Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 5 Review: Blessed Wind

Continuing off from the last episode Wizard has ran out of magic and has to use his main weapon to finish off Sidhe. He completely runs out though as his transformation cancels out. Sidhe doesn't take his chance to attack and is bothered too much to keep fighting as he flees. Soon Haruto passes out as Rinko and Shunpei help him, but Takagi comes and just critics him for not finishing off the Phantom. He is then yelled at by the two for acting like an open target, but Haruto knows why he did that. He sees that Tagaki actually wanted to be attacked by the Phantom. Takagi then tells the gang that it would be better for his hands to be cut off so he won't have to play the piano anymore. The conversation gets back to Haruto losing, but Koyomi yells out and blames herself for his loss. Koyomi storms off saying they should stop protecting Takagi. Haruto tries to calm her down, but he quickly faints from loosing too much magic. Now with the villains as Phoenix and Medusa wait for Sidhe to return. Sidhe soon enters the scene complaining about both Wizard and Koyomi. Medusa knows she got rid of her, but after being told she is still alive she figures out that she is given energy from Wizard. In the antique store, Shunpei and Rinko think about what exactly happened to Koyomi since she was dead. Rinko remembers Koyomi's cold hand and thinks that she is not a normal human being. Wajime overhears them talking and reveals the truth about Koyomi. It seems for some reason when her Phantom was released her body was still intact. The Phantom has stole everything else from her as Koyomi lives as an empty cast. Meanwhile Koyomi is treating Haruto who soon wakes up. The two talk about the situation with Koyomi not wanting Haruto to work so hard for Takagi. Haruto can see how Tagaki is acting since he is only lying to himself and thinks Koyomi should be able to understand him. Now it is nighttime as Sidhe is walking around and Koyomi goes out as well. We see Takagi is practicing during this, but he stops and throws a fit. He hears the doorbell ring as he opens the door to see Koyomi (wait where's Sidhe?) and then Shunpei and Rinko show up as they have followed her. Everyone gets inside of the apartment where Koyomi asks Tagaki what he will do for tomorrow. Takagi says he doesn't care and would rather not play anymore. Koyomi can tell he is lying and that he is only afraid of living up to his past success. This is when Koyomi tells him that he should be living in the now as this triggers a flashback. Koyomi wanted to be dead since she was basically an empty shell, but Haruto tells her that no matter what they have to live in the now as he gives her the Please Ring. Koyomi then tells Takagi that Haruto will protect him as he is everyone's final hope. Returning back to Sidhe as he decided to take a cat nap. Medusa and Phoenix already catch him as Medusa convinces him to fight as Phoenix gives him some Ghuls to use in battle. Back to the heroes standing watch as Koyomi wants the two to leave, but they decide they want to stay since they are very much involved like she is. All three of them had help from Haruto and Rinko tells Koyomi that they are living in the now and can accept everything and then Koyomi tells the two they can stay if they want to. It's a new day as Haruto wakes up to hear the news that Koyomi, Shunpei, and Rinko are all went to protect the gate. We then cut to Takagi beginning his song for the contest as Sidhe summons some Ghuls and gets ready for an attack. Haruto is at the scene already as he transforms into Wizard and fights off the Ghuls. More Ghuls are summoned and Wizard takes out a ring to fight back. He uses the Copy Ring to make copies of himself as they all take out the gun and shoot down all the Ghuls. The fight goes one on one now and Sidhe tries to use his jumping as an advantage, but Wizard counters with Hurricane Styles as he can now fly around and reach wherever Sidhe goes to. He slashes Sidhe around and uses the Hurricane Slashing Strike to finish him off which makes a tornado first to trap Sidhe as Wizard then slashes him. The day is saved once more as Takagi didn't win, but he finally sees that he needs to live in the now. Takagi now accepts himself and will start to study abroad. The episode ends with Koyomi taking Haruto for some doughnuts as Rinko and Shunpei try to come with them, but like usual Shunpei he trips and hurts himself.

Episode 5 is a great follow up from episode 4. First the development for Koyomi was good with the comparison with Takagi. I liked how she acted distant because Haruto was the only one who accepted her. She was easily afraid of having other people know who she is since these two were mostly annoying her in the first place. With that in mind the scene where she does let the two stay around is nice. It's a good scene since Rinko is right. They were saved by Haruto and share having hope in him as they move forward. So the character interaction was great with Koyomi acting more open in the end.

Also in this episode we got a good look at Haruto in a big struggle already. First we have seen him resting a lot after a battle because of using too much magic. This time he completely ran out for bringing Koyomi back to life. Now this makes me wonder if there is a certain amount of time for Koyomi's revival since if she could be revived any moment why wouldn't he just wait until the Phantom was defeated? Still seeing Wizard having to use pure strength has the only option did show some different styles in his fighting. You could tell he was easily try to completely slash through Sidhe right before his armor vanished. Then we got the flashback where he see Haruto has his usual self promising Koyomi that he will be her hope. Thinking a little more with this because you can tell Koyomi means a lot to Haruto already. These two probably had some sort of connection already. What I can't wait for now is when Koyomi's Phantom to appear since she will have her memories and that could make her a big villain. So even though Haruto didn't do as much in this episode he still has a big impact which is great for a main character.

The villains were pretty much the same in this episode, but that is not a bad thing at all. Sidhe kept his laziness character trait. He even fled when Haruto couldn't fight. Some could complain that was stupid, but that's who Sidhe is. No matter what the situation when he is bothered he needs to take a break. Heck this goes further as he wanted more time to relax when he had a great chance to get Takagi. So his character kept on track as it works well showing that the villains do have opportunities to strike, which could mean there could be newly awakened Phantoms that Haruto couldn't save since he needs to rest. Medusa kept her scary appearance by threatening Sidhe again. Phoenix also kept his image with being confused and angry, but he did do something for once by giving Sidhe Ghuls to summon. So the villains are on the right track with good basic traits for now, but how they work really leaves me with a lot of thoughts. I bet Medusa and Phoenix do put Gates into despair as they leave other ones to other Phantoms.

Onto Takagi who finally say what he was really afraid of. This wasn't a taste of fame he had it was fear of his past. He was ashamed of himself since he used to win so many times before. He was only doubting himself as his skills started to slip or didn't start to improve. I bet Takagi was a natural pianist and didn't bother with studying since he was winning so many times. I really like how he wasn't sent to despair since he already faced what would lead him to it. I wonder if it's possible for a Gate to send him or herself to despair? So he wasn't sent into despair so could that mean he could have another appearance like Fourze had with past Switchers? I think that would be pretty interesting to see the Phantoms attack old targets if they are having trouble finding new ones.

There was one big action scene for this episode which is different than usual and there wasn't an underworld fight. I like this because this means there can give the series some fun with showing some new things with Wizard in general. We got a new ring which is Copy and it's very useful. The only flaw is that the copies will follow Haruto exactly so it isn't like Gatakiriba clones. I did like seeing how each Wizard copy could also summon a copy since they had the same ring. So don't expect fight scenes with all the forms since each copy will follow the original, but seeing finishers with the copies will easily be fun to watch. We got a closer look at Hurricane Styles in this fight and a song from Rider Chips! Again I will talk about the songs later, but I am happy that Rider Chips is back. Hurricane is a very good form and I love it a lot with the green look the constant wind surrounding Wizard to help him fly and give some boost to his attacks. We also got the Slash finisher for this form and I love seeing a tornado trapping the foe. It's very similar to how Wizard was going to finish Sidhe in the last episode with binding him so he can get a direct attack. I bet in the next arc we will get a better look at Land Styles, but for now Hurricane is very impressive following Wizard's great design and the power of wind is never disappointing.

This is another great episode for this series has I really hope the flame can stay lit. Wizard is having a strong beginning with really good writing as the character details are proof of that. What is said also makes a lot of sense and there aren't any bad characters yet. Everyone is enjoyable and they all add something to the episodes. Sidhe was more of a comedic villain and he does that part well and his lazy side is seen a lot. Koyomi's development came earlier than I expected and I can't wait to see her in the next episode. Overall I give this episode an A- one thing I am noticing about this series right now is there is some romance already being seen. I hope this isn't thrown out of the window.

Next Time: Oh, a little more romantic interest?