Alright. Kamen Rider Wizard. The story kicks off with a dark ritual which brings 29 people (yes, I've counted) into despair, turning 28 of them into horrible monsters called Phantoms, and the sole survivor, Haruto Souma, into a Wizard. Haruto became a Wizard because he was able to suppress his despair and seal his own Phantom, Dragon, inside of him. After the ritual, a mysterious White Wizard approaches Haruto and gives him the WizarDriver, the Flame Ring, and Koyomi, a mysterious girl with no memories of who she is. Haruto meets up with a magic ring maker named Wajima, who gives Haruto and Koyomi room and board out of regret of his magic rings being used in the ritual with puts them in their situation. Haruto must give Koyomi mana using magic to keep her functioning. Along they way, they meet Rinko Daimon (a detective), Shunpei Nara (a kidish guy who wants to learn magic), and Nitoh Kosuke (who is revealed to be Kamen Rider Beast, an ancient magician. More on that later). Together, the group saves people from despair and kills Phantoms, who want to hold another ritual (called The Sabbat) to make more of their kind, led by their leader named Wiseman.
So, the gang fights Phantoms, who hunt down people called Gates and attempts to drive them into despair. Haruto, Nitoh, and the others fight the Phantoms and stop them from driving the Gates into despair. Should the Gates fall into despair, Haruto and Nitoh use their "Engage Rings" to enter the Gate's "Underworld" (a mental underscape) and kill the Phantom trying to be born from them. You see, Phantoms break out of the Gates (which, yes, it KILLS THEM) and are born that way. It's some scary stuff, since Phantoms could, in theory, be walking among us, and we wouldn't know. Your friend could be a Phantom. Your roommate could be a Phantom. Your parents could be Phantoms. And they want to kill you. And to put fuel on the nightmare fueled fire, our heroes also have Phantoms in them, which give them their powers.
Haruto and Nitoh use Magic Rings to activate their powers, both using different systems. Haruto will flip the hand on his belt to use either form rings (which are on the left hand) or spell rings (which are on the right hand). He places the ring over the belt, it announces the spell, and then the spell is casted. If he uses a form ring, he will enter said form. Nitoh, being an ancient magician, uses something called Colors, which give him various animal powers (falcon, dolphin, buffalo, chameleon). The White Wizard (and the eventual Kamen Rider Mage) use the same system as Haruto. Now, I said that bother Riders have Phantoms in them. Haruto's Phantom, Dragon, is suppressed by Haruto's hope and is kept in line that way. Nitoh's Phantom Chimera, on the other hand, came with the belt and needs to be feed mana from Phantoms in order to function. Otherwise, he will eat Nitoh. Both Rider also have familiars called PlaMonsters, which are little model kits that summon themselves and can work as recon for them. They can also combine to form neat little combinations. They are also very adorable.
Now, I'm gonna hit the good points first. The suits look great, and the music is pretty top notch, too. The insert songs are quite good, some of my favorites being from Kamen Rider Wizard (the songs are divided between Kamen Rider GIRLS and RIDER CHIPS. I personally think all the GIRLS songs are good, but the RIDER CHIPS songs are hit and miss, but never too far off the mark). Something that I think most people can agree to is that the fight choreograph is top notch as well. Very flashy, which fits with the stylish magicians we follow. Monster designs are very organic and unique, though there are enough reuses of suits to make some people disappointed. The overall plot is pretty good as well, you just have to put it together, since it's a tad confusing (not Ryuki confusing, but confusing never the less).
Now, the negatives. The pacing of the show is...odd. This is predominately due to the 2-part formula that Rider does and having to get through, oh, 10 forms for Wizard (on top of Nitoh getting introduced and him getting an additional form). The first 9 episodes are very good, but quickly fall into "Haruto getting a new form!" until episode 31 (the show is 51 episodes). After the final forms are acquired (Infinity for Haruto and Hyper for Nitoh) the show picks up to the standard "Fight monsters, save world" plot that Kamen Rider is known for. The show starts using awkwardly placed humor, lots of gags, and the Riders don't have a lot of difficulty with their opponents. A new villain named Gremlin appears, who starts to push the plot along, while the other characters run around, not doing much. The characters are generally considered flat and there isn't much development for the cast outside of Haruto and Nitoh (Koyomi gets some due to her role in the story, but the rest of Team Wizard doesn't get much). There are also side characters who aren't horribly relevant to the story as a whole. Also, a personal peeve of mine, the ending of Episode 37. The episodes focus on a man who is being accuse of a crime he didn't commit, but is so pathetic that being arrested would put him in despair. However, his best friend, a myna bird, happens to be the Phantom, so killing it would send him in despair. The Phantom is killed and the man falls into despair. End of episode. No Underworld fight, and it is never brought up ever again. It still drives me insane. Also, a revelation about the relationship between Wiseman and White Wizard was seen from a mile away and completely cliche.
On the whole, Wizard was a mediocre series with a slew of issues that prevent it from being a great series. However, the series has a great message that is really good for those who suffer from depression. Granted, magic won't help, nor will getting so low that you want to kill yourself give you superpowers. But, it's the symbolism. The fights are great, the music is good, and some of the banter is creative. Designs are strong as well. However, odd pacing, almost non-existent character growth, awkward humor, and episode 37 (IRKED!!!) prevent it from being a great series. Now, it's no Takashi Inoue Rider series (post 555, though some would argue post Agito), which are insults to intelligence, but it's not the greatest. While personal reasons help me see past the negatives, I know that some people don't have that, and I feel I hit the negatives pretty well. If anything, give it a shot. Don't like it, don't like it. Like it, that's fine, too. But at least give it a shot. At least it's not Kabuto.
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