[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 13 - "CHAOTIC AFFAIRS"



"I am gonna make it through this year
If it kills me"

-The Mountain Goats, "This Year"

High-octane episode! Big fights, huge danger, and some fun new combos. An outstanding installment!

It's nice when they can get the theme of the story working over as many threads as possible, namely Holy Shit Everyone Is Working Way Too Hard. Asumu is working too hard to acknowledge his illness, Kasumi is working so hard she got sick, Hibiki is now expected to be assisting other Oni as well as taking care of his own Makamou, Akira's got no time for school?€? even the Douji is having too much pressure placed on it! Folks are getting burned the hell out.

Asumu's both the most invisible part of this episode, but also the lynchpin. He's someone who's trying to get up to speed in a brand-new setting, while still wanting to support Hibiki. Admitting that he needs a break, that he can't deliver, to him it smacks of choking. He's started to think of asking for help, or needing to slow down, as his flaw of cowardice. It's one thing to try hard in order to help your friends, it's another to put yourself at risk because you didn't know your limits.

Mostly, though, we're seeing the flaws of overcommitting in Hibiki and the Douji.

Hibiki, for one, doesn't come out that great in this episode to me. He's maybe getting a bit of a swelled head now that he's the Special Mobile Combat Unit Or Whatever? Being made the Assistant To The General Oni has made him get maybe too much of a the-mission-comes-first attitude, with him being okay with Akira never going to school again, I guess. (The way he and Ichiro just sort-of shrug their shoulders at a 15-year old barely attending school! I know they're aware of it, because they want Asumu to help her out, but, like, insufficient! Let her attend class!) There's a fine line between his normal enthusiastic optimism, and what we see here. It comes off a little too self-assured to me, bordering on cockiness. I don't know, that's probably overstating it. He's not an asshole, or anything, but he does seem to be a little more reckless with the people he's depending on.

And, yeah, speaking of overworked underlings, the Deranged Douji! Pretty great! I've been hoping for more suit-on-suit action, and boy did this episode deliver. We got to see the Douji mutilate the Hime, destroy two other Douji and Hime, attack Danki (who looks to be wearing Ibuki's undersuit and mask with Hibiki's straps), and have a thrilling brawl with Ibuki. It's, hands down, the best fight this show has had. It's great at keeping some balance to the sides, where the Douji never feels unstoppable, and Ibuki can get the occasional shot in. If it'd been two minutes of Ibuki getting demolished, it'd've been not that fun to watch. Having it go a little back and forth, while still letting the Douji get most of the offense in, really helped make for a tense battle. My favorite fight yet on this show.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. I liked this episode, but it looks like those are the only big things jumping out at me? All I've got left in my brain are the usual small touches, the bit of spice that flavors an episode of Hibiki. I was excited to see Hibiki team up with Hinaka for parts of this one. They're way more similar than Hibiki and Kasumi, so it definitely ratchets up the goofiness factor. (Although, honestly, she's pretty professional in the car with him. I could've used some weirder interplay!) Speaking of the Autobots' Chief Medical Officer, neat to see Ratchet's toy-style ambulance pulling up to the hospital. Oh! And there's the dude that AsuMum talks to at the hospital! I knew I knew that dude from somewhere, and it was killing me, so I jumped on the Wiki real fast to find out. He was one of the Mages from Kamen Rider Wizard! I would've never gotten that, and it would've driven me Douji-level crazy. (Sorry to check the Wiki! I didn't really learn much about who he played on Hibiki!)

This was a super-tense episode that I thoroughly enjoyed. The monster stuff was leaps and bounds better than before, enough so that I didn't mind how much it took over this episode. The Asumu stuff should be pretty interesting to watch develop, especially if we can get a little critique of Hibiki's single-mindedness. Like, let Akira go to school! You guys!