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In 1991, Toei began airing Chojin Sentai Jetman, the 13th (later adjusted to 15th) show in the Super Sentai series. It would go on to be one of the most widely loved and praised shows in the entire franchise, with older fans of the show praising its darker and more serious tone. The show's head writer was Toshiki Inoue and its breakout character was Gai Yuuki, aka Black Condor. Gai was the team's rebel, an arrogant and brash womanizer who often butted heads with the team's leader, Ryu, and made aggressive advances on one of his female teammates, Kaori. I've always considered Gai to be the origin of one of Inoue's core concepts: great storytelling arises from interpersonal drama and a show needs a character to create that drama.

Inoue's work is replete with characters whose primary function is to be an "ally," in the loosest sense of the term, but to also be an ongoing source of antagonism. Agito had Houjou. Faiz had the peak example of this in Kusaka. And within three minutes of taking over the show, Hibiki gains Kiriya. Kiriya isn't a gaslighting sociopath on par with Kusaka, but he fills very much the same role in the show's cast: he is a force of disruption.

I've talked several times now about how much I love the cohesiveness of Hibiki's cast. These characters are all friends; they care for and support each other. The entire theme of the show is the positive effect that they have on Asumu and his development into an adult. Kiriya shows up and throws a live grenade right into the middle of all that. He's a liar, a manipulator, and someone whose primary motivation seems to be centered around constantly making Asumu feel bad about himself. He's a character that never would have fit into the original show and he is the number one thing that I hate about this era of the series. I know your stance on spoilers, but I'm not surprised if you haven't guessed this part already: Kiriya isn't going away. He's here for the rest of the show and I'll leave it to you to decide if you think he ever gets better.

(I'll also point out here that I am not alone in this opinion. Kiriya is one of the most hated characters in the entirety of Kamen Rider. There were a lot of upset fans when the character's actor, Yuichi Nakamura, came back in a couple years for a role on Den-O. It's very much to Nakamura's credit that this character went on to be well-loved.)

So get used to this asshole passive aggressively and aggressive aggressively insulting Asumu, because that's the Asumu portion of the show from here on out.

I also hate the new Makamou that appears here, but I'll save that rant for tomorrow.

I'll just leave you with this for now: Hibiki doesn't change completely right away. Some of the dismantling of the show's identity plays out more gradually. It will happen, though.