Minor suggestion but maybe for the next ten shows you do, you might consider just doing it all in one thread? Might be easier for you or others to sort through for future reference or just for fun

Anyhow, I'm happy you liked Cross-Z New World, especially since I very much did not, for basically all the reasons you mentioned. I love this cast, and I think that just made how much the story faltered even worse for me. And there had to been a bunch of ways to bring Evolt back without just literally reviving him wholesale and worst still, just letting him go off to no doubt destroy other planets.

Anyway, it's enjoyable to read your review/thoughts/essays. It's probably redundant of me to say that so often, but it's really all I can think to type when I don't have questions in mind. The only other input I feel there is to add is what my own opinion on these shows were, and I try not to go too far because this is your thread and I'm not looking to either parrot at you or to debate differing stances.

Hey, have I mentioned yet that Wizard used to be my favorite Rider show before Ghost came along? Because I really love Wizard. I've never done some huge post about it I can link to like with Ghost, but, uh, let's see, there's this for starters:

I mention there being a "secret" to Wizard being a favorite of mine at the end there, but really, I think it's just a show where a ton of little things add up to make me like it. I feel like the nuts and bolts of that show are just rock solid and do a lot to make up for the lack of an overarching plot, which isn't even a huge problem for me to begin with because honestly I tend to go for more standalone stuff like that anyway. The action is always really flashy, the CG is inexplicably better than most shows since, I've always felt the concept of Gates led to more memorable and fleshed out victim of the week characters, and for the most part, I love the main cast.

Especially Haruto. There's a nonchalance to his personality that makes him fun to watch, whether he's snarking at villains, making wisecracks with his friends, or even just munching on donuts. I also feel there's a lot going on with his character under the surface that's really interesting, but above all else Haruto is great because he's extremely dedicated to saving people as Wizard. It's the one thing he consistently takes seriously, and it kind of anchors the whole show in a way.

I'm probably not making much sense here, but I could go on like this for ages. Maybe later I'll try this again, but it probably won't be any more coherent. :p

Ok, why I love Wizard, huh. Ok, I take every chance to talk about my fifth favorite Rider show.

So, I think one of the things every piece of media needs to know is what it wants to be. A story with intriguing and plot twists up the ass, a slice of life show, etc., etc. Wizard did know what it wanted to be really early on, a monster of the week show that examined the concept of hope, what forms it takes, what is destructive hope, how hope changes and how people refuse to give it up and together with that the concept of depression.

I personally am more a fan of slower-paced, filler heavy series because you just get to see the characters in smaller, more diverse situations and Wizard has a lot of episodes that still stick in my head, like the Christmas episode with the orphan buying presents, the episode with the baker who didn't want his apprentice to lose his job, the episode with the man mourning his dead wife, the episode where the Phantom tortured the woman by letting everyone hate her, Beasts grandma, Beasts old friend and the money, Haruto's old teacher and the toy plane, or the old football buddy of Haruto, so many good ones that just stuck in my head. Wizard is a series filled with great two-parters and I think it did that because it knew exactly what it wanted to be. That can also be seen in the Summer Movie which is an absolute blast.

I also adore the characters, especially Haruto who has managed to weasel his ring into my heart as my favorite Kamen Rider. I like how he appears on the outside, this confident, nonchalant guy who is so determined to save people. And I adore him, even more, when one looks past that shell of his, revealing an absolutely broken man plagued by survivors' guilt for the death of his family and the Sabbath. A man that only thinks his life is worth anything if he can be the hope of someone else. A man who whenever he is knocked down will only stand up stronger. A man that over the course of the show manages to learn to accept the things that happened and can even let go of those he can't save and still finds a place for them in his memories, in one of the best epilogues in Kamen Rider history.

Nitoh is also a great character, someone who is at first only out for himself that quickly learns to take his job as a Rider almost as serious as Haruto. I'm also a fan of his big risk, big reward lifestyle. Just a very cool character and one of the only things Wisemen didn't account for, and what ultimately foils his plans together with the power forged by Haruto.

The supporting cast is fine, never annoyed me all that much, minus a certain bird episode, Rinko remains useful throught the show through her connection to Section Zero, Shunpei doesn't annoy me, Wajima is nice enough. Koyomi is the character that is the least fleshed out, but ultimately her plot points still work well enough, even if I wish she would have had more to do. The three Mages are also fine, through Mayu stands out as a really cool character that maybe should have gotten a bit more to do, but still rocks.

The villains are all good, Medusas twisted hope of being acknowledged by Wisemen, Phoenix hopes for mayhem, and of course the ever despicable Gremlin with his hope of becoming a human again. A human monster in the skin of a Phantom, a great inverse of Haruto and really everything he stands for, tied down by the past and willing to sacrifice anyone for himself. Oh, and Wisemen, god do I feel bad for him, he is just a father who wants his daughter back but goes way too far. His plan was quite good and only broken through things he couldn't have known.

All in all, this is why I love this series so much, but if you want anotherone talking about it, I have a great video for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN8oaihgCHw

Can I just say I'm so mad people never mention this and thank you so much? Mayu is my favourite Wizard character and her arc sticks out as so memorable to me; it's such a wonderful, refreshing take on what you think is going to be a standard revenge plot. Like, she actually learns and grows out of it fairly quickly when she learns there's more at stake? Usually it'd be all "oh I don't care about that, this is important to me that I kill her", but Mayu hears what's up and she starts re-evaluating stuff despite her goals. Feels very genuine to me.

Is it time, six years on, for Wizard to get some love? I've been waiting for this day.

Wizard is a series I've definitely appreciated more as time's gone on, but one that's still not amazing for me so it's like, mid-tier. Down there with Decade and Ryuki. Still pretty good and fun, just not quite on the level of stuff like W and Ex-Aid.

Thanks! I don't know, I think I like having each show be its own discrete thread, for a few reasons. First, it's a little easier to police franchise spoilers. Second, I kind-of like the feeling of being done with a show, and that's tough to do if there's another string of posts afterwards about a different show. I like starting with that blank slate, you know? Finally, I can't imagine how unwieldy things would get after a dozen of these shows in one thread. Daunting. Too much for this fan.

I don't disagree that some of the New World movie shortcuts things, and, yeah, they just let Evol(t) leave like it's nothing, huh? I mean, they just left Sawa in a crashed car with a concussion while they celebrated, so they were not making the best decisions that day. In fairness, Banjou was in charge then, not Sento, the smart one, so this is more or less what you're going to get.

I am happy to have opened this can of worms! I honestly don't love Wizard as a show. I remember finding it sort-of repetitive, with its emphasis on monster-of-the-week stories and the constant defeat-and-retreat of the lieutenants. It wasn't until the end, where the reason behind the shitty villain plan was revealed, that I appreciated what they were doing, but the process to get there just wasn't that enjoyable. Especially Shunpei. Jesus Christ, especially Shunpei.

There were still things I dug, though. My absolute favorite (non-Net Movie) Wizard thing was the Phoenix origin two-parter. All three of the lieutenant origin episodes were highlights, but the Phoenix two-parter was maybe my favorite story Wizard did. It's built on the back of a classic hero story, where Rinko sees the frustration Phoenix is experiencing and, thinking it's his humanity being trampled on by Wiseman and Medusa, encourages him to leave them behind, leave their schemes behind, and be true to himself. Do what makes him happy, instead of following their orders. And then its got the best ever twist, when Rinko finds out that what makes Phoenix happy is slaughtering innocents, and Wiseman and Medusa were ordering him to not indiscriminately kill people. And Rinko just pep-talked him into ignoring them. It's a super-solid story with an all-time great twist.

Mayu is so great! The development she gets for how late she becomes a main character is super satisfactory, and like a lot of things in Wizard, it comes to a perfect conclusion with her essentially getting promoted to interim-Haruto at the end of the series. Like she basically grew to the point where she can just be the hero now. It's awesome.

One of my few regrets with Wizard is that her Mage costume wasn't at least a different color than the others or something. She deserved so much better than a generic mook suit recycled wholesale from the movie.

So if I found the first episode of Wizard boring, though pretty stylish, would you guys recommend giving it a second chance, or would I probably find my same problems with the first episode sticking along the whole time?

Personally show got better when Magical Girl Beast entered the stage.