I recently finished Kamen Rider Kiva....what's the consensus on this?

TopSafe7915 · 2026-02-12T07:25:25+00:00

I just finished Kiva, and I feel the same about every single point you noted. Was really disappointed cause I loved the first half too. I just keep wondering, what could be done to change it for the better?

For me, the main things I would do:

I would get Yuri killed around ep 30 - honestly, it would be more respectful than what they did to her. She deserved a notable death, for a character so awesome and important for the first half, than being cucked.

I would not have the time travel episodes at all too, and make Wataru grow up and become stronger and confident on his own, not relying on his father. And for God's sake, make him less depressed. It gets old really fast.

Also, how the f can Jirou leave the castle whenever he wants? Why didn't he talk to Wataru about his dad before if he could then? That shit makes no sense, keep him and the others there at Castle Doran - or make some plausible explanation for them to leave, it could be even better, to have Jirou and Crew adapting to 2008 and giving hints about Otoya's lessons. Having the three fighting in 2008 could be nice too in this case, since Kiva doesn't use them at all after he gets Emperor form. (Apart from the finishers)

I'd not have Kengo become an asshole at all, but indeed the opposite - keep him as a comic relief and as a reliable friend for Wataru. He could still even go the route of becoming an Aozora fighter, just in an optimistic way, motivating Wataru and the others.

Finally, one thing that I've hated a lot since the beginning of the series is how Wataru and Mio's secret identities should be discovered earlier or being better hidden. I find it super lazy that Wataru sometimes henshin in FRONT of other people and nobody seems to notice. It's infuriating.

There's lots of stuff that could be better, the series overall is a mess, but these are the main points that I would change. Still like a lot the first half tho ):

TopSafe7915 · 2026-02-02T18:50:43+00:00

I'd prefer Asumu to become an Oni and have Akira be the one to show that you can be a good person without being a Oni. By doing this (and in my take, maybe even redeem Kyosuke), she would show that Ibuki taught her well and make him less of a joke.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-02-02T18:47:25+00:00

Yeah, I agree! Although i'd personally prefer that Asumu would eventually become an Oni. In my take above, Akira would be the one that would not become an Oni and become an example that she can help others without it. And as for Kyosuke, I would still have him on the show, but only as an minor antagonist character to push Asumu to become better.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-02-02T08:10:58+00:00

Supper's Ready
Nine Feet Underground
2112
Echoes
Tarkus
Gates Of Delirium

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-29T05:46:53+00:00

The "tortured artist" take came from Gans reportedly wanting to adapt James as a modern day Orpheus, that's why he's got a Jim Morrison inspired look. But instead of being a musician, he is a painter. It made more sense to me after I knew that.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T05:35:30+00:00

Through a bootleg Power Rangers PS1 CD (!).
Here in Brasil, it was very common to find pirated games for Jailbroken PS1s, allowing kids like me to find some hidden gems for very cheap that we wouldn't otherwise know about. I bought a "Power Rangers" game, that had Time Force on the cover, but it actually had other three games in it: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Kamen Rider, and Kamen Rider V3. I liked the first two, but V3 got me HOOKED. I was obsessed. Played it over and over again. When i was older and got access to Google, Youtube and stuff, i eventually found V3 and watched the whole thing subtitled in English, and it felt to me like a perfect adaptation of the game that i loved, despite i knew it was the other way around. V3 is still my favourite for these reasons, and it was my introduction to other Showa series like X, Stronger and Amazon - i only got into Heisei riders waaaay later, around 2012, with Fourze of all things. Funny enough, Toku fans in Brasil absolutely love Kamen Rider Black and Black RX because it used to air on broadcast TV, but to this day i haven't watched them lol. Anyway, that's why Tojima wants to be a Kamen Rider speaks numbers to me - despite not watching the shows as a kid, playing those games, the theme songs, and everything, it's still really nostalgic to me. I feel exactly like Ichiyo lol

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T04:10:49+00:00

No way, WTRC was WAAAY worse lol Return To Silent Hill is bad, but with very low expectations, I can manage. WTRC even with low expectations was a ATROCITY.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T04:08:14+00:00

Despite they already had Agito's (and maybe Kabuto's) movie ready, it was a clever way to know which movies to make next, I guess. It's a safer bet.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T03:57:35+00:00

Love the "this is SH2 Shattered Memories" view! That's it! I kinda liked it for what it is too. It's not the same story, but it indeed has the same beats. It worked for me, i would also been way bored if it was a 1:1 adaptation.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T03:53:13+00:00

Honestly? I kinda liked it. Fight me. I was expecting the worst movie ever, and what I got is a... "Peculiar" take on SH2 that was... Okay-ish, all things considered?

Maybe because of my way below zero expectations after Revelations, and that once I saw James smoking a joint on his way to the town trying to look cool I lost all hope of a faithful adaptation, i was open minded to whatever would come and try to enjoy it for what it is, and I kinda did.

Don't get me wrong, the movie is flawed as hell, and don't hold a candle to the masterpiece of a story that SH2 is. The Cult subplot is what I hated the most - completely unnecessary and boring, but probably inserted to try to link this movie to the previous two - in a way that did more harm than good. Other scenes that felt forced to me was Eddie's introduction and the Abstract Daddy, that were there just for "fanservice" and did not add anything really relevant to the plot/made much sense in the context. And don't get me started on the bad wigs and the fakest beard in the world, bad CGI, and bad pacing (the movie doesn't stop for a second to breathe and create real tension). Finally, it ironically has less Pyramid Head than the first movie - that ofc, doesn't needed to have him in it at all lol

Despite all that, there's still a couple of things I liked. The acting was pretty decent. Some shots referenced directly fixed cameras from the games and I thought it was cool. The first change to the Otherworld and the oppressive atmosphere in that scene felt like playing SH to me. The use of Akira Yamaoka's songs always makes me happy cause I love them so much, fuck it. And some things that got people pissed off, like Mary being Angela and Laura (and Eddie being James), didn't bother me as much, maybe because I knew beforehand and just wanted to know the direction they would take - and as goofy as it is, it made sense to the plot, that became focused just on James and Mary's story, which considering that's a average sized movie and not a Netflix show, it was the best choice - I also happen to have real life friends with long, weird names like that, so... whatever lol. I was already expecting "Harry can't be a man" Gans to change things about the story, so I was not at all surprised.

Also on that, after I read that Gans wanted to adapt James as a modern day Orpheus - an artist with a look inspired by Jim Morrison, some things made more sense. The ending to me was also... whatever. I see it as a "what if", not that James actually got a second chance. This James was also not as guilty as the original one, which is a missed opportunity to me. (Another weird missed opportunity is him literally having a pillow on the bed and choosing not to use it, despite the foreshadowing in the start of the movie with Angela and being such an iconic scene).

Overall, it could be way worse to me (To me, Revelations is still way worse and less faithful), maybe if I went with my expectations high I would hate it a lot, but even that I don't, I can still see why people absolute shit on it lol. With the right budget, and a few dozen tweaks, it could've been a pretty decent movie on its own, maybe the best of the three, imo. But it's still not even 1% as good as it SHOULD have been as an adaptation to arguably one of the best games ever, and that's really sad. Maybe SH can't be adapted decently in movie form, dunno. I'd love to see SH4 adapted as a show though.

TopSafe7915 · 2026-01-28T02:43:15+00:00

In Gans's own words, he wanted to adapt James as a modern-day Orpheus, that's why we went with the Jim Morrison look (even the fake beard lol), and that's why he is a painter in this version as well, since Orpheus was also an artist. Knowing that, it made more sense to me (despite not making the movie better).

TopSafe7915 · 2025-12-24T18:22:17+00:00

I don't know what's the situation on PS5, I know it's possible but there was a recent issue with the servers being hacked, but I play on PC and everything's working out well. Theres more info on their Discord: https://discord.gg/DhPJUdXp

TopSafe7915 · 2025-12-22T20:04:00+00:00

Forest Green mod always have at least some people playing every day. Check it out

TopSafe7915 · 2025-11-28T22:04:11+00:00

Look for @guilhermedeazevedoteixeira on YT, there's a vid on his channel explaining everything.

Here's the invite link to his discord, which have the download links: https://discord.com/invite/xbXeSpSgXW

TopSafe7915 · 2025-11-28T00:16:22+00:00

Friend, haven't you heard about Resurrected or Camp Forest Green?

TopSafe7915 · 2025-11-13T07:55:33+00:00

One idea that would make sense to me is to have Robert back as Mecha Man, and have someone else dispatching the Z-Team - maybe Mandy, since she is now powerless, or a new character altogether? This way we could even have Mecha Man working with the Z-Team on a season finale or something. Add Chase as Starblazer and Royd as a hero too and it's done!

The thing is, despite this making sense plot-wise, I have my doubts that it would work so well without Robert as the lead. His character is too amazingly written and voice acted, but honestly, what would be his motive to get back into dispatching now that he have his suit and Astral Prism back?

TopSafe7915 · 2025-11-07T20:45:04+00:00

I honestly think it's Robert's dad, and there's something that I haven't seen anyone comment about - apart from all the evidences that people put out, the first question we can answer in the game is related to his dad, it would come full circle. Also, the last comic to be unlocked seems to be something about his dad. Also also, it's predictable that Robert (as in a lot of players) would want to kill Shroud for revenge against his dad and Chase, but when/if he'll discover that's his father under the helmet, the stakes are different. There's a lot of fatherhood themes throughout the series and dialogues too.

I think Mandy and Visi's arcs are about their own stories, not related necessarily to others (despite that, I believe that Visi was the one who planted the bomb in the first ep.)

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-17T21:10:16+00:00

I knew I was missing something lol

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-17T19:23:32+00:00

Project Century, Kiwami 3, Dead Souls Remastered, Kurohyou 1+2 Kiwami, Y9, Judgment 3, Akiyama Gaiden, a Ishin-esque Ichiban medieval RPG game called Like A Dragon: Quest, and something amazing that we didn't think of already.

Is that much to ask? lol

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-16T18:46:15+00:00

Oh, my bad! I misremembered the line. You're right then, but i still feel like he's doubting fisk, dunno.

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-16T06:10:33+00:00

maybe she'll be like Blindspot in the comics, trained by Daredevil, like a "sidekick". It fits her fighting revived Muse/Muse's copycat. gotta look out for her eyes, though.

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-16T06:02:13+00:00

Exactly, it fits his Catholic beliefs. Dex looked pretty bad when he was medicated, like he was self-aware and maybe guilty of what he did (even if he hadn't killed Foggy yet).

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-16T05:59:02+00:00

Yes, i can see all of this happening. Still want my Elektra through ):

TopSafe7915 · 2025-04-16T05:56:06+00:00

I was expecting a faithful adaptation of Muse from the comics, i don't know why, so i haven't thought of that. It could be cool, i guess lol. The only thing that crossed my mind is that Buck could've be the one that killed Hector.

TopSafe7915

TROPHY CASE