Kiva Movie Reviewed! Sorta

I've just gotten back from seeing both the Kamen Rider Kiva movie (which is apparently "King of the Castle in the Demon World" according the program) as well as Kamen Rider Super Live 2008 stage show (like the 2004 version I saw years ago.) The latter I'll have to talk about another time, because right now everyone probably wants to hear about the movie. I am not at my home computer right now (and feeding 100 Yen coins into this one just to use the net) so I can't do the full synopsis until next weekend when I'll see it again. But here's my initial thoughts, with the spoilery bits at the end in case you don't want to see those.

Overall, it's pretty awesome. Inoue's finest script in a while I'd say, but that's largely the cast's doing, because the plot is kind of a mess. Not exactly a bad mess, but there's A LOT of ideas going on here. Big ideas. Time travel, setting things up that aren't directly adressed, throwing asides and references to things we haven't yet seen on TV. I would say that at this point, the movie does not directly contradict anything on the TV series so it's not an alternate universe (yet), but it does involve some things we haven't seen yet. More on that later.

It's all a bit disjointed on the way, but by the end you'll start to see it all come together, mostly. Much like the TV series, in a way. It covers all the bases. 2008, 1986. Most of the main cast put in an appearance, although who doesn't show up might be some indication of how long they've got on the TV show. Since as I said, it's pretty apparent that if this is indeed going to be in the TV continuity (and it better be, for various reasons), it is set at a later point in the series than where we are now.

It's a movie loaded to the edge for sure. There's plenty of action, including a pretty epic final battle. The guest stars (primarily from Den-O) all get some hilarious moments, usually relating to their Imagin alterego's catchphrase. It's Kiva, so wacky, often nonsensical humor abounds. It's probably going to be obvious based on the show but the relationship between father and son (and mother and daughter) plays a big role here. Wataru really gets to come into his own more than ever, and I quite liked Otoya here. Sometimes putting two of the same together shows you how different they really are.

When I have the time to actually sit down and write a proper review, I'll talk more about the technical aspects of the film, i.e. the cast, the effects, the music, and what not. It's pretty hard to talk about this one without going into spoilers, so...

If you don't want to know what happens in the movie at all, stop reading!



No really, stop!


Last chance.


I'm serious.


You sure about this?


Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you. Highlight below to read (unless this is coming in via feed, in which case... well, just read.)


Okay, here we go.

The movie has to be set at a later point in the series because everybody knows who Wataru is! They know he's Kiva! Megumi makes reference to it, and Nago even gets de-transformed alongside him, but doesn't make any fuss about it. So they must be buddy-buddy by this point, or at least he's not out to get Kiva at the moment.

Wataru can come and go as he pleases in Castle Dran, and so can the Arms Monsters. Apparently things also work more Den-O-ish now, because when Kiva changes forms and the Arms Monsters are nearby, he just sort of does it. No Fuestles needed, they just jump in an out. This might have just been an artsy thing done for time though, but it's interesting to point out. Garulu, Basshaa & Dogga Form all get used along with regular Kiva, and of course Emperor Form makes an appearance.

Wataru hasn't exactly mastered time travel, but he can do it via the door in Castle Dran that Nago just used on TV. Otoya & Yuri are also able to travel to the future thanks to help from Kivat. And yes, Wataru & Otoya and Megumi & Yuri all meet up and become aware of their respective relationships, so I'm thinking we'll have to have an episode of the series that mentions this.

The new Legendorga villains are... well, not around as long as I'd thought. Mummy gets the most screen time, and he is a right bastard! The others are just sorta there. Gargoyle gets to fall off a building, Medusa gets to eat (Gal whatsherface's cameo is literally just that, a cameo. I think she does the voice too though) and poor Mandrake... blink and you'll miss him. He has a cool power, but sadly it turns out to be his undoing. And of all the things Kiva uses to kill him, he uses the last one you'd expect (and no, it's not DoGaBaKi form.) The Fangire actually fare better... Antlion is pretty much a stooge but the repainted Zebra Fangire not only gets a nice fight scene, he's also the alterego of one of the guest stars!

As for the new Riders... well. With the movie guys you can either hit solid gold or just put out some glorified henchman/monster pretending to be a Rider to get more credibility, and I'd kinda put Arc in the latter group. He's just not a particularly interesting character. Before he becomes Arc, he's kind of like a Diet Asakura, although that's more the script's fault than the actor's because he's basically some poor guy scared out of his wits before the true evil power in him is unlocked and all that. Once he does become Arc, he's big, he's strong, and all that... but he goes out like a chump (although it's still a cool scene) and doesn't leave us with much to remember him by other than that he's the tallest Rider yet, normally. Yes, he's always big, which was kind of disappointing since all the Arc toys are in scale with everybody else. Also, I don't remember him using his big trident thingy. I did like that those chains on his chest do mean something though, and play into the final battle.

Much cooler is Rey, who doesn't get a whole lot to do but does serve to set up some things I'm hoping they'll follow up on in the TV series. He's an interesting character and his ultimate allegiance is a little confusing, but maybe when I see it again I'll pick up on what I missed. His killing move is pretty neat. I wouldn't expect to see him in the TV show after this, but at least his ultimate fate is well-done and logically what should have happened.

Oh, and Megumi & Yuri get to become IXA! With success I add, and when they de-transform they do so willingly to pass it onto the guys. They even get to kill a monster! So that's pretty cool, since the show seemed dead-set on the system never working for the people it's supposed to up until now.

The CG-laded finale has a super-duper Arc (who absorbed this big eyeball thing on the moon) fighting the weird flying creature Kiva turns into, presumably by Arc's doing (he turns Wataru into this to kill Otoya, but some father-son times sees to that.) And the final blow has Kiva & Castle Dran merging into a giant Kiva that kicks Arc into the moon, leaving a "Kiva Logl" crater. Then it turns out to not be the real moon. Or something.

Oh yeah, and Kengo appears and gets turned into a Zombie. He gets better.

And there's some pretty blatant Oronamin C advertising. Cha-ching!

That's a lot of the big stuff. When I summarize the movie in full I'll get into the nitty-gritty like why Wataru is walking around in drag for a chunk of the movie. He even transforms in drag! Um... yeah.

Oh, and the biggest surprise of all came after the movie... following the Momotaros animated omake short, we got a full-blown preview for the next (and last) Den-O movie! A lot flashes by real fast but we do see the new Rider (who is mostly blue with red eyes, that's all I remember) standing with Den-O & Zeronos. There's also a new reddish Den-Liner, and I'd swear I saw Negataros or someone similar in there too. Gonna have to go see it again now!

***