Recap: Haruto and Rinko investigate Gremlin’s past, while Kousuke and Shunpei are head over heels for an idol.

Aquagaze‘s Thoughts: Comic relief character fawns over an idol, only to find out said idol is a humongous jerk. No, I have never seen that before. For once, the actual plot of the episode was a ways more interesting, though it does raise more questions than gives answers. We are never fully told the how and why of Gremlin’s true nature. He is not strictly a Phantom, but he is not exactly the opposite of what Haruto is, as he likes to think. What sort of impact will this have on his schemes? Besides, if he never changed personalities upon becoming Gremlin, has he always been a psychopath even when working as a beautician? Whose side is he really on?

It is nice to see an interesting, non-transparent character in this show for once. The mystery surrounding him could have been worked out a bit better, preferably by making him more of an adversary to Haruto. Right now, it’s not even certain whether he’s an actual villain or not. His affection for this week’s Gate seems to imply otherwise, but then again there is the little incident with the esteemed regulars of his he most likely all turned into Phantoms — a deduction our ace detective heroes are unable to make. Are Phoenix and Medusa these Phantoms? They both certainly seemed like people who would regularly visit a beauty salon. It would also explain why Sora knows their real names.

In the action department, this episode was surprisingly lacking. Beast took care of the usual pleasantries, like beating up mooks and getting his ass kicked by the Phantom of the week, though his tree-slinging antics with the Chameleo mant were pretty amusing. Turns out the guy has become so useless he is essentially outmatched by Haruto unmorphed. Heck, he even missed out on an opportunity to dress up in a suit and sweet shades when attempting to be Chiaki’s bodyguard. I have no respect for that guy.

Random Observations

• I swear there is an actor in Japan who just specializes in being typecast as submissive manager to sassy idol character.
• I totally forgot the donut people even existed.

Zigg’s Thoughts: It’s good at least that Wizard is able to get back on track following what was something of a clanger last week, but considering that this episode is focused around by far and away the most interesting character in the show, it nevertheless still feels sort of lacking. Gremlin for a while has been the most entertaining thing on the screen in Wizard for quite some time, so naturally an episode centred around his origins immediately pricks my ears up. But there’s just a little something weird and illogical about what we’re told here.

The idea that Gremlin has been human all along is a nicely shocking swerve, but it also breaks down a bit when you think about it. If he’s human, why has he been so unreserved in helping further the Phantom agenda so far? I suppose you could go with ‘he’s a psycho’ but that’s a rather shallow answer, plus it seems oddly dark for a kids show. The way the twist is revealed is sort of anticlimactic too – you’d think it could be saved for a cliffhanger reveal, or at least something with a bit more pomp than an offhand comment.

Otherwise, this is pretty much Wizard on autopilot. We saw the ‘everyone is obsessed with a woman’ subplot rolled out earlier in the far more effective ‘Swindler’ arc but there’s a little bit of added zip from Shunpei and Kousuke’s goofy interaction. It’s interesting to see the National Security guys folded back in to, although I fear they’re here simply as an easy way of delivering plot advancement. The ‘aloof idol’ plot is older than the hills and pops up in a lot of toku shows, and I can’t say this is an especially exciting variant of it. But Gremlin’s relationship to her piques interest at least, and hopefully we’ll get a few deeper insights into his character next week.

Random Observations

• Extremely cool looking monster this week
• I understand it’s not practical to do ‘live’ but Gremlin falling off the dam into the water was a pretty appalling greenscreen. In contrast, Haruto’s dive is done in longshot and looks totally convincing. His mid-air transformation is pretty awesome too.