Recap: Kamen Rider Wizard, Episode 9 – The Dragon’s Cry

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Mikiko is taken into surgery at the hospital with Shunpei staying with Hiroki. Haruto sinks into the water, but a surge of energy helps him swim to the top where Rinko meets him and takes him home.

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He tells them that this Red Phantom is on a different level from all the others he’s faced. Wajima brings him some soup as he thinks to himself how his Dragon, his Phantom inside him must have given him power. He then realizes the Phantom’s goal is to kill Hiroki’s parents to drive him to despair and his father is next.

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Hiroki’s father is on the way to the hospital and Phoenix flips his car. He drags the father out of the car then steps on him as Haruto arrives, already henshined into Land mode. But he isn’t here to fight with Phoenix, he quickly uses his Extend Ring to pull Hiroki’s father toward him and they fly away.

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Haruto, still weak, collapses with the father in front of the hospital as Shunpei comes running over with doctors and nurses.

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Medusa tells Phoenix that his attacks lack teeth, but encourages him to finish the job. He hurries to the hospital.

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Phoenix walks into Hiroki’s parents’ hospital room and knocks Hiroki to the floor. Haruto comes running in, but Phoenix hurls him across the room. He then knocks both hospital beds over then snaps both parents’ necks before dropping them onto the floor.

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Hiroki’s Phantom starts to take over, Haruto screams, but…

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It was just a dream. Haruto regains consciousness with Rinko by his bedside. He jumps up and runs to Hiroki.

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Shunpei tells Haruto the parents are past the worst, but still in bad shape. Hiroki’s father regains consciousness and says he’s relieved Hiroki is okay. Hauto flashes back to his own similar scene with his parents.

Hiroki tells his father that it’s his fault, but Haruto screams out, “NO!” He tells Hiroki it’s not and that his parents aren’t done yet. He is their hope.

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Haruto goes to fight Phoenix, but Rinko stops him saying he hasn’t recovered yet. But Haruto says they will die if he doesn’t do anything. He collapses into a chair.

“I’m scared of people dying, of seeing them disappear before me, of dying before me. I get so scared sometimes that I can’t stand it.”

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Koyomi arrives with the ring Wajima made out of the stone the White Garuda left. Even though she still has a bad feeling about it, she thinks it is what Haruto needs right now.

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Haruto thinks with the ring, he might be able to draw out his Dragon’s power. Rinko is worried about Haruto using his inner Phantom, but he says if there’s even a 1% chance of winning, he’ll take the risk. Phoenix arrives and starts hurling patients and visitors and staff around the hospital. Haruto runs off.

Koyomi tells Rinko that she believes Haruto is the final hope.

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Haruto henshins as he meets Phoenix in the hallway. They burst through the hospital’s brick wall outside.

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Haruto takes out the new ring and scans it on his belt, but the Wizardriver returns an Error. Inside, Rinko comforts both Shunpei and Hiroki and says Haruto will be okay.

But Haruto is taking a beating.

“That shiny eyesore of a head of yours, I’m going to smash it.”

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Haruto continues trying the ring, but it still outputs an Error until he suddenly enters his Underworld. It is the night of his parents’ deaths.

Suddenly another Haruto pops in. But it’s actually his Phantom, Dragon.

Dragon says this is Haruto’s moment of great despair, but Haruto says it is also the moment his parents gave him their hope. He asks Dragon to led him his power so he can use it in reality, outside of the Underworld. But it’ll draw him closer to despair, Dragon says.

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You don’t get it, Haruto tells Dragon. “Your power is my hope.”

“I am hope!?” Dragon smiles and laughs. “Amusing. Let’s see how much of it you can endure. Use my power to your heart’s content!”

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Back in the reality, Haruto tries the ring again and this time it works. Haruto gets new accessories.

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Watching from a rooftop, the White Wizard points out, “So he has evolved?”

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Now it’s time for Haruto to give Phoenix a beating and uses a powered up Very Nice Special The Best finisher using a wave of fire from Dragon’s mouth.

A few days later, Haruto returns to the shop after visiting Hiroki and family at the hospital. Mikiko and father are in the clear and Hiroki has told them how he feels.

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Shunpei happily gives Haruto a massage. Rinko tells Koyomi maybe she was right earlier. But Koyomi says neither of them was right because she too was worried about Haruto. She gives another one of her awkward smiles.

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Across town, Medusa tells Phoenix she can’t believe he was defeated. Phoenix is speechless as they walk down the tunnel.

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Episode Thoughts
Well damn. Now if you want dark, here you have it. Those scenes of Phoenix mercilessly attacking Hiroki and his parents were crazy! They were brutal and probably the most violent I’ve seen on any toku series I’ve seen so far, Japanese or American.

Haruto struggling with his own pain from watching his parents die was also pretty heavy. It was an emotional scene that definitely worked though.

After a few weeks of increasing comedy, this episode was almost like a jolt back to reality. It isn’t going to be all fun and games. There’s some serious stuff that needs to be taken care of.

The new threat on Haruto, how he has to be able to control Dragon and his inner Phantom definitely adds a new dimension to his character and the story.

This is definitely how you do a “Introduce new toy” episode of a toku series. Amazing.

0 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Wizard, Episode 9 – The Dragon’s Cry

  1. Well that really was a good episode overall. And while the thing with Haruto and Dragon would be good storytelling material… its too bad they later pretty much ignored the threat of having a phantom inside him and pretty much ignore Dragon apart from being a deus ex machina for new powers/toys.
    Although granted the way it came here in the show is nothing compared to how they handled Kiva.
    And I just wonder why. They have a good premise, they have good elements, they know, at least I think they should know, that a good part of their viewers aren’t kids and even if they don’t they introduce elements like these anyway, so why not stick with it?

    PS. I didn’t notice back then but apparently Shunya Shiraishi didn’t do a thorough tanning job 😀

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