Kamen Rider Wizard Discussion Thread

I still think Koyomi is the weak link in Wizard. She was supposed to be central to the plot and the main thing driving Haruto, but it was difficult for me to get invested in her when she was barely around (and if she was, she'd usually be doing very little; the focus would be on Haruto's reaction to her.) The only Koyomi fans I have ever seen are those invested in Haruto and Koyomi as a romance, or who basically get excited over any/all female characters no matter how trivial to the story. Remember the little fan club that sprang up around the Drupers waitress in Gaim?

I find it hard to believe even now that the writing / production team could have so badly miscalculated how much screen time and presence Koyomi would need to justify the level of importance they built up around her. I would guess they were just desperate to get Makoto Okunaka (especially since she was still in PASSPO at the time) and thought that the more Haruto cared about her the more the audience would. I also wonder if the head writer (Tsuyoshi Kida) was less interested in her than the producer and director were; since he wrote the tie-in novel, where a lot of the function Koyomi served in the series is given to Rinko - even retconning events so that some things Koyomi did in the TV series were now done by Rinko. Like how it's very easy to get the impression from the TV series that Kida did not want to include Nitou, and sure enough, in the novel he barely features

I've bought my best friend Bethany multiple Wizard toys to use in cosplay. All four Dragon Ring sets, the Drago Timer & the Purple Golem Plamonster.

I have already finished my rewatch of Kamen Rider Wizard, yesterday and well...I actually did enjoyed the movie, "Wizard in Magic Land", but I was immediately disappointed with the way the final act of "Movie War Ultlimatum" ended. Maybe it's just me, but I cannot stand it when Toei would trade in practical effects and amazing fight choreography for CGI hot messes, like the final battle between Wizard, Fourze and the Akumaizers' doomsday machine. That was even worse than the over-the-top CGI effects of the live-action Speed Racer movie. And no, I will not get over it. *sigh!* F@#$ing Wachowskis! That and the stupid plot-twist of Owner being revealed as Yuu Kamimura/Belle Mask Poitrine's true form in the real world of the movie. And to quote Galvatron in "Transformers The Movie (1986)"...."This is bad comedy!"

Now, onto the main TV series, itself. Honestly, I don't think there is anything wrong with our main heroes, it's just that well maybe they needed better villains to fight. Haruto is among my favorite Kamen Rider protagonists next to Shinnosuke Tomari/Kamen Rider Drive, Emu Houjou/Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, and Eiji Hino/Kamen Rider OOO. But Nitou is kind of like the real highlight of the show, since he was the one who really did all the work and was willing to sacrifice his connections to Kimera and himself to save his friends. Wajima is so-so, but I could definitely see some shade of Zordon from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Seasons One-Three) within his character. Rinko is among my favorite female Kamen Rider protagonists because she is like a mix between Jasmine/Deka Yellow minus the psychic abilities and possibly Asuna/Poppy Pipopapo, in my eyes. But she as useful as supporting character than let's say, Mai from Gaim, Yui Kanzaki from Ryuki and Mari from Faiz. Still, I would've loved to see more of her being a part of Department 0 in the show. Shunpei is a comic-relief character, but I used to think he was annoying at first, but now...he's just kind of okay in my book. But, I think it would've been better if he wa written in to be Wajima's apprentice instead of Haruto's assistant in the show. That way, I would definitely get that whole "Zordon and Alpha V" comedic duo-dynamic between them. Which leads us to Koyomi, who unfortunately was a missed opportunity since she was also reduced to being a plot accessory for Haruto's character in the show. Alas, "Women in refrigerators". If you don't know what the term means, google seasrch it! Still, she was alright.

Sadly, I have to talk about Mayu, Yuzuru and Yamamoto being the three Kamen Rider Mages. Where do I even begin...Mayu, in my defense, should have been given a better rider suit design, than the mass-produced, generic, movie-exclusive rider suit. But what's even worse is that she wasn't even being given a better weapon to use against her final battle with Medusa. I don't know if it's me, but I feel like the writers and producers just don't like this character because of the fact that she's a girl, and that girls shouldn't be allowed to be Kamen Riders, period. Seriously, what kind of messed up sh*t is that and what kind of message is Toei trying to send to kids with this kind of blatant sexism? I mean, she's got a good character-arc, but she really deserves better accessories and a better-looking rider suit. Yuzuru and Yamamoto...yeah, they had their moments in episode 51, but I think it's best if they didn't get involved as being Kamen Riders afterwards. They definitely do not stand out as being Riders in the first place, nor did they have any intentions of being involved as Riders at all. They just got involved in this mishap because *Spoiler Alert!* Fueki Sou was just using them as sacrifical pillars to revive Koyomi as a complete being and extract tge Philosopher's Stone from her body. In a way, Yuzuru and Yamamoto are just two individuals that were not supposed to be chosen as Kamen Riders since tgey were basically forced against their free wills to reject the offer. I mean, they coukd only help, but as just temporary substitues and nothing more.

Now it's time for me to talk about the villains of this show. I am sorry, but before the revelation of Wiseman's connections to the White Wizard and Fueki Sou, the majoroty of them were just being really terrible at their jobs as villains, especially Phoenix and Medusa. I mean, they've got some unique designs. However, their motivations for being evil are just too weak, in my opinion. Maybe it's just the writing for these characters, but if Phoenix and Medusa were ordered by Wiseman to find more gates in order to give birth to more phantoms, then why not just do the jobs, themselves instead of just letting these other Phantom of the Week monsters who may or may not have their own agendas do the jobs for them just to avoid getting their hands dirty?! Who cares if there were other phantoms out there living among the humans, big whoop! I mean, yes, the show is supposed to be all serialized and is supposed to have a basic formula to keep the story engaging, but come on, Toei! Change it up!! Give us something new, something that we've never seen before, something challenging. Let the other phantoms have their own agendas and figure out a better way of getting them involved with the plot of the main TV storyline. Whether they want to vicuiously kill off all the humans to become more powerful and rule the world or create more phantoms out of their own free will in order to prevent their species from dying out. That would have been a lot more interesting to watch in Kamen Rider Wizard than, "This is bad guy! Hit bad guy, now go and rest our heroes!" for two whole episodes. Look at Gaoranger, for example. As much as I don't like the characters of that show, except for Gao Silver and Gao Yellow, that show at least establishd that before the main plot of each episode began, several orgs were just in either hiding or were living among the humans or just doing whatever they felt like doing because they had no one else telling them what to do. They had their own free will and were still evil as well. But the majority of the villains in Wizard, they literally have no free will at all. And it's probably why I could never takes this set of Kamen Rider villains very seriously, nor would I consider them to be among my favorite Kamen Rider villain characters. They just have unique monster suit designs, but weaker personalities. That's all I have to say about the phantoms as a villain group and as individual characters.

Okay, rant over! Now, on the positive side, you have Fueki Sou and Gremlin, who I actually do enjoy as being two different sympathetic villain characters in Tokusatsu, next to Frax from Power Rangers Time Force, Don Dolnero and Gien from Timeranger. They both were very well-written and honestly, not a single dull moment was going on between these two characters once we have gotten to know more about their respective backstories. But Gremlin?! He was a hoot. He's kind of like a mix between a pre-existing Heckyl from Power Rangers Dino Super Charge, the Questers from Boukenger, Basco from Gokaiger, Escape from Go-Busters, Dan Kuruto from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and the three Gaiark prime-ministers from Go-Onger. A character that likes to be portrayed as someone who is fun to watch, but is still evil. That what I would have loved to see in any other villain characters in Tokusatsu, especially with the majority of the phantoms in this show. Make them all either interesting, complexed, or at least fun to watch, but still be evil. I don't get why certain writers failed to understand what make shows like Kamen Rider, Super Sentai or Power Rangers great for people to watch when it comes to making the characters, the villains or the stories interesting in their own shows, nowadays.

So yeah, Fueki Sou, Gremlin, oh and the Golden Mage from "Wizard in Magic Land" and the Akumaizers...you have earned my respect as being interesing Kamen Rider villain characters.

Final thoughts on the show...Not bad, but I just wish that the majority of the villains were better-writtten and were properly handled as being memorable Tokusatsu characters. Great monster suit designs, but very bad motivations of why they are made to be evil. And lastly, I found episodes 52 and 53 to be rather pointless since, they were just tedious aftermath anniversary TV specials, instead of being a proper way to end Wizard's storyline, in my opinion. Episode 51 is the actual finale to Kamen Rider Wizard's main storyline. Not episodes 52 and 53.

"52 & 53 were a waste & 51 was the better finale" Uuuuuhhh no shit guys. 52 & 53 were mostly meant solely for an anniversary special & even then they were a decent cap off for the series for the show showing Haruto's never ending journery to keep Hope alive while also teasing the new Rider. Don't know why that such a bad thing just a little extra something for longtime fans.

And it was fun reminiscing all of the epicness up to Hurricane Dragon's Initial debut while also watching Shunpei be a lovable idiot that makes you want to put him in a headlock!

Sa showtime!