Recap: Kamen Rider Zi-O, Episode 33 – 2005: Rejoice! Echo! Roar!

Heure approaches Tsutomu Tsuzumiya as he loses at a video game to ask him to help lure Hibiki out into the open. Tsutomu says he is no longer a pupil of Hibiki, but Heure says he can make his dream of becoming an oni come true.

Before Tsutomu can answer, Heure shoves the Hibiki Watch into him.

Over at the shop, Woz explains to Geiz and Tsukuyomi that he must make his lord Sougo’s birthday celebration today a grand event. Sougo comes down from his room and Uncle Junichiro is about to greet him a Happy Birthday, but Woz stops him.

Uncle Junichiro wants to show them Sougo’s yearbook from elementary school where he wrote that his dream was to become king. But Sougo points to his classmate Tsutomu who wrote that he wanted to become an oni. Sougo says they had encouraged each other to follow their dreams.

Geiz notices that Tsutomu had written that his master was an oni named Hibiki. They wonder if that refers to Kamen Rider Hibiki, whose Watch they need.

Later, Sougo tells Geiz how Tsutomu thought being an oni was an important job to protect people from bad guys and how Hibiki was the master he was learning from.

Woz has baked a cake for Sougo, but thinks it’s not grand enough for Sougo.

Just then, Another Hibiki leaps in to attack. Sougo and Geiz battle Another Hibiki and prepare to henshin. But Sougo says he wants to first observe Another Hibiki to find out its reason for rampaging before they will defeat it and obtain the Hibiki Watch.

Sougo and Geiz henshin. They uphenshin to Kuuga and Wizard, respectively. Heure watches from above, hoping Hibiki will appear. Tsukuyomi also arrives. But a man arrives and says an oni must discipline another oni that misbehaves.

The man henshins and battles Another Hibiki. Sougo wonders if the man is Hibiki.

The man prepares to finish off Another Hibiki, but a shot comes out of nowhere and that allows Another Hibiki to escape.

Sougo and Geiz dehenshin. Tsukuyomi joins them wondering what just happened. But another man arrives and says that man wasn’t Hibiki, but Todoroki.

This new man introduces himself as Kyosuke Kiriya, Hibiki. He asks about Another Hibiki, but Sougo brings him back to the shop first to explain their situation.

Kyosuke says he’s never seen a Ride Watch before, but whenever he obtains it, he’ll give it to Sougo. But only if he determines they are worthy of becoming onis.

Kyosuke says he will put them through special training. First up is taiko drum practice. Hearing Kyosuke’s description of the taiko drum’s meaning, Woz invites himself to join.

Kyosuke asks who Woz is and he replies that he is the “oni of celebration!”

Unamused Tsukuyomi says he will go look for Todoroki.

Kyosuke takes Sougo, Geiz and Woz to some taiko drums for their first training session. The three of them are pretty good so far, but Woz is taking this all very seriously, hoping to be able to find a way to throw the biggest celebration for his king.

Meanwhile, Kyosuke looks at pictures in his wallet, including one of Tsutomu.

Tsukuyomi finds Todoroki by the creek and asks him about the Another Rider. Todoroki says he realized the Another Rider was a man in the middle of his oni training. Usually their master would have to deal with an oni misbehaving. And the Another Rider’s master is Kyosuke.

Tsukuyomi mentions Kyosuke called himself Hibiki. Todoroki warns Tsukuyomi not to let Kyosuke fool her.

While Woz continues with the taiko drum, Sougo and Geiz are lifting weights. Sougo gives up first and Kyosuke says that’s pretty pathetic. Sougo mentions that he wants to become king and Kyosuke laughs at him.

Kyosuke says it’s best not to have impossible dreams, otherwise one will just fall into despair if their dreams don’t come true. Kyosuke turns and walks back inside.

Tsukuyomi comes running and says Todoroki is currently fighting Another Hibiki. Sougo and Geiz hurry over.

Todoroki tells the Another Rider that he will punish him in his master’s place. But before he can, Heure arrives and freezes time. He turns the attack back at Todoroki and he is forced to absorb the attack himself and dehenshin.

Sougo and Geiz arrive and henshin. Heure is disappointed Hibiki is not with them and decides there’s no reason for him to be here then. He hops away.

Back at the drums, Tsukuyomi is trying to get Woz to join Sougo and Geiz. She throws a rock at him to get him to stop with the drum. But Woz says Sougo and Geiz can handle it. Instead, he must work on ensuring the best birthday ever for his demon king. Tsukuyomi says he’s got it all wrong and Sougo won’t be happy with the kind of celebration Woz is aspiring for.

Tsukuyomi says Woz has no idea how to celebrate for other people and that he is only doing this for himself. She tells him to suit himself and she leaves.

Woz drops the drum sticks, Tsukuyomi’s words really hitting him hard about not knowing to celebrate for other people. He wonders if he’s been doing this all wrong the whole time.

Sougo goes Zi-O II and Geiz goes Shippu to counter Another Hibiki’s powers. They are able to defeat it and allow for Tsutomu’s release. Sougo recognizes his old friend and hurries over to him.

Tsutomu is also surprised to see Sougo in front him. Sougo helps Tsutomu up, but Heure arrives to freeze time again. He reactivates the Another Hibiki Watch.

Geiz battles with Another Hibiki. But Kyosuke arrives and he henshins. Sougo notices that this doesn’t seem to be the Hibiki he’s seen before. Todoroki arrives and says Kyosuke couldn’t inherit Hibiki’s name. Instead, he is just a nameless oni.

Kyosuke takes on Geiz to protect Tsutomu as Another Hibiki. But Another Hibiki attacks Kyosuke as well.

Episode Thoughts

Out of all the tribute arcs of the seasons I haven’t seen before, Hibiki might be the one that might confuse me a little bit. Just reading up on the basic premise of the season, it seems like a very interesting and a little more intricate of a storyline than other seasons. I’ve been able to follow along with the other tribute arcs and their stories have been pretty easy to understand. But so for Hibiki, there definitely seems to be a little bit more of an elaborate set up. At least for someone like me who isn’t familiar with the original season.

Will definitely have to wait and see next week how they can wrap up the story. But I think they were able to introduce it well enough here that you’re not completely lost.

For our regular friends, the biggest focus was actually on Woz. Him bending over backwards and trying to figure out how to celebrate his dear lord’s birthday was definite played off as a bit of comic relief through the episode. But when Tsukuyomi told him about him not really knowing how to celebrate with friends, it almost seemed like they were setting up a story in which we learn about Woz being lonely and not having very many human interactions. Almost in a way like Sougo’s little backstory. (Though now we learn that he actually had a friend, or at least acquantance. More on that later.) But it would be great if more comes out of this birthday stuff with Woz in terms of developing his character a little bit more and fleshing his character out. Get deeper into Woz.

It would certainly fit with how there’s been a greater emphasis on everyone being annoyed by his proclamations. Almost like they see him as trying too hard or trying to be cool when he’s not. That would seem to relate to Woz being kind of an outsider and not really used to being around other people. And I just remember, that ShiroWoz talked about how unlike him, KuroWoz was able to make friends. So maybe there’s actually something more with regards to Woz not having much experience in bonds or friendship. It could be a possible reason for his becoming a traitor before (in the future).

And speaking of friendship, we now learn that Sougo wasn’t completely friendless growing up. He appeared to have a friend in Tsutomu. At least a friendly acquaintance, but for some reason they lost contact over the years. I definitely hope they kind of explain how they were once friends when they were kids but not afterwards. But at least it’s great to see more people from Sougo’s past. I definitely hope we get a lot from introducing Tsutomu to the story. (I’m also still hoping we get another visit from Hiryu in the future.)

Overall ,a very intriguing episode. Mainly because I am very unfamiliar with Hibiki. But I think next week’s episode should help connect the dots for the uninformed like me. lol