[Fish Sandwich]

Okay, just a last bit of falling action now to wrap up my music picks for Kiva. I've ended up covering so many songs from the show I figure I might as well knock a few more off the list to leave off on. So first up today is a song that represents 1986 and 2008 all at once, as long as we're talking strictly about Ixa, Inherited-System.

This has actually come up in the thread already, but I didn't talk about it then, and considering how many songs I've shared from the album named after it (released on the same day as Destiny, as an Ixa-centric counterpart), it'd be a shame to leave it hanging. The appeal of this one is pretty straightforward. I mean, it's Yuri and Otoya and Megumi and Nago singing together in one song about the power that connects them all in the fight against darkness. It's pretty cool! Each duo gets their own verse and everything and it's overall just an upbeat and fun song.

But when it comes to being upbeat, it still loses out to the final song I'm sharing for Kiva, No matter who You are.

Before Re-Union came along, this was the last song on the last TETRA-FANG album, and it feels like it was meant to be a send-off in its own way. Kiva was a show that placed a not-insignificant amount of emphasis on people overcoming personal flaws, centered on a guy who was a mess of frequently crippling self-doubt, so what better way to demonstrate that this is the end than by having a song where Wataru is singing directly to you, the listener, all about not letting those negative thoughts get to you? This is another one I've mostly ignored until this thread, but it's an extremely sweet, reassuring song that touches on a lot of the show's major themes. If you're a fan of Kiva who really connected with its story, I have to imagine a motivational jam where Wataru literally tells you he'll be there for you is a pretty awesome thing to have.

...Or, wait, should I not be speaking hypothetically there? You know, this reminds me that I once put my opinion on Kiva as follows:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

definitely some people out there (and around here!) who love Kiva. I think I'm one of them, but Kiva is also my favorite Rider show to make fun of, so I'm not sure that counts.

I deliberately avoided mentioning this the whole time because it's such a strong statement, but Kiva is actually what I've long considered the objective worst Heisei show. (Whatever "objective" means, of course.) You might also recall that it is explicitly not the one I long considered my absolute least favorite, and that weird contradiction is, in of itself, all the more reason I just can't help but be fond of this dumb show. It's filled to the brim with so many totally inexplicable writing decisions and baffling creative choices, and yet... yet... man, I don't even really know. There are some episodes in there I loved, for all the ones I was less keen on, and I always had fun hanging out with this cast through all their wacky antics. I was always especially fond of most of the 2008 characters, and as big of a soft spot as I have for Kiva the show, I have an even bigger one for Wataru himself. It's like, Kiva is show I recall having plenty of frustrating moments or unengaging plot threads, and yet in spite of this, whenever I think back on the show, it's always with this really warm feeling?

Or, man, maybe it just is those songs? It's a pretty stock thing people say about Kiva – "it was bad, but that soundtrack was good" – and I guess I've never drawn that same distinct line myself? To me, the songs can only be as good as they are because they lean so heavily on the drama of the show's world and its characters, and perhaps because I went into Kiva having already listened to so much of this stuff so often, I'm always inclined to believe in what's in there, even as I occasionally take cheap shots at it. I said at the start of the thread I had a weird connection to Kiva, but thinking more about it, maybe's it not weird at all? Maybe it's actually the most appropriate possible thing in the world, for Kiva to be a Rider show I feel the strongest connection to – that I can most easily see the beauty in – whenever I can hear the music coming from it.

At any rate, it was fun having the excuse to talk about all that music thanks to you, Die. I'm pretty sure you like this show, by the way? You seem a little wrapped up in trying to precisely define it all at the moment, but I've been watching you talk about Kiva for two months, and it sure as heck wasn't with the tone of someone who only kind of cares. The flaws are merely another part of what makes it what it is. If you're not in a binary Like/Dislike place with it, maybe you don't need to be in a strict Good/Bad place, either? And you know, I *do* recall you saying this about your very first Inoue show:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I'd much rather watch a flawed gem like Agito, that flies higher and plunges lower (why did Hikawa have an unexplained blindness that only lasted for three episodes before disappearing?!?!) than an established Important Show like Kuuga. Kuuga, I mean, it works for you or it doesn't. Agito can do both in the same episode and I find that fascinating.

...so that's maybe why I'm so convinced Kiva will sit with you well in the long-run, even if it doesn't feel that way just yet. To break out a phrase I know you're fond of, Kiva is Kiva, and that's all it has to be if you want. Regardless, thanks for making another great thread, and as always, enjoy the time off! I look forward to our Journey through the Decade!