Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 18 Review: Lunchtime!

Alright another new method once more, this time I am going straight for the review. I will tell my thoughts, anyways the point of the review is to criticize. I did the plot summaries because I tried to do the break off with my posts, but it never worked so I just kept it. Anyways lets start talking about Beast's second episode as it's another successful episode.

First thing to talk about is Kousuke as in this episode we learn of his origins of becoming the Mage, Beast. Kousuke was a college student and his major was archeology. One day during an excavation he finds some old ruins and when he falls inside it he finds the Beast ring. There the seal is broken and Ghuls appear, as someone tells Kousuke to use the ring and belt. He does so and time freezes as Beast Chimera just gets straight to the point and tells him that he can now use magic. There is a bad side to this though as Chimera needs to eat magical energy and if not, Kousuke and him will die. I love this backstory as it's just plain and simple. Kousuke accidentally finds a power that was sealed away. So now we know Mages were around in the past and who knows how long. Sadly we didn't get any new things from Beast except seeing the Buffa cape. There is more to talk about with Kousuke, but I will wait till later in the review.

Now onto the Phantoms as there is ton of background development happening. In this episode we are introduced to a new villain. All he does for now is give Koyomi a new magic stone though and leaves after that. This is getting odd, why are Phantoms giving Haruto more powers? Is this guy even a villain? I said this before the series is making me think a whole lot and I really like that from a show as it wants to interest people and not just feed information down our throats (sort of like an anime series with magic). Here is something to think about though and if you don't want my predictions go ahead to the next paragraph. In a scene we see the Phantoms talk about what exactly is going on since Beast came out of nowhere. Wiseman says that it was a failed project that the Phantoms used before. The reason why they sealed it away is because it consumed the magical energy of Phantoms. So wait the Phantoms experimented with magic and if they were able to use it that means Phantoms are able to become Mages! See that is another thing that I love, the answers can be hidden in the dialogue.

Continuing on the series seems to play some tribute to the older Hesiei rider series as we get Medusa tricking Beast. This is because Haruto didn't get to explain everything to Kousuke about the Gates and how they can become Phantoms. So this gives Medusa the chance to trick him as she makes him think that Haruto is only after Phantoms for his meals. I know some people were mad on how he was tricked, but it makes sense. Kousuke is not on any side he is just trying to live so he needs to eat magical energy. Kousuke doesn't know about Haruto or the Phantoms, it maybe common sense to some people, but again he is fighting for his life. I think people would go to rash decisions when it concerns their own life. Anyways when Beast does arrive in the last minutes he is still confused and tries to get things straightened out. Kousuke is not jumping to conclusions as he wants to make sure on what is happening. For me, Beast is still impressive as the show is playing around on how he will go on the side of good.

Now with all of this going on we didn't get much out of the Phantom and Gate for this week which is somewhat disappointing, but this is an episode for Beast so it makes sense. At least we got some good insights on the Gate as he is some painter who is having trouble making his next piece of art. He also has someone at home, but we didn't get to see that person so who knows? The Phantoms is pretty basic with his plans as he just jumps out of the water and attacks. I still like how he can hide in the water and use that for travel purposes since only one Plasmonster can go in the water which is the Kracken so far. That's all I can say as we will see what the Gate's problem is and how the Phantom will work with two Mages in his way.

Haruto was on his good side like usual as I love how he is reacting to Kousuke. He is actually getting ticked off by the guy for getting in the way. As I said seeing riders bicker at each other can be done correctly and this is how it should be. Haruto knows what he is doing and that is too protect the people as he sticks to that as we see him trying to get the Gate in the last fight. So having bickering riders is a nice callback as it hasn't been done like this for a while. I really wonder how Haruto will deal with Kousuke in the next episode since the two are actually similar. Both are fighting with their lives at risk since Haruto uses the Dragon rings which could lead him to despair. I just find it so interesting how their ideals clash as Haruto is straight to the point while Kousuke is confused and going around in circles.

The action was pretty good with the final fight having the most as the first one had the riders bicker letting the monster get away. We finally got to see Water Styles in the water now which was fun to watch. At first I was thinking using the Liquid spell underwater would make Wizard fuse with the water around him, but no he is his own water and gets some slashes on him. So he already defeats the Phantom in his home turf and heads to the Dragon form. We got to see Blizzard being used again, but not the finisher as it didn't reach all the way towards the Phantom. Have to question that since the first time it was used it froze a whole lake! I guess it can make sense since water is basically ice melted. Also the spell was used on more solid material as last time the Phantom was surrounded by water. Putting logic around it does make sense, but still got me. I do like seeing spells like that not actually being the finisher though.

Still the ice effects are amazing to look at!

Overall this is another great episode as we get an old callback to riders having conflicts with each other because of confusion. The previous ones we got were the secondary riders making a decision and sticking to it as they would fight a fellow rider for their goals. Beast is going back on some older ways and I respect that a whole lot. This still shows that the Phantoms can be very tricky as Medusa sort of becomes like Masato Kusaka from Faiz. We got a good origin story and a lot more interesting background developments I give this episode an A- since the action was lower than usual and we didn't get much from the Gate and Phantom.

Next Time: Wolverine eat your heart out, your claws can't compare to those.