Hibiki Volume 10.
Asumu is saved from the shoplifter by the old man, quietly retreated to the restaurant with him. He starts feeling broken, running from the restaurant and just going as far as he could. He makes it to a soccer field, and watches as they play, a fight breaking out between players as he cries, feeling weak and feeble.

However, everyone is having problems, with Ibuki and Akira coming across the monsters, but Akira getting hurt in the process. Ibuki heads on without her as he soon finds them once more. With backup from Hibiki, they're able to defeat the two and find the giant tortoise rhino! He displays the interesting ability to fly (Wha?), but is chased down by Hibiki and Ibuki (On one bike, no less), and is eventually shot down. They work together, Ibuki exploding shots on weak points of his shell to topple it over, giving Hibiki a chance to drum it to death, still using his new style.

In the meantime, the girl (Whose name I forgot) finally finds Asumu, starting up some small talk. They make a promise to see the movie Asumu missed together next time.

I rather liked this episode. While I do wish Asumu had more moments of strength, he was still alright here. And the last scene of him talking with the girl was rather nice. I enjoy when conversations can be lifting without dropping drama bombs like some shows pull off. I also liked some of the gags here, like Hibiki driving the bike while Ibuki had to shoot, and then telling him to just jump off out of nowhere as the bike crashes into a pile of junk. Ibuki's reaction after they defeat the monster was hilarious, too. Seems like Hibiki's ability to drive also extends to motorcycles, too~
The fighting was nice. It was cool to see Ibuki and Hibiki fighting together. The parent monsters, once again, had shit designs, but the demon tortoise-rhino was interesting enough, especially when he started pulling a Gamera.

Seems the value of the disk animals is starting to diminish, though. Darn.

Stronger episode 36.

Man, it is good to see Amazon again. And although I didn't see as much of his series, X too. Bit iffy that there's two episodes for the V3 Riders and these two just get lumped in one but oh well. Guess V3 was really popular? So far it's the only Showa series up to this point that I haven't watched at all, so V3 and Riderman returning means very little to me. Still cool though. These last few episodes are turning out to be quite fun.

Also love that General Shadow is back to sassing out other people. It is what he does best.

Was also going to say "dang, first time delza generals get taken out in their first episode, and two of them at that. guess that's what they get for working together like pansies instead of providing more entertaining power-grabby antics." but I guess, despite exploding they just...survived? I mean, sure. Whatever, Stronger.

Hibiki Volume 11.
Asumu is late once again, but this time it's for a different reason. He's just enjoying his surroundings, rather than panicking. Here, he's late for some kind of opening ceremony for new students (Something akin to that. We don't really see it, so I don't know). He decides to not go with the girl to show Hibiki their new uniforms and instead chooses to visit the store that he inadvertently helped prevent a shoplifter from getting away. Revealing that he's still unsure of his feelings on the whole situation, he mulls about before literally bumping into a woman carrying tons of bags.
Deciding to help her, he picks up what dropped and carries a few to her destination, the Tachibana tea shop. There, the girl (I don't know why her name isn't leaving an impact on me...They say it so often, but I never remember it...) stops by. After some brief confusion, things get cleared away and they have a nice tea together.

In the meantime, things for the oni are getting a little more intense. They're having to prepare more after the previous demon was a rare monster that only appeared once every hundred years. So Ibuki starts training while Hibiki goes to handle a case of tree demons (The crew as a whole were doing...Something, but I'm not sure what, exactly, as they were kinda only moving boxes).
Things aren't going well for Hibiki as none of his fire attacks are hurting them, and they've even broken his armor.

Back at the tea shop, Asumu spots a door that closes on it's own. He investigates only to find it's a trap door that leads to a slide, ending with him sliding down a spiral to who knows where.

Things happened, but there wasn't really much to talk about. Perhaps I'm just too dense to understand, but I didn't get the idea of what the side cast were doing...The way they talk or the way they were translated was just so confusing to understand.

Fourze Episode 5: I finally return to Fourze, as I finally got permission or whatever to watch it by myself. Anyways Yuuki and Gentarou are a lot of fun like normal I love them. Miu and Kengo are fun arguing with each other right now. Well it's nice to see Shou before UltraMan Ginga S as the Unicorn Switch guy here. JK's an ass right now but I guess that's just how he is right now. I can't wait to see the full Elec Switch it looks awesome from the preview. Yeah I really love Gentarou a lot so I'm happy to be watching this. I can't wait for more.

Hibiki Volume 12.
So Asumu falls into the basement of Tachibana, where they develop disc animals and tools as well as store other items (Like the classic disk animals, which were cute origami scrolls). It's pretty cool. There he meets with Midori again, and she teaches him about the oni and Hibiki. It's rather nice to learn about Hibiki, seeing that he went through similar problems in middle school such as helplessness. It helped Hibiki strive to become an oni. We also learn that Makamou can only be defeated by pure sound. Alrighty~
There's also a brief scene where we learn that Akira also attends Jounan, the same school as Asumu and...Girl (Goddammit). That's neat, though not super interesting, honestly. We'll see.

All during this, Hibiki is working on defeating the tree monsters and the Makamou, which is apparently a giant snail with a tree for a shell (And tentacles. Of course). He soon learns that their power boost is only available to them in limited bursts, so during their next encounter, he chooses to dodge and fight defensively as he waits them out, using a large legion of bird and wolf disc animals to help him out. Eventually it pays off and he defeats them once their power wears off. Next is the rampaging Makamou, headed for a village. He doesn't pose much threat, considering it's a flipping snail. Hibiki destroys it with little effort.

I rather liked this episode. It gave me something I really wanted, history on Hibiki, as well as actually helped move Asumu into the circle of characters who knows what's going on (As I was getting weary of how distant Asumu and Hibiki's stories were starting to move). While it wasn't the most in depth or dramatic episode (This episode was more action heavy than typical), finally learning a little about Hibiki as well as getting Asumu out of his depressive funk (For however brief) was nice. Asumu hearing of Hibiki's feelings of helplessness as a friend transferred schools due to a fight while around the same age as him and growing past it helping Asumu put the shoplifting incident behind him was good.

Oh my god people are watching fourze, as the guy who has watched fourze far too many times, this pleases me greatly.

Elec form is awesome but then all the forms in Fourze are good but then I am being heavily biased here.

As Fourze wants to befriend everyone at his school. I will watch all the Kamen Rider shows lol. I only have like 9 left lol.

Anyways yeah I am enjoying it so far.

Fourze Episode 6: Well I definitely see how this helped the actor who played Shou, he was great as the bad guy here. I want to see him play a main villain or something else where. Right so I liked UltraMan Ginga S a lot if I keep mentioning him lol. Anyways I liked this lesson for Gentarou that there will be guys like JK out there but still liked Gentarou still being his friend because being a friend is accepting who they are as a person even with their twisted ways. I mean I have jackass friends out there too. Still I love Gentarou reminds me of myself being too trusting with people. Also I loved that he told Shou's character to believe in himself that he wished he met sooner to helped him. Love the supporting cast so far too I love Kengo supporting Gentarou kind of reminds me of the Eiji/Ankh dynamic, they really loved the whole Main rider having support with W/OOO/Fourze didn't they? lol. Yuuki and Miu are fun too. Tomoko is just mysterious right now. JK Definitely learned a lesson there so I hope this changes him for the better. Elec States is kickass, looks better than it has in the video games I've played it in. Fourze also was kickass in his regular form too. Well I can't wait for more.

Oh, yeah, Midori. I always forget about her, which is odd because she's going to be around for the rest of the series.

I've been thinking a bit about watching Fourze again recently. I may get around to that sometime in the near future.

Fourze Episode 7 and 8: I didn't really much care for episode 7 but I mean since it connected with Episode 8 which I thought was an amazing episode I'll talk about it. I will say that learning about Shun was great and that he developed and made his own decision to join the Kamen Rider Club, not listen to his father, and help out Gentarou really helped his character. Obviously he reminds me of Flash Thompson from Marvel who was the high school bully who was just taking his issues out on other people. Shun just needed to think for himself though and is a bit different with his issues. Yuuki was fun how she got caught and sent for the extra classes. I like Tomoko's mysteriousness so far and can't wait to learn about her next. I liked the whole play with fathers with Kengo and Shun and how Kengo accepted Shun as well. Gentarou worked his magic again and became friends with Shun and this time was one of the better times because the Zodiart wasn't after Shun and was caused by something else entirely. Also I liked that Scorpio was helping the Zodiart too. Also I loved the friendship handshake in the Powerdizer that was hilarious. Gentarou's also doing pretty good fighting as well and the action was great in both episodes. Also Miu and JK both are much better after they got done with their joining arcs too and very helpful to the team. Yuuki did pretty good helping support Gentarou as he fought too. I definitely am loving Gentarou, his spirit and heart are wonderful he's a really fun main rider. With episode 8, Fourze has finally hit its good spot for me that I am loving it and just want more and more. That it's finally Kamen Rider. It takes anywhere from 1-8 episodes normally for me so this was a little longer but I think it's going to be good from here. I can't wait for more.

Fourze Episodes 9 and 10: This has to be my favorite two-parter right now of Fourze because of having us learn more about Tomoko and that the Kamen Rider Club pretty much was on fire with how awesome they all were. Shun's growth definitely took very quickly he's so much better now with making the football player back off and with helping with Tomoko. Yuuki is just a blast full of energy, I just love the enthusiasm she brings and love that she poses with Gentarou as he transforms into Fourze. Tomoko able to see the energy and different things is pretty cool and I just love how she learned from Gentarou and joined the KRC too. I love how Kengo is the serious one among all these screwballs lol and tries to make himself one of them with the whole Infirmary King line. JK seriously has connections I don't know if they would be able to do half the stuff they do without the information he gets for them. Also I love Shun in the Powerdizer that's pretty awesome. Gentarou's heart is in the right place and I just love how he kidnaps Tomoko and takes her to the moon that was a lot of fun, especially with Yuuki kicking him too. I always like how he tries to help people understand that they need to be true to themselves. Fire States was freaking badass, I completely love this form more than I have ever cared for it in pictures and in games I've played. This is seriously a badass form and he totally rocked in the fight with it. Fourze just absorbing the fire as he slow walked to the Zodiart was just freaking cool. Well I can't wait for more Fourze I'm hooked on this.

Hibiki Volume 13.
Asumu's current happiness streak is still a whopping 1 episode. Poor kid. The episode begins with him complaining he has mild stomach problems. Not too bad...
So Akira is missing school because her work with Ibuki is interfering, so Hibiki appears at their school and asks Asumu to help her and allow her to follow him, to which he accepts. Things seem to be going fine. However, it drastically dips when, later that day, Asumu is writhing in pain at his desk, which requires an ambulance to get him to the hospital. There, we learn he's afflicted with appendicitis, and an emergency surgery will have to be performed. Damn. Kid never catches a break...

In the meantime, the woman Hibiki mainly works with is sick, so the other girl briefly takes her place. Ibuki, meanwhile, encounters another set of monsters who have recieved the power up. However, it seems to have a strange effect. One of them grows wings and goes berserk, eating both their partner as well as the growing Makamou, much to everyone's surprise. They give chase, and we briefly see a new Oni, Danki (Who seems to have Ongekibou on him, so another drummer? Neat). Before he can off these the monsters he's currently fighting, the berserker rushes in and eats them as well as the giant Makamou before flying off again, leaving Danki confused.
Eventually, Ibuki catches up and fights it once more, able to blow apart one of it's wings. Though it doesn't seem phased, and the bullets in it's chest doesn't even phase it, just flexing them out before rushing Ibuki. Things get worse when Hibiki's car gets a flat thanks to the one chick, slowing him down as he has to run the remainder of the way to help.

This episode really upped the stakes. Asumu has a dangerous illness and needs surgery, now giving him a problematic physical problem in addition to all the mental issues he had going on. The monsters power ups are rather strange, this one going berserk, so it's hard to catch a beat on them, and it's rage is giving Ibuki one hell of a time as he can hardly fight back. Hibiki has gotten a new drum to make the fight easier on everybody, but he's been set back and has to reach the monster on foot.
I really liked how this episode moved and the tension it provided. I was kind of getting sick of Asumu getting down so easily, so to see his problems grow into a physical issue helps keep things interesting.

Hibiki Volume 14
So it picks up immediately where 13 left off. With Ibuki being eaten in the shoulder. If this demon was a zombie, we'd be down one Rider. Anyway, it seems the beserker is uninterested in humans, as it looks to Akira, but completely ignores her. It soon runs off (It's wings injured previously), leaving Ibuki beaten. Hibiki soon arrives, intercepting it, but he can't completely stop it as it forges two weapons of it's own, beating Hibiki then running off once more.
While that is going on, Asumu is being rushed to surgery, mother by his side as he writhed in pain before being taken to the operation table. Thankfully, the operation is successful and Asumu is fine.
The girl rushes off to the hospital, meeting up with her cousin (Who somehow knows Asumu...I dunno) as they both move to meet with Asumu.

In the meantime, the two oni are working together to find the berserk as, with a strange chemical, the cloaked figure giving the monsters their power ups, revives two other monsters. They encounter the berserker first, saying it's failed, but it's soon apparent how large the power boost is as they don't even hold a candle to it. Hibiki and Ibuki soon come to the scene, too, dispatching them before starting the fight against the berserk. Working together, they have a much easier time, though it's no walk in the park as it still throws them around like ragdolls at times.
Eventually, they manage to land Hibiki's improved drum on him, letting him perform a powerful explosive beat, dispatching it once and for all.

I rather liked this episode, the tension standing strong thanks to Ibuki and Hibiki having a rough time with the particular monster, while Asumu's situation lessening in tension and growing in sympathy as it's hard not to feel bad for his rough situation. Asumu's struggle seems to never end, unfortunately, but there are the little things, like his meeting with the man who is finally getting out of the hospital.
I particularly enjoyed Hibiki's and Akira's reaction to the thought at Asumu becoming his apprentice. It seems Hibiki doesn't see him as much of a fighter, darn. I enjoy Hibiki and Ibuki's ability to work together as well, as it's not even a friendly rivalry, but just two riders who can work in sync despite not having similar fighting styles. It's quite nice for a change.

One of the many things I love about Hibiki is the minor Oni. Danki is the first, but there are a few others who pop up from time to time. They rarely do much or hugely contribute to the big fights, but they help give the sense that there's a larger world out there then just the one we're seeing in the series. Hibiki's world probably feels the most lived-in of all the Rider series, which is one of the things that I love so much about the show.

You may remember Hitomi's cousin from later episodes of Wizard; he was the green Mage. You haven't seen the last of him here.

I like the idea of the minor Oni. It makes their organization they brought up from time to time actually feel like a real thing, rather than a group of 5 guys.
I don't feel it marginalizes Hibiki or Ibuki, either, so it's cool~

So Hitomi's cousin is going to be reoccurring? Alrighty~

One of the stupidest things I'll always remember from Kiva is when the police round up and arrest the entire fangire hunting agency and it's just the three guys we know from the show in one jail cell. It fed an amusing alternate interpretation where the leader was making the whole thing up and Megumi and Nago didn't realize it, but it was still pretty embarrassing. They could have at least grabbed a couple cameramen and made them stand in the background.

I'm currently in the second half of Kiva (episode 41), yeah, the fact you never see onscreen another person from the Aozora organisation in 2008 make this weird and cheap (in the 80's there is still a flashback of IXA development team). I was thinking exactly the same thing, that maybe the boss was delusional and it was just the 3 of them at that time.

In the second half, the story has still good comedy moments, but plot and directing gradually go retard. Meaning I have more questions than answers concerning how the 1986 and 2008 timelines connect, and some situations are just absurd. "Space&Time Continuity Changer"™ all the way.
For example, the episode where Taiga, Mio and Wataru discover their respective secret identities is completely surreal, it starts with them and some fangires in the same location and they never see or hear the other henshin/fighting. I get that the main point was to have the scene where they all de-henshin at the same time... but damn.

With the late introduction of Taiga or the way Kengo's character is used later on, it may be possible Inoue just didn't know how to wrap up the last part of the story. If Taiga was planned from the start, when Wataru befriend Kengo and said he was his first friend then he has super selective amnesia.

Was that a giant porcupine badger?
Huh...Anyway...
Hibiki Volume 15.
I'm now officially halfway through Hibiki :p

So this episode gives us our first look at Zanki, as well as his apprentice, Todayama. It's pretty interesting that Hitomi's cousin is an oni, and the man who helped Asumu as he almost tripped with Zanki. Neat. Well, with those two, we see the 3rd instrument, string instruments. I do love the guitar spear, it's a pretty baller weapon. Their suits are also pretty nice. I like the belt strap across their chest that's basically a guitar neck (It looks a lot cooler than Ibuki's vest made of brass pipes, I must say). Anyway, on to the episode.

With Zanki out of the hospital, they immediately mobilize to handle a giant crab demon (Much like the one that defeated him some 7 episodes ago), except it's not the acid squirting variety. They both transform (And their clothes immediately get bolted away while doing so) and begin fighting. While Todayama is having a relatively easy time, Zanki is struggling, but still managing to get the job done. With the parents down, they move to the Makamou, where Zanki impales the guitar and tries to play, but fails before finally getting a lucky chance after flipping the monster.
Zanki realizes he's not in his prime and that the constant fighting has basically left him too sluggish and weak, and announces he's retiring, planning on passing down the guitar to Todayama.

While this is going on, Asumu has finally gotten a chance to return home, and it seems his recovery is moving along well. While he's not bedridden, he's definitely not in great shape, as the surgery still left some pain. In the meantime, Hibiki and Akira get into talks about how close Akira is to transforming, as she's basically one level off. However, she's not rushing anything, and is willing to take her time because she trusts Ibuki's teaching and judgment. How nice. While they're out, they come across a motorcycle dealership and Hibiki muses about how cool he'd look on a bike, and determines to learn how to drive (Finally~), and then, during a brief trip to a market, Hibiki chances upon Asumu's mother! She takes him to their place, much to the delight of Asumu (Who then proceeds to immediately start trying to clean the place).

Not all is perfect, as another rider, Sabaki, was having trouble handling a monster, the porcupine bear badger thing. However, they could only dispatch the weakened Zanki, as it's weak to string instruments. Zanki and Todayama soon arrive on scene to find an unconscious Sabaki and the monster slowly moving about.

This was a cool episode. Zanki and Todayama are pretty neat, though it wasn't the strongest showing for our guitar based riders, as Zanki had a hard time putting up a fight, while Todayama doesn't even have a guitar to fight with. It was also a little disappointing that the monster was killed with one strum of the guitar, so there wasn't much beyond a bland guitar twang. Still, I'm curious to see whether Zanki does retire and give Todayama the guitar, or if he manages to stay active. Asumu didn't really do much here, but the odd masturbation joke was kind of funny (And really out of the blue) and his just immediately dropping to the floor to clean when Hibiki arrived was rather fun. Also, when Hibiki thinks about getting a bike, the call back to when he drove Ibuki's bike and forced him to jump off was pretty funny.

And I finally finished Kamen Rider Stronger.

RIP best husbando. General Shadow was too good for this world anyway. Seriously though, how much livestock do I have to sacrifice to get TN to make a figuarts Shadow? Name your price, ancient gods/Bandai.

Anyway, while I'm still not the hugest fan of the Showa style of storytelling, Stronger was a fine show. General Shadow provided an entertaining aspect throughout, and the entire Delza Army arc was great. The in-fighting shenanigans, the Tackle thing, and the return of the old Riders...it was all pretty good stuff. It was good.

Out of the 8 Kamen Rider shows I've finished/am comfortable enough judging, I'd probably rank Stronger 4th or 5th. Solid show.

Now, I move on to a series that has received nothing but total universal acclaim!: Wizard. Such a fan favorite. Should be interesting...

Wizard's not bad, as such. Just a bit boring towards the middle, when it gets very, very MOTW. But I enjoyed it, so maybe you will :)
Just watch out for Shunpei

Wizard was the second series I watched in its entirety. Gaim was the first.

Kamen Rider Wizard episode 1.

Too early to judge of course, especially since as I've heard (and AS has confirmed) its problems only really start to show towards the middle. But on this first impression alone: I'm a fan. Impressive opening, Haruto's personality is fun, and they managed to pack a lot of interesting stuff in just this one episode. Action's great. It's only the second series I've seen where the main Rider starts out with his powers, and it definitely makes for an interesting first episode.

My only beef with it would be that the form changing was pretty superfluous, but no big deal.

The rest of the supporting cast is introduced starting next episode it seems. It's all downhill from here!

Wizard has one of the best first episodes in Heisei, honestly. That action is also pretty consistently good overall. Buuuuut... that's about it. Good luck. :p

Brace yourself, endure it until you get to behold Maho Shoujo Beast and then the crossdressing episode in the all girl's college. Totally worth it.
More seriously, I think Wizard is okay. Later on, give a shot to the net episodes for cool stuff and crazy cross-overs/cameos.

I just finished with 555, which I really overall enjoyed despite some narrative problems dragging it down a bit. I'm probably going to go for Kuuga next.

Wizard isn't terrible. Aside from Shunpei, the only real problems are with pacing and the way the story unfolds. Conceptually, the main story actually makes a lot of sense and the reveals near the end work and help reshape what came before. The problem is that the delivery is clunky and too much of the show hinges around a character whose actress was too busy idol-ing to show up and film more than one or two scenes per arc.

Hibiki Volume 16.
Well, Zanki and Todayama's fight is a bust, as the Makamou (Who is a porcupine bull...Interesting combination) and one of the parents escape, Todayama unable to properly wield the guitar for any finishers, and Zanki unable to take out both of the parent monsters. Todayama is left apologetic and weak as Zanki tells him to forget all the training he's taught, realizing that Todayama was relying on him to fight alongside, rather than growing into his own warrior. Giving Todayama the guitar, he runs into the woods to train while the disc animals are out tracking the monsters. During this training, Zanki notices that Todayama is starting to develop his own fighting style.

In the meantime, Hibiki and Asumu leave off for a walk, having a nice heart to heart. I do enjoy scenes like this as Asumu finally gets a chance to air his feelings and thoughts out, rather than be the quiet wallflower he normally is. It's during their little talk that he spontaneously spurts out that he'd like to be Hibiki's disciple. Briefly afterwards, Hibiki tells him that he doesn't actually want to be his disciple nor an oni, but rather, Asumu simply wants some form of guidance. Hibiki tells him that he'll be his teacher in that sense and to not hesitate visiting him. It's a charming scene.

Back on the battlefield, they track down the Makamou, and Zanki stays out of this fight, letting Todayama fight both on his own. He holds his own well, quickly dispatching the remaining parent despite the Makamou raining down quills for him to dodge. He moves to the Makamou, and seems to have a difficult time before Zanki orders him to fight in his own way, rather than in Zanki's style. Following this advice, he manages to defeat it (And rocking out while doing so, rather than just a quick strum). After his win, Zanki tells Todayama to take on the name Zanki, but he refuses, telling him that he'll graduate into his own man, but he wants Zanki to remain Zanki. Afterwards, Zanki decides to name him Todoroki, because they both begin with "To."

This episode was really good. Despite not being new to fighting, Todayama has a crash course because he normally has Zanki by his side as well as Zanki performing the finisher. Here, he has to take out one of the parents as well as the Makamou alone, it was quite the undertaking for him. I'm not sure how I felt about Zanki just throwing him to the wind like that, but I guess he needed to hammer in that he won't always be Todayama's crutch due to the excess strain.
Asumu and Hibiki's walk together was also rather nice. Any time Asumu gets to actually let his thoughts out is nice, seeing as how he's normally reserved otherwise. I liked Hibiki shooting down Asumu's request to become his disciple, strangely. Asumu was never much of a fighter, and his being so unsure so often just didn't make for Oni material. But I do enjoy that Hibiki did turn things around, and told him that he will mentor him as basically a teacher and life coach, helping him overcome problems (Like the shoplifting thing). It was a nice conversation.

Also, after seeing Zanki and Todoroki's transformation burning their clothes off in the previous episode, it makes sense now why, after battles, they only de-transform their heads. Todoroki, this isn't your first rodeo. Come on, dude :lol

Wizard episode 3.

I...like this Shunpei kid? Hope that doesn't change. Strong pair of episodes, these. Still digging this series.

Wizard episode 4.

Koyomi is a rude zombie or whatever.

I like this cat Phantom. Good action too! Also, the budgeting begins...

It's going to depend on how long you can tolerate his slapstick flailing and terrible fashion sense. Those never go away.

Shunpei tends to be one of the few things about Wizard that was universally hated, both by haters and fans of the show. I'm surprised :lol

Anyway, Hibiki Volume 17.
Ibuki going on a shopping trip! How fun! Eeyup.
So Asumu is working to help Akira keep up in school, which looks to lead to a misunderstanding between him and Hitomi that Asumu has a love interest.
So, I have to say this now. Thank you, whoever wrote this episode, to have Akira approach Hitomi less than 5 minutes later (Well, not in universe, but still the same day), and have her quickly clarify the situation. I am so sick of the drama bomb that stems from a misunderstanding, and I want to cheer to the heavens that this didn't go down. Also, Asumu getting hit in the head with a basketball. That'll teach him for having a good day!
Things aren't all hunky dory, though. Due to the crisis at hand, Akira has to leave school early once again, needing to retrieve Ibuki's trumpet due to his situation.

Anyway, Ibuki's shopping trip with [Elder Tachibana/Hibiki's handler] takes a dive when he spots a pair of Douji and Hime, who are being super conspicuous and it's hard not to notice them. However, it's a major issue since they're actually mucking around in a city, rather than woods or a shoreline, a first for the monsters. After using some disc animals that can go invisible (That seems like a useful ability that should probably be used more often...), they track them down at some kind of warehouse. After Hibiki's handler distracts a couple of truckers, Ibuki somewhat handles the situation, able to take down the parents, but then the Makamou appears, or, rather...Part of it (I think tongue, but maybe just a tentacle, since they have a tendency to just...Have tentacles). Using it's own sub-tentacles (Since that's a thing now), it keeps Ibuki at bay, and reveals that it has a powerful acid inside it, melting and eating the disc animals. Yikes. Also, because he was out shopping, he didn't have his trumpet on him. Zoinks.

This episode was pretty good, setting up a couple things as well as solidifying others. At the beginning we see Hibiki training with a new Ongekibou, one that can apparently channel fire into an energy blade. It's pretty neat, but it blows up in his face. Midori apparently was hard at work, as she had multiple different kinds for Hibiki to train with, though it seems there have been multiple failures. I'm curious to see where this leads. We also see that Todoroki is now officially becoming the a registered Oni, signing that he's accepting all of Zanki's old tools, as well as going for a physical to make it completely official. I guess it makes enough sense to write him out of this particular plot, since the guy is very formal and nice.

Asumu's side of the story was rather light this episode. It's good to see he still has his new found resolve, as he takes steps to help Akira rather than passively wait. A light shined down and they didn't have a lame melodramatic subplot about Hitomi thinking Akira and Asumu being together by having the confusion quickly cleared away. So yay~

Wow, these monsters, though. I have no idea what the hell. The man has a hilariously fake mustache and crawls everywhere, while the woman is dressed like a gothic loli, but they have swapped voices.
http://i.imgur.com/cl2NJ7T.png
They're so conspicuous that Ibuki noticed them in the middle of a large crowd and immediately went "There be monsters right there. Let's go" without a second thought.
The fighting was rather nice, as Ibuki needed to handle things without his trumpet. It was pretty cool, as he instead channeled wind into his attacks, reflecting attacks as well as being able to instantly slash through objects without effort. I also think Ibuki had the first Rider Kick in Hibiki. Nice~

Something they also brought up was that they were aware that the monsters were receiving power ups through someone else's experimentation, mainly bringing up the berserk, noting that there haven't been any real strange happenings lately since then. I'm curious how they figured out it was a 3rd party granting the monsters strength.

Well, when everyone is clamoring about how awful he is, it really lowers one's expectations, and it becomes easy for them to be surpassed. But yeah, I found his debut episodes good. If he just keeps fumbling around for 50 episodes I may stop being fond of him, but right now I'm good, he's good.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention that I really liked about episode 4 of Wizard: it had a really truly great Funny Background Event going on. When the cat was jumping around everywhere and lands on the donut cart, one guy standing nearby just totally freaks out and starts praying and runs for it. A bit later when everything is calmer you see him in the background talking to a woman and he's just looking around so confused, trying to find it. Shit's completely hilarious.

I guess that makes sense in that if you have low expectations for shunpei it makes him less bad in a sense but I never found the other hyper character in the post decade series as annoying as Shunpei.

The donut guy was one of the better parts of the cast and hope you enjoy wizard, I am still mixed on it.

I mean, I'm also watching this after experiencing Onari. Shunpei would have to do a lot to surpass that guy.

https://i.gyazo.com/fd422caffc450515...af7e0e4df6.png

Truer words and all that.

Haven't been watching ghost yet, Waiting for it to get half way through and seeing if it gets better like drive did and yeah Onari is really annoying from what I hear, I guess if you weathered the worst then you can tackle the likes of shunpei.

Wizard isn't bad, per se, but it's just really mediocre in my opinion. I frequently forget that I've even watched it. I do enjoy some parts of it though, but the whole experience was rather mind-numbing.

Wizard does have some really flashy fight choreography that never stops getting old but after watching the previous shows before it does stick to the formula of new decade too much and that does not help the staleness felt when watching.

Wizard is comparable to Haruto's choice in donuts.

I don't really remember why I disliked Wizard beyond the bland story and the focus on the dull Koyomi, since I've seen bland shows that I didn't dislike (Like Megaranger). I really can't recall what made Wizard go from dull to disliked for me...

Anyway, Hibiki Volume 18.
Ibuki continues dealing with the Makamou, but notices the tendril from the ground. Attacking it with his hand spikes, he pierces through it, burning his hand with the acid but also causing it to retreat. We soon learn what the creature is (A giant catfish) and that the tentacle and what I assumed was it's tongue was actually it's stomach, which explains the intense acid it had. There's no time to rest, though, as they need to kill it. After the old man gives them possible areas for it, Ibuki and Kasumi immediately give chase. While doing so, Akira is still on the move to deliver Ibuki's trumpet (Which I still have no idea what it's called. It's called both an "Ongekikan" and "Reppu" in this episode...). She's running about Tokyo, moving as efficiently as possible to deliver it. However, while running through a tunnel, she gets a massive headache as we see glimpses of the cloaked figure walking. She collapses, but is soon awoken by an old woman, and she takes no time to rest as she goes on the move again (I'm wondering where this is gonna lead us).

In the meantime, Asumu has traveled to Tachibana's to deliver the notes for Akira, but accidentally gets caught up in helping the overburdened Hinaka run the place and serve customers. Well, at least he's not as indecisive anymore :lol

Back to Ibuki, they finally track down the Makamou (Mainly through process of elimination, since they searched every other possible area with no luck), and he attacks after a rather touching scene with him and Kasumi. He quickly finds it and the Makamou attacks with it's stomach again. He does...Decently, but is soon covered in acid, causing massive damage to his body. Hibiki finally arrives with a clutch save, hitting the stomach with fireballs and delivers the trumpet, showing that he and Midori intercepted Akira and helped the poor gal. The two attacking with fireballs and trumpet shots, the stomach retreats into the pool of water where the monster is awaiting. Despite being a monster that's weak to drums, Ibuki insists he finishes it off, and dives in. Revealing that apparently you can play a trumpet underwater, he uses his finisher, causing the shots to explode within the monster, finally winning the day.
The episode ends with a charming reunion at Tachibana's, with an exhausted Hinaka and Asumu welcoming everyone back.

T'was nice. Ibuki's resolve is pretty solid, and his interactions with Kasumi was rather nice, especially since they were childhood friends or something. Asumu's portion was rather minimal, but it was still fun. It was rather funny to see him accidentally become a volunteer just by walking into the place.
The action was pretty solid, and seeing just how damaged Ibuki had become after being slathered in acid was rough. Good to know he's so durable. Also he can play a trumpet underwater.
I'm most curious about what happened with Akira, and where that possible plot point could head.

The location where this fight was filmed is also where the final battle took place in Faiz. That always amused me.

Really now? That's pretty neat~

It's a cool location. I think it was in one of the Garo series, too. I actually just found this article when trying to find out more information about it:

http://gizmodo.com/tokyo-has-the-lar...wor-1696967098

That's rather interesting. I do enjoy when locales like that are used for a show like this. It brings a lot of visual variety. I also didn't know it was an underground water tank. Cools~