History YMMV / KamenRiderKiva

** Does [[spoiler:Wataru]] have a Fangire Form at all, and if so, what Fangire is he? Unlike [[spoiler:his half-brother]], who's heavily hinted to be [[spoiler:the Snake Fangire]], no hints are given[[note]]the Novel has [[spoiler:Kiva ''itself'']] as his form; however, the novel cannot be canon, due to [[AlternateContinuity contradicting the events of the show]][[/note]].

** Wataru's status as [[spoiler:a half human, half Fangire.]] He doesn't suffer any negative effects because of [[spoiler:his Fangire heritage]] until Taiga and Bishop stir it up ''once'' in an attempt to [[spoiler:get him to come to their side]]. He's also not very strong (at one point it is shown that he can't do more than ''ten'' push-ups) and does not possess any sort of unique ability born from [[spoiler:his monstrous heritage]] (when not transformed, that is). To be fair Wataru doesn't learn about his unique status until late in the series, but the writers could have made Wataru more interesting if they gave him some sort of weakness or problem that resulted from this and made him struggle with it until [[spoiler:he learned about his parents and learned to accept who he is.]] Wataru does accept [[spoiler:his heritage, but the only thing he has to show for it is Kiva, his status as the new King and a lot of painful memories.]] As it stands the only difference between [[spoiler:a human and a Fangire/Human mix is that the mixture can use things that would normally only be accessible to a Fangire (like Castle Dran) and would not have to worry about the negative effects of transforming with Kiva/Dark Kiva.]]

** #27 opens with Kivat saying something about time travel being a possiblility, even stating "I'd like to return to that day." Creator/TomokazuSugita would later return for the second season of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', infamously known for ''Endless Eight''...

--> "Baku baku Beating Heart! Katobashite Kick it Up! Baki baki Burning Heart! Kimi koso One and Only!"

* MemeticLoser: For almost a decade, Kiva himself was his, at least in the [[Toys/{{SHFiguarts}} Figuarts]] side of the fanbase. Until October 2018, Kiva[[note]]his base form, anyways[[/note]] hadn't received an official Figuarts while almost every other Kamen Rider (Including ones from ''Kiva itself'') has already had one. Even one-off riders like [[Series/KamenRiderFourze Nadeshiko]] and [[Series/KamenRiderDrive Sangou]] have already seen a Figuarts release before Kiva. It's common to see fans joking about how certain Riders and [[Anime/PrettyCure Precures]] have received a Figuarts before Kiva[[note]]the most extreme example being that '''Music/MichaelJackson''' got a [[https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Tamashii-Nations-Figuarts-Criminal/dp/B00KMO124W Figuarts]] before Kiva - not [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Man In The Mirror]]; Michael Jackson himself![[/note]].

** An example wherein RealLifeWritesThePlot, and the problem wasn't stupid appearance: Kiva's default form is perfectly fine on its own, but it and his Arms Monster forms were too heavy for Seiji Takaiwa to act in properly, and in fact he nearly died once due to the weight. This is why [[SuperMode Emperor Form]] was overused for the series, as it was far lighter and easier to work with. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of trashing the rest of Kiva's powers.

** Fangires are essentially vampires made of stained glass, [[Literature/{{Twilight}} which is known to sparkle]]. There's also more than one MuggleAndMagicalLoveTriangle eventually.

* VindicatedByHistory: At the time it aired, its double-threaded past and present plot was accused of being difficult to understand, and it also suffered from ToughActToFollow due to the popularity of the previous year's ''Series/KamenRiderDenO''. However, the Kiva tribute episodes in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' that aired in 2019 led to a large number of people revisiting the series, and it gained a number of fans as a result. In particular, it became a common opinion that the series is much easier to follow as an adult watching all of the episodes together at once than it is as a kid watching it one episode a week.

* ToughActToFollow: Considering the success of this series' [[Series/KamenRiderDenO predecessor]], this trope falls into this shape. Luckily, Kiva was a financial success by its own merit, although its critical evaluation took some time to catch on (see VindicatedByHistory).

* WhatAnIdiot: [[spoiler:Yes, Bishop, do tell Taiga that ''you'' killed Mio instead of shutting up and letting Taiga continue to assume that Kiva did it, therefore getting rid of him without having to lift a finger. [[SarcasmMode No wonder you are an]] EvilGenius!]]

** [[Series/KamenRiderBuild Kazumi's]] dogtags reads Otoya's name in {{Goroawase}}: 907101080[[note]]Ku-Re-Na-I O-To-Ya[[/note]]. The real kicker is that he's portrayed by the same actor as Otoya, and comparisons between Kazumi and Otoya are too obvious to ignore right down to using a DeadlyUpgrade (in Kazumi's case, transforming into Grease Blizzard).

* ToughActToFollow: Considering the success of this series' [[Series/KamenRiderDenO predecessor]], this trope falls into this shape. Luckily, Kiva was a success by its own merit.

* MemeticLoser: For almost a decade, Kiva himself was his, at least in the [[Toys/{{SHFiguarts}} Figuarts]] side of the fanbase. Until October 2018, Kiva[[note]]his base form, anyways[[/note]] hadn't received an official Figuarts while almost every other Kamen Rider (Including ones from ''[[UpToEleven Kiva itself]]'') has already had one. Even one-off riders like [[Series/KamenRiderFourze Nadeshiko]] and [[Series/KamenRiderDrive Sangou]] have already seen a Figuarts release before Kiva. It's common to see fans joking about how certain Riders and [[Anime/PrettyCure Precures]] have received a Figuarts before Kiva[[note]]the most extreme example being that '''Music/MichaelJackson''' got a [[https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Tamashii-Nations-Figuarts-Criminal/dp/B00KMO124W Figuarts]] before Kiva - not [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Man In The Mirror]]; Michael Jackson himself![[/note]].

* GameBreaker: Kiva's Emperor Form and Dark Kiva. To the point the FinalBattle is between the two, just to create tension.

** But then he gets it back, and he spends most of the rest of the series beating the crap out of the second most powerful Fangire, Bishop- a Fangire who handed [[spoiler:Kengo]] his ass on a platter.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Keisuke Nago; some detractors sees him as an "offshoot to [[Series/KamenRider555 Kusaka]]", who has caused a lot of drama, and had gained little comeuppance to compensate. What makes it worse is that he feels 0% guilt over his actions, including [[SelfMadeOrphan playing the driving part]] in his father's [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]. While fans of the said character sees him as a "better version of Kusaka", due to his decent CharacterDevelopment in which makes him a better person, especially after he learned that the present-day Kiva is an ally to humanity.

** #27 opens with Kivat saying something about time travel being a possiblility, even stating 'I'd like to return to that day'. Creator/TomokazuSugita would later return for the second season of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', infamously known for ''Endless Eight''...

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Shoodoran appears out of nowhere to help the regular Castle Doran in episode 8...and is never heard from or mentioned again.

** Does [[spoiler: Wataru]] have a Fangire Form at all, and if so, what Fangire is he? Unlike [[spoiler: his half-brother]], who's heavily hinted to be [[spoiler: the Snake Fangire]], no hints are given[[note]]the Novel has [[spoiler: Kiva ''itself'']] as his form; however, the novel cannot be canon, due to [[AlternateContinuity contradicting the events of the show]][[/note]].

** Ep 27 opens with Kivat saying something about time travel being a possiblility, even stating 'I'd like to return to that day'. Creator/TomokazuSugita would later return for the second season of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', infamously known for ''Endless Eight''...

* NightmareFuel: Make the wrong choice after the IXA-cise segment in the Hyper Battle DVD and you will find yourself [[{{Squick}} molested by Keisuke Nago]] in the bathtub. His preferred term? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_190302&v=JTBBPaRcRPs&feature=iv "The Nago Special!"]]
** Saga's finisher involves impaling and hanging fangires before ultimately causing the victim [[MadeOfExplodium to explode in tremendous pain.]] One could actually feel sorry for the [[spoiler: Horsefly Fangire]] for having to die in such a brutal way.
*** Though Sagarc's squeaky chipmunk voice during the attack kind of [[{{Narm}} kills the mood for some]].

* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Mio's death in episode 44,]] which reduces Wataru into a screaming fit of insanity.

** Kamen Rider Saga; they could have done anything with it - have Taiga keep using it [[spoiler: after he gains the ability to become Dark Kiva, and use DK as a super mode]], introduce a new character who uses it to act as an antagonist/rival, give it to an existing character like Kengo [[note]]while the Sagarcs were created by the Fangires, it's never explicitly stated if a person had to be a Fangire to become Saga; for all we know, it could work like the [[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Delta Gear]] and allow anyone to use it if they had linked with it[[/note]]...but no, as soon as [[spoiler: Taiga becomes Dark Kiva]], it's almost as if it never existed. To be fair, this upgrade was an EleventhHourSuperpower introduced in the final episode, so it’s more forgivable.
** Wataru's status as [[spoiler:a half human, half Fangire.]] He doesn't suffer any negative effects because of [[spoiler:his Fangire heritage]] until Taiga and Bishop stir it up ''once'' in an attempt to [[spoiler: get him to come to their side]]. He's also not very strong (at one point it is shown that he can't do more than ''ten'' push-ups) and does not possess any sort of unique ability born from [[spoiler: his monstrous heritage]] (when not transformed, that is). To be fair Wataru doesn't learn about his unique status until late in the series, but the writers could have made Wataru more interesting if they gave him some sort of weakness or problem that resulted from this and made him struggle with it until [[spoiler: he learned about his parents and learned to accept who he is.]] Wataru does accept [[spoiler: his heritage, but the only thing he has to show for it is Kiva, his status as the new King and a lot of painful memories.]] As it stands the only difference between [[spoiler: a human and a Fangire/Human mix is that the mixture can use things that would normally only be accessible to a Fangire (like Castle Dran) and would not have to worry about the negative effects of transforming with Kiva/Dark Kiva.]]
** The existence of [[spoiler:people with mixed heritage]] arose much earlier in the show - Jiro wanted to marry Yuri [[spoiler: so that she would bear his children and help repopulate his race.]] This plotline was dropped after [[spoiler: Jiro's true self was uncovered]] and Yuri revealed that she was in love with Otoya.
** The fact that nobody mentions what exactly happens to Yuri [[spoiler: to cause her death]] somewhere in between 1986 and 2008.

** Wataru wears a shirt that says "Stupid" in episodes 17 and 22.
** An example wherein RealLifeWritesThePlot, and the problem wasn't stupid appearance: Kiva's default form is perfectly fine on its own, but it and his Arms Monster forms were too heavy for Seiji Takaiwa to act in properly, and in fact he nearly died once due to the weight. This is why [[SuperMode Emperor Form]] was overused for the series, as it was far lighter and easier to work with. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of trashing the rest of Kiva's powers.