Kamen Rider Wizard (2012-2013)

"Long ago, magic and science worked in harmony. But with the rise of civilization, magic fell into the shadows. It is now the present day.One man uses magic to hold back forces that science is powerless to stop. He is known as . . .The Wizard"

"The rings of power--the Wizard rings. There is a man, a modern day magic-user who wears their power on both hands, that despair may become hope."

KAMEN RIDER WIZARD

 SYNOPSIS
 Six months ago, the Sabbath happened--a mass sacrifice of human beings in a magic ceremony. Most died instantly. The rest fell to despair and were changed into Phantoms--their inner demons born out of the despair that killed them. One--Koyomi--lives on as a being without a soul and without memory, kept alive by regular infusions of magic power (also known as "mana") 

 And one among them, Haruto Soma, found the will at the point of despair to restrain his Phantom (the Dragon) demonstrating the potential to become a wizard. Aided by the mysterious White Wizard (who also entrusted him with Koyomi's safe keeping) he was given the Wizarddriver and his first set of Magic Rings, and becomes Kamen Rider Wizard:

 

 Haruto hunts the Phantoms, who are led by the mysterious Wiseman and his two henchmen, the cruel Medusa and the immortal Phoenix. When confronted with a human about to become a Phantom, he can dive into their memories and, with the assistance of his Dragon, can destroy the Phantom before their despair is complete and it can break free. This is partly to prevent the creation of more Phantoms, but because Haruto understands the killing power of despair more than most, having lost his parents when he was ten years old. Unwilling to see anyone fall to that, Phantom or not, he fights a never-ending battle to change despair into hope, and on that hook, we hang the series. 

 Things continue on for a bit, until Haruto and Phoenix lock up for the first time, and he beats the crap out of Haruto. The White Wizard then helps Haruto access more of his Phantom's power and allowing him to transform into more powerful forms and beat Phoenix (who, unfortunately becomes immune to whatever killed him last time) The means to transform comes from the Dragon Stones, which are more powerful than Haruto's original rings.

 But they seem to be coming from Wiseman, who seems eager for them to fall into Haruto's hands, even though that means the death of more Phantoms. Additionally, there's another Phantom--Gremlin--who makes the scene and seems to be operating his own agenda.

 Things become a little more complicated when a man named Kosuke Nito shows up. Nitou was an an archaeology student who found the Beast Driver, and unwittingly got locked into a contract with a Phantom called the Chimera, who requires him to regularly consume the mana of Phantoms to survive. On the plus side, he can use the Beast Driver to change into Kamen Rider Beast, and, after a misunderstanding, he teams up with Haruto to fight the Phantoms because hey, free lunch.

 But the true shape of Wiseman's plan and the secret behind it comes when Medusa returns to make the last member of her family, her twin sister Mayu, fall into despair, Mayu seems like she might, and then through sheer force of will, subdues her Phantom and eventually returns for vengeance as Kamen Rider Mage (sorry, this was the only vid of her henshin I could find, y'all):

 

 The answer to why is such a huge spoiler I can't really drop it here, but suffice it to say, the last eight episodes are one "holy crap!" moment after another and rather neatly ties up everything all the way back to the very beginning lines I quoted above.

 As an added bonus, after the conclusion of the story proper, Haruto goes on an adventure involving all the Kamen Rider from Kuuga forward and meets the his successor, Gaim, as well. But that is a tale for another time.

ANALYSIS

 Kamen Rider Wizard has the distinction of being the longest running of the Heisei Kamen Rider series thus far (53 episodes, though the final two are more a bonus event with the other Heisei Riders to introduce Gaim and make it more of an event) and, like W, is one of my favourite series. I like the message of bringing hope to despair--for a show that can be incredibly dark (I mean, people literally die of broken hearts and become their worst selves made flesh) its message is ultimately one of hope--we're made more powerful by being able to master the despair that occasionally threatens to drown us every single day, as message, that like Fourze's message of "friendship is difficult, but it's worth it." is played completely straight, because that's just how Kamen Rider rolls, son.

  Wizard is not looked kindly upon, generally, as it has something of a flabby midsection (seriously, there's a stretch where the plot doesn't move in any perceptible direction for quite a long time) and the model of doing one story in two parts (typically, the battle with the new Phantoms stretched over a fortnight) tended to make it feel like it lasted even longer. However, I assert that if you enjoyed the action and the characters, it wasn't that much of an imposition, and in real terms, it has no more less filler than any other Kamen Rider show (and certainly isn't as bad as Agito, which featured NO meaningful plot advancement from episodes 5-34) Then again, I obviously did, so your mileage may or may not vary here.

 In general, Haruto is a much different protagonist than we're used to seeing--he's not really that goofy, not is he consumed with BURNING JUSTICE (well, not overtly, anyways--the final battle with Phoenix is a notable exception) and has a very low-key and dry sense of humour, which makes him an interesting protagonist. To compensate for his somewhat subdued portrayal, he is surrounded by a cast of rather outsize personalities, and the broad comedy they deal in can be somewhat hard to take at times, but thankfully the comedy rarely gets too far outta hand.

 I gotta say--I do love the thought that was put into the gimmick this year (yes, I bought a few Magic Rings) Haruto's WizardDriver punctuates every spell activation with "PLEASE!" (the magic word, after all, as Dr. Venkman reminded us) in contrast with the White Wizard's which sternly commands "NOW!"The hand motif that runs through a few of Wizard's gizmos is also pretty clever (he shakes hands to activate his full-power attacks with his weapon, and a later weapon he even high-fives before initiating his final attack) It occupies that perfect balance point between utterly goofy and cool as hell that Kamen Rider tends to do at its very best.

 Oh, and, surprise surprise, the music's awesome, from Flame Dragon's fight song, "Just The Beginning"

 

 Through Water Dragon's song "Mystic Liquid"

 

 Through Hurricane Dragon's "Blessed Wind"

 
 Culminating in the fight song for Haruto's ultimate state, Infinity--"Missing Piece"
 

 In all, I got a lot of out of Wizard. It's fairly self-contained as Rider series go (the two episodes at the end are a nice little tease to the larger Kamen Rider world beyond), and quite a good introduction to Kamen Rider if they like fantasy stuff. If you can gut out the flabby filler stuff in the middle, the reward at the end is definitely worth it. I recommend it highly.

 NEXT WEEK
 And so we close out 2013 with the show I saved for last for a reason. Tsukasa Kadoya doesn't belong in the world he's in, which is no excuse for what a jerk he is most of the time. But soon enough, he has bigger problems: Their world comes under attack by every Kamen Rider monster ever, attacking en masse. The only hope is to travel to 9 alternate Earths with his friend Natsumi and and defeat the other Kamen Riders he finds there with his new Decadriver as Kamen Rider Decade.

 But if he's the savior of all these worlds, what's with the guy following them and insisting that it's all Deacde's fault and calling him the Destroyer of Worlds?. And what about the recurring dream Natusumi has of the Riders allied against Decade in a final Rider War? All of this may or may not become clear when we ring out 2013 with a spoiler-heavy, ambivalent, and altogether conflicted look at the vexatious Kamen Rider Decade:
 

Destroy everything, connect everything