3 reasons why Hibiki is worth checking out:
1. Strong, well-rounded characters. Pretty much until halfway in,
Hibiki has an incredibly likeable cast, and for the whole stretch it has one of
the most likable main heroes. The supporting players range from very good to decent, but at least there isn't anyone you want to see die, and you may even come to care about a few of them. Of course, the writer change really screws this dynamic up. That's not an opinion, it's a fact- it really throws a wrench into how things worked in the first half. Some characters make it out better than others (see reason 3 for one who did.) But at least for the first half, it's a great bunch of people to watch, and you can at least watch the rest of it knowing that things were meant to be different.
2. There's lot of neat ideas. Musical instrument weapons- they shouldn't work, but they do. The entire Takeshi organization idea is, at least in principle, pretty cool. Hibiki's mid-series upgrade probably has one of the best reasons and storylines behind it. The whole concept of the Oni in general is well-done (although the movie gets it the most right, IMHO.) There's a lot of things that probably would work even better if they had a bigger budget and the whole staff shake-up hadn't happened the way it did, but the point is
Hibiki still has a lot of cool stuff going for it.
3.
I think an important part of 'getting'
Hibiki is understanding the tumultuous conditions under which it was made, and looking beyond the tiresome "It's not Kamen Rider enough!" complaints. It's not without its faults, but like I've said elsewhere, you could call the show
Ongeki Bebop Demon Battle Band Riders or something, and those faults would be the same. Just like how you could call Ryuki something like
2 or 3 cool guys, a girl, and a bunch of Asshole Warriors and whatever problems it has still stand. In other words, it's
not the fact that it's a Kamen Rider show that's a the problem. I'm of course in the 0.01% who think this way. XP
