[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

I guess if I was to take your metaphor and say why I like it despite that... maybe it would have been better to go for a Chicken place to begin with, but often I'm not too fond of Chicken places; and the atmosphere and trappings of a steak house are not just what allured me to this one to begin with but also make it a lot more unique. Though it also definitely helps that I like the steak here a fair bit more than you!

Yeah, this is one way to put it. Some people just really like steak! Heck, maybe, hypothetically, you know, let's say your kids are big fans of steak, and are always dragging the family to steakhouses. You don't really see the appeal, but children just seem to eat the stuff up, and it makes them happy. But a steakhouse that also serves some great chicken, that maybe satisfies your more refined tastes better, and going to that particular steakhouse leaves everyone happy.

Except, uh, in this case, the kids think this particular steak is boring and bland...

...and they'd rather go watch Magiranger instead.

Okay I'm maybe not good with metaphors, but my point is that I will always appreciate a show like Hibiki that's clearly trying to be this well-rounded work that holds value to a wide range of people. Dropping the figurative speech for a bit, I've always been obsessed with "steak", and a big part of that is how flexible I feel stories with superheroes or otherwise colorful characters can be. I love seeing them dip their toes into all kinds of genres and using those larger than life elements to complement the narrative in a way less fantastic stories simply aren't capable of. A tale about a teacher questioning the worth of his job carries a lot more impact when the worth turns out to be the hero saving the city from monsters on a weekly basis, yeah?

And, uh, as you can maybe tell from the fact the example I just pulled was from Kuuga, I'm honestly not the best person to stick up for Hibiki. Sometimes there are shows I respect a lot more than I like, and Hibiki is exactly that. Mind you, I'm judging that within the standard of how much I already like Kamen Rider; I absolutely like this show a whole lot! And I certainly have my attachment to it. But while rewatching it was loads of fun, and I think I do have a deeper appreciation for what it was doing now than I used to, there's a simple truth about my feelings towards the show I kept coming back to:

Hibiki just doesn't resonate with me all that much.

...admittedly I might've only been thinking that so often because it makes for a good pun in Japanese. (心に響かないという) But, I don't know, there's like this invisible barrier between me and the show or something. Despite everything, it doesn't stick with me the same way so many other Rider shows do. I have a few theories as to why. The big glaring one is that, as I've mentioned in a few places, finales are keys to me (just look at Blade!), and Hibiki didn't get to have one of those the way it wanted to. For all I know, the best was yet to come, and the "true" version of this show would've been special to me the same way something like Kuuga or Ghost is.

But obviously we'll never quite know, and, yeah, it's both a huge shame and also not hard to see why things went the way they did. I've actually probably got one of the more generous outlooks on the next era of this series (maybe?), though, and while I don't like to say these things upfront, I think there's a more than good chance you won't feel the need to retire the phrase "Inoue forever" when all is said and done. So despite all this doom and gloom, I don't think it's exactly all downhill from here.

That being said, I'll also join in the crowd recommending Daimajin Kanon whenever you have time like half a decade from now. Or just to anyone who liked Hibiki, for that matter. It's a show I only watched recently that I maybe like way less than Hibiki and respect maybe a bit more, but there's such an absurd amount of talent from Takatera's other shows there it might as well be that back half we didn't get. Sahashi still does all the music, some of the directors are the same (no Ishida though), Ooishi and Arakawa were the writers, Makoto Itou was even one of the suit actors... it's a very sincere show with a lot to recommend, and it deserves enough attention I'm just going to leave the opening right here, since it describes the series better than I ever could.