First about raw on Jefusion. My god, it needs to be put out of it's misery.
I had to download it to get proper aspect ratio, and even than, nothing could be done about horrible frame rate and abysmal sound quality. I am surprised I was actually able to understand the dialog.
Although ads were a nice touch, especially the one where entire McDonalds full of children flipped me the bird. (Wizard's signature gesture can easily be misunderstood)
Plus now I know that If I was Japanese I wouldn't be able to get into toku. Do they really need to put so many ads for their toys in 20 minutes long ad for the same toys?
About episode itself:
Let's start with the main character shall we.
Now I can't really tell for future, but so far he interacted with two people, so I am basing my opinions on that.
I like Haruto. He is kinda full of himself in a way, but he does not put people down like Tendou would and he seems friendly and warm to people.
I like that he is capable in fight, like his sillier relaxed side as well as his serious dedicated side. How he is serious about not letting the same thing (phantoms consuming desperate people aka Gates) happen again.
He is a tad bit Marry Sue (No, I refuse to use Garry Stu) but that's the direction they took with the character and so far they pulled it off. Will they keep it up though?
Also Devil Jin much?
Other character that got development is Rinko... And she is kinda generic. Your typical honest cop caught in the environment where she can't help and she looks up to her father and because of that her dream is ruined. She is not bad. But she's just there.
Others we barely got glimpses of, so nothing much to say.
Now about the episode.
As far as story goes, it's an introduction to the basics of the show, so there's really isn't much beyond exposition. Otherwise it's a Rinko story and I have already discussed her.
Overall episode was enjoyable and very much so. Beginning was cool, it felt quick and that's a good thing, because it means I liked the rider and ended up wanting more.
The whole CGI sequence for some reason didn't bother me as much, as some others usually would.
Wizard used quite a bit of kicking, so I guess I kinda satisfied, but the sword action was good too, so I'm fine. I just want more hand to hand, that's it.
Magic is used constantly and that is actually good, compared to other riders where abilities were nothing but trinkets for Rider to fight with, here it's a very much part of everything. I enjoy it, however cheesy it ends up being. (go Pocket Haruto! Ride the wind on your toy unicorn and milk the hell out of that suggestive pose, let children chant "phallic symbol phallic symbol" as you go!)
I liked how the Trailers were revealing enough to make us excited, yet tame enough to let us get surprised. Showing the scene with SFX missing, thus preventing huge spoiler is a very nice trick.
BTW Am I only one who heard transformers sounds when bike merged with dragon?
And I am honestly surprised that Land style was the first to be used, with Water, expected to be first not being revealed at all.