Kamen Rider Wizard (2012)

When Kamen Rider Wizard was first announced, it was touted as a story filled with magic and more mature themes. With the writer behind Hibiki stepping in as show writer, it was supposed to be where the Neo-Heisei era hit a new high.

...I'm still waiting to see what show they're talking about, cause this isn't it.

Story (4/10): Wizard, by far, has one of the worst handled stories I've seen in any toku show. While the base story is interesting and yes, there are some good episodes, there are just too many problems that stick out. To short list them all-

* There are literally no side-plots. You get the main story and that's it.
* Character development is also null and void. The only characters that change are the side-side characters, like second Rider Kosuke and the Mages. In fact, main Rider Haruto LOSES characterization as the show goes on, making what they were aiming for (a sort of snarky, but fairly normal guy) into a bland hero who preaches 'hope'. Everyone else enters the show the same way and leaves it just the same as well.
* Filler here is obnoxious. Unlike most Rider shows, the filler episodes in this show are truly forgettable, have no character development or plot movement, and have some of the most annoying Victims of the Week that I've ever seen. (Of special note on episode arcs to avoid, episodes 32-33 and 36-37 are overwhelmingly terrible.)
* Padding is at it's worst here. It clearly wants to adhere to the Neo-Heisei formula of 2 episode arcs and the like, but while W, OOO, and Fourze work well with it, it bites this show in its ass. The plot is basically railed into chunks and feels like it's either moving too fast or too damn slow. Also because of this, some plot points are telegraphed to the audience so hard that it's almost embarrassing that the show wants you to be surprised about it.

If the series were only, say, 24-26 episodes, none of this wouldn't stand out as much. But at 51 episodes (the most of any Hesei era show), it's just...bad. It just feels like the writers got lazier and lazier as the show went on. What's depressing is that the first 10 or so episodes showed a lot of promise, but when I can only say that AT 10 episodes, it means that the show peaked way too early and just never picked up again. While there are some redeeming factors to the show, to me, they just can't trump the average to awful parts.

(Also I'm pretty sure that this show took a lot of inspiration from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but at such superficial level that it's kind of sad.)

Acting/Cast (5/10): While no one on the cast is bad (per say), you get the feeling that they really don't care about their roles all too much. It just seems like they went into work and said 'Alright, lets just get this over with' and went with it. I hate to bash someone for their acting (when really, a good director is essential for good acting as well), but there really isn't anything that stellar here. Probably the only people who really did a good job were the actors for Phoenix, the Doughnut Shop owners, Kosuke, and the Mages. Everyone else is at a level of average (Haruto, Rinko) to horribly annoying (Shunpei, Gremlin) to lumps on the set (Wajima).

This show also holds the lovely privilege of having the worst casting choice I've ever seen: the actress for Koyomi is an idol, so she's pretty busy with stuff. Instead of getting an actress who could be in all the episodes she's needed for, Toei went with her anyways and the story suffers for it. We don't get to spend any time with the girl who is our main female lead for at least 3/4 of the show. She herself is a good actress (she's probably one of the better ones in the show, if I may say), but Toei really dropped the ball on this one.

(Also, you ever notice that during the run of a show, you'll hear about how much fun the cast is having? Like when W, OOO, Fourze, and the currently airing (as of this writing) Gaim were on? Yeah, I didn't hear crap all. Kinda says a lot.)

Music (5/10): Music in Wizard is alright as well. The main theme Life is Showtime is good, but it really needed a good hook to make it great. Otherwise everything else is just OK. Probably the best songs in the show are Beast Hyper's theme and the Wizard Infinity theme by the Kamen Rider Girls. I will say that the show makes the mistake of using a large chorus for the battle theme of the show and while it can make some things epic, it's WAAAAY too overused. To the point that I literally cringed when it came on. Wizard really needed a specific musical theme to tie it together and I'm not sure what they went with was the best.

Rewatch Value (1/10): I really can't stress how much I never want to see this show again. I'm always a firm believer that any show is someones first introduction to Kamen Rider or what have you, but this is a terrible example of the franchise. I'm inclined to believe that I'm jaded since I watched for the full year it was on, and that made it just unbearable. Maybe watching it all in 2/3 days is easier and less disappointing, but I'm not subjecting myself to it again. And I know it doesn't show, but it really saddens me that I had such a bad time watching this that I can't go back and watch it like I do with other toku shows I've seen.

Overall KR Wizard is just...disappointing. I know from my review that it doesn't seem like it, but it kind of pains me to rip into a show that was just average at best. In fact, the most fun I had with the show was the Hyper Battle DVD, a 15 minute bonus short with Haruto and Kosuke learning how to dance to the main show theme. It started out with so much promise but faltered too early and never picked itself back up. The story is either not there or all over the place, music and acting is average at best, the action isn't that great, and it exemplifies the worst of the Neo-Heisei series. If you're a Kamen Rider fan, watch this once so you can say that you've seen it, but there's really nothing to come back to. If you're a non-toku fan wanting to get into the genre, there are far and beyond better series to start with.

Overall: 4.5/10, with a non-recommendation.

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Everything the show did well:
-The two main riders, Haruto and Nitou are constantly charismatic and pretty funny.
-Gremlin is a really memorable villain.
-Phoenix was a pretty entertaining villain.
-Action is consistently amazing.
-Some episodes can be really funny and endearing.
-Final arc cam be kind of interesting due to the reasoning behind the antagonist actions and the arc of the mages.
-The rings add very varied moveset of abilities for Wizard.
-Pretty good finale.
-The crossover epilogue is entertaining.
-The acting is overall pretty good.

Everything the show did bad:
-Nobody in the hero sidecast is compelling. Rinko and Shunpei while initially likeable, they barely get to actually do anything and their character arcs stay at a stalemate. Shigeru is never given enough of character or barely any semblance of a backstory. The 3 mages are an interesting concept, particularly Mayu backstory but all of this happens so late in the show that it feels really rushed and poorly executed. The donut shop are just gags characters. The only character that was given something was Koyomi, and even then she's mostly a plot device than an actual character.
-The Phantom are among the most boring villains in the franchise. They barely have anything interesting going on which makes the episodes feel pretty boring. This wouldn't be much of an issue if the sidecast had strong personalities to compensate but they really don't. And since most of the show is filler, them being boring monsters make the show generally feel like a drag.
-When the show finally moves the plot forward in the final arc, it's extremely rushed and tries to do too much at once making it feel really messy.
-Wiseman plan to achieve his goal is too conveluted.
-Medusa's reasoning for following Wiseman is kind of dumb.
-Despite Haruto and Nitou being likeable they barely get any proper backstory or character arc. They are just interesting enough to bring life into the show and have a great dynamic but they aren't a particularly amazing set of characters.
-Comedy can be very hit or miss.

Reasons for the show strenghts:
Director Nakazawa wanted to go all out in order cheer people up due to the earthquake and make you want to watch the show continously. The characters that secondary writer Komura focused were really entertaining.

Reasons for the show flaws:
Main writer Tsuyoshi Kida had scheduling issues which resulted in him barely writing or supervising the script. Producer Utsunomiya had secondary writer Junko Komura run the show on automatic without actually progressing the plot since he expected Kida to be back on time. On top of this Komura without supervision tends to only focus on a few characters, thus she only really focused on Haruto, Nitou and Gremlin. While this caused Gremlin to be a fantastic villain, everyone else got sidelined (It's unclear how many of Gremlin's ideas were made by Komura or were part of Kida's story draft but seemingly it was the latter?). Ultimately Komura ended up writing so much of the show that she's occasionally credited as Wizard main writer. Ultimately since Kido wasn't supervising we couldn't get that supposed "lovecraftian nature" he wanted to portray in the phantoms. The show would ultimately get extended but this happened so late the already rushed final arc was already in motion, which is why the finale ended up being a crossover.

Overall:
This is the most consistently boring show in the Kamen Rider franchise. And one cannot give it the benefit of being average due to even the story being rushed and conveluted in the final arc. I can only recommend this show if you REALLY like Haruto and Nitou, and if you REALLY like the action. If you like both enough, you can probably tank through the show while having a good time, but otherwise it will be an average watch at best and a bad one at worst for most people.

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