Recap: Medusa assigns Gremlin to pursue the newest Gate while she pushes forward with her own agenda.  Meanwhile, Haruto and company dig into Mayu’s history with her sister.

Aqua‘s Thoughts: Do you know those episodes that clumsily run around in circles for 20 minutes, only to drop a massive twist and subsequent cliffhanger at the very end, because they literally have nothing other raison d’être save for said twist? Yeah, this episode of Kamen Rider Wizard was very much one of these. While the actual plot arc is most certainly interesting, it simply does not consist of enough material to fill up two episodes with. Henceforth, just like last episode, we get tons of beating the same dead horse, fight scenes cut short and goofing around. In se, this would not – or even, should not – be a problem, if it were not for the fact that most of these shenanigans were centred around the completely incompetent nincompoop by the name of Kousuke Nitoh.

What makes Nitoh’s non-existent contribution to the plot of the show even more grating is the fact that this episode actually served as a much better origin story for a second Rider than Beast’s ever did. The interactions between Misa and Mayu do not only provide Toei with ample opportunity to show off every tricky special effect in their arsenal, they also prove just how good of an actress Erina Nakayama can be. For the first time in the entire show, Medusa truly abandons her chilling stoicism to get down and dirty. This new, vicious Medusa finally manages to (ironically) escape Phoenix’s shadow in terms of sheer menace and make us fear the villains even more. Mayu, on the other hand, shows some neatly subdued melancholy, with Nakayima managing to portray having your mind broken into pieces and transforming into a monster without even treading close to corny territory. Hats off to the high school student who makes all the professional entertainers on the set look like complete amateurs.

By virtue of having said performance, alongside an honestly tragic backstory, Mayu has easily become one of the most interesting characters in the entire show, let alone proven that Kamen Rider Wizard can indeed be unpredictable when it wants to. Of course, the main question everyone is asking now remains. Will Mayu become a Kamen Rider? Everything seems to be pointing in that direction, certainly, and I sincerely hope this will indeed be the case. Not only will we get our very first official (semi-) regular female Rider – after more than 40 years, seriously Japan? –, we will also get a Rider who is at least as interesting as Haruto and Kousuke combined.

Then again, due to both the fact that we already have a second Rider and the franchise’s dubious reputation with the other sex getting to kick some costumed ass, this very promising twist should be taken with a fair few grains of salt. Very exciting theories about the White Wizard trying to assemble a team of Wizards à la Sailor Moon sound a bit out of place this far into the series, unless we get the old mid-season retool suspicion out of the closet again. No matter what, the writers provided us with some extremely exciting material here. It’s great enough to crank up my excitement quite a few notches, but may the deity of effeminate costumed heroes have mercy on their souls if it they fail to deliver.

Random observations

• Nice to see Haruto still has not gotten over that thing where he cannot tell women their loved ones have died and turned into horrible monsters that are now targeting them. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!
• The White Wizard’s sole power seems to be making things spontaneously explode. Good thing for him that is really the only power one needs in this universe.
• The fandom, or at least the Wild Mass Guessing page on TvTropes, seems to be settling on Kamen Rider Witch as Mayu’s provisional Rider name. Don’t get your hopes up too high, fellas.
• Zigg’s note – As astute nerds will note, Aqua is incorrect about the presence of female riders. The first female rider, Electro-Wave Human Tackle, was a regular on Kamen Rider Stronger back in 1975! Her exclusion from the official canon of Riders continues to be a source of much debate.

Zigg’s Thoughts: This episode both frustrates and delights, bringing as it does some Wizard‘s most annoying habits to the fore, while also finally making good on some of the ideas the show has been promising for a while now. It’s equal parts cop-out and tantalising tease, and as a result even though it’s flawed I found it immensely entertaining.

Let’s sort out the bad stuff first, and it mostly revolves, as ever, around the increasingly redundant supporting cast. There’s no other way to put this – Beast is rubbish. He’s a rubbish character, and a rubbish Kamen Rider. Kousuke is an unoriginal, unfunny sidekick, as a a fighter he’s so useless as to be nothing more than a glorified mook slayer. It’s pretty much a given that second Riders must eventually succumb to the Worf Effect (especially since they never get as many sweet powerups as the main Rider) but the extent to which Beast has been hit by it is alarming.  What’s even more concerning though is how little Kousuke as a character matters to the overall plot. Some of the best second Riders have their stories and existence tightly wound into the overall narrative (Gills from Agito, Zeronos from Den-O) so that while they may not be the stars, they’re intimately tied to the ongoing story. Others have their own compelling arcs or are just interesting characters in their own right. Beast has none of this – Kousuke is a one note, one joke character and so far at least could be safely removed without having any effect on the larger story. He needs a reason to keep hanging around, and fast.

Fortunately, the episode is more than rescued by its other half, concentrating on the Mayu/Misa relationship that had such intriguing potential last week  it pays off handsomely too, with some of the most effective emotional moments in the show thus far. While it’s pretty easy to guess Mayu is a Gate, the warmth on display in her flashbacks and the subsequent viciousness of her showdown with Medusa are very well handled and really help sell the illusion of a young girl nearly driven mad by grief. As before, Erin Nakayama turns in a sterling dual role, convincingly displaying Mayu’s hopes that her sister may still be alive and subsequent devastation. As Medusa, she’s cruel, sadistic and wonderfully evil.  If I’ve got a complaint with this segment, it’s that the pulls back from allowing Mayu to truly fall into despair and give rise to a new Phantom. I get that it’s a kid’s show and killing a named, completely innocent character onscreen is pretty rough, but it does feel a teensy bit like a cop-out considering how far they push it.

The real reason though is it allows a totally unexpected finale that took both myself and Aqua completely by surprise, and has drastic implications for the future of the series. The possibility of more Riders is the big hook here, but let’s talk a little about the White Wizard as well. He clearly knew that Mayu was in danger (we see his Cerberus familiar following her) and yet didn’t make his presence known until after she had resisted the Phantom herself, despite clearly demonstrating he has no problem defeating Medusa. What this means is he’s not interested in saving lives, but only in seeing if Gates can overcome Phantoms so he can recruit them as new Wizards. Suddenly our entire perception of his character changes – he’s not a wise mentor or a hero like Haruto, but instead a puppetmaster working towards a greater goal. Could he have prevented the eclipse event that created many of the Phantoms in the first place, only to stand aside in the hopes that a Wizard would emerge? One did obviously, but dozens, potentially hundreds of people were killed in the process. Is there history with Wiseman that means the White Wizard is driven to defeat him at all costs? It’s certainly one possibility  but regardless suddenly the White Wizard is another unknown factor to be suspicious of, rather than a sure ally.

It’s also gratifying to see the episode end on an unashamed cliffhanger, as Mayu willingly goes with the White Wizard (what has she got to lose at this point?) and exits the narrative, at least for now. It’s going to be immensely interesting to see when she appears again – though female Riders are few and far between, they do exist and at this point they’d have to do some crazy plot contortions to prevent Mayu returning as one. They also have a bad habit of dying, which perhaps doesn’t bode well for her, but let’s see where we go first. For now, this episode finally delivered what we’ve wanted from Wizard for a while now – genuine, plot altering drama, delivered well and with serious long-term impact on the future of the story.

Random Observations

• The scenes where Mayu and Misa/Medusa appear together are totally believable thanks to some excellent greenscreen work and convincing use of body doubles.
• Though Mayu survives, they do kill off her parents in an impressively disturbing manner, though the actual death is kept off-camera.
• Gremlin seems familiar with the White Wizard. Intriguing.
• The moment where Mayu declares “I won’t let you end my life” is super badass.
• I’m glad the show is so thoroughly refuting the idea that Phantom hosts might survive in any form. One, because it strengthens the concept and two because if they didn’t that makes our hero a mass murderer!
• I’ll take the over on Mayu returning as a magical girl themed Rider.