Was Wizard Perfect> No. However, I still had a fun time watching it.

@Uzur9

5 жыл бұрын

Ditto. Even after my re-watch feel my thoughts are the same, its ok.

Jacob's point about the way they handle depression and despair in this story really hit home with me. I also suffer from depression, and hearing that argument really shone a light on exactly why Wizard's plot didn't work for me. Same goes for even well-respected anime like AnoHana. It's specifically designed to yank at your heartstrings and elicit these strong emotions, and I resent storytelling like that. Combined with the other aspects of Wizard's storytelling that fell short for me, that narrative device really made me resent this show. Thank you, Jacob, for articulating that point so well.

@jacoblief8263

5 жыл бұрын

Chaosdude7111 You’re very welcome.

God, I love this season. My fifth favorite season with my favorite Kamen Rider ever and my second favorite secondary Rider. Wizard is a season that knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it almost flawlessly. Wizard wants to be a season that focusses a lot on Monster of the Week plots that tie into the major thematic of the show, what is it that drives us and gives us hope, with a plot that slowly advances over the course of the show but never really overshadows the main plot. And that is exactly how I like my Kamen Rider, because if one-of episodes aren't good why should I continue to watch? The MoW stuff characterizes the characters rather well by pushing them into bizarre situations and forcing them to deal with them in their own unique way and Wizard nails that. Haruto as a character just resonates with me, he is utterly broken. He suffers from survivors guilt after the death of his parents and the Sabbath. He gives up all of his dreams and his life before this point to be "The Last Hope" aka someone who can protect people to feel worth something. He only values his life so he can save more people and throws himself in more and more desperate situations because of that. And every time it looks like there is no chance of winning his confidant mask breaks showing how desperate he is underneath, but he still pushes on, even if the situation looks unwinnable, he still pushes on. And at the end of the series, he becomes more comfortable with who he is and that there is more to life than just saving people, he begins to live again, not to fixate on the past, but growing from it and using that to forge a better future for himself and the world. That is why he is my favorite Kamen Rider because he is so human but still has an unbeatable spirit. I also love Nitoh, he is a rather selfish guy at first but quickly grows as a person and becomes just as dedicated as Haruto even if it may come back to bite him later. And I also love his high-risk high reward lifestyle. risking his own safety for that of others. And the fact that he is the one to save the day, in the end, is really cool since most secondaries are just shafted during the final. The supporting characters are also fine, would have liked to see a bit more of Koyomi, but she was still very much fine and they hit all the needed beats with her. Never found Shunpai and Majima that annoying, their enthusiasm was kinda infectious to me. And Rinko was a rather active Rider girl that always tries in her own way to help and makes things easier for Haruto in the long run. And now the villains, first the MoW Phantoms, god are they memorable, I still can recall a good chunk of them because they were so unique and had some really cool powers and that is always a win for me. medusa is rather passive but shows very well what they went for with the Phantoms, bad hope. Hope that will hurt other people, she has no regard for others she is hurting and only cares for the admiration of Wiseman and that becomes her downfall. Phoenix is an angry bast that hopes for a good fight but this hope of his is a danger to everyone around him and ultimately he pays for it. And Gremlin, what a monster. I love him, he feels scarily real for the show, someone so deprived of humanity that he didn't change during the eclipse and just stayed the same, hoping to return to being human and continue onward like nothing ever happened and he is willing to do everything to achieve that hope of his. And then there is Wiseman, a simple man that created his own Phantom and became a Wizard through his twisted hope, willing to sacrifice everything, or at least all of Tokyo to bring back his daughter. He is a monster, but an oh so human monster, someone who loves his daughter and can't accept that he can't change the past, unwilling to let go, pretty much the opposite to Haruto. I can't other than to feel sorry for him, his plan is evil, but one can understand where he is coming from. He isn't evil for evil sake, he is just selfish to the extreme and his plan was great, only falling apart because of the one element not planed, Nitoh. He is the one to break the plan and give Haruto the chance to stop him. That shows him a scarily effective villain. All in all, Wizard just works perfectly for me and I'm always sad to see that it doesn't work for others, but hearing why is always interesting, even if I don't agree with some of the points.

@jacoblief8263

5 жыл бұрын

Layton 13 That’s what I like to hear. Thanks for sharing!

my third favorite Kamen rider series, let's see

I love Wizard, my friend Neo said it's "Gay" and "Sucks balls" but that's why I'm not friends with him anymore. Wizard's my favorite Kamen Rider

@NightwingTV

2 ай бұрын

It does suck balls but aight

As much as I know it's going to hurt me, I liked Wizard. I know it's shit, but I watched the show when I was depressed and going through rough times. So Ignored the terrible writing, since it helped me get past my depression.

@judaiyuki2156

Ай бұрын

I think it was good

@judaiyuki2156

Ай бұрын

But still has problems lol

"Blade in the beginning". There was definitely stuff later on that proved to be annoying. I mainly point to the episode where, after he got King, some random girl stole the Spade Ace card from Kenzaki and coerced him into bringing her to an amusement park or whatever with the card as hostage so that she would feel like someone was being nice to her. I totally see where Jacob is coming from with the whole ignored depression aspect of the show: for a series that focuses on people being driven to despair and who practically lose the will to live, they sure do use some trivial points of suffering for those victims. The only people I can really believe are those like the Green Mage, who nearly freaking had his wife and unborn child killed. Beyond that, with how much of a depression issue Japan seems to have in general, something like a show that focuses on people who suffer from it and how they come to deal with it or even move past it (most likely with help from friends and family) could be way more beneficial to that kind of culture than what Wizard ends up being. I recognize Wizard has a problem trivializing lots of things, including this.

When I was starting to get into Kamen Rider, I decided that I'd pick the season I thought had the coolest design, which was Wizard. I didn't even make it past the first few episodes, it was so insipid and nothing was being explained and dear God I couldn't with the characters. It felt like everything was just an excuse to get to the next set piece. And this is 52 episodes? Dear God, I feel so sorry for you guys. Good review, these are always a treat.

@xgray2012

5 жыл бұрын

You are not really missing out on much. It was just one of those average shows that had some good elements. But, it lacked potential. Stick with shows like Kamen Rider Decade, OOO, Drive, W, Ryuki or Gaim instead.

Wizard was excellent, sure some cringey-ness with Shuunpei and the flamboyant donut vender.. but IMO one of the most entertaining modern Kamen Rider series I've seen since Kamen Rider W (Double?)

Here's my main issue with the show, outside of what you guys said: Haruto's entire journey was pointless. His entire shtick, outside of soccer and liking plain sugar, was to be "people's best and last hope". That's cool on paper, and it's even more cool when you give him something that, he HIMSELF needs to have hope for, which is... saving Koyomi. While he spends all of his time helping heaps of complete strangers deal with their despair, the ONE THING he hopes for, the one thing that keeps him going, is denied to him. And you can't make me think otherwise. We can talk at length about how Wiseman/Sou Fueki's entire plan was absolute bullshit, or about the fact that no, I don't think Gremlin as a final villain makes any kind of sense given how much he overstayed his welcome, but the main issue is that Haruto, for better or worse, DESERVED closure, and he never got one. Don't tell me that him "accepting her ring" at the end is sign that his arc has concluded, or that it's the same situation as with Eiji and Ankh in OOO. Eiji's arc was about accepting what happened to him all those years ago, coming to terms with it, and moving on with his life, instead of running away from it. Ankh dying at the end gives him purpose to keep going AFTER his story has ended. Haruto's entire arc in Wizard was, again, him trying to save Koyomi. That was his ENTIRE raison d'etre, his own "last hope" thing. And that was denied him. So, basically, while someone like Eiji gets closure on his own personal arc AND gain a new focus, a new raison d'etre for his continued existence as a Rider after his own show has ended, Haruto gets fuck all as closure, and just has to accept that what he's been fighting for the whole time has been taken from him. And, just so we're clear: I don't mind that aspect when it's done well, but not when it comes out of left field for the sake of a lame-ass plot twist. Wanna see a character arc that ends with that character losing everything and having nothing to show for it, for all the sacrifices he did? Micchy from Gaim is pretty much that, because there's a reason to his failure, there's a lesson to be found here. Haruto's entire arc being not only denied a meaningful conclusion, but being even reduced to a "shoot the shaggy dog" story, has absolutely no reason to exist outside of a plot twist that should never have happened. That's why I dislike this show so much, and even more than Ghost - which I actually kinda like - and Ninninger: the ending was insulting. They built up the entire show out of that ONE THING, saving Koyomi. They even built their main character to have no personality, nothing, outside of three things: soccer, plain sugar and saving Koyomi, just so we could understand how important saving Koyomi was. Every time he was helping people by being their "last hope", we also got a flood of "Haruto wants to SAVE KOYOMI". Save Koyomi, save Koyomi, save Koyomi. That's the only thing motivating him... and it's the only thing that is denied him. And no. No, no, no, do NOT use the "yeaaaah but she was already dead and he had to learn to accept that" excuse. NO. It only works when you build the story that way. The entire time, we're being told "Koyomi has to be saved, there's a way", and there IS actually a way (until her father shows how stupid he is despite being super smart, and Gremlin pulls the lamest diabolus ex machina in the entire history of entertainment), only for that to be taken away. There's never a discussion about mourning and accepting the loss of someone. There's only ONE thing going on: Haruto's only motivation is S A V I N G K O Y O M I. And when you take that away, when you take the ONLY thing that motivates an otherwise bland character away and that character is the protagonist of your goddamn story, it makes the entire watch pointless, because his arc goes nowhere, his story is meaningless, and the conclusion to that story non-existant.

@Artahe

4 жыл бұрын

Also: him being the last hope of so many people is a good motivation for his role as a Kamen Rider, NOT for him as a person. The sign of a good main Rider is that he can exist as a character outside of the suit and have enough depth to him that you care when he's not in his Rider form. Kouta from Gaim is a prime example, Aruto from Zero-One, Eiji from OOO, Shotaro and Philip from W, etc...

Wizard in my opinion is the season of lost potential. It’s like Becker, it had the right pieces, but couldn’t fit them together right.

@Chaosdude7111

5 жыл бұрын

I honestly thought Ghost had more potential and squandered it than Wizard. Wizard always just bored me, and I found what little story beats they had more frustrating than anything else. Ghost was actually pretty good for the first twenty or thirty episodes, but then the writing fell flat on its face once Mugen came into the picture! That show squandered its "infinite potential" way more than Wizard did, in my opinion.

@Pisceshatter26

5 жыл бұрын

@@Chaosdude7111 i completely agree. Ghost and Wizard had so much potential to be great. The concepts of magic and using ghosts as their powers are awesome but the writers just didn't do them justice

Sorry to be that guy but the opening is sung by the lead vocalist of Golden Bomber, Sho Kiryuin not by Eternals Actor.

@envgaming

5 жыл бұрын

Kevin Jones I was gonna say the same thing. Drive’s OP is sung by Eternal

Have you see The Caligula Effect Overdose full story?

Decade had taken over this review

The reason I'm going to watch this show is the same reason you like Decade, Marcus: Haruto is one of my top 5 main riders. Yes he doesn't seem to get much, but his appearance after his show is fucking awesome.

I had to make a split second choice between watching this and a Dead Meat upload. It was a tough call but I picked this cause I couldn’t wait to see you guys ripping on this show. On a serious note, Wizard reminds me a lot of Sword Art Online. I’m not a fan of the anime, but the anime looks visiually pleasing and has a great soundtrack, but to me the story doesn’t hold up. If you want to get a fan into Kamen Rider, this would actually be a decent series to start with since it’s a pretty good introduction to it in my opinion since it doesn’t have a risky concept like Amazons that isolates casuals. Having watched other series, I couldn’t enjoy it, but I think if this had been the first I watched I would have enjoyed it

Great How we would fix kr black rx

@kaziazx

5 жыл бұрын

Make it not be a sequel to black

I don't think that Rinko & Koyomi were bad. I love the two. They were great. Shigeru was ok. But the rest were meh.

Y’all ignored my girl Medusa, and I frown :(

@NightwingTV

2 ай бұрын

Because who

IT's fine not that bad until episode 52-53 which was good except Gaim had to appear twice and second time as the ultimate savior but he already appeared earlier which would have been better if he ddnt appear earlier.... but still it was fine I'm happy just to see Tsukasa even though what they were doing before the end was confusing but hey its a fantasy show anything can happen its still a treat to see all my old fave riders together

No Kibou, only Zestubou

When your the voice of shunpei and they thrash your character. IM SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD!

I must admit, I enjoyed Wizard a LOT more when I sought out a sub not from TV-Nihon.

I guess you can saw....its showtime.

FINALLY, someone explains to me why they don't like Wizard using more than "It just sucks," like a bunch of whiny school children! Yes! Actual *legitimate* criticism! Thank you!!! (No joke. I've been looking for someone to explain the internet's seeming disdain for this season since Wizard first began. No one has been able to give be an actual breakdown till now. Seriously, Thank You!) Personal thoughts on the show... I rather like wizard~ It's not perfect and the plot is neigh non-existent; that I'll concede. I grew up with the original MMPR, so the monster of the week format and flat characters doesn't really bother me, but I can completely understand where it gets people. This is not the kinda show you want to marathon over a weekend. There's far better seasons if you want to do that. But personally if we're re-watching Wizard, we're just in it for the spectacle, not the plot. Between the flashy suits (mages not withstanding) and some of the best fight choreography in the franchise; the show nails the Vegas Stageshow ascetic they were going for and it makes for a fun popcorn flick to watch with your brain turned off. I feel Wizard is at it's best when you watch one or two episodes a week instead of trying to down the whole show in one sitting. Overall, I like wizard and it's become my go to series for introducing people into the franchise. It's average, but it has just enough spectacle to entice most of the people I introduce it to. And that way it lets me hold onto the best seasons for them to look forward to later. Is there a lot they could've done with it? Yes, obviously. And yes there are plenty of better seasons... but there's also plenty of worse ones... (Oh and because I get this far too often I'm just gonna head it off here.. The show not going hog with a swords & sorcery motif is *NOT* a valid criticism of the show. The theme was stage magicians and slight of hand magic tricks; not Harry Potter. Arcane magic was Wiseman's MO, not Haruto's, and only came into play towards the end. The show not being Kamen Rider Gandalf is not a valid critique in my book as it's the equivalent of dismissing Game of Thrones because it's not a show about carpentry. ...ok, sorry for the rant. I just get that response way too often and drives me nuts Every. Single. Time. I would love to actually hear about other people's takes on the show; just...don't make me listen to your Harry Potter fanfics, ok? )

*SIGH* Wizard. Why do you treat me so? Most of what I feel has been tackled in this review so I'll keep it to thoughts I feel I'm in the minority in. Beast... I love him, I love him so much. I personally find him so endearing and funny, even if he did get bitched out and left to deal with the minions. I still love him even though there are objectively better secondary riders in this franchise. Loved when he had to nut up and stopped the sabbath. Badass. 👌 The second half of the show is better but that's not saying much. I liked some of the later eps, like Haruto's backstory. Yeah it's outta nowhere and unrelated to the main story but I still liked it. There was an Ep where Haruto had the choice of breaking the Victim of the Week's Model Plane in hopes of bringing him to despair to lure out wiseman. As Haruto is contemplating it, the guy smashes the plane himself and reminds Haruto that he's there to fight for hope, not to destroy it. I thought it was a well written piece of Toku, simple as it may be. The KR Mage outfits look like badly designed school uniforms. I legit thought they were when we got screenshots of it and thought they'd be from the alternate world the Movie established or something. Maybe they'd be students @ a magic academy, I dunno. One big thing the movie could've done was to have the Victims of the Week mirror Fourze and come back to play a role in the Wizard movie. Kamen Rider Wizard Beast Style anyone? Fusion Style? He could steal Beast's form and become Hyper Style? Just some ideas. Overall, is this show good? I wouldn't say so. I know a few people who genuinely like it and I can sort of see why. The story isn't the best but it does have that intangible element to draw in the younger minds to watch it. For what it is, it's fine. It takes a lot for me to swing to either extreme of good or bad. Unsurprisingly, I felt this show was pretty average overall. I didn't hate life watching it like I did with Kiva but good gracious it was mid-tier to a tee. It made the few things I like stand out more, sure; however, I cannot in good faith recommend this show to anyone except maybe those in their teens. So yeah, I'd consider Wizard the biggest miss of the Neo-Heisei era thus far. Until we get to Ghost, this show holds the candle for biggest wasted potential. I pray for you guys when Ghost rolls around. Suggestion: After Ghost has been rewatched, drink a full helping of coffee, bring in notes of *everything* the show did wrong(plus the few right things it did), and have a jolly good time ripping on the show. Make sure to laugh at how bad the show is and not to submit to legit anger too much. Think back to the Marcus rant on how bad Specter and Necrom were treated in the Ghost finale. (See: Rant-o-Cast on The Nerfing of Secondary Riders) In that, he went off but Matt and Jacob were giggling and laughing at Marcus's rage because he was so angry. Have that be the general vibe of the review with the 3 of you rotating in the anger position while the other 2 sit back and enjoy the rage.

Zero in Japanese is rei

@Aikijou

5 жыл бұрын

It's both ゼロ and れい.

The only thing I like about wizard was the last episode and the introduction of my favorite kamen rider gaim

Man I miss after v everything about this show was hilarious and all the characters were actually great because they were bad.

I reached episode 8 and dropped because of that annoying side character dude. I rather not put up with him.

SIGH.....Wizard.....Such an aesthetically AMAZING show, but when it comes to actual writing....BLEH..... (Better than Kuuga though! Shots fired!) Lemme start off with Haruto: like you guys said, this character should've been SO MUCH BETTER. The dude at first started off with survivor's guilt from being one of the only people who came out of the Sabbat that happened long ago, and this is SUPPOSED to be his motivation for doing all this.....but they never really delve into his feelings about this & just how much it still bothers him. This had so much potential wasted. Also, something I don't think yall touched on enough, THE FRICKIN DRAGON!!! The Dragon was at first a very antagonistic character towards Haruto, who would threaten to take him over if he was too weak. I liked this type of relationship! However, how the heck did he just all of a sudden get all buddy-buddy with the Dragon to get Infinity?!! They don't even bother to give Haruto some moment of actually making amends with the Dragon Phantom within him!!! The heck?!! And speaking of Infinity....DEUS EX MACHINA....This form really came outta left field....Also, I SOOOOOO miss the cocky, charismatic Haruto from the first couple Episodes!!! Why did he all of a sudden lose that?! Thank God for Heisei Generations where his attitude was back. Kisuke.....SIGH, I really wanna like him....but he's just so...POINTLESS....For one thing, why is it we never get any sort of explanation on just what makes his Chimera magic "ancient," and what significance that has??? Yes, he has to eat Phantoms to satiate Chimera, but so what?!! That doesn't give us any historical context on Chimera or his Driver's origins.....Second, why does he get so little actual major wins? I will say, he was a major factor in beating Wiseman, but other than that....? Not much. Third, he doesn't go through any actual character development. He's just so bland.... Yoko? Easily the best support character of the show, but that's not really saying much since after Phoenix, she doesn't really contribute as much. And even her research into Phoenix didn't help that much, since it doesn't really make a difference in the long run on how to defeat him. Shunpei....I HATE this character!!! Not just because of how useless & annoying he is.....but how he lowkey had SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!! I said this once & I'll say it again: I think they should've taken Shunpei into a direction in the show where after Haruto saves him from his Phantom, he undergoes mentorship under Wajima to make Magic Rings, and unlike the show where he doesn't make one until the FRICKIN MOVIE, he actually does make some throughout the show, and at times will ASSIST IN COMBAT HIMSELF USING MAGIC RINGS HE MADE, which kinda fulfills his dream of being an ACTUAL MAGICIAN!!! This is something that always has annoyed me with Kamen Rider that we always tease but never actually do--and this kinda ties into a flaw I have with Kamen Rider Drive as well, when we get to it--Why is it that we can't have BASE HUMANS fight toe-to-toe somewhat with monsters of the week?!! Shunpei could've been something like this, where he could at least fight off some of the mooks with his magic rings, and also give some to Haruto to equip!!! Maybe he'd even be part of the reason the Infinity Ring comes into the show! That would've been COOL!!! Koyomi.....like yall said, she has some PRETTY BIG RELEVANCE for the show. It was a huge mistake to cast her if she was gonna be absent for so many Episodes. Phoenix was easily the best villain. No real qualms about him TBH. He was a decent first-Arc boss. Medusa.....was boring TBH. She didn't really do much, except for questioning who the Carbuncle Phantom was, and fighting against Mayu. Speaking of Mayu, I actually give the 3 Mages more credit than you guys. I actually don't have that much of an issue with the way they were handled. I actually liked their involvement & the way they were introduced throughout the show as people we could never predict if they could subdue their Phantom or not. Wiseman.....SIGH....I want to like this villain, I really do....but doing ALL THIS for the sake of your dead little girl...? C'mon now.....Not a fan of villains like this who put the world in danger just to save/revive ONE PERSON they loved. Finally, Gremlin. I'm.....iffy on this one. On one hand, I like this interesting distinction of a Phantom who has the memories of his human host, and how he pretty much became a bloodthirsty murderer like he was. However, I'm not a fan of last-minute villains. Kamen Rider has had this issue happen for a LOT OF TIMES, and I do not like it; Gremlin is no exception.

@omega1985

5 жыл бұрын

The GloryXros you had me until you said it was better than Kuuga

@TheGloryXros

5 жыл бұрын

@@omega1985 Well....I mean.....it has more story & plot engagement than Kuuga, that I'll tell you right now....

@Aikijou

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheGloryXros Strong disagree. Kuuga's story was the characters and their growth with each other, and Joe's growth within himself as a person. This is something it did exceptionally well. Wizard's story wasn't set up nearly as well, and it was just bland and boring because it stagnated hard with all the victims.

@jeppyjep

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheGloryXros Wizard has more story? Get outta here.

@TheGloryXros

3 жыл бұрын

@@Aikijou ....And what characterization did our MAIN CHARACTER have....? Simply that apparently he's the best in everything, he has 100 talents, and he's the nicest guy ever....BORING. Yea, Wizard's story isn't set up well, but at least it has SOME STRUCTURE OF A STORY rather than Kuuga....The plotline of Wiseman creating Mages in order to revive his daughter, the act creating the main villains of the show in the first place, etc. A LOT more content than what Kuuga gave with some random demons who just play bloody games with how they kill humans.