[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

So the Hibiki movie was something I only watched the one time, which is pretty uncommon for me and Rider summer movies. When I say I don't remember much specific about Hibiki, this film epitomizes that. It left pretty much no impact on me whatsoever, and it seemed weird to me that as the first ever Inoue Hibiki thing, I was seeing people who are otherwise not fond of his work on the series say it was a fun flick. I figured there's no better time than now to give it another go, and...

I mean, yes it's fun, but I also feel obligated to resent everything it represents?

Like, the very first thing in the movie is Hibiki riding a motorcycle into an action scene with Asumu in tow. It's basically declaring war on Hibiki as a concept from the first frame, and it never really lets up. All these big characters are amusing, but when I see the Oni from Hibiki posing in front of a f***ing napalm explosion, it's just like "which Sakamoto directed this again?".

Don't worry, Fish, I totally agree that this movie is pretty lame. It's the second worst summer movie of Rider that I've watched.

And as promised, now I'll explain why I think that!

Hibiki's big summer movie focuses on a bunch of lookalikes while the actual characters from the show are moved to the background. That's a flawed premise! Even the movie itself seems to acknowledge how expendable these characters are by killing Akira at the start. If I'm not supposed to care about her, then why does the movie expect me to care about past Shounen or even past Mochida, when I only care a little about present Mochida?

It's the same mistake with Aguilar in the Assassin's Creed movie, compared to the games which actually develop the historical characters. I need a reason to invest in these characters emotionally or it's not going to work.

How does a Todoroki even exist in the past? I thought that name was only recently created after declining to inherit Zanki's name. This isn't a serious problem but it does sound like a plot hole.

The Hibiki novel also focuses on a different Hibiki from the past and I think maybe that kind of premise works better as a novel, when you don't have visuals and faces attached to them so that I'm not constantly comparing to the show and a different set of characters who I'm inclined to care about. The movie is fine for expanding the lore but that's not enough from a summer movie. Telling a good story without the main characters isn't a story worth telling in that kind of theatrical medium.

Furthermore, the novel is written by Kida, who probably understands and cares about the characters he's writing better than Inoue who just came in out nowhere and killed Akira. No offense to Inoue, he's a great writer responsible for my favorite Rider show, but I think the movie is an example of the worst parts of what's to come for Hibiki and I feel like Switchblade was referring to one of those parts in Episode 36 and 37.

Of course, I'm glad there are people who enjoyed it. This is just how I feel.