[Kurona]

Well, I finished Hibiki.

... sigh.

What an... overwhelming example of how Inoue ruins everything he touches. What happened to you, man? You used to write Agito. Agito was great. Really liked Agito.

Thinking it over I'm not sure how much I can really pin on the concepts here. The show feels like it betrays Akira; Kiriya never feels like he earns anything; Asumu becoming a doctor feels far too out of left field... but are those bad things in and of themselves? I don't really know. What I do know is that the writing style is so blatant and over the top that none of it comes across as genuine; none of the sincerity that marked the first half of the show is present.

Something Fish has been saying about OOO, about what made it so good is really sticking with me: that despite all the fantastical elements, something about it still feels grounded and believable. And I think, watching Hibiki, this applies to that show pre-retool as well -- that's how all the casual, laidback stuff worked alongside hard training and destroying demons with music. Because there was a real world pull; all the characters had personality while still being restrained enough so as to not be cartoons.

And that's not me saying that having cartoonish characters or going all-out wild is a bad thing -- not in the slightest! I adore me some Fourze and Ex-Aid, and I'll defend those shows to my death! But... it just doesn't have a place in Hibiki. Despite certain retained elements and an attempt at tribute in the last few episodes with playing certain themes and calling back to Todoroki's purifying of the battlefield, it's quite clear things have gone off the rails. What is there for me to say? I've ranted at length about how the characters feel flanderised. I've expressed a distaste for the new elements introduced. I dearly mourn the unique themes and ideas that were now nowhere to be seen.

I'll end with this: if you ever need a good idea of what Inoue is like as a writer; you need look no further than Hibiki -- in that in the very relaxed slice of life series whose themes and aesthetic are predicated on a deep respect and reverence for nature and Japanese mythology and culture; the very first scene he writes is a businessman getting assassinated by a cgi barking flaming wheel.