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09-30-2020, 02:07 PM | #101 |
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KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 5 - “MELTING SEA”
Like, man, man. Basing so much of this one episode on how stressed Asumu is, such a great idea. It’s to the show’s credit that it never feels like you’re missing out on something, by following Asumu around. It’s as captivating to watch as any (two-move!) Hibiki fight scene. It’s a plot that doesn’t need a single supernatural thing to happen in it, because it’s already epic. Quote:
That’s… I think that’s the secret to why so much of Hibiki works so well. The monster stuff, the Hibiki parts of Kamen Rider Hibiki, are all downplayed, made mundane. It’s funny and relatable to see Hibiki and Kasumi going through their routines, treating monster extermination like a sales call for a small business. But then the teen drama is made mythic by its dominance of screentime, with Asumu’s anxiety feeling as apocalyptic as any giant crab attack. This is a show that makes the heroic stuff look boring, and the boring stuff look heroic. Just a fantastic idea.
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It’s a plot that’s bubbling under the whole time, likely to explode in the next episode. Asumu seems frantic to tell someone, anyone, that he feels underwater, but the words never come out. It’s like he’s taking the wrong lessons from Hibiki. He sees an upbeat, successful loner who preaches self-confidence, and decides that that’s all he needs to do to succeed. Just believe in yourself, and you’ll win! But that’s not nearly the whole story to Hibiki. He’s had years of training, and a support system that keeps him in strategies and disc animals. Hibiki succeeds because of all of the people that he can depend on, not because he can breathe purple flames. (Not to discount the purple flames! Actually a pretty big factor in Hibiki’s successes!) But the interactions that Asumu’s had with Hibiki keep him from understanding how much of a loner Hibiki isn’t.
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I mean, even Hibiki isn’t clear on how much he needs people, so it’s a fair thing for Asumu to miss. In the same way that Asumu is trying to tamp down his anxiety, and failing, Hibiki’s trying to act all nonchalant about a kid he clearly sees as having the potential for greatness, and failing. Ichiro doesn’t miss it for a second, but he’s nice enough to (I assume) let Hibiki start to figure out on his own that he wants to take Asumu under his wing. He’s trying to be respectful of Asumu, let him live his life, but these two need that mentor/apprentice relationship like crabs need to grow to the size of a studio apartment.
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And, on the topic of the monster plot of the TV series where a superhero fights monsters… some good, some bad. I liked the rhythm of the search, as usual (it’s that Kuuga thing of We Need To Show You Every Single Step In Detail, but padded out with great dialogue and relaxing outdoorsiness), but the fight against the Hime, come on. It’s literally just some distractions by the disc animals, and then two moves by Hibiki. Come on! Give me a little bit more meat on that bone, show. The giant crab is… not my thing, but it’s fine for the few seconds it’s onscreen. Not really worth talking about.
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It's a guy who turns into a superhero to defeat monsters, with a heavy emphasis on human connections and allegorical struggles for growing up. It's a Kamen Rider show. I get that it wasn't originally planned to be, but it definitely is now.
Like, if I start making a pizza, and halfway through I make a calzone out of the same ingredients, is it always and forever a pizza? Is it a calzone in name only? Or did I make enough of a conscious decision to change it so that it could be considered a different thing now?
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09-30-2020, 07:52 PM | #102 |
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And... Hibiki has other people he can depend on, because there are no restrictions in his job! You can work together with Kasumi, converse with boss, increase your partners, etc! What Asumu did is an exam with tons of restrictions! You must work with only everything you learned, obviously no cheating/working together with others, at strict time limit!
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09-30-2020, 11:35 PM | #103 |
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KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 7 - "EXHALING ONI"
"I take it back, I was never alone My censored thoughts, mild and monotone I took a train to Berlin today When I called last night you felt so far away" -Waxahatchee, "Sparks Fly" I liked this episode! It's hard to talk about! This one felt very very much like the first half of a two-parter. I mean, all of these stories so far have been, but this was very... unfinished. It's asking a lot of questions, but not really doing much in the way of answers, so I don't have much to dig into. On the one hand, it's sort-of unfair to criticize a two-part story for not delivering enough content in the first part. It's something that'll be rectified by the end of the next episode, so why sweat it? But, on the other hand, the unit of entertainment being produced is the episode, not the story, so I think it's fair game to point out when the episode is maybe a little thin. Like, this thing is not without its pleasures. It's fun to see Asumu succeed in his exams, even if I'm not sure this was a show that was going to see this kid study hard and fail to get into Jounan. Not really in the cards. But! It's delightful to see him cheered on and congratulated by his friends, by AsuMum, by AsuMum's coworkers (who I briefly felt a pang of Oh Man Uber Put Them All Out Of A Job about), and by Kasumi and Hinaka. It's really fun to see so many smiles. The conversation Asumu has with Hinaka is very cute, with her both encouraging him to reach for the dream of being like Hibiki, while also chiding him for assuming that just anyone could be like Hibiki. It's a very confusing bit of guidance, which is a nice alternative to the regularly helpful kind that Hibiki might dole out. Not... not 100% sure if she's cheering him on or warning him off! Still, she tells Asumu how to get to the mountain Hibiki's training on, and this is the point where I really liked the episode but can just vaguely gesture at it while saying Just Watch The Episode I Guess. So much of the Asumu/Hibiki stuff in this one is Hibiki training and Asumu trying to reach him, and... I mean, this is what I'm referring to when I struggle to talk about this first part of the story. It is literally just Hibiki training and Asumu trying to reach him. It's shot well! It's fun to watch! It is a very surface pleasure! It feels like one scene stretched over an episode. It's important to keep them apart, but it leaves the episode feeling like it's killing time, in a way. It's never boring! But it feels a little thin. The big deal in this one isn't even about Asumu or Hibiki, though. It's the debut of Ibuki as an Oni, and the debut of his assistant, Akira. Akira's a big ol' question mark at this point, which is one more thing about this episode that's tough to address. We don't really know her deal yet, other than that she's also going to be attending Jounan (what a lucky break for the conservation of cast!), and that she's already more of a hero than Asumu. There's really only the one Akira scene to talk about, and it's a great one. A pregnant woman gets on a train, and there are no empty seats, so she stands. Asumu wonders if he should give up his seat, but he looks around to see if anyone else will first. No one gets up. He frets about whether he should say something, whether he should get up, and the seconds keep ticking away. Meanwhile, Akira gets up and gives the woman her seat. Problem solved. It's Asumu's recurring problem, isn't it? It's his hesitation on the ferry, his hesitation in front of the bookstore. He couldn't risk his physical safety then, and he couldn't risk being noticed by others now. But Akira sees what needs doing, and takes care of it. It seems like that's the parallel we're getting at in this story. Rather than Asumu reflecting Hibiki, we've got the Asumu/Hibiki relationship reflecting the Akira/Ibuki one. Feels like that's what a lot of the next episode is going to be about. And, hey, Ibuki! Love that suit. Love it. I think I prefer it to Hibiki's? I'm a fan of the pipes coming around the shoulders and torso, and up into the collar. I love his Trumpet Gun or whatever. I like his jazzy Henshin music. He's a fun looking character, and I like the differences between his fighting style (ranged, quick) and Hibiki's (close, powerful). It's real interesting the way the musical styles and instruments get spun out into approaches to combat. Can't wait to see more of Ibuki in action! Anyway, yeah, I liked this episode. Not one that's going to stick real hard in the memory, but a really pleasant twenty-odd minutes of storytelling. Worked for me!
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10-01-2020, 12:08 AM | #104 |
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Ibuki's got a nice suit, yeah. It's probably my least favorite of the main ones, though? It's nice, but I really like the iridescent element that Ibuki's black suit lacks. It's still a damn good suit, but I like the others more. The pipes and mask are very stylish, though. I also love the hell out of the trumpet gun. It is objectively silly, but it also works beautifully within the logic of how the show's finishing attacks work. I'm also a big fan of the henshin whistle.
Akira is a character I'll wait and talk about more after the next episode. Like the rest of the show's cast, though, I'm definitely a big fan. I love that they went with a female character as Ibuki's apprentice instead of the "boys only" club that most Rider shows - especially in this era - go with. One other thing that debuted in this episode: we got our first significant re-arrangement of the opening theme, adding in more horns to denote the debut of Ibuki. This is something that the show will do for the rest of the real run and you'll hear a lot of different versions of the opening. It's another one of those cool little touches that makes Hibiki so unique. |
10-01-2020, 12:26 AM | #105 |
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One other thing that debuted in this episode: we got our first significant re-arrangement of the opening theme, adding in more horns to denote the debut of Ibuki. This is something that the show will do for the rest of the real run and you'll hear a lot of different versions of the opening. It's another one of those cool little touches that makes Hibiki so unique.
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10-01-2020, 12:29 AM | #106 |
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Oh yeah I loved that part of the show. The OP changing instrument depending on the episode. It keeps things fresh y'know and it this type of meticulous that remind that the first half of the show was produced by Taketera. For the record I loved how in Kuuga we got a timestamp and a locatian for every scene.
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10-01-2020, 12:37 AM | #107 |
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Like, this is an episode where one of the main characters spends half of it on a train, and then oversleeps and misses his stop. That's the dilemma. And I love it. I love the goddamn brass (section) balls of making that a/the major story for the episode. It's what I talk about when I say that I don't need a monster fight to enjoy an episode of Hibiki. What monster fight could replace the feeling of some kid travelling to tell a friend some good news?
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10-01-2020, 02:29 AM | #108 |
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Bit of something that’s lost in translation. The title of this episode, written in romanised form is “Ibuku no Oni”, which kind of subtly tells you what the new Rider’s name is shorthand for. (Like how I pointed out Zanki is short for Zangeki no Oni).
And Akira. I don’t have a lot to say about her in the first half. She’s there and she’s basically a female Asumu who’s a little further along in the “get an older man to show me his tricks” goal in life. I have a more positive opinion of her once the second half of the show rolls around. And Asumu getting into a high school? Is it sad that this is the most exciting thing that’s happened in 7 episodes of a 48 episode show? That’s over an eight of the total plot. There’s a reason I’m not keen on the first half of this series. |
10-01-2020, 04:52 AM | #109 |
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Okay, I figured out why I like Ibuki. It's because I like Toshihiko Sahashi.
He's just this really amazing composer I've gushed about on several occasions – usually to point out how great he is at varying up his style – which is certainly evident with Hibiki. He naturally went with a heavy emphasis on percussion for the most part, but like any good Rider soundtrack, each Rider has a distinct motif, which is pretty easy to do when they're also themed directly around musical instruments. For Ibuki, that means wind instruments, and that's right in Sahashi's wheelhouse. Triumphant orchestral sounds and jazzy tunes are what he excels at more than anything. It's what he does on Sentai, and when his first collaboration with Takatera resulted in tracks like this, is it any wonder he kept getting asked back nearly every time Takatera was making a show after that? Is it any wonder that Takatera specifically requested he do the composition for the theme songs too despite Rider keeping those roles separate all throughout Agito-Blade? Is it any surprise Kagayaki then turned out to be not only a great jam, but one with countless arrangements (we're already up to four) just for the sake of better matching each episode? I'll say it again: only Toshihiko Sahashi could've scored the Rider show about music. Oh, and only Ishida could've done the direction for this episode, by the way. I forgot to look at the credits while watching this one, and then immediately had my suspicions the moment we got another overly elaborate musical sequence to open an episode.
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10-01-2020, 09:53 AM | #110 |
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Okay, I figured out why I like Ibuki. It's because I like Toshihiko Sahashi.
He's just this really amazing composer I've gushed about on several occasions – usually to point out how great he is at varying up his style – which is certainly evident with Hibiki. He naturally went with a heavy emphasis on percussion for the most part, but like any good Rider soundtrack, each Rider has a distinct motif, which is pretty easy to do when they're also themed directly around musical instruments. For Ibuki, that means wind instruments, and that's right in Sahashi's wheelhouse. Triumphant orchestral sounds and jazzy tunes are what he excels at more than anything. It's what he does on Sentai, and when his first collaboration with Takatera resulted in tracks like this, is it any wonder he kept getting asked back nearly every time Takatera was making a show after that? Is it any wonder that Takatera specifically requested he do the composition for the theme songs too despite Rider keeping those roles separate all throughout Agito-Blade? Is it any surprise Kagayaki then turned out to be not only a great jam, but one with countless arrangements (we're already up to four) just for the sake of better matching each episode? I'll say it again: only Toshihiko Sahashi could've scored the Rider show about music. This show really does an amazing job of... not keying different characters to different instruments exactly, but by looking at what a character is doing emotionally and narratively within an episode relative to the other characters, and figuring out how to express that musically. Ibuki's Henshin has more brass in it, sure, but even the composition is a little more loose, a little more showy. Or Ibuki's motorcycle scene is more full-throated and exciting, while Hibiki's training is more rhythmic and measured. This is a show that spends as much time thinking about how they're communicating character and tone through music as they do through dialogue or visuals. There's a long take of Hibiki and the temple cook (?) talking about what she's making for dinner that is so extra that he might as well have signed it.
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