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Thread
:
Fish Sandwich rewatches Kamen Rider Wizard
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01-01-2025, 05:55 AM
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12
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 4,018
Episode 2 -- "I Want to Be a Wizard"
It's interesting to note that the next two episodes are the only two in the series to have two credited writers. Naturally, Tsuyoshi Kida continues on from the first episode, but he's also joined here by Junko Koumura, writing her very first episodes of Kamen Rider. Koumura, the way I've heard it told, was for all intents and purposes just as much the "main" writer for Wizard as Kida was. While I don't know enough to say if she had any more or less influence on things like the overall direction of the story, I understand Kida's schedule was rather tight at the time, which would certainly line up with the fact that, counting these two, Koumura ended up writing a whopping 22 episodes of this show. I'd like to speculate about why this particular story ended up being a more active collaborative effort, but even though I have a couple theories, I don't have much concrete info to make that anything more than aimless guessing, so there's not much point.
Regardless, after a brief bit of recap narration, this one starts with a visit to our heroes' antique shop home for the series, Omokagedo.
Another one of those tiny joys of Wizard I have to mention: having the Machine Winger chilling in a lot of the establishing shots of this place. Super easy and effective way to create that instant visual impression that this is
Kamen Rider's
home, and lets the bike contribute something to an episode without even needing the engine on.
The choice of an
antique shop
is also rather on point? It's another one of those thematic things. Antiques are things that are old, of course, so it kinda vaguely fits in with the idea of a hero using the ancient power of sorcery or whatever, but more than that, there's often an aspect of sentimental value to them, and the idea of things from the past people want to hold on to is all over the storytelling in Wizard.
It's also just a nicely warm setting that's perfect to come back to and rest up after a hard day fighting bad guys, and that's exactly what Haruto is doing in the opening scene here, which both starts and ends with him sleeping. Starting that way to emphasize that magic for Haruto uses energy in much the same way physical activity does, and ending that way to emphasize that the powers of Wajima's new rings are a mystery right up until they're first used. It's a simple expository scene since the show is still establishing the world, but I'm a sucker for doing cute things with narrative structure, so having that whole bookends deal going on elevates it a lot for me, almost like it's some little skit in its own right, even if that's definitely overselling it.
This is also where we first get the usual opening sequence, so I'll go ahead and talk about that now.
The introductory narration and the associated visuals are real classy. It makes Haruto seem like a big deal, and through considered word choice, manages to condense a lot of important information about Wizard into a speech no longer than this sentence. Makes me a little envious, honestly!
The opening proper is also up to a high standard.
Life is SHOW TIME is an infectiously upbeat tune, bringing the cheer the way Wizard brings hope, with lyrics by Shouko Fujibayashi that incorporate a lot of relevant imagery for the series, and still find room to touch on more layers of the story without sacrificing the positive vibes. I'm probably not done directly referencing those lyrics in this thread, either, which says a lot about how well they fit.
With the occasional exception, the director of the first episodes of a Rider show is also responsible for the visuals of the opening, and I find Nakazawa has exceptional talent in that department. Even just talking about Wizard, there's a fantastic tempo to the cuts, with every image being held for exactly the right amount of time, and all of those shots are very appealing visually. What really bumps him up to that top tier though is that those gorgeous and well-cut shots are also frequently very
meaningful
.
Take, for example, the motif going on at the start where Haruto and Koyomi are put against a blur of urban commotion, isolating them from normal life because that isn't the world they're a part of anymore. Supporting this idea, in that same series of shots, Rinko and Shunpei are pulled out of that blur to join the two of them, because unlike Haruto and Koyomi, they're ultimately ordinary people who simply happen to get involved. And there's still more going on even in just those shots! But as much as I'd like to continue raving about how well Nakazawa condensed the broad concepts of Wizard into these abstract compositions, I should probably get back to talking about who Shunpei even is!
Shunpei Nara is the young man whose first scene in the entire show is him getting roasted by literal children for being too childish, which is probably something to remember if you ever find yourself thinking the show didn't realize what it was doing with him. Shunpei dresses more like a little kid than most little kids you'll see, all bright colors, complete with a big neon backpack like he's on his way to catch the school bus. And really, it's another example of how nicely
visual
Wizard is, because the contradiction of his appearance matches his personality perfectly. Again, actual little children in-universe find his innocence and purity to be cringeworthy. The dramatic irony here is that while Shunpei is introduced pretending to use magic to help someone out, he's a main character in a show about a guy who helps people out using magic.
This story's Phantom, Hellhound, shows up real quick to target... well, technically they keep it ambiguous since Haruto doesn't know at first, but I mean, if you saw last episode, you can probably guess who the Gate is. At any rate, Haruto is on the scene in typical fashion, speeding into frame on his bike and immediately popping a wheelie to smack the monster with the front tire, like any self-respecting Kamen Rider would. As soon as Shunpei overhears that he's a wizard, he's as captivated by the cool hero as is he scared by the villain.
Being captivated by Wizard fighting is only natural, I suppose. This is just the middle of the episode appetizer action, and already he's doing a sick wirework stunt to spin-flip off of Hellhound's sword. Not to mention dramatically leaping onto a nearby rooftop for a dramatic zoom-in shot over Hellhound's shoulder that I think sort of betrays Nakazawa and Ishigaki's Sentai roots? Well, I think it's more like a classic general Showa toku hero thing, really, but that's exactly why I'm pretty sure you're more likely to see it in a modern Sentai than you are in a modern Rider. (Actually, now that I'm thinking about this more, the show's fondness for small-fry grunts with the Ghouls is probably another Sentai-ism the staff brought with them, isn't it?) Of course, Wizard's still bringing that modern composite shot flair with stuff like slicing Hellhound up while flying around on the wind, or tossing him as casually as a baseball thanks to the power of the Big Ring, which I have to imagine is a favorite for a lot of people.
Despite being trounced and humiliated in so many different ways in the span of about a minute and a half, Hellhound ultimately gets away, leaving Haruto to deal with something that might actually give him some real trouble -- a particularly enthusiastic fan!
Again, just in case you think the show wasn't in on its own joke, Haruto's initial interaction with Shunpei is the latter repeatedly begging to become his apprentice, and the former trying so desperately to avoid breathing the same air that he's eventually bolting down the sidewalk with a fervor ordinarily reserved for people trying to escape ferocious animals or zombies. Haruto seeks shelter at his favorite mobile donut shop, meaning the show's first scene at Hungry. Which is another topic I'm going to shunt off to the side for now! (Please settle for me tossing in a mention that the manager's hairstyle here is a homage to Fourze's head.)
More important right now is that Shunpei's persistence wears Haruto down enough to at least hear him out over some donuts. This gives Shunpei a chance to properly exposit about his childhood dream of becoming a wizard, inspired by a picture book he loved reading. He was always enamored with the thought of how fun it seemed to be someone who went around helping people out with magical powers, but even Shunpei eventually gave up on the idea that such a fantasy could ever come true. Which is why meeting a real wizard is such a big deal to him. Shunpei looks at Haruto and sees everything he's ever wanted to be his whole life. And that's another great dramatic contrast, because we start to find out here how vastly different Haruto's own perspective on the matter is. He's quick to point out that it's not all fun and games, and insists that one wizard is more than enough, the subtext of which is no doubt lost on Shunpei (and perhaps the audience), not yet knowing what Haruto has been through in life. Still, despite brushing Shunpei off, Haruto is later seen staring at his Flame Ring in a manner that implies hearing all this has given him a lot to think about.
...And to find out what Haruto is thinking about, I'd better backtrack to cover Rinko's end of the story, which starts connecting to everything else right around that point. The scene right after the opening introduces Kizaki of the National Security Agency's Section Zero, a typically obstructive government man who grills Rinko for info on the wizard and also basically tells her to forget about the whole Phantom business, all of which is pretty frustrating for her. She wants to protect people too, after all, and she figures if the state isn't going to be of any help, maybe it's worth finding the wizard again.
This leads her to Omokagedo, where, in parallel with Haruto and Shunpei's conversation, Koyomi ends up explaining to Rinko (and the audience) exactly how hard Haruto has had it in life. Not that she wants to be dealing with Rinko at all, mind you. While you won't know exactly why just from these episodes, there's a great a sense of how much Koyomi views Rinko as more of an
intruder
than anything, made most clear by a great little bit of direction where Rinko steps closer towards Koyomi, and Koyomi immediately backs away to maintain her distance. Koyomi only ends up having as much to say as she does because Rinko casually remarking on how cool having magic must be gets under her skin. (By the way, to give you an idea of how nicely cut together the dialogue in these two scenes is, Koyomi tells Rinko to never say you wish you were a wizard to Haruto literally right before Shunpei tells Haruto he used to dream of being a wizard.)
While there was the slightest tease of it in the premiere, thanks to Koyomi here, the show is able to start properly elaborating on the incident that forms the backbone of the show's whole narrative -- a ritual performed half a year ago on the day of an eclipse, where countless Gates were sacrificed to create Phantoms, leaving no survivors beyond Koyomi, who has no memory of her life prior, and Haruto, who managed to contain his Phantom within him, gaining the ability to become a wizard.
There's a lot about this backstory I love, and I'll have quite a few chances to talk about it, which itself gets at one of the reasons why. Most relevant to this episode's story is that it doesn't really pull any punches when it comes to depicting how massively traumatic it must've been for Haruto. It just plain
looks
like hell.
The sun has been swallowed by darkness, there's spooky red lava lines all over the ground, and you can do nothing but watch as countless people all around you lose their lives, writhing in agony until they crumble to pieces and explode into monsters, never understanding why this is even happening. It feels like some mythic event. It's the kind of sequence that would usually just be a symbolic nightmare a character in a story wakes up from, but for Haruto, that despair was all too real. His whole character is basically defined by his ability to find hope even in a situation like that, and part of the fun of the series is gradually coming to understand why he's that kind of person.
And while the incident itself comes off as a nightmare, there's an almost dreamlike quality to the aftermath, with a mysterious wizard clad in white appearing before Haruto, cradling an unconscious girl in his arms.
He's called the White Wizard, naturally, although it's worth noting that title is strictly given as
shiroi mahoutsukai
, in Japanese, putting it more in the category of Haruto's whole Ringed Wizard thing, except this guy was only given a more marketable name retroactively, after the show ended. Back when there was nothing but this episode to go on, however, he really was a complete enigma, which made him pretty immediately fascinating to me. The visual of him holding Koyomi made it into the opening, so clearly he's important to the story, but like, it is just because he's the guy who sets Haruto on the path to fighting the Phantoms here? Who is he? Why was he there that day? This show is great at communicating through visuals, and he looks like a cool mentor character, even praising Haruto for holding on to hope, so I don't know, maybe he was trying to stop all this or something? I guess he failed in his goal then? This whole flashback sequence is there to give the viewers needed context, but in the process, it raises way more questions that it can also contextualize later, meaning the eclipse fuels a ton of storytelling throughout, and the story keeps looping back to the eclipse, further emphasizing how important it was for these characters.
But I'm maybe getting ahead of myself. If you still remember after that whole detour, the point is that this is where Rinko comes to understand that Haruto is fighting to protect people because he doesn't want to see the tragedy he witnessed that day ever happen again, and once Hellhound shows back up to go after Shunpei, all three characters are ready to finally gather in one spot as part of the climactic fight scene. Which means I also have more commentary to give on Wizard's action scenes as I'm trying to talk about that stuff. Busy busy!
For starters, the transformation. The basic concept of a magic circle popping up wherever Haruto points his arm inherently lends itself to a lot of variation. On top of just filming the same pose in different ways, you can change up the pose itself depending on the scene, such as here, where instead of the circle coming to Haruto from the side, he reaches him arm forward, and dashes through it in a manner quite similar to Kamen Rider Blade.
Despite arriving to save Shunpei blasting bad guys with his gun, once he's transformed, the emphasis here is firmly on the raw choreography of an unarmed Flame Style going up against a crowd of Ghouls using no additional powers. This means, for one thing, a real old-school Rider #1/#2 bit where he steals one of the mooks' own weapons to beat them up with for a moment. It's also just a great showcase for the big thing that distinguishes Wizard's hand-to-hand combat from other Riders -- Wizard doesn't punch people. He's wearing huge rings all the time, after all. It's easier to forget when he's using a sword or a gun or a magic spell, but in a scene like this, he's using his hands to block attacks and stuff all without ever making a fist, and it feels very unique to watch. Instead, Wizard favors kicks, which also naturally complements the desire to have his cool robe dramatically flapping about, so it's kind of a win-win in that regard. Speaking of the robe, one of the only CG magic type things in the scene is an awesome bit where Wizard uses his robe to protect Rinko from a bunch of fireballs, because that thing is apparently fashionable *and* functional!
Oh, right, and Rinko is here! She shows up to save a distracted Shunpei while Haruto has his hands full. Rinko makes it clear to Haruto again that, magic or no, she wants to protect people the same way he does, and you can tell Haruto is starting to respect that about her.
And why was Shunpei distracted, you ask? I'd tell you, but I'm a little distracted myself, because it turns out Hellhound has a sweet motorcycle, which means it's Machine Winger versus Black Dog in a proper bike action showdown.
It's not every day Wizard does a traditional bike action sequence this elaborate, so I appreciate them cramming so many classic bike action staples into this little sequence. There's a good amount of traffic, which always make the scale seem more impressive, especially when they flip one of those cars over so Wizard can jump over it.
Since this is a duel between bikes, you've also got the technique of putting the two bikes on a trailer or whatever so they can fight each other while giving the illusion the characters are still driving. Not to mention the real movie magic, where you can stop showing the background entirely for a few shots, allowing you film the presumably completely stationary bikes while doing some ridiculous and awesome stunt like having Wizard spin around in the air to kick Hellhound's sword away. It's all tied together with plenty of shots of the bikes moving for real, and topped off with one heck of a real explosion just for good measure. Especially with the kung fu fight right before it, it's a strong episode if you want some Kamen Rider Wizard action that's less "Wizard" and more "Kamen Rider".
Poor Hellhound though, going up in flames like that. Sure, it's pretty creepy that he was stalking Shunpei at the library earlier but... wait a minute! Flames? Shunpei? I almost forgot to mention! Shunpei shot some flames out his finger at a Ghoul during the ending fight! Probably a development that's important to note heading into the next episode!
Episode 3 -- "Transform! Live Broadcast"
First things first, this episode has the weirdest title in the entire series. The only one out of all of them to have an exclamation mark in there! Gives it a weirdly shounen anime vibe when all the rest are more like chapter titles you'd find in a novel.
Not much time to spend getting hung up on that though -- just look at how much the episode checks in on before the opening even rolls! You've got everything from Kizaki making it clear they'll be keeping an eye on Rinko, to a scene at Omokagedo that will end up bookending the episode, showing how Haruto is warming up to a new face in his life contrasted against Koyomi's continued indifference bordering on hostility, all the while establishing a running gag of people refusing to let Haruto eat his donuts in peace.
Meanwhile, Shunpei is playing with fire, which, as we all know, is something that usually ends well.
What could go wrong, really? The neighborhood kids are finally impressed, and some guy named Tajima wants him to show off his magic on TV Yuhi! (Naturally, this is a play on the television network Kamen Rider airs on, TV Asahi, with
yuuhi
meaning "evening sun" in contrast to
asahi
meaning "morning sun". Considering the gimmick of the episode's climax, it's rather fitting to make it such an obvious reference.)
Yes, things sure are looking up for Shunpei, especially with Tajima inviting him to demonstrate his powers live in the studio tomorrow. Haruto is here to kill the mood though. Shunpei is naturally excited to tell his teacher and idol that he's become a real wizard himself, but the gap between their perspectives ends up turning the conversation rather heated.
I mean, he'd probably be skeptical anyway, but as soon as Shunpei mentions that he can specifically
shoot flames
, Haruto immediately makes the connection with the fire-spewing Hellhound, grasping the basics of the story he's in within moments, thanks to knowing all about Phantoms and Gates and all these things, because he's the hero in that story. All Shunpei knows is that Haruto explicitly told him one wizard is all that's needed, that he's telling him his magic must be fake, and that his magic has stopped working now that he's around. It's the sort of thing that's probably going to frustrate a viewer or two, but especially with Shunpei having the childlike personality he does, it's not exactly surprising that he starts to assume Haruto must be deliberately trying to get in his way. I'm impressed by a lot of the little nuances that make it work, though. I especially like how Haruto tries to jump straight to explaining that the Phantom is clearly trying to get Shunpei's hopes up just to dash them, only for Shunpei to throw that right back at Haruto, who, despite having good reasons, *is* legitimately in the middle of dashing Shunpei's hopes after proving to him that wizards are real. It's not just the touches in the writing, either! The scene takes place at Hungry again, so in a real "only in Wizard" bit of direction, Shunpei's anger is punctuated with him knocking a table over, sending a poor unfortunate donut onto the ground with it.
That night, back at Omokagedo, Haruto once again finds himself left with a lot to think about after talking to Shunpei. The story takes a pretty interesting direction, because rather than choose to focus on Shunpei's lack of context and inability to understand what Haruto has gone through, things instead end up centering on Haruto's lack of context and inability to understand what
Shunpei
is going through. It becomes less about assigning blame and more about empathy, with Haruto realizing that, since he became a wizard without ever wanting to be one, he might not have been considering how what he said earlier must come off to a person who always wanted to be a wizard but never could be.
Wajima is there too, lending an ear in his first big fatherly scene in the show, reminding Haruto of the day they first met. So in another bit of efficiently and naturally placed exposition, we also get the backstory of how Haruto and Koyomi first arrived at Omokagedo, looking for the man who made Haruto's rings -- one Shigeru Wajima. I'm once again impressed by how the visuals alone manage to tell so much of the story.
Omokagedo is a very
warm
set, with all the antiques and everything giving it an especially cozy vibe, so having it be pouring rain on the day Haruto and Koyomi first found that new home -- having them both drenched in water, with no umbrella to shield themselves -- it emphasizes nicely how much these two were at a very low point in their lives after the eclipse, and thus how much Wajima's generosity in letting them stay there probably meant way more than any amount of magic rings could. And he really is generous! There's an aspect where he feels guilty that his rings played a part in Haruto getting mixed up in everything, but like, I don't think Haruto even *pretends* to do any
work
at Omokagedo, like a lot of Rider protagonists would? Which I think says it all right there. Koyomi technically works the register, I guess, but really, Wajima just 100% wants to look after these two kids who have been through a lot, and that makes him a cool dude in my book. (Also, now that I'm thinking about this... it's totally Wajima's money Haruto buys all those donuts with, isn't it? I have to imagine that's no small expense!)
Putting that tangent aside, the reason Wajima is bringing this day up in the present is to remind Haruto of when he... well, basically when Haruto established the central theme for the entire series. That day, when Wajima tried to apologize for making the rings, Haruto, in spite of all that had happened to him, simply asked Wajima for his help in preventing another tragedy like that from happening again. Haruto had the strength to focus on moving forward, rather than be mired in past regrets. Hearing him express that sentiment was an inspiration to Wajima, motivating him to continue making rings, and now Wajima, offering Haruto a new ring, uses those words to motivate him to continue his own work, rather than beat himself up over what's already done. Really full circle stuff going on here! Pretty crazy how many things this scene accomplished at once!
The next day, Shunpei is at the television studio, and his big live broadcast starts, catching Rinko's attention, who then gives Haruto a call, flipping on the television at Omokagedo with Wajima and Koyomi to confirm what's happening before quickly running out to do something about Hellhound's plan, now that's he figured out where this is all heading. Tajima himself is Hellhound, and, honestly? While I can't condone the behavior itself, I have to admit, I respect his craft. With Minotauros in the premiere, drving Rinko to despair was a simple matter of smashing up a keepsake and rubbing her face in her helplessness. Hellhound, though, this guy went all out with the theatrics. Using his ability to blend into the shadows to fake being defeated by Wizard, as well as manipulating Shunpei into thinking he could use magic, then using his human identity to lure Shunpei onto a popular TV show just to humiliate him with the truth in front of the whole nation,
then
, as the ultimate cherry of despair on top of everything else, controlling Shunpei once more to make him burn with his own hand the very picture book that inspired the childhood dream that Hellhound has so cruelly and ruthlessly warped and twisted to his own evil ends. The malice may be reprehensible, but the showmanship is nothing short of commendable.
Haruto arrives, making good use of the Sleep Ring from way back at the start of episode 2 to slip by a guard, tying up that little thread, and, on the subject of little things, I'm going to note Hellhound calls him "Wizard" in English when he enters the room. I'm going to try and bring it up every time this happens, specifically because I'm confident I won't be bringing it up much longer at all.
So, with a Phantom and a Wizard fighting on morning TV, the whole joke of the TV Yuhi thing becomes clear, as this is where the episode becomes extremely meta -- you're watching an episode of Kamen Rider where people in-universe are basically watching an episode of Kamen Rider.
I'd imagine this was especially surreal for a lot of people in Japan watching this episode when it originally aired, but even removed from that specific context, it's a pretty cute gag. All the reactions from the various characters are real fun, too, between Wajima noting how good Haruto looks on camera (accurate!), and Kizaki spitting out his drink as he realizes what a pain it's going to be to cover up this mess.
The final showdown with Hellhound takes place right in the studio, which does wonders to make things feel fresh visually. I don't think it should ever be underestimated how much it spices things up just having different looking backgrounds than usual. Especially if that unique location is directly important to the story. It's very nice that Wizard doesn't immediately kick Hellhound out a window so they can fight in the street or something. There are also two distinct phases to the fight to make things more interesting, with Wizard basically having to tackle each of his gimmicks in turn. The studio is pretty dark at first, giving Hellhound the upper hand thanks to his shadowy abilities, but Haruto makes good of use of yet another present from Wajima, using the Light Ring he was given the previous night to brighten things up, even paraphrasing Wajima's dialogue in the process. Obviously Hellhound isn't going to get the reference, so I like that Haruto feels the need to pay tribute to the guy in that fashion anyway. Again, it's about way more than just the rings with Wajima.
Phase two involves dealing with Hellhound's fire, meaning after getting the other three Styles right there in the premiere, only now does Water Style make its first appearance.
And that appearance is pretty snazzy, too, being a Wizard costume! The four forms are basically the same suit, differentiated only by color and the trademark shape assigned to each element. Honestly, the way Water's diamond shapes are worked in is ~probably~ my least favorite of the lot (Flame's circles definitely feel the most natural), but it's not that big a gap, and simply being the blue one does a ton to make up for any aesthetic deficiencies by my standards.
It always has been rather curious that the show held off on using Water Style for a bit after making it a point to
not
hold off on the others though. I'm not sure if it makes it seem
more
special, like they thought it absolutely needed some climactic scene all to itself, or
less
, like it was just the only one that wasn't cool enough to be needed in the premiere. I'm leaning towards "more", though, considering that this scene is also, again somewhat curiously, the first use of one of the show's many insert songs, and it's Water Style's own theme, Mystic Liquid. Although even *that* is merely an instrumental version here, which also means I'll save talking about the song for another occasion.
With Hellhound dealt with, Haruto finally has time to turn his attention to a despairing Shunpei, meaning yet another great Engage scene. You can see development in how the two characters have sort of inverted their positions from earlier in the episode. Shunpei is broken because he now realizes he can't be that magical hero he always dreamed of, but Haruto promises to live out that dream on Shunpei's behalf. For Haruto, being a wizard is
fate
, for better or for worse, but meeting Shunpei, to whom that life is a
fantasy
, it's helped Haruto to see his situation as a gift, and not a curse. I love how that's what Haruto, who's all about moving forward, chooses to take away from everything that's happened in these episodes, and I love that Haruto offers Shunpei that solace in knowing that even though he won't be the one living it out, his silly childhood dream did come true, in a way.
And that's already a fine way to start wrapping things up, but there's also the matter of the *other* reason the Engage Ring is so great. The fight between Dragon and Cyclops looks great, which is nothing too new, but one trick the show held up its sleeve last time was that Haruto can use the Kick Strike Ring
with
the Dragon, and the results are as awesome as you can possibly imagine.
The motorcycle splitting into wings was inspired enough as it is, but having Wizard be able to Rider Kick a giant monster by having his Dragon transform into an equally gigantic foot, that's as next level as it gets, right there.
Plus, the emotional substance doesn't get forgotten about once Haruto enters Shunpei's Underworld either, as the sequence starts with him briefly stumbling upon a young Shunpei reading that picture book, and then finding it on the ground after finishing off the Phantom, giving Haruto that much more of an opportunity to understand just how much Shunpei's dream means to him.
All that's left at this point is for things to close out much as they started, with Koyomi now frustrated by twice the noisy interlopers at Omokagedo, as Shunpei resolves to become Haruto's assistant, now having accepted that being an apprentice is out of the question. It's another scene where a lot of really little yet significant beats all happen in such quick succession that I could dig into it for a while. It's everything from reaffirming that Shunpei is still a handful, even if Haruto is willing to put up with him now, to Rinko noticing Shunpei's also still wearing the ring Haruto gave him (a touch about those two characters I'm quite fond of!), to just continuing the whole "nobody lets Haruto eat his dang donuts" shtick right up to the very last seconds of the episode. Suffice it to say it's quite well put together, just like these episodes on the whole. Wizard's premiere is such an attention grabber that I'm not sure I've ever really given these two the attention they deserve, in retrospect. Actually taking the time to dig into it like this, this story is really every bit as considered. A ton of interesting backstory is worked pretty seamlessly into a plot that has a lot of qualities in its own right, and it's stuffed full of loads of action sequences that all have unique hooks to distinguish them from one another. I honestly thought going in I'd be able to breeze through these episodes without saying too much (relatively speaking), but I suppose, to bring things back to the theme song once again, they betrayed my expectations in the best way possible.
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