[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

oh man kiriya

you guys

Well, that didn't take long at all.

Let me say this to start: I'm in total agreement with Switchblade on how Kiriya fits into the show. His existence is the very symbol of Hibiki's retool to me, because no single element in this portion of the series exemplifies the clash in vision better. He was purpose-built to appeal to both Inoue's love of interpersonal conflict and Shirakura's aversion to stories told from a single perspective. His introduction is a jarring shift from the mutually supportive atmosphere Hibiki built itself around, and arguably a very cheap, unimaginative way to "spice up" the world of the show.

That being said, I've always kinda liked the guy?

Part of it is the actor, maybe, but, much like Die, I'm often a sucker for some Inoue style drama, and while I kinda vilified the staff for his creation up there, I also think the fact that the first thing they did with the show was try to make Asumu's story more compelling does constitute an act of good faith, and at least a basic understanding that some elements of the show need to stay unique.

Obviously the definition of "compelling" is going to be hugely subjective, but I remember finding Kiriya and Asumu's scenes together consistently pretty interesting for one reason or another. And the key word here is "remember", since, as a reminder, I'm not actively rewatching the rest of the show. Which should be fine, because, uh, and I kinda hate to admit this, but I remember a lot more specifics about the retool era of the show? Not that much more, but there are some things in this stretch that are pretty hard to forget.

Anyway, I'm happy to see you having a good time with this brave new world of Inoue-y good/badness, Die! Hopefully you'll feel things keep on a solid enough track going forward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

I remember very distinctly wondering if I wouldn't notice the change in creative team, if maybe it was much more subtle how it changed and if people were overblowing it; but then the first few seconds of the episode had that and I was like "Oh. Hi Inoue."

I'm glad you brought this up yourself, because I was legitimately planning on quoting your post from after you finished Hibiki where you made this same point. I still vividly remember reading that and genuinely wondering if you were exaggerating for comedic effect or something at first. I was more than a little shocked after going back to watch that scene.