with zero self-awareness, which sounds about right. His entire worldview is built around his God-given superiority, so if he’s made to be inferior, it’s God’s problem to fix. The twisted logic in that is sublime. And it’s a scene that ends with Nago trying to get a better fortune from Megumi by basically fighting her for it! It’s so good!

I thought Nago had developed before, likely started after going to 1986 and knowing that Wataru is Kiva, but here his old self-righteous traits resurface again. His moral code also comes from the sense of self-regard though? He does his moral code by treating himself as God enforcer, sees himself as the rightful sinner punisher, forcing his father to commit suicide for his 'sin', to believe that all Fangires deserve to be slain including those who are peaceful, with his catchphrase insisting the Fangire to return their life to God. Even his Rider form IXA sports a heavy Paladin/Holy Knight motif. Comedic parts aside here... Nago should realize that he's another human and thus, he's obviously another sinner too, including his methods to fight crimes.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Speaking of dudes who don’t handle defeat well, we get to spend a little more time with Kengo, and it’s… I think I can see it two different ways, depending on how much I want the show to not just be permanently ruining Kengo’s character for shock value and melodrama.

For the take regarding monumental creep part, so you do have limits about creating conflicts like if it's done for conflict's sake here (anything comedic gets free pass? due to character changes like this can happen to create comedic scenes). Though I have seen you pretend this kind of scene never happened before, like for example, Hibiki's Kenji Matsuda (so Zanki not Jiro) when he was written by Yonemura. Here Kengo is horrifying due to his treatment to a woman, but what will it take for Kengo to earn that reputation for his treatment to other men? Though even Kengo's previous approach before when he was Wataru's friend, he still rubbed Mio in the wrong way, due to him basically saying he focuses more on himself then Mio, painting him as selfish in her eyes. I get your other view less because I didn't think that Kengo had any thoughts for romance drama before, other than acting like Megumi to push Wataru with Mio, and would likely open a room to handwave someone's terrible actions.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Concluding our trilogy of men who blame everyone else for their failures, this is the episode where Taiga’s mask starts to drop. He’s been trying to take things slow with Mio, because he assumes that a) she already loves him, and b) she’ll only love him more if he lets her set the pace of the courtship. This is, naturally, a thousand percent incorrect. Taiga’s upbeat suitor has somehow overlooked the fact that Mio is getting more withdrawn and non-verbal as their dates continue, and she finally tells Taiga that there’s another man. He takes it… not great. I mean, as far as rejected men in this series go, he actually takes it great: Mio isn’t even a little kidnapped and threatened with forced breeding, so Taiga’s still a pretty good guy by comparison. (He actually takes it better than either other aggrieved dipstick in this episode! And he’s the evil Fangire!) But he’s still furious about this unnamed man who’s stolen Mio away from him.

Mio didn't only make moves here, she did before which I talked about (and not get replied), regarding her wanting to give up her Queen role by talking to Maya. I didn't really get the outcome about if Mio is still a Queen or not, though I can only say that people like Rook had shown superhuman physical prowess in his human form, but why did Mio get KOed easily in this episode against the Fangire of the week like a normal human?! (which is why I wonder if Mio's still jad Queen powers or not here), but yeah, 2 of 2 of Mio's dilemma has been addressed here, before by asking to give up her Queen role (where she doesn't feel sure committing to the role), and here, by confessing to Taiga (her arranged marriage).

For Taiga taking it better, well, I did say about before how Taiga's an anti-villain, but still, it's a stretch to call him 'good guy by comparison' (even with comparison note), he'll be still an aggrieved dipstick, but not by what he does to Mio, but by what he potentially can do to others to keep Mio's love, like how in Faiz (the TV series one, not the other media), Kusaka mostly did bad things to people like Takumi or Yuji for his love to Mari. There's also previously Jirou who was in love with Yuri, and though he acted like abusive boyfriend to Yuri, his bad thing is nearly killing Otoya due to him being in his way for Yuri's love, the suitor doesn't need to necessarily doing bad thing to the girl itself, the others around them will apply too. Taiga places Fangire's well beings above everything else, and this would be enough to drop Taiga's mask due to his friendship with Wataru compromising his aim to take care of Fangires.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Despite all that good stuff, this episode still felt sort of weightless. I think it’s all the foreshadowing the show is doing right now? There’s Bishop’s meeting with Maya, which mostly just fills in a little backstory while also letting folks theorize. There’s King’s appearance in 1986, who mostly just looks like an older Wataru that is cosplaying as a Kingdom Hearts character. And then there’s the Kanvat Sword, which doesn’t actually do anything this episode. It’s a lot of stuff like that, where it’ll probably be a great story someday, just not today. It’s too much setup, not enough actual storytelling.

Well, it's said that Taiga is the son of Maya and 1986 King, and Wataru brings up the button to Nago which he remembered it being the thing that he gave to Maya. It's an indicator of something between Taiga and Wataru... Besides, it's true that the 1986 King is like Wataru, and it's not just done via their look alone. For the Zanvat Sword (I never see it refered as Kanvat), I already knew of it being Kiva Emperor's personal weapon, but didn't expect for it to be completely separate from the Rider.