[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

No doubt Die is just a little confused thanks to Hidenori Ishida's flawless direction elevating the material. Fortunately, these are the last episodes of Hibiki he worked on, so that won't be an issue from here out.

The direction was pretty exceptional:

-The way the seating kept changing in the opening, where everyone's everywhere and it's all Todoroki's anxiety making things confusing.

-The shot from below Zanki and Todoroki's faces in their car! Zanki seems like someone you'd trust to fix your relationship!

-The orange filter over the repeated scenes of the Oni trudging, defeated, to the railing off of the river.

-Every single dream sequence!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Seriously though? I'm loving how much Die is loving Inoue's writing on Hibiki... about 66% percent of the time so far, anyway. Even I can't be this generous towards this part of the show, so the positivity is much appreciated.

It's definitely fun being the only person who's comfortable finding strengths in these episodes! It doesn't feel weird at all!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Hey, and speaking of not being positive about Hibiki – the new opening is a good song (it's still 100% Sahashi with the same lyricist as Shounen Yo), but I've always hated how abrupt the transition into it from the cold open is. Normally that's one of my favorite things in a Rider show, but something about that HARUKA TOO~KU NOOOOOO cutting in never, ever felt right to me. The more subtle way the first opening flowed from Asumu's (now retired) narration worked so, so much better than those spinning Takeshi logos.

Nnnnnnot crazy about the new opening. Maybe it's just because Lyrics On A Hibiki Opening just feels wrong in a fundamental way? I don't know. Feels like a downgrade, for sure, but it's more that I miss Shounen Yo at the end. That was just a great way to end an episode.