Wizard Episode 23 "Deathmatch" Discussion
 

Phoenix is going all out!
Wizard is on the ropes.
Medusa and Wiseman can't stop Phoenix either.
Does Beast have something up his sleeve?
Can he consume the flames of the Phoenix?!

Discuss the Magic!

i saw next prew of kr wizard - kr beast 's granny show up

Not in the episode, but here's an image of Sora/The Fedora Phantom's Phantom Form-
http://24.media.tumblr.com/c9caa510d...ben4o1_500.jpg
The Gremlin Phantom

Pretty cool design. Still really interested to see his overall role in the series. Hopefully it's a bit more than "is secretly the real mastermind behind it all". Hell as much as I like the character I almost want him killed off sooner than later just so he doesn't fall into some cliche spot.

Makes sense he'd be the Gremlin phantom... causing mischief is their forte.

That looks like a pretty cool design, though I'd like to see it in clearer light so I can make out the face detailing a little better.

I'm likin' Sora's Phantom form. It reminds me of Devilman and he might be the Villain for this show, like Enter was for Gobusters.

Y'know,I always wondered what would happen if Beast got a 1 on his dice sword.lol.Also,man were we all way off with how Phoenix gets beaten.

Oh man, that 1 roll was worth the whole episode right there. :)

I loved the bit with One Chameleo Sabre Strike. Also, I think they're absolutely screwed if Phoenix comes back from the sun somehow, since he'd be even FREAKING STRONGER.

Well, from the look/sound of things

Phoenix' actor has left the show, so he really won't be back now.

Aw, what a shame. He was a good actor, too. Well, hope he can appear in a later Kamen Rider season like past Kamen Rider actors.

Very strong episode. The Phoenix character was a good mid season antagonist. I would bet that the character will come back in a future movie even if the actor has left the show completely.

Looking forward to seeing where the show goes and I hope it's a bit more exciting than what we've gotten before.

All-Dragon looked pretty underwhelming but other than that this was a pretty good episode. The sword duel between Phoenix and Wizard(s) looked great and it was a pretty good way to take Phoenix out. I just hope Gremlin is able to fill his shoes.

Also, the Kyoryuger narrator saying "shabadoobie was hilarious" :D

Gonna miss Phoenix. I liked how ferocious and all-out his fights with Wizard ended up being.

Have I mentioned that I love Kizaki? Because he's freaking awesome.

Anyway, doesn't Phoenix get stronger with each resurrection? Wouldn't he eventually hit a point where he could survive the sun's flames?

Wouldn't that make for a cool climax? Phoenix returns infinitely stronger than before?

As for the episode, it was alright. Haven't I already said that Phantoms are inherently irredeemable? Well, they out right acknowledged that this episode, meaning there will be, at no point, a story arc involving a Phantom who isn't evil. There will not be a Wasp Monster with a heart. No Mole Beastman. None whatsoever.
(If you don't get what I'm doing, I'm trying to make them ironically make me wrong so we can get some good stories like this one again).

The fact that all Phantoms are just pure evil makes me sad too. It's really hard for me to be a Toku fan right now due to both Kyoryu being a dino series and Wizard just being....whatever the heck it wants to be, I guess.

I hope and pray the next Rider series is better, because I just can't like Haruto no matter what he does.

Well the one exception to the Phantoms are all evil rule was Caitsith. He just wanted to relax and was practically forced to do his job by Medusa and Phoenix.

The word you're looking for is mundane.

Thanks, Blade Raider. All Dragon is just what this series is...mundane.

This show has not captured my imagination like the other Riders. It's sorta like Gobusters: A show that flip flops between light and darkness without ever being good at one of them.

That's because Kizaki only got like a 2 minute scene this episode.

A pretty good episode with a decent resolultion. But I still think it's silly that they didn't let Beast eat him. All Haruto had to do was defeat Phoenix and let Beast stand on the side lines and consume him afterward. A missed opportunity to solve Nitous sub-plot but oh well.

The episode itself was pretty nice even if it did newly reinforce the whole Phantoms have no redemption thing. And I'll admit that throwing Phoenix into the sun was a good was to keep him in check until they need to bring him back for a movie or later in the series. All Dragon looked pretty silly and the flight battle wasn't nearly as cool as the Hurricane Dragon one. Kizaki being in this episode (and the last) seemed pointless. More or less it just reminded us that hey he's a character behind a desk!

Kizaki needed to appear so that, for the Wizard movie, when Rinko and Shunpei need to find people to activate rings for him, he can be one of them.

I guess because he's Long :lol

That's just the icing on top :p

Decent episode. Some good amount of resolution here and there. Nice to see Haruto actually get phased by something. He's not always the stone cold hero. That seemed like a very clever way to take out phoenix for now. He could make a great, supercharged villain for a movie or something if they wanted to go that direction. His arc has been some of the best stuff this series has had so far. Only thing that really disappointed me was the final fight, but that's mostly because I think All Dragon is terrible. The Dragon wizard designs on their own look great and have interesting fighting styles. All Dragon is just an ugly, boring, not even all that flashy finisher. I actually like the DragoTimer, though. That works well. Having four wizards fight at once is going to lead to some great moments, I can tell. The sound effects are great too.

Going forward, Gremlin certainly seems like he'll be an interesting villain. The show desperately needs it as Medusa's too boring and Wiseman isn't ready to come into the spotlight. His mischievous nature should lead to some interesting plots. If they handle him like they did phoenix, it'll certainly keep the show going nicely into the final couple arcs.

Something about Kizaki really bugged me here as well. Not sure what it is. Could be typical toku 'cool guy' syndrome, but I feel like he's hiding something. Like he's playing a bigger role than he lets on. Could he be the White Wizard, perhaps? I don't think so right now, not enough evidence, but it seems almost as likely as any other identity for him.

I really liked this episode. Although looking back I think I liked every episode at the time. I just got a bit frustrated with the slow pace of the plot early on. But ever since they've been letting Haruto emote and let his groupies out for air on their own, I've really been enjoying it a lot more.

The final battle this episode was appropriately epic. I liked the solution to the Phoenix problem, but it was fairly cold-blooded a move by Haruto. I think he's finally starting to take a personal stake in this battle.

I am getting a bit worried that the way they're dragging out the bigger plot that we're going to get some big info dumps at some point towards the end. They're really keeping us in the dark with this one.

I'm thinking that or Wiseman,just cause we haven't seen Wiseman except for in his Phantom form.

Anybody notice the Chameleon looks a bit like RinChameleon from Gekiranger?
http://25.media.tumblr.com/6f258bbc3...t17io2_400.gif

Yes,that's actually the first thing i thought of.lol.Still love Beast's reaction when he got the one

Overall it was a good episode with some really nice scenes. I loved the comedic moment when the Dice Saber pulled up a one :lol.

I agree that the way Haruto ended up beating Phoenix came off as a little dark and cold-blooded. I think it would've been a bit more merciful had Haruto let Nitou eat Phoenix's mana. Oh well...that just means Phoenix will come back at some point more powerful than ever (not the greatest plan, Haruto).

I'm getting the feeling more and more that White Wizard and Wiseman are related. They've dropped so many hints to it. Whether their the same person, phantom and wizard, or something else remains to be seen. Who knows, maybe Kizaki will turn out to be both the White Wizard and Wiseman.

It came off really cold-hearted to me. Haruto was really dark about it. He didn't just want phoenix gone, he wanted him to suffer as much as possible. Phoenix really pushed Haruto too far. Maybe this darkness is the beginning of some Dragon form consequence. Could the dragon be starting to consume Haruto's mind?

That was a great way to deal with Phoenix...semi-permanently. Sad to see him go, he was easily one of the top 3 characters on the show (Sora and Nitou being the other two).

All Dragon was kinda disappointing tbqh. Hopefully Infinity Style makes up for it. Dragon Timer itself is at least cool.

And yeah, there is definitely more to Kizaki than we've seen, odds are good he is Wiseman or the White Wizard...or both, though I dislike the Wiseman=White Wizard theory, even if it is likely true.

Haruto really went all out against Phoenix, I mean damn. Wanting him to suffer eternally, using his immortality against him and all that. That was hardcore and kinda badass haha, but really freaking cold. Glad to see some change in his character like that.

Also, what was with all the form changes in that fight, whatever happened to having to manage his use of mana? They decide to drop that already? Waiting for it to be convenient again to use as a way to build drama?

It's just like Naruto and Chakra. In the beginning every Ninja has to manage his or her supply of Chakra when casting ninja arts, but later on everybody's got almost unlimited supply of it in the big fights. I think it's too hard to have a prolonged battle without ditching the concept altogether.


Man I am going to miss Phoenix a lot. That's one heck of a fight. Heck the buildup to that last fight alone was worth the price of admission. I do think the solution of solving Phoenix's immortality was pretty cold hearted, but if I was in Haruto's shoes I would've done the same because there's just no other way to deal with such a ruthless and powerful foe. Phoenix really forced Haruto's hand at the end because he wasn't going to let Haruto go until one of them is gone.

Why didn't he just toss Phoenix into a black hole? I mean, he's a wizard- he's fully capable of pulling it off and surviving. Furthermore, the chances of Phoenix coming back stronger than before would be very low.

Rule of teleportation applies here, even if he's not teleporting Phoenix. He'd have to know where a Black Hole is in the first place.

That's why we have Google.

In fact, I just found one relatively close to Earth.

Heat of the moment.
Easier to hit him towards the sun than to risk missing the black hole.
Black hole is too far for him to kick him towards, risking Phoenix recovering fast enough to fly back.

Pick your reasoning :p

Why even apply theoretical teleportation rules to this when they didn't even use real logic in this episode? He threw Phoenix into the sun. From Earth's surface. In like a matter of seconds. That's over 92,000,000 miles. That alone isn't possible unless All Dragon Forms' attacks move objects at the speed of light. And even then light takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth from the sun. I think even trying to use teleportation logic is foolhardy with this one. It's best just to accept that this hapened and nothing else did and remain oblivious :lol

So yeah. Guess All Dragon is pretty damn strong to send Phoenix that far that fast.