[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(Also, I tried to write this response when I was in the middle of a couple things at work, and that was a huge mistake. I have to stop every other sentence to do something, and that is terrible for my train of thought. Sorry! I might have a better answer later.)

The big warning sign for me, when I tried to figure out if I liked Kiva, was thinking about what my favorite moment was. It wasn't difficult. It was episodes 23 and 24. It was Shinji and Ryoko.

I'm going to remember those two probably forever. Those two episodes might be the best work Inoue and Ishida ever created together. It's beautiful, and sad, and joyous, and it's about love. It's about love as a power, love as an anchor, love as a cage, love as a key. It's literally everything this show wants to talk about, in just two episodes. That story alone validates Inoue's storytelling here.

It's also, y'know, not really a story about anyone in the regular cast of Kamen Rider Kiva. It's tremendously assured storytelling, drilling into complicated, important themes... but it's not an episode that is doing a lot with Wataru, Otoya, Yuri, Megumi, or Nago. It actually, uh, features the worst Yuri/Jiro/Otoya moment of the entire series? It's an episode that soars on wings of guest stars, of side stories, of self-contained interludes.

Realizing that, man, it really made me wonder if I liked the idea of Kiva more than I liked Kiva. It's not that I didn't like this show! It was fun to watch! But I was left grappling with whether the stories being told about our main characters leveraged all of the tools this show (and its themes) had to offer. I'm sort of still grappling with it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I don't know how much I agree with the charges that Kiva is noticeably more sexist than the average Rider show, but this moment right here is possibly the most toxically masculine moment I can remember seeing in modern Rider in a long time.

I hated the Jiro stuff in 24, but that Brotherly Love Brawl might the most indefensible thing in this series. Shockingly tone-deaf.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

For you to think this doesn't seem kind of Wataru, I also felt the same for certain scene before in ep. 40, Wataru putting dangerous stuff for people who interferes at his shut in phase like his friends? He wants to prevent himself hurting others by being a shut in, yet is hurting others himself using the harmful traps...

I think the difference is in the tone? The Home Alone stuff is cartoon violence; wacky hijinks. What Wataru's doing to Taiga is driving him out of his mind, and the entire episode is devoted to all of Wataru's closest companions thinking he's turned evil. It's got different levels to it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

By that Taiga thinks Wataru is taking away the very thing that defines him, which is his position as a King and his obligation to benefit Fangires out of spite, and I guess Wataru and Shima, execution aside especially for the latter, clears up the misunderstanding of that, informing Taiga that he takes the position as a King for Taiga's own good, and that Taiga still has the obligation to benefit Fangires by Wataru's words that Taiga's a real king.

If I liked eating oranges, and I saw you buying up all of the oranges in town, I don't think I'd care a whole lot if you said you were doing it for my benefit.

Taiga's story for a while has been that he thought Wataru was a threat to his rule. Either because he wouldn't tow the line, or because he was going to take Mio away, or now because he was declaring himself king. The idea that Taiga would suddenly be okay with that because a man he hated said that it was for Taiga's own good... I don't think that's how emotions like jealousy work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I wonder what would you think as difference here compared to the previous episode one? After Megumi's focus dipped, that's the last second of giving her prominence, but not as IXA. This part can be something that doesn't sit right with some, and consider another sexism in Kiva to prevent the idea of a woman being a permanent Kamen Rider.

Mostly just tired of fighting it. It's Episode 48 of this show, man. I'm pissing against the tide, here.

Also, I think it's how integral Megumi is to the process, and how it's a real partnership? It's not just her propping up Nago like last time. It's them collaborating to achieve victory, and that's pretty new!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Like I said, I'm not quite done with the music gimmick yet, and even though I still won't ~quite~ be done after this, this is definitely going to the most elaborate one of these I do.

oh my god this was so amazing

this was worth a couple months of writing about kiva

oh man

oh you guys

how did we all get so lucky to be on the boards when fish was on the boards

holy hell

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Hey, at least it's supervised by mama fangire.

EPISODE 42: Oh my god, what would possess Maya to leave one of her sons in the care of a terrible guardian like Shima? All he does is aggressively undermine people's sense of self-worth until they're willing to blindly follow his orders, no matter the danger they're placed in! He seems to delight in people sacrificing themselves to please him?

EPISODE 48: ...never mind.