KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 21 - "EVIL SPIRITS DRAWN TOGETHER"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki21a.png

"Oh what I'd do
To waste an afternoon with you
Eating obscure, looking at girls, shopping for jeans
Learning how to be and not to seem"

-Superchunk, "Your Theme"

For an episode that has the phrase Drawn Together in it (or at least the OZC translation has it at that), the two stories in this episode could not feel further apart. There's an Oni storyline where Ibuki and Todoroki are drawn together (!) to fight two sets of Douji and Hime; and a Hibiki/Asumu storyline where they have idle chit-chat until Hibiki leaves Asumu and Hitomi to watch an old woman writhe in agony. It's... man, it is not a seamless episode!

The Oni stuff was pretty entertaining, I thought. It's just well-executed tokusatsu action, and it ain't like I hate that stuff. There're multiple run-ins between the Oni and the monsters, with a real sense of motion throughout. Ibuki spends minutes chasing a Makamou through canyons, while Todoroki jumps down a series of levels as he tries to hold off a Douji and Hime. It's nicely kinetic visual storytelling, with some tense escalation.

The problem is, there's just not a lot to it? It's fun to watch, but we're really in The Enemy Has Plans And We Don't Know What They Are territory. Clockamou is observing everything, but we don't yet know to what purpose. There's a very clear feeling that things are getting worse for our heroes, but the scope of it is still nebulous. As a result, there's just not enough story-wise in the Oni part of the episode to hold onto. It's very fun to watch! But there's just not enough beyond that to get much out of, for me.

The Hibiki/Asumu plot is an entirely different kettle of incredibly weird fish.

Hibiki's got a day off, and Team Hibiki Bar and Grill (try the Todorocakes) needs him to drop something off for a tea ceremony. Asumu's hanging around, typically thirsty for that sweet Father Figure interaction, so Hibiki invites him to tag along.

What follows is a largely pleasant, occasionally pervy conversation between Hibiki and Asumu. It's Asumu wanting to learn more about what Hibiki does (partially spurred on by a hilariously aggressive phone call from Danki), as well as Hibiki trying to figure out if there's anything more to Asumu than working at a restaurant and, like, existing.

It's fun, honestly. It's Hibiki trying to approach a starstruck Asumu like a human being, like a friend, and it going kind-of weird. There's not a real natural rapport, thanks to Hibiki having a... it's like a gregarious tactlessness. He's just asking questions, but they're more familiar than Asumu is expecting.

Equally unexpected is that, when the show has Hibiki asking Asumu whether or not he's interested in dating Hitomi or Akira, and Asumu's getting flustered, they're shooting the scene from the vantage point of a young woman's chest that Asumu keeps sneaking looks at. Which is funny, but so weird.

Kamen Rider feels like a sexless franchise, and as its target demo is prepubescent children, that's probably exactly right. But now we're telling a story about teenagers becoming adults, which means we have to talk about physical attraction. And, this isn't Love, a high-minded emotion that can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. This is Teenage Hormones, and that means noticing other bodies. It's, relative to most stories on teenagers, pretty inoffensive. It's a teenage boy getting distracted around an attractive woman. Asumu isn't being a creep, he's being a hormonal teenage boy who this is all very new to. But in the context of a Kamen Rider episode, it felt jarringly pervy. I don't know. Maybe not a big deal, but it felt so weird to me. Not at all what I was expecting in the middle of a Hibiki episode.

And then, as if that wasn't weird enough, the next scene is a reveal that the old woman that Hibiki's supposed to deliver to is in desperate need of medical attention. So... Hibiki runs off to get help, like he's Lassie. It is incredibly weird. Hitomi, smartly, asks if they shouldn't just call an ambulance. And we don't get an answer, because Hibiki's already gone, leaving Hitomi and Asumu to just, like, stare at this dying woman.

It's a bizarre scene, but it's really just one more bizarre scene on the non-Oni side of this episode. They're so disconnected it's almost frustrating. I kept waiting for some reason for both of these stories to be happening, and the episode stubbornly refused to help me out. There's bits and pieces of quality character stuff with Hibiki and Asumu, and some great action with the Oni, but this thing just did not come together for me. Hopefully by the second part!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki21b.png

I always forget that the fight at the big multi-level area happens this early. My brain keeps putting it later in the series, usually somewhere near, if not in the final episode (which is 29, of course). I have to hand it to this episode for having some good, un-transformed stunt work. We don't get a ton of that in Hibiki so it's cool to see a bit of it.

The plot with the old woman is another one of those things that I forget about until I see it in the previous episode teaser. I don't have much to say about it now, but will definitely have some thoughts tomorrow.

There's a weird choice this episode makes, where Ibuki spends most of the episode running around untransformed. I didn't really get why, but then when he Henshins simultaneously with Todoroki near the end, I was like Oh Shit That's Why. Them doing a synchronized Henshin is, by far, the highlight of the episode. It's so goddamn cool, and it only works because they made Ibuki stay out of costume for so long.

The old man in this episode is played by Eisuke Yoda, who used to be a prominent VA back during the Showa era. But as he got older, he graduated to playing kindly old men, as seen here.

Yeah, I can't say I have much to contribute about this one other than how Ishida gives it his usual stylish direction (which is probably a lot of what elevates it to being "fun to watch"), and that it's really hilarious to see Hibiki arguing with his own suit actor over the phone.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 22 - "TRANSFORMING COCOON"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki22a.png

"How's everything at the front of the house?
The drums exploded and our amps are down
But Matthew's got it wired and we're coming around"

-Superchunk, "FOH"

One of the weirdest things about this show, especially over the last ten or so episodes, is how much of a special event it feels like when the title character shows up to fight a monster. Like, that's the baseline expectation of a Kamen Rider series, and yet I'm always a little like Gosh How Were They Able To Get Hibiki For This Episode. He feels like a special guest star in his own goddamn show! Between Ibuki's spotlight and Todoroki's intro AND spotlight, somehow Hibiki Fights A Monster has become a rare, nay, freak occurrence.

But, upshot, holy shit is it awesome when Hibiki arrives at the end of this episode. He gets that big ol' hero frame, ready to lend his strength to the overmatched youngsters. It's a powerful finale, as all three Oni combine their attacks to bring down the Mutant Makamou, but... I mean, I had a big problem with it.

The gimmick is that they're synchronizing their attacks to defeat the monster, playing together as a band. Hibiki specifically uses the phrase "harmonize". But then they... just play their normal solos? It doesn't sound harmonic at all, it sounds like three people that have completely different rhythms. I was hoping they'd make some song out of their attack, but it's just them doing what they'd normally do while two other guys did the same. Felt like a missed opportunity for something really special.

It's the opening that really wowed me, though. It's tense and kinetic, with a nice mixture of tight close-ups (to make the fight feel impossible and claustrophobic) and long takes. There's one long take in particular that showed off how good the choreography was, as Todoroki tries to protect Akira while the Douji and Hime keep making runs at them. A really nice, uninterrupted fight sequence. I dug it!

I did not dig the Asumu thread which... I mean, I'll give the show points for tying together the Mutant Makamou's cocoon with Hitomi noting how much Asumu has transformed since meeting Hibiki. Yes, okay, I approve. But the resolution to the Sayuri plot makes almost no sense to me. Tonally, it's all over the place. Ha ha, Hibiki is carrying that doctor on his back! Oh god, these two kids are holding this old woman's hand while she maybe dies. And there's still zero reason why Hibiki had to run around for help when any of them could've just called a doctor. It's wacky and weighty at the same time, which (for me) just rendered it nonsensical. There's a moment or two in there, the weighty stuff, that has enormous potential. Doing a small story of Asumu overcoming his fear to comfort someone, yes, absolutely. But there's no payoff to any of this (the three main characters just leave her, offscreen), and the thing it's doing to bring up Hitomi noticing/crushing on Asumu is over before the halfway point in the episode. It's like, this was too much of the last episode, and not enough in this one. It also needed at least one more beat to it, since it all feels too arbitrary for its own good.

Weird couple episodes! The Oni action was great, Hibiki feels like he's in a contract dispute with the producers (I cannot imagine what his role looks like when he actually dislikes the show he's on), and the Asumu/Hitomi plot is maybe two-thirds of an idea. Not... not my favorite two-parter for this show!

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The Makamou keep buffing Douji and Hime to be stronger. Though at this point not known if they have common sense, but Takeshi should take advantage of that being humans, Hibiki only suggested to train more and more, but they say, work smart not work hard. And as usual, humans like both Ibuki and Akira getting near a Makamou would be disposed easily, even if Ibuki had a gun, but his body was still in human form. It's still mystery on how Makamou operate like attacking humans as for now. I have to say for here one the CGI is flashier and better.

Oh yeah, "pervy", I read somewhere and Asumu got 'stalker' label for his hijinks with Hibiki (not a hate speech directed to Asumu btw), though it's comparing him with an even worse one later. And well, Hibiki said that while he didn't take Asumu as his apprentice, he can ask him any help anytime he wants.

Yeah, this feels being overt for the sexual part of the close ups, etc. And no offense, but I fully felt that this one's coming straight up from Inoue (like how Switchblade felt about Umi episodes in Blade), as he's someone who goes hard on sexual tendencies on his writings; he has no problems doing those jarringly pervy stuffs, though it can be nullified when he's kept on a leash, by the TV episode studio.

It seems that Hibiki needs to be kept on check (like by Kasumi) for a reason, like what he did here. But the only other 2 people are ones that merely follow Hibiki around, so they'll unconsciously submit to what Hibiki does like... that.

I'm not sure that's right! There've been a few times where the Oni, in human form, have had heightened abilities. I mean, Zanki threw a kid, like, 50 feet, and this is when he was in a diminished state. I'm not sure this part of the Kamen Rider franchise views the non-costumed versions of characters as being baseline humans.

It seems slightly out of character for this show... until I remember that this show did a gag where AsuMum thought she walked in on Asumu, uh, "unleashing his disc animal".

Those kids definitely assumed Hibiki knew what he was doing! Maybe to their detriment!

It really does feel like Hibiki hasn't been on the show in ages, doesn't it? Kind of a side effect of all the focus on Todoroki as the new guy, plus that Ibuki-centric arc sandwiched in the middle of that. It feels like the show wanted to put him in the background for a bit while it fully integrates the new characters, but it does lead to his return in this episode feeling suitably grand.

I did like the Asumu stuff this time. It's minor, but it's a sign that he's gaining confidence and is starting to take some initiative on his own. Granted, his obvious mistake is in not getting a damp washcloth for the old woman's head - everyone knows those a panacea for all medical ailments in Kamen Rider Land. It may just be me, but Asumu also looks a bit older in these last few episodes. I don't know if the actor had a growth spurt or something, but he doesn't look as young as he did at the start of the show. May just be body language or getting him out of the junior high uniform.

My favorite part of the episode is the end: the bit where the three Oni are just hanging out after killing the monster. There's such a natural, good-natured camaraderie in that scene. Absolutely love it.

I'm honestly trying to remember when the last monster plot was about Hibiki tracking down a monster. It feels like a lifetime. I know they made him the Special Mobile Attack Unit, but... star of the show! Maybe don't just keep him in reserve!

No, that kid is legit bigger. His scenes from the last episode, when him and Hibiki were walking around... yeah, he grew a bunch.

I liked the idea of what the Asumu storyline in this one was about, but the amount of time it took up without really doing anything was weird. There's no real resolution to it? It's like they were standing at an intersection when a car accident happened. Eventually a doctor shows up and they just leave. It feel so... anticlimactic? They even leave off-camera? I don't know. It's cool that Asumu can feel more confident, and it's cool that Hitomi can see him as more confident, but... yeah, not crazy about how this episode got there.

It's pretty great. Hibiki trying (in a very dad way) to get Todoroki to rock out, Ibuki being all What He Does What, and Todoroki deflecting attention onto his new salute... it's a cute ending.

In fact, from what I understand, Oni have permantly transformed into Oni and it is their human forms that are actually their transformed state. When they transform, they just unlock their true selves. They are not baseline humans any more, even if they can still look like it.

So basically like the Showa Riders.

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 23 - "SUMMER OF TRAINING"
KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 24 - "BURNING CRIMSON"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki23a.png

"We walked for miles with no end in sight
Hand in hand we will grow old
Singing songs of our summers' past
I will never let this go"

-Telekinesis, "Awkward Kisser"

So, I really enjoyed these episodes. There's literally nothing in them that wasn't entertaining, and I loved how focused it was on character. It took things we knew about characters we like, and it explored some of the negative consequences of their motivations. Very, very into these episodes.

They are almost impossible to talk about, though, without simply recounting their storylines.

Like, these two do not want you to have any confusion as to what they're about. Between multiple (really good!) speeches that dig into Todoroki and Asumu's reluctance to expand their horizons, as well as multiple speeches that try to provide context for the ways trying new things can help you and others, as well as a goddamn final line from Hibiki where he tells Todoroki, "And that's why you listen to your seniors," this is not a set of episodes that needs me to say what I got out of them thematically. It's all right there.

But, as surface-level two-parters go, this one was outstanding!

The direction is top-notch, with a lot of visual flourishes and staging to break up some enormous dialogue scenes. The Kasumi/Hinaka/Todoroki/Asumu sequence in 24 is particularly special, as the crosscutting and fantasy shots take some sort-of basic text (it is not a deep metaphor for Asumu, and it's zero metaphor for Todoroki) and turn it into a pretty charming scene.

Honestly, as much as this is a set of episodes that folks probably have only one burning memory of, I think it's really a couple of stand-out episodes for the women of Team Hibiki Bar and Grill (try the Special Mocha Attack Unit). They're always great, always always always, but there's so much extra to love about their characters and performances here.

Hinaka gets the most focus, as she frets over a depressed Todoroki. There's some laughs at the way she crushes on him, but the story gives a lot of value to her dedication to his sweaty anxiety, and how she's able to support him by not letting him give up. It takes their weird relationship seriously (a startling beautiful moment when neither of them know how to talk about their feelings on the phone is... my heart!), so much so that even the teasingly disapproving Ichiro feels for her when she can only wait and see if Todoroki pulls himself together. It's this joke of a coupling that felt, from this story, like something worth fighting for.

Kasumi is a little bit more to the side in this one, but it's great to see her channel Hinaka to figure out how to get Todoroki out of his funk. She doesn't know Todoroki that well, but she's been around Oni all her life, so she can see how being outside his comfort zone scares and confuses him. She excels at reframing his struggle as universal, and overcoming it as a gift to others. It's smart writing for a great character.

The rest of the moral for this story lands on Asumu, as it must, and it's pretty okay. He's bummed about playing the whistle in band (Understandably! Whistles are dumb, Ibuki and Akira!) and he's basically doing a shit job of it. Once he's told by the band leader that, Hey, sometimes we have to chip in by doing things we aren't crazy about, things become a little clearer for Asumu. Then he gets the speech from Hinaka about maybe learning something by trying new things, and we have our resolution to this episode. Nothing else really happened.

Ha ha KIDDING. Obviously, we have to talk about the big moment near the end of the second part, where Akira calls the restaurant and Asumu tells Hitomi like it's no big deal.

Hitomi is such a sweet kid. There's a real warmth to her smile whenever Asumu's around, this joy that she can't disguise. The irony is that she shouldn't worry about hiding it, since Asumu is an oblivious dope when it comes to women. He's at that age where he can't read romantic cues (or one of those people who can never read romantic cues, hi, it me), and it would never occur to him that another teenage girl calling him up would piss off Hitomi. Hinaka is at her most Hinaka in this scene, being coy about who's calling for Asumu and blocking Hitomi's visual field... until Asumu's just like Oh That Was Akira. Hinaka's reaction is (probably) all of our reactions, body language that just screams JFC ASUMU, as his gormless expression briefly evaporated any sympathy I had for him. He's so bad at this part. This is what Hibiki needs to be training him at! Stop being hopeless around these women, Asumu!

oh also hibiki turned red at the end

was that important to you

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki24b.png

OKAY FINE I'LL TALK ABOUT HIBIKI CRIMSON

Suit's great. Love that suit. I even like the way the white on the mask more clearly delineates Hibiki's eyes. It's good. Good suit.

I don't think introducing it here works, thematically.

Like, the whole point of Todoroki's story is that, yeah, you could train really hard at one thing, but it's maybe more useful to spread that time around, train in a whole bunch of different things. Todoroki thought he should just keep getting better at using a guitar, and then he learned better.

So the story ends with Hibiki training at his specialty so hard and so well that he becomes unstoppably powerful.

That... that is the opposite of the lesson that Todoroki learned! Over two episodes! It's the show rewarding Hibiki's focus with more power!

I mean, sure, Hibiki already learned Todoroki's lesson years ago. He doesn't need to expand his knowledge. But, thematically... it's messy! It's very messy to have Hibiki Crimson debut in this story!

I do not fear the man who practices 1000 kicks once, but rather, the man who practices one kick 1000 times.

For a more straightforward answer, I think what the show is getting at is that there's ups and downs to both approaches.

I mean, are they? Asumu's story is that sometimes you need to work hard at things that aren't your passion, for the good of others. Todoroki's story is that sometimes you need to work hard at things that aren't your passion, for the good of others. Hibiki's story is that if you stay intensely focused, you'll become unstoppable.

Like, yes, there are different messages about the effectiveness of focus, but... I'm not sure the story being told views them as equally valid approaches? Until Hibiki Crimson shows up?

Neither of those statements contradict or go against eachother, though. It's also less "you'll become unstoppable" and more "you'll become better at the thing you're focusing on." Todoroki was obsessed with his guitar, yeah, but it's not like he was out and out bad at it until he focused on something else.

It's obviously punched up because this is still a superhero show and all, but yeah. To me the message is more about balancing yourself and improving overall, while still maintaining your passions, if that makes sense. I'm bad with words.

No, you explained your views well! I get it. And that very well might be the intention of the show.

I just, I don't think that's what they're saying in this story. There are plenty of other episodes about training hard, applying yourself, working hard to achieve your goals, etc etc. Any of those would've been an awesome place to show off Hibiki's new I Trained So Hard I'm Red Now form! I'm not sure I'd put it in a story where the message is that focusing only on what you're good at or passionate about is a limitation.

I mean what are you thinking? Like what you want, Asumu is the actual main protagonist of the series, while Hibiki is only the main hero (performs heroic deeds with a heroic motivation). This is probably one of the difference Hibiki has to the franchise, the main protagonist isn't even a Rider or fighter.

Well, I'm critical of finishers, and while tag team finishers are usually just each member of the group doing their attacks individually to a monster, this one's case also got the same criticism from me by that. This part's one of the storytelling flaw, that you should Show, Don't Tell (though Kobayashi had this in spades), means should involve the use of demonstrative techniques, rather than blatant or thinly-veiled narration, to establish narrative elements. Like here, the "music" that comes from their finisher attacks aren't harmonious at all, despite them saying they should harmonize.

It's more about Ibuki and Todoroki vs the fodders... tbh. Ibuki and Todoroki decimates them after getting their weapons handed by Akira, though Nanashi (the name of the giant monster) played significant part of the Akira part.

I probably think Sayuri feels anticlimatic more because of who Sayuri is supposed to be, Hibiki refered to her as master? But she feels like another random civilian who gets treatment from the protagonist here... probably if she's not set up as having important relation it won't feel weird to you? Talking about payoff though, it's only within Asumu, and it means yeah he has developed from "training" with Hibiki. And well, I don't know about you chastising Hibiki having zero reason, I mean Hibiki was kept on check by others and you did say that it's a misdoing that gets blindly approved by the kids in your latest reply?

It's definitely a big problem with that part of the story. She's nobody to Asumu and Hitomi, and we have no idea what she is to Hibiki. The only dialogue she gets is apologizing to the doctor, which is another character we know nothing about. There's really nothing to invest in for the storyline, as far as Asumu's side of it goes.

I mean, the benefit is that Asumu gets to showcase that Heroic Empathy a Rider has, where he'll stay and take care of this random person just because she needs it, but... it is a lot of time spent on someone who is a glorified extra. Very weird way to tell that story.

Clearly the actual reason Hibiki is red now is that he got a sunburn after all his training. He even wears sunglasses now!

The biggest scenes I am most fond of, or at least remember the most from this show probably is the big harmonious finisher with all three Oni back in Episode 22 (even if it didn't sound like anything in particular!), followed by their relaxed chatter as they walk out of the scene, and the climax in Episode 24, where everyone shows off their drumming skills.

Knowing what I knew about the sales issues of this show, it's funny to think of this episode being like "Drum sticks are cool! You are all wrong to think otherwise!"

So yeah, the whole bit about Makamou getting stronger in the summertime, with Hibiki having to get stronger to match? Not only is that a joke on the usual formula for Tokusatsu shows that run through the summer, but it’s also a reference to Japanese folklore, where evil apparently increases in power around that time. It’s become one of the traditions of Japanese media, along with having the heroes on the right during a fight scene.

And Hibiki Kurenai/Crimson. Mixed feelings on that one. On one hand, it’s nice to see the Super mode debut in the middle of the show instead of at the beginning of the second quarter, as most Rider shows today are prone to doing. But on the other hand, since there’s no obvious way to make merch off it, other than the Souchaku Henshin series (which I checked. They never released a figure of the look), I have to wonder if this is another Amazing Mighty situation, that backfired on Taketera this time. Because remember, he only got away with Amazing Mighty because the show was doing so well Bandai could afford to make a loss on one suit. Whereas Hibiki… do I even need to tell you at this point?

And as I’ve said before. I really love episode 24. For me, it’s the equivalent of Johnathan Frakes coming back to TNG with his baby face covered up. Namely, it’s the part where the show gets REALLY good. I just love the fight scene of Ibuki and Todoroki using the Taiko style Ongeki.

First time I saw Hibiki Kurenai's debut, I was impressed with how he took out all those regular size Makamou in 1 hit each by generating those self-exploding Ongekikos on impact. The new version of Kagayaki has a hot feeling to match! Aesthetically, I still like Hibiki's default form the most, cause purple is cool, but Kurenai has the best effects.

ha ha ha YES

It is so very Kamen Rider Hibiki to take something that is not connecting with the audience, and not just double-down on it, but triple-down.

It's neat that a series so connected with nature actually uses the seasons to cycle their storytelling. Some of it is how delightfully data-driven Takeshi is as an organization (we are a long way from TAKERU! A MONSTER!), and some of it is how... symbiotic this whole thing feels, with the Oni and the monsters. Like it's not some once-in-a-millennium invasion from beyond space and time, but, like, weeding a garden. Just a thing the Oni need to do to keep the world spinning.

It's a great suit, and a great fight to debut with.

It's probably the one disappointing thing in what is otherwise a suitably epic occasion for the first big team-up between the three main heroes. One touch I love about the plotting of the series is that they specifically gave us every possible combination of two of them at least once before getting to this point (Ibuki/Todoroki just *barely* slipping in there an episode prior), which adds even more novelty to the big moment. It also helps that, as can be seen from Die's choice of opening screencap, the entire sequence is just full of really freakin' good staging?

https://i.imgur.com/3eQmmYx.png

And yes, the chilled out idle conversation between the three of them as they walk away from a job well done at the end is great too. It just wouldn't be Hibiki if that wasn't the note the episode left on.

Not that much, actually? I'm fond enough of Hibiki Kurenai as a design. It makes Hibiki into a bit more "traditional" of a toku hero with just some simple changes in color between the red and the black "visor" on the face, but not in any way that feels too at odds with the show's desire to do weird new things.

But the thing that definitely most stuck in my mind about these episodes was everyone getting together for their big drum festival at the end, to the point where I didn't particularly remember it was also Kurenai's big debut at the same time. It's cool and all, but the teamwork and camaraderie between the heroes once again feels like the main attraction here. This is especially helped along by the (as always) excellent background music, doing what the previous two-parter didn't and blending together the three distinct sounds of each character into one glorious harmony. Going back, it's kind of easy to see why it would overshadow the actual exciting new thing in the episode for me.

Which is still great, though! I mean, the music is no less amazing, even.

Oh, and on a super minor side note, Todoroki does another Rider Rescue in 23, but since it's an Shinji Ooishi episode, there just isn't the same flair. No jumping, the hapless civilians don't run away in a panic... it's all just a little off, and unexciting. I know you'll never beat Wizard's main writer at his own game, but they could at least try a little harder. :p

So I'm actually not a huge fan of the Hibiki Kurenai suit for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm just not a fan of the aesthetics: it's just the same suit painted red and I think it looks much better in purple with red accents. Going more monochromatic just makes it more boring for me.

The main reason I don't like it, though, is that it's a harbinger of the end times. Once that suit shows up, I know that we're just about to hit the cancellation and that always bums me out. Last time I went through the show I actually paused here for weeks so I could extend the amount of time left.

That aside, I do like these episodes (haven't rewatched 24 yet, full disclosure). The Todoroki stuff is really fun - you know you've got to be really annoying if you can break Hibiki's chill. It brings some great stuff out of Hinaka, too. Hinaka is a character that probably could have been really obnoxious, but the actress did such a good job of bringing her to life that I can't help but find her incredibly endearing. We also got a memorably weird Douji and Hime; I love it when the actors really got to cut loose and be bizarre with those characters.

This phase of the show feels so much like The Oni Team-Up Show that I have to keep reminding myself it's not a spin-off. It's almost like an anthology, how much the focus shifts to other characters than Hibiki, or different combinations of Oni. Fun, but very different to me form the beginning episodes.

It's maybe fitting that the end of one era of this show coincides with summer? Not the sort of bang that you'd normally associate with a huge change, but this... like a slow winding down, a slight diversion before you're back to school. These episodes are like a vacation, maybe?

Hibiki's Super Hero Time partner also had someone turn from purple to red and even Akibaranger Season 2 pointed out how lame that was. Hibiki's upgrade path just seems boring to me and poorly justifies its existence, which I'll talk about more when his final form debuts. Kurenai is awesome in action but yeah, there's less to look at compared to his default, I feel the same way about Cross-Z Magma which loses all of his iconic navy color. Even Faiz Blaster which is very similar to the default moves the black to the Photon Streams, adds orange as an accent and has the Bloody Cannons. Kurenai has the silver mouthguard, but that just means he can't breathe fire anymore and that's a disappointment!

Shouldn't that also apply to Amazing Mighty Kuuga, Chaser Mach, EX-Aid Level 99, Grease Blizzard or Zero Two?

He doesn't need to breathe fire... he's on fire!

I can't speak to where Hibiki's form changes go in the future, but (my criticisms about its placement in the overall story aside) I actually really liked how Crimson came about? I like that it's just Hibiki Trained Real Hard, and It's Summertime. I love that his upgrade is seasonal? It fits in with how relatively mundane and predictable the show treats all of the Takeshi stuff, how bizarrely data-driven it all is. It also fits with Hibiki's whole goddamn gimmick of being a guy who just works really hard on his skills. There's no MacGuffin or whatever that makes him more powerful. He just worked hard, and it was time for it.

Hibiki getting stronger through summer training is fine but I think it's weird that it's Hibiki specifically mentioned to do this and not any of the other 100+ Oni across Japan. I mean, sure, he's the Primary Rider, he gets priority but training is the basic requirement for people to become Oni, so I feel like this shouldn't be a Hibiki-exclusive thing since it's not like he had a technological advantage such as the Faiz Gear's high functionality to explain new forms.

Fair point!

No, because those shows ended on their own terms. The only thing comparable here I can think of is Decade Complete, and that's more of an "okay, here's where shit gets really weird" and I still keep watching the show.

To be fair, it might just be that none of the other main guys have something like this. I mean, Todoroki only became an Oni like two months ago. For all we know, Sabaki turns gold when he lifts a ton of weights during the winter solstice or something and we just never hear about it. :lol

Sabaki's power-up is that he loses feeling in his arms over the New Year, which is when most of the monsters in his zone are birthed.

YOU GUYS

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 25 - "RACING AZURE"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki25a.png

"All of the punks in Camden could never shout about it, and
All of the hipsters in Shoreditch could never style it, and
All of the bankers in Moorgate could never buy it for you
This is simple, and it's true
So let's go swimming this afternoon"

-Allo Darlin', "Let's Go Swimming"

Aww, what an adorable episode.

It's thin as can be, plot-wise. Everyone's got a day off, and they pretty much spend it swimming at pools. Hibiki gets a call to go bail Sabaki out of a jam, and there's a monster fight, but it doesn't last too long. There's a weird moral at the end, about not worrying if you look cool, but it feels completely tacked on. (I mean, it works for Hibiki's reveal, but it's hardly something that's been threaded through the episode. Well?€? maybe the Asumu story has a beat of it, but it's incredibly minor. I don't know, I guess your mileage may vary.) It's a total fill-in episode. What little series-long monster storytelling exists for this show is mostly set to the side.

But, of course, WHO CARES. This episode killed me stone dead, a triumph of character-driven storytelling that packs an unbelievable amount of fan service into one episode, while still delivering a thrilling monster-exploding climax.

First, let's talk about the music, which makes some incredibly bold choices. To start, the theme song has (to my mind) its first use of a glockenspiel accompaniment, signifying that This Is Going To Be A Weird One. From there, we get screaming hair-metal guitars over Oni swimming in pools, losing the specificity of the characters' signature instruments to make things crazy and upbeat. Nothing about this is like a regular Hibiki episode, tonally, so why not go nuts with the music?

Second, holy shit, Hibiki's bike. (Hibike?) I'm not a gearhead. I don't really care about real-world cars and bikes and vehicles. But maybe I am now, because that thing is gorgeous. Its introduction leads into what's basically a minute-long ad for a motorcycle, but, y'know, it earned it. That deep Hibiki purple! The weight of that design! This is not some dirt bike, or some crotch rocket. This is a beast, and the man who rides it is the king of beasts. It's glorious. It's almost stupid how much this episode deifies Hibiki's bike, but we're halfway through the series and we finally have the title character riding his bike in-costume, so HELL YES you make a big deal out of it. If not this, then what?

The rest of the episode is a non-stop buffet of tiny delights, a group of diverse and appealing characters hanging out and goofing off.

The Hibiki thread is a lot of fun, with Ibuki serving as a way-too-optimistic trainer (You're Doing Great is not helpful advice for someone who's trying to push himself, Ibuki!) and Kasumi bored out of her goddamn mind. She really does feel wasted in this plot, but pointedly so. She's mostly just sitting around, looking gorgeous. (Everyone looks great in this episode, incidentally. Just a handsome, handsome cast.) It's a little unclear why she was brought along, other than to set up the idea that Hibiki is eventually keeping something from her.

And it's cute, that he always fights the Kappa alone because it makes his voice high-pitched and ridiculous, and he doesn't want Kasumi to see him being uncool. Which... does he think she thinks he's cool? I don't think that she's given him that impression! She's seen him be goofy, and weird, and make bad jokes. (Ibuki and Kasumi take about an hour to finally laugh politely at Hibiki's Olympics joke.) But just because we all know that Kasumi doesn't exactly hold Hibiki's personality in the highest esteem, there's no saying that Hibiki knows that. His scenes with Midori paint him as a dude who thinks people look up to him more than they do, when most of his non-Oni antics are tolerated at best, so it's probably dead-on right for him to have some vanity when it comes to Kasumi. I believe it!

(While we're on the topic of headcanons, I would like to reiterate my belief that Sabaki isn't terrible at his job, he's just the most put-upon and overworked Oni in Japan. Sure, Hibiki can take out three Kappa with only a comically-pitched voice to show for it, but Sabaki had just eliminated 40 giants and an entire subdivision of Spider Houses. Dude's winded! He didn't get a day off at the pool, like some Oni.)

The stuff with the rest of the cast at the public pool, it's fantastic. It's just Todoroki being his normal incredibly weird self, swimming three kilometers the wrong way up a lazy river, then hoovering up food that's meant to feed five people; Hinaka trying desperately to make Todoroki at least 15% less weird in front of company; Asumu being oblivious; AsuMum being acutely aware of how oblivious Asumu can be while still finding it a little cute; and Hitomi, who is maybe getting a little worn out with how oblivious Asumu is, and how stressed out she is by constantly saying Oh No We're Just Friends.

I'm a fan of the teen romance subplot on this show. I think it's fun. This episode gives it a lot of attention, in the form of What If Some Cute Boy Noticed How Single Hitomi Is. The kid, Tsutomu, is almost designed to cause friction in the Asumu/Hitomi relationship through his mere presence. He's a cute boy who immediately hits on Hitomi. He's got a connection to the inner workings of Takeshi. He's even got an Oni Salute! He is bad news.

So of course he doesn't really do anything here. (I assume he'll be back. The show made a suspiciously big deal about him.) He says hi, and leaves. I mean, it's not really an episode about resolving or escalating the romantic hijinks, so much as it's trying to remind the viewer that this shit with Asumu has been maybe going on too long. Hitomi's been crushing on New And Improved Asumu for months, and that's after crushing on Sweet But Ineffective Asumu for who knows how long. This status quo is not sustainable. Keeping Hitomi in this kind of limbo, it's going to have consequences for both of them. If Asumu doesn't wise up soon, he's going to lose a friend.

So, yeah, outstanding episode for letting the characters just spread out, be weird, and let stories develop out of that. Really had a great time watching this. Every episode should be a trip to the pool.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../hibiki25b.png

Okay, turns out I have something to say for an episode after 24 and before 30 after all.

Tsutomu isn’t a particularly major player on the TV show, but there’s a novel which retells the entire series, with a few new characters added towards the end, where he becomes an Oni named Akatsuki (Daybreak Demon)

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ka...jpg&name=large

And a fun fact: the photo used for untransformed Sabaki in this episode (at least I think it’s this episode, I don’t remember them showing any pictures in his later appearances and the Wiki doesn’t say what episode their screenshot comes from) is of Takayuki Shibasaki, who would become a recurring director starting with the next show, and has since gone on to be the main director for two Rider series (Drive and Saber) and two Sentai series (Go-Busters and Kyuranger).

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/po...jpg&name=large

He has a distinct style, but I’ve not really been able to pick it out. And hilariously despite the paper saying he was born in 1968, Shibasaki was born 10 years after that.

Ps. I have no idea if either of these pictures will show up, due to wikia moving onto a new server.

Hibiki’s bike is a custom-painted Honda Valkyrie Rune. That makes it unique amongst Kamen Rider motorcycles as being the only one that’s actually street legal in Japan.

I think the clear way forward is to let Agito and Ghost ride their pre-henshin bikes

Hey, speaking of everybody's favorite bit part, I don't think the subject of Sabaki's voice actor has come up yet, has it? I'm only kind of aware of the details here, but it seems he was played by Katsumi Shiono, who is generally most prolific for providing monster voices in both Rider and Sentai, and seemingly not the kinds that get to actually speak. He was apparently most of the Mirror Monsters in Ryuki, for example, and even voiced the Kappa in this very episode.

I think this explains a lot about Sabaki's role in the series. Just like a monster, he's mostly there for the thankless task of getting beat up to make the heroes look better. It's not a pretty job, but someone's gotta do it. So let's all take a moment to appreciate Sabaki, pictured here in his natural environment – getting body checked by an oversized turtle.

https://i.imgur.com/F9tfr96.png

Oh, and speaking of overworked people with Takeshi, good on Akira for stepping up to run the restaurant while everyone else goes on vacation. Between this and getting that guitar to Todoroki while injured a few episodes back, I've very much remembered why I like her so much. Although it's really not helping everyone else's case that she's apparently being denied both an education AND regularly scheduled off-time...

Hey, gang, just a quick heads-up. After spending the last six hours in the Emergency Room to find out I've been having an anxiety attack for the last two days... probably not going to be able to do a Hibiki tonight. Which double-sucks because Tuesday nights leave me no time to do one. So! Episode 26! With any luck, this Wednesday! See you then!