[DreamSword]

We finished the second part of Hibiki, and yet again, I feel as though there isn't really much I can say about it that hasn't been said already. Every critique I've ever read about it has basically been spot on, and as such I feel like anyone who reads this post is gonna feel like it's something they've read before. But as always, I'll try, and we'll see how it goes.

In short, the second half of Hibiki might as well be a different show entirely, which makes me wonder... why not just do that?

I feel as though Sunken Cost Fallacy was largely at play during the show's' production, because there were so many other avenues that Toei could've went down; Especially considering they were willing to axe the original production team in their entirety.

For instance, why not just tell the team that the show isn't working out and thus they have 3-5 episodes left to wrap everything up? Various other shows have done the same. Gundam, for example, has done it multiple times.

Or alternatively, if they wanted the show to be retooled in its entirety anyway, why not just replace the cast wholesale and focus on a different branch of Takeshi? Not only was it established to be a worldwide organization, but there were a ton of other Oni they could've focused on. Heck, outright killing Asumu off was on the table at some point, and apparently Kiriya was meant to outright replace him, so focusing on different characters couldn't have been an alien idea.

Incase I'm somehow not clear in what I'm getting at here, I am proposing that instead of turning the show into a hallow shell of its former self, just make a new show entirely but under the same name and assets. Yes, the ideal scenario would've been for the original team to be kept and have the show retain its artistic integrity; I am not disagreeing with that. But if Toei really saw the only option as a complete retool and not just axing the show in its entirety, then they frankly didn't go far enough with it. Because as it stands, the result was something that only serves to make fans of the original work angry, and that's not a good time for anyone involved.

Or, hell, at the very least give Inoue more of a frame of reference than the first draft of the first episode.

Because really, they were almost there as it was already. The kabuki influences? Almost totally gone. The musical theming? Barely there. Crimson Hibiki? Seen once for a split second. Oni other than Hibiki being allowed to do anything? Gone. The warm, welcoming atmosphere? Gone. The pretty cinematography? Gone. Characters who actually have well rounded personalities? Gone. The swift yet stylish action sequences? Gone. The really cool and creative opening theme? Changed out for something not nearly as good or artistic. Other Oni outside of the main four actually existing? Barely. The list goes on.

So with all that said, there were two major issues I took with this half of the show, if we're not counting all of the various retcons, which are also terrible but I can't entirely blame on Inoue.

Those being two of our leads: Asumu and Kiriya.

Now, I actually really liked Asumu in the first part. But man did they put effort towards making me dislike him in the second! I've seen some claim that he's the only character who remains consistent between the two halves, but I Heavily disagree on that front, and it's all due to one simple factor, really. His backbone.

Yes, Asumu starts the show off lost, depressed, and to be frank, a total wimp. But over that first half he found self confidence. He found courage. He found a job. Once the second half hits, all of that is entirely gone. He degrades into a complete weakling who needs his hand constantly held by others, to the point that he won't defend himself in anything at all. Remember at the end of the first half when he actually tried to fight back against the kid who jumped him? Well nevermind that I guess!

Not to mention the first half makes it very clear multiple times that he has no intention of ever becoming an Oni. Yet, the second half decides to make Asumu petty ontop of everything else because he completely reverses that decision up until the last second. Why? All because of... Kiriya, who challenges him to a dick waving contest over it with no real basis of doing so.

Oh yeah, here's where I get into the "star" of this whole mess, and boy, I almost feel like I don't even need to say anything given just how much people have torn into this guy already. But, I actually do have one aspect of him that I at the very least haven't seen anyone bring up before.

Now see, every critique you might've already heard about Kiriya is completely true: i.e. he's a toxic and entitled brat. And normally I'd be able to deal with that... except he has literally no basis for it, and the show itself expects us to sympathize with him over it. In other words, giving his outright awful behavior a free pass.

Because see, Kiriya isn't just some douchebag, oh no, he's also a blatant mouthpiece for Inoue. He constantly makes negative accusations of everyone in the cast, with absolutely zero basis or evidence and yet is 99% of the time treated as being completely in the right. Characters and plot actively bend over backwards to justify Kiriya's' awfulness to the point of insanity. Asumu desperately wants to be his friend for... no real reason given, and hangs around him despite Kiriya outright calling him worthless, boring, stupid, amongst many other things multiple times. Hibiki embraces their "friendship" by claiming "don't dislike him just because he's different" which, by the way, is a horrible moral in this context. Pro tip: Cut toxic people out of your life, do not embrace them. Heck, remember when Ichiro threatened to beat the crap out of the shoplifter who attacked Asumu? Where was that when Kiriya was on any of his bullshit? It's so dumb!

The only one who ever denounced Kiriya for his crap was Akira... only for her to have a complete 180 a couple episodes later with no reason given, no moment of respect, nothing. She just suddenly likes the guy and is totally fine with him being a dickhead.

As for the plot bending over for him, there's the time where he steals the Divination Band, and they try to give Kiriya a "positive" trait by showing he wasn't the one who set a student on fire, a Makamou did...

...Except he was 100% going to do so and it would've actually been completely in character if he had. Intent is everything!

His character isn't even consistent either. For example, he's at one point shown to be afraid of the dark, and yet he has no problem outright stalking people in the dead of night multiple times(with said scenes even being framed like he's the villain of a slasher movie). He's also shown to not have any real physical strength, and yet has no problem taking on two guys at once and beating Asumu in a straight up fight despite it being shown multiple times that Asumu is physically superior in every way.

I guess the simple way to put it is that Kiriya, neither as a person nor as a character, has any redeeming qualities, making me wonder just why in the hell anyone would bother to so much as interact with this guy outside of the plot forcing them to be near him.

Oh wait, I know of one reason why: His backstory, which some have used as a way to justify his terribleness.

Yeah, no, that doesn't fly here. Speaking as someone who lost his father at a young age, Episode 31 not only doesn't justify anything in terms of either Asumu nor Kiriya, but is infact a totally shallow look into the subject and, frankly, something I find outright insulting towards those like me who've had similar life experiences. Easily my most hated episode in all of Kamen Rider.

On the Asumu side of things, we never actually learn what the hell his father's' deal actually is. Asumu never actually meets him, and instead only hears utterly superficial statements from the strangers. Just because he does good for the public does not mean he does good in his home life, and not having him interact with his son at all only further diminishes this episode having any actual real meat to it. And maybe it's just my Latino heritage talking here, but one of the possible interpretations the episode leaves you with: "Oh, Asumu's' dad just doesn't want to be part of his son's' life, and that's 100% okay." Is out and out terrible and I don't like it. Your children should not be things you just casually throw away. Are there extreme circumstances? Certainly, but this episode gives us literally NOTHING to go on, and as such, makes the entire scenario a waste.

As for Kiriya, him losing his father in a fire is meant to justify his behavior, but again, I find this incredibly insulting towards other kids with similar experiences who, frankly, process the experience far better than any way that Kiriya has or ever will. Did the experience give him a fear of fire? No, he infact is ready to set a dude on fire later on in the show without a hint of irony. Does he remember his father as an honorable man and thus try to exemplify his positive aspects? No. Heck, even if we're meant to believe that Hibiki acts alot like Kiriya's' father and thus Kiriya harbors some resentment, he doesn't focus that on Hibiki nor grow from the experience. He takes it all out on people entirely unrelated. At this point I do not care that he lost his dad, that doesn't change the fact that he's a complete degenerate who never once learns any sort of lesson.

You know what he does kinda perfectly represent though? The annoying step-sibling who constantly feels the need to fight with their other sibling's' over who the favorite is. And no, this is not a good thing. Infact it makes things worse because, again, even once the final episode hits, Kiriya hasn't changed in the slightest nor learned anything because, hey, he was perfect already. Blow me.

I could go on, but I wanna give one other aspect to Kiriya that drove me crazy and I can't believe it was never highlighted because it was frankly RIGHT THERE.

Know what could've made Kiriya's' situation atleast slightly more believable, outside of you know, giving him atleast one positive aspect to his personality, of which he has none? Work the mother angle.

I'm serious. Asumu's' mother is consistently great, and we're outright shown that Kiriya doesn't get to interact with his mom much; essentially living all on his own at a young age. The time Kiriya essentially forces himself into Asumu's' apartment would've been a PRIME time to have Kiriya showcase his jealousy over the fact that Asumu has a parent who still very clearly loves him and is physically there for him. But no, that's totally ignored in favor of Kiriya throwing out more accusations on Asumu's' character that he has absolutely no basis for and yet Asumu, and the audience, are meant to take it as fact.

TL;DR: Kiriya, as well as the entire Inoue part of Hibiki, is completely shallow. Say what you want about the first half, but atleast it was genuine. Atleast there was a clear passion behind it. The second half however, has nothing of the sort, and it's easily one of my most hated parts of the entire franchise.

Take Switchblade's' advice. Stop after episode 29.