[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's completely insane, and I kinda love it. It was another plot I knew happened before I even watched the show (along with Mio's death; I've seen Wataru get made fun of for this absurd overcorrection a lot), and I remember being surprised how agreeable it all felt. Like, Jirou just throws him in the magic time portal and Wataru's broken heart takes over from there ?€“ he's going to make some bad decisions!

The part I liked best in Wataru's story is that he doesn't let a little thing like going back in time to obliterate his own existence make him impolite, or morose. He's very upbeat about his request to negate his own history? He couches his requests in clear language and earnestness. Just because he doesn't think he should've ever lived doesn't mean he has to be a jerk about it, you know?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Another thing I vividly remember from this episode for some reason is Wataru's transformation when he's protecting Maya? Right down to that swing set being there? I think it was probably because it was the first time you get to see Kiva Form in a few episodes, and it was also the scene where I recall registering how much I really liked Emperor Form's BGM... which explains why I didn't realize it was Emperor Form's BGM for so long. Funnily enough, I believe this is also the last time you see Wataru turn into Kiva Form at all in the show, so I guess I'm glad I savored it while I could!

This scene sort of threw me. It's one of the few times we see Wataru Henshin without catching Kivat, so the transformation here is just Kivat descending below Wataru's waist, and then a Henshin.

...

...where exactly did Kivat chomp him?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

...Oh, and about that defense I failed to mount earlier?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Well, yeah, she absolutely did, and that's kinda the whole point of that story? Mio was a character who, arguably more than anyone else in the show, was torn between the two worlds Wataru and Taiga represent. She had a normal life she wanted to live alongside the cute boy she liked on one hand, and the burden of a fate she never asked for on the other. That unwanted duty of being the Fangire Queen ate away at Mio constantly, even pushing her thinking into some pretty dark places as she attempted to find some way to make peace with the idea, but she was never able to firmly commit to either side, and ultimately she becomes a victim of the show's cruel and uncaring systems ?€“ caught in the crossfire of Kiva and Saga as they battle in the ever-escalating war between human and Fangire. (Which is how the Shima plotline factors in, as the episode very specifically highlights their clashing ideologies as their reason for fighting.) Mio's death serves as sort of the ultimate reminder of the tragic price of the vicious cycle the cast is currently caught up in.

I know there's sort of a loaded nature to her death that's inherently going to be tricky for you to overlook, and I respect that, but I honestly think Mio dying when and how she does has an absolutely critical, justified place in the plot and overall themes of Kiva, and it's sort of hard for me to imagine it going any other way than it did.

For me, the problem is twofold.

First, the loaded nature of her death... pretty big deal! I'm not exactly upset about the fact that Mio died (I'd've been shocked if she didn't die, at least briefly, over the course of the show), but I'm furious about how the show justified her death. It wanted a sacrifice, but it didn't do the work to make that sacrifice something that grew out of her character. It's the sort of thing that works better in metaphor than in narrative, and that's always going to bug me. (I would like both! I don't enjoy unmotivated character actions that exist to serve the story's themes!) That's just The Writer's Hand, and I don't love it.

Second, even without the specifics of Mio's death, I dislike where it puts Wataru and Taiga in the aftermath. It flattens their conflict for me. They were previously having a complicated fight about familial obligation, and cultural identity, and how to protect a sibling, and a dozen different things. Now their fight is about Their Woman, and that's significantly less interesting to me as a concept. Can the show find some fun angles on that trope? It's Inoue; I know not to bet against him. But it's the sort of story choice where he's going to need to expend a ton of energy just to get me to stop hating it, and that's... I would prefer he not have handicapped himself like that.