Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 24 Review: Fighting Evil By Moonlight

With Phoenix gone there is a large role to fill as our new friend, Sora is trying to take it. To do this he needs to show how he works as he will help another Phantom with his target. Along with this, Kousuke's grandmother comes for a visit as Kousuke is freaking out.

Since this is a Kousuke episode I feel like I should talk about him first. His relationship with his grandmother was never good as he says. So it makes sense why he still has this way of distancing himself away from her. Trust me relatives can be a scary thing. Now he doesn't hate her though, why would any child hate their grandma? The worse part is that she's the gate and he doesn't want to reveal that he is Beast so how will he protect her? I will bring up the you know what part for another time since it fits with one element. So Kousuke may seem distant, but he will protect his family. Kousuke usually acts like himself though, except for one part, still he keeps to his active nature with a mix of other emotions. Overall Kousuke brings up his playful self some more in this episode and his angles make sense.

For his grandmother, she is the relative that was too strict and that actually doesn't help with a child like Kousuke. He was a very active kid and didn't have a lot of fears and that is exactly why she needed to be strict. Sadly, this only made them more separate even when he got older. Since Kousuke wanted to go into college for Archaeology and she didn't want that for him. It's a good back story for Kousuke since we can see even though he was scolded he still kept that playful part of himself. Still have to wonder how he kept his hair like that though? Anyways, the grandmother is still caring for Kousuke even though she thinks he hates her. In the end she wants to help him and to do that she wants to fall into despair! Reason is that she finds out that Kousuke is Beast and needs to eat magical energy from Phantoms so she wants to become a Phantom for this purpose. I really liked this twist since you rarely seeing people wanting to be a monster (excluding Double). This wasn't even the cliffhanger for this arc so very good job of keeping up the suspense in the last minute of the episode. Kousuke's grandmother is a nice person as she was just too strict.

Shunpei gets more involved with this episode as he stands by the grandmother for most of the time. This is because he is had a strong bond with his grandmother, but she passed away when he was young. So in a way he is doing what he couldn't do with his grandma. Shunpei really tries to defend her and it's very honorable. Say all you want about Shunpei, but he's only human and the best thing to do is by being a protector. He even saves her from a big punch from the Phantom and this leads him to be taken as a hostage. Rinko had a small role which was getting Kousuke and his grandmother to meet each other. So good involvement from two of the supporting cast members. Rinko got things moving and Shunpei did a whole lot as he is getting tons of redeeming factors, even though I never hated his character so he is only getting better from starting as a good character.

The Phantom for this arc is a strong one as he is nothing, but pure muscle. He is not much of a thinker as well since he just goes right for the Gate for his first time. Lucky for him though he is getting help from Sora who thinks of a plan. I do like this Phantom he is a strong guy which is something the series hasn't done yet. The closest thing we got to the overly strong monster was Gargoyle since he could turn into stone. Also I love seeing him lifting things and destroying things that get in the crossfire. We got Sora also as it seems he was only trying to get rid of Phoenix so that he could join with Medusa. He could just be getting closer to Wiseman and he said he doesn't like what Wiseman does. So there is still that possibility that Sora is not actually being on the Phantoms' side. We already start to see how he plans things and in a way he is a sadistic fellow like Phoenix just in a different way. He is more humorousness about it so think of it like Enter when he was a good villain. So I am very happy with how Sora is starting out and can't wait to see how he will turn the tables further along the series.

Now for the comedy aspect and boy there was one specific part. First there was the opening scene where Kousuke is tricked by Rinko with a date to only get him to meet his grandma. Then seeing Kousuke struggling to keep the news of him being Beast silent was funny. Even when she was leaving he follows the gang to see her off as he uses a costume that makes him look like Shotaro Ishinomori somewhat. Alright I have been holding this for too long. Kousuke completely hides his identity as he portrays himself as the Magical Girl Beast! He acts all girly girly like the really stereotypical magical girl. I love this since the series had a nice nod to this before. I noticed because I thought of Sailor Moon and Haruto did uses a Dress Up Ring to dress him up in a tuxedo. Also he is a Kamen Rider so put two things together and you get Tuxedo Kamen. With Beast it's like a parody and I loved it. The strange camera angles and yes we got an ass shot from Beast. Beast then fences more than his usual hard slashes and seeing everyone react was great. Even the Phantom was getting freaked out. So yea there was a huge aspect of comedy in this episode and I love it since we had very serious episodes previously.

I will save you from not showing the ass shot.

For the action we got a nice tweak in it as we discover that Wizard can use Beast's rings! Sadly, Beast can't do the same since he has an older device. Wizard is like Nintendo, they have backwards compatibility. The ring Haruto uses is the Dolphi ring as it makes him turn into water and able to make swim through everything like it's water. I am very curious on what the other rings will do and I feel bad that Beast can't do the same. I would think a simple scan, but for his rings they need to be inserted unlike Wizard. We did get to see more of Kousuke's out of suit fighting, but this time it was in a closed environment. It was on a bus and he even transformed revealing himself to his grandmother. The fight on the bus was fun since having the little room really left the direction to have some creativity for Beast. We did get the door opening though.... expected. Then there was Wizard using his more standard forms which is nice and I think Haruto uses it as a way to get data on a foe before using stronger magic. Also it's great to see these nice suit designs keep being used.

I had a lot of fun with this episode. It was more comedic, but it still doesn't feel out of place as I said before Kousuke brought over more humor for the series. It was a good build up so when we get an episode like this it wouldn't feel like it came from nowhere. Again something you usually don't see with secondary riders as they bring more serious tones with them. Kousuke and his grandmother are doing fine as characters as both really do care for each other, they just have different ways of doing it. Not a whole lot of action, but the comedy was very nice so it's a nice change of pace. We did get to see more magical possibilities for Wizard as I wonder what happens if he gets Beast's Henshin ring? I will gives this episode an A- as my only complaint is that the whole grandma and grandson being distant is cliche, but it doesn't kill the whole episode.

Next Time: Smackdown!!!!