[barnstenchfartface]

Kamen Rider Wizard episode 51.

Man, shut your piehole, Rinko.

And that's...a wrap. There's still two episodes left, but they're those weird crossover ones so for all intents and purposes I have finished Wizard. So I may as well share my thoughts on it now. I've said a lot of this before and elsewhere, but all the same.

In short, I really enjoyed it, I liked it, and I think it's a good show. Great suits, great fights, good music and general production values...9 times out of 10 the humor worked for me, and I like a lot of the characters a lot. The Riders are great. I think it was Switchblade that compared Haruto to the Showa Riders, and I think it's an apt comparison. I also think the Showa comparison works not only for the main Rider, but really, the show as a whole. Largely episodic stories, relatively static characters, and a supporting cast of limited usefulness...while all are common complaints towards Wizard, they're also not particularly uncommon features of the Showa shows I've watched. So I really see Wizard as a fairly traditional Rider show (just with flashier fights and designs), and this I am fine with. I never expected it to be any different, and I didn't need it to be. It gets a bad rap, but I really enjoyed watching it. It was fun.

That's not to say that it was without flaws...the supporting characters generally didn't do the show a lot of favors. While they never really bothered me too much until that point, that stupid Myna Bird storyline really soured me on both Shunpei and Rinko, and by extension a fair part of the show considering they're part of the main cast. That being said, I ultimately can't find it in me to dislike Shunpei. He fulfilled an important role as a sort of PR guy to the Gates, and he occasionally did things that were truly and admirably heroic, like saving Nitou's grandma or tackling Siren to protect a Gate's hope when Haruto got his priorities fucked up. He was a goof and a sometimes annoying one, but he tried and he did good. And he's not Onari, so you know, points.

Rinko, on the other hand...got kidnapped by Phoenix that one time? Seriously, when I think about it Rinko is just about the worst. I struggle to think of a single thing she really contributed. She was basically a second Shunpei that wasn't around as much because she had a real job but when she did hang around it was a waste of her time because she couldn't really do much and maybe would have spent her time better being a cop? She was practically useless. The fact that in episode 51 she decided to shout some really unnecessary and obvious things to Haruto (truly, her greatest contribution in the entire second half) earns her no points. So yeah. Shunpei gets a lot of crap, but Rinko is like three times worse at least.

Wajima was fine. Koyomi's actress could have been a little better. I wish they'd done a little more with Mayu and the other two Mages, but eh.

I really like Haruto, I love Nitou. The Riders really carried the show for me...so yeah, I dunno. Wizard: Better than Advertised, is my tl;dr. I don't really like to rank the Rider shows I've watched, since quantifying my opinions isn't my forte, but it's...up there.

Anyway, now I gotta watch those crossover eps...also gonna have to give the Sengoku Movie War a rewatch since when I watched it for Gaim I, well, hadn't seen Wizard. Though even back then I remember thinking it a crock that the Mages show up for like three seconds and then get knocked out. Mages deserve some love, damn it.

I'm even tempted to give Kamen Rider Taisen a watch since Haruto is in it, but that movie is the worst and I do not like Wizard enough to subject myself to it again.

After that, it's Skyrider time! I don't hear a lot about Skyrider in general. It's like, only second to Super-1 as far as me-not-hearing-about-it goes. About all I know is he can fly and at one point the seven legendary Riders kick him. Wikipedia (which is probably full of shit) says it was meant to go back to the basics after the more "complex" and "unique" series like Amazon and Stronger. I liked both of those but not the original series, so you know, not super hyped, but whatevs! The difference between them all really isn't that huge. I'm hoping it's good. Though for better or for worse, only the first 34 episodes have been subbed. So whether I like it or not I'm gonna run out relatively quickly.