KR Wizard 23 released

[takenoko]

Wiki: http://wiki.tvnihon.com/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Wizard_23

I'm amazed Haruto was able to escape with Rinko that easily. Wait, didn't Wizard get super owned at the end of last week's episode? I guess he wasn't that badly hurt. I guess it's no surprise that Beast showed up when he did.

For some reason, I was super excited by the slow intro to Kizaki in this episode. The slow build up was really good.

I guess something that keeps Wizard from being super good to me is the lack of story polish. If you have a scene where Wiseman goes "Well, if he's just after Wizard, then let's just watch." Don't follow it up with Phoenix attacking citizens/potential Gates. That makes Wiseman appear to be a dumbass since this is exactly why he sent Medusa to stop him in the first place.

It's pretty funny when they find out each other's parties have familiars too.

I see boxes in the background, but there's no amazon logo on them. What is this madness?

I like Kousuke's lion shirt. What? I never noticed that Kousuke's hood has ears before. He's a furry!

Speaking of details, what are those things on Haruto's bike helmet? I guess it's sort of patterned after Wizard's mask?

I don't remember the first fight with Phoenix. Guess the location wasn't that memorable.

I still have mixed feelings about Drago Timer. Are Phantoms going to be so tough that they'll require four Wizards to defeat each time?

What? Wizard's kick sent Phoenix into the sun? He must have been traveling faster than light since it takes 8 minutes for sunlight to reach the Earth. I thought he was going to put Phoenix in the core of the Earth XD What a crazy solution, it's almost impressive in how over the top it is. Hopefully he'll be back though.

[Magenta]

The whole Phoenix thing strikes me as kind of dumb, cause like... he gets stronger every time he dies, right? And... Haruto put him in a situation where he's going to constantly die. So... eventually, Phoenix is going to get strong enough to survive the sun, and powerful enough to escape its gravity.

Good job, Haruto!

[Phoenix512]

I'm sort of glad they went to a different way with dealing with Phoenix. Sure they acknowledge that Nitou could eat Phoenix and solve the problem but it was something that Haruto needed to do by himself. Haruto's solution was rather clever that "Ok, you can't die. How about living in the sun forever?" It was rather cruel actually that Phoenix would keep dying and forever feel the pain of rebirth and death.

I remember the first fight with Phoenix where he just dropped the Gate of the Week's mother near a fountion and then moving to the woods soon afterwards.

I laughed when Nitou got a one on the Dice Saber. He choked when it really matters.

As for Sora's Phantom being Gremlin, it is the perfect fit for him. They cause trouble for everyone and tend to easily escape very quickly.

[ReversedSentai]

I really like the scene between Haruto and the hospitalized Rinko. I thought that was a moving scene.

[Yaiba]

I like Kizaki's attitude of "I care, but I don't show it"

I like the scene where Haruto remembered the people he had helped and regain his confidence. Though I'm amused that Shunpei, supposedly one of the main characters, was not included in one of the flashbacks

The first time they met was in ep 8, where Phoenix was going after a kid Gate, and beat up the mother in front of them

[Cthulhu]

The whole Phoenix thing strikes me as kind of dumb, cause like... he gets stronger every time he dies, right? And... Haruto put him in a situation where he's going to constantly die. So... eventually, Phoenix is going to get strong enough to survive the sun, and powerful enough to escape its gravity.

Good job, Haruto!

Yeah ... kinda imagined the same thing , and i don't think a phanton strong enough to escape the gravitational pull of the sun will be easy to defeat

Also just gonna post this here

[locuas]

i'm saying it now, next year's team-up is gonna be about defeating Phoenix.

Again, i feel like the "four wizards" would have made for a tokusatsu series like Ryuukendo. i mean, it just felt like it could be it's own show.

Having kosuke and Koyomi in the same scene, looking at their respective familiars, a tough came to mind: "wouldn't koyomi have made for a better beast".
I mean, i don't hate Kosuke, i don't even dislike him, but then i think of koyomi using the belt to feed from phantoms so she doesn't need to depend on haruto, and i think it wouldn't have been a bad idea.
She keeps track on the familiars from the shop. so when they detect a phantom, she could go and fight the phantoms while the others call for haruto.
The whole "magic energy to survive" would have made for an interesting relationship between koyomi and chimera. She and chimera are the same, they both need to consume magical energy, they would have a symbiotic relationship, helping each other to achieve the same thing they both need. Maybe even having a conflict beween the two because chimera wants for koyomi to focus on defeating the phantoms instead of helping the gates. and unlike Kosuke, who could end his situation in any given moment if he accepted Haruto's proposal, Koyomi would be unable to refuse chimera's power without having to constantly depend on haruto's magic.
Koyomi could have a character arc about her going from "i do these to help haruto" to "i do these because i want to help people" while fighting as beast.
I think she has a better dynamic with haruto than kosuke does.

But then again, i might be seeing it as to how i want to see it, and Kosuke may be the better choice. But so far, he hasn't been a particular interesting rider.

Spoiler

and yes, i have seen the preview, and i may be proven wrong. but until then, i am gonna stay with my opinion

So, gremlin was trying to take phoenix's place. i would be careful if i was you, Medusa, i'm smelling a kazari out of this guy.

the combined dragon forms is not bad...but i think it might look better with a movie budget.

i think the 1 in the dice is actually a summon spell, and chameleo just happens to be his weakest summon.

[Knight of L-sama]

I'm going to join the chorus of others saying that launching Phoenix into the sun was a bad idea that it going to bite someone in the ass sooner or later. The scenes in the hospital with Kizaki and Rinko were definitely good.

And for once Shunpei was actually funny when playing straight man to Nitou. Not hugely funny, but at least mildly amusing instead of his usual annoying self.

[Lunagel]

Yeahhh if he constantly becomes more powerful the more times he regenerates, this may come back to haunt you.

I really liked Phoenix as a character too. Sora kinda irritates me but Phoenix was a badass.

[Kilowog]

Quite a roller coaster for me with this episode in terms of dramatics; The conversation between Rinko and Haruto, Haruto and Kizaki, hell....even between Haruto and Phoenix with their duel.

Speaking of which, I had mixed feelings 'bout the end of that fight. For starters I too felt the same in thinking "well let's send him to the core of the earth". Instead, quite the turn, he get's lunged into the sun. Makes you wonder how powerful Wizard's kick is compared to other riders out there (well...Kuuga and his kicks that seem to nearly explode a city block, lol).

There was always the debate about this because, true, Phoenix is fire based and my friends, partner and I were talking about this afterwards. A few thought it to be absurd because of this fact and people swear he'll come back, which is a possibility. I myself will see how it goes. Putting him in an environmental situation where he gets dies and gets recreated was a logical choice, sad since I like(d) him, but reasonable.

[StereotypeAsian]

Again with what everyone has said, I too hope Phoenix returns. However, if he does, everyone is screwed because after heaven knows how many cycles, he's gonna be able to curb-stomp everyone.

[TenShiro]

just waiting the return of Phoenix

[Dengar]

Since no one else had said it, I'm gonna:


Wow, I never new the sun was so close to earth. Or so small. Or so cool.

[Magenta]

Just a note: The official production site for Wizard showed Phoenix's actor getting his goodbye bouquet, which means he's out. That's something they only do when a character is permanently leaving the cast, so they obviously have no intention for him to come back.

So yeah, his death is just that anticlimactic, I guess.

[JonSilver]

Just a note: The official production site for Wizard showed Phoenix's actor getting his goodbye bouquet, which means he's out. That's something they only do when a character is permanently leaving the cast, so they obviously have no intention for him to come back.

So yeah, his death is just that anticlimactic, I guess.

That's sad. Even for like movies and stuff? Real shame. Medusa's not that interesting, but Gremlin's definitely got something up his sleeve, so small bright spot there.