Kamen Rider Hibiki & The 7 Fighting Demons

We then cut to an interesting interlude of sorts, where Hibiki, Ibuki, Todoroki, and the movie's 5 new Riders all engage in a
massive Taiko drumming session. It's pretty cool, and heralds the arrival of the film's title, which for a change isn't the usual cryptic
two-word thing (i.e., "Project G4", "Episode Final", "Paradise Lost", or "Missing Ace".)

Hibiki winds up in the hospital, and Asumu of course blames himself since Hibiki was saving his bacon. Along with Oyassan, he
pours through all those ancient texts the Tachibana people pull out when they need some Makamô-busting secrets. And while
doing so, Asumu runs across something interesting– someone else with his name.

As the ending song says, "FLASHBACK!"

It's the Sengoku Jidai, also known as the Warring States/Civil War Era. Asumu, who looks just like modern day Asumu aside
from the clothes, is running through the woods with his friend Hitoe, who looks just like Asumu's modern day gal pal. Can you
figure out how this movie is going to work yet? Virtually everyone appears as their own ancestor, including Akira, who in the
present (and the TV show) is Ibuki's apprentice. Here, she's lunch for Orochi. As it turns out, back in ancient Japan, the Makamô
could basically push around whoever they wanted any time they like, because in the case of Orochi and his followers, they've got
a sweet giant castle that rises out of the ocean when it's time for the local town to offer up a sacrifice to the great dragon. Past
Akira gets munched on and her daddy suffers the wrath of Orochi's goons after he foolishly tries to save his daughter.

As if this wasn't bad enough, a mysterious calligraphic mark appears on Hitoe's hand, which means she's Orochi's next meal. This
doesn't sit well with Asumu, who wants to do something about this whole "Makamô-push-the-town-around" thing. This leads a
conversation about the dreaded Oni, who are, to most people, no different than the Makamô. About the only guy who seems to
sympathize with Asumu is Tôbee, the village elder of sorts (and yes, it's Oyassan), as well as Hinako & Kazue, who, if you watch
the Hibiki TV series, are exactly who you think they probably are.

Despite the rest of the townspeople's warnings, Asumu & the girls set out to find them some Oni. It doesn't take long before they
run into one: The flashy Edo-born Kabuki, who's been hired by another town to drive out this nasty warrior Makamô named
Kaen Taishô (General Flame). Kabuki does just that thanks to his tuning fork transformation thingy turning into a sword (Meitô
Onsa-Ken.) It should be noted that Kabuki has one of the coolest, if not the coolest, transformation scenes and battle poses of
any of the Riders from Hibiki. The actor who plays him was also the Armadillo Orphenoch on Kamen Rider Faiz, and he gets to
do some major scenery-chewing this time. Following the fight, the townspeople give Kabuki some food, but when he kindly offers
some to a hungry child, the kid's mom (Asumu's mom in the TV show!) freaks out. People believe that whatever the Oni touch is
cursed, and despite having just saved them all, the villagers are only so thankful. Asumu approaches Kabuki, and easily gets him
to join them; Kabuki believes it's the duty of the Oni to protect humans.

The quartet head out to a shack in the countryside, which is home to none other than Hibiki. You'd think things would all be cool
from here on, but not so: it turns out, Asumu believes Hibiki killed his older brother Takeshi. Whoa! In a flashback (within a
flashback, natch) we see Hibiki carrying Takeshi's body through the rain, and Asumu basically assumes the worst. Of course,
back in the present, er, the past, Hibiki doesn't even remember Asumu, but in any event, he's reluctant to join Kabuki &
company, and the team leaves empty-handed.

Next stop, a massive castle, where Kabuki introduces us to his old buddy, Ibuki. Yes, that Ibuki. Bored with his life as a feudal
lord, Ibuki decides to ditch the topknot and practically beats up his entire court to get out. With two Oni on the team now, our
heroes go to a temple and seek out the lone monk, who is...Zanki! Well, he's not Zanki in this movie; he's the bear-themed Oni
Touki. But it's the same actor, although he's wearing blue contacts that make him look really freaky in some scenes. I suppose the
blue eyes are a sign of his paranormal powers (he can levitate objects with his crazy monk skillz, which is important later on.)

At some point the movie jumps back to the present, where Oyassan reveals that Past Asumu is probably Present Asumu's
ancestor. Gee, thanks Oyassan!

After heading back to the village, the three Riders concoct an elaborate scheme that makes it appear the townspeople will be
giving up Hitoe, except it's really Ibuki...well, it's kind of hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean when you see the movie. The
resident Dôji & Hime are not exactly thrilled at this deception, and they're even more miffed when Kabuki & Touki jump out of
nowhere and initiate a fight. As an interesting side note, the movie-only Riders all say their names before transforming. The fight
doesn't go very well, as the bad guys start making things randomly explode, which is never a good thing. Fortunately, since he
hails from the Great White North (well, Hokkaido), Touki is able to drive the villains off with a freezing blast of arctic chilliness.
Unfortunately, Orochi drops in and forces our heroes into a retreat. Hibiki observes the battle from horseback, but doesn't
participate.

Things happen fast here, and I did only get to see the movie once, so I may list some events out of order. Realizing their strength is
not great enough yet, the good guys seek out more old friends (all the Oni know each other, it seems.) And they start coming fast.
Kirameki, the fish-themed Oni from Nagoya, drops in by kite ninja-style, and despite the others' misgivings about his actual
usefulness, they enlist him to join up.

As the Oni make their cross-country trek, Asumu is of course following them. He gets into a minor scuffle with some Samurai, but
Hibiki (who's also following everyone else) bails him out but doesn't let him know courtesy of a bucket-over-the-head.

Nishiki, the tiger-themed Oni from Osaka, has been using his powers to become a great thief, and as our heroes discover over a
Zaru-Soba lunch, is slated to be publicly executed that very day. While the Oni dash off, they fail to notice they've got yet another
observer: a young girl in an elaborate, colorful kimono playing with a ball. Orochi's cronies approach her, for she is in fact
Hitotsumi, a sort of freelancing Makamô warrior in the same vein as that Kaen Taishô dude. The actress who plays the human
form of Hitotsumi is incredibly cute, and while she doesn't do anything for a while, she will be popping up again.

Sure enough, the Kansai-ben-speaking Nishiki is about to lose his head to the sword, but to everyone's surprise, he catches the
blade between his teeth (!) and escapes thanks to his fellow Oni and some conveniently-timed smoke bombs. Nishiki joins the
crew, although the next member is not so easily swayed. Habataki, the bird-themed Oni from Hakata, used to be a warrior but
has since settled down; he's got a wife (Midori!), a kid, and a farm, and no stomach for battle. It's only after his wife convinces
him to fight that he joins the others. Thus all 5 of the new Riders have been introduced.

The gang runs into Todoroki, who's pretty much the same as the present day Todoroki. Kirameki, Nishiki & Habataki transform
to help him take out a Bakegani, and he joins up the crew to make the titular 7 samur–er, Oni.

The Oni return to the village, but once again get a cold reception. Hitoe has apparently fallen ill, and is kept in a cave by the
beach. Several townspeople, apparently deciding that putting their faith in the Oni is just a waste of time, head out to look for her
(and presumably just give her up as a sacrifice right now.) But somebody kills them all, and Nishiki's weapon is discovered at the
scene of the crime.

Things fall apart real fast. The house where the Oni are hold up is burnt to the ground, and our heroes are pelted with stones by
the townsfolk. Of course none of them know what the villagers are talking about when the slaughter comes up, and Nishiki swears
up, down and backwards that he didn't do it. But the humans don't listen. Nishiki, Kirameki & Touki are ready to bust some
heads, but Kabuki & the others state that it would be going against everything the Oni stand for if they hurt humans. Since neither
side is ready to cave in, a fight breaks out, with Oni against Oni. It's only when Hibiki shows up that both sides lay down their
arms and make up.

Things really happen fast here. We find out (via flashback) that Hibiki of course didn't kill Takeshi; it was a landslide. He was just
carrying his body down, as they had been traveling together. Takeshi was Hibiki's friend, and prior to his death forged a special
blade for him, it's even got his name etched in it! Alas, the whole event seems to have crushed Hibiki's fighting spirit, so he still
refuses to join the others, who are becoming increasingly skeptical of the whole "Save Hitoe" thing. Speaking of which, Hitoe's
back in the village. Kabuki goes to check on her, but when he does, she freaks out. Why?

Because Kabuki's the real killer! The previous night Hitoe awoke just in time to see him kill off the villagers. Before he can add
her to his list of victims, Hibiki & Asumu arrive. It turns out that Kabuki has allied with the Makamô for the dual purpose of
destroying the Oni and humans, whom Kabuki sees as a far worse threat than the Makamô. Asumu, unable to believe any of this,
asks about the fight with Kaen Taishô, who he thought Kabuki had killed. It turns out the big, red one is still alive and kicking, and
teleports in to double-team Hibiki along with his ally Kabuki before escaping.

This latest revelation kills the whole adventurous mood completely, and the Oni decide to all go their separate ways again. Before
doing so, Todoroki gives Hibiki his tuning fork and Disc Animals back (apparently he's held onto them all this time.)

Hibiki heads back to his hut, only to get ambushed by Kabuki & Kaen Taishô. Things are looking grim until Asumu also shows
up. He went to the cave where Takeshi's sword was hidden, and gives it to our hero, asking him to fight, for Takeshi's sake.
Finally deciding it's time to take up the drumsticks again, Hibiki transforms and dukes it out with the bad guys. Kaen Taishô
apparently tries to eat Hibiki (!), but in the second coolest moment in the movie, the latter uses his fiery breath to blow the villain's
head off!

Kabuki sics Keshizumi-Karasu, a giant disc animal, on Hibiki, but the good Oni gets help from his own Iwabeni-Shishi and returns
fire with a giant-sized Akane-Taka. Following some Disc-on-Disc violence, Hibiki goes up against Kabuki personally. The
colorful turncoat Oni has a couple neat tricks, including using an umbrella (Don't laugh! It's much cooler than it sounds!) to block
Hibiki's blade and stab him in the gut. But Hibiki counters with a double whammy of Takeshi's sword and one of his drumsticks,
and Kabuki falls. And doesn't get up. Hibiki offers one last sad glance at his former friend, and rides off for the big showdown.

Somewhere along the line the movie jumps back to the present, where we find out Hibiki's fully recovered and ready for action
again (keep an eye out for a not-so-subtle Oronamin C placement.) But back in the past...

Yeah, Hitoe's about the be sacrificed, but Hibiki arrives just in time to...witness A TON of Makamô Ninja teleport in to help the
Dôji & Hime out. Uh-oh! Asumu also arrives to help his friend, but the good guys are quickly overwhelmed and surrounded.
Fortunately, the other 6 Riders all had a simultaneous change of heart and suddenly arrive to help clean house! The battle splinters
off into several fights with each Oni getting a chance to shine. Habataki grabs bad guys in midair and chucks them into trees,
Kirameki slices & dices them under the water, and Nishiki...well, he really puts the hurt on one guy, let's just say that. In the
ensuing melee, Todoroki does in the Dôji (yes, with an electric guitar in ancient Japan) and in what I found to be the movie's single
coolest moment, Touki uses those crazy powers of his and levitates the Hime in mid-air before literally smashing her to pieces with
his giant gong club. Owned!

Remember Hitotsumi? She's back, and she turns into a male Makamô who vaguely resembles the leader of the Blood Wheel Clan
from Henshin Ninja Arashi (in fact, the emblem the Makamô use in the movie is similar to the Blood Wheel's.) Despite having
some nasty magic tricks up her/his/its sleeve, Hibiki eventually gains the upper hand and all 7 Riders join together for a
simultaneous finisher. Ibuki plays the trumpet, Todoroki the guitar, Touki the gong, Kiramaki the cymbals, Nishiki the triangle,
Habataki the flute, and finally, Hibiki does his drum solo to finish Hitotsumi off. All the Riders turn their backs on the resulting
explosion for the obligatory money shot.

Of course, there's still the little matter of Orochi, who is not a happy customer. Hibiki uses the giant Shironeri-Oozaru to distract
him and prepares to deliver the killing blow, but gets knocked down and Takeshi's sword falls into the ocean. And then–

The book Asumu's reading doesn't have any more pages! They've been lost to time, and to make matters worse, Asumu gets a
phone call that Orochi & Hibiki are going at it once again (this is in the present, of course.) There's a really amusing moment
during this fight where Hibiki's drumsticks get stuck in Oroshi's nostrils. Anyways, things get a little wacky, as Asumu somehow
knows that the sword Takeshi made is back in its cave despite the fact that minutes before, in the past, we saw it get chucked into
the ocean. But it's in the cave! Asumu gets it, gives it to Hibiki, who in a a rare moment actually refers to him by name (I think he
did at the beginning as well. Most of the time, he's just "Shônen".)

Takeshi's sword becomes the Armed Saber (remember, this was before the TV episodes with the Armed Saber being introduced
came out) and Hibiki's entire body erupts in flame. Hibiki becomes Armed Hibiki, and promptly whups Orochi good, with the
latter turning to stone before exploding. Asumu is overjoyed, and we find out that apparently the battle ended the same way in the
past, because in the next scene, all 7 Riders are back in the village. And this time, the people are happy that the Oni helped them.
As the heroes set off into the horizon, Tôbee states that people should help the Oni just as the Oni helped them. The other
villagers agree, and they decide the group shall be called...

"Takeshi." says Asumu.

THE END

The movie's end credits feature scenes of the Oni after their big adventure, all to the tune of "FLASHBACK".

As the first Rider film I've actually seen on the big screen, Kamen Rider Hibiki & The 7 Fighting Demons was a lot of fun, and
despite my initial concerns about the movie-only Rider designs, I can safely say that they're actually very cool on screen.
Considering most of them only have a couple of lines and this is their one and only appearance, they're pretty well characterized,
and each one gets at least one moment of awesomeness. Kabuki in particular sticks out, although some may feel cheated by his
turn to evil. To me he seems more like a tragic character than an inherently evil one, moved to join the bad guys because of how
he had been treated by humans. The actor does a good job, never playing him as totally heroic when good nor villainous when
bad, but a real enigma. The others are all straight-up good guys, although Kirameki & Nishiki are also played for laughs (Nishiki
steals most every scene he's in, and got a lot of the laughs from the fellow Kansai-area folk in the audience.)

Everyone else is as you'd expect if you're a fan of the TV show, which the movie loosely ties into. The only real contradiction is in
the origin of Armed Hibiki, although I actually prefer the movie version. The transformation is also quite different, with Hibiki
lighting up like a firecracker rather than merging with a ton of Disc Animals. For the most part, the effects are on par with the TV
show. Orochi is as CG as they come, but if you can swallow any of the giant critters on the TV show, you'll buy into him. And
he's pretty cool design-wise too. Overall, chances are that if you like Hibiki, you'll like the movie; and if you don't like Hibiki, you
might still like the movie, as it moves the plot along quickly and has a little more heavy-duty drama than usual. The music is also
worth mentioning in that it's either entirely or mostly all-new, with very few recognizable themes from the TV show. This isn't a
bad thing though, as I found the movie soundtrack to be quite good, and if you liked the original, orchestrated music in previous
Rider movies, you'll probably like this. Of course, given the nature of the movie, there's virtually no motorcycle action to be found,
but I'll forgive that since Kamen Rider THE FIRST seems to deliver that in spades.

One last thing: The parallels to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai should be pretty apparent, but I couldn't help but find some parallel
between the 7 Oni (if you discount Kabuki) and the original 7 Riders. I mean think about it:

Rider 1/Hibiki: The main guy
Rider 2/Ibuki: The secondary main guy who looks a lot like the main guy
V3/Todoroki: The green third guy who sorta looks up to the above two guys
Riderman/Habataki: Quiet, calm guy who is racked with self-doubt and indecisiveness
X-Rider/Kirameki: Seriously under-appreciated guy with kick-ass aquatic fighting skills
Amazon/Nishiki: Wild crazy guy with unconventional fighting methods
Stronger/Touki: Big tough guy who's built like a tank and gets to do the coolest thing in the movie

Of course, I could just be waxing nostalgic here!