Kamen Rider Wizard "The Finale" - "The Last Hope"

[Dr Kain]

Well we watched episodes 49-51 tonight, and from an action point of view, they were pretty awesome. From a story point, they were the most predictable sack of **** ever!!! My god, what the hell happened? We went from the build up of something great to the final 6 episodes of crap. The series as a whole was good, but it has been knocked down in rank from being better than OOO to being behind it. This series just did not know what it wanted to be and played everything safe.

I have no complaints about Haruto, as he felt the closest to a Showa rider compared to all of the Heisei riders, but it is the rest of the characters where things fell flat. Koyomi was pretty much useless for a block of 30 episodes. Shunpei is one of the worst characters ever. Rinko is one of the worst detectives ever. And Medusa, my god, I won't even get into how much of a waste she was. At least Phoenix and Gremlin made up for her, but she had about as much purpose in the show as Shunpei.

The story of the show could have been told in 20 episodes. Hell, they should have built up the additional wizards back in the early twenties, given them legitimate looking costumes, and built up the Philosopher's Stone Sabbat as an opposing force against the Phantoms so much earlier in the series. As it turned out, that whole portion felt rushed. They could have easily spent less time doing Gate of the Week plots and more on the actual Gates Turned to Wizard plots.

I was absolutely loving this show for a while, but there is so much potential with it that it is easily the weakest series in the Post-Decade era. I did love how Chimera set Beast free, but of course he is going to find him in the next cross over movie just so he can return, and that is something I am sick of. As much as I love cross overs, I don't want the evolution of the characters to be restricted to future movies. Not every rider needs to always be there just to please the fans of the shows.

Anyway, overall, I give Wizard a 6/10. The last several episodes did not completely ruin the show as series in the past have (555 and Kabuto), but they could have done A LOT more with them had they actually spent time to build this whole thing up months ago.

 

[Black Fang]

Wizard 50:

- Donut Man's random appearance and the quirky music in the background kind of kill the morose feel the opening had. Actually cutting to them isn't bad in and of itself; other shows just could have done it better.

- So let's get this straight. At the very end of this boring show... Gremlin is doing what the Phantoms probably ought to have done right from the start, and thus actually feel like a menace?

The people writing this show are pretty slow to have just realized this.

- Why is it that Haruto's belt is different from the other Mages'? What makes him so special that his belt is the only one called "Wizard Driver"? According to Fueki, he was just one of four Mages he needed. Please don't bring up marketing reasons. I'm talking specifically from the logic of the story.

- Mayu's speech sums up the ideal of Kamen Rider more than most of the rest of the entire show.

- Mayu is a Fire Mage? I thought Haruto was the Fire Mage for Fueki's Sabbath. Isn't she the Earth Mage?

Also, why is the Fire attack called Special instead of something "elemental" like Blizzard and Thunder?

Heck, how are these Mages able to use these elemental attacks at all? Are they related to the specific Phantom inside them? Or can one use the four elements regardless of the resident Phantom?

- How does a blast force Wizard from Infinity to Flame? I know Flame is the "default" for marketing purposes, but going by the logic of how the belt works, why do that at all? Infinity isn't a build-up from Flame; it's its own unique form.

- Haruto used Koyomi's ring without swiping it over his belt?

- Yes, the ominous Section 0 is now just an afterthought accompanied by upbeat music. That's just lovely :redface2:

- So now Shunpei is going to be a mage apprentice?? It's like the show is nabbing ideas from people on the boards way too late!

- I wonder if the police ever notice Nitou just camping randomly by a busy highway. How exactly can he and Yuzuru go adventuring only on weekends, anyway?

- Wow, another dramatic scene ruined by Rinko's idiotic boss. Who thinks these are good ideas?? Who?! Are they not aware of how it looks??

- And Shunpei's last moment is also ruined by him being a moron. That scene was going so well too. Why must it be ruined??

So all in all, this was a fairly decent final arc to an otherwise disappointing show. I'll admit that some of the moments and fights had a kernel of excitement such that the early Heisei finales like Kuuga or Agito had. But just that kernel; the rest of the show failed to cook it into something delectable, so to speak.

 

[Glamador]

I find myself agreeing with Dr. Kain's post above. Wizard from the beginning had oodles of potential and from midway started to really reek of waste. They could have done *so much* with this concept. The show's incredible dark premise (it's a show about DEPRESSION) paired with its flamboyant stage-magician motifs and multi-colored outfits could have made such a great pair...

But like the rest of the series, the final episodes had nothing to say and too much time not to say it in. The finale was boring. The final battles were boring. The heartfelt conclusion was boring and very nearly a rehash of Double...sure Koyomi wasn't magically revived (which would have oddly-enough been more suitable here) but her destined-to-die sole unique element and acceptance of it in the end felt waaaay too familiar for comfort.

6/10 sounds good. I'd even put it below 555 because even if the ending didn't ruin it, everything leading up to it did a good enough job of it.

 

[chronoxiong]

Yeah this last episode was kinda weak. I was hoping for more. Was hoping for more from Gremlin. Gremlin says he wants to be human but then I remembered that he was a serial killer. So is that his ultimate plan? To become human again and kill people? I got a little lost at his motives. He was trolling all season long. Still thought Wiseman should've been the last villain. And Koyomi becoming a ring was a good choice. It allows for her to still be a part of Haruto. I thought the final fight felt short and was not as memorable as it could be. It went by a flash to me.

 

[Dr Kain]

You know, the more I think about what I said earlier, the more it should have been. Instead of having Haruto have four forms which also had their own upgrade forms, he should have been fire only and each additional wizard sans Beast were given the same suit that looked like Haruto, but related to whatever element they had. It is just overkill and shows the lack of planning Toei had with this show. And then they could have had each of the wizards get their own dragon form, which could combine with Haruto for All Dragon before he upgraded to Infinity. For example, they could have brought in the user of the water ring earlier in the series, and had him be the one who defeated Phoenix (regardless of how awesome his final battle with Haruto was) given he has water as his base. Have Medusa's sister come with, gain the Earth ring, and she defeats Medusa after a really nice build up of why Medusa is weak to the Earth element (she does turn people to stone after all, use that as a weakness). And then have Gremlin be vulnerable to air and be defeated by the Hurricane ring bearer. Wiseman gets defeated via All Dragon while the White Wizard is defeated by Infinity.

 

[NeonZ]

It is just overkill and shows the lack of planning Toei had with this show.

Not really, I think it shows the disagreement between Wizard's staff and Bandai's toy planning for the season. Wizard's tv staff wanted multiple similar "Wizard" Riders, Bandai wanted a single Rider with multiple forms and the usual secondary Rider very different from the main one. That's why "white mage" is never officially called a Wizard and why the Mages only could appear in the last quarter of the tv series. It's also why those ideas don't really fit together well. In some ways, I guess Wizard's main writer seems to have looked at the toyline as an obstacle for his story. The disregard for Beast and All Dragon seem to suggest that too - Beast was outright humiliated earlier on too when they were showing that Wizard could use his rings better than him while he couldn't even use Wizard's rings.

 

[Lynxara]

I found it funny that he said he was going to go look for Chimera and take Yuzuru with him on weekends. Where did he think Chimera would be, whereas he could come and pick-up Yuzuru and have him back before Monday mornings?

Osaka! That's where you go in Japan if you want to eat till you drop, right? Chimera is probably just chillin' watching the Hanshin Tigers and chowing down on kitsune udon. Nitou and Yuzuru will roll up on weekends and they'll all eat takoyaki and okonomiyaki until they drop.

 

[Undrave]

Osaka! That's where you go in Japan if you want to eat till you drop, right? Chimera is probably just chillin' watching the Hanshin Tigers and chowing down on kitsune udon. Nitou and Yuzuru will roll up on weekends and they'll all eat takoyaki and okonomiyaki until they drop.

I'd watch that show :anime: