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Kamen Rider Spotlight: Kamen Rider Kiva
Okay, so this hasn’t exactly turned out to be the happiest Halloween ever, but nonetheless I wanted to give you the Kamen Rider Spotlight I promised earlier this month. So today, we look at a Rider whose Spotlight is all too fitting to occur on this day (and I swear, if I hear one Twilight related jab at this guy, I’m not gonna be held responsible what I do in rebuttal, lol): Kamen Rider Kiva.
“Wake up! Break the chains of destiny!!”
Kiva is a young man named Wataru. Living on his own, Wataru shy and obsessed with his own hygiene, and while he never lies, he does hide a secret: He is in fact Kamen Rider Kiva, a title passed down from father to child among the race of creatures known as the Fangire Race, beings similar to vampires, but with a stained glass motif, and each belonging to an animal class, being able to take on a monstrous form of said animal. However, because they feed off human life energy, Wataru fights to protect humans, and ends up meeting several friends and allies from all walks of life, be they human, Fangire, or other monstrous beings. His story is of course a bit more complicated than that, but we’re not really here to give complete spoilers to the show.
“Kivatte Ikuze!”
As I’ve alluded to, most Riders use a Henshin Device in the form of a belt, and Kiva is no different in that regard. However, Kiva’s belt is summoned in a very different manner. His partner, Kivat-bat the 3rd, bites into Wataru’s hand, awakening his Fangire blood and summoning a series of chains that form the Kivat Belt. Once hung from the belt upside-down in true bat fashion, Kivat transforms Wataru into Kiva.
Kiva’s motorcycle is the Machine Kivaa, his own personal variant of the Honda Shadow 750, as built for him by Motobat the 16th. It’s actually a living creature with the brain of a horse installed inside, and has the ability to vanish from plain sight when travelling at higher speeds. Using the Buroon Fuestle, Kiva can upgrade the Kivaa with the Buroon Booster, upgrading its speed and making it capable of multiple motorcycle tricks, and at top speeds creating a field that cuts air resistance on the motorcycle almost completely.
Kiva’s natural form, termed simply as Kiva Form, is a fairly well rounded basic form. He has access to all the Fuestles in his arsenal, and possesses a powerful Rider Kick called the Darkness Moon Break, wherein he kicks the target against a surface so hard that he leaves a indentation in the surface in the form of his emblem.
“Garulu Sabre!”
Garulu Form is formed when Kiva summons the Garulu Sabre. In this form, Kiva is an almost rabid werewolf-like swordsman. His speed is much higher and he fights with a ferocity unseen in his other forms. His mouthpiece can also open to place the Sabre in his ‘mouth’, and then execute the finishing manoeuvre, the Garulu Howling Slash.
“Basshaa Magnum!”
Basshaa Form is formed when Kiva summons the Basshaa Magnum. Despite the loss of most of his attack power and agility in this form, his long range attacks and quick analysis of enemy weakpoints can make up for such losses. He can also manipulate the water and rain, creating his finisher, the Basshaa Aqua Tornado.
“Dogga Hammer!”
Dogga Form is formed when Kiva summons the Dogga Hammer. In this form, Kiva’s speed is cut down harshly, but his physical prowess is increased dramatically. He can also see invisible foes and manipulate electricity. His finisher, the Dogga Thunder Slap, creates an effigy of the Dogga Hammer out of lightning that slams into the target HARD.
…Erm, pile on? lol
DoGaBaKi Form is formed when Kiva summons all three of the Arms Monsters weapons, combining the base elements of his Dogga, Garulu, Basshaa, and Kiva Forms. In this form, Kiva’s power is increased to such a high level that he can only assume it for five minutes. Any longer and it can be deadly to him. He can summon any of the weapons in this form, and presumably can use any of the finishers from his other forms.
“Pyunpyuun! Tension fortissimo!”
Demon Imperial Dragon Tatsulot is a small dragon that becomes something of a second partner to Kiva along with Kivat. He also serves as a Henshin Device that allows Wataru to assume Kiva’s Emperor Form and utilize his upgraded finishers in Emperor Form.
“Wake Up Fever!”
Emperor Form is Kiva’s true form, awakened through Kivat and Tatsulot. Because Tatsulot also provides upgraded versions of all of Kiva’s other finishing moves, Wataru eventually grew to use this form over the others, often-times transforming straight to Emperor. On one occasion, Emperor Form was powered up into a berserker form when Wataru’s Fangire blood went out of control. He later receives a weapon called the Zanvat Sword that, when used with Emperor Form, allows him to execute the Final Zanvat Slash.
Holy clusterfuck, Kivaman! XD
DoGaBaKi Emperor Form is a very rare form that Kiva has only used once. It requires him to transform using Kivat, Tatsulot, and the Arms Monsters weapons. It possesses the abilities and powers of all Kiva’s forms, but presumably possesses the same limitation as the standard DoGaBaKi Form. His finisher is the DoGaBaKi Emperor Break.
…Yeah, go ahead and make a joke. We’ll see if it’s still funny when he roasts your ass. lol
Flight Style is a powerful dragon-like form that Kiva can assume while in Emperor Form. Rarely seen, it gives Kiva supersonic flight, bladed wings, flame breath, and deadly finisher called the Bloody Strike.
Well that’s all for today. Next time on the Kamen Rider Spotlight, we regret nothing as we tighten up, because we got to keep it real and ride on right time when the sun goes up, and remember that time judged all and shout out the power to tearer since anything goes. Ja né!
Kamen Rider Spotlight: Kamen Rider IXA
Well, time for another instalment of the Kamen Rider Spotlight, and for our second Rider, I’m taking a look at one of my all-time favourites, Kamen Rider IXA. Also, I noted that in the past, I hadn’t spent a lot of time covering the additional weapons and vehicles of Kamen Riders, so I will attempt to make up for that in this and future Spotlights.
“Fangaia… Sono inochi, Kami ni kaeshinasai!”
IXA was the secondary Rider from Kamen Rider Kiva‘s season. Unlike most Riders, a number of people have become IXA over time, including the Wolfen Jiro, Kiva’s father Otoya, Fangire Hunter Yuri Aso, the Lion Fangire Rook, the Spider Fangire Ryo Itoya, Yuri’s daughter Megumi, and Fangire Hunter Kengo Eritate. However, the primary user of the IXA System throughout the show was Keisuke Nago, who at first battles against Kiva until learning his true identity and seeing him as an ally in protecting humanity.
“RED-DI-I! FIS-SU-TO ON-N!”
The IXA System is operated with the IXA Belt and IXA Knuckle. By first pressing the Knuckle to another part of their body (Nago typically pressed it in the palm of his other hand) and then sliding it into place on the Belt, a projection of the armour appears in front of the user’s body and then overlaps it, materializing over them.
IXA only has three forms that are seen. The basic, original form is known as Save Mode. Back when IXA was still in the prototype stages, Save Mode was all it had, and it kinda blew. Steam would burst out for no reason, the thing constantly beeped, and it could actually harm the user. These problems would later be fixed as the system underwent upgrades over the years to the point that it also received it’s next form, Burst Mode. Like Kiva, it comes with a Fuestle that unlocks additional power. The Knuckle Fuestle allows IXA to use his primary finishing move with the IXA Knuckle called the Broken Fang.
Burst Mode is so named because it sends of a wave of intense heat that damages everything in the immediate area. It also gives slight upgrades to all areas that Save Mode usually gives increases to. He’s also armed with several more Fuestles, some of which actually allow him to borrow or even outright steal Kiva’s weapons. He also comes equipped with the IXA Calibur, a high powered gun that turns into a sword, because as we all know, guns that turn into swords and vice versa are frigging awesome. His finisher is a high-powered slash called the IXA Judgement.
As is the case with nearly every other Rider in existence, IXA has his own motorcycle. The IXAlion is modified from a Honda CBR1000RR and possesses a max speed of 753 km/h. But if you’re more the type that likes combat vehicles, IXA doesn’t leave you disappointed there either.
Anybody ever played the crane game?
The Powerd Ixer is a massive dragon-like crane on wheels. It was originally designed to combat the massive Sabbats or Kiva’s Castle Doran, but has since proven to be a helpful ally to Castle Doran in combat. It flings enemies around, can toss massive orbs at targets, or can even lob IXA himself at opponents for a high-powered Rider Kick.
RI-U-SIN-GU I-KU-SA!
But when all else fails, IXA has one final trick hidden up his sleeve, or rather his mouth-plate: The IXA Riser, a cellphone that turns into a gun and can also transform IXA into his final form, Rising IXA. This pumps IXA up to maximum strength, able to stand up to the strongest of opponents. Before the end of the series, IXA received a final upgrade that allowed him to bypass his other forms and go straight to Rising IXA, as the enemies were growing too numerous and too powerful for his weaker forms. The IXA Riser grants him his new finisher, a massive shot of energy called the Final Rising Blast. The only downside is that the finisher has one hell of a recoil, knocking IXA on his ass and cancelling out the transformation. IXA later managed to brace himself properly, but until then learned to vault himself off a nearby wall and follow the blast up with a Rider Kick.
As mentioned before, IXA is not locked down to a single chosen user and can technically be used by anyone. Because of that, it means that the one using it has to be stronger, faster, smarter, wiser, and more humane than any other in order to prove he is the one best suited for it, the one true Kamen Rider IXA.
Well, that’s all for this edition of Kamen Rider Spotlight, and I’ll see y’all next time. Ja ne!
Jyger's Rant 