Not really but it was the swan song nonetheless.
I've been losing interest for quite some time now. IMO the whole 1986 storyline has become more worthwhile than the 2008 storyline, falling into the trap that I was worried it would fall into where one arc shivs the other one. Yes, it's nice that you get two shows to watch but what if one of those shows is crap? It's like Kamen Rider The Next where the interesting bits are choked out by the crap elements.
I agree with this, but I guess I just have a higher tolerance for crap and held out hope that the 2008 story would end up worthwhile, and I think this episode proves that things are finally going down that path that I wanted it to. Sure, it came a little late in the series, but what we finally got is enough to keep me around for a while longer.
I gave up on the supporting cast as well, especially Megumi and Yuri. What really did it was when they finally had a chance to become Ixa after multiple episodes of whining and were "frozen in fear". Sure you can argue the story elements but the whole thing felt too much like a major cop-out. I mean, come on already! Let the poor girl become a Rider for once without dying/failing in the process! Lord knows you've beaten her senseless enough already.
I saw it as a cop out at first, but I guess it does make sense, at least in Yuri's case, I really don't see any reason for Megumi to have been afraid of using IXA. The only members of the supporting cast that I really don't care for are Kengo and whatsherface Shizuka, but Kengo doesn't bother me that much and it seems that Shizuka is gone, so I don't have too many complaints there.
I generally don't drop Kamen Rider series, as it's the one franchsise I feel I can always stick with and I tend to find even the worst shows in the franchise more enjoyable than a lot of other tokusatsu, but for Kiva, finding out what's happened to all the characters in 1986 and finally having a reason to care about the 2008 characters is more than enough to keep me going. Like I said, it seemed almost like Kiva was the bad guy in that little battle they had going, I'm really interested in seeing if that goes anywhere.
I would like explanations for things like Tatsulot or whatever it's called, but if we don't get one, it won't be the end of the world. It seems like the magazines give enough information on them as it stands. Really my only complaint right now is how unimportant Nago seems to have become.
:nooo: >8( :sparta!: :nono2: :noesbueno
