"We're going a-time-travelling!"

The title of this post is dedicated to my friend Craig, who often used the above to sum up an episode of DuckTales. The rest of it is "to steal dinosaurs and sell them back to themselves!" No, I have no idea if such an episode exists, but it cracks me up all the same.

As it became apparent late to me last weekend, Kiva took a week off in favor of Olympic highlight coverage or some such business. Thus you were spared cheated out of me attempting some kind of half-baked "What If?" scenario that would have involved a throwaway Kamen Rider BLACK reference, Ogawa's character dying awesomely (as he tends to do) and Nago punching time itself to get back to 2008, whereupon he would find the world overrun by damn dirty apes. Instead there was... well, the Kiva movie came out! You probably already read my initial reaction to that, and I will soon be posting a more comprehensive review/critique/synopsis/gushing session. Until then, it's...

Spoilers about the TV show!



Kamen Rider Kiva episode #28: "Request DC: The Time-Altering Battle"

2008. Kivat talks about Muses while Kiva kicks the Crab Fangire, who somehow lives through it.

1986. Nago punches at Otoya, who catches his fist easily. He wonders just who Nago is. So Nago tells him, flat-out.

"I'm from the future. The Year 2008. A warrior of the wonderful Blue Sky Organization!" Let me just say here that I love how Nago goes through this episode with absolutely no thought as to the cosmic ramifications of what he's doing (then again... minor movie spoiler coming up... the movie features a similar situation and they aren't much better about it in that!)

Oh also, the post-OP commercial bumper features scenes from the movie. In case you were wondering why they aren't in the episode.

Shima meets with Nago, who takes the time-travelling stuff all in stride. Otoya is flippant as usual. But nobody seems to really believe our temporally displaced friend. And why should they? If some jackass showed up on your doorstep, told you he was from the future, and then tried to beat you up... would you believe him? Wait, it gets better.

2008. Shima is in prison, talking to Wataru & Kengo about how this the end for the Blue Sky Organization. Wataru can't believe it, and Kengo wants to do something about it. Shima decides to elect them as the temporary successors to carry on the Organization's work.

Shima here joins a long line of powerful characters in Kamen Rider who make really bizarre decisions. Like President Murakami deciding it was okay that they never just go get those damn belts at the dry cleaner's, and the bigwigs of ZECT simply shrugging their shoulders when they found out two guys with Zecters nobody knew about showed up at the party. Yeah yeah, I hear you saying "But Igadevil, if you're gonna pick on them, what about Shocker, which let Hongô & Ichimonji run free when they could have just gone to the cafe/bike shop/good guy base/whatever and killed them? Ditto for every other evil organization." Well, Shocker *did* attempt that...multiple times... it just never worked, because the Double Riders are awesome. Let's move on.

In Castle Dran, the Arms Monsters play cards, and discuss the plot thus far. Garulu mentions the need to keep the promise to Otoya.

1986. Otoya plays violin as Maya is again modelling for Tanahashi. Nago appears at the door, and again flat-out says how he came from the future and all that. Nago Keisuke, @#$%ing up the time stream since 1986!

He later busts in on Maya & Otoya as they talk and the latter is again asked to play violin. Naturally, our boy still wants the IXA Knuckle, despite the fact that this will further mess up time (but as I think it's pretty clear by now, Nago doesn't give a crap about the space-time continuum. Let's be thankful he wasn't in Marty's place in Back to the Future.)

Nago sees the painting, recalling it from the future/present. Maya stands up to smack him. She leaves, but curiously, is followed by the time traveler. Nago trails Maya, until she vanishes. The scene of her slapping him plays over and over in his mind. He suddenly wonders what he's doing. The woman did something to him. Otoya shows up, and Nago demands the return of IXA yet again. He goes down for the count courtesy of Otoya's violin case (which has a spring-loaded glove boxing glove within.) Otoya mentions that he (Nago) must become stronger if he wants to get anything done. Disbelieving, Nago says he will find a way to fulfill his mission and return to the future.

Now drafted as Blue Sky members, Wataru & Kengo do some target practice with their Fangire Hunger guns. They practice with the whips too. Kengo does better than Wataru, whom he describes effectively as "crappy". I love this scene, and the fact that Kengo is such a good shot/whipper here seems to indicate something...

1986. Nago confronts Yuri, which turns out to be a bad idea when she starts to kick his butt. At the cafe, Otoya is alerted to this fact and rushes off to the scene, where Yuri is now cuffed for some reason. Um, what exactly are you out to do here, Nago? Okay, the idea was to kidnap her to get Otoya to hand over the Knuckle. Ruining time left and right, that Nago! Otoya & Yuri play catch with the IXA Knuckle, and then punch Nago out together. Maya appears, asking for them to stop. Her words seem to put Otoya into a spell, but Yuri pulls him away, saying she doesn't want him near her anymore.

Nago awakens in Maya's care. She asks about why he is interested in her. She asks him about love.

"Why do people love?"

Nago doesn't care, unable to love anything (apart from buttons, beating people up, and himself.) Maya leaves, but he stops her. He removes his first button earned from bounty hunting, and asks that she take it. He hands it over. Something about her... has affected his heart. Maybe he can love after all. So there you have it. The first hint that Nago is really Wataru's true father! Or maybe not. Yeah, probably not.

Cicaida Fangire appears, referring to Maya as the Queen. Nago realizes Maya is a Fangire, but she leaves without a word, disappearing into black petals. Rather than anger, Nago expresses sadness at this parting.

2008. Crab Fangire is killing people left and right. Kengo & Wataru show up to fight him with their guns. Kengo does well with the whip (Ooooooooooooooooh... foreshadowing?) But Wataru is knocked back into him.

1986. Tanahashi is still painting Maya. He steps out for a moment, and Nago follows him.

"I was waiting for you."

The Cicaida Fangire appears, calling Tanahashi out on distracting Queen from her "real job". Otoya appears and becomes IXA. A fight breaks out, with the painter trying to run, but they fighters keep getting in his way. Nago watches from afar. He remembers the man's words back in the present. Cicaida takes Tanahashi as a hostage. IXA pulls out his Knuckle, but soon puts it down. He then leaves, but it's a fake-out, as he turns and jumps towards the monster and his hostage.

In that time, Nago realizes that IXA will destroy the monster, but knock the man out too, thus fulfilling the version of history which leads into the present 2008. He jumps into action, pushing IXA out of the way. He grabs the Knuckle and fires, and this causes the monster to jump and lost his grip on Tanahashi, who falls to the ground unharmed.

"What are you doing?" asks IXA. Nago is pleased.

"The past has been changed."

Nago returns to the present, and Garulu congratulates him on the change. However, as a result of changing history, the Fangire which would have been destroyed in 1986 survives to the present. But Nago is smug. He knows something now...

Crab Fangire is killing more people, melting them with foam. Ouch.

Megumi appears to fight the monster. Kengo shows up as well, and together they shoot and whip the crabby guy. Kivat appears, and Wataru transforms.

"Henshin!"

Kiva rescues his friends from getting their necks crushed, and fights the Kaijin. Megumi & Kengo assist Kiva. Unfortunately Cicaida Fangire also appears, and the two Fangire beat him up. Kengo tries to fight, but gets his own weapon knocked back and his shoulder seriously injured. Nago appears.

"Henshin!"

IXA becomes Rising IXA. Rising IXA fights the Cicaida Fangire while Kiva battles Crab. Kiva summons Tatsulot, and goes to Emperor Form. IXA uses his final attack, shooting a massive blast at the Fangire, which freezes it. He then jumps off the wall and gives it a kick, smashing it on impact. Rising IXA is pleased; he has control over his new powers now. I guess it was all due to the ego boost he received from the time-travelling adventure. Or possibly something relating to Maya?

Kiva uses Garulu Fever, and turns the Garulu Saber into a dual-bladed flaming thing. He destroys Crab utterly.

Things are back to normal at the cafe. Almost. When trying to pay for his drink, Wataru drops all his coins onto the floor, and Nago sees his button amongst them.

"Why do you have this?"

"I got it from my mother as a child..."

Nago realizes the truth.

1986. I could be wrong but it sure looks like we're in Castle Dran. We see a baby... Bishop refers to it as "Taiga-sama." And Maya goes to pick up the child...

NEXT TIME: Rook is back, and there is Talk of King and Megumi's younger bro. Wha?

Stay tuned for my usual double review(s) of the Kiva movie!

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