The story follows Hibiki, a seasoned Kamen Rider, and his apprentice Asumu, as they battle the Makamou, monsters born from negative human emotions, and confront the personal and philosophical struggles of their role as protectors.

One of the Oni, a man named Hibiki, ends up having a "teacher-and-apprentice"-like relationship with Asumu Adachi, a young boy unsure of himself and is at a crossroads in his life as he transitions to high school.

Asumu learns to be an adult through watching Hibiki and the other Oni as they all train together to hone their skills in fighting the Makamou and the homunculi aiding them.

Takeshi (猛士) is a secret organization based in Yoshino, Nara, having been established two centuries ago as a partnership between the Oni and a select group of humans to defend Japan from the Makamou.

While transformed, each Oni equips with three types of respective Ongekitai (音撃帯) utility belt to be compatible with their personal Ongeki Weapons (音撃兵器, Ongeki Heiki) for the finishing moves: The term used for a pair of homunculi servants that aid a Makamou, revealed to be clones created by a couple known as the "Man and Woman of the Western-Style House" (洋館の男女, Yōkan no Danjo), who are the antagonists of most of the series despite preferring to act from behind the scenes.

At the end of the series, they are revealed to be the clones of the "Mysterious Man and Woman" (謎の男女, Nazo no Danjo), who still need them to carry on their work.

The regular antagonists of the series; the Makamou (魔化魍, Makamō) are an assortment of monstrous creatures that usually dwell in the rural areas and consume human beings as food.

Chimerical in appearance with their size and shape depending on the environment they are born in, and serving as the basis of the yōkai myths, the Makamo are a naturally created phenomena though some have been modified by the Man and Woman to be stronger and unpredictable.

While the Summer-Type Makamou lack in size, they make it up in their ability to replicate themselves in large numbers and when one is destroyed they can easily be replaced.

The writing staff also changed; Tsuyoshi Kida and Shinji Ōishi were replaced by Toshiki Inoue and Shōji Yonemura, who had worked with Shirakura on Sh15uya and other Heisei Kamen Rider series.

Even the show's star, Shigeki Hosokawa, who portrayed Hibiki, stated in his personal website that Inoue's scripts "needed adjustments" and that this whole staff change was "fraudulent".

Hosokawa said that this was the most upsetting change to him as the final script had been rewritten six times at that point and all but the filmed version contained both Asumu and Kyosuke becoming Oni.

Mitsu Murata, who portrayed the Douji characters, declared on his blog: "I cannot forgive them, I want to continue his idea", complaining about the removal of Takatera as producer.

These declarations caused an unprecedented storm within the professional tokusatsu market and many of Toei's executives were berated for allowing a series to be handled in such a manner.

There has never been any official statement from Toei, but many critics point out several facts might have caused it, the main reason being the low toy sales.

It was also released alongside a special edition of the Taiko no Tatsujin series which included the theme songs of the Kamen Rider Hibiki TV show ("Kagayaki" and "Shōnen yo").