Kamen Rider Wizard Series Review

Kamen Rider Wizard is the very 1^st rider show I’ve followed from the beginning of its run to its conclusion.  It is not my 1^st rider show that I’ve seen all episodes though, that honor goes to OOO.   Now that it’s done, I can say I’ll never get into the Kamen Rider series as much as Sentai.  Wizard is a flashy show that hooked me with its smooth main rider.  It got better with the introduction of a competitive, mayonnaise loving second rider.  But after that, the show became boring.  For one, the 2^nd rider suddenly lost the characteristics that made me like him.  He suddenly became just the other rider to call on for help.  Then the main rider had to always share the spotlight with the 2^nd.  I know the obvious need but darn it, when he was alone, his fight scenes were so much more entertaining compared to the long drawn out ones he has with the 2^nd rider in later episodes, against the goons no less.  

Nonetheless, I kept on watching for the eventual final form and the epic way the riders obtain it. Infinity is one of the coolest designs.  Hyper is meh.  But after that, I just slogged on through the filler episodes until they finally got to explaining everything during the final arc.  It was a good final arc and the Heisei Rider teamup is the perfect way to finish off the series. 

So did I like it?  I liked the suit design and that’s a big reason for my watching.  I will always like the 1^st 23 episodes.  The following seemed to lack the magic the 1^st 23 had.  The big episodes like Infinity and that awesome team up will stand out when I reminisce about it.  Overall, a pretty nice show and I have no regrets following it for 1 year.  The actors for Koyomi and Medusa being there week in and week out was another reason to watch as well :)

So what follows are screenshots from each episode with some words below.

That was a great 1^st episode showcasing all his standard special moves

What can I say, I like the way he fights even if he doesn’t use punches.

This ep made me love Water form and its slash strike

This guy was a memorable phantom

Man, slash strike finishers are addicting to watch

Just another nice fight and transformation scene

Why didn’t he do this more often?

Always a cool gesture and sound

I like the Dragon forms.  Thinking of getting the WAP!

Forgot he did this, it’s like the Infinity style finisher

For lack of anything nicer to screenshot

I liked the story

This was a pretty nice aerial battle

Haruto is a lucky guy.  Koyomi’s smile is very nice to look at

I think water dragon is my favorite dragon form

This is one of the “coolest” finisher sequences I’ve seen, and he meets Santa Claus

I like Nitou because I get to see him put mayonnaise on anything

This is a funny scene

I enjoy seeing food being eaten

Okay, this is hilarious! And a little disgusting

                                  Sadly, this is the last we see of his mayonnaise bottle for a while

4 words, AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!

Take a page out of Son Goku’s playbook.  Can’t beat enemy, let the sun do it for you.

Yes, why is that?

Wow, he never did this again

Medusa’s actress just got interesting

Man, weren’t we all excited about this, a possibility of another wizard and it’s a female to boot

Sheesh, I don’t even remember ever seeing this treasure box again

Meteor Storm color scheme and a gun as an upgrade

Chimera and Dragon together.  Nice fight scene

Awesome and somewhat overpowered Infinity form debut!

Sparkle Sparkle!

After some hilarious events, we get 4 simultaneous Dragon Style Kick Strikes!

Meh, not really interested in this guy.  Miss Phoenix

Whooooh, look at that close up

2^nd time he’s run out of mana

Wizard has a sense of humor

Does anyone else see that ring of circles in the middle of the screen?  What is that?

Glow baby glow

Well this was a let down of magnificent proportions

The plot thickens

Don’t know why this pic but eh

All Dragon a second time in 15 blurry seconds, WHY?

Boring episode

Relatable guy huh

So it’s all about Koyomi now

Going for a Best Actress Award perhaps?

Gee, that was fast.

Beast finally did something awesome

Fourze did this as well

My 1^st punch and it’s in the 3^rd to the last episode

So this 2 parter is to make up for Gaim not showing up in Wizard’s summer movie

 Episode 53 

This episode warrants more than a single phrase to sum up my thoughts on it

Firstly, it makes no sense and it was a rush job 2 episode storyline.  Amadam being a wizard who misused magic and got punished, where did that come from?  Did Decade explain that to Wizard? And why is Tsukasa there?  He’s just a Rider Ring summon.  Is Beast dead?  Praying to the 13 rings when Earth is at its highest?  And a lot more but I’ll stop now cause it doesn’t matter.  

What matters is we got an amazingly flashy FINALE for a show that was flashy to begin with and it was fun.  Future all Kamen Rider team up movies should take a lesson from this episode.  It features a lot of actual team up fight scenes between the various Riders, cumulating in that massive CGI battle against “larger enemies”.  Seeing them use special moves and power ups together is what I want to see in a team up special.  

Really?  Sunglasses the whole time he had his helmet on?  Looks badass though

I bet someone will recreate this scene with Figuarts one day

Gaim is… I am not sold on it but let’s check out the 1^st ep and we’ll see

I guess everyone knew well beforehand this kid’s name

Well that’s it, sayonara Wizard.  It was fun and I like your suit designs enough to consider buying your toys.  Nicely done Toei.  Story could’ve been better though.  Looking forward to one last showtime! 

I do believe this is a female White Wizard