Akira's thoughtfulness makes her such an interesting character, but unfortunately, that can put her in a bad place mentally. It's heartbreaking to hear for me, but even more for Ibuki, to hear his apprentice who he cares about considering that using hatred as a source of power is okay. That's definitely not a healthy way of thinking for Akira, as a person or an Oni. Unfortunately, Ibuki doesn't know how to convince her and Zanki pretty much repeats what he said. Akira isn't getting the advice and help she needs to overcome her hatred and it's not their fault, they don't want her to get hurt and they don't know what to do about it. Ibuki's relationship with Akira isn't as relaxed as Hibiki and Shounen. Ibuki takes his position very seriously and he has a fear of losing Akira's trust and feeling like a failure as a mentor and it's really tough to watch them fall apart like this.

Yeah, being an Oni is a way of life. Ibuki especially believes that being an Oni is an obligation to protect people above all else, having been groomed to become an Oni his whole life. The high school student with the greatest drive to become an Oni is Kiriya, but his state of mind needs some work before he can meet the criteria. Shuki is an example of what happens when an Oni is consumed by hatred and the reason why being good at killing Makamou isn't enough to be an Oni. The motivation is important as well. Kiriya and Akira can't move in any direction until they figure out what it is they really want and whether or not that aligns with the Oni lifestyle.

Sabaki's a real team player.

Nice trivia! You've clearly done your research. I would like to clarify a few points though.

Common mistake. It's either "would have" or "would've".

"Ogre" here is pronounced and spelled with the same kanji as Oni, hence the armor's connection to the Oni Riders.

Actually, Movie Hibiki and Novel Hibiki are different characters. The former is from the Sengoku Period and the latter is from the Edo Period, possibly Movie Hibiki's immediate successor and may or may not resemble Hibiki.

I'm not sure I'd agree that the female characters "don't do much"? I mean, for the first phase, the efforts of Kasumi, Hinaka, Akira, and Midori are generally portrayed as invaluable, and the reason the Oni are able to combat the Makamou. (The second phase... there, I think, you'd have a stronger argument.)

I guess I also don't see Effectiveness as a main criteria for value on this show, since... like, Asumu. He's a/the lead character, and he doesn't "do" anything. The most he's ever mattered in a monster fight is the movie, which is nebulously canonical. This doesn't, in either phase, feel like a show that's equating Good At Detonating Monsters with Worth Investigating Narratively. Like, love it or hate, the last story spent two episodes trying to say something about the romantic difficulties of Hinaka and Todoroki.

But, yeah, Akira getting more development is awesome, and Shuki's harp is fantastic. Psyched to learn more about Shuki tonight!

Yeah, Zanki and Ibuki are... they're trying in this one, but I don't think they get it? Akira straight up tells Ibuki that his background means he can't relate to her dilemma, and while he's smart to get her to spend some time with Zanki (who voluntarily/"voluntarily" chose to stop being an Oni), even Zanki's not really in the right headspace to get across to Akira what it's like to be an Oni. You can see in this episode how much stepping aside is weighing on Zanki, and it's just not a great time for him to give a pep talk.

It's really great to me how the various Oni are aware of the stakes, that Akira could quit, but also hard-pressed to articulate something so innate to them.

True! And this episode sets things up as nicely open-ended. Like, I don't think Akira stepping back would be a terrible decision? It's a nice story to have, where there isn't one obvious Right outcome.

The irony is, I think Akira's the female character who's the MOST active in fights in Rider until, like, Poppy and Nico? And even then she's still been the most consistent.

Their different perspectives make it difficult. Ibuki and Zanki can see she needs guidance, they want to give it but her problem is so disconnected from them. Akira feels like they're being insensitive by telling her to get over her parents' death but it's the opposite and they're really looking out for her as a person and potential successor. Ibuki feels responsible as her mentor for failing her and it's destroying him that he can't help her. Even Zanki, who is no longer an Oni, is still living an Oni life with an Oni name. Being an Oni is more than being a Kamen Rider. But he doesn't know how to explain that to someone who is currently neither. Akira needs advice from someone who can understand her.

Depends on the circumstances. If Akira is unable to overcome her hatred then giving up the Oni path would be the only acceptable decision. She shouldn't be like Shuki. I want to see her move past it though since it would be a pity to throw away her mentor-apprentice relationship with Ibuki for a grudge that is never going to make her feel any better about her parents getting murdered. She deserves to be an Oni but these feelings are holding her back.

I forgot to mention earlier that Shuki's Oni face being the whole of her face rather than just on the forehead is a weird design and I don't understand why she looks so different. Maybe it's supposed to be symbolic of how becoming an Oni supplanted her humanity by giving in to the hatred.

It's one of my favorite decisions in the conception of the show, that Akira is not only the most active assistant (arguably more than Zanki!), but that her becoming an Oni is treated as such an inevitability that you can get an entire story out of her sudden ambivalence. There's never a point where the show's like Well She Can't Be An Oni Because She's A Girl, even subtextually. Like, Kiriya, who is the worst, only objects to her not committing fully to being an Oni.

I think I saw it more as her no longer being motivated by her parents death, and the absence of that motivation being what's causing her crisis. All she's ever known is the steady presence of that anger, and now that's gone (or leaving)... it's like she was set on this path by something she can't remember, and now she doesn't how or why she should keep going. Ibuki doesn't seem like he's ever questioned his purpose (according to Akira), and Zanki is... not in the best place to weigh the pros and cons of being an Oni.

Yeah, oh man, I definitely want to see Akira find her But Why Heroism. Absolutely I do. I just think it's neat that the show with a general respect for treating being an Oni like a job (albeit a job like being a doctor or a firefighter) is able to suggest that someone like Akira walking away would be a blow to the organization, but it might be the best move for her.

Very cool idea! I didn't get a great look at Shuki's suit yet, but I'm into this theory.

Is Tackle nothing to you?

Well... her 'consistency' kinda got ended early...

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 37 - “REVIVED THUNDER”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki37a.png

“I’m back with scars to show
Back with the streets I know
Will never take me anywhere but here”

-The Weakerthans, “Left & Leaving”

Boy, I really wanted to like this one.

I think there’s some good ideas in it, but it just really fumbles the execution. There’re a bunch of big emotional beats that, to me, 100% do not land. The actors are trying, but the material here is … it’s biting off way more than it can chew.

There’s just not nearly enough space to deal with Akira’s inner turmoil, Shuki’s crusade, Ibuki’s duty, and Zanki’s disappointment. It’s too much for a set of problems that basically stop and start in the same episode. As a result, so many turns are rushed, and the big connective tissue that should help support those turns is left to a couple lines of dialogue. This thing needed at least another episode to really work.

Akira’s story is the one I’m most interested in, and the one that maybe comes out the best. (The best of several bad plots, but still!) Her problem is that, on the one hand, Shuki is offering the comfort and certainty of Anger as a motivation. Akira knows how to operate by channeling her rage into her job, and Shuki is telling her that not only is she smart to do that, but that Shuki can teach her ways to become even more powerful as an Oni. On the other hand, she’s got the men of Takeshi, who… are also in this episode.

I think Hibiki’s trying to let her find her own path, to let her make up her own mind for what works. But, basically, the other Oni are giving her nothing that makes sense to her. Ibuki shrugged his shoulders last episode and says maybe two words to her in this one, and Zanki can't seem to offer any alternatives. Shuki is telling her that anger is a tool, and that sounds familiar to her. The other Oni are saying Don’t Do The Thing That Makes Sense To You, and giving her zero other options. Is it any wonder that she ends up throwing her lot in with Shuki?

It’s one of those big turns, though, that I don’t think works super great. I can see why Akira would do that, why she'd go with the person who's telling her there's nothing wrong with her instead of the men who are treating her like she's in a play that no one gave her a script for; but it feels so massive, and happens so quickly, that it’s a little hard to buy. The idea of Akira burning her bridges with Ibuki and not even talking to him about? I don’t see it happening! I don’t think you can do an Akira Turns Her Back On Her Family moment with Zanki. Nope! It’d be like Asumu deciding to become Hibiki’s apprentice, and it happens in a scene with him and Hinaka. They got fun scene chemistry, but that moment needs the right partner, or you’re squandering so much drama.

I don’t… Personally, I don’t love Akira turning her back (even briefly) on Ibuki and the other Oni. I’m not going to say It’s Out Of Character, because I think there’s a way to tell that story that could square that circle. It’s just, what’s here is not that compelling of a case, and it sort of leaves the character worse off narratively than she started.

It’s the Zanki and Shuki plot that really didn’t work for me, though.

A lot of it is down to a writing choice that… I see where the writer was coming from. The idea seems to be that Shuki is Zanki to Zanki’s Todoroki. If Zanki’s always been the coolest, most reserved Oni, let’s see his teacher, who makes Zanki look like an over-the-top emotional buffoon. Shuki is ice-cold in this story, which is a fun idea… but it makes this story dramatically inert.

There’s no shading to Shuki, no layers. She wants the power of an Oni to kill the monster that killed her parents (a parallel to Akira’s story that is so on the nose that it made me laugh), and she’ll do anything to get that power. That’s it. Her whole character is in the three seconds where she tells Akira to Stay Angry Ponygirl. She’s ruthless in pursuing her objectives, which makes her dull to debate with. If there’s any conflict inside her about her actions, they’re buried so deep as to be undiscoverable. She’s just a dull antagonist, someone that’s all plot mechanics and no character. (There is a scene where the Fancy Dress Douji and Hime show up and tell Shuki she’s a monster just like them, and her response is, almost literally, Nuh Uh.) All of the actual drama is coming from Zanki, and all of that is just backstory. They have barely one scene together, and Shuki is giving him nothing in the moment. It’s like Zanki’s acting to a ping-pong ball. I’d absolutely believe you if you told me Shuki was composited in later. There’s zero chemistry, and nothing in that scene makes me give a shit if Shuki lives or dies. It’s an unconvincing, one-note take on an Ahab story.

Which means that Shuki’s sacrifice… I didn’t care? For even a second? I wasn’t able to find anything compelling about her character in this episode, so her offing herself was… I mean, one, it didn’t make me feel anything about her character or Zanki’s character. But, two, it made me mad because it takes the dilemma that multiple scenes have been focused on, What Do We Do About Shuki, and then completely lets every character off the hook. What will Ibuki do? Doesn’t matter! What will Zanki do? Doesn’t matter! It’s such a cheat, and it made me really dislike how this episode told its story.

I’m glad the Akira story isn’t over, though. I think there’re more places you could follow that character. The Shuki and Zanki stuff, though… boy, wanted to like it, but it just did not work. Bummer.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki37b.png

My biggest problem with this arc is how Shuki just came and went. The only character that cares is Zanki everyone else is just dosen't react to having the first evil Oni since Kabuki in the Sengoku era. And it's cyncial in a way an organization built on helping an oni after an a single oni allied with the makamou after being rejected by humanity shouldn't be. You would think this would be a big blow for both the other Oni with mistrust over one of thier own betraying them. And the Takeshi organizatian feeling guilty over not giving Shuki the help she needed to move on from her revenge.

The whole Ibuki As Internal Affairs thing... I honestly really love that idea, but the episode does nothing with it. If Takeshi has dozens of Oni running around, and they've been doing this for centuries, it's stands to reason that they must have some procedures in place for when an Oni loses control. (I mean, depending on how canon the movie is... Kabuki! The very first thing Takeshi has to do is deal with the aftermath of an Oni who turned on the other Oni!) I love how it falls to Ibuki, and how ill-suited he is for rendering that sort of judgment.

The problem is, that idea is so big that it needs its own two-parter, but here it's like the third-most important plot thread. Worse, as I said before, there's zero resolution to this idea! Ibuki confronts Shuki, but then Shuki sacrifices herself and everyone goes home. Ibuki doesn't ever have to make a decision, which makes introducing that conflict totally anticlimactic.