My Current Thoughts On Kamen Rider Series Part Three

Alright this one will actually have an easy theme to work with. I am focusing on the three shows after Kamen Rider Double, but I will go in order of Wizard, Fourze, and OOO. There is a very special reason why I am going to save OOO for last. I will admit I know the flak I got for loving Wizard when it was originally airing. Now as you can clearly see, I still have Wizard in the background because one I am lazy, but the other reason is that this background was made by a friend of mine so I will probably keep it because of that. For Kamen Rider Wizard, out of the three I will be mentioning this is still my personal favorite. I can easily agree that one of the other shows is stronger and that is the difference of a favorite and knowing when something is just better. Again that is all opinionated and if you feel your favorites are the best masterpieces around, you have the freedom to say that. For me as a critic, I need to know my personal favorites because it helps find out who I am and then just knowing what is simply a more well put together program is important for analyzing. Then both of these are important for when you want to recommend shows to other people. So let us actually get to the topic of Wizard and why it is still my personal favorite out of the shows that came after Double.

Kamen Rider Wizard

Why does Kamen Rider Wizard stand out to me as a person? One thing is that I may not be big on magic based heroes, I do love it when they are done with jewelry, weapons, and summons. A great example of this would be M.A.R not the best show, but it was fun to watch what different types of powers and magical weapons there were. In terms of designs, Wizard stands out with the jewel concepts and I love the use of black to make the other colors stand out. For the beginning of the action, I was a big fan of the action, Wizard had a great style of fighting and I will admit, when he got more powers some of those fights did lower in quality. There were some bad uses of CGI and there were good ones as well. I still enjoy the reveal of Water Dragon and the use of the Dragon summon fighting against the Phantoms inside others. I feel the Phantom concept was stronger than the Worms because of how they complete erase a person and will still have their memories which makes them extremely dangerous because of how they can interact with others. The story of how things simply went out of control because of one man's ambition is cliche I will admit that, but in the end the main story was not the focus of the show. Now that is a flaw in itself and it is hard to ignore. To me though, Wizard did have a strong focus on their filler episodes because of the concept of hope and despair. Haruto was helping out others to find their hope and while Haruto did hold onto his to become Wizard, he still needed to find some answers on his own. I find the show to be extremely helpful in regards to facing your despair and sometimes it does require a helping hand. Kamen Rider Beast while his story was simple, I can say his process of becoming a selfless person was fun, encouraging, and bit of a learning experience to how people can change. I even enjoy his motif of being a stage magician which inspired me to create a rider with the same motif, Trickster. No one in the cast actually bugged me and while some characters were wasted like the Mages, it was still a fun concept and had moments still. So with Kamen Rider Wizard it does hit many personal spots for me and it made it special for me to watch and I still remember many of the episodes and moments the show had. If it did focus a bit more on some story points we would probably have a bigger focus on the Mages and the White Mage, but in the end I am still happy to what Wizard was. So for my personal thoughts, Wizard still comes off as an A, but I will admit the show is a bit more of a B or B-

I still keep my opinions about Sora/Gremlin.

Kamen Rider Fourze

I have to say that with some great talks with my fellow Toku Warriors, mostly Janitor Joker. It did give me a bigger appreciation of this show. For Zolda, he extremely loves this show and when I first saw it, I did enjoy it. Now these days I am still rather mixed, but I see it in a better light than I originally did. It is hard for a show to do multiple characters that effect a story and that is probably one of Fourze's biggest achievements. The Kamen Rider Club was full of colorful characters and all had their own importance and even crucial story moments. For many the whole friendship angle can be beaten to death and while Fourze does follow it, the show performs the concept to where things feel nice and warm. By that I mean that the show can surprisingly be strong in showing how friends our made even if these people are completely different. Gentaro who dresses like a punk is actually the nicest person around and he makes a unique group of friends. We got the jock, the cheerleader, the goth, the spaz, the genius, the talented one who first starts out like a bully, and then someone who hides his pain. It really collects a lot of tropes and it has been done before and yet Fourze still has a nice smell to it. It felt natural for the most part in regards to friendship and it does not stop there are many others that Gentaro befriends, even teachers! Now something similar to Wizard, I did enjoy the concept of Fourze's weapons as well. Some were a bit silly and were not even weapons and yet some can be used for different purposes. My personal favorite is the Pen Switch because it was bizarre idea for a weapon and I wished it was used more. I can admit though some were just tossed out. The show did experiment around with them though as one of my favorite moments is when Fourze is just boarding along with with his claw. Cosmic States really holds up to be one of the best final forms around in terms of design and powers. Now one thing that did hurt the show was the villains. I am not talking about the Gamou and his loyal men, Libra, Virgo, and Leo. The rest of the Zodiarts were a bit lackluster though. When Cancer first came into the show, I enjoyed the hell out of him. The fun did not last long though and he was taken out by one of the most ridiculous forms and attacks in Kamen Rider history. Scorpio was good as well and had a good twist on who that actually was, but again when you keep moving on, you soon just forget about it though. Other Zodiarts were then just used for MOTW and while were still good, it would be more amusing if they were bigger villains in the end. The switch use got mixed up a bit in variety which was good and Meteor still had some awesome fights even if his character did just kind of stopped after his story was resolved. At least they still have Ryusei some funny moments and a girlfriend that all the fans want! So overall Fourze and Wizard do have similarities, but Fourze did have a more concrete story. So it is around the B+ area.

Kamen Rider OOO

I remember when I first watched OOO and I can still see my initial thoughts on the show. I praised it pretty well back then and there is Maki who I put as my favorite villain. I have to take back both of these claims. First I have a bone to pick with OOO in regards to what it did to Kamen Rider. We all remember Foundation X from Double. Riku Sanjo wanted to make the new Shocker and while Fourze did bring them back, sadly OOO easily caused a problem of not using Foundation X. There was even a connection in Kamen Rider Double where the foundation was researching the medals. What do we get in place of them, Kougami. While I love the guy's voice, what is reall his purpose in the show? That is pretty much what OOO is, what is the point? Eiji was a traveler and because of his past he did start to have desires, we learned that, then it takes like how many episodes for it to come to fruition? Eiji has a character was quite questionable as well because he is just watered down Godai and I can't believe I put this guy in my favorite characters list before! The Greeed were weak as villains and I still keep true to that. They got heavily ignored when Maki became the big villain and to be honest it is pointless as well. Literally it could have been anyone else who had interest in the Greeed. Then there was Maki's backstory with his sister and I remember originally liking that, but in the end that does not really connect to much. Things just happen in OOO and it just feels cluttered and messy. The whole concept of OOO was poorly handled as literally medals are thrown to the camera because you need to buy these things! The designs for OOO were messy when it was random combos and I will admit I personally like the random combos more though. The use of their powers had to be thought out, but even the writers gave up and just focused on the main combos. I still like most of the main combos as well, but some got overused and others were only ignored for budget reasons. The show just feels poorly planned because I do like the first Gatakiriba fight, but after that this form is so underused. At least the movie did something silly yet cool with that form. We even have Hina and her only connection to the story is because of Ankh using her brother's body and that was just by chance. I will say that I did heavily enjoy both Gotou and Date. Both Kamen Rider Briths were simply fun to watch for me. Gotou was a hero in progress and Date was the hero already that got to teach Gotou. It is Torodoki and Zanki again and while those two were better in the categories of, effective fighters, better development, and better weapons. Still Date was extremely fun as a character and gave the show the best humorous moments. I just feel bad for Birth in the end though, they just never stand a chance in any battle and yet Gotou could take down like three Greeeds when he first became Birth in the show. Then their is Ankh, I still like him and him becoming a threat later on was not shocking, but still fun in the end. Ankh slowly become more humane was enjoyable because meanwhile other Greeeds were just being... dumb. I can believe that Gamou was dumb and yet everyone else was not smart as well. The show's pacing is horrid, most of the fights were forgettable, the concept of OOO's powers are poorly handled, most of the characters are just boring, and yet it sold well. If you want to see how OOO could have been done well, just watch episode three and four of Kamen Rider Double.

Now do not get me started about OOO during the War movies!

Kamen Rider Wizard Series Review

Well it's finally time for me to review Kamen Rider Wizard. Now I am only basing this on the fifty-one episodes, I'm not counting the special two finale episodes, but again that will be a special review for the two episodes. Now if you know me I was a very strong supporter of Wizard, this is the first series that I have really liked and see mixed opinions. Wizard's split fanbase really made me think of how Hibiki was treated by the fans. Some love it and others say it's not even a rider series. Wizard got some of that as well from the fans. For me I am always fine for a franchise to branch out to a different motif or theme. Then with magic themes it's usually not a good thing for me. Now I can say magic movies or series are good, but I just don't like them personally. The best examples are Harry Potter and Magiranger as I don't like their form of magic and a form I do like is mostly alchemy so Full Metal Alchemist fits right there. Well I have held this long enough it's time to review this magical series.

The story of Kamen Rider Wizard is about a man named Haruto who becomes a Mage because of a ritual that had people turn into monsters called Phantoms. Haruto is still human because he fought his despair and gained magical powers. The reason why he even had this moment because he was a Gate, a Gate is a person who has magic in them. Now people who are Gates cannot use magic though, so it's merely stored there and when a person faces despair they have a fight with that. If they give in they become a monster called Phantoms that completely replace them as people. A Phantom is the darkest side of a person as they hunt down other Gates to gain more allies. When a Gate stands up against their despair, they keep their humanity and their magic is no longer stored, with the right equipment they can use their magic abilities. Haruto gains his powers from a White Mage who gave him his belt and rings. Haruto even finds a man called Wajime who made the jewels that Haruto now uses. So Haruto lives a new life as a Mage since his sole task is to defeat the Phantoms. Along with him though is a girl named Koyomi as she was also given to Haruto by the same person. She is not normal though, it is even questionable if she is human at all. She is a living doll that uses magic to function and Haruto has to give her magic so she can continue to live. Everyday Haruto has to find Phantoms, defeat them, and defend the Gates. Haruto can even save Gates from despair by going into their underworld and destroying the magical monster in that area. This will then leave a Gate unable to have magic anymore. Throughout the series Haruto starts to realize that there is far much more than a simple battle of good and evil and the main villain Wiseman is easily using his strings to put things into play.

So the other characters in the series are Rinko and Shunpei. Both of these people were saved by Haruto when they faced their despair. Now these two help out Haruto with protecting Gates. Rinko is a police officer who uses her position to protect people even though she doesn't have magic. Shunpei is a young man who had a love for magic when he was young and kept his belief of magic. When Shunpei was saved he decided to become Haruto's assistant since he cannot use magic, but he can help the man who does use it. There are even other side characters like Kizaki who is an officer in Section Zero who looks into Phantom cases. He is rather strict and sees Haruto as a threat, but he soon opens up to the man and accepts him as a hero. Then with the Phantoms there are some generals who get the other Phantoms to attack Gates. Wiseman's right hand Phantom is Medusa, she follows every word of her leader. At first she stands back, but when she strikes she strikes hard and gives the heroes a hard challenge. Phoenix is a Phantom who loves violence and nothing other than that. All he wants to do is fight and Wizard is his ultimate rival. He is pure sadism and when he is set loose, he makes sure to make his impression on the characters, physically! Later in the series a new Phantoms appears called Gremlin, but he rather call himself Sora, his human name. Sora has an attachment to his human life and even calls other Phantoms their human names. Sora is like Phoenix with that they are both sadists, Sora is more of a smarter one though and loves to mess with people. The secondary rider of the series is Beast who is Nitou Kousuke. This man found his belt on a archaeology trip and the Chimera of the belt gives Kousuke his powers, but he needs to consume Mana. If not Kousuke will not only lose his magic, but also his life. Then the main villain Wiseman is a very mysterious figure who gives all the Phantoms their orders while he stays in the shadows, but again he is the puppet master of the story.

There is also the White Mage, but shush.

Pros- Haruto was a really fun main rider character for me. I loved the things he goes through and how he overcomes them. He has a fear of death and still fights on and he really gets into tough situations. Also I love his actor, he brings some quirks to the character makes his scenes more enjoyable at many times. Along with that the many other characters were good to me as well. Koyomi could have been used more, but when she was used the series did use her very well. She has a good back story and how she reacts to situations made her a charming person. Rinko and Shunpei were basic characters, but at many times these two can do some great things. Rinko had her shining moments when she put her life on the line even though she cannot even manage fighting a simple Ghul. Shunpei can't fight at all, but he is morally strong and stays true to himself and he can give some nice comedic moments. Kousuke really gave me good impressions from his beginning since he acted like a hero, but still had anti-hero qualities. He even said Haruto was his rival in the beginning, but clearly as the series moved on he learns more about himself and doesn't see Haruto as a rival, but more of an ally. The Phantoms had pretty cool concepts to them as all of the monsters have connections with many mythologies. Phoenix and Sora are my personal favorites of the series and I can easily say Sora is my overall favorite. Both are heavy sadists and while Phoenix was a pure powerhouse and Sora was a clever villain. The designs were very good with both the heroes and villains, now Beast does look like OOO Ratorata, but he does have some nice designs still and Hyper looks cool. I was very happy with Wizard's designs, simple colors with black and when forms progress the colors take more of the suit and Infinity was amazing to look at and I am amazed how much it shined. This concept of magic I really liked, the idea of spells being equips in the form of rings was very fun to see. There were some really varied rings and yes some are ignored like Fourze's switches, but there are many variations so I was happy to see some of those. Now the biggest reason why I like Wizard is the hope versus despair concept. I have gone through many hard roads in my life and I always got back up. The series did really good with some of the moments of when people hit despair and got back up. Along with I had a lot of fun with the minor parts of the series, the minor characters were pretty unique compared to each other and many still are in my head. Then the overall feeling is very balanced it's not too dark and it's not too quirky. I went along with the drama and easily laughed along with the comedy.

Cons- Now there is a lot of filler here. A lot of the filler could have been cut, but again I had a lot of fun with those episodes, except for two.... Also the series did do a good job with balancing the minor with the major parts of the plot. Again there would be moments I would have switched around certain episodes. The series does go through many forms as well and different riders. Now some forms did get ignored and this lead to some attack spells being ignored, but there was a better balance compared to OOO and Fourze. Even some of the action got into a lower grade at many points and that really did weaken the experience, but most of the times there is more plot to have then and whenever they want some great action they do a great job. Still the biggest flaw is the amount of filler this series had and for some this can be hard to get through, but for me it wasn't nearly as bad compared to other series.

The Mage concept could have been done better.

Overall- Kamen Rider Wizard is a series that I do love, but it doesn't get into my top five because of filler overwhelming the series. This lead to some moments being rushed, but I still loved the ideas that were there and they may have been short, but I still love most of the direction. None of the characters except for one minor character... There were some nice effects used along with great designs and an very overall fun experience. Kamen Rider Wizard is my sixth favorite rider as I give the series an A-

Now I am going to enjoy some donuts!

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?