I'd like to compare the styles of Inoue between Agito (which I like more) vs. Kiva (which I like less) but I will probably say where Inoue got it right and where he got it wrong in the otehr. Not that Kiva is awful but could have been better only if Inoue managed to write better. Now moving on ...
The main hero:
I would say that Tatsuya and Wataru have their own uniqueness although the latter is pretty weird. For Tatsuya I enjoyed the part he was an amnesiac and how he got the Agito powers, for the case of Wataru I think there was a cool concept with how his story goes (like his half-Fangire revelation) but it just got too predictable or, since Kiva's a rainbow and teddy bear type of Kamen Rider, I shouldn't expect more compared to Agito which has a more serious side.
Supporting characters:
Inoue's supporting characters in Agito usually range from the jerks to the nice ones, they pretty much aren't too serious nor too dark. For example, in Agito maybe Hojo in Agito does get me angry at times because he can be a jerk but he is more of somebody who does his duty. Nago in Kiva is far more arrogant than Hojo can ever be. Or another, female characters- Mana is used more as somebody who figures mysteries out while Megumi actually does battle.
Plot execution:
Agito has a really good plot execution in a way that I'd say should be a motivator of writers in one way or another. In this season, Inoue really knows how to hide the mysteries after mysteries and slowly unwrap them in a marvelous way like why the Lords kill certain people, how Agito got his power and the war between Overlord of Light and Overlord of Darkness. The whole story managed to weave itself from start to finish in such a way it's a good TV drama. But for
In the case of Kiva, I would say that it's pretty messy and Inoue was simply recycling some elements but that's okay if they're done well. There are good concepts like the Fangires and all the supernatural elements of the energy sucking Fangires but the whole idea of Spider Fangire just being there to be there was corny. But I'd say that Inoue, while this isn't really his worst work or a botched one, I liked this series for its "cartoony value". I like the 1982/2006 concept or the story behind the characters but how he's doing some characters here are what I'd call pretty mediocre. And also, I just thought that the way he did the mystery after mystery here isn't that well done.
Finale:
There are Tokusatsu fans who say Inoue sucks at most of his finales. I would agree in some series (ex. Jetman's Gai Yuki's death by a random mugger I had a hard time accepting it!). In the case of Agito, I don't think the finale sucked but it was definitely passable, not something like Inoue decides to get somebody killed by a random mugger. Also, Agito didn't have a bittersweet ending that was badly written- he opened his own restaurant and it was really perhaps his best ending written. In the case of Kiva, it's a messy finale. I did enjoy Kiva's final battle or the two maternal half-brothers getting together. But the end scene was just freaking stupid I fell down my seat- why are Nago and Megumi getting married when they hate each other? I didn't care much about Wataru's son from 22 years in the future appearing, but that marriage was just let's just say so anti-climatically funny!
Overall thoughts:
Doesn't mean you succeed yesterday you'll succeed today. Inoue did well with Agito but did a so-so job with Faiz. He really needs to reconsider his actions or get advice from other co-writers.
Comments
Post a Comment