You're going to ignore me, because everyone else does, but stop now. There is nothing of value to be gained in keeping up with the show after the creators were fired.

Seriously. This. Just, do yourself a favor and like... don't.

Is it the worst thing in KR ever? No, but it's not even worth it.

You finally admitted it exists...

Switchblade always tries to warn people off in vain when they get to the Hibiki retool. You even got one when you were watching it!

Sorry, but at this point morbid curiosity really got the better of me :v

I've watched a few episodes of this New Hibiki. This new character already annoyed the hell out of me, Asumu has daddy issue all of sudden, it looks like they're going to be less countryside-focused, and new OP is inferior to the instrumental one IMO. Apart from those, it's okay-ish; there's a nice quiet moment between Asumu and his mom, and I like that we get to see the other side of the latter after all these times she's been portrayed as a bubbly lady who infatuates over young handsome men. I kinda wonder if I would notice something's wrong if I don't know beforehand about the switch (probably yes, sooner or later).

I like well-developed tension, but I can also really appreciate this super warm and friendly aura. Probably the closest KR could ever get to a slice-of-life. I rarely care or follow actors outside of their roles in the shows I'm watching, but at one point I googled the cast because I like them so much I wanted to know who's playing who and what they've been up to. Such a bummer to discover that the actress playing Hinaka-chan (Miyuki Kanbe) has already passed away at very young age... RIP.

I am the Cassandra of Kamen Rider Hibiki.

That's fair. Tension keeps viewers wanting to come back.
I just think that Hibiki's warmer vibes helps it be more unique. Coming off the backs of Faiz and Blade, a series with a more relaxed tone was a welcome change.
I also like that unlike other series that try to go for a less intense story, Hibiki doesn't just fall back on slapstick. It's really just a more slice of life season.

Also, I didn't know she had passed away. That's awful...

Actually, I did stop at the warning. Hibiki 29 is a perfect cap to the series. While it doesn't answer the question about the mystery man, it ending with the group holding a little celebration at the end of a successful victory was just quite nice~

Picked Agito back up. Rather than trying to figure out where I dropped, I just started from the beginning.

It's a pretty nice show. I have no idea what is going on, but otherwise, I'm enjoying it. The back and forth between the household and police office keeps things fresh, and helps the cast feel more organic. Shouichi is a lovable idiot.

Also, it's quite refreshing to have a series that's main downtime area isn't a cafe.
I'm thinking Blade set that precedent, but I don't remember Ryuki's "Downtime" area since i finished that show ages ago and I haven't seen Faiz...

^Black and Kuuga also have a prominent cafe, so it went even further back. Ryuki has one as well, although it shares its downtime function with a news publication office. Faiz' is a laundry service establishment slash co-living space; come to think of it, that may be the only KR show I've watched without such a cafe/restaurant.

The idea of the protagonists hanging out at a cafe goes allll the way back to Snack Amigo in the original series, which I believe got ditched pretty early on (when Rider 2 showed up?), but it was also there from the very beginning, so I guess it left an impression.