Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 51 Review: Finale! (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

With Fukei and Koyomi killed by Sora, he finally obtains the Philosopher's Stone and will begin his plan to return to being human once more. Will Haruto fall down into despair from the death of someone he loved, or will he find hope and stand up once more?

This is the real finale of the series as everything has now leaded up to Sora being the final villain of the series. This I am completely fine with, first he's a FOIL to Haruto since both lost their humanity, one became a hero, and the other kept his rotten heart. I really liked the contrast between these two as Sora's character was very well handled and what I like about him is that he is even a FOIL of Fukei, which can be said for Haruto as well. All three of these people share desires like how Haruto and Fukei wanted to save Koyomi while Fukei and Sora shared their views on the Philosopher Stone. So with that has happened Sora has become the ultimate being thanks to the stone that reverses death itself and his plan is to go on a rampage to make new Phantoms from near dying Gates. I have to say Sora going on a rampage really made me think about Phoenix which I can tell was the point since Phoenix's last episode had him going berserk. This is so that Sora can find magical energy he can absorb for the stone and with Fukei's weapon he can do so.

I love the design for the new Gremlin as it really screams a strong being. First are the additions of gold which I am always a fan of. Then the bulkiness is a good addition, but it doesn't make the suit look hard to move in or appear slower in anyway. I will have to question what exactly is on his shoulders, but oh well. Then my favorite part is his head, it completely changes what his original look was. There are changes that make more of a face for Gremlin, showing how close he is to becoming human. Now he is still a monster and the series proves that greatly with how he always did things, in the past and the present.

I will get to more of Sora's character later, but first it's time for the other cast members. Kousuke, Shunpei, and Rinko did their usual thing which was to protect others even though all three of them have no way of fighting off Phantoms. The important part was the three Mages decide to stand up and fight for the people. Even if they had been forced into this life, they will save others with their rings. I loved their entrance scene as they use spells while out of their transformations. Mayu used Chain, Yuzuru used Giant, and Yamamoto used Barrier. I will agree that the only person who doesn't feel right here is Yamamoto since he is still a fresh character. There are traits for him and the previous episode shown some of those well. Still it is a little late for some development for him, but I don't hate his character because of this. He's a man who is going to be father and he had a lot forced on him then. He does come to accept things though and fights along with the others. For Mayu and Yuzuru they were already fleshed out, but for them to enter the fight one more time was a nice moment since we had all three Mages fight together.

As for other characters we did get some nice moments from Wajima once more as he even comes to accept the death of Koyomi. When he sees Haruto going out promising to save Koyomi he though Haruto was going to do the impossible. Even the others were thinking he was aiming for the impossible when he confronts Gremlin. Rinko even thinks he wanted another Sabbath because they were done to save Koyomi. Again this shows that contrast with Fukei I mentioned before. Haruto does want to save Koyomi, but there is one important thing that Haruto follows and that is continuing on with what life has given him. Oh yea there was a moment with the Doughnut sellers when their shop gets destroyed by Gremlin and for some reason I wanted to say "My Cabbages!"

At the big fight, Haruto becomes Infinity to fight the new and stronger Gremlin and even he doesn't stand a chance. Sora knocks him out of his Infinity form and Haruto is left to defend himself in his base form. Now I will say I was hoping for at least a slightly bigger battle since it was rather brief for Infinity to fight Sora. I would have liked to see how Sora actually improved like him keeping with his speed like he couldn't have done in the last fight they had. I still do like how balanced it felt though as the two did give each other a fair amount of strikes to each other. Haruto finds the way to defeat him though and that is aim for his new hope of saving Koyomi, but more importantly her soul.

Haruto punches Sora where the stone is and he jumps into Sora's being to retrieve the stone. There he sees Koyomi for one last time as he uses his powers for his own hope for once. He takes the stone out of sora reverting him back to normal and the stone changes into a new ring for Haruto. This becomes Haruto final hope as he performs a new rider kick with the power of the stone. I loved the look of this kick and how it came to be was really good. First I love how Haruto knew the way to defeat Sora was to extract the stone from his body. Then comes him seeing Koyomi for the last time as he has listened to her, to protect the stone. Then comes the amazing rider kick and with Haruto's new found goal it felt accomplishing to perform it on Sora the man who did the opposite of Haruto.

There was a lot of good dialogue between the two as Sora begins to talk about how they are the same once more. He was a Phantom who kept his human heart, while Haruto was forced to be a Mage. At the end of the fight though Haruto tells him that he already lost his human soul. This is mostly implying how Sora was even before being a Phantom, he was a serial killer and had already became a monster. Sora though didn't see that and wanted his humanity back. I love how Sora reacts to what Haruto says right at his death. It feels like he accpeted his defeat in a way and takes one final blow before heading off to the grave. Also the major difference between the two is that Haruto moved on while Sora stuck onto the past like Fukei did. So in the end Sora lost his humanity long ago and now he dies being the monster he really was.

The series now ends with Haruto going off to put the Philosopher Stone somewhere safe so he can let Koyomi rest in peace. While Kousuke and Yuzuru go on a search for Chimera since Kousuke wants to learn more about him, probably since he let Kousuke live at the end. Rinko continues her search for Phantoms and with the help of Mayu the two will protect the city from evil. Meanwhile Yamamoto lives on being a father to his child. Then Shunpei becomes Waijima's apprentice as when Haruto returns he will have a special ring prepared for him. Overall I liked where this ended as each character has some new goal to strive for and with the help of other characters it makes it feel whole. Haruto is on his own now as he goes off to find Koyomi a place to rest.

I really did like the finale in most of it's story telling aspects, but the action could have been bigger. I did love how characters interacted with the finale like the three Mages teaming up, Kousuke and the other two fight and protect even without powers, and Haruto finds his hope and will continue to move on. Then the most important part I loved was how death was used in the end. Haruto accepted it and the series didn't pull off a Double! It really makes it feel like it's over which is something I always love in a series. If the action was better this would have been an A+, but I will give this episode an A-

Next Time: Get your daily serving of fruit from Kamen Rider Gaim!

Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 50 Review: Please VS Now! (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

Two more episodes of Wizard are left, again I do know about the Decade special, but I will leave that for a while so I can focus on other series, mostly Kyoryuger. So with Wizard as of right now, the Sabbath has been cancelled as Kousuke sacrificed his powers to stop it. Now Haruto is the only Mage who can even stand up to Fukei or is he ready to face his creator and savior?

With the Sabbath being cancelled the first important thing is that Yuzuru and Yamamoto are now back to normal and are alive. Sadly there is one of them that are not too happy about everything. This was Yamamoto who is absolutely angry. He was forced to be a Mage just because of one person died and the whole city was about to be killed for this one person. He actually blames Koyomi for this since everything is being done for her. Now I will say he is just angry and yelling to get steam out and Koyomi is the focus point here so I don't blame him for what he said. He could have said things better since Fukei is the real person to blame here. Still for being a man who was going to be a father and being forced away from his wife and he would lost his wife because of the Sabbath, I don't blame him for being angry. He is against all of this and then he says he will not be using magic since the reason why everyone is a Mage is because Fukei wanted to Koyomi.

This also continues with Yuzuru. At first he was not up to be a Mage since he was afraid of fighting. Now that he is one now though he has come to accept his fate of being one. Also with Kousuke unable to be a Mage makes him want to be one even more. Kousuke does tell him he doesn't have to fight and tells him to think about what is important for him. I really like what Kousuke says here because he does tell Yuzuru that he could fight, but he doesn't really need to. Yuzuru is still a young child and for him being a hero would be very hard. Yuzuru still has a chance to be using magic for good, but the idea "for good" is debatable because fighting isn't the only thing that can be good. So Yuzuru can still be a Mage and he does accept that which is a very important thing for him because again he didn't want to be one in the first place. Yuzuru is easily the most optimistic about being a Mage as even Mayu is not that positive.

Mayu has come to realization that even she doesn't want to be using magic like Yamamoto. She may not be blaming people, but she does see what Yamamoto said. Everything that they thought they were fighting for was actually for another person's cause. Mayu wanted to be a Mage to defeat Medusa, but Fukei just wanted to use her. This is even shown with how he used Medusa as both of these characters praised the man. Medusa followed Wiseman's words because she found a purpose to be working for him and Mayu got her purpose because of Fukei giving her the powers to fight Medusa. In the end though Medusa was back stabbed by her leader, literally. Mayu was back stabbed in a figurative way since Fukei stole her kill and then used her for his use. Now what Rinko says to her was good. Now a lot of bad things have happened, but in many ways people have been saved. If it wasn't for Haruto there would have been many people who would have not been affected by what he did. So how would things have played out for many other characters if their lives weren't changed by the rings?

Then there were some interesting moments for Koyomi and Fukei. Koyomi asks Fukei on how far he will go for his goal. She even tells him to not burden himself for her, which was something that the real Koyomi told him before she died. I loved how Fukei started to realize on how this Koyomi is carrying more than the real Koyomi's image. Koyomi even goes on saying that the real one would never want people to die just for her which also follows to how this Koyomi thinks. Fukei still wants his real daughter though and will continue his plans. It's a real interesting part of the episode because it's giving a "what if" situation. This "what if" is if this Koyomi is the real one. This is brought up by what she says which has similarities to the real one. Did Fukei actually succeed more than he thought he has done before. The only thing binding her down is her memory, but she does carry similar character traits from what we have seen from flashbacks.

Next is Sora who is like Fukei in the way of doing what they want to. Sora goes to length ends to get the stone just like how Fukei fights for Koyomi. Sora even goes so far by letting Fukei stab him with his weapon and boy was that brutal. Fukei does do this and impales him into a tree! Sora just used that moment to get that weapon since it's the only way to get the stone from Koyomi's body. Again I always liked Sora being a villain in the series, he had a good back story that I didn't see coming with him keeping his human heart. This even goes as far for him wanting to gain his humanity back as he is like a Mage, it's just he completely loses his humanity. Sora is basically how I wanted Enter because he stays the same, he doesn't have a complete turn around in his character. He is smart, cynical, and combines that with his bright personality. He's the happy psychopath and he does remind me of Hazama from Blazblue.

Haruto then starts to fight the man who he thought was his savior and saw his good intentions. At this moment though he knows Fukei has and is going too far with his plans. Haruto does share some of Fukei's intentions with saving Koyomi, but he wants to find a better way. He even promises that he will continue what Fukei started. Sadly, Fukei will not have this since he is the only one deserving to save him, since he is Koyomi's father and he made a promise to his daughter. I do like this, Haruto does share with what Fukei wants yet he wants to do it in a more safer way. Fukei has done many things though and he still hasn't fully used his plan with Mages being the pillars. It's basically the only option he has right now. Going on I really like how Fukei still has the foot up on Haruto until he gets Infinity back. Fukei made these rings that Haruto uses and that does apply to him being more used to the spells then. He knows exactly what Haruto can do and can counter it. He even faces the Drago Timer with his version of Copy, called Dupe which I love, that word needs to be used more often. We even saw more ring usage from the White Mage and it was great to see how he uses them more effectively. He made these spells and has the most experience with magic than anyone else in the series. Now onto the fight!

The White Mage uses the special dragon attack spells, like Special, Thunder, and Gravity. Along with that he used Explosion again which is easily his favorite spell and his version of a Kick Strike. I can't forget him using Dupe and I loved seeing him summon a dupe when Haruto made a version of a dragon form come out. He even then groups them up together to perfectly defeat all four of them with Thunder. Then round two comes and Haruto gets Infinity back thanks to Koyomi finding it. Fukei's fear has come to face him and he struggles against this power. Now I was sad to see Haruto not use a lot of rings, but Fukei easily used more spells. It would have been fun to see how strong some the spells would have been with Infinity. It was a really good fight though thanks to them fighting in the water, which I always love. Then the effects were glorious! Perfect timing along with camera cuts really made things look good. A great moment was when Haruto deflected flames away when he summons his weapon and the flames are blasted away by the diamond effects as they even contrast in the light. Finally the best part is when the two riders perform Kick Strikes. With Haruto he gets the rings around his foot, but with the diamond effects as Fukei gets the orange circles around him. The episode shows us perfectly how this clash happens and it's easily one of my favorite rider kick clashes.

Now the episode ends with Sora popping out after the big fight as Fukei still stands up. He gets the last blows on the man and even destroys his belt. Now some people complained that the sad music shouldn't have started with Fukei's death since he was the villain. I disagree as I bring up Ryubee again. That man got a sad death because again he was a man with good intentions. Fukei is very similar in this manor as he has saved people before and his intentions were good. Saving his daughter is not a bad thing, now I did love what Koyomi said after the big fight is that life that has died before should not be obtained. Then going on the man has done a whole lot, he broke the boundaries of science and magic by himself! It's sad that a man like him never saw when he crossed the line because he could have easily done better things. Sora then extracts the stone from Koyomi's body. Koyomi then talks on about a life once lost cannot be gained back and she goes on that even though she lived with the appearance of Koyomi, but she lived on as a different person. Her life was affected by many people who accepted her even though she was a doll. Koyomi even sees her death to be a good thing since she is connected to the major issues so with her being gone would stop this quest to save her. Even if Haruto could have continued with what Fukei has been doing, there is a chance he could cross the line and won't notice it like Fukei did. Her death was a very good one and I hope this won't end up like the past three series did with deaths.

Overall I am very excited for the finale of the series. There was a lot of build up and it all got out here. It really felt like I let go to a lot of things and feel somewhat refreshed. It did take a while and that could be a major reason why I feel like this, but I think the pay off is worth it. There is a good theme of death and how people can go too far. Also with good and evil and accepting what is happening right now and what the past affected. Episode fifty-one is right on the way and I can't wait to end the series, I hope it will be a good send off. I would give this episode an A+

Next Time: Sora becomes the ultimate being!

Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 49 Review: Turning a Pinch Into a Chance (Major Spoiler Alert!!!!)

Alright time to take a little break from my No More Heroes issue and time for some more Wizard. Last time we ended off with Fukei revealing what Koyomi actually is and the new Mages make their appearances. How will Fukei use all of these Mages?

Now this episode holds a big moment for the series, as Fukei is going to start the Sabbath once more. The real reason for the Sabbaths was to reawaken Koyomi's soul into the doll that we know as Koyomi. The Sabbaths gather magic into the stone in her body which will probably awaken Koyomi's soul back from the grave. Fukei attempted this at the Sabbath we know of and he first used Ghuls so this means the Ghuls were even his creations. Think about it, this is before the Phantoms were born from the first Sabbath so it's a very high chance that the Ghuls are artificial phantoms as well. Now I wouldn't doubt that Phantoms already exists since all that takes is a Gate to dive into despair. Since the Ghuls are the grunts though it makes a lot more sense that they were created by Fukei. Then going on there is another piece of information that got me thinking.

When Sora confronts, Kousuke, Rinko, and Shunpei he talks to them on what he thinks Fukei has been doing. Sora says that Phantoms are nothing, but a bonus for Fukei when he gathers magic energy. We can see as he has been using them ever since they were created. Fukei is a man who just uses everyone as a possible pawn as he really doesn't ignore his resources. He actually didn't considers using Mages until the first Sabbath failed and this is when he met Haruto. With the idea that Mages should have more magical energy than Phantoms he decides to use Mages. This is probably why he spread out his magic stones so that Haruto would grow as a Mage. Then with the other three he made they are very strong Mages already as they share his type of magic. So Haruto was pretty much his experiment to see how he can make him grow. This explains why he doesn't want the Infinity Ring around since it was a ring produced from Haruto and not Fukei's creation and this would apply to Beast being useless for his plans. Now with four Mages though he will begin the Sabbath once more.

The reason he wanted four Mages is that they can become the pillars for the ritual as they will be used for their magical energy. Haruto sees that he can be useful now since he learns that his purpose was all a lie. Sadly, Fukei tricks him again as the Mages are being used to make the magic circle around Tokyo! Fukei is planning to sacrifice all of the people in Tokyo for the ritual as anyone else with magic will live. It was even revealed that Fukei did force Yuzuru and Yamamoto to become Mages so they are being controlled in some way. For Haruto this is really a big moment for him as he is just being tricked and used by the man who saved his life and gave a new meaning in his life. Haruto wanted to fight for others and protect hope, but for Fukei none of that matters as he will use him to save Koyomi. With Haruto already trapped though and the other three Mages in place, Fukei uses the ring he got from Wajima to start the Sabbath.

Going on with Fukei he is really putting a lot of the line for his daughter. This is like the opposite of an episode of Full Metal Alchemist when a man sacrifices everything just for his research, even his own daughter. With Fukei he will offer anything for his daughter and it really makes me think of Ryuube from Kamen Rider Double. Both of this men had good intentions in the beginning, but they started to go to dire lines and star to make things crumble around them as long there is still a path for them. Ryuube mostly offered his family for his goals and with Fukei he is putting everything on the line for his family. Also these two work around with the higher powers as with Ryuube it was the world itself and with Fukei it was magic. I do like how Fukei went into his plans by forging science along with magic which is really something I like a whole lot, personally that is my favorite form of magic. Overall, I really enjoy Fukei as a villain since he has good character points to look into and him being a father to save his daughter and even breaking the bind between science and magic is amazing even if he uses it for evil.

The Sabbath begins and the red cracks start to appear around the city as everyone who doesn't have magic start to fall to the ground. I really have to say I really like this part of the episode as the style it was presented in was very well done. I love the dark backgrounds, the angle of the cameras, and the effects giving actually lighting around the setting. There was a lot of attention to this moment and I cannot ignore on how it was executed. Another nice effect was the purple mist around the area mostly around the four Mages in the beginning. Again everything just blends perfectly and it really gives off an eerie feeling. It's fits perfectly since a whole city of people are going to be killed just like how the first Sabbath happened. Then for the last touch was the flute playing in the background, sorry I just like the flute a whole lot. I do have to wonder how big the last Sabbath was though with the use of Phantoms.

So with the four Mages stuck in the ritual and everyone with magic cannot even move, the only person left is Kousuke. He finds his way to the center where he promises to save everyone from the Sabbath and he has one more fight with Fukei. Even though we have seen these two fight before the dialogue really made this scene great. Fukei keeps going on about Beast being an archetype and how he would defeat him because of that, but Kousuke keeps up his confidence. He even gets annoyed by how many times Fukei says archetype to him and he actually does defeat him, but not in the way one would think. Then there with the dark backgrounds and low lighting it really makes a lot of the effects stand out. Fukei's white and purple effects really jump out the same for Beast's attacks. Even with Hyper form, Kousuke has no chance of defeating Fukei in combat, but he thinks of a plan that will put his life at risk. He plans to make his goodbye to Chimera as he is running low of magic energy. What exactly is his plan?

Kousuke takes Fukei's weapon and plunges into his belt, causing it to release Chimera! His plan is to have Chimera to eat the magical energy in the area and ending the Sabbath that way. Personally I love when a hero can win in this style, it shows that they will find other ways of winning other than just beating up the villain. So Kousuke finds the perfect to defeat Fukei which is to use his style of magic devouring to end the Sabbath. Chimera in fact does eat all the energy causing the Sabbath and ending it. Now at first I thought this was Kousuke's death, but he lives and Chimera decides to set him free from being Beast. Chimera flies off and this ends Kamen Rider Beast. Kousuke is not dead, but he cannot become Beast anymore since his belt is damaged and Chimera goes off on his own. I am really trying to remember the last time we had a rider have an ending like this. The only one I can think of was Kabuto since some rider powers were destroyed and riders were even killed in that series. A close one would be Saga also, but it just got tossed aside like Thebee did. It's been a long time since had this in the series and it really stands out since it's a great final moment for Kousuke.

The beginning Kousuke came into the show he was a selfish fellow who was fighting for himself and that was understandable since he had to live off of magical energy. Then he started to learn that others come before him and the series did a very good job of having those moments for him. Like the first time he saved a Gate, when he helped the archeologist, Nakamara, and his bond with Yuzuru. He started to become a very selfless person and this moment really shows that well. Kousuke's life motif was to make every pinch into a chance and being Beast was his ultimate pinch and chance. Kousuke now throws that away so that others can live on and ending his days of being a superhero. Even though his character doesn't have a big connection with the plot of the series he made himself a huge part and he was a secondary rider that didn't felt ignored like some of the recent ones did like Birth and Meteor. Thank you for all you did Kousuke!

This episode may hold onto less elements compared to other episodes, but the parts in this episode are really big. First we have the second Sabbath which could have caused the end of the all people in Tokyo. We got to see more of Fukei's determination and see how far he would go. Then we had Haruto trying to find good in this, but just finding out he was being tricked once more. Then finally was Kousuke's biggest chance in his life as he saved everyone from the Sabbath. It's a really strong episode as I would give it an A because I do feel like there could have been a little more things to play around in this episode. Maybe a little longer scene with Koyomi and Fukei and some more with Sora. It's still a very good episode though so I'm still very happy about that.

Next Time: The hero faces his savior.

Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 48 Review: Magic and Science (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

Last time on Kamen Rider Wizard, the reveal of Wiseman has been revealed to be the man who has been gathering up Mages, Fukei, the White Mage. What exactly is his purpose for being a Phantom and a Mage?

A lot was revealed in this episode as we got to learn a lot more about Fukei and his true intentions, but first I want to take a look at how the characters are acting towards the recent events. With Yamamoto being kidnapped now, the gang try to look for Fukei, but after five days there are still no clues. The first person to focus on is Haruto as he is really at a breaking point. Haruto has been trusting Fukei a lot more recently ever since he saved Koyomi. He even gave up his Infinity Ring and has put himself on a huge handicap. Haruto is also going through what Kousuke has been having recently which is questioning if he really is being helpful. Haruto has saved many people before, but as of recently he is causing more issues in the end. Along with that he constantly worries about Koyomi as each day passes. With all of this he wants to meet Fukei and finally confront him on what he is doing, considering he is was the Phantom to start it all.

Next is Mayu who is having trouble of transforming because she is having second thoughts on being a Mage now. I don't blame her, her purpose of being a Mage has been taken away. All of that hard work and effort she put into being a Mage as been for nothing since Wiseman killed Medusa. I can easily tell that Mayu is no longer a supporter of the White Wizard since the man who gave her reason to fight on is now the man who got rid of her purpose. As I said before she is even having second thoughts on even fighting as a Mage meaning she only wanted to fight Medusa. Again with Medusa gone she really has no purpose to fight anymore and since Fukei wants to use her more, it makes it look like she was tricked into becoming a Mage this whole time. So what now of Mayu since Yuzuru appears and kidnaps her as he is a new Kamen Rider Mage.

Yuzuru has come back, but he is not himself anymore. The same for Yamamoto as he has become the third Kamen Rider Mage. I do like how both of these two get a different variation of Mage as Yuzuru has a blue gem helmet while Yamamoto gets green. Now I will say Yamamoto has a Mage was a bit fast since he was just the Gate character in the last episodes. With Yuzuru though this does work as a nice shocking reveal since this is the boy who didn't want to be a Mage and here he is fighting Beast. Also I still like the Mage outfit keeping the skirt really working well the uni-sex idea of the suit. Now I do expect that Fukei has some sense of mind control that he developed as he uses this on people he cannot trick to become Mages. Also I do like how he found a way to have his style of magic be used in the three Mages. Since it is revealed that Fukei has used both magic and science to proceed with his goals he found the perfect uniform idea of magic. Also how Yuzuru fought was quite impressive as the best part was him using the Giant Ring to enlarge his claw.

So how did Kousuke react to this, well at first he was excited. The boy who was kidnapped is now away from the kidnapper, but I don't know how he didn't see the belt. Then there was Yuzuru's face, he looked tired and worn out hence he is being forced to work. Then when Kousuke sees Yuzuru become a Mage, a part of Kousuke really sunk down, but he still puts up the front to fight Yuzuru. Now he doesn't get a major blow on him since Kousuke is limiting himself to attack a child, but Yuzuru doesn't hold back. I wonder if this will happen again and next time Kousuke will put more into the fight. Now I'm not saying he should be beating up a child, but there are reasons and he can do this without hurting him. His Chamelo Ring can easily do this well. Maybe Kousuke will go for the source of all this trouble, Fukei so another fight with Beast and White Mage will probably happen.

For Koyomi she was still in the magical dimension that Fukei left her in from the previous episode, but since her magic energy is depleting faster in that area, Fukei takes her out into a home. Koyomi discovers that this home was her when she was human as she reads a diary. This had Fukei's writing as the last page describes the day that Koyomi died from a disease. So this easily explains on who Koyomi is now, she is a shell of a former human being since the real person died in a previous time. Koyomi's memories have also been lost since the real person is long gone. Now we don't learn what exactly she is yet, but it does come later this episode. Koyomi also finds out she is Fukei's daughter, but all of this news doesn't make her happy since now she is questioning on who she is even more. If Koyomi is dead, then who is she?

We also learn about Fukei's past through what Kizaki has discovered since he has woken up from his coma. Kizaki realizes that he was targeted because he found out who Fukei was as he tells Haruto and Rinko who he was. Fukei was a physicist, but also an expert of medicine and science. His wife died long ago and he does have a daughter. Then this is where we learn from Koyomi's point of view of the real Koyomi dying before Fukei's eyes and him crying about the death of his daughter. Now some may expect that this is where Fukei has become Wiseman and started to use magic and thought of the plan to save Koyomi, but that wouldn't make sense. Phantoms are usually the darker side of a person so why would an evil side of him want to save Koyomi? Luckily the episode already uncovers that mystery as Haruto finds Fukei thanks to Kizaki giving him the address of his house.

When Haruto meets him his first thought is that Wiseman is the Phantom version of Fukei, but that isn't the truth. Wiseman is actually called Carbuncle which is a mythical creature that has a jewel in his head. This is an accurate to who the Phantom is as Wiseman has taken jewels out of his body. What is surprising though is that, Fukei made this Phantom so that he could use magic which is why he can also be a Mage. This then explains on why he couldn't help Koyomi with giving her magic energy since she needed pure magic from a true Mage and Fukei is not really the real thing. I love how Fukei went this far for his solutions and it's quite ironic that this man didn't lose his humanity since the Phantom he made didn't take over him. What's ironic is that Fukei has become a sort of a darker version of himself and yet he is still human. Later, we then discover what Koyomi really is. She is holding the Philosopher's Stone in her body and that magic works as preserving her body and again Fukei isn't a real Mage so he does have limited amount of magic. So he could have helped Koyomi, but he needs magic to perform another Sabbath. So Fukei has been putting people's lives at risk just so he can save Koyomi and this man concurred not only his own despair, but the boundaries of magic and science.

Overall I am very happy on how the story has gotten to this point. Even though Fukei being Wiseman was predictable I do love how they used his character. He was a man who lost his way of trying to save his daughter as he found a way to use science to create magic inside his own body. He's an amazing man, but it's too bad he became evil like a Phantom is. Then how the characters were reacting to the events was realistic and the idea of more Mages appearing is nice. Now I will say this could have been revealed earlier in the series if it wasn't for the filler, but that is against the series, not the actual episode. The reason why I am not covering the action since there wasn't barely any, but this episode was more dramatic so I can let it slide. So I give this episode an A-

Next Time: Will Haruto put a stop to Fukei's plans?

Kamen Rider Wizard Episode 47 Review: A Father's Nightmare (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

Last time on Wizard, Fukei appears and saves Koyomi from being kidnapped by Sora as he even takes her away when he finds out about the cracks on her hand. Even with Koyomi gone though, the team need to focus on the Gate as his wife and child are in danger.

I am quite surprised how some people took the new of Koyomi being taken by Fukei, mostly Wajime. He nearly collapsed when he heard the news like he lost his own daughter. The way he talked made him sound like a father as well since he was saying that this could be for the best. Koyomi had a brave front and is having a worse condition than she usually has so maybe Fukei actually knows something. Also knowing that he protected her and wanting her to be alive and well does make him look good once again. The group then knows of Fukei being Koyomi's father so again a father should protect her daughter, right? Haruto is putting a lot of trust in the man and with a Gate in danger he makes sure that the focus should be the Gate as of now. Kousuke was pissed off thinking it was another kidnapping like how Yuzruru was taken, but he does calm down knowing about the father daughter connection.

The most interesting part was how Mayu is reacting towards all of this while she is still aiming at her true goal. She was surprised on how Haruto of all people was changing his focus because of his trust in Fukei. Then when she hears from Haruto that he is still very worried about her, Mayu confesses on what she is actually doing. She tells Haruto that she came to steal the Infinity Ring to exchange with the Holy Ring we saw in the previous episode. Haruto then does another surprising thing and lets her take the ring because the very reason why Mayu is a Mage is to defeat Medusa so Haruto wants her to at least get rid of a burden in her life. Again, Mayu is being used very well even considering we are getting closer to the finale of the series, her character is going through a lot and she wants the job done as quickly as possible. Having Haruto help her does show how much Haruto trust Fukei and wanting Mayu to finish off Medusa as he now has gotten rid of his strongest power.

Now the reason why the White Mage wants the Infinity Ring is because the fact that this ring came from Haruto's body. It's not a ring made from the magic stones as he says there is a risk of using that power. He even says that he could destroy Haruto if he uses that ring more. Now I do wonder if that is true because when Fukei first saw Infinity he said it could be a problem, this could be the problem he is talking about. He wants Mages so having one dead is easily not a good thing. Now his reason for wanting Mages is still unclear, but a lot has been revealed about Fukei and the possibilities have been killed and more have opened up. For now though, still knowing little about him he is following his own plans and he has crossed the lines from them before, but he is now helping our heroes again.

The Gate of this episode did get more focus as we do get to know more about him this time. Masahiro is a man who is going to be a father soon. Already we can tell that his wife and unborn child will be his hope and Medusa already got onto this when she found a photo of the couple. Masahiro acts like how many father or husband would act in this situation and even with his life at risk he wants to go out to save his wife and child. Now I was expecting him to just go right into the fray without worrying about the monsters around him, but he does get stopped by the monsters. Now some may call him a coward, but again there is a limit on how a normal person goes with dealing with monsters as there is always a fear for the person's own life. Now this leads to Medusa appearing and trying to kill the wife, Aya. It seems like she succeeded and this drives the man into despair.

Luckily though, Aya was saved by Wizard thanks to Land Styles. Now Masahiro doesn't get out of despair right away as he does struggle with fighting this. He defeats his despair though as his life of being a father and being happy with his wife is still around. The best part is how the heroes were helping him through moral support to make him realize that his wife was safe. Also the best part about this character was how it works with the story as of now. The heroes are dealing with Fukei who is the father of Koyomi and he just fought Sora to save his daughter. Masahiro wanting to save his wife and future child is similar to this circumstance and then there was Wajime who acted like a father losing a child. Even though the Gate didn't have much depth as a character he does work well to be a good reflection of what is going on right now. The last arc also had a focus on fathers so this was easily a theme in both of those arc.

Medusa had a major focus for this episode as the many events of failure have been getting to her more and more. She still stands tall though since Wiseman puts a lot of hope into her. She wants to be with him for as long as possible, it's like she finds meaning in being with him. This has been shown many times with how Medusa feels about Wiseman and Sora questioning her loyalty. I would like to have known what Medusa went through when she first became a Phantom. Did she have issues dealing with the memories she had from Misa and Wiseman helped her out of this? Then Wiseman giving Medusa a purpose since she is the only Phantom who can see who a Gate is like how Koyomi could tell who Phantoms were. Wiseman wanted her around for a while as well, but he used her enough now.

I will get into the action now before getting to the big twist at the end of this episode. The Phantom again didn't get much as he was just the guy who attacked Aya. I will say it was nice to see Land be used for a longer period of time and then having Land Dragon be the form to finish things off. Beast also helped Wizard in fighting the spider Phantom as I loved the finisher with Wizard using the claws and mixing that with Beast's Hyper Magnum. There was some good ring use as I can tell Defend was used to protect Aya, Gravity was used to protect Rinko and the others when the floor fell down around them, Big was used with Land Dragon, and the finisher with Special summoning the claws. Sadly Beast's part of the fight was the struggle so he didn't get too much until when Wizard backed him up, duo rider action is still a plus though.

Now for Mayu, she gets the Holy Ring and quickly comes into battle by teleporting. She is ready to fight Medusa as the two riders let's her to have this fight. The fight was like the others which is actually sad because this is the final fight between the two. Mayu and Medusa were basically just brawling like two men having some fisticuffs. I was hoping for some more ring action since she does have spells like Barrier. I will say Medusa brought up a new beam like attack that she used on Aya, but not on Mayu well until the end. Mayu also got to use the Holy Ring which was a beam attack as well, but I really liked the effect for this one. It had particles group up to form the beam as you can see the many particles make up the beam. Also the sound effect for Holy was very good, so even though it was a beam attack it did have a lot of visual work on it. Sadly this doesn't defeat Medusa, but before she deals the final blow on Mayu, Wiseman stabs her!

Out of all the things to happen, I was not expecting Wiseman to pop up like he did. I was thinking Mayu would defend herself and somehow finish her off out of suit, but this works well. Now this is where Wiseman reveals who he really is and that is Fukei the White Mage. I will say this part was predictable since there weren't many other characters, but at least there were still possibilities as the series does cover these what if's. Even with a character reveal many have seen coming, the series knew how to deliver it. Medusa was killed by the one who gave her meaning. Medusa even knows it was only her and Wiseman so again she was fighting for him. Then to make things worse, Fukei transforms into the White Mage as Medusa sees all of this. Fukei does thank her for what she has done as he wanted her to find Gates because he wants Mages, not Phantoms. Then for the actress she really did this part well as it was like the part of her script was cut out and they just told her while filming that Medusa was just stabbed. The series made me feel sad about Medusa's death, that is very hard to do for a villain like her. Knowing how much she put into fighting for Wiseman though, having that man kill her, and ending with her finding out that she was lied to just makes her death a sad finale.

Overall this was a really strong episode. It carried the theme of fathers from the previous arc, had strong character moments with the biggest ones being Haruto, Mayu, and Medusa. This was also Medusa's final episode as Fukei now has four Mages since Masahiro fought his despair. Even with knowing that Fukei was on both sides the death of Medusa really made the scene shocking and unexpected. With that I give this episode an A.

Next Time: A new blue Mage?