[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

- It's a good episode for Wataru, but it's maybe a great one for Otoya? It's a big showcase for his biggest positive quality (that's also the root of lots of his negative ones), which is how he's truly got as open a heart as a person could have. It's not even only with Maya here; the episode makes a whole point out of how the Arms Monsters can't bring themselves to follow King's orders and kill Otoya because he's just too dang nice to them. It's utter insanity for Otoya to look at Jirou like he's an old pal by this point, but because it's Otoya, you can almost believe it.

Otoya's compassion is one his greatest qualities for sure. His music redeemed Oomura and now his gift of friendship spurred the Arms Monsters to change as well. Jirou especially has come a long way from trying to murder Otoya to risking his life to protect him and that protection now applies to Wataru who is the legacy of Otoya and his love for Maya.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's a fun fight scene, but it's a bonkers fight scene, even for an Inoue show. An entire army of variously-sized space bats shows up out of nowhere! Like this is something Taiga does every episode, so they don't need to set it up or acknowledge it! And then they're all quickly defeated by Kiva! Like this was something he'd trained for! It is one of the weirdest fight scenes I've ever seen on this show!

Oh yeah, Wataru's total lack of surprise at a bunch of sudden UFOs completely sells it. Like, he's the protagonist of a Tokusatsu, he's conditioned to weird stuff happening in his life so cutting down that fleet is like a statement to Taiga that these are his principles and he's not going to back down from them, no matter how alien the enemy.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Aw, that would've been a really cool visualization of Wataru's regression. I think the only problem the show would've had with it is you'd basically need Tatsulot to refuse to participate, and that would've been too weird. Tatsulot does not do anything but love Wataru! Having a story that's this rough on Wataru that also includes a Henshin Device calling him a failure... um! Not sure that's going to be bearable.

That's true. Tatsulot might not be a super important character to the plot, but it's nice that his characterization stays consistent. It's probably also due to Takaiwa wanting to wear that suit as little as possible.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 42 - “THE POWER OF LOVE: THE KING’S RAGE”

Naturally, it’s about love.

The Kengo and Yuri scenes are about the same thing: Sometimes love is bigger than the people in love. For better or worse, the feeling of being in love can be so overpowering that logic loses its sway and all that matters is how you feel. It gains a resiliency that keeps it from being broken. Kengo was friends with Wataru when Kengo hated Wataru, just like they were friends when Wataru told Kengo they couldn’t be friends. Yuri still loves Otoya, even if she’s lost him to Maya.

Maybe that sounds ridiculous? Maya certainly thinks so, even as she’s won over by Yuri’s dedication. It is a little hard to swallow, considering that Otoya has rarely risen above the level of Vague Nuisance to Yuri. But it sounds real familiar, if you’ve ever been in love. The idea that people in love can hurt each other and reconcile, or let each other down before swearing devotion… it’s a thing! The person you love stops being just them, just their identity, and starts being The Person You Love. It all gets bigger than two people. (Or more than two people!) It has its own weight and size, Your Feelings, and it gets a vote.

So, yeah, devoting a little time to Kengo and Yuri talking about how impossible it can be to turn off your feelings, even when everyone in a relationship is acting like a lunatic… that tracks! That’s a neat idea to explore.

It's definitely a more profound type of love than Taiga's love for Mio, since he expects her to love him back. But Yuri shows unconditional love for Otoya, by wanting to rescue him even though she knows he will never love her as much as he does Maya. There's nothing in the world more powerful than that. Again, more reasons why Yuri is such a selfless and awesome character and the best part of 1986! I think it actually increases Maya's respect for her and maybe makes her feel kind of bad for homewrecking her relationship, since Yuri definitely deserves more happiness in her life for how hard she's fought to earn it. Although we know this is only a year before her daughter's birth, so we can conclude that she eventually gets over her heartbreak. Fighting to protect your love without expecting it to be reciprocated isn't ridiculous at all, it's romantic!