Story Synopsis
Twenty-two years after the disappearance of his father, Wataru Kurenai lives in an infamous “haunted house” where he is destined as Kamen Rider Kiva to fight life-draining monsters called Fangires, the very race his father fought years ago before his disappearance. Wataru must also deal with Kamen Rider Ixa who is part of an organization seeking to destroy the Fangire menace, as well as the Fangires’ own Rider, Kamen Rider Saga. The story is split between the actions of Wataru in the present (2008) and his father Otoya in the past (1986), slowly revealing the link between the Fangire Race and Kiva.

Total Episodes : 48 + 1 Movie + 1 HBV + Net Movie

Links :
Episode 01
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5ANRPV1C (guile_bio)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R8R1NBXP (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FAHD4IQF (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N4KHQGWY (Phantom)

Episode 02
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WUTFMPTQ (guile_bio)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=42VFL8SV (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TX53WU3X (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SO7BLKK6 (Phantom)

Episode 03
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7FUEAA6Y (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6I1JA3H4 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M2ARQ33P (Phantom)

Episode 04
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F72TI3ZL (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WY634G9C (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DTFYMW53 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=74LJW6AT (Phantom)

Episode 05
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K8QWXUOR (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K18DN9RZ (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DGLAR3IY (Phantom)

Episode 06
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QXNTEVRS (guile_bio)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IXULN9YE (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LQWSSRH4 (Phantom)

Episode 07
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LH3YL3RQ (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y504D2QY (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CA6YNFKC (Phantom)

Episode 08
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=61Z3PVBQ (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/nl/?d=0KU2PJQA (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YP6C0ECC (Phantom)

Episode 09
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UPN0FDQM (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XCCLQQQ0 (Phantom)

Episode 10
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8L67RHEW (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YYMZMRHU (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UUVZWF2G (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T3FQU5HB (Phantom)

Episode 11
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G2CQM59J (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EW9BDWLX (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2CSN3JMA (Ryouga)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XEI2XHPO (Phantom)

Episode 12
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J67ITDCO (Ryouga)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AKTV6KQ0 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W85GAHPN (Phantom)

Episode 13
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VC6IAJUI (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G53EWFUK (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NQG6KIPY (Phantom)

Episode 14
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NVNRDKX9 (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZZY9GIAX (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5ZP8OVLP (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=767QZEOT (akulaki)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UECR6KXB (Phantom)

Episode 15
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KS4HD19F (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8SQJS2T0 (akulaki)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CPGQ3XZ3 (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QTWRSTP4 (Phantom)

Episode 16
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3UAZDMEE (Saka Yuura)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6JX13JZD (akulaki)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H2PIXU64 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4H5GPWEJ (thare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G7TC23W0 (Phantom)

Episode 17
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J4N70FR5 (Saka Yuura)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GAE2ROU9 (akulaki)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=210BGKS1 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9U5VLZMM (Phantom)

Episode 18
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H8TJG6OR (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDS7KPWU (takenoko)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=02VWEQC3 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=91QYG9L3 (Phantom)

Episode 19
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U3HD8M3W (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7185A0K (Azazel)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NYBHB1UE (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3C3OGOPS (Phantom)

Episode 20
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M4FGUPSJ (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D62USU75 (Phantom)

Episode 21
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BTR3CWCB (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BKW43JA4 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B05O3MRG (Phantom)

Episode 22
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DLDK0X5Z (Saka Yuura)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SU7D1CPM (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CY593969 (Phantom)

Episode 23
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7B8M96XI (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OP33P1ZB (Ryouga)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7JS3EK20 (Phantom)

Episode 24
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PALONUSY (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6DPIPUR5 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NKYPCPCX (Phantom)

Episode 25
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8OK10YGM (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GEB7WNIM (Azazel)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DFEQX0WB (MagusZX)
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=I6RCYBCJ (Spiegel)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M7PG6YLC (jyemenai)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7GFZLJAN (krit)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L9FTJAUA (Phantom)

Episode 26
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W1ANPDO2 (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L27FZU30 (Kiva)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HK1F4QA2 (Saka Yuura)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NUD9VHUL (Phantom)

Episode 27
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TSJI3B66 (ace3)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=11U57181 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KQBLUYS3 (Phantom)

Episode 28
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1Y4ITUUE (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZUN5E1YZ (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZZS7VIO1 (Phantom)

Episode 29
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CSTXKYXA [ace3]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RN4MTZTS (phantom)

Episode 30
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5RP90U3O (darumon)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CTEEW4RU (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=95NZ8FGW (Phantom)

Episode 31
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DHF30EPO (darumon)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OTD4UYPA (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PLSWO0NV (Phantom)

Episode 32
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0HTYK30M (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A77S77AX (Phantom)

Episode 33
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=882L8ZPF (oddjob)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TO15APZE (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O172I3L9 (Phantom)

Episode 34
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KUZTWCPR (oddjob)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LMHB6656 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AWN3QYF7 (Phantom)

Episode 35
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NWLBT9HZ (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZRGJO6YA (Phantom)

Episode 36
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2861JDX0 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4766M940 (Phantom)

Episode 37
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D9TONCF6 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZDPEH1AJ (Phantom)

Episode 38
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=801NL8F0 (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ALC0J1O9 (Phantom)

Episode 39
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y4533FU (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28RVBHJ0 (Phantom)

Episode 40
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PBMI87U8 (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IZUQBJIS (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3MG78JTW (Phantom)

Episode 41
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=WFO8F1SV (anomaly)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7I3C0YYU (Phantom)

Episode 42
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HOFBNO2A (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3MXBE23H (Phantom)

Episode 43
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=56XJ5NSZ (Ace3)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RLF505W2 (Neko)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ABMQ09LJ (Rider Tristan)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G7IZEL8C (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YGJZSHP0 (Phantom)

Episode 44
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CO02Q5C1 (ace3)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9YPSSKJ8 (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z5FSLR2U (Phantom)

Episode 45
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M5U5M6BD (ace3)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NRMSCXNQ (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=83RQ2L4V (Phantom)

Episode 46
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KCKV7NEW (davhuit)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FROLMMQD (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ELUVFU2D (Phantom)

Episode 47
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y6VJ5AHJ (shadowneko003)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IJP3H70O (Vala)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C1YZCEZ3 (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HIOQXWCO (shadowHun)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LOGP68J9 (Phantom)

Episode 48
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5FJEYVXK (ace3)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=749GUEX7 (darkhawk5)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DGE2R7IH (Anemos)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6JJESSTX (Phantom)

Movie : Makaijou No Ou (Director’s Cut)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CDIFGS80

Net Movies :
Net Movies

HBV :

• Kiva Adventure 01 – Intro
• Kiva Adventure 01 – Continue
• Kiva Adventure 01 – Quit
• Kiva Adventure 02 – Continue
• Kiva Adventure 02 – Play
• Kiva Adventure 03 – Bassha
• Kiva Adventure 03 – Dogga
• Kiva Adventure 03 – Garuru
• Kiva Adventure 03 – Secret

Welcome to my review of the most gorgeous figure I’ve ever seen ever. I will start by saying that sculpt on this mold is probably one of the best I’ve seen on a SHF figure. Every little detail is there, and it really gives the look that this guy is not only ready to kick your ass, but he’s heavily armored as well.

He comes with a Tamashii Stand (with a Nago phrase on it), a Save Mode head (the entire head piece, not just a face swap), Ixa Calibur Gun Mode, Ixa Calibur Sword Mode, a belt piece for when he holds the Ixa Knuckle, the Ixa Knuckle itself, and two sets of extra hands. With an accessory layout like that, it’s no wonder he carries a slightly higher price tag at 3200¥. All the accessories come just as super detailed as the figure itself, and really help pull off the dynamics of posing the figure.

Overall, I can’t recommend this guy enough. If you like Ixa in even the slightest way, buy this. You won’t regret the purchase in the slightest.

Be sure to check out my photo gallery for Ixa at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shukuenshinobi/sets/72157623331845966/

Enjoy!

Welcome to my first real requested review. Sure, I’ve had a couple instances of “Will you review item X?” when I had full intention of reviewing item X. This is the first time item X wasn’t intended on being reviewed, but here he/it is thanks to the power of requests. It helped little Sagarc, maybe it can help your item too!

Anyway, here is the Sagarc Belt, Saga’s henshin belt from Kamen Rider Kiva. All in all, he’s pretty crappy. He lacks playability. All you can really do with the poor thing is poke him in the side with a recorder and watch his internals spin around like a drunk on a merry go round. Oh, you can stick your finger down his mouth and watch it spew random incoherent Japanese phrases at you. It’s the newest case of Bulimia.

His details are nice, so he’s not total crap. Like I said in the review, I got him for about $10-$12 from HLJ when they were mega-clearance selling  Kiva items, so he was worth the money I paid no problem, but I can’t see this guy being worth the full retail price, especially when compared to the Kivat or Ixa Belts.

Ji-Ji-Ji-Jiro-san!

Oh wait, this post won’t require a “jump”. Yeah, so I’m sick. As in under the weather. Hopefully when I awake, I’ll feel better rather than worse. Meanwhile, I’m watching the “Kamen Rider Decade, All Riders, Super Spin-off Net Movie”.

It is genuinely hilarious and therefore genuinely awesome. It’s just a series of short sketches, some longer than others, where the actors and writers and production staff poke fun at the Kamen Rider franchise. It’s got some neat trivia like Faiz originally being a shark motif character (but they admit, everyone thinks he’s just one of those traffic controller guys), and then there’s Decade’s primary color being PINK. The actor insists that it’s Magenta the way Donut insists that it’s Light-ish Red. Meanwhile, they have a re-enactment where one production/designer guy insists that pink isn’t a heroic or manly color, but another designer/production guy saying that pink will be a fad in the coming year. Which may well have been true, if dramatized.

They also admit to being chauvinistic with having very few female Riders and not wanting to up the count by recognizing Tackle as a Rider.

A lot of this is due to the awesomeness of Narutaki (guy in brown coat, hat and wearing glasses). Who devolves into a ball of incoherent hate whenever the character of Decade is brought up.

All in all, a great series, check it out. TVNihon and Order of Zeronos have subs out. Here’s a YouTube link to the first part, from which you can also get the other parts from. And by “you” I mean Chad and Josh.

Part 5 starts off awesome. They totally have a Dis-Continuty Nod to Kamen Rider G, which was a one off special they did for SMAP (I think it was SMAP). And the other announcer dude (who did the voice for Ryuutaros) totally pwns the lead guy with his catchphrase.

Note: One reason why this rocks is because it’s TRUE. There’s one bit where Narutaki says Riders should not fight with weapons, or that RX was a HERESY (because he used a weapon while his immediate (same character) predecessor did not).

One week until I go back to Texas. Alright enough of that. I had the weirdest dreams last night. So it started off normal I think then suddenly I’m in a show. It starred the guys from Big Time Rush (got to stop watching nickelodeon) and they all transformed into different versions of Kamen Rider Kiva. 1 was the original kiva, then one was the blue wolf sword kiva, the other was the green merman gun kiva, and then the other was one that I apparently made up. The sad part was during the dream I knew it wasn’t right since he had a different transformation sequence then the others. Then it kinda morphed into an episode of Arthur where Fern had a crush on Arthur. I think that was a legit episode, but then again I could be wrong. So I woke up after that to go pee. I go back to sleep after peeing and it took me awhile to fall back to sleep. I managed to fall asleep obviously and I did another weird twist dream. I kinda went from hanging out with my friends from elementary school talking about digimon to being the son of satan whos house was haunted by angels….or was it creatures of light. I know my mind is a weird one. Well here are the squibies. So the video for today is one I actually like. A lot. It’s Battlefield by Jordan Sparks. I love this song because it’s quite catchy. Think she has an amazing voice. I really like the song. Anyway enjoy. Today’s tip is we all have things in life we wish we could go back and do over again, but don’t let that blind you to the great things in your life.

[SPOILERS...for the 12/12/09]

TRUFAX.

Asking if I liked DCD #31 isn’t the right question here. What should be asked is, did I like a 24 minute trailer for a forthcoming Kamen Rider W film in December? That is the question.

The answer, by the way, is no. Points out of ten have to be awarded however for the fact that Toei managed to offer up such a inconclusive and lacklustre episode. It’s difficult to highlight the ways in which this episode failed but, for starters, let’s begin with canon!Blade and his utter irrelevance and, whilst we’ve got you on that note, that’s level a similar accusation at the return of canon!Kiva and predict that the same arbitrary logic was responsible for selecting canon!Agito for the All Rider film.

Then let’s talk about Apollo Geist and how it is now impossible to count how many seconds, minutes, hours or days by which he has outstayed his welcome. A character that proved an interesting choice for the Black arc and served as an awesome suggestion of what lay in store for the upcoming movie has now become an irritating and petty character who turns up, achieves nothing and then runs away. His use of Fangrie ‘magic’ to prolong his life would have been interesting if it weren’t for the fact that Toei’s Kiva bias is already very much evident in countless other DCD subplots. The same results, I wish to point out, could have been achieved by Geist becoming an Orphenoch.

Moving on, let’s touch on the actual ‘Rider War’ established in episode #1. Towards the end of this episode, the story begins to take root and for the briefest of moments, I was convinced that we might see some kind of conclusion regarding the long running themes of this series. I feel like an idiot for even hoping for such a thing, and the prospect of this entire storyline being wrapped in a Kamen Rider W film scheduled for December does nothing for me.

So, what did I like about episode #31? Well…in all honesty, I liked Yuusuke’s determination, I liked the fact that Kaito finally seemed to be acting like he was on the same team as the rest of the main cast, and I liked the roles of kid!Wataru and kid!Asumu, even if their presence was abruptly terminated by a desperation to try and tie in the episode with the vague idea of what happened during the series’ opening.

Other than that, there was nothing here to recommend the episode at all, which is damn shame as it promised so much but managed to deliver so little. Even the famed ‘Rider War’ wasn’t really present in the actual ‘conclusion’, save for possibly one scene.

During the course of the original Kuuga, Godai Yuusuke was offered one seemingly insignificant but very important piece of advice: ‘Don’t do a half-arsed job‘. I can’t help but wish Toei had followed that advice when producing Kamen Rider DCD.

All in all episode #31 is a dissapointing end to what could have been the best Hesei series in a long time…but wasn’t.

FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO GENERATION BR!

Palavras de Nago Keisuke IXA
Olá galera, 1 ano de fansub eu nem achei que chegaria a ver isso quero agradescer ao thunder025,meu melhor amigo, pois eu duvido que teria gostado tanto de fazer um fansub,se não fosse por ele,quero tambem agradescer a todos que tem acompanhado nossos trabalhos e sempre nos deram ajuda nosso fansub tem crescido muito e esperamos sempre ter o apoio de todos, estamos muito felizes por comemorar um ano, e nacerta comemoraremos muitos outros.Abração galera.

Palavras do Thunder025:
É pessoal, 1 ano de GenerationBR, passou rapido né? Parece que foi ontem que eu e o Nago, dois caras sem experiencia nenhuma em fansub, começamos a GenerationBR Subs lançando Kamen Rider Kiva. Desde esse tempo, nós aprendemos com os nossos erros, aumentamos a nossa equipe e crescemos aos olhos do público. Graças a Deus podemos olhar para tráz e ver que evoluimos muito e para o próximo ano, evoluiremos mais… É isso aew pessoal, obrigado pelo apoio porque sem vocês não conseguiriamos Ir com garra!

My button… MY BUTTON!

This is Rising IXA, from Bandai’s Motion Revive Series of Kamen Rider figures, Wave 6.

A little info on Rising IXA. In the 2008 Kamen Rider Series, Kamen Rider Kiva, the secondary “Rider” was a guy by the name of Nago Keisuke. Nago was originally awesome, because he was such a pure Knight Templar. So much so, you could have renamed the trope to “The Nago Keisuke”. Of course, the character got derailed, but got his groove back toward the end of the series, albeit less intense than he originally was.

Anywho, Nago was the primary user of the IXA (Intercept X Attack) System, which allowed him to transform into IXA (Save Mode), and from there, he could power-up to IXA (Burst Mode). As the series went on, the organization that developed IXA created an upgrade, which is the guy we’re reviewing here, Rising IXA.

Thematically, Rising IXA is a “king”. Whereas the previous IXAs were modeled after knights, this guy with his circlet crown looking head crest, very much invokes the image of a king, to mirror the main character Kiva, who at that time, had gain access to an “Emperor Form”.

As you can see, he’s highly detailed, not just for the Motion Revive Series line, but for a toy of this scale in general. The MRS toyline is pretty good with show accuracy, but because the original TV show designs tend to consist of guys wearing body hugging rubber spandex and maybe some striking yet relatively simplistic body armor; the toys are as a result, not as finely detailed as say, your typical Hasbro 3.75″ figure. There’s no wrinkly bits where their clothes bundle up, because they’re supposed to be wearing superhero style skintight spandex. Not so with IXA. While his limbs do consist of a mostly smooth surface, his body and shoulder design has oodles upon oodles of intricate detailing. Just check out the title pic of this review, this guy is loaded with sculpted detail.

Articulation is again, typical MRS. Which is to say, not only plentiful, but useful.

Balljoint at base of neck (1).
Double balljointed pectorals/shoulders (5)
Swivel upper biceps (7)
Double jointed elbows (11)
Swivel wrists (13)
Balljointed mid-torso (14)
Balljointed hips (16)
Swivel upper thighs (18)
Double jointed knees (22)
Balljointed feet (24)

Accessories is also something that Rising IXA does quite well, for a MRS. He comes with his cellphone gun and his transformable longsword/machine pistol, which sadly, isn’t actually transformable in this scale. As such, it’s in its sword form. Both accessories are painted, which is another plus this figure has over other MRS Kamen Riders.

Overall
Rising IXA is one of the better MRS figures out there. The par for MRS is already pretty high, so while Rising IXA shares the same basic engineering as any other MRS figure, he has enough little extras to set him as one of the higher ends of the line. Definitely recommended.

Pros: Highly detailed, good paint apps, highly articulated and good accessories. The complete package.
Cons: Nothing of significance, unless you just can’t stand bug eyes.

4.0 out of 4.0

———————————–
0.0 – 0.0 = I’d pay to get rid of it
0.1 – 0.5 = I’d give it away
0.6 – 1.0 = I wouldn’t take it for free
1.1 – 1.5 = Very Bad
1.6 – 2.0 = Bad
2.1 – 2.5 = Average
2.6 – 3.0 = Good
3.1 – 3.5 = Very Good
3.6 – 4.0 = Excellent

I felt it might have.

Vol. 50 Kamen Rider Kiva was something I was excited about. My biggest hopes were that it included the 3 additional Arm Monster forms that didn’t get enough screen time on the show but despite that it was still by far 3 of the coolest colour forms in Heisei history. When news of Emperor form came out, I would hope that these other forms will come back in a later volume, however it turns out that Emperor was the one to be the special net exclusive.

So what’s going on here? Vol 50 ships today and looks like the most incomplete SIC volume ever.

With nothing more than a violin this “unfinished” SIC is the 50th volume of a long running and highly successful toy line. With more than 10 years of history of providing older more mature fans of Ishinomori a new style of collectible figures, SIC might have finally jumped the shark.

I didn’t mind it when Den-o hijacked the SIC line with more releases under its belt than any other show (in less than 1 year) because the figures they released still had quality. If you’ve read my reviews the Den-o figures were superb. It had both incredible articulation as well as great additional accessories and forms. Sure there was a few dubious releases, like Zero Form and Gaoh, but we always knew that BANDAI was hungry for money and yet still produce some excellent work.

But now this set has been called a” betrayal” by many loyal fans of the SIC line. This is the only set with 1 Rider and no additional form. And to add insult to injury they take the Rider’s final form (which are always released in a volume set) and give it a Net Exclusive status, preventing many fans from adding that figure to their collection. Okay, I would be fine with it if it were given Limited status like Rod and Ax Form, but they didn’t. Net Exclusive sets are more expensive and harder to gey (and as an oversea fan, this is really the most painful part).

SIC has always been the more expensive toy line but then again it’s always has been bang for the buck. This set however cost as much as some of the older double Rider sets without having anything remotely equal to what you will receive in those ones.

I admit, I can’t make a final judgment on this set since I have yet to buy it. This might turn out to be the best figure in terms of playability and durability but Den-o was pretty close to perfection and at least that volume had Plat Form, Sword Form and Momotaros!

Maybe this will just be an anomaly. That’s all that I can hope for now. Decade is Vol. 51 and it does have 1 extra form. Still not a lot compared to other single Rider releases like Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz and Blade. I mentioned in another post that perhaps BANDAI is in some sort of financial strain. Okay, raise the price a little. I am fine with that, inflation is only natural. The previous SIC release, Henshin Ninja Arashi,  was 8000+ Yen (the most expensive set to date) so I can tell they are in some sort of money problem. But don’t reduce your set to the minimal, charge them more than the price for a regular and take a form that should be a part of it and limit it and also give it a hefty price tag.

I’ve been a collector of SIC since 2004 and in this 5 years I have only seen a few changes to their original listings. Such as publishing promo shots of Ryuga with his Guard Vent, only to take it away last minute and post a message on their site telling that the Guard Vent is not a part of the volume. Another similar event happened to one of G3’s gun and most recently they changed the pairing of Liner Form with Urataros to Zero Form (just so they can make you buy more sets since Zero Form is just a repaint). Those were a few things that annoyed me but things I never made a big deal about.

But this time I think they gone a bit too far. I am not sure what the future holds. SIC has been my favourite toy line and I will be saddened to see more sets like deficient sets like Kiva in the future.

Before I end this, I want to know what you think. Please participate in the poll below and post a comment on this issue.

By: Adrienzo

[SPOILERS... for Bride of Dai-Shocker!]

I can’t say I was really taken with this episode. In my heart, regardless of whoever wrote this part of the series, I was always aware that it probably wasn’t going to work for on the same level that the reconstruction of the Heisei Rider shows worked. There’s just too much pointlessness going on and not enough character.

Having said that, I was really pleased to see both young!Wataru from the Kiva arc and new!Asumu appear in this episode. That kind of, for me at least, meant that watching this episode wasn’t a complete bust. I’m not sure if I ‘believe’ in the all-but-off-screen deaths of Akira and Todoroki during this episode (in that, I don’t doubt they happened according to the show, but that there was no reason for them) but what the hell, personal continuity for the win, yeah?

As an aside, have I mentioned how awesome young!Wataru’s eyebrows are? ^^

"Illogical, captain."

So anyway, this episode seems to be mostly about Apollo Geist getting married to not!Mari, getting an out-of-the-blue Fangrie upgrade in order to extend his life…and then wasting our time with pointless battles.

That’s it.

Honestly, nothing else happens.

Perhaps fans of Blade will have a different opinion and will be excited to see canon!Blade returning and almost being in the same scene as his counterpart, but for me I was kind of indifferent. Really it was only the presence of the two younger heroes that really made an impact on me.

I’ll fully admit that there are a lot of nuisances I probably missed and whatnot, but overall the late addition of Apollo Geist as the series’ ‘big bad’ and the determination by Toei to work whatever loose ends or vague ideas they had around this point seems to let the show down. This seems to be a continuing trend for these shows though and I’m beginning to wonder if, in order to judge a Heisei Rider show, it’s not the beginning or the end episodes you need to watch but roughly around episodes #19 – 25 as this seems to be the point where shows often change direction.

Whatever the case, episode #29, lacklustre as it was, has now passed and we’re on course for the final episode.

I wish I was more excited about it. It seems a shame for a show that had such a promising start to end on such a bland note.

All the pictures are @ http://tamashii.jp/item/itemlist.php?pref=121

And Kiva got a price drop about 1000 Yen and now I can be sure we will only get Kiva form…sigh

So it turns out Kiva Emperor Form is a Tamashii Limited exclusive…which means it’s going to be hard to get and BANDAI is screwing us all over with Vol. 50 which still only looks like will include Kiva Kiva form!!

I don’t know what to say. I really expected Bandai to give us more than just a single form Rider. They never do this and I was actually looking forward to SIC Kiva. Damn it!

So it looks like the only form included in this set is Emperor. It looks decent…maybe I will make a final judgment when I see better pictures. At least we get more than just Kiva form. Let’s hope that the Arm monsters form will come in another set.

Note: Fuestle is put in the wrong way! But then again SIC always screws up stuff like that.

But these are the new pictures I’ve been waiting for. Kiva looks incredible but that’s all! No Garuru, Basshaa, Dogga or Emperor form. This will turn out to be the only SIC with almost nothing but the figure and some accessories. I still have doubts though since this set is priced around 5000 Yen which is more than Blade’s (and many others), which had both regular and King form. This set is close to the price of some double packs and if Kiva form is the only one included than I guess the recession has hit Bandai hard!

 Anyways, Decade will then takeover of awhile. He will get two forms so that’s all good. I also think they should have just added Diend because who else are they going to put that guy with. But then again, you can put Diend with any character and it would make sense since he can summon them all. How about Diend and Gills for Vol. 52!!!

Confirmado! Gackt será Riderman no filme All Rider vs Dai Shocker, e não no especulado remake Kamen Rider ZERO, como alguns imaginavam. O vídeo logo abaixo prova isso, inclusive mostrando uma cena onde Gackt acerta um golpe em Tsukasa! Será que Riderman será um vilão? Mais novidades sobre o filme e/ou Kamen Rider W serão adicionadas a essa matéria, fiquem de olho! E de brinde pra vocês, o último álbum que foi lançado pela banda TETRA-FANG: Masked Rider Kiva: Re-Union! Essa banda vai deixar saudades… E mais um brinde! O segundo single da coleção SONG ATTACK RIDE saiu! Desta vez temos versões remixadas das aberturas de 555, Blade e Agito! Enjoy!

Links: Masked Rider Kiva: Re-Union, SONG ATTACK RIDE 2nd (Credits: Igadevil).

A whole lot of new SIC coming later this year. It seems Kiwami Tamashii is a huge hit because we are getting a lot more. Todoroki, Zanki and Knight will be out at the end of September while Faiz is getting a November release and Faiz Blaster and Autovajin (sold seperately) will be released in December.

SIC Decade Complete Form is scheduled to be out in November. I would assume Decade basic form will be included as well.

First picutres of a painted Kiva is finally out but still no news of Garuru, Bassha, Dogga and Emperor form being included in this volume.

Pictures courtesy of toy-world.com.hk

These new figures all look fantastic! Except for Tsukasa. He looks poorly sculpted compared to other human figures.

[SPOILERS...for an episode you've already seen]

My friend Mister Mo really likes Agito. He often claims that Agito has this level of depth and meaning (it doesn’t, by the way, Mister Mo) that other entries in the Kamen Rider franchise just don’t have. Recently, he’s stopped watching DCD because he felt that the Agito’s World arc didn’t capture the true spirit of his favourite series. I can certainly understand where he’s coming from but I’ve also been determined to give Hibiki’s World a fair chance hence why I’ve only just got round to watching DCD #19.

Over the past couple of arcs, it’s felt like the series has been winding down – well, perhaps that’s not as accurate a statement as it should be. Since Den-o’s World, it’s felt like the series has been winding down. I’m not trying to heap the blame solely on the shoulders of episodes #14 – 15 but it does feel like those episodes were a noticeable watershed in how the series has developed and how it will develop now we’ve reached the point where we’re back we started.

To begin at the end, one of my concerns about tomorrow’s episode is that, now we’re back in Natsumi’s World, we’re going to find ourselves with nothing but cameos from less significant secondary Riders in an unchanging world. The clip of the Kiva-esque Rider running amok in the next episode trailer did nothing to disuade my opinion that a.) this might be a possibility and b.) Toei really do have a shedload of Kiva merchandise left to sell. I really hope #20 picks up in some way as such a decision would really kill the momentum of the series.

But let’s not worry about the future, for now let’s live in the present – and speaking of the present, #19 is one of those episodes that, perhaps like Mister Mo when watching Agito’s World, I began to watch whilst doubting the ability of the new medium to interpret the story I loved. Having watched both episodes of Hibiki’s World, I have to say that I don’t think that they fully explored the story of the original series…but they did however take what was at the heart of that series (the relationship between Asumu and Hibiki) and do something new and interesting with it, therefore I can’t complain.

Whilst I was pleased to see the return of some familiar faces and familiar characters, I did find that, just as Asumu had become more expressive, Akira seemed to have become quieter. There’s still determination in the way she carries herself but she’s a lot less abrasive.

I also had a hard time excepting Ito David as ‘a Hibiki’. Even though I knew Hosokawa wasn’t going to return, Ito just didn’t seem like ‘a Hibiki’. There was the suggestion of Hidaka Hitoshi in the way that he acted at times and certainly in the nobility with which he faced death but for the rest of it, I was a lot more comfortable with the new!Asumu assuming the Hibiki role.

"My spirit sleeping somewhere cold."

Daiki’s role in this seemed a bit all over the place – for a while I was convinced he was about to become the villain it was half-suggested he might be upon his arrival in the show.

One of the big problems with this approach is that the franchise keeps throwing out these villainous Riders but still has to make sure there’s a Double Rider sequence in each episode thus the bad guys always seem to resign their morals (or lack thereof) during the final reel before the status quo is once more resumed (‘Don’t think this makes us friends, Rider X,’ growled Rider Y with a flick of his hair from his eyes. Rider X grunted, tightening his hand into a fist, ‘But I know you’re not really bad, Rider Y, one day your heart will turn to the light…even if you have to spend the next 40 episodes fighting me and then teaming up with me at the end of each one!’). Yet, during the course of this episode, it seemed like Daiki become one of the good guys instead. I don’t really have a problem with that.

The final two fights – the first being Asumu!Hibiki vs. Gyuki and the second being multiple Riders vs. Bakegani – were both done well, the former being heartfelt and the latter being suitably epic. I was pleased to see the return of the giant Makamou, even if it took another Ryuki character to bring about their role in the story. It was also nice to see Zanki, Todoroki, Ibuki and Akira all working alongside Diend and DCD to bring about the defeat of the giant crab…

"I said, 'Who's Michael?' 'Who is Michael Jackson?' he said, 'The Michael Jackson - the real Michael Jackson'"

…however, I can’t help but feel that this scene could have been made even better had Danki been included in it.

(joking – although if the next set of episodes are just random secondary Riders there’s always a chance he’ll turn up in Natsumi’s World!)

Now let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.

(credits to Dark Kabuto @ HJU)

Sorry Kabuto fans, SIC skipped Kabuto again and went straight to 2008’s Kiva. To be completely honest, I am happy. I love Kiva, one of the best designs ever so I am so glad to see it.

As you can see there’s not a whole lot shown yet. Basic uncoloured model, fuestles, Kivat II and a violin (a must!) but if history has taught us anything, main Rider SICs (Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki and Den-o) all have an extra form and lots of extra accessories (like Dragredder for Ryuki and Momotaros for Den-o).

I see, Zanbat’s Fuestle there so I think they might do this with Emperor Form but I hope it includes Garuru, Bassha and Dogga, those are a must, let’s hope they don’t skip those.