Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005-2006)
Production: Toei Corporation
By Blue Boy

Introduction

Kamen Rider Hibiki is on the outside about the age old battle between a Japanese organization known as Takeshi, the monstrous creatures called Makamou, and Takeshi's Oni agents who fight the creatures. Hundreds of years ago, the Oni and humans were enemies and the Makamou roamed free, killing innocent people. It wasn't until a young boy and seven Oni banned together to defeat the Makamou that humans began to trust the Oni. On the inside, the story is about the personal growth of a young boy named Adachi Asumu as he struggles to find his place and understand what his destiny is.

Story

Adachi Asumu, unsure of what he wants to do with his life and unconfident about taking an entrance test to a well known band school goes on a trip with his mother one day. They travel to an island by boat and suddenly a young girl falls over the side of the boat. A man races to her rescue, jumping overboard himself, just in time to grab the girl. Asumu takes notices and thinks the man who saved the girl, Hibiki, is a bit odd. The two part ways as Asumu and his mother get to an island. There Asumu encounters a Makamou and witnesses Hibiki become an Oni.

Asumu and Hibiki meet up many more times at a sweets shop that the Takeshi organization owns and operates from. It is the meeting ground for many different Oni around Japan. Asumu ends up meeting the trumpet wielding Oni, Ibuki and Ibuki's supporter. Supporters are exactly what they sound like, people who support the Oni on their missions, and in many cases are training to be Oni themselves. Ibuki's supporter doesn't feel Asumu should be around Hibiki as he only drags Hibiki down. Eventually he ends up winning her trust and respect.

Later on the third and fourth series riders appear. Todoroki and his master Zanki, Zanki is an aging Oni who can't fight as well as he used to. Todoroki steps up to take his place as he becomes an Oni with the "ki" suffix, signifying that he is no longer the student. Todoroki is a rookie and still has much to learn and treats Ibuki and Hibiki as his superiors as they have more experience, even though Ibuki is younger than Todoroki himself.

Hibiki, Ibuki, Todoroki and Zanki make up the main Oni cast of the series. Many other Oni appear in the series, but they're in the series for an episode or two at the most. Over the course of the show other characters join the main cast, even a young boy who tries to get Hibiki to make him his apprentice.

Review

Many feel that Kamen Rider Hibiki was just a Kamen Rider in name only, many feel that about most second generation shows as well. Though I think Hibiki more or less represents what a hero should be, he's a calm man who does what he can to protect his friends and doesn't angst over it a lot. The other two riders play their parts pretty good as well. Ibuki is for the most part a rather carefree rider and his character doesn't really shine until his apprentice, Akira is faced with the question of whether or not she wants to continue to be an Oni. Todoroki is still a new Oni and faces the challenges that come with stepping out into the world of fighting Makamou without a master.

For the first half of the series, we are lead by the narration of Asumu as he faces challenges in his life. This part of the series really doesn't feel like a tokusatsu show, but more of coming of age story than anything else. In time Asumu realizes that Hibiki was like him once, unsure of what he wants to do with his life and not confident in his own skills. This helps Asumu a lot as he realizes that a lot of people were the same.

During the second half of the series, new writers were brought into the show and the old ones were fired. This changed the pace of the series and gave it a more "toku" feel as some would say. Both halfs of the series sharply contrast each other, but the pogression feels natural and doesn't seemed forced.

The second half focuses much more on the Oni riders themselves rather then Asumu up until the final ten or so episodes. We get to see more the Oni and find out more about their life and why they wanted to be Oni. When Shuki, Zanki's master comes along, it shakes up the story a lot. Akira chooses to be with her rather than Ibuki for a time and Zanki must face a teacher that once tried to kill him. When she dies, Ibuki and Akira are on unstable grounds with each other.

Kiriyama, a boy who wants to be an Oni also shows up in the second half. Many call him Kusaka Jr. as he often seems to change personalities between being an ass and an okay guy. It is because of him that Asumu wants to be an Oni as well, the two try to persuade Hibiki into letting them be his apprentices for a long while, but to no avail. It isn't until a near fatal battle where Akira is forced to henshin that Hibiki realizes how committed the two boys are, this is also when Akira gives up being an Oni, realizing it isn't the right path for her.

The next arc centers on Zanki and Todoroki, Todoroki is badly hurt when a giant Makamou steps on him and is sent to the hospital. Zanki fears that Todoroki will never be able to henshin again, but he wants to help Todoroki as much as he can because being an Oni is everything to Todoroki. Against the advice of his doctor, Zanki henshins to help out Hibiki and Ibuki, it is here where he meets his death, or so we think. The night before he marked his arm with strange writings, these would keep him alive for a while after death. When Todoroki realizes that Zanki is dead, he does all he can to walk again, Zanki and Todoroki share one final battle and then Zaki passes away. Todoroki has now truly become independent.

Hibiki for the first time in the series is unsure of himself. He isn't sure he can be a good teacher and doesn't think he can truly show the boys what it means to be an Oni. That is until a certain battles comes along when Hibiki defeats two Makamou without becoming an Oni. This was to show the boys "the true heart of an Oni". As their training goes on, Asumu shines and Kiriyama is less than average, he can't swim, can't keep up with Asumu in any of the training and it really seems like he'll give up. Soon the time comes when Asumu feels that his heart just isn't in it and Hibiki realizes that being an Oni isn't the path that is meant for Asumu.

The final battle was a grand scale one, a tomb is found that can destroy all the Makamou if the tomb itself is destroyed. Hibiki begins to drum on it and literally every Makamou he's ever fought appear out of nowhere. This job was meant for Ibuki, but Hibiki knew that Ibuki wasn't up for it and didn't want Ibuki doing something that could likely kill him, so he goes in his place. Todoroki and Ibuki show up to help Hibiki just as the Makamou start to come out in full force.

We're never shown the outcome of the battle, but we can assume it goes well as everyone is still okay one year later. Hibiki and Asumu have lost touch with each other over the years and meet by chance in the hospital. Kiriyama and Asumu also meet up again when Asumu calls for help saving a child, which serves as an allusion to the child Hibiki saved in episode one. Kiriyama comes to the rescue, but then Asumu and himself are attacked by a Makamou. Kiriyama henshins here and attacks the Makamou, doing relatively well in the fight until he's knocked out. Hibiki, Ibuki and Todoroki come to the rescue and bail the boys out. The two current leaders of the Makamou then meet what seems to be their predecessors who tell them their fight isn't over yet. The series never ends the fight between the Oni and Makamou. After another fight, Hibiki and Asumu meet and just as the credits begin to roll, Hibiki says that he still wants to be Asumu's teacher, even if he can't teach him to be an Oni, he wants to teach Asumu to be a good person in life.

Conclusion

Some people felt that the story went nowhere, and for the first half, that was basically the story. Most people miss that it wasn't about the Oni, but about Asumu growing, but even then the story shouldn't have been so slow. It wasn't until the second half that the series truly began to shine and stand on it's own two feet. The characters were all given great endings and Zanki received one of the post poignant deaths I've ever seen in Toku. And Asumu not becoming an Oni really drives the point that one doesn't need to have superpowers to be a hero.

The cast were all great, and really the best cast I've seen in any second generation rider show. This has been my favorite cast in such a long time, if not for them I really doubt I would have been able to stick with the series during it's dry spell. From Hosokawa's nonchalant portrayal of Hibiki to Kawaguchi's portrayal of the novice Oni, Todoroki, I loved every single member of the cast. None of them came out as over the top, they were all great actors and could really show emotion a lot better than most casts I've seen lately.

What I really loved about the series was the conclusion. We didn't need the Oni and Makamou fight to end for our characters to have good endings, nor should it have ended. As some put it, it would be anti-climactic to have the fight end with our characters. We're shown that the fight will continue on and that there will always be heros there to protect the ones that can't protect themselves. The only real nitpick I have with the ending is that the final fight was never really shown in full force. There really isn't anything about it that would have taken away from the ending if it was shown in full. Other than that, it was my favorite ending of any rider show yet, surpassing my long time favorite, Agito.

This show isn't for everyone, if you feel you can deal with the dry spell where the story really doesn't move along, then check this series out. If not, at least try out a few episodes to see the cast, it's a shame that the toku community doesn't really favor this series as it really was one of the better rider series in a long time. Even though some say it's a Kamen Rider in name only, I think that Hibiki's character and the other characters really shine and show that this series is a true Kamen Rider entry.

Blue Boy