Kamen Rider Kiva - Eps 1-15

[katharos]

You know, I have just watched fifteen episodes of Kamen Rider Kiva in two days. I think I have been tokusatsu.

Scattered random thoughts. Expect no sense.

• Gratuitous chains!
• Gradtuitous bath scenes!
• Doggie!
• Flying dinosaur headed-building thing!
• Wataru is so under-socialised and wide-eyed and innocent and squishable. *squishes* Yeah, I think he's the main reason I'm main-lining watcing this series. Apart from the recent tokusatsu deprivation. He is just so very socially incompetent but so utterly sweet - when he did his scurry and panicked chuntering routine while in Kiva form during tha first fight with Tagona.
• Wataru really is the only character grabbing me by the throat. Nago pings me occasionally but he is a jerk-ass, and his chracter isn't getting enough screen time to develop the jerkiness into something more interesting/complex I can latch on to. Same with his relationship with Wataru. Wataru's hero-worship is so cute and doomed - I sympathise with Megumi's 'get the puppy away from the bastard' reaction so much -except I am also wanting to see the puppy get shoved at the bastard more. The scene where Nago treated the wound he had caused - guh. But, you know. Mostly moments. I'm not invested in their relationship as a whole - although I'd like to be. I suppose part of it is that Wataru is - very healthily - forming lots of bonds with lots of different people. He's not completely invested in Nago. Which is, y'know, good - except their relationship isn't as intense as it could be. I'm rambling.
• In 1986 the favourite is Wataru-papa. Which is odd, cause that character type has really grated on me in the past. But he's just so relentless and cheerful and insane and relentless - gets beaten to a pulp and still keeps going! And is miraculously healed in the next scene. It's also that he, at least so far, doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word angst. Angst rolls of him like water off a duck. And that's very refreshing in this series. *grin*
• I really liked Yuri to begin with, but her character now seems to have become very one note. I hate Fangire! Otoya annoys me! MY IXA. Her storyline and character development have got sidelined in favour of Jiro and Otoya. Maybe it will come back?
• (Fingers crossing at least one of the women gets to use a rider system by the end. Please please please. Of, course, I am prepared for disapointment. I remember my joy on watching the opening to Gundam 00 - they have a FEMALE Gundam Pilot! Only to have 'her' open her mouth and - no, it's just an even more female-looking boy than ever. sigh.)
• Do those in 1986 EVER actually manage to kill a Fangire?
• My hopes for the next 15 episodes: Wataru to develop a relationship with another character that is intense, gripping and conflicted, and which makes me bite my nails with glee. (I'm not looking for another Kagami/Tendo here, y'know, but something approaching them would be nice.)

Comments

[beckerbell.livejournal.com]

*claws at face* I want to respond to SO MUCH of this, especially because you echo so many of my thoughts from the early parts of the series, but anything I could say is really sort of spoilery.

I will say one thing, though:

My hopes for the next 15 episodes: Wataru to develop a relationship with another character that is intense, gripping and conflicted

It doesn't happen in the next 15 episode, BUT YOU WILL GET THIS RELATIONSHIP IN THE SERIES EVENTUALLY. It wasn't quite Kagami/Tendou levels for me, but it was certainly the closest to that that I've seen in any Kamen Rider series that I've watched yet.

I was kind of up and down with Kiva a lot, I loved it so much in the beginning (I am delighted that I'm not the only one who adored Wataru right from the beginning, he is so like a tiny little puppy and I just want to scoop him up and protect him forever and then shove him at the bastard because it's fascinating) and that waned in the middle, but by the end it was totally my second favorite KR series. *__*

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

*carefully detaches your nails from your face* At the speed I'm going through these they won't be spoilers for long! Ep 21 next.

BUT YOU WILL GET THIS RELATIONSHIP IN THE SERIES EVENTUALLY

I LOOK FORWRD TO IT! :DD The promise will keep me going if it does start to drag in a bit. At the moment I'm enjoying Otoya prancing around in Wataru's body. And the hints of plot dropping.

There are people who don't fall instantly in love with Wataru?

[beckerbell.livejournal.com]

Kiva's a good series to marathon, I think. It's not entirely without plot, but it's pretty light on it until, like, the last ten episodes. Which are kind of awesome. But, then, they appealed to everything I wanted from the series at that time and I felt like it really did wrap up everything that needed to be wrapped up.

Oh, man. Otoya prancing around in Wataru's body was one of the greatest things just about ever. And yes! There are people who had to be won over to Wataru's character (once Taiga is introduced, I suspect it's a lot harder to dislike Wataru) but Wataru's always been my favorite, right from the beginning. I just want to hug him so badly. XD

[sennetari.livejournal.com]

Hi, randomly wander in from finalauraburst. Hope you don't mind that I comment.

Nago and Wataru's master-pupil relationship is interesting, to say the least. Regarding the wound-treating episode, I just love what happened toward the end of that episode, where the scene of that piece of cloth (that Nago used to bind Wataru's arm) flowing away in the wind would never go away from my mind. (They were facing each other head-on in their rider forms at the time.)

re: Yuri. I just find it funny that I used that exact phrase to describe her: one note. Anyway, I was kind of fluctuating on her a lot (sadly, more down than up, though...). I think the problem with her character was she didn't seem to have a consistent writing. The writers took her in too many different directions at once and I was/am confused with her reactions to things just when I thought I could figure her out. To me, it was like Yuri was made to fit in the plots rather than the other way around.

Personally, I think Otoya does not develop at all. While it is true that he's a playboy and seems to have a playful/non-serious personality, at heart he's always a nice (and, yes, angst-free) person. Only that all the interesting stories seem to revolve around him (not that I mind).

I guess I better end here before I go into spoilers territory...