[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 12 - "SECRETS REVEALED"



"If we put things right
Then we'll sleep tonight
If we can't put things right
Then there will be no sleep tonight"

-Rainer Maria, "There Will Be No Night"

It's hard to find fault with this one... but if Hibiki has taught me anything, it's that nothing worthwhile comes without effort. And I'm pretty well-trained at nitpicking otherwise entertaining episodes of TV shows designed to sell toys to children!

In general, I think this episode worked pretty well. Most of my criticisms are going to be of the A-Minus When You Could've Gotten An A-Plus variety. A couple things where, with some different choices, it could've been a perfect episode.

The big thing is the Makamou in this episode, which... look, I get budgets. I get the technology of the time. I get that not every monster in a series can be the best. But holy shit did the giant slug in this story look unforgivably janky. The camerawork that gets used to make it seem massive is laughably cheesy, while the puppet head has a level of sophistication approaching, but not touching, Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It's bad. I'm sure someone out there will defend it as So Bad It's Good, or call it "charming" for its deficiencies, but, no. No. This monster looks like garbage, and it's shot in a way that makes it hot garbage. Ridiculously lame finale to this story's monster plot, all the more glaring for how great everything ahead of it was.

The smaller thing is that, and I know this may sound dumb after a few episodes of complaining that the Hibiki and Asumu stuff wasn't connecting, but... it's maybe too on the nose in this one?

I mean, I love that they've concluded the Asumu Chokes plot in such a decisive way. After episodes where it wasn't clear what was going on with Asumu, we get confirmation that his multiple choke jobs lead to him having such self-loathing that he couldn't face Hibiki. Midori tells Asumu that Hibiki famously choked back when he was Asumu's age, and that's what put him on the path to being an Oni. It's information that allows Asumu to move beyond his shame, and vow to be more assertive/useful/ambulatory/articulated in the future. The end.

It's just, I don't know that what I want out of a Hibiki/Asumu plot is Nearly The Exact Same Thing Happened To Hibiki When He Was A Kid. I find that sort of parallel cheap, and dull. It lacks the cleverness of the better comparisons, something this episode actually has for a different part of Asumu's story! Hibiki trains to defeat the Armored Douji and Hime, who have their gifted power-up run out after Hibiki's dodging and stalling. Hibiki states the theme clearly (it's nice that the Douji and Hime can learn a moral before they're detonated?), saying that power without effort won't last. It's another way of saying that Asumu shouldn't just expect to magically be assertive and powerful, he'll need to work at it. It's a much more nuanced and specific way of addressing Asumu's dilemma, and I wish the show had kept it there.

(And, yeah, Asumu's not around to hear Hibiki's narratively-convenient lesson, but still. Having Midori just tell Asumu that the heroic Hibiki was once like him, I don't know. It feels a little lazy to me.)

I think my favorite things about this episode were the little details, and that's worth more to me than some plots that had rough edges. I liked the hidden Oni Accessory room, even if the ways it's accessed aren't something that'll stand up to much scrutiny. (I love how the kid-friendly secret rooms are waved off as Like A Ninja House. Okay, sure! Whatever!) I adore the idea of the previous iterations of the disc animals being origami animals. That... I like that so much better than disc animals. Disc animals are a downgrade! I liked the shot sequence of Hibiki Screaming/Asumu Screaming/Hitomi Smiling At A Magazine/Asumu Screaming. I liked Kasumi playing a guessing game with Hibiki. I liked Akira and Hitomi meeting and immediately passing the Bechdel Test. I just... I like this world, and the characters in it. It's always nice to spend time in.

And, complaints aside, pretty good episode of Hibiki! It felt like the end of the first part of the story, with Hibiki's skills increasing just as Asumu finally deals with his failures. All of the info Midori provided has spelled out how the world works, and we're ready for the next phase of the story. I'm excited to see it!