Fate: Wake Up! (運命・ウェイクアップ!, Unmei: Weiku Appu!) is the first episode of Kamen Rider Kiva.
Synopsis
An insular, agoraphobic boy named Wataru Kurenai begins his battle against the Fangire as Kamen Rider Kiva, a battle with connections to a conflict from 22 years in the past...
Plot
In 1986, at a funeral, a recently deceased man wakes up from his coffin and transforms into a monster known as Fangire. After he attacks a young woman, draining her of her Life Energy and turning her into a material similar to glass, the Spider Fangire is confronted by a woman named Yuri Aso, who attempts to destroy him before he escapes. Later, at the Café mald'amour, Yuri's employer Mamoru Shima tells her to target a young businessman named Kaoru Tsugami, who actually is the Horse Fangire. She finds Tsugami as he is about to eat his sixth secretary, but he calls his bodyguards to hold her off. Though she manages to give them the slip, she is too late to save the woman as she fights the Horse Fangire. However, before Yuri can perform the finishing blow, she is stopped by the man she met while escaping Tsugami's bodyguards: Otoya Kurenai. This little distraction allowed Tsugami to escape.
Twenty-two years later in 2008, a young man named Wataru Kurenai is gathering fish bones for a project of his to create the ultimate violin varnish, attracting the attention of Yuri's daughter, Megumi Aso, who makes him realize he is not allergic to the world. Megumi soon attracts Tsugami's attention, inviting her to model for his studio as an excuse to feed on her. However, Megumi uses Tsugami's scheme to get to him to finish what her mother started. Angry for being tricked, Tsugami assumes his true form and attempts to kill Megumi until Wataru arrives, with Kivat-Bat the 3rd allowing him to transform into Kamen Rider Kiva and battle the Horse Fangire. After Kiva shatters the Fangire with his Darkness Moon Break, Castle Doran emerges to devour the Horse Fangire's soul before it can escape. Once the fight ends, however, Megumi attempts to take down Kiva.
Cast
- Wataru Kurenai (紅 渡, Kurenai Wataru): Koji Seto (瀬戸 康史, Seto Kōji)
- Otoya Kurenai (紅 音也, Kurenai Otoya): Kouhei Takeda (武田 航平, Takeda Kōhei)
- Megumi Aso (麻生 恵, Asō Megumi): Nana Yanagisawa (柳沢 なな, Yanagisawa Nana)
- Yuri Aso (麻生 ゆり, Asō Yuri): Yu Takahashi (高橋 優, Takahashi Yū)
- Shizuka Nomura (野村 静香, Nomura Shizuka): Rina Koike (小池 里奈, Koike Rina)
- Ryo Itoya (糸矢 僚, Itoya Ryō): Sohto (創斗, Sōto)
- Kivat-Bat the 3rd (キバットバットⅢ世, Kibattobatto Sansei, Voice): Tomokazu Sugita (杉田 智和, Sugita Tomokazu)
- Mamoru Shima (嶋 護, Shima Mamoru): Kazuhiko Kanayama (金山 一彦, Kanayama Kazuhiko)
- Akira Kido (木戸 明, Kido Akira): Houka Kinoshita (木下 ほうか, Kinoshita Hōka)
Guest Cast
- Kaoru Tsugami (津上 カオル, Tsugami Kaoru): Nobuo Kyo (姜 暢雄, Kyō Nobuo)
- Housewife: Yuki Mashita (真下 有紀, Mashita Yūki), Chie Sunaga (須永 千重, Sunaga Chie)
- Police: Shinya Kito (鬼頭 真也, Kitō Shinya)
- Heckler: Yuken Yoshida (吉田 祐健, Yoshida Yūken)
- Cameraman: Taketora Morita (森田 猛虎, Morita Taketora)
- Secretary: Mikoto Inoue (井上 美琴, Inoue Mikoto)
- Troops: Masayuki Ono (小野 正幸, Ono Masayuki), Kiyoshi Ichikawa (市川 清, Ichikawa Kiyoshi)
- Woman in the Funeral: Risako Tokoro (所 里沙子, Tokoro Risako)
- Horse Fangire (ホースファンガイア, Hōsu Fangaia, Voice): Katsumi Shiono (塩野 勝美, Shiono Katsumi)
Form Changes
Kiva: Kiva Form
Errors
- to be added
Notes
Kiva's message for Ishinomori's 70th birthday.
- As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside Juken Sentai Gekiranger
episode 47, Lesson 47: Pika-Pika! My Path
. - Viewership: 7.6%
- The Buruman of 2008 is a different dog then the Buruman puppy of 1986, as golden retrievers live only on average of 10 years, which there being a 22 year difference between the two time periods to uphold, and the oldest golden retriever in history is named "Augie", who is 20 as of April 2020[1].
- In addition, Buruman of 2008 looks like an average adult golden retriever, instead of an withered old dog.
- This episode began with a commemoration of the series in honor of the seventieth anniversary of Shotaro Ishinomori's birthday, which exact day was 2 days prior.
Musical references:
- The title "Fate" (運命, Unmei) is a reference to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, also known as the Fate (運命, Unmei) Symphony.
- It links to Kiva Form's insert song Destiny's Play, which form debuts this episode.
- Coincidentally, another Kamen Rider series seven years later would share a similar name for an episode, revolving around Beethoven among others.
- This episode title uses a right repeat sign (𝄇), indicating that the fate of Kiva and the Fangires is looping.
References
DVD releases
Kamen Rider Kiva Volume 1, DVD cover
Kamen Rider Kiva Volume 1 features episodes 1-4: Fate: Wake Up!, Suite: Father and Son Violin, Heroic: Perfect Hunter and Reverie: Wild Blue.
Kamen Rider Kiva Box 1, Blu-ray cover
Blu-ray Box 1 comes with 16 episodes.