[Switchblade]

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.