Wizard Episode 12: "The Wagashi of Hope" discussion
 

At long last Hurricane Dragon shows up!

Shupei believes that Haruto can teach him magic. How will Haruto break it to him that without Cyclops, he's powerless?

What horrors await Tetsuya at the Wagashi shop? What do the Phantoms want with him?

Could Wiseman be right in wanting to turn all Gates to Phantom? Are the Gates just too dangerous to allowed to be free?

Discuss! PLEASE!

Discuss the magic!

Enjoyable episode. Didn't mind Shunpei as much as I'd feared. I actually laughed a couple of times.

Interesting overview of the sweets shop. It made me want the manjū more than donuts!

It seems like using the Dragon modes has no real detrimental effect on Haruto, considering how quickly he resorts to them. And their rollout is so predictable. From the preview for next week it's already fairly clear that he'll defeat Valkyrie easily, then Medusa will kick his ass until he uses the Hurricane Dragon finisher(wings).

I'm really hoping some sort of overarching story thread gets introduced soon. Teasing us about Wiseman is only interesting for so long.

This episode's made me very hungry.

Some raw-viewing thoughts:

Valkyrie looks a little Hellhound-ish, and it's very odd that a "valkyrie" would be a dude in costume, but this is the same show that made a "gnome" a croissant, so there you go.

It was also very cool seeing the opening with the promos for "Ultimatum."

So, watched the episode.
Shunpei was fun to watch. Still my favorite character.
I'm not sure if Wizard's writers are just making the characters of the week just so interesting to watch, or if Haruto is just so boring that the CotW just look so much more interesting in comparison...Time will tell.

Anyway, considering the upgrades, the Dragon forms never had any sort of detrimental effect. Sure, Flame Dragon had him confront the Dragon Phantom inside him, but using it in the real world had no additional effects. However, this does beg the question of, since the Dragon forms are all just upgraded forms of his base 4, why does he start in standard Fire instead of just jumping straight to Flame Dragon a la Emperor Kiva?

God, I fucking hate Shunpei. A good episode, but his stupid antics really brought it down (the bit where he randomly accused people of being a Phantom was funny, but the part where he was selling candy just dragged). I'm sure I'm not the only one whose response to the cliffhanger was "Do it! Kill them both!"

Well that was a fairly dull episode. I don't love or hate Shunpei and his stupid tights but much like most of the cast at the moment he just bores me. Credit where credit is due though at least he has an obvious personality.

Very underwhelmed by Hurricane Dragon too. I was hoping we'd get to see the dragon taunt Haruto about using his powers again or something along those lines. I really hope it comes back up again when the other three dragons styles are introduced.

Shunpei obviously has some issues from his childhood that he really needs to deal with. This episode has made it that much clearer. I don't hate him- I feel sorry for the guy. I hate the person who made Shunpei that way.

This episode was ok, I probably would have felt better about it if I hadn't watched Go-Busters first as that was pretty good. I do like this week's Phantom though, and the Octopus mascot was awesome.

Episode was okay. But damn does Hurricane Dragon look cool. The upgrade looks awesome in green and from the magazine scans I've seen it looks even better in blue. My biggest gripe is that using copy for 2 swordguns was only awesome the first few times. Now using it as the opening move every time he uses a dragon style has gotten old. Get a new move.

Sub thoughts:

Man, Shunpei's OCD is a terrifying thing to unleash.

Also, Valkyrie is much more troll-ish than most of the other Phantoms have been thus far.

Yes Shunpei, you can do something, and that something is "get taken hostage"

I also want one of those holders for your cel phone they're advertising if you go see Ultimatum in the theaters. They're awesome. :)

This episode just proved one thing to me.
Wizard needs more Shunpei.

You have got to be joking. I can handle him in small doses but he doesn't need to be front and center, ever again.

Please.
Shunpei should be the main character. Haruto and co should all play second fiddle to him.
They should give him a story where his Phantom regenerates and gives him the ability to perform magic.

Not sure if trolling... :eyebrow

I have to ask you this, Matrixbeast-are you a hipster?

I'm being honest.
Shunpei is the only interesting character, especially when he's not playing manservant to the most uninteresting main character ever.
I'll probably be begging for less Shunpei with Haruto shows any goddamn interest in his own fucking show.

I'll give him this, Shunpei IS the most interesting supporting character, if only by default. Nobody else in the supporting cast seems to have any aspirations or goals. I suppose the little doll girl would like to be cured but they've done NOTHING with that. Shunpei at least has a reason for hanging around(unlike Rinko). He wants to be a wizard. He can't be. He's the only person on the show with any internal conflict.

I thought it was a good misdirect on who the gate is. At first it seems like it was Shunpei's friend then its revealed that its actually the shop owner who's the gate.

And Hurricane Dragon looked cool and that other ring probably is for the dragon wings on the previews.

Count me in for the "Shunpei is the best character on the show" club. I mean, I'm trying to like Haruto, I really am. But when he's not the one who's front in center, I think a house cat would make a more interesting main hero than him. This episode really reminded me of how much I want Shunpei to be a Rider. There's still a slight hope he could be Beast I guess..?
Also, I echo the thought that this episode made me want one of those Japanese sugar lumps. :D

Haruto is definitely an uninteresting character.

I'm not sure who's more boring - Wizard or Decade.

I really don't find Haruto to be as abosolutely boring as everyone else does, I kind of like the guy. And I really like Wajima and Rinko. Don't need any of the other characters though. No thank to Koyomi, Shunpei, Phoenix, or Medusa. Those are some spectacularly boring villains.

My problem with Haruto is that watching him feels like watching Tsukasa pull off his best Tendou impersonation. Silent, stoic, always one step ahead of everyone else but telling no one, etc. But he lacks Tsukasa's supporting characters (Not Yuuseless, but the AU riders, I mean) and Tendou's charm (And Kagami). Basically, while the stoic rider can work, he's lacking the other factors to make them lovable or at the very least, interesting.
I like Wajima, but he's just a character who's begging for some kind of story arc. Rinko is just a pretty face in the room, often just showing up to remind viewers she's still around. I will agree completely on Koyumi and Medusa being boring as sin, but Shunpei and Phoenix are the only watchable characters.

Really, Wizard is just misstep after misstep, for me. Making all the Phantoms inherently irredeemable by killing their human gate; making it so that, of the main cast, only Haruto can practice magic means we spend a good chunk of an episode having characters simply running around until Haruto shows up, etc.

It's actually a rather interesting sight, considering that the characters of the week tend to be written rather well. The last one with Naoki and Kizaki was actually really good.

I don't deny that he isn't as interesting as guys like Tsukasa and Tendou. But he's far more interesting than say Shotaro or Gentaro, to me at least. I enjoy his laid back way of dealing with most situations. But when he needs to be a badass he is a badass. Don't get me wrong though. This isn't my favorite show. Nor is it even my top 5 rider shows. As I said I find the majority of the supporting cast to either be annoying or useless as hell.

Wajima is a fun old guy who will be fleshed out, I'm almost sure of it. Rinko has to be more important than the pretty face in the crowd so I'm holding out for her to develop (and damn what a pretty face she is!) Koyomi is rocking the magical girl motif and is pretty cute on her own. But she adds nothing to the story other than being an occasional bitch with a crystal ball. But Shunpei is the goofiest motherfucker ever. I get him being the sort of childlike character and adding an innocent side to things but the goofballness is way over the top for him. It's reaching Fourze proportions which can kill the show for me.

There are some seriously low points in Fourze that I don't think this show has reached yet. But it needs to pull out of this nosedive really soon. Needs more White Wizard and Wajima stories.

At least Haruto is a friendly , good hearted person. He's a quiet dude that likes donuts and wants to save people... What the hell is wrong with that?

There's nothing wrong with that. If anything, Haruto would be a great Rider, seeing how some of these Gates act. Does being a Gate automatically make one a jerk? Because that's what I'm seeing.

The main flaw is that Wizard comes off as a Gary Stu: Flawless and unflappable for the most part. If the hero feels no fear, then the audience can't connect to him at a emotional level. If we can see more of Haruto acting like a human and not like some high and mighty dragon, that would at least be a step in the right direction.

That's what makes the gates so interesting. They're human. They feel fear. They feel anger. They react. Watching them is like watching real people. A monster shows up to try and kill you, not everyone is just going to sit down and wait for the donut obsessed man to solve their problems. They run away, they get confrontational and angry, they deny it and move on.

My problem with Wizard isn't the writing, because I'd freaking murder for more Kizaki and Naoki. It's the writing on Haruto himself. When Shunpei/Koyumi/Rinko/Wajima are fighting, what does he do? He sneaks out. When he gets a new ring, what does he do? He walks out. When the gate is PMSing over something, what does he do? He walks away. Haruto's only involvement in the series seems to be a magical guardian. This wouldn't be so bad except this is the character we're following...

I never did post my thoughts did I? I can't remember a lot, but Hurricane Dragon was cool.