[ZeoRangerV]

Finished up Hibiki. Well, the series anyway - I still have the movie, HBV and New Year Special to watch.

First off - that last episode was the biggest cop out I've ever seen from a television show. It's an absolute joke, which isn't surprising they decided to change it on the damn day of filming. Its a pity we'll probably never find out what that original ending was.

So all in all Hibiki has been a VERY mixed bag for me. I started out not quite getting it but being oddly drawn to it nonetheless, then I couldn't put it down, and then finally hated pretty much everything about it. I don't think I've ever felt so conflicted about a series as a whole.

So let's talk about the good half to start. While it doesn't have that much in the way of an ongoing plot, what it does have is both simple enough to grasp/follow and has enough mysteries to keep it interesting. The characters are superb, with even the bit players feeling integral to things. Asumu never struck out as anything more than an obsessive fanboy to me, but I liked how his personal growth worked alongside the main story. Most of all I loved how the show portrayed all of the Oni - Hibiki was the title character, but there'd be whole episodes where he didn't transform. There were proper focus episodes on Ibuki and Todoroki and both shined just as much as Hibiki did.

Then the change happened, and all of that went down the drain. Character development was forgotten, as Ibuki and Todoroki just became incompetent so the show could start going "DURR HIBIKI IS THE BEST BUY HIS TOYS". Asumu only became likeable by adding an even more annoying fanboy stalker, and it pains me that nobody ever properly called Kiriya out for his bullshit and just told him to get lost. The villains became stale and uninteresting, and all that beautiful location filming was lost. And don't me started on Akira slowly getting written out, because it was blatantly obvious the real reason for it was the writers didn't like the idea of main female character becoming an Oni/Rider The ONLY episodes I enjoyed out of the whole latter run were the Zanki ones, and that was because Zanki is an utter badass.

So yeah, Hibiki is simultaneously a fantastic series and a terrible one. Be prepared to be won over by wonderful characters, an simple-yet-engaging plot seeped in mythology and beautiful filming. And then be prepared to have it all taken away from you.

Ahem.

That said, I cannot wait for that Hibiki Figuart now. And then they seriously need to make Ibuki, Todoroki and Zanki. I needs them.