Tackling Kamen Rider Hibiki for a review was a little more difficult than I anticipated. I have strong feelings for this season that, to my knowledge, don't mesh with other's opinions of the show. When I first started this adventure of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, many of the people I knew who watched all pretty much agreed that Hibiki was not good. Opinions varied from meh to terrible. I was admittedly not super pumped about going into this season but many seasons have surprised me so I decided to give it a chance. Unlike my friends, I really enjoyed Hibiki. I can see why people can dismiss this though. After finishing the series and watching later specials I have pretty much made my stance. Kamen Rider Hibiki is a good show....but it is not a good Kamen Rider show.
Right away I did notice two problems with Hibiki: The camera was so darn blurry, and many of the early settings were so dang dreary. I suppose the latter isn't so bad since it was for the particular introduction they went with and settings very quickly became more vibrant. All season long...nobody cleaned that camera lens. though. Despite these problems, the opening two-parter introduces us to quite a few vital characters, and does it well. Everything is paced nicely. The main protagonist, antagonist and goal is made clear. The characters are all worth talking about as they all range in performance from bland to kinda pleasant to unbelievably awesome.
Characters
There are so many characters to list but I will only talk about the vital ones in detail
Hibiki - His name is Hitoshi Hidaka but simply goes by Hibiki after gaining the power of the oni. Hibiki is main protagonist of the show. He transforms into Kamen Rider Hibiki using the, before mentioned, power of the oni to fight the Makamou (basically yokai) that run rampant in this world. He fights with the aid of the Takeshi group, who provides Intel and weapons to aid the oni. This particular Oni's weapons of choice are two fiery drumsticks, not the delicious kind. Hibiki as a character is delightful and simple minded. He loves his oni training and treats his duties with all seriousness despite his cheerful nature. As he boasts often, he is "well - trained".
Asumu Adachi - Asumu is a young boy who is very conflicted about what should be done in his life. He doesn't know what we wants to be, and the few things he does want he is not assertive enough to fight for in the beginning. Upon meeting Hibiki, he is provided with words of encouragement and is able to get through many things causing him distress. Asumu is taken in by Hibiki, who acts as his mentor from time to time, while he works with the takeshi group.
Ibuki - Iori Izumi is part of the family that runs the takeshi group in Yoshino. Upon becoming an oni he simply goes by Ibuki. His primary weapon is a gun that transforms into a trumpet (Ill explain the instrument thing soon). Cool and caring would be the best words to describe him, though Ibuki can be a little dim-witted and clumsy at times. Ibuki strugges with having an apprentice of his own, Akira Amami, that goes through her own troubles and Ibuki must grow up to be a good sensei to her and teammate to his fellow oni.
Akira Amami - Ibukis disciple. She is cold but considerate of everyone around her. At first she does not accept Asumu helping Hibiki, since she doesn't see Asumu as worthy or competent enough for this job, but eventually develops a friendship with him.
Todoroki - Tomizo Tadayama is the third main oni in the series and, just like the others, abandoned his name upon becoming an Oni. Todoroki is a newly independent oni who recently was released from the tutelage from his master Zanki (played by Kenji Matsuda). Todoriki fights the makamou with a guitar that is also a blade because reasons. He is always looking for guidance and often sticks with Hibiki and Ibuki to keep learning. Todoroki often struggles with being an independent warrior while simultaneously wanting to repay and please his sensei.
Douji and Hime - The primary villains of the show. In this world the makamou frequently arise, though it is usually based on ancient patterns and times of the year when certain makamou will appear in what locations. Douji and Hime irritate that speed up the process to keep the makamou a constant threat for the oni while they use the makamou to further their own goal, which we eventually find out is to revive the yamato no orochi.
Hibiki does something that few other Rider series replicate. Most of the villains that Hibiki and the other oni fight, are not human sized. They are fighting monsters, demons, etc. Most of the things they fight are several times larger than any human. Though the CG can be a little bad at times, it strangely works pretty well. The only problems with the villains are Douji and Hime. Later in the series it is revealed that they wish to create homunculi that look like themselves so that in case they die, somebody will be there to continue trying to revive Yamato no Orochi. These homunculi turn on them and it is eventually revealed the Douji and Hime are homunculi themselves created by another pair of Douji and Hime that keep them alive the same way that they kept their homunculi alive. In a way it kind of ruins the sporatic randomness of the villains as it implies that they have always been and will continue to be and are not in fact a random force agitating the makamou as was stated early on.
Fortunately the Heroes are much, much more interesting than the villains. whenever we see a call to action, there is no alarms or anything to call them out. Everything from newspaper articles to calling sources all across japan to looking at news stories helps them find what they are looking for. The Takeshi group is prepared for everything. Time is taken out to show that whenever a makamou is starting to cause trouble, people at Takeshi research any weaknesses and immediately relay that info to a team on the field that helps the oni. The Protagonists are organized, informed and strong.
Plot Details
The oni are gathered all across Japan to keep the makamou at bay and protect civilians from the terror that comes with them. conventional weapons will not typically work on makamou but the oni have adapted a way to fight them off by utilizing pure sound to weaken and destroy them. The oni use special stones that can emit this pure sound to fight these creatures. The ends of Hibiki's drumsticks are large oni stones and his buckle is a part of a drum that can enlarge and attach to any makamou. he heats the buckle like a taiko drum and emits the pure sound directly into the body of the creatures to destroy them. Ibuki does the same by shooting oni stone bullets with his gun then turning his gun to a trumpet to make the stones vibrate and emit pure sound from inside the beasts. Todorki peirces the makamous hide with the blade on his guitar and plays sending the sound directly in. While this can be considered very unconvneitonal, it is very creative.
Hibiki was on a job when he saved a child on the boat ride to his destination and met Asumu. Hibiki took a liking to Asumu as the boy reminded him of himself as a child. Unfotunately Asumu was thrown into the world of the Oni when we saw Hibiki transform. Asumu then met some others from the takeshi group who operate in a small tea house. The members of the Takeshi group eventually agreed to let Asumu into their affairs as long he kept the oni a secret and helped out around the shop and with research if needed.
Most of the series from there is random stories of the oni fighting off the makamou and Asusmu learning about life from Hibiki and the others who work at Takeshi. Strangely enough this worked for the show since they built up more and more that Asumu was going to either become an oni himself or be a full time member of the takeshi group. At least that would have been an ending that made sense. Later we meet another characater named Kyosuke Kiriya. Kyosuke goes to the same school as Asumu and Akira and is very competitive. Eventually Kyosuke learns about the oni and wants to train to become one himself since he wants to be strong.
Kyosuke served as Adachi's rival as they both trained under Hibiki. Kyosuke eventually becomes Hibikis only disciple and learns to become an oni himself after Asumu comes to the "decision" that he wants to be a doctor after all but still occasionally goes to Hibiki for life advice. This was a horrible decision. It would have been fine if Kyosuke was knocked down a peg and was sent to train under Todoroki for his oni training. The problem with Kyosuke is that he was somewhat of a prodigy but was too full of himself. if anybody could teach Kyosuke that, it would be the light-hearted Todoroki.
Final Thoughts
I said before that Kamen Rider Hibiki was a good series but not necessarily a good Kamen Rider series. Most Rider series have a certain flow to them that Hibiki just does not have. The main difference is that the episodes of Hibiki don't quite feel as serialized as much as they do a collection of mini stories with a greater story that pops up now and then. Another main difference is the number of heroes in the show. It is not unheard of for multiple riders to appear in a season (see Ryuki), but it is unheard of for there to be a country-wide organization of riders who we don't hear about hardly. This series is quick to remind you that the oni and the Takeshi group are all over Japan. we see other oni appear now and again. The head of The branch of Takeshi that Hibiki associates with often speaks with other branches. Kamen Rider Hibiki didn't just tell the story of a lone hero, It created a world where Oni protect the people from terror.
imagine for a moment that there was no "Kamen Rider" before Hibiki in the show. Would you tell the difference? I would wager not. Hibiki is not ever referred to as a Kamen Rider except once jokingly. Throughout most of the season he doesn't even know how to operate any motor vehicle. Imagine if the series was not tied with Kamen Rider at all was called something like "Oni Hibiki" or something. It reminds you of shows like Garo. It simply has more in common with those kinds of shows.
Hibiki is a very good show with a meh ending. The world of Hibiki was reworked, so to speak, in Kamen Rider decade for bettor and for worse. I will talk more about that at a later date but even with that, I recommend Kamen Rider Hibiki to anybody who is a fan of tokusatsu. I do not recommend it, though, as the first toku series you watch.
