[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 46 - “FULL STOP: GOODBYE, OTOYA”



There’s some stuff in here with Megumi and Nago, where she’s unsure if he’s matured enough to lead W.A.K.E.U.P. There’s some stuff in here about Bishop, and how he’s unleashed the End Of Series Army on the world so that he can destroy anyone else who would lay claim to the Fangire throne. There’s some later stuff in the episode, where Wataru has found a new level of strength (physical and emotional) as a result of his most recent crisis of faith, and how his resolve to protect people has solidified. A lot of nice little storylines as we head into the final two episodes.

But this is the one where Otoya dies, and that’s all we’re going to talk about.

It’s a strong ending for him, alternately intense, funny, and sweet. It manages to encapsulate a series worth of growth into a few beautifully-done scenes, and make a contradictory free-spirit seem definable and coherent. For someone who hated being pigeon-holed, this episode makes his roles as father, friend, lover and hero undeniable.

It’s the fatherhood that comes across first, thanks to Otoya’s thrilling team-up with Wataru. Possibly besting their movie partnership, there’s so much to love about their matching costumes and mirrored stances. I ordered a Dark Kiva figure a little while ago, from site sponsor Tokullectibles. When the suit appeared in the show, I’m like, Okay, I Guess I Bought A Villain Suit. But now? Now it’s going to be my Otoya suit. (IXA was always going to be Nago. I mean, come on.) Seeing him take on the Dark Kiva power for a third and final time, because he couldn’t do anything less when the people he loved were at risk? An epic move.

It’s also his first and last lesson to his son, which is only the beginning of this show giving Otoya heartbreaking lines. Wataru spends a bunch of time over the series trying to understand his father, and in turn understand himself. But there on that shore, it all clicks into place. You fight to protect the people you love. That’s it. It’s that simple. Otoya’s a hero because he protects what he loves, and he loves people. He loves so, so many people. (Arguably too many, if you’ve been dating him!) If the people Otoya loves are in jeopardy, he will never stop trying to protect them. Doesn’t matter if it’ll kill him. He won’t let himself die until he keeps his loved ones safe.

It clarifies things for Wataru, in a way he’s able to take back with him to the future. When Shizuka and Megumi are in danger, Wataru (not Kiva, Wataru) rushes to their aid, scaring off Fangires with a look of steely determination. It all comes from his dad, imperfect though he was. He maybe only directly taught his son one lesson, but it’s maybe the most important lesson he could ever teach him. It multiplies Otoya’s sacrifice, since it averts a tragedy in 1986 and gives Wataru the courage to hopefully prevent one in 2008. Otoya never really got to raise his son, but he still managed to be a good father.

The couple scenes he spends with his friends, though, those hit me the hardest.

The one with Yuri… man. It’s a Goodbye scene, even if no one says it. Otoya wasn’t a great boyfriend, but he managed to be an okay friend to Yuri. She’s happy to have known him, happy with the person she is after their break-up. They tease each other, in the way only exes on good terms can. He wants to know how she made her only-decent omelette rice, an acknowledgement that something imperfect can have sentimental value greater than its measurable qualities. She teases him that her secret ingredient was poison, before tearfully confessing that it was love.

The whole scene is like the other half to their breakup from a couple episodes ago. That was Yuri finding strength in her ability to let Otoya go, and her happiness that he found true love. Here, it’s her letting herself grieve their relationship a little. She’s cried before at Otoya’s betrayal, but in this scene she’s mourning the loss of that time in her life. She’s also mourning Otoya, even if she isn’t consciously aware of it.

Jiro figures it out pretty fast, though. He’s seen plenty of dying people in his life. (Also, Otoya is, uh, literally vanishing, so there’s that.) Jiro and the other Arms Monsters are considering making a break for it, leaving the rampaging Castle Doran to whomever, going back to looking out for themselves. And it’s Otoya who convinces them to care about other people, both generally (living in Castle Doran would keep it from killing everyone) and personally (watching over Wataru). They started this series looking for survival and a small amount of vengeance, and they end it as Wataru’s Three Crazy Uncles who live in a dragon cathedral. The fact that it occurred because of Otoya is, frankly, stunning.

Otoya’s an almost impossibly broad caricature of a man. He’s irrepressible, if you’re feeling generous, and chaotic, if you aren’t. But he managed to live his life in a way that convinced other people to find reasons to love, and to sacrifice. He held to his principles, and fought for his convictions, and it caused evil monsters and taciturn warriors to become hopeful heroes. He didn’t do it by being a non-stop paragon of justice, or even an all-the-time good man. He did it by showing people the joy of living your life honestly, and the rewards of choosing to love openly.

Which brings us to Maya.

She’s lost so much from knowing Otoya. She watched her husband die. She lost her station, and her powers. She’ll be hounded for decades by angry Fangires. She'll end up having to give away both of her sons to protect them. All she got for all that hardship was a few short weeks with the man she loved.

It seems worth it?

The point of love isn’t quantity, it’s quality. The sacrifices both Maya and Otoya make for their love, it’s like a rebuttal to the last two episodes of Wataru’s journey to the past. Everything ends. Sometimes relationships end faster than we’d like. Sometimes we make sacrifices for love. Sometimes you get just a little bit, and you pay for it for a long time. But if it's real love, true love, having it at all is a miracle. You can't count it in days, because it'll last forever.

My mom married my dad, and three years later he died of cancer. I was 2 when he died. She kept his name. A few years later she remarried, and we changed our name. It didn’t last. They divorced. And she took my dad’s name again, instead of her maiden name. There’s this connection she had with him, something that was always going to be a testament to their love, and it was me. That sounds sappy and saccharine, but I believe it. As long as I was there, with my dad’s name, there was some part of their love that endured. It was brief, in terms of how long it’s been since he died. But a week ago, on Father’s Day, she wanted to talk about him.

So seeing Maya there with Otoya in the park, their brief but brilliant affair about to end; acknowledging that their love would go on forever, and a son would be the proof of that… man, that felt like something made just for me, some part of Kamen Rider Kiva I’ll always be able to cherish.

Inoue Forever. Otoya Forever. Love Forever.