[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KIVA - SERIES WRAP-UP



I don't know what to do with this show.

I enjoyed watching it. I'm going to say that right up front, since I feel like a lot of what's going to come next will sound like I didn't have a good time. I found this show's mix of humor, drama, and earnest examinations of love to be a generally positive and unique experience. It was a show that tried a bunch of different things, approached A Kamen Rider Story in some idiosyncratic ways, and left me glad that I watched it. I had fun.

I don't know if the show was that good, though.

I remember making some comparisons to Ghost at the beginning of this thread, and I'm reminded of my final takeaway for that series here: Not as bad as you've heard, not as good as you'd hope. (I feel like Ghost has grown in my memory, though, so take that with a grain of salt.) There are intensely problematic elements that the show mostly skates away from, and bizarre side characters that become integral to the storytelling. There were episodes in this series that made me cry from their beauty, and ones that were the worst Kamen Rider episodes I've ever seen. Quality-wise, it's all over the place. Even within individual episodes, you could have clever scenes followed by stupid scenes followed by beautiful scenes followed by crass scenes. Every character had at least one multi-episode storyline that was embarrassing, and every single character had an arc that included moments of poignant clarity. Big tent, this show. Contained multitudes.

The plot of this series... I think it might be my favorite part? Maybe? It's not like it amounted to much, in the end. Bishop was an idea, not really a threat. King was a threat, but not really an idea. The Fangire culture never felt like a thing, despite all of the royal trappings and pressure on their leadership. But there was a fluidity to the storytelling that I really enjoyed. After Den-O, which would have these lurching Time To Care About Sakurai Again switch-ups in tension and stakes, to have a show that slowly and deliberately evolved its world and expanded its focus? I liked that. I never felt like the Fangire storytelling got in the way of the character storytelling. (God, sometimes it was the other way around, especially in the last few episodes.) The world-building for Kiva was solid and unobtrusive, creating just enough friction for these characters to sharpen up against it. Nothing ever felt like wheel-spinning, and there clearly wasn't a huge rush to resolve things at the finale. It was just a solid world in which to tell some stories about superheroes and love.

I don't know if I liked these characters, though.

I mean, I liked the stories that were told with and about these characters. Nago's quest to accept that he may have a flaw or two, Megumi's inability to compartmentalize her work and personal lives (she marries her co-worker!), Kengo's constant and abiding friendship and decency, Shima's constant and abiding terribleness as a boss, Yuri's steadfast warrior spirit, Otoya's steadfast horny spirit, that time Jiro ate a domino... they are memorably weird characters, and that's no small thing.

But, like, I'm okay saying goodbye to them? For most Kamen Rider shows, reaching the finale is bittersweet. We have to say goodbye to these characters, sometimes forever. The Hibiki finale was almost explicitly about that, and it hits like a punch in the gut. (Sorry to bring up the second half of Hibiki without a Content Warning.) It can suck to lose the characters, even as another show, another set of friends, is on the horizon.

I don't really feel that sad about saying goodbye to these weirdos. I'm okay with their story being done, even as I enjoyed it. This isn't Den-O, where you had such a good time going on an adventure with your monster friends that you will keep riding the rails until Ryotaro quits to go have a film career, and you'll still keep going anyway. This is like... this is like gorging yourself on a type of snack. You eat so much of it that you get nauseous thinking of having it ever again. It was good - you wouldn't've eaten so much if it wasn't - but you would never ask for more of it. These characters and their journeys... I am okay putting them away for good.

Thematically, I liked a lot of what it was saying, even if I don't think it was saying the same thing all the way through. I'm not sure if it's supposed to mirror Wataru's growth as a man, but I liked the show moving from Wataru's lack of self-definition into Wataru's need for connection into Wataru's self-determination into Wataru's need for love. There's a fuzziness to it, maybe, where certain early themes fell by the wayside. (Boy, Inoue pretty much got sick of talking about art and artists, didn't he?) And the larger theme of Love, using that to encompass both familial and romantic love was sort of tricky, and not entirely successful. (Basically, once Wataru gets horny for Mio, it's a little weird for him to keep thinking about his mom and dad.) But there's always a whole bunch to unpack from an Inoue show, and this one was no different. I liked seeing him talk about uncaring systems, and self-determination, and the power of art (when he felt like it), and all of the rest of it. Seeing all of that run through Wataru made for a frequently mystifying, occasionally frustrating, and perpetually fascinating show.

Speaking of Wataru! I like him. I like that kid. I don't really care about him, maybe, but I like him.

It's a weird thing to realize, as a show is ending, that you don't really care about the title character. I liked his journey, but that was almost always for other characters that intersected with it, or the themes it was dealing with. Wataru himself... eh. He was almost always overshadowed on this show by other characters, and, like, the final episode only works because of the Megumi/Nago plot. That's not great! That is pretty much a failure from a storytelling perspective, a viewer not caring about the end of the title character's story. The performance was cute, and there isn't really a lot to kick about for his series-arc (outside of the last two episodes), but I find myself real lukewarm on Wataru as a hero. Sweet boy, but not a hero I'm finding myself that attached to.

So, yeah. That's about where I'm at right now. Usually, these Series Wrap-Up posts are about how great the characters were, and how much the plot let them down, and how sad it is to see them go. Not so much this time, I guess. Kiva's a fun show that had a bunch of memorable characters I am fine never seeing again, in a decent story that the characters sometimes screwed up.

Of all the ways I thought I'd feel about Kiva, not sure I foresaw Ambivalent as the way I'd describe my feelings. It was a fun show, though, and I'm glad I watched it. Just... probably not one I'm itching to rewatch.