Watching future generations of the Oni Riders get less physically built and get more pretty-boy-ish is like watching the Jojo family line unfold through the ages... Except with less neon colors, and no English songs to end the episodes.
To me, this conclusion was not very exciting... The whole thing just dragged its heals with Kiriya wanting to save his student. I was hoping that eventually, he'd have a breakthrough. Maybe become a more relaxed, easy-going person like the original Hibiki. Maybe he'd realize that he can't save someone else if he can't improve himself first. Instead, Kiriya stays the exact same person through the whole episode, and is completely rewarded for it. No real character arc at all.
But I guess the one thing I can accept is that he genuinely looked up to the original Hibiki, wherever he is. When I watched the original series, I never got the impression that he genuinely wanted to be his disciple. I always thought he was becoming an Oni just to one-up Asumu. But without Asumu around, he basically had to let the rivalry go and grow up in his own right. And it's a little confusing that someone could lose their Oni powers to a Ride Watch since gaining it required intense physical training. Wouldn't the same training be able to unlock those powers again? Eh, I'm overthinking it. The show has a new pattern to its two-parters, and I don't want to break that pattern just for speculation.
Also, it was kind of nice to see that evening shot at the end. It wasn't perfect, it was filmed just a bit too clean, but it did remind me of the interesting ways they'd sometimes film the Hibiki episodes. They tried, at least.
The highlight for me had to be Todoroki's brief mention of Hinaka. Hinaka is one of my favorite female characters in the entire franchise and her actress sadly passed away (I think due to a heart problem?) a couple of years after Hibiki ended, so it's great to see them acknowledge her. Todoroki and her had a very on-and-off romantic relationship during the show, and it sounds like they are still close in some way. I thought it was lovely.
Now to me, this was the true heart of the episode. For kids, it'll fly right by. But for fans who have been following the behind the scenes stuff, this was a very nice send off. The writer/director of this episode might not have been involved with the first half of the Hibiki TV show, and I've heard rumors about people not liking shows they didn't personally create, but this episode still did some nice things to honor the Hibiki TV show that they didn't have to do. So hopefully any strong feelings remaining aren't too personal.
But I do have one big question to everyone (and I might be asking people of the wrong age since this is a kid's show, but I'll go ahead and ask)...
The biggest thing about episodes like this is that they should get kids interested in the TV shows that came before. Pretending you never saw it, would this episode make you interested in watching Kamen Rider Hibiki? Personally, I'm not sure it would. The costume design was good, but I just don't feel like the true charm of the show was here. The only thing that would have caught my interest was how Todoroki mentioned Oni Hunters.