That feel that this meeting is quite brief.
Haruto is starting to wonder about the Philosopher's Stone, causing him to remember the forest that he and Koyomi went last time. Meanwhile, Rinko is investigating an arson case... which leads to shenanigans.
This is probably, one of the most messed up episodes of Kamen Rider Wizard that I have watched. I mean, it started with a really dark and mysterious tone and towards the middle of the episode; it shifts into slapstick comedy akin to those old Looney Tunes cartoons. It's so disappointing that it took me some time to rewatch the episode, sit through it just to take at least 150 screencaps and only 6-8 of it will be used in this review and right a review about it. You see, it takes an average of an hour to take screencaps and 30 minutes to write a review. In this case, after I took the screencaps, it took me 5-7 hours just to start writing this review! So yeah, that's how bad this episode is, but before talking about the bad parts, let's talk about the good parts.
First is the mystery behind the arsonist. We are first introduced to him as just that guy who carries a myna bird inside a cage. He never speaks; he just stands and calmly walks away. What's more, he is introduced after Sora reveals the name of the Phantom of the week, giving us this strong impression that he is the Phantom of this story arc. And since we are aware that Phantoms are the twisted side of a human being, it makes sense that the Phantom loves to burn things. The mystery behind why he is committing arson is engaging but as for the execution... I will get into that later.
Second is Wizard meeting the Wiseman for the first time. When Haruto first entered the forest, he left before meeting Wiseman. When he returned, he is basically running around in circles looking for the entrance of some cave. Fast forward to the present and now Haruto has enough mana to cut through illusions created by the Wiseman, which lead us to their first official meeting. The first meeting between the two is simple, but it doesn't do much to the plot of the series aside that Medusa is now aware about the Philosopher's Stone. After Wizard Infinity charges, it's the start of the series of disappointments I have in this episode.
First disappointment has something to do with the fight of Wizard Infinity and Wiseman. In the magazine scans related to this encounter, it is advertised that Wizard Infinity will use his skill-based Wizard Rings to fight Wiseman. What we got is Wiseman absorbing Haruto's mana, enough to close the entrance to the cave, which made Haruto exhausted. Though I got to admit that mana absorbing skill is kinda cool, but the fact that I was expecting some grand thanks to how they advertised it in the magazines, this is one big disappointment.
Second disappointment is the bad slapstick comedy. The comedy is seriously forced, Rinko and Shunpei intentionally bumps into each other, paused for a moment expecting the audience to laugh. Oh, and add a comedic sound effect so that people will get the joke! To be honest, this routine annoyed me that I fell asleep watching this episode again. What's more, they are doing this shtick for the entire episode! It's so frustrating that I can't believe that the Rinko I saw in this episode is the same Rinko that I like. A competent cop who knows how to do her job and not one of Haruto's sidekicks whose reason for existence is to make us laugh with her crazy antics.
Speaking of cops, I can't help but notice that the cops in this episode are less competent compared to the previous episodes that they are in and are just reduced into comedy sidekicks. Finally, my biggest disappointment in this episode, the arsonist himself; as it turns out, he is the Gate of this story arc and that the Phantom is the myna bird that he is taking care of! I am fine with the myna bird twists because it sounds interesting, but the twist that the arsonist is some whiny adult is what pisses me of the most. I mean, he doesn't shut up and to make it worse, he doesn't want to get arrested! Dang it old man, get your life together!
The fights in this episode are really creative, I just love that the writer still remembers Haruto's skills and use it wisely in battle. Same goes with Kousuke's arsenal of weapons. He knows that Kousuke can summon animal "spirits" in battle and used that feature in this episode. Another thing that I find interesting in this episode is their consistency with the show's concept of mana. Instead of seeing Haruto go strong and might with his wizard powers, we see him exhausted after losing a lot of mana after fighting some more monsters. At the end of the episode, Haruto is exhausted and Kousuke is the one left fighting. As for Rinko, Shunpei and the arsonist, they end up hijacking a police car. Wow, what a bad way to end this episode.
