I'm am very sorry about having less reviews recently, I have been doing more hours of work because having more money is never a bad thing, since I'm still in college. Also my Fall semester is coming up soon, this will actually help me out though as I will have a very detailed schedule for myself so I promise around two between four reviews per week. So for this episode of Kamen Rider Wizard the gang start to realize what the White Mage is doing while an old man looks for someone who motivated him to continue living on.
The first thing I want to talk about is the camera direction in this episode. I have a feeling I may have ignored this element in the Wizard reviews before, but here it made things obvious when it didn't have to be. I'm glad they still had some subtlety to it, but to have less of it there would have been neon arrows on the screen. With the Gate he had a big moment in his life when a little girl brimming with hope gives him the thought of continuing forward. Whenever there were moments where he hinted to this moment in his life or the actual flashback scene it cuts right to Koyomi. Now it was already pretty obvious ever since we saw the ring and it cut to Koyomi right away. So this did bug me a little, but at least they weren't screaming out the obvious plot point or having the *wink wink* hints.
Another thing I want to bring up is the movement of the plot. Many say the progression is slow compared to other rider series and I can agree with that. Now this doesn't mean I am having a sudden hatred for Wizard all of a sudden. I do think this has something to do why Gaim is coming in October, maybe issues with the scripts or making the outfits or props. I will probably get my thoughts on Gaim soon then, but I will say I am excited for the new series. So I do feel like Wizard had some episodes put in just to get a time slot and to help what was going wrong with Gaim, but this is just a guess. Maybe people just wanted more Wizard? So I can say there are some episodes that probably wouldn't have to be around, but at least most of the episodes are enjoyable, for me at least. The only arc which I was completely mad at was the arsonist arc because it had nothing and barely had enjoyable moments. Sorry if this paragraph was more of a rant, I'm trying to get my writing groove back and it has been a while since I did an episode review.
So back to the episode and I can say there is a subtle hint right now in the series. We notice the Koyomi has been using more magic recently and with that she is running out of it in a shorter amount of time. What was happening recently then? The White Wizard is taking a huge step forward with his plans and even forced Yuzuru to become a Mage. So I feel like that this arc could show the possible connection between Fukei and Koyomi, but again who knows? If there is a connection then it is heading in a right direction right now cause it's not obvious unlike the connection between the Gate and Koyomi.
With how things are right now there are some good character moments coming up in this episode. First is with Kousuke who is not backing down on his search of the White Mage. He is stubborn to find him and fight him to save Yuzuru because that boy didn't want to be a Mage, but Fukei doesn't give him that choice. Kousuke even tells Haruto that even though he may have saved other lives before like Haruto himself, he is still going to give the White Mage a pounding. With this it is acting out a new rivalry which is funny because Kousuke used to have a rivalry with Haruto, but I can tell he isn't focused on that as much anymore. So now he has a new rivalry with another Mage so that works out like a nice transition since it gets Beast into the ally rider feel now.
Kousuke even goes to search for Mayu since she was the recent Mage that is here because of Fukei. With this we see Mayu even having more concerns on what is happening. Now Mayu doesn't know that Yuzuru was kidnapped and she still had positive thoughts about the one who gave her powers. When hearing the news though she is wondering why he would do this since he gave her a choice back then. I bet even she is now thinking the White Wizard went too far, but sadly even she doesn't know where he is, which is why Kousuke wanted to ask her. So now we have our secondary riders already getting good scenes with each other and wanting to save Yuzuru and see what the White Mage is up to, but there is another character who gets a good boost.
The last character who got a good devolved moment was Rinko as she got promoted to Section Zero. Now this is lesser to the other two I mentioned, but it does give Rinko a higher position now. Also this was all thanks to Kizaki who could be dead all we know. So this could have been his final act and he did help her get higher which will help out with the case. Rinko knows this and she does want to save Yuzuru and see what the White Mage is up to, but now she has Kizaki to thank and she will work hard for his sake. I am happy that Rinko also gets away from her really terrible chief now. The scene with her getting the promotion was a little funny, but a little sit-com like for a series like this. Really at the end of the scene I thought there was going to be a laugh track. I will say it's odd that Haruto didn't get much, but I know that will be for a later arc when he confronts the White Mage himself. Also Haruto was stuck with the Gate for this episode along with Shunpei.
Now for the Gate of this episode it's an old author who has been having best sellers for thirty years! The first scene with him was at a book signing as he only wanted a female crowd for some reason. At this point I was thinking he was looking for someone, maybe his daughter or grand daughter? Then we cut to Koyomi and I clearly knew who he was looking for. Now Saionji does act like some other Gates with how stubborn he was to get a certain item back, which is a ring to look like a flower. This was from ten years ago when the man met a little girl who talked about her hopes for the future. Before this the man was dealing with a case of writers block as it was tearing him apart. The man even considered taking his own life because of this. Thanks to the little girl though she helped him to go on with his life and his most recent book is for her. He wants to meet her again and the ring was hers. She dropped it back then and he wants to give it back. Now the ring is the thing holding his hope which does make me think of episode one with Rinko, but this time it had more substance to make it believable. It's been ten years since the man met that young child and in that amount of time she could have forgotten him which is funny because Koyomi has forgotten everything about her life. The ring could help the girl remember him though which he is hoping for and with that makes the item hold a lot more hope for him.
Now the Phantom for this arc is easily an interesting one. He is Sphinx and he already brings up the riddles which reminds me of Dora Sphinx from Zyuranger. Now this guy doesn't send people flying into trees and he mostly uses his riddles as more of a joke unlike the Sentai monster. I really do like his design though as it actually has some freedom away from the obvious motifs in a Sphinx design. He has more of a Egyptian theme overall. He does have the snake on his head like the other creature, but his look reminds me of a robe. He also carries a little rod which makes me think of specters which is a common thing I see in shows when Egypt is mentioned. I also love when he transforms he has a drum roll sound in the background which got me to laugh. I think Nossan needs that when he makes a bad pun. Now he didn't get much of a fight, but how the show really shown him really makes me think of him more. He had this really odd room with third dimension paintings and how he is dressed up in a full tux and top hat really made him stand out.
Sora did have involvement with this episode as well as I think he now fully knows what is going on or he is really positive that he knows. He is really being all tricky like he was back then and seems to be messing around with Medusa again. When he says "For Wiseman's sake" it sounded like he was just messing with her this time. Also he was outside looking into Kizaki's office when Rinko and some other officers were looking around the crime scene. He even confronts the two riders and Rinko saying he knows where the White Mage is. So this really makes me think he knows what is going on now or he is this his way of finding things out?
With the action of this episode I was happy with it. The first fight was a quick confrontation with Sphinx running away and then the second fight mostly was a fight with Ghuls, but it was done in a very good way. First is the showcasing of the forms as we see all the Dragon forms and Infinity. I will say the spell rings are being ignored like switches, medals, and any other gimmick in a Toku series, but Wizard's forms still have nice balance. There is good moments for each form and even with the Dragon forms being upgrades of his original forms they still get some sweet moments here and there. So with these fights we did get the Bind ring in the first one and some sweet dual sword and gun moments. Then with the second fight it was fast paced and gave the three Dragon forms their special rings like Drill for Land, Thunder for Hurricane, and Blizzard for Water. With Flame Dragon he had a Slash Strike oh and I forgot that Hurricane Dragon used the Defend ring. So yea the action in this fight was good as it really didn't waste time and wasn't too short either.
This episode really is setting a good path for how the series can play out with the cards that have been shown. There is good character moments being built up here like with Kousuke, Mayu, and Rinko along with Sora who could have found what is going on. The Gate was a nice character with his back story being the most gripping part of him. The Phantom was very interesting as I hope we can see more of a big fight for him. As for fighting the action was nice and well done even though it didn't have a big remembrance factor. I would give the episode a B+ things may sound average, but this episode made those things and the nice additions go above that.
Next Time: Rematch!
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