Ratings Poll: Kamen Rider Wizard

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< Fourze | Wizard | Gaim >

What did you think of Wizard?

***** The Best
8
11%
**** A real beast
15
20%
*** Average mage
31
41%
** Just a Phantom
18
24%
* A Ghoul
4
5%
 
Total votes: 76
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mholden020
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Re: Ratings Poll: Kamen Rider Wizard

Post by mholden020 »

I'm back, bumping old topics after finishing the series. I figure eventually someone will come along wanting to know about the older series, but there's only two left, so it's not like I'm bumping the Ryuki topic. :lol: Before diving into my opinion, I have not watched episodes 52 and 53 yet, I just watched 51. I figured since that put a bookend on the Wizard story, I didn't want the last two episodes to skew an opinion. I've tried to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but had to put a couple points in a spoiler tag for those who haven't watched it.

TL;DR: 5 out of 5 from me. Despite being a massive space nerd, Wizard managed to bump Fourze from my favorites list completely. It was the first ending since W that hit me in the feels.

Now...for the longer bits, I'll start with the cons from the series:

-Wizard seemed to have a very Sentai-like pacing to it. Most of the KR series have been able to keep story progression up front in each episode while still keeping the attention partly on the MOTW, while Super Sentai seems to have the opposite, in my opinion. I noticed this early on in the series, but kept going anyway. I also did something I haven't done with previous KR series, and that was go back through these forums and read everyone's opinions on the episode. I had seen people comment on Wizard before I'd started watching it, so I wanted to try and see where things started falling off for everyone who watched it while it was current. It didn't dawn on me until around episode 45 or so that I was watching this series very quickly, while everyone else (the comments I was reading) was watching it over a year. When that was considered, I could completely understand why people fell off from the series. The middle section of the series is rather slow, but I think binge-watching the entire series helps to get through the tougher section of the show.

-Shunpei might be the worst character ever put in a television show. Fifty something episodes and I still have no idea what he gave to the series aside from being an obstacle to those who were trying to actually get stuff done. I feel bad for the actor, because I can't imagine him being seen as anything asides from Shunpei in the future. Hopefully not, but I know Shunpei will be forever branded into my memory :roll:

-This plays into my first point, and that is that backstory for the characters wasn't given early enough in the series. It's the first KR series since W where the hero(es) were not given their abilities during the first episode and nothing was really explained for a long time. Again, watching this over the span of a year would make it mind numbing. Takenoko mentioned in one of his comments having a spin-off of just Mayu's story, and that would have done this series major favors as well

-Finally, and a more personal peeve, was that not much was applied to the secondary rider in terms of "thought". The most grating issue was probably that they used the same, exact look for Beast Hyper that they used for Meteor Storm. The other major problem was backstory. Kosuke had his story basically explained, but Khimeira was basically an extra in the entire series. Clearly, there were mages dating waaaay back far enough that their gear could be encased in stone. Personally, I think that bit of story could have spiced up the middle part of the series when it got a little dry.

So, for the pros:

-This story was believable. Well, for tokusatsu standards it was believable. I liked both OOO and Fourze, but both of those seemed really far-fetched to me, accentuated by the floating hand and moon base accessed through a school locker. I know it's kind of stupid to say that it's not logical to have a moon base but it makes sense to have a monster born out of a corpse after someone got really sad, but sometimes saying "It's magic" makes you say, "Oh, well that makes sense then." The characters all seemed real, their relationships like something you could encounter in your own life. Furthermore, Haruto's inner struggles made sense. There was nothing over-the-top this time, and it worked, I think.

-Wizard has had my favorite suit since I started watching KR with Agito early this year, and all of the suits (heroes and Phantoms) were also well presented. There is a monster in one of the first few Power Rangers episodes from the first season that was a pig that ate everything and even as a 5-year-old I thought it was the dumbest looking thing I've ever seen and it took away the "believable" factor to that episode. I know it's stupid to say that the costumes helped to make a series likable, but it's true. A bad-looking costume can really take a viewer away.

-Aside from Shunpei, the actors were good. I'll probably always say "Todoroki!" when Shingo Kawaguchi is on screen, but he did a surprising good job with his role late in the series. And as for...
Spoiler
the actress who played Mayu and Medusa, I frequently forgot that the same actress played both characters, which is pretty impressive, in my opinion.


-And lastly, stuff in reference to the finale....
Spoiler
I was very, very pleased to see the final battle end in the regular old Flame form. I really find it lame when the last fight is ended by the biggest, most powerful form a rider has. It makes it look like the suit is what defeats the final enemy, not the hero. In this case, Haruto went from the big-hoss Infinity back to the first form we ever saw. Yes, the White Wizard was defeated by Infinity...sort of...but they explained why that needed to happen as well, so it was all complete.


So, now I'll go watch 52 and 53, then get started with Gaim. I'd heard a lot of bad remarks about Wizard leading up to it, but I was definitely not disappointed by it. I truly enjoyed it, and it definitely had one of the best ending arcs I've seen so far.
Completed Series:
-Kamen Rider: Agito, Ryuki, 555, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Decade, W, Fourze, OOO, Wizard, Gaim, Drive
-Sentai: Jetman, Dairanger, Deka --> Zyuohger
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Re: Ratings Poll: Kamen Rider Wizard

Post by SignalShadow »

I have mixed feelings towards this show. While I pretty much like every character, I find the show being pretty boring.
In terms of titular Riders, Haruto is probably one of my favourites. In terms of series, this show is bland.
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Re: Ratings Poll: Kamen Rider Wizard

Post by Silentwolfdog »

Just finished Wizard series today. I found liking it more than I thought esp after hearing a lot of negative reactions from others. Gave it a 4.

I see the series as a nice melody, nothing flashy or whatever, which is a nice change of pace from other KR series. Basically, I went in just not expecting anything from Kamen Rider series for once after a long break from watching KR. I felt like everything had purpose and is deeper than how it appeared to be at first. Like instead of seeking some actions or mindless stuff, just appreciate quieter aspect of story. I really liked Haruto as a gentle character. I can see myself feeling hopeful if he appeared to save me from phantom caused despair. And like someone said, this series is def believable. So for a personality of a Kamen Rider, he is probably one of my favorites.

As for Beast, took me a while to like him, lol. He was annoying in the beginning but eventually evolved to be a cool guy at end. All other characters are cool or okay. Koyomi, she's kinda bland one as well as Medusa/Phoenix, but I think I gained respect for Koyomi after her eps and at the end. Shunpei and Rinko, they are cool, Shunpei is a guy that someone like Haruto would need due to his personality. His body language for whole series is fun to watch lol.

Villains...oh man...probably first series where I kinda feel bad for villains even though most of em deserved it. But to be used and being forced to do stuff they don't wanted to or to die a pathetic death? It's one of those series where killing a villain doesn't bring satisfying feeling since they are pitiful as well even as an evil character. Despair sucks I guess!

As for series's ending...it is very fitting as well imo. I feel a bit sad but expected that to happen. And glad that they stick to what they believed in. They saw what despair can do and didn't wish it on anyone else and no matter how painful it was, they stick to that. Props for that. And last two ep, man...they stung. Writer decided to not just stab the dagger but twist it as well to see a world where alternative both of them could be happy and together, knowing that will never happen on original Haruto's world. :/

And for that donuts vendor...darn it wasn't until very end of ep that I finally figured out gender. And even now I am not even sure if it's actually female. O.o
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Re: Ratings Poll: Kamen Rider Wizard

Post by Lunagel »

Silentwolfdog wrote:And for that donuts vendor...darn it wasn't until very end of ep that I finally figured out gender. And even now I am not even sure if it's actually female. O.o
Kaba-chan's a very famous transgender celebrity in Japan. So she was born male but she is female.
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