I mean, Kiriya's basically Teenage Kusaka (without all of the violent tendencies, I hope!), and I thought Kusaka was a blast in Faiz. I think you can enjoy a performance/character without liking the character, and that balance is where Inoue's work lives for me.

Like, I think 30 did a really good job of still making Kiriya's introduction an Asumu story, you know? It's all about how Kiriya's presence affects Asumu, how it makes him feel like he's not cool enough, or it makes him wonder where his expertise lies.

Kiriya sucks, but he's awesome at being a character who sucks.

The new monster was great, and, yeah, a huge departure from the previous monster formula. (Literally and figuratively!) I think the show did an okay job of trying to give a context for the new Monster Suit Makamou, but it's still a massive change from how the first 29 episodes did it.

I greatly prefer it, though. Having a guy in a suit for the Oni to fight, yes. I missed the tactile threat of monsters in this show, and the best Hibiki fights have been the ones where it's human-scaled. Very excited to see some weird new monster dog that turns into a flaming wheel and just randomly shows up to murder people.

Deep dish pizza is a prank that Chicago plays on tourists. It's not supposed to be something anyone actually eats.

I think the biggest change, narratively, is how we're shifting from the drama being an External thing to an Internal thing? These are no longer purely good people who are working together in a nice, friendly way. They're Inoue characters now, so they're going to frequently be petty, or rude, or mean, or lazy, or or or. Even the jokey Hibiki thread in this one has a beat where Ichiro and Hinaka play up their illness to get out of work. That's a dick move!

Had this been the way things were from the start... well, a lot of folks didn't seem to love Faiz, so I'm not sure the appraisal would've been that different. But I think there'd be less of a feeling that the characters Aren't Right, which can only help.

Imagine watching this and the next several episodes on TV as they aired, unaware of the shift in production crew beforehand.

The joke is that Hitomi says that Asumu has changed since he went to the mountain with Hibiki (Episode 29), and yet it's everything around Asumu that's changed.

So it has begun. *dramatic music playing in the background*

TALKING OF MUSIC. I was too caught up in the wider thematic discussion of the movie to mention... what a damn good way to open it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPK2Pv5IN5g


Very simple, very effective, and despite everything said about the movie; very Hibiki.

Well, that didn't take long at all. :lol

Let me say this to start: I'm in total agreement with Switchblade on how Kiriya fits into the show. His existence is the very symbol of Hibiki's retool to me, because no single element in this portion of the series exemplifies the clash in vision better. He was purpose-built to appeal to both Inoue's love of interpersonal conflict and Shirakura's aversion to stories told from a single perspective. His introduction is a jarring shift from the mutually supportive atmosphere Hibiki built itself around, and arguably a very cheap, unimaginative way to "spice up" the world of the show.

That being said, I've always kinda liked the guy?

Part of it is the actor, maybe, but, much like Die, I'm often a sucker for some Inoue style drama, and while I kinda vilified the staff for his creation up there, I also think the fact that the first thing they did with the show was try to make Asumu's story more compelling does constitute an act of good faith, and at least a basic understanding that some elements of the show need to stay unique.

Obviously the definition of "compelling" is going to be hugely subjective, but I remember finding Kiriya and Asumu's scenes together consistently pretty interesting for one reason or another. And the key word here is "remember", since, as a reminder, I'm not actively rewatching the rest of the show. Which should be fine, because, uh, and I kinda hate to admit this, but I remember a lot more specifics about the retool era of the show? Not that much more, but there are some things in this stretch that are pretty hard to forget.

Anyway, I'm happy to see you having a good time with this brave new world of Inoue-y good/badness, Die! Hopefully you'll feel things keep on a solid enough track going forward.

I'm glad you brought this up yourself, because I was legitimately planning on quoting your post from after you finished Hibiki where you made this same point. I still vividly remember reading that and genuinely wondering if you were exaggerating for comedic effect or something at first. I was more than a little shocked after going back to watch that scene. :lol

the people who like kiriya also probably like akira date

You mean one of the best secondaries ever? Bit of a fluctuation in taste, but... sure!

wow cant believe youd call kiriya the secondary in hibiki but i guess that makes sense for the 2nd half

Quick FYI, the post for 31 is, uh... it's going to be a weird one. Sorry in advance, but there was absolutely no way around it. Not necessarily a fun read, but sometimes these shows make me talk about things.

I am nothing if not predictable!

I totally get how Kiriya can seem like Drama For Drama's Sake, but I really don't think he's that incongruent to the world of the show? It's not like some space alien becomes his new roommate or something, this is just some new kid at school who's a colossal prick. It's not the usual thing of Asumu living a relatively charmed life like the earlier era, but Kiriya's just kind of hard to be friends with, that's all. I don't know! Things will probably change, and maybe he'll get to be too much (never), but for all of the things that I think are ridiculous about him... yeah, didn't find his entry into the narrative as cheap or forced.

If anything, he's following the formula of Things Get More Dangerous For The Lead Around Episode 30, and Asumu's the lead, soooooo...

I'm sorry, do you mean noted Bears fan Akira Date? Because I love that dude!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...y9eqk1kp31.jpg

Every Hibiki fan towards Die at the end of this thread:

https://i.imgur.com/HgNEbTb.gif

But nah in serious talk, it'll be interesting to see where your mind goes as the show does.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 31 - "SURPASSING FATHER"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki31a.png

"Blame yourself blame your mother blame the sea
Blame a lover blame psychiatry
To never know what kind of man your father'd be
How you'd wished he'd kept a diary"

-Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, "Man O, War"

My dad died when I was two.

I never really got to know him, not in any way that'd make sense to an adult. I've always lived without that experience of having a father. It wasn't really something I thought about, growing up. It didn't drive me, or haunt me. Not having a dad was like not having a swimming pool or not having a dog. I knew that some people did, and I knew that it was something that I didn't. It was just... a fact, something neutral and indisputable. No emotional weight. It was me and mom, and that was fine. It was enough.

Until, one day, it wasn't. I don't even remember the first time I started to wonder what it would've been like to know my dad, to have been raised by him and my mom, together. Early 20s, probably. It just happened, this What If. We'd've never moved out of Virginia. He had a government job, and that wasn't going anywhere. I'd've gone to different schools, had different hobbies, followed different paths. Idle speculation, you know? A million things in your life could've gone differently, so it's nothing to really dwell on.

But it never really goes away, that curiosity. It builds, and grows. More often now, it's this thing of wondering if my dad would've been proud of me, if we'd've gotten along. It's not a given, from what I know of friends and their dads. But maybe we would've had a good relationship. We're similar, I've been told. My mom frequently tells me how much a mannerism of mine reminds her of my dad, or how the way I'll explain something is how he'd've done it. It's weird, feeling this echo in your life of someone you've never met. It's reassuring, at times, to feel like some part of them lives on in you. Other times, worse times, it's like something's been taken from you; some part of you that you're owed, that you've been robbed of. It's like a phantom limb, this loss that's still with you, forever.

All of which is to say, yes, I feel this Kiriya plot intensely.

I like this slightly different direction for Hibiki, one where it's doing less from the perspective of parents (Hibiki, Ibuki, Ichiro, Zanki) and really really really drilling into the idea of boys who need father figures. There's some very hand-waved monster fighting in this one (Dogwheel is a great suit with zero going on narratively), but the bulk of the storytelling is about Kiriya and Asumu feeling this absence in their lives, and how they try to fill it.

Asumu's story is the better of the two, if I'm being honest. It's more complete, for one, and Asumu's just easier to care about. The things it's tapping into, the abandonment, it's not really as relatable to me as the Kiriya parts of this episode, but it's so well-told that I bought it. I bought all of it.

I get why people might miss the earlier era of this show, and how pleasant it was. The Asumu plot from this episode is rough. It's this kid who feels scared of learning who his father is, and then learns that he's an awesome dad... to his new family. It's Asumu finding the strength to live with feeling like he wasn't good enough to make his dad stay. It's an irrational thought, as though his dad leaving was anything to do with him as a child, but you can see on his face at the end that it's going to be something he thinks about for a long time. He had his moment of proving to his dad that he was worth loving, worth respecting, and that's no small victory for Asumu. But his face at the end. Him sitting in the back of his mom's cab, realizing that this man lived a better life without him in it... that is a rough story. That is a sad story. It's great, though. I loved watching it.

(Real quick, though, huge praise for AsuMum in this episode. She's always always great, but she nailed the single mom energy in this one. She clearly knows that Asumu is going to learn things about his dad that are going to break his heart, but he deserves to know the truth, so she has to let him get hurt. Her handing him the dad's address without looking him in the eyes! Her showing up to drive him home! Her being like It Is Okay To Have Positive Feelings About A Man Who Abandoned You! Her taking him out for junk food! That is 100% how single moms make only children feel better!)

Kiriya's story is more open-ended, and occasionally Very Weird (he immediately challenges Hibiki to any contest whatsoever), but I get it. I get where Kiriya's coming from. There's this thing inside Kiriya that... it's like he doesn't know how he works. He's this collection of skills that mean nothing, in a life that he can't quantify. It's like he's taking a course that has no final exam. He needs to be measured, because he needs to show that he deserves his father's love and respect. But he can't ever get that, so he's looking for some dad, any dad, to feel like he's good enough.

I mean, it's weird. Hibiki is just, like, some guy that Kiriya fixates on. But it's also maybe something I'm surprised to see the show commenting on, which is how possibly detrimental it is for boys to find father figures in TV show superheroes. It's maybe a subtle critique of the earlier Hibiki phase's mission statement, that perfect heroes like Hibiki (for an approachably weird value of Perfect) are not doing young men any favors when it comes to providing examples on how to live.

Now, a) I don't agree with that, and b) I don't think the show agrees with that. But. I think it's a question worth exploring, if heroes like Hibiki create unattainable standards in the minds of the children watching them. It'll be interesting if the show continues to comment on it through Asumu and Kiriya.

Anyway, I loved this episode. I thought it was poignant and touching, for the ways it used absent fathers as an eternal wound in children. I get these two kids. I get what's driving them, and I thought the show did a phenomenal job telling their stories. I mean, this is an episode that juxtaposed Hibiki detonating a monster with Asumu building a doghouse to reclaim the sense of self-worth his father shredded by abandoning him, and the doghouse stuff was the more compelling climax. Really into this era of Hibiki so far!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki31b.png

This is not relevant to anything but I love how much older Kiriya looks then Asumu. The actors are only 2 years apart in age, but Kirya looks like a 20 something as opposed to Asumu looking 14 to 15.

(also that was a really good post die, like holy crap)

Sorry if this comes across way douche-y, because I really don't want it to, but I really have no idea how else to word it. So, really sorry in advance, and I understand if you get upset.

But, considering how much this episode spoke to you on a personal level, it spoke to me on a personal level too!

...Except in the exact opposite direction.

I won't go into detail since I'm kinda walking on thin ice as is(maybe at the end of the thread or when I rewatch Hibiki myself sometime in 2021), but I will say that I am atleast glad that this episode managed to reach you in a positive way, even if it gave me the exact opposite feeling.

From someone who grew up in somewhat similar circumstances, sorry about the feelings you had to go through in the past, and I hope things have overall gotten better for you in that respect.

Hey, so, time for a ~super~ embarrassing confession – I went years somehow having it in my head that this was final pre-retool episode of Hibiki.

Like, I think I forgot Kiriya was in it, and in retrospect, there's no way this would be the plot the old show ended on, but what I didn't forget about it, and why I think the confusion happened, is because I remember adoring this one, and only Real Hibiki was ever any good, right?

I don't have some deep personal way to relate to it, and I can't recall details, but that scene at the very end with Asumu and his mom in particular, this exact frame and line, are burned into my brain more than just about anything else in Hibiki.

https://i.imgur.com/yGsPpjG.png

There's a real weighty mood to that whole scene, where it's just kinda processing the drama and emotions of the past 20 minutes, each little line saying more than it seems like at first, that I found myself so invested in. I don't know if I would think this episode holds up on a rewatch or anything, but, at the time at least, I was way into it, and I'm glad Die found so much to love in here too.

I... I have no idea how anyone could ever compare one of the worst Kamen Rider characters with one of the best. I am legitimately confused here.

Bad joke incoming
And here we see a preview of the parental issues of neo-hesei
Bad joke concluded.

I saw what you did there! You think you're so clever, don't you?

Well, you are. And you made me laugh. So, good on you.

I can definitely relate to Asumu's situation here, too. My dad is alive, but he's never really been part of my life and being around him has never felt comfortable. I remember this episode definitely hit a bit close to home at the time. Now, though, it just feels like another element that doesn't work with the show's pre-Inoue continuity.

We don't learn a lot about Asumu's dad in the first 29 episodes. He taught Asumu drums and he's estranged from Asumu's mom. The only other things we get is that both Hibiki and Ibuki initially remind Asumom of him. From that I've always assumed that he was meant to be an Oni, possibly one who went off into the field and never came back. That's just an assumption, though. I'm pretty sure the plan wasn't for him to just be a neglectful dick.

So, the monster. I said I'd say my piece yesterday and here it is: I don't like the new Makamou we get here. It's not an awful design, but it is definitely not a Makamou. It feels like a lot of the monsters from here on out are just things that Toei had lying around that got repurposed to be a cheaper alternative to giant CGI crabs.

Well, Kiriya is a Handsome Boy and Asumu is a Cute Marshmallow (Hibiki thinks it's the cheeks, I think it's the eyes), so they both have their strengths. But yeah, Kiriya looks like he'd definitely be graduating high school, not just starting it. Maybe he's trained himself to look older?

And thanks!

Nobody needs to worry about my feelings if you didn't like something and I did! I am maybe more interested in talking about those things than I am things I agree with! If you've got problems with it, let me hear them!

To your final thought, thanks, but I don't want that post to make it seem like I'm haunted by my dad's memory or anything. My point was more that it's not something that ever really gets better or goes way, but it's also not constantly on my mind. It's one of the biggest What Ifs you can have as someone who lost a parent when you were a child, but it's just a What If. Like, I can't really mourn someone I never knew, but I can occasionally mourn the fact that I never knew him. I'm not sure what your situation is, so I'm not sure if that's been your experience as well.

It's the thing that I think Inoue's really good at that maybe he doesn't get enough credit for: dude knows how to land an emotional episode. There's really no ambiguity to that final scene in the car, no question as to how this story has affected Asumu and AsuMum. There was a point to this story, and Inoue wants you to be clear on what it was. But, like, it's not just spelling it out, it's phrasing it in such clever, poignant ways. It's also letting the actors find that emotion, letting them sell you on what these characters have gone through.

I don't know, I think this episode (and a bunch of Agito and Faiz stories) are great at summarizing their morals and themes without insulting the viewer's intelligence.

If this one didn't get me so much in my heart feelings, I was aching to recap Kiriyia's story with a big ol' classic ALL DADS ARE DEAD.

I wonder! I'd've been surprised if there was never meant to be something with Asumu's dad, considering you can't really do Kamen Rider Dads without closing off that plotpoint. But, yeah, it seems unlikely that the very sweet Asumu would've needed to grapple with abandonment issues. Probably would've been something lower-key.

I do think it fits in with the overall sense of getting Asumu to confront his fears and move forward with his life. Hibiki basically tells him that he's running away from dealing with his dad. Having his dad be someone who's not a bad guy, just someone that won't be a part of Asumu's life... like, it's a sad story, but it's not a mean story? Asumu's dad is just an idea floating through this episode. He doesn't yell at Asumu or tell him he's worthless, because the point isn't that Asumu's dad is what matters. What matters is that Asumu needs to confront his feelings about his dad, not necessarily confront his dad. There's a great point near the end where Asumu says that he didn't see his dad, but he feels like he met him. What Asumu's dad has to say to his son... I don't know, I feel like the smartest thing this episode did was skip that confrontation.

So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that tonally, this fits right alongside the shoplifter story or Asumu's entrance exams.

Also, boy, absolutely nothing to the monster plot in this one. The Oni either stumble upon Dogwheel, or it just jumps them. (In Delta Alley, no less! Inoue's been on this show for two episodes and we're already back in Delta Alley! Delta's so powerful he retooled Hibiki to get them back to his alleyway!) There's zero substance, it's all just style. I liked the style, though!

Nice to see that this episode had an effect on you. Sorry to hear about your dad.

And now, down to business with a bit of random trivia. The guy playing Kiriya, Yuichi Nakamura, is the first actor in a Tokusatsu production to be played by a member of the acting group D-Boys or its sub unit D2. Later contributions to the Tokusatsu mythology from that group include BoukenBlue/the original Kamen Rider Blades, Ultraman Mebius, GekiRed, Kuroshishi Rio (the rival to the previous character on this list), Kamen Rider Kiva, Go-OnGreen, Kamen Rider IXA IV, Decade’s version of Kabuto’s secondary, Makura from Kamen Rider W, Kazari, Uva, GokaiBlue, Kengo and JK from Fourze, Kamen Rider Aqua, Enter (the main bad guy from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters), AkibaRed, Gremlin, Ultraman Ginga, Kamen Rider Kurokage (the original, not the grunts who stole the suit for themselves), ToQIchigou, ZyuohEagle, the Vernier Bugster’s original host, one of the Ride-Players, Taiga’s dead friend from his origins miniseries and Engine Bros. (Note that some of the people on this list have either retired or left the group at this point. This is just a general list.

(Talking of notable casting, I’d like to request that nobody tell who the next episode’s guest star is, since I’ve got a picture that’s perfect for that purpose and I need to upload it at a certain point for it to be fully effective)

I’ll also mention one thing I’ve just realised. The Oni are all about pushing themselves to be better than they are, Kiriya wants to be better than he is. With a little work, it’s a match made in heaven.
And here’s my vague lyrical hint for next time.

Try to be best
‘Cause you're only a man
And a man's gotta learn to take it
Try to believe
Though the going gets rough
That you gotta hang tough to make it
History repeats itself
Try and you'll succeed
Never doubt that you're the one
And you can have your dreams!
-Joe Esposito, You’re the Best

It was more meant to be a gag about my own personal distaste for both characters. Sorry if it wasn't clear. I tend to type in all lowercase with no punctuation whenever I'm joking.

Okay I get that, but some people just type like that normally. :P

Agreed. I'm genuinely curious to see if Die can figure it out on his own. I hope nobody else spoils it for him.

That is an insane list. Amazing work compiling it! Thank you!

If by "a little work" you mean all of Takeshi fixing Kiriya's massive psychological and emotional shortcomings... yeah, he's definitely got the drive to be an Oni! And literally nothing else it takes to be an Oni! (Also Akira would probably murder him within his first few days of training!)

Since you watched Drive, you might be more familiar with Mikami Masashi as the dead fortune teller from Episode 14 and 15.

Yeah, this show was the beginning of what I call the D-Boys era which is still going on somewhat. After Nakamura was on Hibiki, the following year Igarashi played Mirai/Mebius in Ultraman Mebius, and the year after Suzuki was Jan/Geki Red and Araki was Lio in Gekiranger. Keep in mind though Mikami who was Souta/Bouken Blue during the same year Igarashi was Mebius joined D-Boys after Boukenger. But yeah, D-Boys and D2 have been a stable for many toku alumni since 2005. D2 was originally I think intended as their trainee program or the minor league equivalent but last I heard they later decided to make it its own thing cause the D-Boys roster was being crowded iirc. They also have ties to Prince of Tennis cause most of them played roles in the musicals and live action movie.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 32 - "BURSTING WITH SONG"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32a.png

"I'm genuinely sorry
That I missed your party
You should try holding
All the guilt I still carry"

-Camera Obscura, "I Missed Your Party"

Fun, but, like, not much to talk about?

It's leaning real heavy into the humor, this one. Kogure's ridiculous. The new Douji and Hime are ridiculous. Kiriya is extra ridiculous. The whole thing is colossally off the rails. It's very fun, don't get me wrong, but it's also so untethered from anything dramatic that it just barely sticks in my brain.

There is a moral here, though. Kogure is forcing Todoroki to contemplate incredibly dangerous actions to gain his approval, something that Zanki immediately sees as pointless and opts out of this story. Meanwhile, Kiriya is getting, impossibly, more insufferable as Asumu won't help him get in with Hibiki. Both characters are burning themselves out to get the approval they crave, which is a fun idea to explore.

Except, it's applied to characters that just don't matter that much? Todoroki especially comes off too weird here, as his need to prove himself to Kogure feels like an insult to Zanki. We've never met Kogure before, and, yeah, Todoroki is going to be the most needy Oni when it comes to the approval of others, but it feels way too quick and way too dangerous here. Todoroki was at the meeting where two different Oni said that Kogure's new weapon broke their powers, and he's just okay with endangering himself? I don't know, I can sort of see it, but it requires Todoroki to be Comically Short-Sighted for it to work for the story. It was a little too much for me. Fun, but hard to invest in.

The Kiriya plot is more believable, for sure. Kiriya is already losing his shit over not being able to test himself against Hibiki, so it's no real surprise that he'd openly insult Asumu (who's just like What Are You Even Talking About to most of it, which I loved) and tag along to wherever Hibiki is going to be. It doesn't amount to anything, of course, but it makes sense for Kiriya's character. But my problem is that it leaves Asumu with nothing to do this episode, and I don't know if that's ever going to work for me in a Hibiki episode. Other characters can get the spotlight (this one's a heavy Oni episode), but Asumu at least needs the B-plot for the episode. Here, he gets a couple reaction scenes and nothing else. Don't love that!

The rest of the episode is just insane. Kogure is a parody of a stern disciplinarian, and while it's funny as shit (the spankings!), it's so over-the-top that it's hard to care much about winning him over. It's like trying to impress Super Nintendo Chalmers, from the Simpsons. He's a joke. Why bother?

The new Douji and Hime are great as the villains, though. I love their excitable, goofy energy. I'm way more of a fan of human-sized fights, so an episode of Doujis Vs Himes, that concludes with all three Oni versus the new Douji and Hime at Kamen Rider Cliff? Hell yes. Very into that in principle, and the fight more than delivered. It had multiple level, cool powers, great costumes, and unpredictable villains. What's not to love?

But, like, that's the thing about this episode. On paper, it's full of things I like. The jokes are great, there's a theme, and the fights are great. But the construction was too wacky, and the characters were too broad. I don't know. It was fun, but it's not really one I can defend. Bit of a misfire. Could probably have used some correction!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32c.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32d.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32e.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki32g.png

So, as it may surprise you to learn, I don't like the Super Douji and Hime. They're another very obvious break with the tone and rules of the show as established under Takatera. We've seen some more comedic pairs before, but the buddhist priest robes are a massive departure in appearance and they don't even swap the actors' voices anymore. You technically get more direct performances this way, but it really doesn't feel like the same characters anymore.

Anyway, the big thing about this episode is the guest star. Stepping in for this arc we have...

Ow!

What the hell just hit my neck?

Is this a dart? Where did...

Getting... sleepy...

Zzz...

Yeah, it's rough to see the New Villains spend an episode running around and destroying the old villains. As a statement, it's a pretty emphatic dig against the previous creative team in as bold a way as you can. It's... not a great look. I think there's some more juice in the new guys, but them one-shotting all of the previous lieutenants? Tacky. Tacky move by Inoue.

I’ve not much to say here, since I’m still holding off on who’s playing Kogure until the next episode, and you may or may not figure it out by then.

But I will say one of the Oni shown losing his power, Shouki (Victorious Demon) is played by Ibuki’s suit actor, in the same way that Danki is played by Hibiki’s suit actor.

I also looked it up and with this episode having all active Oni but Ibuki and Sabaki that we know of losing their powers, that means the quarter of Japan they’re in charge of (they only cover the Kantō region, with nothing said for Kansai, Kyushu or Hokkaido) is currently massively understaffed.

And my next time lyrics.

Carnival! Kanari up!
Survival no step!! Matsuri no hajimari da!
Kimero dancing no action!
High tension na beat! Mou tomerarenai ze!

Kono mi ni uzumaku atsui melody
Sekai ni hibikaseru ze
Shouri no uta da, Carnival!
Akaki shin no yuusha
- Showgo Kamada, Chou Shinka! Kyoryu Beat!

I originally shared who plays Kogure on this post but realized belatedly Androzani84 is hyping it, so forget what I originally wrote here. My bad Androzani, did not mean to steal your thunder.

The new production team had no loyalty to anything Takatera set up. I hadn’t heard this before, but according to a video Androzani posted a few pages back, dropping Asumu from the show had been on the table at one point.

He looks sort of familiar, but I'm not getting there yet. We'll see if I figure it out tonight. I would not count on it, though!

I mean, that sounds terrible, and it absolutely would've ruined the show, but... yeah, I can see why it would be on the table. If you get hired to fix a piece of art, everything needs to be on the table. The story-breaking session for the second phase of Hibiki needed to examine every possible new configuration. If they went in with a big list of Don'ts, they probably wouldn't be the right team for the job.

But! That's all pre-show discussion, and it's to see that (not counting the last episode) they've realized how core Asumu is to the show's identity and purpose. I don't think them entertaining cutting Asumu is disqualifying, since that's not a decision they ended up making.

Especially when you’re going in with the specific remit of “this is broken; fix it.”

Well, maybe this one apparently being a bit of a misfire explains why I went so long thinking New Hibiki started after the Asumu's dad plot. Overly wacky construction and characters that are too broad certainly sounds like a more unpleasant reminder you're watching something written by Inoue.

Oh, and while suit actor trivia is relevant again, Ibuki's suit actor Yoshifumi Oshikawa got bumped from tertiary Rider to secondary the same way Itou got bumped up to primary as Hibiki. He previously played Gills, Zolda, Delta, and Garren, which you might think makes him complicit in the "Chalice is the secondary" conspiracy, but actually, I heard that Delta is so cool, Oshikawa just needed to play Tachibana-san the next year to balance things out. :p

He'll always mostly be Red Buster in my heart, anyway.

I will add that, from what I've found out (which is mostly reading the same Wikipedia page I think Taka was in that video), it seems that Shirakura himself was actually surprisingly loyal to Takatera's vision, and was going out of his way to defend it from the people who were seriously throwing out ideas like "let's get rid of major cast members!" There's even a quote sourced from some magazine interview in 2008 where he says protecting Hibiki was his greatest priority for that half-year.

Which, like, obviously he'd put it that way, but looking up stuff about the show, it's still further evidence to me that Shirakura is maybe overly vilified by some of the fandom. Although he apparently also actively encouraged Inoue to do whatever he wanted with his Hibiki scripts after realizing forcing him to mimic the old style wasn't going to work out, so make of that what you will.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 33 - “ARMORED BLADE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki33a.png

“I’m working
But I’m not working for you”

-Superchunk, “Slack Mother******”

Remember when this show used to be about something?

I mean, there’s a moral here, ostensibly. In the one and only Asumu scene, Hibiki sort of compares Kiriya’s inability to see Asumu’s worth with Todoroki’s inability to see past Kogure’s brusqueness. Hibiki says that there’s value in getting to know people, no matter how irrelevant or off-putting they may be, because there’s a chance you could learn something from them. Don’t judge a book by its cover, basically.

It’s just an incredibly stupid moral, is the problem.

Kiriya has been a monumental (but entertaining!) jackass to Asumu, treating him terribly and then having the gall to act offended at Asumu’s reluctance to tolerate him. When Kiriya sees Hibiki, he asks him right in front of Asumu why he’s hanging out with Asumu since he’s so lame. Asumu not telling Kiriya to go to hell is actually the kindest thing Asumu’s ever done on this show, including swerving his bike to avoid running over Hibarki. (Just like Hibiki!) This isn’t a case of Asumu being too quick to judge, it’s arguably a case of Asumu being too much of a doormat.

So Hibiki just going Befriend Everyone, like some sort of proto-Fourze… I mean, it’s got nothing to do with Kogure’s plot, honestly. Kogure is a stern disciplinarian, but he’s also a) their boss, and b) someone who actually wants the Oni to succeed. Kiriya’s just being an all-the-time dick, and Asumu is almost certainly better off dedicating his time to his training and his actual friends (hey remember hitomi and akira) than feeding Kiriya’s bottomless narcissism.

I appreciate the show trying to have Kogure’s weird taskmaster thing reflect onto Asumu’s storyline, but it’s unbelievably strained to compare Kiriya/Asumu to Kogure/Oni, and even that connection is literally one scene. We don’t see Asumu or Kiriya for the rest of the episode. It’s the slimmest, most tenuous connection the two main storylines of the show could have while still technically connecting, and it’s not super fun to think about. Bad writing, plain and simple.

Which, that’s my biggest (and, maybe only) criticism of Inoue. He’s a Big Swing guy, which results in either home runs or strikeouts. If he gets ahold of a topic or theme or motif that he really has something to say about, it’s genius. When he can’t really figure out something deeper than A Fun Concept, it’s frustrating and mediocre. There’s no inbetween with that dude, no singles or doubles or triples. If it’s not a total success, it’s probably going to be an abject failure.

Which… yeah, hard to find more than surface pleasures in this one. The Kogure thing really only has one move on it (he was a great Oni once, you should respect him), and it’s asking a lot to forgive how just plain mean he is for the bulk of this story. Like Kiriya and Asumu, it’s a beat that needs the Oni to just take it for the entirety of the story and then be like Oh He Was Right All Along.

Even the Oni getting their powers back, and Hibiki being able to use the Armed Saber… it barely feels like they did anything to deserve it? They just train a bunch, get browbeaten by Kogure, HENSHIN, new form, monster explosion, roll Shounen Yo. Hibiki didn’t really change his opinion of Kogure over the course of this thing, didn’t really learn or grow. Todoroki maybe learned something, but he’s irrelevant to the defeat of the Makamou. It’s just a dumb plot (they lost their powers!) that gets treated as no big deal and has a nothing resolution.

Overall, yeah, god, this one’s a big bomb for me. There’s some cute character stuff (this new phase of Hibiki seems to have promoted Hinaka to Main Sister) and… I don’t know, it eventually ends? I’m not still watching this story? I guess that’s a positive.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki33b.png

... but, hey, at least Armed looks cool! Right?

look just is the sword supposed to be a fishing rod or what

it's driving me crazy

Yeah, this is starting to come back to me a bit; I'm pretty sure I kinda hated these episodes? I've long resented Armed Hibiki for how it symbolizes Hibiki having all its unique flavor torn away, and if the episode it debuted in was this fun, it makes sense I'd have those feelings.

Because it is, admittedly, a very cool design in its own right, and for that matter, it was definitely part of the plan for the show even if certain Big Changes hadn't happened. Kurenai was already a deliberate ploy to appeal to kids, and Midori (who is not the same character as Hitomi!) specifically has a line of dialogue in one of the last pre-retool episodes mentioning how she's making Disc Animals that can turn into armor.

So I feel bad that I hate Armed Hibiki, but yeah, when the thing I remember most from the episode is the dumb gag leading into the ED playing (did you figure out who's playing Kogure yet?), it's maybe not a good sign?