[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 28 - “UNENDING MALICE”
KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI VOLUME 29 - “SHINING BOY”

It’s to talk about Asumu, and to talk about Hibiki, and to talk about their relationship, and to talk about how to live a good life.

Asumu’s in a rough place, as communicated through some flashbacks. The shoplifter from months ago came back and beat the shit out of him, bruising his face and crushing his spirit. It’s a huge regression for Asumu, with him moping and withdrawn. He keeps seeing his weakness, keeps reliving his shame. He feels worthless, a failure, a burden.

Hibiki’s lost one of his drumsticks, and needs to go out and carve another one. He invites Asumu along for some bonding. As much as Asumu admires Hibiki, and wants to impress him, Hibiki’s the one person who can get Asumu to feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable. (As Hibiki himself says, he is a ray of sunshine.) Hibiki is so proud of the man Asumu is becoming, and he’s eager to help him become stronger.

But their relationship isn’t about training, about physical strength. It’s about perseverance, about knowing what you want in life, and about feeling free to go for it. Hibiki wants Asumu to think of the things that have befallen him, the indignities and punishments, as something to overcome, not something to own. Bad things can happen to you, but they don’t happen because of you. Asumu can feel hurt about what happened to him, but he shouldn’t feel ashamed. Hibiki’s had setbacks, like his broken drumstick, but he’s worked hard to put the pieces back together. He didn’t give in to anger and self-doubt, and neither should Asumu.

Oh, this seems to be about, something you were irked about, that is, Good People Have Bad Shit Happen To Them, where Asumu got beaten up by that shoplifter. But it seems that (with relief, but I still wonder) you accept this story here, that it gives off a theme about perseverance. So what makes you seem to accept this one? Or that this proved what I said before that character growth, and flawed characters getting better can happen without having them cause bad shit all the time for story to express flaws (at worse acting OOC just for the sake of being responsible)? I guess for the first half, the mentoring Hibiki shows is used here, and it's the standard motivational word then. For some reason I dunno, but Hibiki having damaged taiko drum feels cheaper to me, because probably Takeshi didn't really have limit of resources like, to make newer ones, I mean, probably that's their job to supply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Because that message, about getting back up and trying again, it’s what the whole series is about. We know it is because two different characters give more-or-less the same speech on perseverance. Hibiki gives one to Asumu, letting him know that there will be times that you’ll get knocked down, and you need to figure out how not to get knocked down again. And AsuMum gives the other, where she talks about how integral it is to push through adversity if you’re ever going to be an adult.

Interestingly and likely appropriately, getting back up and trying again isn't shown in the Jounan exam before, probably because the exam is one time thing. And about the times where you get knocked down and figuring out how not to get knocked down again, that's important to be teached, but this is frequently taken to the extremes, with something as victim blaming or even justifying crime acts being used to "toughen" ._.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Of the two, I think I like AsuMum’s better? Hibiki’s is cool and comforting, but AsuMum’s has the stress of being a parent in it. This feeling of wanting the best for your children, but knowing they’re going to suffer at least a little in life. And her, as a mother, she’s destined to always be held at a little bit of a distance from Asumu’s troubles. There’s a really nice beat where she mentions that she can’t really talk to a teenage boy in a way that he’ll listen to, and how she’s made her peace with that, but it stresses her out sometimes. It’s so honest of a moment, her confessing to these near-strangers that she fears for her son and hopes that he’ll get through this.

And Asumu does, because he’s surrounded by people who care for him. The monsters are eventually defeated (great fights, don’t really want to talk about it the way I want to talk about Asumu and Hibiki) and everyone meets back up at the restaurant. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone: AsuMum and Midori and Ichiro and Hitomi and Kasumi and Hinaka and Asumu and Hibiki and Akira and Ibuki and Zanki and Todoroki. The full cast, celebrating their victory and enjoying each other’s company. Asumu is happy again, confident in his ability to weather adversity.

Life's constantly cycling between good and bad things like that yeah, and she channels Oni about "training and training" (I know not physical training). She seems to want to consult to Takeshi group but she acts like an advisor when getting there ~ And even if those are strangers, they ought to accept her as she's the mom of the boy they're nurturing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I don't know, it seems like an okay way to teach drumming? I've never studied an instrument, so... is this a bad way to learn? I honestly don't know!

What I refer to was resting on those, pillows? With shoes on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I think a lot of depends on the age of the character. If it's someone over 18, then I don't think they should have that much deference to their parents' wishes. They're adults, and they (should hopefully) have the skills and awareness to decide for themselves what kind of life they want to lead.

On the other hand, if I'm the parent to a 15-year old who wants to train to fight spiders the size of houses? You are goddamn right I'm yanking them out of that program. Tsutomu's parents are 100% in the right on this one. Takeshi is... I don't know if they should be allowed to have high school-aged apprentices! That seems astonishingly dangerous and legally actionable!

Well, it depends if you're only forbidding them if not enough age (which is probably plausible) or just forbid them ever (which seems bad to me). I mean, there are those that trained them to fight since they're little, probably at least that.