[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I keep forgetting to mention it, so, apropos of nothing, let me talk about how much I love the end credits.

I mean, the song alone. "Hit the beat! Keep yoooouuuurrr beat!" It’s this very lovely song about a boy on a journey to being a man, and how he needs to believe in himself, how he needs to find a path and a passion and a purpose… and the whole thing is Asumu literally following the lead of Hibiki. It’s so perfect a distillation of this series’ strengths and themes. And to have it all be with these little pop-ins from the other cast members, the serenity of it all… I can’t think of a stronger way to end an episode of this exceptionally kind and generous show.

It frames everything that happens as important not because of Hibiki’s heroics, but because of Hibiki’s example. Defeating a monster isn’t cool, being respected by people is cool. (Defeating a monster is a little cool, objectively.) Asumu isn’t awed by Hibiki as an Oni, he’s awed by Hibiki as a strong, confident man that is surrounded by people who care about him. These lessons that Asumu’s learning, it isn’t making him a Kamen Rider, it’s making him a man.

I think that's why this show works. There are usually two kinds of protagonist; those you can relate to and those you can idolize. But this show has both and through their interactions, it feels like Hibiki is personally delivering the moral to viewers using Shounen as our perspective. It's the same thing I praise Lupinranger VS Patranger for with the two Red Rangers and the moral that conflict isn't always black and white. Shounen idolizes Hibiki as this really cool guy and feels inadequate by comparison but that's only due to Hibiki being older and more experienced while Shounen is just trying to live too fast.

Hibiki moving past his failure and defeating the Bakegani is the start of their mentor and pupil dynamic which will be instrumental (haha) in Shounen's development to accomplishing his internal goal, by seeing how Hibiki and the Oni react to adversity and what it really means to be a man.

Considering Shounen's reaction to his classmate calling him a "man among men", I think you're right. It just happens that Hibiki is the most macho guy he knows recently and that results in an association between man and Oni. He thinks the best way to be a man is to be an Oni. In reality, you need to be a man, you need to train, to be an Oni, not the other way around.

Shounen Yo is my favorite ending theme of the Heisei Era, not that there's much choice. I complain about the lack of ending theme in Lupinranger VS Patranger so I'm glad Saber's compensating me for that. Going back to Hibiki, it's interesting how the emotion changes depending on the setting. Sometimes the other characters are happy and having fun and then it's more melancholy with them sitting idly looking glum. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be relevant to the tone of the episode or something else. What's your take?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I think Ibuki is sort of my stealth favorite Hibiki character? He's not someone that I get particularly fired up about, but I just kinda feel happy when he's onscreen. Switchblade put it pretty well. I think the show knew what it was doing having his first scene be that chance encounter with Asumu's mom, too. That sort of feeling of "I met the nicest young man the other day. And so handsome too!" is pretty much the absolute core of his character. He's just a real swell dude.

Sometimes, Ibuki feels more like the Primary Rider than Hibiki, but only when he's in focus. At 19 years old, a more conventional protagonist age, he's the youngest active Oni in the Kanto region, he has a bike, he's more willing to embrace his role as a mentor and has my favorite fight scene and arc in the show which I look forward to mentioning later.

EDIT: 200th post, yay!