[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP33)
(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP34)

I have a really, really deep respect for the story this two-parter decided to tell.

This comparison maybe isn't perfect considering Shirakura's involvement in both Hibiki and Zi-O, but I mention in that old post about 34 how a lot of fans, given the chance to write a similar story, would likely resign Kiriya to some horrible offscreen death as punishment for existing, and there's a very specific place that line of thinking comes from, which is superhero comics. You've got these huge universes full of tons of characters from many different creators, eventually passing from the pens of those original writers and artists to newer ones who, seemingly more often than not, are in that line of work because of their affection for the stories of the old guard. The new creators love those characters... except when they don't. Because sometimes, they'll have it in their head for whatever reason that a certain character is lame, stupid, and/or dumb, and they don't hesitate to let that show in their work. Some forgotten D-list hero will show up in a big crossover, making their first appearance in years just to get killed within a few panels. Minor villains with silly gimmicks will be written as jokes to the point that characters in-universe literally think of them as jokes. Certain supporting characters in a book will be tossed in a bin and stop showing up entirely because that particular creative team doesn't think there's any worth in having them around. And I really don't like that attitude.

This is a dramatic way of putting it, but every fictional character out there, they're someone's child, you know? And there are few things more damaging to a child's development than when nobody is around to believe in their potential. It always feels like such a waste to me when I see something like that in a comic, because I know from countless examples of the opposite happening that, if you're willing to put in the work, even an unpopular character can blossom into one people will look at more fondly.

And if we're on the subject of problem children who need a lot of work, Kyousuke Kiriya fits that description both inside his universe, and out. A character who was already bratty and unlikable by design, who had that effect amplified for the audience by also symbolizing a very high-profile case of executive meddling. Granted, I don't know for sure how exactly fans in Japan look upon him, but I have to imagine that, in general, Kiriya was not a favorite part of Kamen Rider Hibiki for many people. To have him be the crux of Zi-O's tribute to that show, on the surface, seems like an insult. To get that actor back, and specifically have Kiriya be the character we first see him as, instead of the much more beloved one from a much more popular series, it seems like a joke.

But Zi-O decided to look at this weird kid, with all his issues, and it dared to imagine that there might be something human in there worth exploring. A story that could be full of emotion and thematic weight, that would stay true to what Hibiki was about not just in spite of Kiriya's presence, but maybe even *because* he's the one it's about.

I can't help but love that. It helps that I never actually had that much of a distaste for Kiriya to begin with, but I really think these episodes did some amazing, very considered work to elevate him into something more than he maybe was originally. I can't really praise the story itself any better than Die already did, but I can absolutely sit here talking about how beautiful I think these episodes are. Just like the first couple two-parters in this new era of Legend Rider tributes, it's a story that makes it a point to end on the hint of a brighter future ahead for the characters, and yet, part of what makes Zi-O stick with me so much is how much variety it has in what it's doing every couple of weeks. We can have something like the Agito two-parter that gives us bombastic action with characters we already love, and we can also have something like these Hibiki episodes, with strong character drama that asks us to empathize with a character a lot of us most certainly did not love. And as you can no doubt tell from how much I'm gushing right now, I think the results in both cases were pretty darn great.