[Fish Sandwich]

One more choice that's practically gift-wrapped for me, it's Otoya's Étude, the second of two whole pieces of music genius musician Otoya plays in the show, and, as you might expect, the music that closes out this episode.

Jokes aside, he really was pretty okay in the end, wasn't he? There's not much I could add to what you said about this one. It really ties Otoya and the whole legacy he left behind together, and it becomes this thing were you can look back and understand why Wataru leans on him so much for strength in a way you never could've at the start of the show.

One thing that seriously helps a big emotional episode like this out is that, as with all three of the show's last episodes, it's directed by Ishida, who always puts a ton of care into this sort of thing. The moment during the fight with King where it suddenly becomes Wataru and Otoya for a second instead of Kiva and Dark Kiva, that's a neat trick to let the actors sell the feelings of the characters that I've seen him pull as recently as Saber. And there are other things I'd imagine were his ideas, too, like Otoya climbing up those rocks to pretend he's not in pain when saying goodbye to Wataru, that really add to the tone of the scenes here. Another favorite of mine is how the focus keeps Otoya and Jirou separated so completely at the end of their conversation.

And then there's just all the stuff in this episode that's plain awesome, like the father/son Double Kiva Rider Kick, or Nago's continuing rivalry with Bishop where he's shouting epic heroic nonsense about being the world's hope or whatever, because, as always, that's our 753. Pretty crucial episode for Kiva to get right, so I'm really glad it landed so well for you, Die.