Visiting Hibiki

[Hell Kaiser Andy]

Hibiki is worth watching but it wont keep the same momentum and style post 30.

 

[Smilodon]

Even though the latter half isn't as good as the first half, there are some good things in my opinion that happened post-staff change. Stuff with Zanki and Ibuki. It's a worthwhile watch.

 

[Oblivion]

Oblivion, I would highly suggest that you make your own decision. I don't think it's a very good idea to be already expecting to hate the second half when you haven't reached it yet. But try to see if you can watch it with a open mind. Some people love the second half, and others hate it. It's just like how fans are divided on Ryuki and Kiva. Of course if you're that uncomfortable about seeing the second half, you don't have to.

To be frank, what makes me uncertain whether to try the second half of the series is that the writers who replaced the originals are Inoune and his sidekick, and Agito was the only one that he didn't messed up. I'm definitely not a fan of his, and I'll hate to see the current Hibiki that I really like to be slaughtered, if it is as drastic as some others have said, some of the changes listed posts before this doesn't sit well with me. High five on the Disc Animals though! I'll decide whether to continue on the series or not after I reached episode 29. I'll probably try watching regardless of how much I dislike Inoune, I'm not a completist but I don't like to leave series hanging. So... D: But I do agree that finding out yourself is the best thing to do.

 

[Aoiblue]

I think I'm just one of the few that really.....forgot they changed the stuff in the 2nd half XD
Or actually, it just didn't bother me as much if I recall.
I was really into Hibiki so I didn't mind the changes.

Overall, together as a whole, Hibiki is a good solid series to me.

 

[Oblivion]

I just watched episode 28 and 29. Damn those two episodes were nice. Guess the team wanted to do something awesome before they leave? I really like the end of the fight, the slow motion walking scene. I haven't seen those in a while now. That's quite a vivid scene, I don't remember much from W's fights, neither did I remember anything from Decade, even if they were crossovers and all sort of things worth remembering. I did had one problem with the episode though, the new drum stick that Hibiki carved was definitely much shorter than the original, but in the final scene, both sticks were the same length, and painted. I guess he had an extra? Why go through the trouble of using only one at the beginning though? He usually just bring out both. Suspense maybe?

Asumu's starting to remind me of...Ryoutaro? Or does it go the other way round? Asumu's an average joe who's still finding his way around the world. Just a kid living his life, getting through every day situations. I agree with whoever who said that episode 29 serves very well as an ending to the series if I did not want to watch Inoune's Hibiki.

The preview for episode 30 included a new transfer student who's a douche, it's just the preview and he's already attacking Asumu? I think Hibiki's cast is already big enough as it is. Why introduce one new pointless douchebag? Oh yeah, and I'd decided to watch through the whole series, regardless of how the feel to the show will change(or not). Then again, maybe it's too soon to start calling him a douche. I'll see when episode 30's download is complete. The torrents for episode 21 to 37 has been really slow lately.

I'm digging Crimson Hibiki too. His debuts were awesome, but I guess I do prefer the normal purple Hibiki more, the colors of the armors looks much nicer. The purple and black mix. Also, his bike is awesome. I love the chopper, and it's great to see it used more than once. (Looking at you Kiva.) Will episode 29 be the last of the 3 rider tag team fights? Inoune always love himself some pointless communication problems that lead to Rider versus Rider fights. Guess you guys can see that I'm pretty pessimistic about Inoune taking the handover on Hibiki.

One more thing, are the costs for the forest scenes significantly more expensive then the urban scenes? Don't they still have to block off an area for shooting and so and so? Toei shouldn't had pulled the plug midway, they shouldn't had even approved Hibiki if they didn't want to spend so much. I doubt the big demons weren't in the scripts submitted to get an approval? Or how does that process work? Is it similar to mangas as pictured as in Bakuman or do they just hire a writer and production team and get them to start doing their thing? It's a pity really, things seem to be getting ready to start rolling, and poof, writers and production teams changes.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

One more thing, are the costs for the forest scenes significantly more expensive then the urban scenes?

Well from what I know, it's more expensive to shoot out in forests because production crews need to pay extra insurance. Not to mention that some of those location shots were pretty far from where they usually film.

 

[NeonZ]

Will episode 29 be the last of the 3 rider tag team fights? Inoune always love himself some pointless communication problems that lead to Rider versus Rider fights. Guess you guys can see that I'm pretty pessimistic about Inoune taking the handover on Hibiki.

The old Riders won't really go out of character. The problem is just the new characters (and Riders) and also the younger cast. Those are the ones who will suffer.

I doubt the big demons weren't in the scripts submitted to get an approval? Or how does that process work? Is it similar to mangas as pictured as in Bakuman or do they just hire a writer and production team and get them to start doing their thing? It's a pity really, things seem to be getting ready to start rolling, and poof, writers and production teams changes.

At least, based on the interview about Double's behind the scenes, it seems like everything starts with producers and toy designers, and the script writer is only called after the basic features of the series are already decided. Something like Hibiki's whole concept of fighting in the wildness and using distant locations must come from the producer too, not just the writer's script.

 

[Switchblade]

The preview for episode 30 included a new transfer student who's a douche, it's just the preview and he's already attacking Asumu? I think Hibiki's cast is already big enough as it is. Why introduce one new pointless douchebag? Oh yeah, and I'd decided to watch through the whole series, regardless of how the feel to the show will change(or not). Then again, maybe it's too soon to start calling him a douche. I'll see when episode 30's download is complete. The torrents for episode 21 to 37 has been really slow lately.

No, you're not wrong to preemptively call Kiriya a douche. You know Inoue, so I can tell you he is exactly the character that you already think he is: Kusaka Masato mk2. Inoue is incapable of writing a show where there isn't some kind of insufferable asshole whose presence is tolerated far longer than it ever would be in real life. I think it all goes back to Jetman and the breakout popularity of Gai, the Black Condor. Every Inoue production I've seen has had a character who somehow tried to follow the same pattern of being extremely arrogant and belligerent towards his allies. Some of them worked (Agito's Hojou), some of them were not well received at all (Kusaka), and some of them just came right the hell out of nowhere and made no damn sense (later series Kengo from Kiva).

Kiriya is probably the most jarring and out of place of these characters, considering he was introduced very abruptly into an existing cast and the entire tone of the character is a really poor fit for a show that had been all about characters who support and inspire each other. The part that personally infuriated me the most was that, for the majority of these last nineteen episodes, his main role is telling Asumu that he's a useless sack of crap that nobody really likes. While that's honestly par for the course for this kind of character, what really gets me in this case is that every single time Asumu responds with "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right," and begins moping. It's incredibly frustrating because not only is it relentless (outside of the handful of episodes where Kiriya shifts his target to Akira), but it goes against one of the core themes of the series: Asumu growing in self-confidence through interactions with Hibiki and the others.

Personally, I think you're making a mistake sticking with the series, but I honestly get where you're coming from. The first time through I was enjoying it so much I didn't want to stop either. And honestly, the last nineteen episodes aren't objectively terrible. They're about on par with the average Kiva or Faiz episodes. There is a noticeably different feel about this part of the show, but unless you absolutely hate Inoue they are completely tolerable (and Kiriya's obnoxiousness does lead to a hilariously rewarding, if unfortunately short-lived comeuppance). I got through them once and lived with it, but when I rewatch Hibiki (which I've done once so far and will undoubtedly do again in the future) I just stop at 29 and pretend that everything after that never happened.

 

[Scissors]

The first writers of the show did an amazing job of turning an Arashi remake into a Kamen Rider show, and I sometimes feel myself crying a little bit inside when I think about how they would have used the new Arashi suit. Heck, we might could have gotten an actual Arashi/Rider team-up!

Then the new writers came, and the Arashi suit was turned into some useless Oni armor. WTF?!
That's like taking a new Batman suit and calling it "Black Bat Guy"
By doing this, they literally ignored one of Ishinomori's first creations, which is an utter disgrace.

 

[Oblivion]

The old Riders won't really go out of character. The problem is just the new characters (and Riders) and also the younger cast. Those are the ones who will suffer.

I think Hibiki at it's core is about Asumu's development. Removing Asumu's monologues, creating a new pointless character just to kick Asumu off the spotlight(at least in episode 30 and 31)? Especially after episode 29 where they seem to finally want to give Asumu some more development than usual? I don't like it.

Inoue is incapable of writing a show where there isn't some kind of insufferable asshole whose presence is tolerated far longer than it ever would be in real life. I think it all goes back to Jetman and the breakout popularity of Gai, the Black Condor.

Ditto to what you said about Inoue's writing style. Jetman? I think I really liked the black condor. I was a kid back then, I remember him to be way above the intolerable line? He was like the anti-hero that makes a perfect match to the red condor who's all for justice and heroism.

I agree with everything you have said about Kiriya Switchblade, though I do have a small soft spot for him. I like characters like that, jerks with a heart of gold. I liked Tsukasa from Decade, wish they developed him more as a person though. The jerk with a heart of gold trope gets frustrating if you don't develop his or her character. Luke from Tales of The Abyss wins! Kiriya as a character is fine, a bit more tolerable than Kusaka for some reason. But for him to be in Kamen Rider Hibiki is a different case. I don't want him in the show.

Personally, I think you're making a mistake sticking with the series, but I honestly get where you're coming from. The first time through I was enjoying it so much I didn't want to stop either. And honestly, the last nineteen episodes aren't objectively terrible. They're about on par with the average Kiva or Faiz episodes. There is a noticeably different feel about this part of the show, but unless you absolutely hate Inoue they are completely tolerable (and Kiriya's obnoxiousness does lead to a hilariously rewarding, if unfortunately short-lived comeuppance). I got through them once and lived with it, but when I rewatch Hibiki (which I've done once so far and will undoubtedly do again in the future) I just stop at 29 and pretend that everything after that never happened.

A mistake, perhaps. But I believe I'll probably feel unfulfilled if I don't watch the whole series through. I am a completist when it comes to tv shows it seems. Thank god I'm not a collection-completist though. Kiva was terrible in my opinion, if it's anything like Kiva I'm going to hate Inoue's writing skills even more. I believe I'll be doing the same thing as you, when I'm done watching the series and go rewatch it, I'll stop at episode 29 so it won't leave a bad taste.

Oh yeah, way to remove the popping up kanji words. Seems like it's totally removed now beside when the finisher happens. I actually grown to really like that. I'm gonna going to miss those Oni claws too.

By doing this, they literally ignored one of Ishinomori's first creations, which is an utter disgrace.

I'll take that as you finding the 2nd half to be crap. XD