Friday, February 29, 2008

Kamen Rider Kiva Episode 5

Apart from Gundam Double O, I'm following every episode of Kamen Rider Kiva as well. As compared to Gundam Double O, Kiva is a lot more lighthearted, and I always enjoy the good humor and action in the show. So far, the unsubbed version stopped at Episode 5. As Season One of Gundam Double O is coming to an end soon, it's good to still have Kamen Rider Kiva to watch ^^

Unlike Ryuki, Kiva is the sole Kamen Rider in this series, even though we'll be welcoming a new one into the show very soon. The story is easy to follow, which is why there's no problem at all even if you just get to watch the unsubbed version. Each episode maintained the usual Wataru's life & Megumi & encounter with the Fangire's human form & Yuri's story in 1986 for the first 15 minutes and Kiva's fight with the Fangire for the next 10 minutes or so. That's how the show was for the past five episodes. Whether it's going to get more complicated for future episodes is unknown, but don't get me wrong, it's still very enjoyable.

The development of the story so far:
(1) Wataru is still very poor with his communication skills, but at least he is not wearing a mask and gloves anymore as he did in Episode One.
(2) Megumi is getting cuter ^o^
(3) Keisuke is introduced since Episode 3, but haven't fight any Fangire yet.
(4) The Fangires are getting stronger, (Duh?) and now they survive more than one episode.
(5) Kiva's Garuru form is introduced (since Episode 4)

Screen shots from Episode 5:

kivaNewEp01
kivaNewEp02
kivaNewEp03
kivaNewEp04
kivaNewEp05
kivaNewEp06
kivaNewEp07
kivaNewEp08
kivaNewEp09
kivaNewEp10
Kiva's Basher form (water creature?) is coming in next episode ^^

The new Kamen Rider to be featured in this series is Kamen Rider Ikusa (according to Wikipedia), played by Keisuke the bounty hunter. It's a great irony that while he is a good friend to Wataru in human form, he hates Kiva and seeks to destroy him along with the other Fangires.

KamenRiderHunter_s
That mask design is extremely cool ^^

KivaNewBike_s
A preview of Kiva's new motorbike, transformed from a Statue launched from Castle Dran (not shown yet).

TransArmorKivaGaruru_01_s TransArmorKivaGaruru_02_s
Armor Trans Kiva (Garuru Form) - End of March release, 2,200 Yen.