The first episode of Kamen Rider Wizard aired last Sunday. Unfortunately, given my rather hectic work schedule at the moment, I was unable to watch it until Tuesday night. This worked out in my favor since it was subtitled in English at that point. I wanted to give a few brief thoughts on what I thought of the first episode, as well as go over the main characters. Once a few more episodes come out, I want to cover the villains and hypothesize as to where the story will go from there. I will let other websites explain what the basic plot is and simply move into my opinions from the get-go.
I found Haruto, the eponymous Kamen Rider Wizard, to be a very likable, charismatic main character. He is certainly cocky and arrogant, to be sure, and he has an aura around his acting and fighting ability that basically says "I am very confident that I can do this." I like this about a main Rider. He is not unlike Shotaro from Kamen Rider W: he has a duty to fulfill as a Kamen Rider and feels confident that he can accomplish his goal. The bits and pieces we see of his past during this episode are enough to get us interested in his drive to be a Rider, but not enough to spoil the entire thing. I am looking forward to how this botched ritual affected him as a person and what, exactly, is his reason behind everything he does.
Koyomi, Haruto's assistant, also intrigues me as a character. The outfit she wore throughout this episode was very appropriate for a magic-themed show, and her presence on-screen is very calm and collected (in contrast to a few other female cast members in previous Rider seasons). Her special ability to tell who is a Phantom and who is not is something that I expect will be similar to Ankh's ability to find Yummies and Momotaros' ability to find other Imagin. If that track record is any indication, could it be that she is a Phantom, as well? Maybe, maybe not, I am not sure yet, but I am definitely anticipating her character-focused episodes.
The man creating the ring in that shop, Shigeru, looks like an interesting person, as well. It is neat to see someone creating the rings from scratch. Other than that, there was not much to him in this episode, but as with Koyomi, I am looking forward to seeing who this person actually is.
I think I found Rinko to be the most interesting member of the supporting cast. I like the policewoman angle, and it reminds me (as well as most people) of the Kuuga World in Kamen Rider Decade. I loved that Wizard basically dived into her most treasured memory in order to completely defeat the Monster-of-the-Week. When she speaks about the backstory with her father, it was quite nice and sweet, a tender moment, especially heightened when Haruto tells her to have hope in him. It is a genuinely nice moment, though I will admit that it got very close to almost being too emotional and cheesy.
To conclude, this first episode was very interesting to me. I am liking the cast so far, but I will refrain from making more judgments on them until more episodes have gone by. It is always best to reserve opinions until you are more informed, so I will just say that, for now, I am pleased with Kamen Rider Wizard so far. I am happily anticipating the next episode, and look forward to seeing how the show progresses from here.
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