[NGW]

Episodes 47 and 48 of Hibiki

The final arc of the season.

So quick wrap up of Episode 47. The oni are preparing for the ceremony. Asumu visits the little terminal girl and decides to focus on granting her last wish rather than his oni training, which of course pisses Kiriya off. Hibiki fighting the makamou without transforming was pretty badass. Few more nice moments between Todoroki and Hinaka. The last moment between the new douji and hime were kinda sad I guess. And Hibiki taking Ibuki's place was pretty awesome. Hibiki's conversation with Midori was quite nice as well, as was his talk with Asumu when he told him he wanted to put a hold on his oni training.

So now we move onto the main event, the final volume of Kamen Rider Hibiki.

We open up with a brief showing of the battle at the big stone taiko drum.

And then cut to a year later. What?

Back at Tachibana's the gang laments Asumu's absence as they clean up a mess. Apparently it has been some time since he's been around.

We do learn that they were successful in sealing the orochi a year ago, which is also the time that Asumu quit his part time job there. To be fair though, when was the last time we actually saw him working there?

We see that Asumu has indeed moved on to the next grade in his school. Good for him. And he is doing incredibly well there, again good for him.

It also seems that Asumu has finally decided on a path in life. He wants to be a doctor. And that actually makes some sense. He wants to help people. That was part of why he wanted to take the oni training in the first place. Couple that with the time he had with little Naomi, it seems an obvious choice for him.

Kiriya did eventually leave school, guess he has put all of his focus back into his oni training again.

Hibiki's last words to him still haunt Asumu. It's been a year since they've seen eachother, and despite the impact he had on him, Hibiki seems to be going the way of a memory.

Kiriya's training with Hibiki...seems to be going well. At least Hibiki says as such.

Get to see Asumu working at the hospital.

And Hibiki and Asumu meet once again. After a year and with Hibiki's parting words hanging in the air, things are a bit awkward between the two. Kinda sad to see what's become of them.

Ah mom, do you have to put more doubts into Asumu's mind...again.

Glad to see the other's agree that it is a sad state the way things are between Asumu and Hibiki.

We find ourselves with a situation similar to the one that began the series, but this time Asumu makes his move to help the boy in need. He does seem to have at least grown over the course of the season.

That oni training paid off afterall eh Asumu? Or uh..not.

And..Kiriya saves the day.

Panel Theater seems to be doing well too. Though I still struggle to see the difficulty in it, at least on the reader's part (as that is always the part they seem to be saying is difficult).

A makamou? Guess sealing orochi didn't put a stop to all of the shenanigans eh?

Oh Kiriya, still a dick as always.

And our mystery couple plans to do experiments on Mochi. Oh my. Talk about clones (I forget, was it mentioned before that the douji and hime were clones? I seem to recall that). Are they planning to use Mochida as a base?

Asumu gets to put his doctoring skills to use at least.

Oh shit, Kiriya can become an oni! Pretty cool suit design too, like a silver Hibiki.

Well at least he lasted a bit longer than Akira did when she transformed.

Let's leave this one to the pros kid.

Hammerhead centipede makamou, that's kinda badass. Also, something is up with the male of our mystery couple.

Just making a note, Hibiki held his hand on Asumu's shoulder longer than he did Kiriya's. Also, transforming straight into armed form, Hibiki's gotten strong.

Mochida's ok, I was almost worried for half a second there. Was kinda hoping that Asumu'd have to do something to revive her, build up a bit more drama and I dunno, have him give her mouth to mouth, push their relationship along a bit.

Asumu and Kiriya complimenting eachother. Uh huh. You're still a dick Kiriya.

O_o yet another mystery couple, dressed in some fancy outfits. Having to feed this couple. So is the couple we've been following this whole time just another set of clones/douji and hime or something? Dafuq. Not a twist I saw coming.

Well, the ending conversation between Hibiki and Asumu was somewhat touching. And so glad to hear Shonen Yo played again.

The last episode definitely showed some flaws though, you can tell it was kinda just going as it went ya know?

I dunno, overall I was really happy with the series. It didn't have much of an actual conclusion, but I don't think everything really needs one. We got to see a year of the life of the oni and Asumu and how Hibiki had an impact on him and helped him learn and grow, him having basically always been Hibiki's disciple, not necessarily to become an oni, but in a more meaningful way, which was kinda obvious with him basically being a father figure, a mentor, and a friend, but it was still a nice way to close things out. I wish we had a bit more explanation on certain things, but mayhaps the mystery is better than what we may have learned otherwise.

So should probably do some sort of thoughts on the series as a whole then right?

I really enjoyed it. Probably one of my favorite seasons I've watched so far. Not as good as Ryuki, no, maybe not even quite as good as Gaim, but within that top 2-3 I think, edging out W just a tad.

The earlier portions of the show, prior to the production changes, were definitely the best. It had a better opening and a much better closing to each episode and the settings were overall better, as was the filmography and just overall look and feel of the show. It definitely felt more like a modern season of Kamen Rider after the switch, losing a lot of what was unique about it. However, there were some fantastic arcs and genuinely emotional scenes throughout, both before and after the shake up, and the interactions and relationships between the characters were all really well done and believable, and a big part of what I liked about the season.

Kiriya was a bit of an unnecessary addition, he was a dick, and I honestly don't feel that he deserved the progress he made. There were times you could see the writers trying to make us feel for him or redeem him, but honestly it just felt like he suddenly accepted certain things and now he's ready to become an oni.

I actually felt that Akira's decision to give up her training was well done. It made sense with her character and her arc, and it made for some great emotional moments as well as a nice parallel to the storyline with Hibiki taking on his own disciples.

Todoroki and Zanki's arc was also quite good. Zanki was definitely one of my favorite characters this season, and the way his death was played out and his final moments with his successor were fantastic. Todoroki really grew over the course of the season and came to his own with the death of his mentor, allowing him to finally stand on his own two feet. His relationship with Hinaka was nice as well, and again provided some good moments and drama as well as making them feel more human and realistic.

Ibuki, I don't honestly have that much to say about him. He was at his best with Akira, both when he was training her and when he was losing her. He had some nice interactions with the other oni, but his relationship with Kasumi was really underdeveloped, despite their time together towards the end of the season.

Now, as I have said at least a couple times prior, this series is ostensibly about the relationship between Hibiki and Asumu, and as such this is what the show put its primary focus on, though towards the latter part of the season that seemed to wane a bit. I really really liked their relationship though, and the build up to those big moments, such as Hibiki calling Asumu by name or when he finally takes him (and Kiriya) on as a disciple was fantastic. Asumu's decision to go down a different path was definitely disappointing and seemed to go against what the series was building towards, but I at least liked Asumu's reasoning behind it. I'm not sure what the original intention was but I'm sure it would have been better.

Overall though I really enjoyed the season.

Now to figure out what to watch next.