I would never advocate watching TV-Nihon's sub of Hibiki. It's old, low quality, and has some significant translation mistakes (more on that in the next paragraph). If there's one advantage it has over the newer high definition subs, though, it's that the early 00s CGI looks a lot less bad when the entire video is running at 240p. It's a problem I have with owning Garo on blu-ray, too: even the best old CGI ages badly and this stuff was never that high quality to begin with. It's not, like, Captain Power level janky, but it was definitely made on a TV show budget.

The TV-Nihon translation misses a really critical line in this episode from when Asumu and his mom are going up the mountain trail. One of the other hikers says that Hibiki reminded him of Asumu's dad. This isn't the last time that idea will come up. It's led me to wonder if Asumu's father was meant to be an Oni, too. Sadly, that never gets addressed in more depth before the production change so it has to remain just a theory.

I think I’ll point out here that Hibiki is not his real name. In fact, much like Amazon back in the Showa Era, Hibiki’s real name is never said on screen. (It’s Hitoshi Hikada by the way).

I’ll also point out that his show’s whole theme of mentors reminds me of a random tweet I read once talking about how Tokusatsu writers also have mentors when they first start out. The examples they used were Yasuko Kobayashi mentoring under a Metal Heroes writer (I forget which one, but it was one from the early 90s) and Kento Shimoyama (writer of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters… ‘s side material post-retool, Kikaider (reboot), Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, Super Doubutsu Taisen, Kamen Sentai Gorider and Kamen Rider Zi-O) mentored under Yoshino Urasawa (writer of several Toei Fushigi Comedies, Gekisou Sentai Carranger and Movie Wars Ultimatum). I’m also convinced that Junko Komura (Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger, Lupinranger vs Patranger, Healin’ Good Pretty Cure) mentored under Naruhisa Arakawa (I’m sure you’re familiar with what he wrote. If you aren’t, then what’s wrong with you?).

What? I barely have anything to say about the first half unless it’s a debut or episode 24. I’ll be a lot more passionate (and on-topic) after the movie.

Oh hey, you've started Hibiki! How was Blade BTW?

This second episode really shows how unique Hibiki's fighting style is compared to other Riders. His finisher is the most spectacular part. Usually a finisher is like the climax but with the Oni, it's the main course, preceded by a starter. Exterminating giant monsters with a taiko drum is cool and not something you will see anywhere else. Hibiki is also my favorite color, and the only Primary Rider with that color in the Heisei Era.

Thematically, the show is very different. It's still Kamen Rider since there are Riders but the role of the protagonist kind of shifts between Hibiki and Shounen. Hibiki is the oldest Primary Rider in the Heisei Era and a lot more experienced than the typical Rider protagonist. Instead, the inexperienced guy is Shounen, who gives us a unique perspective as a guy following Kamen Rider as a spectator, like us. However, each arc has its own moral where Shounen's problem is reflected in the Oni's problem and the difference is in how the problem is resolved, which allows Shounen to learn and develop. In that way, I agree with the connections people make to Kuuga, although personally I think Hibiki does it just a little better due to how cleverly subtle the A and B plots relate to each other.

The other atypical thing about the show, which has already been mentioned, is the setting. This arc on the island is a good example of what you can expect from the first half, a lot of atmospheric action scenes in mountains, woods, caves, etc which is very much part of the show's identity about fighting the forces of nature and how nature can be both good and evil, linking to the whole theme of Kamen Rider about evil powers used for good.

For reasons that people have already informed you about, this show is ultimately not high on my ranking, but nevertheless, I appreciate it for its cool unique style and the potential it showed.

Neat! I really like the concept of these writers learning under more experienced writers in a more... structured (?) way. The baked-in role of a mentor to the process of learning to craft story, I think it's incredibly valuable.

I barely remember, but, good? I think? Good character work, a group of villains that never thrilled me, and a perfect final episode. It was fun to watch!

I haven't really talked about the suit or the fights yet. I'll try to do it for the next episode. It doesn't feel... like, I keep forgetting to talk about it because it just doesn't feel like a big deal yet? The part of the show where a man transforms into a superhero and fights monsters is easily the part of this show I'm currently least invested in. I hope that changes soon!

Is Shounen Asumu? I don't know if anyone's called anyone else Shounen on this show.

It's a very pretty first set of episodes, for sure. It's probably going to feel pretty weird to eventually see Hibiki in a city setting, instead of jumping over moss-covered logs.

i always love Hibiki's hand gesture, sometimes i use it irl to greet people

What I like best about it is its versatility. In human form, it's a crisp salute, a friendly acknowledgement. In Rider form, it's all of those things plus a way of saying Hi Did You Notice These Cool Horns You Can Compliment Them If You Want But No Pressure Or Anything.

Glad you enjoyed it. People don't seem to talk about it a lot, not outside your thread anyway. I hope it can live up to my expectations as well.

Yeah, Adachi Asumu is Shounen's real name and the focus character of the ending theme, Shounen Yo. Shounen is a nickname given to him by Hibiki, possibly translated as "Boy" in the subs depending on what you're using.

There's that scene in the OP where Hibiki is looking heroically out at the city, like the Oni are secretly protecting the city by keeping the Makamou at bay in their natural habitat.

Reminds me of how Build would stroke his Tank antenna during his "I have the winning formula!" catchphrase. I adopted Hibiki's salute as well.

Yeah, that was my impression before starting it. It was a series that just never seemed to get referenced by other fans. (Kabuto is my last Blind Spot series like that to watch, where it seems ignored/forgotten by the fandom.)

That thread will still be around, once you watch Blade. I'm not sure if I added much, but there's plenty of great background info on the memes and monsters, plus the usual fun discussion about how the series worked for everyone. I hope you have fun watching it!

Oh! Okay, got it. At this point in the series, Asumu hasn't really had a lot of dialogue with Hibiki.

It's not a spoiler per se, but how Oni names work is something the show itself will explain shortly, so imo it would have been better to let the show explain that as part of the story line.

and I'm late again

but yeah the first 29 episodes of this show are good the second half isn't IDK if to wait to repost my thoughts I posted a few weeks ago now or wait till we get there

We're only two episodes in! Plenty of time to catch up!

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 3 - "FADING VOICES"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki03a.png

"I'm even starting to wish that I'd finished a legal vocation
My life would be dull but at least I could go on vacation"

-Allo Darlin', "Silver Dollars"

It's so, so smart for this show to keep Asumu and Hibiki apart.

You'd think it'd go the other way, right? We just got the big conclusion to the premiere story. Asumu sees Hibiki defeat the monster. Hibiki sees Asumu see him defeat the monster. It's the start of a bold new friendship, one that'll define the series--

Except, no. Hibiki splits for his next gig, and Asumu heads home to get ready for his exams. It's not the start of anything, it's just some weird thing that happened over a weekend. Everyone gets on with their lives.

Except, no. Asumu can't stop dreaming over this bizarre world of heroes and monsters that he's maybe half-glimpsed. Hibiki can't stop wondering if this kid was put in his path for a reason. They both try and get back to their routines, but they can't stop wondering if something needs to change.

It's a really solid episode, if only in how much it drills into the reality of Asumu and Hibiki's day-to-day. Asumu is working hard to get into Jounan, but he keeps dreaming of the forests and adventures of Hibiki. His friends are executing on their plans, preparing for their futures, but Asumu's future has never seemed more in flux. All of the stresses of studying and exam prep feel like a distraction to him now, something that used to be important before he saw a wider, weirder world. Why do all of that hard work when he could be out adventuring like Hibiki?

Cut to the dull (if tranquil!) reality of being Hibiki: long drives to the middle of nowhere, endless data gathering, monotonous surveillance, and you can't even drink your tea in peace. It's nice to have that process juxtaposed against Asumu's daydreaming, if only to show that every job has dull parts. It's not like you can save the world by sitting in a basement reading about historical figures, or by eating donuts all day. Fighting monsters doesn't happen by accident!*

(*excluding basically every other Kamen Rider show. Don't tell Hibiki that he could just be blundering into these things by jumping in from out of frame!)

The actual monster fight... once again, not really my favorite part? I still don't feel like I've gotten a great look at the Hibiki suit, and it's the third goddamn episode. I've seen the Figure-Rise kit, and it seems like a neat design! Maybe show it off just a little? The fight, it's brief but fun but brief. Hibiki immolates Monkey 1 pretty quick, and grows claws to gut Monkey 2. (That moment when streams of goo shoot out of the stabbed Monkey 2! Oh man! Seems pretty extreme for a kids show!) After that, it's time for the baby Makamou to get upsized for the second part of the story.

It's... I mean, I know these shows have a formula, but did I not just see these same beats in the last two episodes? This is one of the things that ended up bugging me about Kuuga, and I can already see it rearing its head here. The monsters having the same plan, the same strategy every story, it's so dull to me. Like, I'm sure there's an in-story reason why the Monkey Makamou have to do things the same way the Spider Makamou did. The Grongi had their structure for a reason on Kuuga, too. But, man, it gets me so disinterested in the superhero/monster beats of the story. Especially when the cool parts of the monsters from the last story (there are two of them and they switched voices) gets brought back up again. I don't... I need some variety to these monster plots, or it's going to be very easy for me to start tuning them out.

Luckily, the monster plot (or the specific monster appearances) accounts for maybe three minutes of this episode. The rest of it is a very charming thread about Asumu maybe finding a new dream and maybe having that door close on him (the look on his face when he thinks Hibiki doesn't like him!); and a very funny story about Hibiki and Kasumi having jaw-droppingly good comedic chemistry as they deal with Hibiki's lack of operational security and maybe try to find a monster in the woods.

It's great, all of the character stuff. Hibiki is such a natural comic presence that literally every scene with him and Kasumi (and Asumu's mom) kills. The way he dances around when he sees Asumu's mom at the rest stop, him chewing gum on a road trip, the sheepish apology he gives Kasumi when she scolds him for maybe ruining Asumu's chances to get into a good school... all great. And, shit, Kasumi! So great! Consistently calls Hibiki out on his bullshit while always being supportive, and seems to be a fun person to hang around with. The two of them have such a solid rhythm to their comedy that you'd almost forget they're only half of the episode.

The other half is spent charting Asumu's newfound desire to be a Kamen Rider (mmmaybe?), and the way his old dream seems diminished by comparison. It's not really a funny plotline, but it's still pretty goddamn charming. Asumu's a kid that's easy to root for, with an optimistic attitude that never seems too sunny, too grating. He's excited, but not excitable. I'm totally into the show spending as much time as it wants showing me what this kid wants and what he's willing to do to get it.

I wasn't expecting the show to spend another couple episodes separating Hibiki and Asumu, but I'm super glad they did. I like getting to see them on their own, doing their thing. It'll mean more when they inevitably team-up. (Which I hope is in the next couple of episodes!) That said, man, the monster part of this show really needs to step up its game. It feels weird to like everything in a superhero show except for the superhero parts!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki03b.png

One of the things I really love about this show is how grounded it is. More than any other Rider series this one feels like it takes place in the real world. Monster attacks aside, the setting and characters feel very true to life.

Kasumi is played by an actress named Mayu Gamou. Before Hibiki she had done a short stint as a villain on the Super Sentai series Dekaranger. She did some other dramas and movies through the early 2010s, but this was the extent of her tokusatsu work. She's one of my favorite characters on the show - mostly because she's a great foil to Hibiki, but it doesn't hurt that she's objectively one of the most beautiful women on Earth.

It's another very Kuuga thing, the legwork and preparation that goes into a two-minute monster extermination, and I really enjoy it on this show. Like, just that little moment from Volume 2 when Hibiki's crafting new drum sticks. It's a combination of respectfulness, where the job deserves your attention and effort, and verisimilitude, where the shit that makes monsters get exterminated doesn't just come from nowhere. I really dig it, the thoroughness.

Thank you for bringing this up, because, uh, yes. I really wanted to put the focus on her acting and comedy chops when I was talking about the episode, but, goddamn, even Asumu's mom is like That Lady Hibiki Was With Was Gorgeous. It's canonical!

Ah yes, our heroes actively searching for monster activity in the wild instead of having a random plot and the monster appearing out of nowhere.

I don't think the word "Kamen Rider" was ever uttered in the entire series. Which is another oddity that makes Hibiki sticks out. Every series I saw they namedrop "Kamen Rider" like it's common knowledge in their respective universe, though to me using it feels a little forced. Like, what exactly is a "Kamen Rider" to them to know a Rider when they see it? Ever thought of that?

This is the kind of thing I'm surprised I didn't remember better. Hibiki's sweet Wolverine claws stuck in my head fine enough (I love those things), but the Amazon style shot of the monster leaking blood(?) the way a fire hose leaks water? Really surprising to see for something I've seen before. Although, I was watching the show with TV-Nihon's subs... maybe with that video quality, I legitimately didn't see what was happening. :lol

Oh, and speaking of TV-N, I'm starting to feel a lot of sympathy for the position they must've been in with Hibiki back in the day. So much of the dialogue in this series is these rapid-fire exchanges that seem to actively eschew the sort of clarity you'd expect from a drama, instead emphasizing that naturalistic feel. Makes for a fun show to to watch; probably does not make for a fun show to translate by ear!

And we come to reason the first for some certain changes. Parents thought the spurting liquids and fire breathing attacks were too violent for the kids at home and wrote in with angry letters.

And I’ll say this here. Before there was “Ore wa Tenkuji Takeru”, there was “Boku wa Adachi Asumu”.

And yeah, Asumu and Hibiki aren’t particularly close for some time, which is why Hibiki merely calls him “boy”. It’s a major moment when he uses the real name later on… and I totally missed it when I was watching. Thank god my subs came with the Super Hero Time commercial bumpers (Which that year had Mahou Sentai Magiranger’s Mandora Boy and Smokey the Magical Cat gushing over what happened after the episode was over).

That actually not that a unique to Hibiki there plenty of other Rider shows that never calls themselves Kamen Rider until the crossovers.

I guess it's just a testament to how well-trained Hibiki is. The other Riders are so awful at their jobs that can't have a scene transition without seeing a monster attacking civilians. Hibiki's so good at his that he has to go hunting for monsters to take down.

Especially now, when the only things we've seen Hibiki riding on are a car and a ferry. Probably wouldn't make you think Kamen Rider, if you're expecting V3 or someone.

That said, I'm a fan of Kamen Riders being such a part of Japanese culture by this point (34 years?) that even Hibiki would just be a Kamen Rider to the public inside his show, no need to explain it.

It's a great scene, and a gross scene, but also a weird scene. This is the second storyline where the Makamou with human faces and dialogue are treated like mooks, something for Hibiki to quickly dispatch in the first part of the story. (Well, except for the one that gets away. Just like the last story!) Maybe it's that seeing Hibiki having another long battle with a giant CGI monster feels like a poor trade-off, considering how little we got of the cooler human-sized monsters?

I mean, they weren't wrong! It's a pretty intense show sometimes!

(Also, hey, the Asumu stuff is maybe a little bit more than I'd want to know. Less of the "major moment later on" stuff would be awesome. Thanks!)

And then we get to Ex-Aid, where I'M A KAMEN RIDER is part of their Henshin!

Okay I only just started the first episode (6 minutes 6 seconds into it as of writing this post) but my god this is so wonderful.

Edit: like immediately after writing this we got a scene of a small child pinching Hibiki's earlope and that really made me smile since I did that as a kid.

Edit 2: So I really like how this is shot and framed. When Asuma is on screen, the world seems to shift a little bit, giving it some sense of wonder, but also of teenage tiredness, I think this is really evident in how the show has his mom and her friend talk in sync.

Edit 3: Okay the scene with Asuma talking with the adults as the only child there (or at least child his age) is so freaking good at portraying how alien and disconnected adults can feel to a kid and their troubles.

Sorry about that. I was trying to keep it as a vague “you know it’s gonna happen, but you don’t know when” hing, but i guess I revealed a bit too much.

That was a really common thing in the pre-Decade shows. I think Ryuki and Blade were the only ones that regularly used the term. The rest either had another word like “Oni” or just used the individual Rider’s name as both genus and species.

Oh, you poor bastard de gozarimasu desu.

With Hibiki in particular though, even moreso than your Kuugas or your 555s, I often try to avoid using the term “Kamen Rider” for them. To me, they’ll always be Oni.

One of the things that keeps me totally dialed into Asumu's story is that I basically was Asumu? I was the only child of a single mother, and everything about that comes across in the show: the way the traditional parent/child relationship is instead something more like teammates, two people who need to support each other to get by; the way you feel empowered to go off on adventures because there's no one around to say no; the big family gatherings where your mom loses herself in getting to talk to actual adults for a change, and all of the extra people feel suffocating, overloading you... everything about Asumu's life feels 100% real and 100% relatable to me.

I get it! I'm glad you're invested in the show. Not a huge deal!

tfw other than I'm pretty well-trained there aren't any good memes from Hibiki too

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 4 - "RUNNING ICHIRO"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki04a.png

"You try to figure out and laugh yourself to the showers
Burn yourself alive and join the monster squad
They say in this place you can reinvent yourself"

-The National, "You've Done It Again, Virginia"

Hey, I got a late start on this one (GO BEARS) and I've got to get up early tomorrow to go in for some computer stuff (GO TRANSFERRING A DATABASE FROM RMS TO RMH), so this one's going to maybe be a quicker one that y'all'll have to help pick up the slack on.

First off, a couple corrections, based on what I gleaned from this (really great!) episode. So, before, I said that Hibiki was calling back to "the temple", when he's really been calling back to "a restaurant". I was thinking of Phase 2 Heisei shows, where there might be a variety of places that acted as the team's meeting place, instead of Phase 1 Heisei, where it is Always Restaurants. (The exception of course is Inoue, because he's always the exception. I expect Team Hibiki Bar And Grill to explode into splinters in Episode 30.) The other thing is that the Makamou is only the giant monster, not the two set-up monsters. They're the Douji and Hime, but I honestly barely care about that. I literally care more about the restaurant, since that's more interesting to watch and talk about.

Yeah, boy, not sure if the non-monster stuff is that good (possible!), or the monster stuff is that dull (more possible!), but the end of these Hibiki episodes is the point where I'm not that engaged. I'm not, like, distracted or anything. I'm not checking my phone. But it's definitely something I... not suffer through, it's not that bad, but it's something I grudgingly accept. The poorly-aged CGI doesn't help things, but it's not even that. It's just, there's nothing to the fights? In this one, it's way more time spent trying to track the Makamou down, which is great, and then just a couple minutes of goofy CGI until Drum Solo, exploded monster. There's nothing to it, you know? It feels perfunctory, so it's hard to get too invested. It's like being anxious if the credits are going to roll.

But! As usual, I don't really care about the monster stuff because everything else is great. Literally everything! There's a crosscut thing they do in the beginning, with Hibiki running through the woods to these big drums, and Asumu getting ready for school to these tiny drums. It's a nothing scene and it's perfect. If they wanted to cut the monster fights entirely to give me two more minutes of Ichiro buying hijiki (hilarious) or Asumu investing too much in the significance of a compass or Hibiki painting a drum stick, fine. I would take that trade in a heartbeat. I honest-to-god wouldn't care if the whole show was just Asumu worrying about his future.

And, I don't know if this is a criticism or not, but I kind-of wish the whole show was just from Asumu's perspective? There's something to be said for the value in keeping things as locked in as possible to him, since that's the most unique thing the show has going for it. The more it lets his storyline lead the plot, the more impressive the episodes are. The more they tilt back to Hibiki's mission... it's not bad, it's just ever-so-slightly less interesting.

It does have some merit in splitting the focus, though. The highlight of the episode is the crosscutting of Hibiki and Asumu's chases. This heroic Hibiki race to find a monster before it kills again, mixed with two teenagers unable to catch a middle-aged man? Hysterical. (Shot of the episode was when the music drops over a static shot of two men playing chess. Ichiro races from right to left, beat, another beat, the two kids are winded as shit as they race from right to left after him. So great. Killed me dead.) It's also the thing I can easily point to as the show maybe not needing to split its focus, though, since the monster stuff wasn't nearly as fun as the Ichiro stuff. That dude seems pretty neat!

And, yes, of course he's Kasumi and Hinaka's father, but I assume we all knew that when he saved that kid in front of the book store. (I do love that it's the Low Rent version of Hibiki's ferry save. I really hope we get progressively lower-stakes versions of that save, until Asumu is diving in to save a duckling from being hit by an out-of-control goose on rollerskates.) When they started mentioning their out-of-town dad last week, you knew he had to be showing up soon. It's literally the only reason anyone on a Kamen Rider show ever mentions their parents. But I'm glad he's here! He's great! He's very fun, and seems like the sort of guy that probably was a mentor to Hibiki, since they share a kind goofiness that is equal parts charming and an invitation to take part in something life-threatening. They're role models for people who want to be amazing or die trying.

Either way, super into this episode of people going camping, studying for tests, and chasing middle-aged men who have outstanding cardio. (Do Japanese middle-schoolers not have gym class?) Not as into the actual Fighting A Monster part, still, but this is an episode where both Ichiro and Kasumi do Hibiki's salute back to him, so A+++.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...sumisalute.gif

The restaurant thing is actually a throwback to the Showa era, where many of the Riders hung out at some kind of dining establishment. Several of the early ones were run by the same guy, even. It's one of those iconic Rider elements like the belt or the motorcycle. The Showa vs. Heisei movie even did a scroll past cartoon versions of each show's restaurant during its end credits.

Of all the various restaurants, the one in Hibiki is one of my favorites. A big part of that is that, again, it feels like a real location. Just another example of how well Hibiki feels like it captures daily life in Japan.

And yeah, Ichiro is pretty great. One of the reasons why this show feels so cozy is because it's full of characters that are really nice and friendly. These are people you would want to spend time with, too.

Haven't followed the entire conversation, and I don't post here in general as much as I used to (my signature is also woefully out of date and I am too lazy to change it).

Hibiki is one of my all time favorite shows, definitely in my top 5 for Kamen Rider (probably 2nd to Ryuki). Hibiki himself is my favorite lead rider (Zolda is my favorite rider overall, character-wise) and his relationship with Asumu is just incredible. While I do agree the show was at its best overall during the first 29 episodes/prior to the infamous production changes, I will defend the latter portion of the series as some of the absolute strongest moments in the season occur during it.

I'd post more of my thoughts but I don't want to spoil things (from either half of the show), plus it's been a while since I've watched it and I am too tired and lazy to dig through my old posts from my own initial watch of the series.

Shounen Yo is also, hands down, my favorite toku related song bar none.

Really, really hope you end up loving it as much as me and Switchblade do.

I really liked the fight scene in this one for what it's worth. Between the location and all the composite shots to get Hibiki fighting a giant, it felt very particular to this show's style. Obviously it didn't come out perfect in terms of the effects, but you can see how much they were experimenting with what a Rider fight scene could even be. I definitely don't remember seeing Faiz or Ryuki throwing down with a big hairy guy in a river.

SHOWA! I should've known...

I'm definitely loving parts of it! The character-based storytelling is incredibly addictive, to a degree that's making me less tolerant of the weaker monster storytelling. Speaking of which...

I've never been fond of Kamen Rider shows doing CG fights in lieu of two or more guys in suits pushing each other around, preferably in a quarry or under a bridge, so this is going to be a Don't Fix What Ain't Broken situation for me and Hibiki. (And I'm saying this as a dude who came into the franchise on Ex-Aid.) It's nice that they wanted to try some new things, but it being a combination of not what I want out of Kamen Rider fights, alongside just generally not having the budget to execute those ideas well... I don't feel like giving them Points For Trying is as fulfilling as actually having solid fights that I enjoy watching?

Maybe this is different for folks that are more/equally into the Sentai or Ultra aesthetic, where I assume there's more fights like Hibiki's had in 2 and 4? Giant monsters and huge size differentials? For me, I want to see more fights like what he's having with Douji and Hime, and less of him running from/after a giant monster until he Drum Solos it into oblivion.

Sentai can be like that, but Ultra shows usually still have opponents of roughly equal size. Of the major toku franchises, Ultraman is usually the one where the fights more closely resemble wrestling - it’s hard to pull off a lot of martial arts moves when you’re wearing a bulky two-headed monster suit.

I actually don't mind Rider shows doing stuff like that. Maybe It just the fact that I like innovatian even if it look really crappy. And to me Tokusatsu is and always will be about the suits at the end of the day so I'm fine with them indulging themselves with more visual effect heavy fights. It more of what I can see we get out of it. For example Hibiki running around doging a gaint monster can help future shows with composite shots and help give Sentai some good prespective shots for thier giant monsters. Or Saber giving us the most bike action we've had in years for the tv shows thanks to it's green screen and uses of the Unity engine.

I think that I’ll bring up that the idea of the Riders meeting at a cafe in the first place came from the writer’s son. Which is ironic, if you know who that son is. And I remember that Die at least knows that.

Good to know about the Ultra franchise! I'll have to check those out someday.

I mean, that's fine, I get that these shows are all building off of each other, but I'd rather not intellectually appreciate the theoretical things this show paved the way for, when I could be viscerally enjoying high-quality fight scenes. Like, an article about the ways Hibiki led to great CG is interesting to read, but two minutes of Hibiki pushing a giant appendage is not that fun for me to watch.

Fantastic. It wouldn't surprise me if that's why Inoue avoids using restaurants. It's something he was into as a kid, you know? Restaurants are played out, Dad.

I'd be happy to suggest a starting point and any long-time member of the board knows exactly what it would be.

Back-pocket it, and we'll circle back in... let's say 2022? Late-ish 2022? Is that good for you?

I’d say something but, like, I’ve had this same signature for I think a month now so...

The story here is set on Asumu's perceptive, while the hero is Hibiki.... this is a major change, the main protagonist Asumi isn't the Kamen Rider, and the lead Rider Hibiki isn't the main protagonist! And, probably by Hibiki's debut, it shows that, being cool and confident can be shown by heroism too, instead of only toxic acts... right?

Hibiki, as a more different take of Kamen Rider (well, it's not supposed to be Kamen Rider after all...), it takes in a slice of life type, of where Asumu's life is detailed, his schedule of biking, him watching the school's opera, him sailing in a ferry, etc. Probably until now that he goes to a mountain that makes others disappear, in rumor.

Hibiki... this one's known as a non-Kamen Rider entry, it's like Kamen Rider only in name only, so yeah, something that you've never seen a Kamen Rider reach will happen here.

Wut? Even with it not being named, it should be obvious. Any Kamen Rider series is titled after the lead Rider, which means obviously that is Hibiki. I guess with it not feeling too perilous comes from Hibiki's confidence of his abilities to take on those.

TikTok? Lol, this comes way before TikTok means TikTok is a rip-off of this Hibiki scene!

Yeah, Hibiki is more of a Fun Hero, rather than the Flawed Warriors and Well-Meaning Scumbags we're used to at this point in the Heisei era. I like all types, so Hibiki is only a lateral move from Blade or Faiz.

Like, I get the backstory of the series' genesis, but it's definitely a Kamen Rider series. Specifically, it is very very Kuuga. The template is just Family Comedy, rather than Cop Drama.

There're Kamen Rider trappings they're not really doing (no "Henshin!", no belt/driver, how often Hibiki takes his helmet off, no bike), but the storytelling is 100% Kamen Rider.

It's all based on Hibiki?! That's why those kids never say Henshin when they do their choreographed transformations!