i know that there's no argument about wataru, but something crossed my mind while reading that nobody mentioned and i wish to voice it.
As I'm watching Ryuki again, i notice the very strong characters in it, a particular character, toujou sticks out quite prominently. he is seem to represent an Otaku, but he represents how a lot of japanese actually see an otaku, as a dangerous, untrustworthy person.
Even when considering Asakura, I feel that Toujou is a far more dangerous person. (quite similar to ichi the killer)
Wataru seems to be a counter for what they did with that character. I think this is quite powerful..
even if they did not do a good job of showing the character, i think their choice was noble because they painted all otaku with a bad light. in wataru, there was redemption and understanding for those kind of shut-in.
okay, now I got that off my chest, I can concentrate on looking at your discussion about teh way they put across the story.
I think toku warrior has laid out a good overview of how the characters have developed.
thiking back, i do not have a lot of love for the kiva series. i haven't really analyzed it too much, but it could well be because of weak story telling.
oh, toku warrior, when tales said the weapons come from the sky, I think he was using it as a metaphor. I believe tales is referring to the writers using a sort of deus ex machina.