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| Kamen Rider Kiva |
I only checked out this show because i heard NOTHING about it! It was pretty much never on any top list and never on any worst lists. I did a little bit of research and found out about the two timelines format that the show took and the love stories and gave it a try. While the show does have some problems that i will get into, overall it is quite entertaining and a much needed break from the formulaic neo-heisei shows.
I would recommend this show for a seasoned watcher of tokusatsu who is getting tired of the "typical" Kamen Rider show. I would even recommend this to just people that like J-dramas as the action is not prioritised as a majority of the show is about the interactions between characters and the relationships that brew between them.
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| Kivat |
Spoiler Section:
Kamen Rider Kiva uses two timelines to tell it's story. One in 1986 and another one in "Modern" times in the year 2008. The past timeline follows Kurenai Otoya and Aso Yuri. The former being a violinist and the latter being a member of the Wonderful Blue Sky Organisation. An organisation that fights the monsters of the season, the Fangire. The present timeline follows Kurenai Wataru, the son of Otoya.
Opening Song:
Break the Chain composed by Tourbillon is a rock/metal song which is new for the Kamen Rider series. Now music is very subjective and different songs have different listeners. For me, this song is bloody fantastic! I absolutely love the guitar riffs and the transition to a slightly different melody midway through the song. My only problem is that the singer just trashes on the guitar riffs whenever he sings "Baku Baku Beating Heart!". It is catchy but it just doesn't fit.
Story:
The story as i stated before, takes place over two timelines. Initially i thought that these two stories were going to flow into one another but they are two completely different stories, only occasionally referencing one another.
I'm not going to go into every single story because frankly, i'm not bothered to rewatch shows and take down notes. I'm going to state my memories and what left an impact on me. Honestly, thats how reviews should be anyways, whatever left an impact.
From what i can remember the show primarily is 3 love stories. One between Otoya, Yuri and Jirou, another between Wataru, Mio and Taiga and the last being Otoya, Yuri and Maya. Of these stories i'd say Wataru's love triangle had the most interesting aspects. The dynamic between Taiga and Wataru was fantastic. You just have to root for both characters. Taiga just wants to do what he was born to do, to protect his race and Wataru wants to find his place in the world. The twists and turns that take place create interesting story developments seriously lacking in the first half of the modern timeline. Such as when Taiga's fiance is revealed to Wataru and it turns out to be Mio.
Otoya's love triangles are just off to me. The interactions between Otoya and Yuri were just hilarious to watch and that's what the show should have been. Just Otoya trying to earn the affection of Yuri. The love triangles just don't do much for them. In fact, it actually sorta pissed me off sometimes. Like when Yuri fell in love with Jirou even though Otoya tried so hard (I don't like that netorare shit) and then when Otoya chose to go with Maya even though he had Yuri. The triangles separated the best characters from eachother to deal with mediocre characters.
Honestly, that's most of the show, just love stories. There is other stuff like Kengo's dream to become a rock star but jeez that was in the early parts of the modern timeline and as i stated those parts just aren't that interesting.
Incredibly interesting storylines however, were the time travel arcs. The first being when Otoya is in Wataru's body. This had so much potential, unfortunately it was mainly only used for jokes and Wataru's actor was pretty cringey acting like Otoya. The second of the time travel arcs was Nago travelling back into time. This one wasn't that great. Mainly due to the fact that Nago really has no relation to the past other than Shima and Master (the coffee guy). He doesn't have much importance to the lives of our two main characters of the 1986 timeline. Finally, the best time travel arc is the one where Wataru travels back into time to see his parents. Absolutely amazing. Toei ain't cock blocking us here. Every interaction we wanna see, we get. Interactions between Wataru and his family were so (wow i need to have a bigger vocabulary) interesting. And the pay off at the end. Wataru learning his place in the world and becoming the unstoppable force he always had the potential to be. Amaze-balls.
Enough time travel, let's talk about the introduction of the Kings. My god did i hate the past King. He was such a huge dick. Basically evil for the sake of being evil. I think this is the fact due to us not having much time with him. Basically anytime we saw him, he just wanted to kill something whether it be our good ol' monster pals or Taiga his own son. And GEEZ WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE EMO. On the other hand, i love Taiga! Handsome little chap with a mindset relatable to anyone. He was born into the role of the King. His role is to protect the Fangire and to marry the Queen. Simple as that. But then Wataru comes in and steals away his Queen. That would put quite the strain on the heart. He spends ages trying to get people to join his side. He is incredibly patient when trying to make Wataru join the Fangire, only resorting to violence when he needed to.
To conclude the story section, i'm gonna talk about...THE FINALE. WOW WHAT A SHOCKER! Unfortunately the ending is a gigantic mess of an episode. Everything feels so rushed and just out of no where. "WOW let's join forces suddenly even though we wanted to kill eachother so badly to kill this generic monster." "WOW now that he is defeated let's fight for like 10 secs until the camera cuts away." "WOW Nago and Yuri's Daughter are getting married even though there was no romantic tension the entire season." "WOW let's completely rush the ending with the introduction of Wataru's son." Yeah i hated the finale. BTW Wataru and Taiga transform like FOUR TIMES. That is ridiculous, making endurance not feel like a factor at all. Generally speaking when a Rider is defeated, they need to heal or take a break or just something like that until they transform again, but nah let's just transform, then untransform to talk, then transform then blah blah blah you guys get it.
Characters:
Kiva has a major problem with its characters. NONE OF THEM ARE CONSISTENT! One minute a character is incredibly badass (Looking at you Jirou!) and the next, they turn into a bumbling idiot flopping about like a magikarp learning to splash.
Kurenai Wataru- Watching Kiva right after finishing Kabuto really made me appreciate Kabuto's protagonist so much more. Wataru begins as an extremely timid character, annoyingly so. And his journey is the bumpiest ride to a complete character arc i have seen so far in Kamen Rider. Although the evolution of his character is great, where he finally decides he will live as himself and make his own decisions, the beginning was some of the most annoying character writing i have seen in a while.
I kinda like how Wataru becomes confident when he is fighting but then again, there is no bloody explanation as to why he becomes more confident and brave. CURSE YOU, SCREENWRITERS! He just transforms and suddenly he's no longer a little scared cunt.
Wataru's girl in his house- I'm not even gonna bother remembering or even looking up this girl's name. SHE IS THE WORST CHARACTER IN ALL OF KAMEN RIDER! She serves LITERALLY no purpose to the story or even growing Wataru into the man he eventually becomes. I hated every single scene she was in (thank god there weren't that many). She also disappears (thankfully) every once in a while for a huge chunk of the episodes and comes back unexplicably. If i ever wanted the personification for cunt this is what i would look for. She constantly sabotages everything Wataru does, his relationships and most importantly his growth as a character. She constantly wants to treat him like a child and for some reason says she is his fiance? From memory, i don't believe they ever explain who she is to us, she simply is just sometimes around Wataru and thats it! Is she a cousin? Friend? I DONT KNOW AND I DONT FUCKING CARE ANYMORE!
Although ironically, she is the most consistent fucking character due to her constantly being a little shit in every scene she is in.
Nago san- Starting as one of the coolest characters into the show then spiraling down into depression and then further spiraling down into a joke. Mr IXA had a great introduction. A cool headed bounty hunter with a rocking suit. But once again due to bad writing, he suddenly goes nuts when he can't grab one of his buttons off of a criminal. This would have been good had it been hinted at but NOPE, he's level-headed for a long time then BOOM suddenly he's a skinny maniac looking for a shirt button. Worst part is when IXA is taken away from him. Although resulting in my favourite joke/pun of the season (753 na-go-san), he goes from one of the more serious characters (which this show seriously lacks) to like i said above, a bumbling idiot. For someone that takes the fangire so seriously, you'd think he would just let the other IXA fight but nah he's too much of a poorly written character so he's gotta constantly distract the new IXA from his battles. Another high potential character down the metaphorical drain.
Kurenai Otoya- One of the better characters of the show finally! He is way more consistent than the others and absolutely hilarious to watch. A womanizing violinist striving to find his fated woman. I loved pretty much every seen he was in. Unfortunately his character kinda slipped away halfway through the show and we got less of him. The actor played Otoya masterfully, charming but egotistical, loving but a bit unfaithful, strong but unthinking. My man got layers son! Like any normally written character.
Aso Yuri- Another of the better characters. Incredibly respectable. She fights her own battles and chooses her own way of life. Her arc with Rook was fun to watch and the climax at the end where she transforms into IXA for the first time thus completing her arc. MARVELOUS.
Jirou and the Monsters- Pretty meh for the most part. The Dogga guy was really funny, the Basshaa kid was annoying (i hate child actors), and then there is Jirou. Mr Inconsistent! "I will fight you for Yuri, no now i will KILL YOU, oh but you said im your friend? Okay we good pal, BUT WAIT i wanna fuck Yuri in the ass so im gonna kill you now!"
The Kings- Pretty said all that i need to say above. Loved Taiga and hated the old king.
Kivat and Tatsulot- Pretty good companions for Wataru but we just don't spend any significant time with them.
The Suits:
Kiva- I adore this suit. It looks so menacing like a biker and the chains that seal away Kiva's power add another layer of power to the suit. Only things i don't like are the form changes. They were hardly used. Garuru saber and Basshaa magnum were used the most. Dogga was used a total of like 3 times and like once more in Kiva emperor. Also, as ugly as DoGaBaki form was, WHY WASN"T IT USED!? It showed up once and i don't think it ever appeared again. This was his mid-season upgrade and it was used once. What a disappointment.
Kiva emperor didn't look all that great to me at first but it grew on me because we saw it OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Everyone knows the story of how heavy the Kiva suit was so they just changed over to Emperor for the rest of the show but still, it's a bit ridiculous to introduce the final form in EPISODE 24! The capes on the suit threw me off because they served like no purpose and just got in the way of the suit actor. The chest plate downgraded into the mess it is when it was fine as a six pack for Wataru. I do like the shining colour scheme though.
IXA- Probably one of the worst belt noises to come out of Kamen Rider. I love the whole fist thing but just the voice is so terrible. FI-I-ST-TU-OH-ON-N. Like is this belt suffering mentally? Why can't it speak? Anyways the suit is pretty well designed. The toilet white colour is tiresome though.
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| Dark Kiva |
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| Saga |
Saga- Probably my favourite suit of the season. The dominance this suit displays with just its design is amazing. This looks like something the King of Fangires would use. And the wake up jingle is a great jingle. I like how the suit took a fencing approach which enabled it to look very regal and something out of royalty.
Dark Kiva- I hated this suit when i first saw it because that stupid emo king used it. The bat ears were of a very feminine design and obviously that's not something Kings should have. However, this suit grew on me. Especially when other characters used it. The attacks were extremely powerful. The colour scheme was also done well with overall, the entire suit looking very streamlined and menacing.
Extra Points:
-The story has major problems in that the 2 timelines run parallel to eachother. So whenever a monster pops up in the modern timeline, we have to follow the same monster in the past timeline. This removes literally all tension from the past timeline. As we know they will never defeat the monster. As a result, this makes our past team look incredibly weak.
Now i know that i ranted quite a lot in this review. But in the end, i had a great time watching this show. As i said before, this was an excellent change of pace from the rest of the Kamen Rider series. It was just so different and i guess that is what makes good Kamen Rider shows, a good change of pace. This is also evident in Kamen Rider Gaim. It was just so different and as a result of good writing that wasn't formulaic, it turned out to be great. I'll probably fix up and add more to this review overtime as i rushed this one quite a bit.
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