Recap: Kamen Rider Wizard, Episode 22 – The Phoenix’s Rampage

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After Rinko goes flying from Phoenix’s fire, he lets out another burst that surges straight towards her.

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Haruto brings the Drago Timer back to the shop. They are amazed, but realize Rinko hasn’t showed up today.

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Haruto and Shunpei are out grocery shopping and decide to call Rinko so they can go out to lunch, but Kosuke sees them first and invites them to eat with him instead. He sees their groceries and sees some great ingredients for his mayo stew.

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Kosuke asks if Haruto’s seen a Phantom today. Even if they’re rivals, they should help each other out and Haruto should call whenever a Phantom shows up. That’s a promise, okay?

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Kosuke’s taken all their groceries. Shunpei offers to go back to the store himself and tells Haruto to wait at the doughnut cart.

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Meanwhile, Medusa wanders the street and runs into the jolly Phantom. Calling her Misa, he tells her this really isn’t the time to be looking for Gates. She must not have heard about Yuugo aka Phoenix.

She goes straight to Wiseman and says Phoenix might act against orders because of his frustration. He tells her to stop him before he kills precious Gates.

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Jolly Phantom sees Shunpei coming out of the store. He compliments him, asking if he’s that talented assistant to that ring mage. Why yes I am, Shunpei replies. Jolly Phantom hands him something wrapped in a handkerchief and asks to give it to Haruto for him.

Before Shunpei can ask what it is, Jolly Phantom is gone. He opens it, shocked by what he sees and hurries away.

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Donut Happy owner gives Haruto his usual. He’s surprised they haven’t offered a new recipe today.

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Owner and Worker are happily surprised and offer him their new heart-shaped donut. Haruto says it looks fairly delicious, but he takes a bite out of his usual sugar.

What a tease, they say, then offer some mayo for his donut. NOOOO!!! he replies as Shunpei comes running.

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Haruto opens the handkerchief and it’s Rinko’s bloodstained ID and badge. He tries to call her, but nothing. Haruto tells Shunpei to look for the stranger that handed him the badge while he looks for Rinko.

The Jolly Phantom skips into an abandoned warehouse where meets with Phoenix. He’s impatient that Jolly Phantom hasn’t brought the mage yet. But no worries, they have bait. They both turn to look at an unconscious Rinko.

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Flashback to earlier by the water. The Jolly Phantom has Rinko on his lap after Phoenix finishes his backdrafting. Phoenix sees no need for her, but the Jolly Phantom says he can use Rinko as bait for the ring mage.

Back at the warehouse, Phoenix asks why the Jolly Phantom is helping him. He replies that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye on everything with Wiseman, which makes him inclined to help guys like Phoenix. He happily skips away.

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Haruto decides to call Kizaki, but he doesn’t know anything about Rinko’s whereabouts and tells Haruto not to concern him with things like that. But after he hangs up, he thinks to call someone.

Phoenix waits and Medusa suddenly walks in. He tells her he won’t be anyone’s lackey anymore and he’ll do whatever he wants. I won’t let you, she says. They morph into their Phantom forms and fight.

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I thought you just needed the usual spanking (ohhh!), she says, but he leaves her no choice. She wraps him up in her tentacles and turns him to stone, but he manages to break free, much to her surprise.

This is the new Phoenix, he says, and tells her to tell Wiseman that he’ll do what he damn well pleases.

Haruto continues searching downtown before getting a call from Kizaki. The Jolly Phantom happily watches him from above as Kizaki tells Haruto that Rinko’s been missing since yesterday.

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The Jolly Phantom pops up in front of Haruto and says he’s happy the package got delivered. They take a swipe at each other before the Jolly Phantom jumps back up on the wall. So you’re the Phantom, Haruto asks.

I’d prefer it if you didn’t address me with such a broad term like that, he replies. “Please call me Sora.”

Haruto demands to know where Rinko is and Sora tells him to go to see Phoenix at the abandoned warehouse. Haruto summons his bike and hurries off.

Sora wishes Haruto good luck.

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Kosuke figures he won’t be able to eat today, but sees Haruto speeding away.

At the warehouse, Rinko regains consciousness and sees Phoenix sitting nearby. He tells her she’s bait for Haruto.

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While she’s still alive, he wants to thank her for teaching him to do what he wants. He laughs as Haruto arrives.

Haruto henshins and charges at Phoenix and they fight.

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Haruto goes Water Dragon against Phoenix’s fire, but it doesn’t work. He goes Hurricane Dragon and uses Hurricane Slash Strike which appears to finish off Phoenix.

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But Phoenix revives quickly, faster than he ever did before. Haruto goes Land Dragon, but he still doesn’t put a dent in Phoenix.

Phoenix lets out a roar and his huge wings of fire appear. They lunge at Haruto. Crash to black.

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Episode Thoughts
Oooh! Haven’t seen a crash to black on any Toku show I’ve seen so far. I liked it. Hehe.

It’s interesting how these last few episodes have developed though. I just realized we’re almost halfway through Wizard already, so there’s likely a big midseason climax on the way. I hope that doesn’t mean Phoenix gets destroyed because I definitely like what they did between him and Rinko (there’s a lot of story there I think). Plus the whole rogue Phantom dynamic with between Phoenix and Medusa on Team Wiseman is great. I like villain factions. Plus a Rinko-Medusa-Phoenix (or would it be Rinko-Yugo-Misa) triangle would be hot. (hehe)

Plus the introduction of the Jolly Phantom, now known as Sora has been very intriguing. After OOO, Sora definitely reminds me of a Kazari or Maki-type villain who emerges a little into the season and eventually ends up as the big bad and final villain of the season. But his calling the Phantoms by their human names and what he apparently knows about Koyomi is definitely interesting moving forward.

In the preview for the next episode, I think someone mentions how Haruto needs to be more prepared for when the people close to him are put in harm’s way or danger or something. That’s something I definitely hope they touch on more too. Maybe not put Shunpei, Rinko, Koyomi or even Wajima in danger every other week. But have it all be part of raising the stakes, which I think Wizard has been doing, though maybe a little slower than I’d like.

Nonetheless, tensions are definitely building and it should be an exciting next few weeks.

0 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Wizard, Episode 22 – The Phoenix’s Rampage

  1. I think the only downside to this episode was once again the silly comic relief with Mayonnaise. There is no reason whatsoever for him and Haruto to be rivals at this point and there was none presented either in the show, so why do they keep up with this?
    Sure in theory Mayonnaise couldn’t be the hero because as long as he has Chimera’s belt he has to devour phantoms or he dies so he needs phantoms, maybe even creating them himself, but the show ignored that aspect so I see no reason to bring that into the equation.
    In the end, working together would be beneficial for Haruto and Mayonnaise (I see no reason to call him by his name actually) since that way they would burn their mana less quickly and Mayonnaise could just devour the beaten phantoms. But the show never actually lets them cooperate that way.

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