Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 25 Review: Rekindling

Going back to this arc of Kamen Rider Wizard, we left as the grandmother trying to offer herself so that she would become a Phantom. Luckily, Shunpei saves her from this, but he is knocked out and soon captured by Sora. Now there is a hostage situation as Shunpei will be killed if Grandma is not brought to them. How will our heroes deal with such a task.

Going to talk about Kousuke first since this is his episode again. Now you can tell that he isn't happy what just happened, but his grandmother tells him why she did it. She knows that he must eat Phantoms to live on so she tried to offer herself for him. Kousuke is furious about this and his grandmother still wants to go into Despair. The last time we had someone wanting despair was episode four as this time she wants to die since she has lived long enough and to help out her grandson in anyway possible. Also she is very positive that she wants this unlike in episode four where the Gate was just lying to himself. Now with all of this going on, Kousuke is very confused. He finally gets it though as he remembers his childhood moments when he thought he was being completely scolded. He was, but his grandmother was just watching out for him and protecting him. Kousuke finally has a talk with his grandmother as the two rekindle their relationship of grandson and grandmother.  Now I will agree that the whole grandmother thing is a bit cliche when you look at many anime series. How the series does it though is fine and it's never a bad thing to watch unless the actors are terrible, which these two are not. Overall this arc focusing on Kousuke and his grandmother really did well in this department of the episodes as we see a more mature Kousuke and learn more about how he grew up.

Continuing on about the grandmother as I said before I really love how she wants to be put into Despair. She knows very little, but is still so sure on doing it. She can be a scary person, but those scary qualities can be more loving if you see what she is getting at. When she scolded Kousuke it was because he could have completely got hurt or even died. She was just worried for him and for a family plot point that does happen a whole lot in other shows. It carries a good message though without saying it right of the blue. See even the little messages make you think a bit more than having a narrator just shoving information down your throat. Again this is cliche, but how the show carries it and treats it is well done and gives a nice message to carry on. I really enjoyed this character as she is a loving person, just slightly scary at times.

 

Our good friend Sora continues his trickery with our heroes as he ruins their plan of saving Shunpei the first time. He even uses Medusa then as he tricks Haruto to go to a bowling alley where she is at. He is so like Enter in many ways, I know I keep bring this up yet I will continue to talk about it. He's a tricky guy and easily knows what he is doing. He is also very informative, but when something new comes it can take him by surprise. Then we know the same tactics wouldn't work on him twice so in a way it's like dealing with a smarter Phoenix with no immortality. He is also strong in battle as he uses his trickery along with his dual sword play. He can vanish and reappear at a quick rate and then do big damage as he did cut through a whole trolley! Heck our heroes didn't get a hit on him at all and now that he knows more about the two heroes I can expect he will be a very challenging foe to face.

Sora is even using his trickery on Medusa as she didn't know she was being used. Of course she is not happy about this and tries to attack him, but with some parkour skills he avoids the attacks. See this is what I love about smart villains they know who they can't face in battle and can still use them. This should have been the point of Enter with Messiah, but I guess good writing can't exist there. Sora talks his way out with Medusa and gets her to calm down. Also with Medusa she likes to be in bowling alleys for some reason. I think this probably could have a connection to her Gate, Misa. Maybe she was had a bowling hobby or just liked to relax with a good game. So we had Medusa be herself as Sora is hogging the spotlight, but that will change next time.

Now with Shunpei still held up the team have to do something on the day of the trade. At first it seems they are fully agreeing to the trade, but it's a superhero series we all know that the turn around will happen at the end. I have to say I did like how things turned out as Kousuke really predicted on what would happen, I still say he is rather lucky that his rings work with Haruto. What happens is that to drive Grandma into despair the villains try to kill Kousuke, but thanks to his rings his body was turned into feathers. Heck the two were very confused since he gave up his belt. I will say I am not a fan of the explosions being more around Kousuke, but there were some in front of him so it did look believable at parts. Then Haruto comes out from the ground thanks to the Dolphi Ring and everyone is then saved. Before everything, Beast used the Falco ring on Haruto's belt making his body out of feathers. So when he got slashes his body was scattered and he stayed alive. This really quirks up my curiosity for what the other Beast rings can do as they helped out our heroes twice so far. I also really like that the villains went for a darker outcome then just getting the grandmother, but also trying to kill Beast!

Now we get to the action of the show and boy did I love it. Beast showed off more of his physical strength in this episode as he faced the muscle man Phantom. At first he was getting tossed around and with breakable objects around the area made things look better. With the use of Buffa he gets on par with the Phantom as the two have a power struggle. They clench their hands together and try to out do one another. At first the Phantom appears he has more strength, but Beast makes his comeback and grabs the Phantom. There he puts him in some type of hold pulling at his body. I even love how he jumps to put more force down on the Phantom when he gets back on the ground. For Wizard he fought Sora as I said before he uses his trickery in battle and that just helps with his character. The two then switch up as Wizard uses the four Dragon forms to fight the Phantom and sadly Beast didn't get a hit on him. I will say seeing the Drago Time again works in a neutral way for me. I was hoping for Haruto to stay in a more basic form since this was Beast's fight, but again using your strongest spell makes sense in battle. Going on with Beast he gets the finale by using his Kick Strike which I love as he get's a lion's head on his foot!

The episode ends with everyone making it out alive as Grandma goes back to her home safely as Kousuke will keep up his fight. Overall it's another really enjoyable episode that shows many things. First was Kousuke and him having a better relationship with his grandmother now as it helps show some more qualities of his. Next is Sora who continues to be great as he really uses his brain as his best weapon. Finally the action was well done with Beast having more of a physical fight and Sora using his tricks in battle. I give it an A- since I said before there are cliches in here, but the episode really did well with the overall feeling and some really good scene directions.

Next Time: Magical Brawl!