Wizard Opinions Thus Far?

I don't like Wizard.

It's one of those shows where I really wish they had ditched the obvious two part formula focusing on one off characters. The story at its core seems strong enough to be at the forefront rather than pushed to the side and only reoccur during times of convenience. I also wish certain characters played a more vital role or weren't just in the show for the obvious laughs. I hate it when a promising character is introduced only to inevitably be cast to the side as unimportant.

The Infinity arc is the perfect example of everything wrong with the show. You have an interesting story, a cool suit, characters in danger, and then everything plays out in this by the books manner that doesn't really inspire any sort of emotion other than lethargy. Throughout those two episodes, I spotted maybe one scene where I thought "hey, this is kinda cool," and that was the brief aerial view of Haruto as he transformed into Infinity for the first time. Beyond that, the two episodes were incredibly dull and I just didn't care about anything going on.

Wizard is one of the very few shows where I truly feel everything is being phoned in. (though I get the feeling I'm going to enjoy the final five or ten episodes if the whole...thing with Wiseman and the White Wizard manage to become important)

Given his track record, I'm not sure I'll ever be too much of an Utsunomiya fan.

Smilodon said:

I feel like it doesn't have a lot of staying power with me as a viewer.

Click to expand...

It reminds me of Go-busters in that I can't imagine ANY single episode of Wizard having any lasting shelf life -- I can't imagine someone getting the urge to ever rewatch an episode.

I don't find Wizard to be as offensive as OOO or Fourze (neither of which I could tolerate many episodes of), but Wizard's just there. The shame of it all is that Wizard really does have a lot of potential, but they just don't bother. I still think that Kida's too afraid of getting fired again and Utsunomiya is too afraid of screwing things up on his first go as Rider producer that they're both fine with just playing it very safe. The show itself and the way it's handled -- it's all so sugar-coated, like Haruto's precious doughnuts.

Aoi Kurenai said:

Given his track record, I'm not sure I'll ever be too much of an Utsunomiya fan.

Click to expand...

After you decided you hated Gokaiger, you started praising aspects of Shinkenger, which you had previously disliked. Give it till his next Rider series, maybe Wizard will start looking better to you

Wizard bores me, and I rarely say this about ANY show. I usually watch with the approach that if I am bothering to stick with the show, I should try to keep up and be invested in it. But it is not holding my interest. It has moments that are fun but it doesn't grab me and my "standards" are not high, I can usually find something to latch on to even in shows that others have written off as boring/"bland"

Shougo B'Stard said:

...
I still think that Kida's too afraid of getting fired again and Utsunomiya is too afraid of screwing things up on his first go as Rider producer that they're both fine with just playing it very safe. The show itself and the way it's handled -- it's all so sugar-coated, like Haruto's precious doughnuts.

Click to expand...

Just curious, do you think there are any writers/producers at Toei now that have the reputation or clout to push through a bold new idea? Or would anyone who wants to try essentially have to be taking a do or die chance?

Glamador said:

How, may I ask, has he progressed the plot?

Phoenix spurred the discovery of Flame Dragon form. Phoenix spurred the discovery of All-Dragon. Phoenix greatly affected Rinko's view of Phantoms and their mission.

Gremlin has.........what? What has Gremlin done? Or do you mean the individual arc plots? If that's what you mean then yes, Gremlin participates a lot more than Phoenix did. But then again so has Medusa as of late.

Phoenix was, most importantly, a rival to Haruto. He progressed Haruto's emotional state, his powers, and his motivations. He was the only character to really challenge Wizard in a fight repeatedly and posed a danger beyond any single arc. That builds tension, which this show sorely lacks.

A character doesn't need to be eloquent to be meaningful. Sometimes "Rarrgh! I'm angry! I wanna break ****!" is the round-shaped peg for the round-shaped hole.

Click to expand...

He was cute as a motivator to force Haruto to get his Flame Dragon style. After that whenever I saw him my thought process went like this: "Alright how's Haruto gonna kill you THIS time?"

As far as Gremlin, its pretty obvious he knows more than he lets on. That's why they were hesitant to bring him in. And its why he released Legion. And its why Wiseman recently placed him in charge in the most recent episode. His character forces conflict between the villains and THAT, if nothing else, is entertaining.

Shougo B'Stard said:

It reminds me of Go-busters in that I can't imagine ANY single episode of Wizard having any lasting shelf life -- I can't imagine someone getting the urge to ever rewatch an episode.

I don't find Wizard to be as offensive as OOO or Fourze (neither of which I could tolerate many episodes of), but Wizard's just there. The shame of it all is that Wizard really does have a lot of potential, but they just don't bother. I still think that Kida's too afraid of getting fired again and Utsunomiya is too afraid of screwing things up on his first go as Rider producer that they're both fine with just playing it very safe. The show itself and the way it's handled -- it's all so sugar-coated, like Haruto's precious doughnuts.

Click to expand...

Damn. This is pretty harsh criticism. Or maybe I just dislike Go-Busters so much that I think it is. It literally HURT to watch some episodes of Go-Busters because the characters were so freaking boring. If this is the way people perceive Wizard, then they are much more critical towards it than I could ever be.

I'm actually really liking the show so far, but I think its interesting that a lot of the complaints have to do with the main plot moving too slowly. I think that based on some of the foreshadowing they have used (putting the flash of Misa in the opening even though that didn't become relevant until 27 episodes later, the line about turning tears into a jewel in the theme song even though that didn't become relevant until 30 episodes later) its obvious that before the show started airing, they already had a pretty firm plan about what they were going to do and what was going to happen.

It's just too bad that for whatever reason the producers/writers just seem so stingy and slow with dishing out info on the main plot. I actually feel that it would only take a extra 5 minutes or so each episode dedicated to developing the main plot to make the show much better.

Anyway here's hoping that now that most of the toys are introduced the show can finish strong. I still think that if the writer's bring their A game on hindsight this could still end up being a very good, if not great, show at the end.

Realistically, the show could stand to lose about 10 episodes from its final count. More, if they start to run into filler territory with the last 19 episodes.

Sage Shinigami said:

Damn. This is pretty harsh criticism. Or maybe I just dislike Go-Busters so much that I think it is. It literally HURT to watch some episodes of Go-Busters because the characters were so freaking boring. If this is the way people perceive Wizard, then they are much more critical towards it than I could ever be.

Click to expand...

I'm the opposite, I really liked Go-Busters, and I can't imagine any of Wizard's characters getting to me the way Beet or Enter (my faves, I felt very strongly about what happened to them) did. Other people find the Goseigers or Gokaigers boring, I love both those casts. Usually if a character has any trait I find cute or funny or interesting or appealing in some way I will like them, the writing doesn't matter. I don't actively dislike the Wizard cast but the only one I actually enjoy is Nitou, I can't say why the others turn me off ...

Using a word like "offensive" when describing these shows just seems... Silly...:redface2: