Melting Sea

is the fifth episode of Kamen Rider Hibiki. It features the first appearance of Iori Izumi
==Synopsis==
Hibiki and Asumu have a talk about the school that Asumu wants to go to. At school, Asumu is told by a teacher that if he fails his entrance test to Johnan, he will have no second chance so he must not fail. Hibiki is then told of a Makamou, called Bakegani, that has been attacking ships and defeated a fellow Oni, Zanki. He goes to fight the Hime, but was overcome by the Bakegani and is forced into the sea.
==Plot==
Hibiki and Asumu are walking together while the former is singing. He asks if Hitomi Mochida is Asumu's girlfriend to which the boy says no and Hibiki teases him. He also asks if Asumu should be at cram school as she was, but who replies that he had something to do. Hibiki continues with questions about school but confesses that he does not know anything about them.
They sit down and Hibiki starts talking about what Asumu saw on Yaku Island and apologizes for it. Asumu said he was fine with it and was happy that he met Hibiki again. With a promise to train hard, they parted ways.
At the Adachi residence Ikuko Adachi was cooking dinner as she was gossiping about how Hibiki and Kasumi Tachibana had probably been on a lovely date. Asumu was studying and agreed with his mother, who told him to visit Hibiki from time to time. Her son wanted to wait until he was in High School as he wanted to meet him and say that he got in to Johnan Academy. Ikuko thought it sounded more like he was trying to come of as cool, but Asumu denied it. She thought that she would go instead, and served up their dinner.
For the next couple of days, Hibiki kept training and studying the Makamou as Asumu diligently studied. Hibiki and Ichiro were going over the February schedule for the Oni of the Kanto region, when Kasumi commented that the meeting at Yoshino took longer in order to tune it. Kasumi and Hinaka was preparing dumplings when the latter commented if Hibiki and the rest would be fine from going from a three week interval to a weekly interval. He said that they had no choice since the Makamou kept appearing more frequently. Ichiro apologized to give most of the burden to the Oni, as it was their duty to support the Oni, but Hibiki assured him that it was okay.
Near a beach, a fisherman was attacked by the Douji and Hime of a Bakegani. They used their acid to melt him and threw his lifeless body to their Makamou in the water.
In school, Hitomi asks Asumu if he went back to the Tachibana Sweet Place‏‎, as she recently saw Hibiki there. She thought Hibiki was not like normal middle-aged men, and had a mysterious but good quality to him. They both agreed on that and that one could talk freely to Hibiki about their worries. Asumu was surprised that Hitomi had worries too. Katsunori then entered the classroom proclaiming it was over, referring to his guidance session with their homeroom teacher. He told them how she had complemented and cheered him up. which also cheered up Asumu who was feeling very confident now.
Ikuko was exiting a convenience store when Ibuki arrived on a motorcycle. She noticed how handsome he was and stared at him until he noticed. She said he was very handsome and Ibuki thanked her as he went into the store. She squashed her lunch in excitement before she drove off.
In school it was Asumu's turn for a guidance session. His teacher said complemented his hard work, but that he could work on his math, science and law as he did not know what would be on the entrance exams. As it was a one-shot for Johnan Academy, there was no room for mistakes. This depressed Asumu. While walking in the school later he met a classmate called Yokota who said he should have chosen another school instead and that it would be his own fault if he failed. Asumu annoyingly walked away.
At the Tachibana Sweets Shop, Hibiki and Ichiro were taking it easy when Ichiro started talking about an article about anxiety in middleschoolers. He then asked asked about Asumu and Hibiki said the boy was taking his entrance exams soon. Ichiro praised the boy as he seemed to be a decent and good boy and they both hoped that he would pass his exams. Ichiro teased Hibiki about how he exposed his Oni form to the boy, which annoyed Hibiki. He said that the boy would probably come to visit after the exams. Hinaka suddenly stormed in and told them that Zanki had been defeated by a Makamou.
In school Asumu arrives at the library where he sees Hitomi, Kiko and Katsunori studying, which makes him feel even more anxious and promptly leaves.
At the Tachibana's, Hibiki, Ichiro and Kasumi are discussing Zanki's defeat. The Bakegani are usually fought by a string instrument user, but since none is available due to the shift system in place, Hibiki has to take care of it. Kasumi notes that the Bakegani case does not seem to be irregular, and Hibiki continues, saying that it is probably growing fast like the recent Makamou does. Kasumi says they will bring the new Yellow Crab Disc Animal, and both Ichiro and Hinaka wishes them good luck as they set of.
In a small boat Harbor, the Hime appears close to a man and moves her fingers like pincers.
On the way to the Makamou, Hibiki talks with Zanki's student, Tomizo Todayama on the phone, who said that Zanki was seriously injured and was in the hospital. Hibiki said he would take care of the Makamou and wished Todayama good luck. Hibiki decides that they will start their search where Zanki had tracked them to. This was Hibiki's first Bakegani so he was a little nervous, but accepted the situation for what it was.
In Tokyo, Asumu was standing on the roof of his school, contemplating what he should do.
The Hime was dragging her latest victim into a cave by the sea where her Bakegani was waiting. She complemented it's excellent pincers and told it to use its pincers to fight the Oni if they would come again. The Makamou then grabbed ahold of the victim and ate him.
Kasumi and Hibiki had arrived at the beach and were discussing the characteristics of the Bakegani and how it was a bad match for a Taiko user such as Hibiki. Hibiki was all for it, and was praised as a middle-aged man by Kasumi for it. While talking about Ibuki's student being his pride, Hibiki calls himself a ”lone-wolf”, but Kasumi says a person should not call themselves such things.
In Tokyo, school was out, and Asumu was sitting by a lake, while looking at the compass that Hibiki gave him.
In the meantime Kasumi and Hibiki prepped the Yellow Crab Disc Animals, and then Hibiki took the box of Disc Animals and set out. As he walked, Kasumi prepared tea, and Asumu rode his bike home. He found a good spot by the beach and released all of the Disc Animals who jumped into the water. Suddenly he heard the Hime calling out for him. They both transformed, but Hibiki sent out several Disc Animals to distract the Hime. He then ran straight for it, blazed it on fire with his Kigenjutsu Onibi and punched it so it exploded. The Bakegani then appeared and crawled unto land as Hibiki commended its size.
He jumped up on its back and attached his Ongekiko, but was repelled by the Makamou's squirting acid, which melted some of Hibiki's skin as well as the Ongekiko. As the Bakegani squirted acid like a fountain, Hibiki jumped into the water to escape.
In the meantime, Asumu had bicycled to the Tachibana Sweet Spot.
==Cast==
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** Parent Douji : Sei Ashina
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** Parent Hime : Mitsu Murata
* : 
* : 
===Guest cast===
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* : 
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* : 
* Angler: 
* Announcer: , 
===Suit Actors===
* Hime: 
* Hibiki: 
==Notes==
*As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside episode 3, .
*Viewership: 6.8%
== DVD Releases ==
Kamen Rider Hibiki volume 2 feature episodes 5-8: Melting Sea, Beating Soul, Majestic Breath Oni, Shouting Wind.http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/hibiki.html
== References ==
Category:Kamen Rider Hibiki
Category:Episodes