Kamen Rider Wizard, Ep 1 - "The Wizard Uses Rings"

[Hidden Masta]

I think this proves that the audience would actually tune it in if they are interested, and it could suggest that despite the fact that the producer of Fourze wanted to have the series put a smile on children's smile in the wake of that terrible earthquake, his good intention may not have returned equal amount of goodwill from the viewers.

But they ain't no greater reward than putting smiles on children's smiles.

 

[Savior Den-o]

Huh, so Rinko's actress was the same one in Cho Den-O Ep. Blue. You know, that jerk of a girl who wanted to leave her grandma for her friends...even though she was her only living relative alive.

 

[TurboCharged]

Okay, so after watching it subbed, there was not too much I really ended up missing beyond that Haruto became a Phantom himself. The episode was still quite good but I swear, that is the most curteous henshin device ever.

BTW, I have a question about Over-Time's release itself. Is anyone else having moments where the picture seems to get dark, then light, then dark again? It seems weird and is most noticeable when Haruto is in the jail cell talking to Rinko. Secondly, the subs seem to cut off and continue on the next line a couple of times mid-word. Did anyone notice this? For example, the last word on the top sentence will be pro and then the first word on the bottom sentence would be tect.

yeah...Overtime doesn't really take it's time making the subs. But for what's it's worth it's decent for a sub that comes out in 24 hours...

 

[WBXRiderFan]

I think this proves that the audience would actually tune it in if they are interested, and it could suggest that despite the fact that the producer of Fourze wanted to have the series put a smile on children's smile in the wake of that terrible earthquake, his good intention may not have returned equal amount of goodwill from the viewers.

Wizard also seemed to get a lot of promotion on the day it aired. Tuned in an hour early and caught a new promo, which they played at least four more times before Wizard actually aired. So that might have had something to do with it.

 

[Hidden Masta]

yeah...Overtime doesn't really take it's time making the subs. But for what's it's worth it's decent for a sub that comes out in 24 hours...

I've never had that problem actually.

 

[Dark Kabuto]

yeah...Overtime doesn't really take it's time making the subs. But for what's it's worth it's decent for a sub that comes out in 24 hours...

Agreed. I never really cared for TVN's fancy sub titles, and couldn't stand watching an episode a week after it aired.

 

[GoseiKnight]

Kamen Rider Wizard is already proving to be an amazing series. No doubt it'll already get better reception than Fourze hands down. Same goes for Climax Heroes Fourze.

I can't wait for the the Rider team up movie.

 

[NateRiver]

yeah...Overtime doesn't really take it's time making the subs. But for what's it's worth it's decent for a sub that comes out in 24 hours...

Agreed. I never really cared for TVN's fancy sub titles, and couldn't stand watching an episode a week after it aired.

SUDDENLY KINGRANGER

 

[Grand Kougami]

Finished episode 1 and 40 something episodes to go.

This is kinda new for Kamen Rider as it somehow breaks the current tradition in quite a good way by making the main guy a Kamen Rider in the first episode alone without presently acquiring it from someone like how Shotaro got it from Philip through Gentaro via Kengo (albeit we saw a flash back about him acquiring it but let us just focus in the present here.)


I like the idea here with the combined Kuuga, Agito, W, OOO themes into one show.

Kuuga- For we have the main color back to red, the bike is red and so does nearly the color same set that he has (sans the yellow one wherein Kuuga has purple/violet as Titan). Also, the police are involved once again (and as cannon fodder red shirts) with a female having nearly a similar role to that of Chief Ichijo or his Decade counterpart Ai Yashiro.

Agito- For the obvious magical theme that both shared.

W- for the Left and Right functionalities.

OOO- Desire and Despair.

 

[ooo5]

Wizard opens both with a bang and a Rider Break!

- All in all it was both an entertaining and interesting first episode. The premise was introduced well, we got the basic gist of most of the cast, we've got some mysterious backstory to keep us guessing, the fight scenes were nice though not yet at the level of some of Sakamoto's Fourze fights, and I genuinely liked the theme song though I'm disappointed that it doesn't actually say Wizard's name. That was one of the things I really liked about the past few Rider openings. I'm hoping it's at least as good as Fourze's opening in that it changes over time depending on the current status quo.

- Not really much to say about Haruto other than he strikes me as really aloof. I wouldn't call him arrogant, at least not to the degree that guys like Kusaka and Ryusei were. I guess you could say he has Tendou's aloofness mixed in with Eiji's optimism, which prevents him from being as big a jerk as Tendou could be when he tried to help people. I'm hoping for more character development as the series goes on and when we get more of his backstory. But all in all, I have no problems with him so far as Main Rider.

- It's nice that Rider is going back to the Kuuga-Agito route of having the police be involved to some degree with what's going on. I think it gives what's going on a bit more weight and realism by having a police influence, and allows for more normal human reactions to the craziness of the Rider universe. And it might've just been me, but I could see some sexual tension between Haruto and Rinko. Knowing Rider it'll probably not go anywhere, especially since Haruto is the main Rider, but I think it's interesting all the same.

- Wizard's actually pretty cool, from his casual shootings of the foot soldiers to utterly beating the tar out of the Apparition, not to mention he's the first Rider with a longcoat incorporated into his suit. Though I'm surprised that we saw every Style but Water, since I'd think establishing each and every form in the first episode would be a priority. And I'm honestly not crazy about his Rider Kick. The backflip was fine, but I think the actual Kick was much too fast. But maybe I'll grow used to it the more use it gets.

- I'm just going to echo the sentiment that I think they used a wee bit too much CGI this episode. The fight was cool, though it probably cost the budget a little. That's always been Rider's problem, that it uses up a lot of CGI in the beginning and the effects and action as a whole suffer in the middle and close to the end because of it.

- The Phantoms and Apparitions were cool ,though I couldn't help but be reminded of the Fangire and Orphenochs. We've got a red king and purple queen, the ultimate goal of awakening some powerful being who could be compared to their God, and the facial markings on the human forms when the monsters revealed themselves. Not really a complaint, just something I couldn't get out of my mind as the episode went on.

- So is it now a thing that every odd number Rider is not going to refer to themselves as Kamen Riders, while the evens do? I mean it helps that the last two even numbers, W and Fourze, were both produced by the same guy. And going by that logic, it might be that the evens are the only shows that will go to the trouble of bringing back stuff like Foundation X. Of course, this is all might be dependent on whether or not Tsukada produces the next show...

- Can't wait next week for the introduction of Shunpei, the White Wizard, and Wizard vs the Hell Hound!