How did I miss this (both in the show and in this thread)?

I won’t spoil anything, but let’s just say this particular character trait is what ended up endearing me to Akira the next time it gets brought up.

So, about once per every one of these threads, I hit an episode that... I don't want to say I get it wrong (opinions and all), but my takeaway ends up being not so much the dominant reaction. At those points, there're usually a few people who are like Let Me Fix That For You, and I love those parts of the thread.

I really enjoy when folks are able to passionately argue for (or just talk about) the parts of a show that, for some reason, I don't talk about. I love getting to hear other viewpoints, other analysis. It's the best part of a fandom.

For me and this episode specifically, it's more that I really really wanted to talk about the romantic comedy parts, and didn't feel that into discussing the action-y parts. Not that they were bad! Or unimportant! I just didn't... it wasn't what was at the top of my brain. I imagine a lot of the stuff I didn't touch on (Ibuki's heroic attributes, the idea of the monsters appearing in the city) will be things that get a little more excavation in the second part of the story.

You're not wrong! It's definitely a much cheaper episode to shoot than the rest of the Hibiki Goes Camping ones. (Which this still has!) I'm sure that a mid-Spring trip to a mall was a giant sigh of relief for some of the crew, as well.

It's fun to them stalking around a city that, mostly, could not care less about them. As fun as it can be to see panicked citizens, I much prefer the jaded pedestrians who are just, like, I Am Not Engaging With This Crazy Person.

They actually sort-of addressed this in the text, which I thought was nice. There was a bit where Hitomi was talking to Asumu, and she mentions that those two are busy hanging out. Prior to that, the show was pretty heavily indicating that those two were coupling up. Altogether, it's a nice little setup to say that, as human-shaped hormone factories, they're more into being a couple than big group hangouts. (It's like they knew that those two kids were about to be two characters too many!)

Thank you for the Wolverine reference!

Seeing Ibuki demolish the Douji and Hime was suitably exciting. I'm an Ibuki fan! I like his whole thing, from the swing-influenced fight song, to the Oni-claws (that only get used once every five or six episodes), to the Whatever Guile From Street Fighter Calls His Throwing Air At People moves, to the fact that when he doesn't have his signature weapon he still manages to explode the monsters. He's great!

Zanki's being very Zanki when he tells Todoyama to forget what he's learned. There's innate Oni stuff that Zanki taught him that probably shouldn't be disregarded if he plans to, you know, Henshin, but Zanki's realizing that Todoyama maybe idolized him too much to be useful. Instead of giving him a more nuanced pep talk, one that maybe acknowledges the complexity that comes from trying to be a role model, he gives the curt, unvarnished version he gives everyone.

I don't know if it's "ambitions", so much as it's experiences? Ibuki's thinking is similar to universities: even if you know exactly what you want to do for a living, you need to have a few other skills in order to be a functioning adult. You may know that your future is in math, but you're still going to have to get some arts credits. Maybe it becomes a new passion, but at the very least it fills out your personality and knowledge base.

Maybe the show will address this at some point, but I took it as a function of Hibiki declining an apprentice. If he won't train someone to do it, Takeshi will just assign someone to do that part of the job.

There's a dumb quote/meme that kept surfacing in my brain as the show was keeping Asumu and Hibiki apart. It's a (typically great) Raul Julia line as M. Bison from the (astonishingly bad) Street Fighter movie: "For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

A lot of what's happening before that big apprentice discussion in 16 is Asumu investing so much in Hibiki (a gifted compass becomes totemic), while Hibiki is out living his life and sort-of occasionally wondering whatever happened to that kid from the forest. There's a gigantic disparity between how Asumu looks up to Hibiki, and how Hibiki cares about Asumu. I can totally see Hibiki having to take a couple months to figure out if this kid is worth his time and energy.

The absolute sweetest part in a very sweet episode was when Ibuki asked Kasumi to take Akira shopping, because he hoped Akira could grow up to be like Kasumi. I like that Ibuki is able to be that upfront about how he admires Kasumi.

Ha ha, I hadn't thought of that! You're definitely right!

Always, because the origami wouldn't even need to cloak to blend into a city. If I'm walking down a sidewalk and I see a green plastic gorilla, I'm going to be weirded out. If I'm walking down a sidewalk and I see a fluttering piece of paper, I don't give it a second look. Garbage is everywhere in a city!

This is the first episode where Akira is shown going to school, and Ibuki calls her out halfway through. And this is after acknowledging that she should probably be in school more! (Although I guess a half-day is better than the no-days she'd been going?)

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 18 - "UNRELENTING HURRICANE"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki18a.png

"Honey we don't need that much:
Flannel shirts and coffee in camping cups
We'll use our hands to work and love
Oh, the blessings that will come
Honey we don't need that much:
A winter fire, a summer swimming hole
Just hold me tight and hold me close
Through the seasons I'll watch you grow"

-Mount Moriah, "Honey, We Don't Need That Much"

So, we can end the series here, right? I can't imagine why you'd need any more of this show. It's perfect, and beautiful, and prolonging it is just diminishing it.

This one... god, what can I even say?

Ostensibly an Ibuki spotlight, this episode casts its net far and wide, giving every character (except Todoroki, who is busy with a physical) a chance to demonstrate their worth to not just this narrative, but the entire concept of Kamen Rider Hibiki. This episode is a love letter to everyone who considers themselves a fan of this show. While the last episode felt like something made just for me, this one feels like an episode for all of us.

The arc is fairly straight-forward, considering the Douji and Hime got knocked off at the end of the last episode. There's a giant anglerfish deep beneath Tokyo, and the Oni need to track it down and explode it. Todoroki is undergoing that physical (which, my one regret is that the show didn't have at least one cut-away to whatever an Oni Physical looks like), and Hibiki is on his way from the forest. That leaves Ibuki, partially injured after getting acid sprayed on him, to face the beast himself.

There's some time spent narrowing down its location, but it's not just eating up the clock. It's time where Kasumi gets to see Ibuki in his element. Far from the flirty, deferential boy she's known all her life, Ibuki's positive attitude and helpfulness inform his heroism, allowing him to bravely face the unknown. All of the times he's asked Kasumi for her advice, it was because he knew that she was more knowledgeable about those things. When it comes to fighting monsters, that's his job, and he's good at it. He doesn't, like, Find His Spine or anything. He knows where his strengths lie, and he's able to feel confident in his skills.

It's a slightly weird story, since it succeeds or fails based on how much you can put yourself in Kasumi's shoes. 95% of the time we've spent with Ibuki has been as an Oni, frequently on active assignment. He's never seemed to be incapable, or childish. But that's how Kasumi remembers him, not as some resolute hero. Her gradual realization is what gives the final act its turn, and I think it managed to work out great. It's tough, though. The series doesn't do a terrific job of building up to this, basically giving us an episode and a half to hear about Ibuki as something other than a kick-ass superhero. If any part of this episode comes close to not working, it's that turn.

But, shit, worked on me! A lot of it is how the actors played it. Kasumi never seems to treat Ibuki like a screw-up, so it's more her seeing where he feels confident, than anything else. And Ibuki never loses that kind smile, never loses his admiration for Kasumi, but once he knows that he needs to take down the Makamou, he's very clearly in I've Got This mode. It's not huge shifts to either character, but subtle recalibrations towards greater understanding.

That final sequence, with Ibuki and Hibiki versus the giant anglerfish, it's a winner. The score as Ibuki walks through the wreckage of the final episode of Faiz (such a great set), it makes this battle seem climactic, not just for the episode but for his character. Him triumphing over the monster almost entirely on his own, short a brief save by Hibiki, it's the perfect finale for this story. Not a ton of moves to it, but what's here is fantastic.

Beyond Ibuki and Kasumi, though, there's so much warmth spread around this episode. Asumu pitching in at Team Hibiki Bar and Grill, to everyone's congratulations. Hibiki and Midori getting very excited to ship Ibuki and Kasumi. Hibiki fishing for praise (topical!) from Midori, only to get a teasing Pretty Great Oni But An Okay Man from her. Akira hauling ass all over Tokyo and arriving in the nick of time. Asumu sharing his notes with Akira, as everyone besides me starts to ship Akirasumu. (They're a modern-day Ibuki and Kasumi!) And then everyone (except Todoroki) enjoying a celebratory meal, surrounded by friends and coworkers.

It's that final scene that made this episode feel unbeatable. That moment where everyone's safe and happy after a rough day. Not the usual Kamen Rider thing where they're happy to have survived a war, but the simple pleasure of relaxing with friends after you worked hard. There's no trauma to overcome (well, maybe later for Akira), just camaraderie and comfort.

I loved this whole episode. It was so pure and joyful, brimming over with good people and kindness. I haven't even watched the Next Episode tag yet. I just... I want to hold onto this feeling for a little bit longer. This is the Kamen Rider Hibiki I'll always try to remember.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki18b.png

Wow that cozy feeling is something I think really is something Hibiki first half nails spetacularly. More so when we get near the end of the first half. Hibiki is something really special and is easily a personal favaorite of mine.

Oh yeah trivia time! This location is the Metropolitan Area Outer Ubdergroubd Discharge Channel and it actually off limits to the public for most of the year but there select times throught the years that tourist can enter. It's a really cool location and gave a great contrast to our usual Hibiki fights.

Neat! Thanks!

I think the idea of all of this story happening in the city... I mean, you could interpret it a lot of ways, but I feel like the writer worked backwards from that ending. So much of what's special about this story can only really happen if everyone's more-or-less in the same place. If the monster's halfway across Japan and you've got move people all over the map, it's going to feel contrived. But if you start with How Do We Get Everyone In One Place At The End, the rest of the story locks into place. You start with everyone scattered, and slowly draw them all together. It's two episodes of work for that one final scene, and it's worth it.

I just want to say that being actually submerged and having to swim in water while in those suits looks like such a giant pain. All I could think about during scenes like that is 'gosh, those poor suit actors'!

It's been a long while since I've seen this episode, but when you started talking about the final scene of everyone coming into the restaurant, just hanging out as the scene zooms out with the music letting us know all is well... Well, it came back to me in a drum beat because it really encapsulates the kind of good feelings this show left on me.

Okay, I was wrong about girl friend never showing up again. Pretty sure boy friend is long gone, though.

This is another arc that I really like and remember very well. The revisit to the final boss level of Faiz is definitely a highlight. It's not the last time we'll see this place (it's also where Alain's shitty brother hangs out in Ghost, for one), but this and Faiz are still my favorite uses of the location. Not sure I could stand as close to the gigantic hole as Ibuki did, though.

I kinda love how gross the monster is, too. I'm sure that the stomach thing was at least partially a way to get more practical fighting in, but that thing was still surprisingly brutal for a red Christmas tree with tentacles and acid (oh so much acid).

All the non-combat stuff was good, too. I especially loved Hibiki and Midori bickering like an old married couple and Asumu stumbling into a part-time job at Tachibana's. The bit at the end with Kasumi and Hinaka briefly talking about Ibuki was a highlight, too - the actresses really play well off of each other and you can really buy that they're sisters.

Not to give too much away, but this won't be the last time you get to see the whole cast come together like this. You will get those warm fuzzies again.

Not to spoil anything, but I was looking up this week’s guest cast to see if they’ve done anything else and found that the actress playing the housewife actually shows up again in the second half of the show as a researcher. What that says about the difference between the two halves, I’m not sure and cannot day.

This is what Hibiki’s all about and why I’ll always always cherish it. I haven’t been chipping in too much between only having my phone to type and everyone else surprisingly echoing my opinions regardless, but I love that you’ve been able to see in this show what I do. It’s not something for everyone, but if you get it, you get it. It brings a warmth and a homely feel to Kamen Rider like no other.

Just existing in those suits period seems like a giant pain (the suit actor talk-show from the Fourze bonus materials was eye-opening), but, yeah, then dumping that dude in a tank of water and making him spend a few seconds submerged before breaking through the surface... probably made him miss being on a mountain at 2am!

It's so good!

I thought it was weird that, for a show that doesn't hit a lot of the Kamen Rider landmarks, the Ibuki spotlight episodes dip back into that well, if you'll pardon the expression. His debut took us to Kamen Rider Dam and the BOARD base, and this one has its finale set where the Orphnoch King fought Team Faiz. Is it another subtle way of commenting on how Ibuki is the more traditional Kamen Rider lead? Or just a coincidence?

It's a pretty gross set of episodes, monster-wise. Ibuki gets covered in monster goo and stomach acid in the first part, and then a bunch more in the second. Weird mix of gross-out combat and light comedy in these two!

(Also, is the monster goo white specifically because of how it contrasts with the Oni suits? It really pops off of the dark suits, and these monsters never "bleed" unless it can splatter the Oni.)

THose two actors have a very lived-in quality to their interactions. I think my favorite bit from that closing scene was Ibuki yanking the notes out of Asumu's hands and not giving them back. It's a very Getting Teased By An Older Brother thing, and Ibuki's the only one to do it to Asumu, and he only does it when Asumu's around Akira. It's like the way Ichiro teases Ibuki when Kasumi's around. These dads like to make potential suitors squirm!

I'm not sure who that would be. Was she in 18, or is she coming up in 19?

It's so good at making you feel like these people get along. But not like a family, or like friends, but like coworkers. Folks who get what you're going through because they're going through it, too. It's a kind of teamwork that's also solitary, and you have these shared experiences that give you a shorthand. I don't know if I'm explaining it well! Some of my most rewarding adult friendships have been with coworkers, though, and this show really evokes those feelings.

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!

So I come here to share some thing interesting about episode 20 and I find you haven’t uploaded your thoughts yet. I guess your work must be particularly rough today.

Sorry! Tuesday was a day of commitments and complications. By the time I had the ability to watch anything Kamen Rider, it was after 11 and I had nothing left in the tank.

As much as I love the daily updates (and I'm keen to wrap up Hibiki before Thanksgiving), skipping Tuesdays is probably going to be necessary going forward. Tuesdays are my heaviest day, so trying to spend a couple hours on a Kamen Rider episode is... not that fun. Worse, Wednesdays are days that make being on the boards to discuss an episode almost entirely impossible, which is also not fun. Between rushing to get an episode done and not even being able to talk with people about it, yeah, Tuesdays might need to be a skip day for a bit.

That said, I'm still looking to do 7 a week, so expect a double post somewhere between Thursday and Saturday, depending on the week.

Sorry this was a surprise!

Nah your fine take things ay your own pace you shouldn't apologize for priortizing your life over a simple hobby like this. It's totally understanable to take a break once awhile especially if your job is harder than usual.

Ibuki's dedication is one of his most admirable qualities and that line says all it needs to. Sure, he could've waited for backup and his weapon but his decision to fight Oonamazu alone without a plan or anything is pretty much as heroic as it gets. Even the soundtrack Fish linked to is heroic!

Yeah, I love when that happens!

Maybe the kids are also a reflection of how Kasumi thinks of Ibuki. Like how Ibuki needs Kasumi to pick out his clothes. But Ibuki is able to have a civilized discussion with the kids and reveals that those kids are actually pretty reasonable and they learn something from the experience thanks to his mentoring skills. It's the same thing Midori said to Hibiki, that he's a cool Oni but an okay guy. These guys look way more competent when they're in their element and seeing Ibuki in his element is what allows Kasumi to appreciate him and see him as more of an adult, which parallels Shounen's desire to quickly prove himself as an adult but without the experience of Ibuki.

Something else I forgot to mention about the fight scene with Oonamazu. Sound travels faster underwater! Ibuki may not have been the best Oni for the job but had a really good tactical advantage here and the setup with shooting the stomach full of stones. At that point, his job was probably easier than Hibiki's.

I didn't want to put a downer on my favorite arc but now would probably be a good opportunity to mention that I didn't get the point of Mochida's envy. It happened in one scene only to be resolved easily in the next scene she appeared in. Where is the conflict here? Maybe this sounds ironic after Faiz but people are too good at communication in this show! Maybe I'm just spoiled for love triangles by Faiz's love hexagon! Hibiki has a lot of great qualities but this probably isn't one of them.

Now that I think about, I don't really get what Mochida brings to the show? She doesn't know about the Oni and whatever purpose she may have served at the start seems to have been taken over by Akira as the female lead to Shounen's protagonist role. She's like Mizuki in Amazons S1, before she joined 4C.

Yuka snapping at Keitarou was caused by a misunderstanding (which, yes, is very Faiz, but it's a great source of conflict) since Keitarou was given two contradicting messages from "Osada" and Yuka, the first that she loved Kaido and not him, and the second that he should try holding her hand. Yuka didn't know Keitarou was referring to her in the email so she assumed he was being desperate after she friendzoned him.

Tell me about it! I went to see Assassin's Creed in 2016 and I thought it was pretty terrible.

It was under Tokyo at the end of the episode, but it was thought to be in 3 different locations, which is searched upon throughout the episode. And the acid, well yeah... attacks they take transfered over into their human bodies, oh well, beaten up Riders are injured after de-transformed from beatings.

Being incapable or childish doesn't mean Ibuki is completely tactless and/or out of reality. It's just that like you said, he specializes in fighting, but the knowledge stuff isn't really his forte. You can't be incapable/childish for not dominating a field, nobody's perfect. Kasumi remembers him as that likely because of how he acts, which means she seems to refuse to acknowledge him, it's likely her issue tbh. But other than that, Ibuki asking Kasumi also comes from how close they're as childhood friends, trust being built over years.

Yeah... not a ton of moves, fighting Oonamazu, the one that spawns the monsters from stomach was only done with 1 finisher (and a tension where it seems that Ibuki was going to be eaten). Tbf they're fighting underwater and likely Ibuki can't move much but...

Yeah, with the warmth here, it's ought to be kept that way, no ruining this, especially in OOC way. Asumu stumbles and seems unintentionally dragged into Takeshi's workload, and well, I think this should give credit to Asumu compared to what said before, he seems to get praised for his contribution to Tachibana's (at least from Hibiki), like refilling teas. And the end celebration, that happens because of by coincidental everyone gathers? Or somehow beating Oonamazu is treated as something more special? Well, that if not the celebratory being purposely done and no need special moments.

I know it's about context, but I still want to hear the explanations ofc, because many times I found people sometimes giving double standard treatment to medias; like blindly hating on something, while giving free pass on similar element that existed in series they like. Well, that means Hitomi's only that relatively to Asumu... And ok I got it for what you said regarding Asumu (though "doofus" seems derogatory to me), he's definitely socially awkward (and I had some part of this as well), and well, this is something unfortunately people often use as insult fuel, especially if they're males (this quite runs on toxic masculinity tbh, ignoring the fact that males are humans too). For the last question, it's about the "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." sentence, and I ask why the regret.

Thanks!

Great points! I feel like Ibuki is someone who tries not to be judgemental. Like, it's that Kamen Rider thing where deciding to protect humanity means you protect all of humanity. There's no picking and choosing, and doing that means you naturally see the best in everyone. It's the difference between Kasumi's role (support Oni) and Ibuki's job (save people). She's used to having to deal with corralling people and working with systems, so she's more apt to be curt to get people to take a threat seriously. Ibuki feels more connected to the people he's saving, since he's risking his life to do it, so he's able to work with them to ensure their safety.

I don't know if that just made sense!

I mean, I don't really like it, but I get it. Hitomi is a teenage girl who has a Completely Obvious To Everyone But Asumu crush on Asumu. She's always probably had him all to herself, and now he's going out of his way to help Akira. She feels threatened, but that feeling goes away when she's able to think that Asumu is only really helping Hibiki.

I think the Asumu stuff has enough weight and independence that she's still valuable. If the show dips too far into Only Oni territory, though, yeah, tough to give her much to do.

Yeah, I don't think this story was trying to make it seem like they both had to come to an understanding. It's pretty much just Kasumi needing to see Ibuki as a man and an Oni.

It's totally impromptu, which is one of the reasons it's so great. They're just all together, and it becomes a party. I love that.

Sure, that's all fair. Doofus was maybe a little unkind, but it's difficult to see why both Akira and Hitomi might be interested in him at this point. He doesn't seem like that much of a catch!

For the regret, it's just that The Two Ladies Fight Over A Not-That-Great Dude is such a weird, frustrating trope that I didn't like to see the edges of it blooming in this episode. They didn't really go there, which is great, but just setting it up made me a little disappointed.

It's really not something you have to apologize for. I'm honestly shocked you've had the endurance to keep these threads going at the pace you do for this long. Let's see... how would you put it? Something like "+10 Rider Points, and Kazuma Kenzaki applauds your commitment to the work you do. Please adjust your TokuNation Scorecard appropriately"? :p

You gotta do you, is the point. And this gap is actually kinda convenient for me, because there's something about episode 19 I totally forgot to mention, which of course means it's the thing from the episode I most wanted to mention.

It's the second episode of the show (the first being 11) to be solely written by Tsuyoshi Kida, who, despite being credited as main writer basically everywhere I've seen, is on record as saying he feels he didn't get to put much of a personal spin on his Hibiki scripts due to Takatera being as involved as he was. In spite of this, he did manage to get one thing into this episode that has his Wizardy fingerprints all over it:

https://i.imgur.com/BaqLH1z.png
https://i.imgur.com/hU51Tkh.png

Like, of course an episode written by him just HAS to feature a scene where the hero jumps into the frame (and it is always jumping) to save some extras from a monster. It's a classic Rider Rescue, if you will!

So yeah, I don't know; that moment just made me really laugh for some reason.

Aw, thanks. Just for that, I'm definitely going to watch the next episode of Hibiki that I was planning to watch anyway, and I'm definitely going to write it up because that's how my brain processes tokusatsu now. I can't risk losing those points!

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 20 - "PURIFYING SOUND"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki20a.png

"I don't feel old
I don't feel proud
I speak too fast
I laugh too loud
I am the smallest
In the crowd
I don't feel old"

-Wye Oak, "I Don't Feel Young"

Todoroki is a bundle of energy, and for the world of Kamen Rider Hibiki, that makes him weird. The whole aesthetic of this show is Make The Mythic Part Mundane And Make The Mundane Part Mythic, so Todoroki being an Oni that actually has fun with it is... it's just enormously confusing to all of the adults in this one.

And, metaphorically, that's kind of key. The people who are confused by Todoroki (I keep wanting to say "troubled", but it's really more confusion than any sense that he's endangering himself) are basically his dad, Zanki; his grandad, Ichiro; and his uncle Hibiki. They've got a system for being an Oni, and Todoroki is doing stuff that's outside that system. They spend most of this episode not getting him, not getting what he feels, and not getting why he's being so weird.

It's an episode that's setting us up to have Todoroki's enthusiasm get tempered by failure, or exposed as recklessness. He's rushing into combat, he's getting clocked by Makamou that he should be on the lookout for, and he's just hilariously tense and sweaty in every conversation. Or, not tense, but... awkward? Hyper? Every time he needs to assure someone that he's okay, and he's got control, his responses are basically I'M FINE and I'VE GOT THIS and I DON'T EVER FEEL LIKE A FRAUD and NERVOUS PUKES ARE WHAT CONFIDENT PEOPLE DO RIGHT. It's so unconvincing that it's got to be something that's going to trip him up. He's got to be ready to have his weaknesses exposed by this story, and for his adult mentors to be there to tell him that it's okay, he just needs to slow down.

I mean, that's what the Asumu storyline is, right? Asumu's desperate to feel useful at Team Hibiki Bar and Grill (home of the Flaming Oni), so he's working too quickly and making mistakes. He feels terrible about dropping a tray, and he's convinced that Ichiro's going to berate him about it. On the one hand, I don't think we've ever seen Ichiro being anything other than kind and generous, so Asumu's fear feels a little overblown. On the other hand, if you screw up at work and the manager of a demon-exploding franchise/cult asks to speak to you in the basement... I don't know, maybe Asumu's right to be trepidatious! I would've probably quit on the spot and never looked back! It's a haunted ninja house! But, no, Ichiro just tells Asumu to be more thoughtful, to slow down, and not to worry about it. The point seems to be that he already has the trust of his bosses, so there's no need to risk errors by doing too much too fast. Slow down, you've already got the job.

Except, that isn't the point of Todoroki's story. I mean, a little, maybe, but not really. (You could argue that Hibiki and Zanki are just there to reassure him, but I'm not sure they have that kind of impact on Todoroki. He doesn't seem, like, changed by them being around.) The point of Todoroki's story is that the adults were wrong, and he's right. His methods may be unorthodox, and they mostly stem from him feeling like he's not doing enough and everyone's secretly disappointed in him (which is incredibly troubling and maybe glossed over in this one), but he gets results, dammit! They couldn't see that he needed to do things differently than they do. Once they see that his Strange New Methods a.k.a. Just A Basic Guitar Solo That's Been Around For Decades is him testifying to his devotion, they get it. Moreover, they support him. Zanki decides to give Todoroki help, but not in the form of more mentoring, but in carrying some of the load for him. It's not about Todoroki not being good enough, so Zanki has to hang around. It's that Todoroki is great, but with some support he could be greater.

(Also, shit, Todoroki is great in this episode. That move where he flings his ax to explode the Douji, and then it falls onto the Hime to explode it? God damn! Not a big action-y episode, but that move was bonkers!)

I didn't expect this episode to go that way, and it's all the better for it. I like that Todoroki's weirdness isn't something to correct, but something to celebrate. He's a hero. An exceptionally weird, possibly in need of therapy to overcome his feelings of worthlessness, easily excitable hero. Congratulations, you sweaty, bug-eyed close-talker, you.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki20b.png

Yeah, Hibiki is known as not being safe around vehicles, and the training he got here is a motherfucking dirtbikes.... And somehow Hibiki's tendency to never stop isn't coincidental with anything, like for example, someone who brute forces through anything and never quit no matter how many injuries in the fight with that reflected on how they ride their bike or something. Todoroki surely watched Sony's E3 2016 conference; though he didn't flip the crab this time.

Zanki is the one that said Todoroki should just follow what himself wants instead of over-relying on his teachings! Though obviously Todoroki is taking it too far for having celebratory rocks. While Makamou is purified by music, probably having guitar solo like that isn't the way. He keeps track of his killcounts probably as a solution to fight his insecurities, to keep reminding himself that he had successes of killing Makamous.

For bolded one - Kasumi, Hinaka, Akira, Midori: Are we a joke to you?! But yeah... I don't think the girl joke fits here, Hitomi is the minority that didn't know. Otherwise, the Takeshi so far only knows about the Makamou staying in the mountain (though they're progressively spreading) and likely also doing their best to keep the Makamou only occupied in that area, never disturbing civilians (other than those that goes to that mountain). And yeah, I'm someone who is eager to make someone who is unknowingly related to each other reveal themselves in the story; Asumu and Zanki being "members" of Takeshi (but still didn't know that Asumu is Hibiki's "apprentice"), also Todoroki and Hitomi being cousins.

OK, this is against your rules, but her name is Ikuko Adachi. And she's the older figure that keeps the others together for Hibiki, the counterpart to the likes of Kazari, Kogami, Jun, Haima, etc. And well, most if not all of them have the kooky energy stuff.

I'm pretty sure that each one of us wants to be treated like Asumu, where you can get cherished (not limited to romantic love here, and it's not even known yet if it's romantic love) unconditionally. It just screams hypocrite alert to me for this topic, like if someone talks about how it's difficult to see girls want someone unremarkable, but complain if no girls want to love him unconditionally. Actually it bugs me if girls are expected and always made to only respect and chase perfect boys (at least outwardly).

Didn't realize that you replied on my post earlier. And altough you're spoiled with the conflict part of Faiz don't force to turn any other shows like Faiz? Like I said in previous reply...

"cynical tryhard edgy media with milktoast characters = good " mindset needs to stop, obviously not purge away those completely, but like, this aspect being hailed as something (or worse, considered the only way) to make something appear more complex than it actually is when it degrades and is pretentious in its attempt. Unless you meant for conflict being just any obstacles, struggles, and challenges a character need to overcome (like Asumu's story), then sure why not (like probably Akira being Ibuki's apprentice), which is also something I want to convey, that conflict isn't only toxic characters childishly infight all the time, so no need to degrade characters to create conflicts.

Yeah there, for last sentence, I want to convey that conflict isn't only about characters acting uncontrollably childish and/or depraved, as you damn well know on Gaim. Like, Asumu's personal fight with the exam and what he try to do to overcome that is also a conflict. Also.. who says Mochida is the female lead? She's never that. The female lead is debated between Kasumi or Akira. Mochida is just that school friend character like the Nozomi in Blade, etc. And they're considered side characters.

https://screenrant.com/why-video-game-movies-suck/

Yeah, this is a recurring trend to any video game adaptations. There are also bunch of other examples like other fighting games like Mortal Kombat, DOA, KoF, and Tekken, also Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc.

Maybe? I never really saw Hibiki's lack of stopping as related to his resolve or anything, but, maybe? I think it's just more to do with Hibiki feeling more comfortable staying mobile than coming to a halt.

No, that's fair. Calling out the show for keeping Hitomi in the dark when they have so many involved women, okay, sure. I think it's a little different, since multiple people could clue Hitomi in and (spoiler for the next episode) the cover-ups are just going to get more lame and insulting, but you're not wrong about the show having a bunch of women that are integral to the monster plots.

I've always enjoyed this arc. Todoroki is a really delightful combination of exuberance and flopsweat at this point in the series. I like that the show treats him like a rookie, but not like he isn't competent. He's just as accomplished at his job as any of the others, he just has a unique way of going about it. Also, his gorilla disk animal air guitars alongside him and that's adorable.

I don't really have a lot more to add about this arc. I'm not sure why, since it's a good pair of episodes with a lot of great moments - love the part where Hibiki and Kasumi are buying snacks in the convenience store - but a lot of what I would say has already been said.

They made a Kamen Rider show about weird dads and their weird kids and I really love it.

Like, Zanki is super cool and he made just the weirdest kid. He's not withholding, he's just laconic, and somehow Todoroki is, like, Kamen Rider Anxiety. Hibiki's like, Cool Weekend Dad (also where the eff is Hibarki in this one?!?!?!) while everyone else in the family actually raises Asumu... Ibuki and Akira are the only normal family in this one, and even he's okay with depriving this girl of normal socialization to fight in a demon-exploding franchise/cult.

It's weird! They're all insane, and all of them should have their kids taken away by the state, Todoroki included. Get him a better, hopefully less-cool dad.

And now, for the thing I’ve been holding in for a day.

The diver that appears in this episode (if you missed him, I ask “How?”, since he’s the only non-regular in this episode) is played by a Keizo Yabe, who was previously the suit actor for Zanki before his retirement. And that word is italicised for a reason I won’t say anything about for spoiler reasons, other than this: Õiwa Hisanori. (That’s not a spoiler because it’s the name of an actor)

It made sense enough to me. Ibuki really is a pretty conventional Kamen Rider archetype huh?

That was a pretty bad*ss way to take out both of them with one throw!

Oh for sure, I wouldn't want other shows to be just like Faiz. I appreciate that there are a lot of shows with qualities of their own and that's what makes them unique.

Yeah, I was talking about conflict in general, not necessary the dark and edgy kind. Every show is built on some kind of conflict with its own stakes to propel the plot forward. I think Hibiki usually does this just fine and making it more like Faiz is basically what happens later anyway which most people agree, myself included, is to its detriment.

You're right that conflict needs to serve a purpose in the story such as teaching a moral or as a catalyst for character development to justify it being there and not just to make it seem more complex than it really is. I definitely don't want Mochida to go full yandere and kill Akira or anything like that since Hibiki isn't that kind of show. The reason I complain about it is that the conflict is set up and resolved too quickly, like an anticlimax. I didn't feel like I learned anything from that.

Shounen studying for his exams is a conflict and one that is suitable for a regular high school student to have. It may not be the most exciting conflict in superhero genre but it can be more valuable for the moral and a more relatable parallel to the Oni's struggles.

Sorry if I was unclear, I meant that Akira is the female lead to Shounen. But yeah, Kasumi is the female lead overall, since she's the first girl in the credits. Mochida is as you say, just a side character.

With Tekken, are you referring to the two live action movies or the CGI movie Blood Vengeance? I thought the live action adaption sucked but Blood Vengeance was awesome and a nice prequel to Tekken 6.

Actually, Todoroki's age is 26, 2nd oldest Oni of the main Oni trio introduced. He's very childish for his age. And saying they got a system for being an Oni... is it really that? It seems that the way of how Hibiki, Ibuki, and Zanki mentors others are different (especially Zanki's).

Now it seems that Todoroki also has the tendency to try to appear perfect and flawless, especially in front of his mentors... like what Asumu thought of Hibiki at first before meeting Midori. It's seen before that Zanki would be in trouble if Todoroki didn't help him at his debut, according to him. Now probably it needs to be shown to him how other Onis isn't always perfect in fighting, to change Todoroki's perception of Zanki in a more realistic manner.

Yeah, it seems to be parallel again, both Todoroki and Asumu rushed things out, but Asumu paid the price for it. And although Ichiro seems kind and generous outwardly... never underestimate the mellow ones (seriously). It happens where a leader is outwardly nice, but takes what he has seriously and will respond harshly if someone screws up. So it's plausible for the fear, and probably, people should have fear even if the leader is outwardly nice. Asumu's still need to be guided though (although no need the overly harsh way that people seem to hail as being the only effective way), even if it's his first day, which Ichiro and to a lesser extent Hinaka did; not being excused for being a beginner.

I mean yeah, continuing from before, Zanki wishes for Todoroki to just branch out of him and not following him fully by-the-book. And by that Zanki need to make sure that Todoroki's staying that way. And I feel it, the part where he feels like he's not doing enough and everyone's secretly disappointed in him (and that others just lie and flatter you due to not wanting to hurt the feelings), waiting for someone to be actually "honest" about your results. And obviously, "he gets results, dammit!", so true, with Todoroki keeping the count of Makamou he killed. And I think this plays a part about the opposite of this situation compared to real life ones I experienced. In real life usually the adults crave for the "testifying devotion" part like in education/training places, forcing the youths to express the devotion like that whenever they like it or not. But here, the junior (he's 26 age-wise! but junior as he took up the mantle recently) is doing that himself, and the adults who teaches had to understand and ackowledge this move. And agree that the guitar drill move of Todoroki is dope, and efficient of hitting 2 Makamous at once.

Keyword: adaptation. It's obviously the live action one. Y'know, many of those games are western adaptations and they don't really give a fuck about the source material. Blood Vengeance was made by Harada and Namco themselves (admittedly, as a backlash to the western adaptation as they weren't allowed to supervise the live action adaptation), so it's just another franchise work in different field.

Thanks, and, yeah, knew exactly who you meant when you said "the diver". This wasn't a very guest-heavy episode!

He's the most traditional by far, which is why I'm glad he's on the show as a supplementary Rider. It's cool to have a handsome young man being empathetic and heroic... but not as the lead on this show.

One of the most unique things to me about the Riders in this show is how codified their roles are, how much goddamn bureaucracy there is to Takeshi. They all seem to treat doing their jobs as having a clear system of Dos and Donts, which is why every single other person seems confused by Todoroki's individualism.

Right off the bat, I can't let this one go by without mentioning that, after a brief sneak preview in 17, it features the real debut of one of the coolest Rider weapons ever:

https://i.imgur.com/9GTq7uR.png

I have to wonder how much better this show would've done if they had been selling it on this kind of visual from the start. A hero with a blade made out of fire seems like an easier sell than "so this guy plays drums or something, I guess?" It's sort of surprising to me they didn't come up with this idea earlier. I mean, Hibiki... with a sword! How could that idea go wrong?

Anyway, this was a touching enough little story about Todoroki growing into his own, and I like the idea it lands on that Todoroki finding his own path as an Oni doesn't require losing Zanki's support. It's more of that mutual teacher/pupil kind of deal where it's actually both of them who are trying to redefine their status quo, and, as Die pointed out, it isn't simply a matter of Todoroki not "getting it" or whatever. It adds a lot of dimension to the plot.

There's also a touch I love in both these episodes that does a great job showing how overworked and overexcited Todoroki is, which is him dumping his Disc Animals haphazardly out of the case when he's tracking down Makamou. It's such a stark contrast to all the previous scenes of characters setting up these elaborate thumbtack grids on maps and sitting around politely drinking tea while they wait; a single little gesture that speaks volumes about Todoroki as a character, and where he's at in life.

That part is great and, like a lot of Todoroki's approach, still pretty effective. It maybe makes the more intricate planning of the other Oni seem... more theatrical? Intentionally so? There's this weird mix of Punching A Clock and Our Sacred Duty at work in all of the hunting scenes, so them just getting to it would probably sound vaguely insulting. With Todoroki, he's willing to say Dad's Not Around So I Can Do This How I Want. Todoroki is doing his version of being an Oni, where he's putting different emphasis on different parts of the task. With the other Oni, the process is maybe the point?

Personal theory? Takatera was binge-watching Star Wars movies during his day off and the following day said, "FLAMING LIGHTSABERS!" to the writers. :lolol