Die got his gushing session out of the way with the first part, but for me, the back half of this story was even more consistently impressive. I don't think there was a frame in this entire episode where I wasn't sitting there in awe of how good it was. If you'll pardon the figure of speech, it was a lightning bolt reminder to me of how good this show actually is, and why it stands out as so unique even to this day. What jumps out at me the most is probably something pretty obvious about the show, but I think I'll say it anyway – it's kind of incredible how all the characters really care about each other and are super supportive all the time, and how it still finds the drama in that. It's something I felt more strongly here than in any episode so far, probably because, as Die pointed out, the narrative is structured to comment on all three of the big mentor/student dynamics in the show.

There were two moments that really stuck out to me for how they were framed though, that I'd love to take a second to call attention to.

The first is when Hibiki is on the phone with Zanki and Todoyama. The rest of the cast is reeling from the news of Zanki's sudden retirement, and the atmosphere in the room is rather solemn. The shot on Hibiki's end of the conversation places Ibuki very clearly in the foreground, which does a great job calling attention to how worried Hibiki himself isn't. He treats the call like nothing more than a casual chat with some friends, because that's what it is to him. It's just a chance to thank an old ally for all his hard work, and to reassure the new guy he's got what it takes.

https://i.imgur.com/TC3ktio.png

Unlike the rest of the cast, it's evident Hibiki doesn't consider Zanki quitting some huge tragedy, nor does he doubt Todoyama's ability to stand on his own two feet, and that gets a great payoff later, after the fight, when Ichirou is now on the phone, receiving the good news. Again, the rest of the cast is a little on edge about this; they're standing at attention, and visibly relieved to hear it all worked out in the end. All of them except for Hibiki, who is relaxing in a chair the entire time, and reacts with little more than a smile, because he knew it couldn't have gone any other way.

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

It's a minor part of the overall episode, I guess, but these bits struck a chord with me (if you'll pardon the figure of— oh never mind) because it sort of made me realize how genius it was to have the Oni go exclusively by their Rider names. This is another set of episodes that does not feature Hibiki transforming at all, which just like Ibuki's debut, strikes me as a pretty bold move for the show. But then I see moments like these, or him talking to Asumu earlier in the episode, and I realize: every episode literally still features Hibiki. It doesn't matter if he fights a giant crab that week or not, because that's not how contribution to the plot is measured in this series, and that's the kind of thing that makes Kamen Rider Hibiki a show I have such respect for.

I was this close to writing Todoroki is my last post before realizing Die wasn't supposed to know who that is yet. :lol

If I may point out a correction, it's "todoroki(轟き) no oni", todoroke(轟け) is the verb form. But to add some more context, the character used for todoroki is basically the character for cart(車, this is the kanji for the Japanese word kuruma, which originally means chariot/cart but has evolved to mean car in modern times) written thrice, big wide one on top and two small ones on the bottem. And it is the "go" in Gogo Sentai Boukenger(轟轟戦隊ボウケンジャー). Pretty much it is used to describe a loud noise akin to that made by a convoy of chariots/carts.

also because it had to be done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uuG...annel=Papyrads

So, in All Elite Wrestling, there's a faction called The Dark Order. They're a cult, basically. On the comedy YouTube series Being The Elite, there're these sketches where the Dark Order's leader, Brodie Lee, blows up at one of the lower-level guys, John Silver. Silver's a shorter, stockier guy. Alex Reynolds, his tag-team partner in the Dark Order, will try and stick up for him by saying, "Hey, he didn't mean to screw up, he's a good kid." Silver will then flip out, saying, "I'm 29-years old!"

That's all I can think of when you describe Todoroki as "a really good kid." It's hilarious to me, because he looks like he's at least 10 years older than Ibuki. He's like those 30-year olds who end up getting cast in high school dramas. He looks way too old to be forgiven for youthful mistakes!

But I get why he's that way. They mention in this one that Todoroki's only been at it for a couple years, while Ibuki said last time that he's been at it since he was 15. Ibuki may be younger, but Todoroki is still the rookie. It's a neat choice by the show to have someone a little older be the somewhat error-prone new guy. He's going to be fun to see interact with the rest of the cast!

It's like after fourteen episodes of orchestral scoring, the composer was like Oh My God Guitars I Missed You So Much Let's Never Fight Again. The riffs in this were so chunky, so enthusiastic. It was great. (I especially loved the less-rocking acoustic guitar version of the opening theme that scored Todoroki's more contemplative scenes.)

Oh, sure, I get you. It's a nicely written story, in that it can succeed purely on the merits of Zanki and Todoroki being awesome heroes you're immediately invested in... but the show decides to have them support the other storylines, anyway. It's one of the best things about the writing on this show, how it's frequently doing more than it needs to because it can.

I feel like boys aged 7 to 10 would probably be pretty into magic drumsticks? I mean, yeah, not that great in the sense of them not transforming into anything or having a mechanism to play with (if I was a kid, I'd've been addicted to that Saber belt), but Smacking Things Against Things is an eternal wish of children, much to the chagrin of their parents.

This show is weirdly great with phone calls.

You're dead-right on how great those basement scenes are, though. Just everything with Hibiki on the phone to Todoroki was great, with him starting out teasing him about needing to step up in a hurry, that big Hibiki laugh, and then being like Cool But If You're Actually Nervous It Could Get You Killed So You Better Ice That Shit Out. He doesn't turn on a dime or anything, but it's this warm, funny conversation that stays within the lane of making sure Todoroki can do this.

As always, one of my favorite thing about all of that tension in the basement is that every single character is giving Todoroki the chance to step up. No one, for even a second, suggests that Ibuki or Hibiki go back him up. (And that's literally the job that Hibiki just got promoted to!) This show's so great about telling stories where people can be supported, but still have to succeed or fail on their own. I love it.

Funny story: I always knew he'd be called Todoroki. Not because of the Wiki or anything recent, but I knew there was a Todoroki Figuart. (It was a post I remember enjoying because of how excited people were to have The Last Hibiki Rider come out.) When we had Hibiki, Ibuki, Danki, Zanki, Sabaki, and Todoyama... I mean, I don't need a crystal ball to see what's coming.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 17 - "TARGETED TOWN"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki17a.png

"Yeah, somebody should tell you to stop
Feel it coming out of my eyeballs
Is it just because you're jealous?
And you, yeah, somebody should tell you why
Crawling out of my skin
Is it just because we're old friends
Or is it because of love?"

-Shout Out Louds, "Time Left For Love"

If you've seen this episode (oh god, I hope you've seen this episode or I'm going to spoil it for you), and you've read any of these episode posts, you're probably going to know exactly what I thought of this episode. I thought the monster stuff was fine, thankfully brief. And I loved the relationship stuff with the force of a thousand exploding suns.

I don't... I cannot imagine doing an episode like this was a huge mark in favor of the current production team. It takes forever to move along its actual superhero action, and what's here is pretty minor. Hibiki is only in costume for one scene of testing out new gear, and he's got one more out-of-costume scene late in the episode. Todoroki, the brand-new Oni who's now in the credits, never Henshins or fights a monster. The one Oni who gets in costume and fights a monster does it all without his toyetic weaponry. It's an episode that feels not just reluctant to do anything with superheroes, but actively resentful. If I was Timothy Toei, Senior Vice-President of Kamen Rider Production (check the Wiki!), I don't know if I'd've let this crew make another twelve episodes.

But Timothy Toei's going to have a tough time firing the team responsible for this episode, because the bulk of it sprung fully-formed directly from my heart.

This is another pitch-perfect episode of One Theme, Three Casts, where the idea of dating and attraction filters through a bunch of different perspectives. It's an episode that lets this funny, gorgeous, charming cast have comedic interludes and romantically-charged conversations. It's an episode that could come off as a respite from the tension of the last couple stories, if it weren't for how huge the emotions are of teenagers.

Akira's finally showing up to school, and things immediately get weird with her, Hitomi, and Asumu. Well, not really Asumu. He is... let's go with Charmingly Oblivious, since the dark cloud hanging over Hitomi is completely unnoticed by him. Akira gets it, though. When Hitomi sees Asumu cheerfully volunteering to copy his notes for the perpetually absent Akira, Hitomi sees an interloper. She sees competition for Asumu's attention and (possibly, eventually) affection. Like, she sees the inevitability of Akirasumu, and she's worried. But Akira isn't really about that kind of relationship yet, so she tells Hitomi that it's not that Asumu has feelings for her, but that Hibiki asked Asumu to keep her up to speed. As soon as Hitomi hears that someone put Asumu up to it, that he doesn't have romantic feelings for Akira, it's a sigh of relief and a hand reached out in friendship.

So, some thoughts on that.

There's a part of me that regrets that we're in a place where two smart, capable women could squander a burgeoning friendship on (and I love him) a doofus like Asumu. I like that Akira instantly tried to defuse things, to befriend Hitomi and keep the drama to a minimum. I'm not thrilled with Hitomi feeling so weirdly jealous and possessive. But! I was so dialed-into this story that I'm okay with characters I like doing things I don't like. I'm unbelievably excited to follow this weird Like-Like Triangle. I am so gratified that this show decided to run with a story so completely isolated from the superhero action that people are ostensibly watching this series for.

Even the actual superheroes are spending most of their time this episode in romantic comedy plots! Todoroki gets some on-boarding (Oni-boarding?) paperwork done (why did this production team ever get replaced), and then gets interrogated by Ichiro about Hinaka's affections. It's still cute, how easily Todoroki flusters. What little confidence he has goes right out the window when Ichiro switches from his Compassionate Boss tone into Judgmental Father. He even does that thing where he gets the Oni's name wrong, to show that he disapproves! (I mean, jokingly. I don't think Ichiro thinks either Ibuki or Todoroki are beneath his daughters, but he's going to have a blast teasing them.) It's a cute little scene.

Hibiki's barely in this one, and what's here is tangentially related to all of the romance in the air. There's an Oh They Definitely Hooked Up vibe to Hibiki and Midori, and not just for the way they bicker like a married couple. There's a sweetness, a softness to their demeanors, when it's them together. They get their work done, but it feels as much like a date as anything else in this episode.

Way more of this episode is handed over to Ibuki and Kasumi, who are basically the slightly-older versions of Asumu and Hitomi. They've known each other forever, they've got a ton of trust built up, and Ibuki can't seem to move things to the next level.

I really liked how they fleshed out their relationship in this one. It's her knowing what he'd like to wear, him deferring to her taste, her wanting him to be Oni Decisive in his everyday life, him trusting her to help raise Akira... it's a really fun thread to the episode. It's something that maybe wasn't 100% necessary (was not asking for a lot of progression on this plot), but I had such a great time going on this dumb date with them. It's relentlessly sweet and doggedly low-stakes. I don't know. I love shit like this. I love two attractive people going on a goofy date in the middle of a series about monsters from mythology roaming the countryside. I love half of a show about superheroes being handed over to a teenage love triangle that is so chaste, your genitals could disappear just from watching it. This... it's such a flex, you know? It's a production team that feels invulnerable. I'm glad they got to make this weird-ass episode, even if it probably cost them their jobs.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki17b.png

I actually imagine that Toei was more okay with this episode. Aside from the stuff at the beginning, everything is filmed in Tokyo. No having to haul an entire crew out into the mountains, no nighttime shoots, just a bunch of stuff in a normal urban environment. The accountants at Toei had to be real happy with this one.

I've always considered this episode's Douji and Hime to be two of the most memorable. They're such a weird-looking pair of characters: the Hime looking proud and regal with her half-veil, the Douji crawling around on all fours with a giant mustache like he's about to go off and do narration for Saber. It really does kinda feel like two monsters who were asked to infiltrate human society and have no idea what humans are like or how to blend in with them.

And yeah, I love the stuff with Asumu, Akira, and Hitomi here. You really get the sense that they're going to get along, which is nice since Asumu and Hitomi's other two friends have completely vanished at this point.

Die is massively underselling how awesome the superhero action in this one is, so please allow me to take a second to pick up the slack.

https://i.imgur.com/46jqQ3L.png

This episode proves that Ibuki is the best there is at what he does, and what he does is have an amazing soundtrack I mean just get a load of this you guys it is so nuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE6dbzve1wk

On top of having that postively majestic score backing it up, the fight scene in this one is pure joy for one other reason, which is the whole gimmick of Ibuki not having his trademark weapon.

It's the kind of simple but effective twist on the formula that shows would no longer be able to do so easily as hero tokusatsu moved more and more towards endless form changes and gimmicks. You take a Full Bottle away from Build, and he just pulls out two more. You take Ibuki's trumpet gun away, and it forces him to fundamentally adjust his entire style, relying on slick wind-powered melee moves that maybe don't move merchandise quite as well, but make for a supremely entertaining piece of television. Kinda the overall theme with this show, I guess.

Once again, I can't help but feel this show's monsters become infinitely more entertaining the more they act like Grongi. :lol

Remind me to look up Ibuki’s insert song. I think it might be interesting, if not for the lyrics, then for the fact it’s performed by Tomikazu Seki (LSS: He’s in everything, most of his Tokusatsu appearances are doubling up for someone absent due to death, retirement or general unavailability)

My reaction to this is the same as a dramatic reader I watch had to the author of Imma Wiserd announcing his intent to get his work published.

Not talking solely about mentors, but other kind to teachings to others; that for students, it's seen in some places that, you don't need to rely solely on the traditional/by-the-book rules, your creativity can take you a long way sometimes. And for mentors, when at worst scenario, you don't approve the students being better, you could at least learn from their techniques.

Yeah like this one, Todoroki tries to imitate Zanki 100% by-the-book. Finally Zanki just declares his teachings to be a waste that needs to be forgotten (2 freaking years!). And I think this fight is currently my favorite fight in Hibiki, it's fluid, it's challenging, and it's dynamic.

G̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶?̶ ̶A̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶l̶u̶t̶e̶!̶ ̶S̶h̶e̶ ̶(̶e̶h̶ ̶w̶a̶i̶t̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶n̶s̶h̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶s̶k̶i̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶C̶r̶o̶n̶u̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶E̶x̶-̶A̶i̶d̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶l̶e̶s̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶p̶u̶n̶c̶h̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶a̶r̶k̶)̶ Other than that, joking aside, yeah, "they're too damn busy fighting monsters", a.k.a being professional, and what Akira said to Asumu (as painful as it is) reflects that, they won't have many random daily moments like Asumu, Hitomi, and others, they have static routine. Though Ibuki thinks it's better for Akira to go to school, that it will give her better life. I guess that would mean Akira would need more ambitions than becoming Ibuki's assistant. And, while Ibuki trains Akira to become an Oni, what Akira does is manage the disc animals, that's something also done by Kasumi to Hibiki, but Kasumi isn't Hibiki's apprentice?

So that sums it up, Hibiki doesn't want to take Asumu as apprentice. Though Hibiki notices how he can improve Asumu, not in fighting way like Hibiki did to Makamou, but in how he approaches life. Though partly that also comes from how Hibiki thought Asumu isn't interested to become an Oni, it's a good thing too, that "mentors" can't dictate how others live, or even force others to become his student (that's quite egoistic to me too). And I never expect Hibiki to had some demeaning thoughts on Asumu, like thinking of him as not dependable at first until he passed the Jounan exam.

I mean yes, I also enjoy flashiness (though not if the special effect is bad) more, and that's the kind of fight I enjoy more too (like in my finisher talk, or that my pet peeve of Riders not utilizing their varied powers enough in neo-Heisei), but talking about badassery, one of it is about who's stronger (better/effective), fighter wise, so with Zanki being actually breaking down, he can't be more effective/stronger than Hibiki or Ibuki who are still in fighting shape, even if Zanki's more enjoyable to watch. Like, for other someone that can spout weak fire against someone that punches at much greater power output, while the former may be flashier, the more badass one would be the latter. Or also quality over quantity; neo-Heisei Riders may have more varied flashy powersets, but doesn't mean they're necessarily stronger than the early Heisei Riders who rely on fewer kind of powers. Unless if you talk about the badass also being Zanki keep going while his body's like that, then it surely is.

And unfortunately, some people truly can judge less or non-action characters harshly like that in an action geared shows like that you say there (and I'm talking universally of any media, not only Kamen Rider or Toku) -_-

Fair enough, yeah obviously people aren't always alike, humans aren't hivemind at all.

This is my personal favorite arc and it's an Ibuki focus! I'm very invested in Ibuki/Kasumi. It's nice to see how much Ibuki values Kasumi's opinion and his determination to prove himself as an independent Oni and something even more important about his responsibility.

Kasumi helping Ibuki with new clothes may be another way Takeshi supports the Oni, since Oni literally burn through a lot of clothes due to henshins as Todoroki demonstrated in the previous episode.

Ibuki is the first Oni shown to fight in an urban area, which adds even more confusion to who's supposed to be protagonist. He's like somewhere between Hibiki and Shounen. The Makamou invading the city is a pretty big deal for the escalation of their plans.

The Disc Animals also get to show off their cloaking tech to move through the city unnoticed, another advantage over their origami predecessors. Still think origami are cooler?

There's a lot more to say about Ibuki but I'll leave that for the next episode.