Kamen Rider Zi-O Episode 33- "Rejoice, Echo, Roar! 2005" Discussion
 

Sougo has no time to celebrate his birthday when the monstrous Another Hibiki targets the legendary Oni.

Kiriha isn't hibiki. Hibiki's power was stolen.
I just realized another agito technically wasn't an another rider with agito walking around. It was just a lure to bait his ride watch, so we didnt actually see another another agito. I guess one human was forced to achieved agito power though the seed within his human gene and it infected everyone like a zombie virus. It just tells that I don't care too much about details anymore with time jackers and another rider rules.

Okay, that's my biggest fear assuaged.

Who could evolve the Agito seed inside humans except The Lord of Light?

Kiva arc seems to be about Schwartz and ginga. Maybe some tie in. Schwartz could pass on a one liner that he possesses all Heisei billain powers. Inoue is back writing episodes probably kiva or kabuto. It's all about enjoying decade level tribute rather than actual plot now. Nostalgic fan servuce
The story is so bad and doesn't make a lot of sense excluding the fact i don't care about the characters especially time jackers. Not interesting or likable. The trio have no charisma as well. We're In mid 30s and it feel like nothing happened beside constant foreshadowing to ohma zio. At least there's better excuse for white wizard. Disposable pass along riders just like boss zodiarts.

Despite what others are saying, I thought this episode was pretty solid.

It's very much focused on Hibiki, and I like that. In that sense, it's as dedicated to the show it is trying to pay tribute to as the Agito episodes. There are a lot of references and elements that pay homage and it's mostly successful. I think, for most people, the reason this episode isn't working out for them is because the main returning legend happens to be one of the most hated characters in the franchise.

But I like what they are doing with Kiriya. He's not being idolized. The writers show that they get the character. He's cocky, he's a bit of a jerk, and moreover, he's pathetic. He calls himself "Hibiki" and challenges Sougo and Geiz to be worthy enough to inherit the RideWatch, all the while putting them down when they talk about their dreams. And as we learn from Todoroki, he is lying about being Hibiki. But I think it shows growth too - when he pulls out the photos of him with Hibiki-san and with his own pupil, I feel that implies regret. He couldn't finish his training with Hibiki and he was unable to train a pupil of his. So while this two-parter may start with a familiar, asshole Kiriya, it is seemingly leading to a redemption arc where he realizes his flaws and is able to move forward. I think it's a great parallel to Asumu - 14 years ago, Asumu found a new passion and abandoned the path of becoming an Oni. But Kiriya is stuck in an endless cycle of training and failing himself and others and protects his pupil most likely to atone for that. If that is the case, I'm happy we got Kiriya.

Moreover, I think it's great that they remade his Transformed Oni form for this two-parter. It shows the creative team put a lot of care into these tributes to make them as authentic as possible and took the extra step when they could have simply had Kiriya not even transform at all to save budget.

Todoroki gets a much smaller role but I really like what they did with him. He almost beats Another Hibiki single-handedly without breaking a sweat not once, but twice. That's badass and shows a great respect towards him as a returning legend. Seeing the henshin was incredible and I loved how they incorporated the kanji into it. Plus, I always love hearing that guitar solo. Seeing him camping out waiting for Makamou brought back memories too. It's also just good to have a character talk crap about Kiriya and Todoroki's the perfect member of the cast to do it. He was young and brash at one point too, but his experiences made him a better person. His arc in the Hibiki show was about surpassing his master, so he knows first-hand how deep Kiriya's failures lie. I am a little disappointed that they forgot about the Oni dehenshin leaving the user naked though.

Action was great, Another Hibiki is an incredible suit and seeing Kuuga Armour was exciting. I love the pun Sougo made about it too. I couldn't help but realize that Kuuga and Hibiki shared a producer (Takatera) and Wizard shared a writer (Kida). I wonder if this was intentional. Was nice to see Zi-O Ex-Aid Armour again too after so long.

I personally found Woz's antics to be hilarious. I get it might be way too heavy-handed for a lot of fans but I'm a sucker for this kind of over-the-top humour. I laughed-out-loud during the cold opening when he tried to get Sougo's uncle to keep quiet and during the Taiko training scene.

It seems like the original Hibiki suit is returning next week, but who is it gonna be? I feel like Toei is deliberately misleading us here. Initially, we all thought they would make Kiriya transform into Hibiki based on the previews and cast materials but it turns out that was a red herring and the reveal that he is in fact not Hibiki at all is treated as a twist in this episode. So following that trend, episode 34 could have some surprises as well. I'm cautiously excited.

Overall, a good episode to close out the Heisei era.

Either hibiki will be back in suit or kiriha graduate in to hibiki becayse they can't afford the real one. It seem naomi, yuto, and garu from kiva won't be playing their most iconic roles. Grease probably will be grease in the next return to avoid confusion.

I have been enjoying the season overall, and the first part of the Hibiki one was enjoyable as well, Hibiki is also a big sore spot for Toei if I recall so yeah......

The rewrites to the season did not help, nor all the issues with the actors during and after.... :/

This is probably overall going to be the tribute the least amount of people will care about just due to it being Hibiki, it will be interesting to see how this goes overall with the second part.

Wow, Sougo used Ex-Aid armor which he hadn't used in nearly 30 episodes (Decade Ex-Aid doesn't count). I almost thought it was Geiz's form since he's used Ex-Aid armor more than he did.

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!

https://i.imgur.com/7SjSkci.jpg

Huh, that's strange. As it is written in the episode synopsis, it should be time for the Hibiki arc. So why is Kamen Rider Zeronos here? Perhaps it's another Fourze/Faiz thing, or... wait. Oh no, they wouldn't. They couldn't. They shouldn't! Anyone but him, please! If we're bringing a Kiriya into this episode, I'd rather have it be Lazer!

Although, having watched the episode, I'm surprisingly okay with all of this. I won't give any real judgement until I see how this story ends but like Xtreme RX says, the way they're using him is actually pretty well thought out and actively avoids trying to convince the audience he's a cool character. I kind of took it for granted that he wouldn't actually be Hibiki but it's a pretty clever bait-and-switch. Even if it seems strange they're specifically making the Hibiki episodes a tribute to the Inoue chunk of that show (Todoroki's even here!), it's a good episode of Zi-O in its own right.

Although it does get me wondering if Shirakura is like, super proud of the Hibiki retool all these years later and specifically demanded this be the plot they do. I have to imagine which actors Toei can get back affects the plots more than the other way around, but still.

My only complaint is that Kiriya requires some kind of facial hair to make him look older, old enough to justify that he is indeed a mentor to a teenager. Here his look always remind me of teenager Yuto

Don't be jealous just because he ages better than most of us!

Well, that was... okay, I guess. This episode was always going to be a rough one for me. The last two tributes were really strong episodes that brought back the main Rider and some supporting characters and included several loving homages to the original show from people who clearly had a fondness for them. This was the tribute to Hibiki, a show that Toei has pretty consistently crapped on over the years. We didn't get either of the show's two main characters - Hibiki and Asumu - back; we got Todoroki and the asshole from the Inoue era. So there really isn't any way to do anything with the show's main story since they don't have any of the major characters to work with. We're still doing better than the Gaim episodes (which I consider the low bar for tributes) since the returning actors are actually relevant, but the story doesn't have the same kind of weight that the last two tributes had. And, to be fair, that was going to happen eventually. The Blade and Agito episodes were very strong and it was inevitable that we'd have a weaker two-parter again at some point. As it stands, it's still a perfectly fine episode, it just pales in comparison to what we've been getting lately.

Honestly, I'd probably be more forgiving of this arc if it weren't Hibiki. If this was Kabuto or Kiva I'd probably be enjoying this a lot more. Hibiki is a very special show to me, though, and I have very high, probably impossible, standards for what I would want these episodes to be.

Also, I feel like if we were going to have an episode where Woz obsesses over Sougo's birthday, then they really should have made that the plot for the OOO arc. That is a perfect opportunity completely wasted.

Ah, I see what you did there! It would have take the cake.

I also have a soft spot for Hibiki, it's a throwback to heroes of old that were more of a parental figure than the viewer's cool big brother all modern riders tend to be.