Kamen Rider Kiva E31 Review: Aso Ixa

Kamen Rider Kiva, Episode 31: Applause - Motherly Dedicated Transformation

An... interesting episode, I guess. I really, really do feel like the buildup to this "Taiga" revelation was handled a bit better, becuase it genuinely does feel abrupt throughout this episode. We get some incremental random hints here and there about Maya's mysterious baby, the identity of Checkmate Four's King and Wataru's mysterious childhood friend Taiga, but they are so few and far between that when this episode quickly ties the two plotlines together it feels like we probably could've had a fair bit more screentime to really build it up, preferably in an episode that isn't already busy like this one.

The 1987 storyline has a relatively quick-paced follow-up. Everyone's in bandages after the curb-stomp fight with Rook, but then Yuri ends up picking up the Ixa Knuckle and having a sly grin, noting that she has a plan. We cut away to some 2008 scenes before going back, and it seems like Yuri's going to do something reckless, the silly woman, while Jiro and Otoya chase her down and attempt to stop her. Yuri runs straight to Rook and tells the Fngire that "here's something fun, protect me", while also waving the Ixa Knuckle in front of Rook' face. The acting for Yuri, Otoya and Jiro are convincing enough and I do appreciate the show for not shoving in a "ha ha they are totally faking it" until the actual deception takes hold. It's all a trick and Yuri's just play-acting to get Rook to slap on the Proto-Ixa belt, fight the Monster Trio, before the side effect of using the Proto-Ixa belt too long takes hold and Rook doubles over in pain.

It's kind of a very reckless plan and a pretty silly one, because there's no real telling if Rook would get a power boost and kill one of the good guys when he slaps on Ixa, but eh, it works out. By that point Yuri joins in the fight, Otoya reclaims the Ixa Knuckle and henshins, and we get a five-versus-one fight as they all wail down on Rook. And in a neat juxtaposition between this and the climax of the 2008 storyline, the episode ends up focusing on Yuri and Megumi as they both beat the hell out of their respective timelines' Rook, and Otoya... Otoya gives Yuri the Ixa Knuckle, and finally Yuri gets to become Kamen Rider Ixa! I am happy, because, well, more than anything, Yuri and Megumi get the short end of the stick of characterization so many times and at least allowing them to deliver the final blows for their respective vendettas and finally claiming the Ixa system is a pretty amazing moment, even if it's undercut by the knowledge that Ixa's going back to the respective primary users. Still, it's better than not having them transform at all, right?

Yuri gets a badass sequence of exchanging blows with Rook, even delivering that nasty wound on his shoulder that apparently lasts all the way to 2008. Rook growls and claims that he will return someday, but Yuri gives a badass speech about how her spirit will go on and it will defeat Rook even if he comes back, which, of course, is intercut with scenes showing Megumi beating the ever-loving hell out of Rook in 2008.

In 2008, the episode starts off with more of the Megumi/Mitsuhide storyline, where Mitsuhide continues to be an ass, ranting about what mom would want. Bizarrely, this takes a turn where Megumi rants about how she's taking Mitsuhide's place because he's not warrior material? Okay? Then Mitsuhide... slaps Megumi! Oh the cunt. Megumi slaps him back and storms off, and we get a scene where Mitsuhide apologizes-sort-of afterwards, but still, what a fucker!

Speaking of fuckers, Nago is being all ass-kissing and all nice to Wataru in Mal d'Amor, telling Wataru so many bullshit about how much he trusts Wataru, and how Nago wants Wataru to become his pupil again and how he never had any interest in training Kengo in the first place. Because this is TV drama no one notices Kengo in the doorway, and Kengo gets absolutely angry at both Nago and Wataru and storms off yelling in the rain... until Shima takes Kengo in. Okay? I get that building up Nago as this absolute dick who manipulates people to get what he wants and is able to put up a fake-friend front is a neat bit of characterization, but I genuinely have no idea what the show's doing with Nago. Megumi, meanwhile, is researching Rook, and Nago quite literally shows up just to tell Megumi to find another job because killing Rook is his job, leading Megumi to first ask Nago to lend her Ixa, and then going off to rant about wishes that are passed down and stuff. Okay.

Rook, meanwhile, after helping a kid get his balloons that are stuck in a tree, goes around grining that he's done a lot of good things, "time to die and go to heaven". Holy shit man I don't think that's how Christianity works.

It's at around this point in the episode that we get a bit of an awkward cut, where Wataru talks to Mio about how he's sad that Kengo left him, just like his old childhood buddy Taiga... and then Mio disappears from the date to appear in some dark gothic supervillain-lair castle, assembling with Rook and Bishop, to finally greet the King. I guess we're doing this to get at least one scene where all four members of the Checkmate Four are present? Like I mentioned before, it's sort of rushed and very awkward how we get King and his identity just dropped on our lap like that.

The Warthog Fangire and his stupid cowboy hat, meanwhile, thinks that Mitsuhide winning two lotteries in a row means that he's someone who's potentially got magic or whatever, and shows up to attack. The already-wounded Megumi fights back and Mitsuhide gets to see her sister fight and get beaten up. Nago arrives, becomes Rising Ixa and fights the Warthog, but Rook also shows up and he's... he's basically nuts at this point, telling Megumi to kill him because he wants to go to heaven... then getting angry that a couple of chain hits can't do it and attacks anyway. Rook turns into a monster, Kiva shows up and we get a couple of fighty-fighty before Kiva goes into Emperor form.

Nago has the decency to toss Megumi the Ixa Knuckle, telling her to please finish off this enemy, which... it's a nice gesture for sure, but I really wished the episode had given us a bit more of showing just why Nago does it. Was it the speech in the library about 'wishes' and whatnot? Because I didn't get the impression that it landed all that well with Nago but hey, I don't care, Megumi gets to become Kamen Rider Ixa, and to the background of her mother's speech about inherited wills and whatnot, she rises up and Rook gets killed to death.

Emperor Kiva, meanwhile, kills the Warthog Fangire with wake-up fever... and Mio arrives just to see this happen. She gets a pretty badass transformation sequence with the moon backlighting her, and she turns into her Fangire form (!) and proceeds to drop-kick Kiva! That's a cliffhanger all right.

Anyway, a pretty interesting episode. The events that happened here are all a bit rushed, but the focus on both Yuri and Megumi finally managing to kill their respective Rooks and their struggles end up with what's definitely a positive outcome. I guess the focus for the remainder of the show's probably going to be the actual mystery surrouding Kiva, King and the Checkmate Four, and with their super-powered secret identities fighting out for each other's blood, it's going to be interesting where they take Wataru and Mio. 

Random Notes:

• Know Your Fangires: Maya is the Pearlshell Fangire, which... kinda obvious when you see the face!
• I guess Rook is able to reincarnate because Castle Doran didn't eat it, but I don't think we got Castle Doran showing up in the 2008 segment, did it? Which I suppose opens up room for Rook returning in the future?
• I absolutely love the very hilarious cut from the 1987 heroes groaning in pain and talking about how powerful Rook is... and then we cut immediately to Rook eating a parfait. 
• After being reported by Megumi that the Fangires are looking for "King", Commissioner Shima wonders if it's Taiga. What do you know, Shima, and why haven't you done anything about it? Do something other than work out in a gym, old man!
• Bishop attaches some weird ankle bracelet to Mio, and I'm not sure what that is all about. 
• So I guess all the inconsistency about amnesiac/split-personality nice Rook ends up not really panning out to anything, huh? 
• Sure, arguably the previous fights weakened it for her, but we've seen several times that Nago in Rising Ixa can't defeat Rook, while Megumi in regular Ixa manages to kill Rook.