I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! I wasn't aware how popular it was until now and this thread is useful for getting rarely heard consensuses like that. This episode is peak Hibiki for me, it really does so many things right.

I want to talk about how nicely Ibuki talks to the kids they caught sneaking around in the abandoned area. Kasumi starts by scolding them like a mother and telling them what they did was wrong without explaining why, but Ibuki tries appealing to their feelings, admitting he thought it would be to have a cool lair as well, before explaining why it's actually dangerous and they should have fun somewhere else. The kids listen to him cause they appreciate his respect towards them. It's the same reason he's such a good mentor to Akira. He understands people emotionally and knows how to encourage them to be better people, the same way he tries to better himself as an Oni. He's very sympathetic like that.

The other Ibuki moment is just before he enters the stormdrain. He doesn't have his weapon and is about to confront a monster he doesn't know how to deal with. Kasumi thinks he should wait for Hibiki and Akira but Ibuki feels responsible for protecting the city from Oonamazu and waiting would just increase the risk of more losses. His speech to Kasumi before entering is very heroic in a way that hasn't been explored in the show yet, due to the lack of urgency in sparsely populated rural areas. Ibuki has the burden of a whole city to protect and he needs to act now, since that's what a hero should do. It's a great way to prove to Kasumi how independent he is, despite seeming less competent in social situations. It's this moment that allows her to see him a new light and respect him more.

Kamen Rider Stormdrain can add a climactic feeling to any fight and when you combine that with Hibiki's attention to being as scenic as possible, it really feels like Ibuki is venturing somewhere mystical and dangerous, despite being completely manufactured.

The fight itself is even better and says a lot about Ibuki, this time as a fighter. Having Oonamazu's stomach act as its own MOTW, in addition to the Makamou itself, is a great way to have both a regular size fight and a giant monster fight in the same scene. When Hibiki arrives to back him up with Reppu against the stomach, Ibuki insists on finishing the Oonamazu himself, despite a Percussion Oni being better equipped to deal with it. It's a matter of his pride as an Oni and diligence that convinces Hibiki to step aside and let him handle it.

The last scene is a heartwarming way to cap off an already awesome episode. If you remember anything good about Kamen Rider Hibiki, it's this episode. Despite the problems in the second half, I can always look back fondly on the show this way.

Thanks for the information! I didn't realize Kamen Rider Stormdrain was such a popular tourist attraction. It would be cool if the wiki had pages for recurring sets like this. It was even a level in the Battride War series.

Good thing the water will break your fall.

I'm way behind on work, and I don't have a lot of time (I'll dig into the rest of your really good post later), but I want to call out a line from Ibuki that was nearly the screencap I was going to use for this episode.

He's going down the ladder to fight the monster, and Kasumi's worried he's too injured to fight. He says, "My right arm may be injured, but I still have my left." That line! It's all about how he may not have a plan or all his tools, but he can still try to fight. It's him suggesting that as long as he can try, he can win. I love it.

In answer to your question, the housewife was in 18.

And it turns out whoever wrote the page gave up partway through, as the actress was actually in episode 40 of FAIZ.

The funny thing is, this episode pair actually IS one of the parts of this show I remember relatively well. And by "relatively", I mean I remembered Ibuki and Kasumi hitting the town and it being pretty cool, and not much else specific. The weird stomach monster, that's one of the things that left my mind entirely, but that feeling of warmth you get from episodes of Hibiki like this is impossible to forget.

Also, I'd really like to share that BGM track Die called out, because it's a wonderfully theatrical piece which the episode wisely decides to let elevate the scene without interruption, but, uh... I didn't find it right away and kind of gave up on looking. Oh well. If I happen to stumble upon it later, I'll probably still share it in the thread then. Any chance I can get to rave about Sahashi is one I'll take. :p

I mean, that's the best part of a fandom, when you get to chat with like-minded people. It's easy to feel like you're the only one who's into something, and then BAM here's a half-dozen folks who feel the same. It's nice!

It's a great scene, for sure. He approaches those kids on their level (literally, since he crouches down to talk to them), and he's great at trying to impart stakes to them. He knows that they were fine now, but he wants them to know that they got lucky. He's not forbidding them, but he wants them to understand what they're risking. It's very empathetic guidance.

And what's better is that Kasumi is so pissed at him for showing her up like that. Like, she's admiring of how he got through to those kids, but she was scolding them! And then he jumped in! Now he gets to look all Cool Dad and she's just Mean Mom. Parenting is a partnership, Ibuki!

I don't... where was there a housew-- oh, the lady in the tunnel who wakes up Akira? Was that her?

It's such a good ending!

Okay, found that music track! It's inexplicably on the third and final volume released for the show, so if Die doesn't want to see a picture of Hibiki's final form, he maybe shouldn't click on this link, but I mean, this is more for the benefit of people who aren't watching the episodes anyway. Leave it to Toshihiko Sahashi to make Ibuki trudging through some shallow water seem like the most epic thing ever.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 19 - "STRUMMING WARRIOR"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki19a.png

"Sign your life away, who cares?
We will be there to
Pick you up when you come through
Because we care for you"

-Superchunk, "June Showers"

So, first of all: the dog is named Hibarki.

Second -- wait, I've got to eat this piece of cake from Portillo's.

Okay, back. (It was so good.) Where was I? Oh, yeah, second: is there such a thing as an episode of Hibiki being too tranquil? And I acknowledge that I'm describing an episode where Todoroki explodes multiple giant crabs and Hibiki does sick jumps on a dirtbike as "too tranquil", but... yeah, not exactly a big, exciting episode of Kamen Rider.

Like, I had a really good time watching this episode, but I'm finding it difficult to come up with things to talk about from it, beyond just, like, listing all of the many cute scenes. Because there were so many cute scenes! It's an episode of almost only cute scenes! Everyone's very cute! And charming! But!

This is maybe one of those two-parters where the first part is all tone, and the second part is all incident? I don't know, I can't see the future. What's in this one, besides the aforementioned cute scenes, is just Todoroki, and him being hilariously over-confident.

Or, maybe not over-confident, but... excited to contribute? He's working his ass off and having a blast, so goddamn pumped to be an Oni that he's having celebratory rock-outs on his sacred weapon of monster exploding. (I love that neither Ichiro, nor the returning Zanki, are able to discern from Todoroki's training footage that he's having fun. They're both like What Is The New Technique, and it's one of the best gags in a very funny episode.) He never comes off as sure of himself, which is maybe what's causing his problems. He's an Oni, but he maybe doesn't feel confident as an Oni, so he's pushing himself way too hard. He's got this sweaty desire to please, this air of neediness that's both a really fun energy (he gets in way too close when telling Ichiro that he's going to work hard) but also probably going to get him killed. Still, fun to watch!

The rest of this episode... yeah, fun to watch! Nothing that feels like it adds up to anything yet (Asumu's new job at Team Hibiki Bar and Grill feels like it's going to parallel Todoroki's overcompensation), but, shit, I love this cast, I don't care if they just want to introduce themselves to each other for an episode.

Which, they do! If there's a secret connection amongst the cast, it mostly gets brought to light as everyone stops by the restaurant for at least a scene and reveals who they are and what their significance is. (I mean, not to Hitomi, of course. She's a girl! You can't tell a girl about monsters, despite literally everyone she interacts with in this episode knowing about them!) It's... cute. It's just a very cute episode, full of charming scenes and stray dogs and a sweaty tryhard superhero and a group of men who are a beat away from saying That Boy Ain't Right and not much else.

Actually, since this one's coming up a little light on content, I'm just going to talk about Asumu's mom, AsuMum.

She's fantastic in the one scene she's in, and... look, you'll think I'm kidding, but she might be my favorite character on the show.

She just nails every single scene she's in, and she gives all of her scenes with Asumu this really kooky energy. She's a fun mom without ever forgetting that she's a mom. She's so proud of Asumu, and it elevates stuff that might seem dull on paper (teenage boy on superhero show gets a part-time job at a restaurant) into really compelling stories. She's got universally fun delivery that always feels natural, like when she stops encouraging Asumu for just a second because he never thanked her for breakfast. She's so, so good on this show. That little song she starts singing as the scene ends!

It's a thankless role, being the mother of a teenage boy on a superhero show, but AsuMum always delivers. An amazingly talented actor.

I don't know, that's all I got for this one! It was fun to watch, but not one I'm going to spend a lot of time thinking about! Sorry!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki19b.png

So it's okay to do scattered casts (where you say it's like watching 3 different shows or something) if it's about slice of life like in this episode? And the last caption there... so there you go, tensions isn't the only means to create a story.

The pic really sums it about these 2 circling Asumu.
https://challengerscomics.com/images.../hibiki17a.png

But they didn't (or the show didn't) show anything about their concern to Asumu being hit by the basketball, which happened right after (and because of that)!

Yeah, you're not thrilled with Hitomi feeling weirdly jealous, but you excuse Yuka acting bitchy to Keitaro in Faiz ep. 41, which is even worse behavior... Though now, have nothing against Hitomi, but I don't know where you got Hitomi being smart and capable too? All she did so far was doing usual school life; following lessons and talking with friends, nothing different from other students. Though if you also talk about her passing Jounan.... then Asumu can't get "doofus" label! Also I had uneasiness myself to you expressing regrets to Asumu being friends with those 2, why for that?

Replaced? Because of $$$ (and not talking about this episode as Switchblade pointed out)? As the toys of Hibiki were selling poorly, the higher ups blamed the show for this, giving it a drastic retool around episode 30, in an attempt to make it more 'Kamen Rider-like'. The changes come from Shinichirō Shirakura (who was involved in producing Agito-Blade, and took over the role of producer at the same time as Inoue took over writing; Shirakura is similarly disliked by Kamen Rider fans, yet strangely, this isn’t one thing he gets blamed for). Though, the one that has attraction to Todoroki was Hinaka, not Todoyama, or at least, more one sided to her, so Todoyama isn't to blame (and I'd hate the "girls always right" double standard, though for Ichiro it's his daughter).

Well this is also the superhero part in the episode, and I don't think this is resentful, this is about Midori trying to enhance Hibiki with his flame output, even if you would notice their bickering more.

I know that this is worth praising but I guess things they do like 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 also a common part on the franchise (Kamen Rider intros showcase humans more rather than the supernatural elements for a reason), but they didn't get as much coverage as the ones here?

Game movie adaptations are most, if not all, bad like that (seems like no passion is run during its making, so unfair to actual fans who can't make one, yet produces much better fan contents within that game), though that quote is hit enough on the internet, for various other media. And you know what? This quote is used to represent someone's totally lack of empathy and concern (typically of course, irredeemable villains) towards something which is like, a damage they do to someone in their backstory, it's too far fetched to use this on Hibiki.

Asumu's mom is great and all, but this is the thought I was having about Todoroki pretty much the entire episode. Dude is all tension, all the time. Whether he's a bit nervous in his interactions with the cast, or overly enthusiastic in his fights against Makamou, he looks like someone who's basically forgotten how to relax entirely.

Well, maybe anyway. Ignoring the deeper context, I do love that, through Zanki and Ichirou here, Hibiki managed to include a bit where two older guys react with bewilderment and horror to the sight of someone younger playing new music. :lol

I also thought it was real interesting how much the tone and style of the whole show sort of shifts around the Rider in focus. It's maybe a bit more subtle with Ibuki (as has been pointed out, his episodes are a little more traditional Rider), but here, there's this massive influx of adrenaline throughout, right from the decision to open up with Todoroki fighting several giant crabs in a row, a level of action you'd be lucky to get during the climax of a lot of previous episodes.

It's not that it's a slice of life, but that they took one theme and applied to each cast. Otherwise, yeah, not that much of a fan of Kitchen Sink episodes.

He should't've taken his eye off of the ball! There's a very pertinent expression about that!

A lot to unpack!

1) I don't remember the Faiz thing at all, but a lot of it is context? Seeing Hitomi immediately avoid Akira, a girl she previously hit it off with, bummed me out a little bit. It felt a little sudden for me, something about her character I wasn't prepared for. By episode 41 of Faiz, Yuka's very complicated feelings provided context for her being weird.

2) Hitomi consistently seems smarter and more reliable than Asumu.

3) Asumu's a doofus, not an idiot. I expect Asumu to be able to do well at schoolwork! I also expect him to miss romantic cues, act awkwardly in social situations, and generally behave in the very specific teenage boy way where you shake your head and chuckle at him. Those don't strike me as highly-desirable traits in a potential partner!

4) I don't understand the last question.

They definitely don't call it out as much as Ibuki does here.

It's a very strong episode for Todoroki, almost entirely because it's like the actor was only given two instructions by the director after each take: Sweatier, and More Desperate. It's amazing to have an episode where the Oni is this successful at his job, while still feeling monumentally outclassed. It's a fun tension!