[Matrixbeast]

Was that a giant porcupine badger?
Huh...Anyway...
Hibiki Volume 15.
I'm now officially halfway through Hibiki

So this episode gives us our first look at Zanki, as well as his apprentice, Todayama. It's pretty interesting that Hitomi's cousin is an oni, and the man who helped Asumu as he almost tripped with Zanki. Neat. Well, with those two, we see the 3rd instrument, string instruments. I do love the guitar spear, it's a pretty baller weapon. Their suits are also pretty nice. I like the belt strap across their chest that's basically a guitar neck (It looks a lot cooler than Ibuki's vest made of brass pipes, I must say). Anyway, on to the episode.

With Zanki out of the hospital, they immediately mobilize to handle a giant crab demon (Much like the one that defeated him some 7 episodes ago), except it's not the acid squirting variety. They both transform (And their clothes immediately get bolted away while doing so) and begin fighting. While Todayama is having a relatively easy time, Zanki is struggling, but still managing to get the job done. With the parents down, they move to the Makamou, where Zanki impales the guitar and tries to play, but fails before finally getting a lucky chance after flipping the monster.
Zanki realizes he's not in his prime and that the constant fighting has basically left him too sluggish and weak, and announces he's retiring, planning on passing down the guitar to Todayama.

While this is going on, Asumu has finally gotten a chance to return home, and it seems his recovery is moving along well. While he's not bedridden, he's definitely not in great shape, as the surgery still left some pain. In the meantime, Hibiki and Akira get into talks about how close Akira is to transforming, as she's basically one level off. However, she's not rushing anything, and is willing to take her time because she trusts Ibuki's teaching and judgment. How nice. While they're out, they come across a motorcycle dealership and Hibiki muses about how cool he'd look on a bike, and determines to learn how to drive (Finally~), and then, during a brief trip to a market, Hibiki chances upon Asumu's mother! She takes him to their place, much to the delight of Asumu (Who then proceeds to immediately start trying to clean the place).

Not all is perfect, as another rider, Sabaki, was having trouble handling a monster, the porcupine bear badger thing. However, they could only dispatch the weakened Zanki, as it's weak to string instruments. Zanki and Todayama soon arrive on scene to find an unconscious Sabaki and the monster slowly moving about.

This was a cool episode. Zanki and Todayama are pretty neat, though it wasn't the strongest showing for our guitar based riders, as Zanki had a hard time putting up a fight, while Todayama doesn't even have a guitar to fight with. It was also a little disappointing that the monster was killed with one strum of the guitar, so there wasn't much beyond a bland guitar twang. Still, I'm curious to see whether Zanki does retire and give Todayama the guitar, or if he manages to stay active. Asumu didn't really do much here, but the odd masturbation joke was kind of funny (And really out of the blue) and his just immediately dropping to the floor to clean when Hibiki arrived was rather fun. Also, when Hibiki thinks about getting a bike, the call back to when he drove Ibuki's bike and forced him to jump off was pretty funny.