[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

I promised to comment on the debut of major or recurring characters and one shows up here in the form of the bully who steals from Asumu in his episode (since he makes appearances in two later episodes, before being dropped after the retool)

He’s definitely my least favourite character on the show, mostly for a) how one-note he is as a character, b) he offers little that couldn’t be taken out with no trouble and c) he never receives any comeuppance or redemption for his actions.

Oof. That is... that is pretty much his arc that you just gave me? After he had a grand total of a minute onscreen? Man. That is a bummer, knowing all that. Definitely less excited to watch the next episode now.

It's very cool that you've got things you want to share about Hibiki, that's the entire reason this thread exists, but if we can keep the discussion to just the current episode (and anything prior), it would really help me out. Talking about how many future appearances someone has, or how well/badly their storyline plays out... that's exactly the stuff I don't want to know in advance.

I appreciate your help with this!

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

I like Hibiki, and I'm glad that you've been receptive to it's unique style. I remember distinctly how one of the earliest scenes, of Asumu having a meal with his family who are talking about him, and both they and their voices fade away in favour of the music to show how much he feels like an outsider to what's happening. Those kinds of moments hit incredibly close to home. In fact, a lot of the themes about finding your way in life struck such a chord with me. It took a few episodes for me to get along with Hibiki's particular way of doing things, but once I did, I was really into it.

As for episode 9, I get what you mean. It's kinda all set-up, but you would have also come to expect this show to just show 'things happening' to Asumu and letting you decide the meaning or worth of it by yourself. Sometimes you'll decide 'i dunno if i needed to see this', though.

I think one of the things that made 9 not work for me is that it needed Asumu telling someone, anyone, a little of what he what he was going through. We see him isolated from his friends and stressed out after the bookstore confrontation, but there's no way for him to vocalize those emotions, leading to something where I can care that he's upset, but I'm not that clear on why he's upset. It's a plot that needed maybe one or two lines of dialogue (a voicemail left for Hitomi, maybe?) to indicate where the story was heading. Something to help set our compass, you might say.

The other thing is how sort-of overstuffed this episode felt, and how overstuffing it with plot meant substantially less of the normal Tiny Delights, but that's a different problem.

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Originally Posted by SHINOBI03

That has been one of the issues I had with the show. The monster fights get less interesting the more you watch them till they reach a "filler" level in the episodes and you just wait till they're done to go back to the more interesting character stuff.

I just don't like it when the monsters that Kamen Riders fight are just non-communicative animals. It's not that fun for me? I like monster plots that can have some variety to them, while Hibiki's (to be fair, five) monster plots have mostly the same arc to them.

The other thing is that the monster plots are all something far outside of the city, happening in mostly sparsely populated areas. It's made the monster plots feel less urgent, maybe even less heroic? It doesn't feel as much like The Day Has Been Saved, as it does like This Is A Mix Between Animal Control And Forest Management. Definitely useful! But a lower-tier useful than fire fighting or crime fighting.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Like that first scene with Hibiki, how the episode just throws you into this fight with zero context beyond "we need to remind viewers Hibiki is cool too after last week", I can't help but love it. But I definitely didn't get a ton out of the story, either. It's all atmosphere in this one, which is what Hibiki is best at, so not a total loss, but still.

It was a little less enjoyable for me, I think, because I'm not crazy about the trend of the first part of a two parter being all set up, and the second part being all resolution. I don't know that viewers should feel disadvantaged by watching a single episode as it aired? This is the second story in a row where I kind-of wanted to reach through time, grab the production team collectively by the shoulders, and say IMAGINE IF THIS WAS YOUR FIRST HIBIKI EPISODE. There's a way of doing serialized storytelling that still honors the unit of entertainment that people are engaging with, but this isn't that.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

And at the risk of bookending this post by proving how unengaging the actual plot is, those scenes of Hibiki just kinda walking around in suit made me realize a potential secret reason this show has such a comfortable vibe – Those Disc Animals hanging off his belt make those jingly noises constantly, and it totally makes it sound like Santa Claus is about to show up at any moment. Like Hibiki comes with built-in Christmas cheer. Truly genius sound design, and I'm only kind of joking here.

Ha ha, amazing. Not the vibe I got from Hibiki, but I'm glad he can create some timeless Christmas cheer for you. He mostly just makes me thinking of camping?