Haruto is asking, everytime he scans a ring. The belt is merely saying it out loud.
Explains why for the Dragon forms it sounds more threatening and demanding, Dragon is asking instead
Flame Dragon style repeats the word "burn" over and over instead of "hi," or fire. For the normal forms, the driver just announces what element it is. For the Dragon styles, it's letting you know what Dragon is about to do to you.
So what does it say when Hurricane Dragon says "blow"?
It also shows that the element of the Style is much stronger and thus harder to control/defend against.
If "please" is Haruto asking for magic, then the "please, please" from the Please Ring is kinda sad, because he's not asking for the magic to keep Koyomi going, he's begging for it...
There's also the theory that the ring is supposed to be the Please ring as in please for help, which is further backed up by Ultimatum where it summoned not only Eiji/OOO in the flesh but also created Rider Rings for OOO, Birth, Accel, and W.
The White Wizard's Wizardriver instead says "now" after each spell. Why? He's a master magician, he has higher authority than Haruto, Dragon, and Beast combined. He doesn't need to ask, he demands it.
Plus, it's entirely possible that his magic is entirely his own, unlike Wizard and Beast who draw theirs from their Phantoms. If that's the case, he wouldn't need to ask himself, now would he?
Wiseman's Phantom is an artificial Phantom without mind of its own so he basically gives it commands.
Makes a lot more sense since his actual title is Kamen Rider Wiseman
Also Beast's driver just states his forms. That's because unlike Haruto who asks, and White Wizard who demands, he just does. Because of his partnership with his Phantom, he doesn't have to ask for power.
Well, the Beast Driver actually says "go" instead of "please" or "now." So instead of asking for or demanding power, it simply states what it is going to do.
According to this the symbols in the magic circles semi-confirm that Haruto is asking for the magic.
Rings are used in alchemy. In ancient times, alchemy—the practice/art of changing one thing to another—was considered a type of magic. Alchemy, written in grimoires, often involved summoning demons by wearing rings at the same time. The Magic-using Kamen Rider, who fights the monsters born from a ritual, uses rings to transform. To further this, the enemy of the series were created by a solar eclipse (appearing as a dark circle with a ring of light around it). Also, what is a belt? A ring for your waist.
Why does Wizard use kicks and his weapon, but never punches? He's keeping one hand free at all time to use his rings!
That and punching with such massive rings would hurt his fingers badly. Not to mention risk damaging the rings themselves.
He does, however, use his arms and palms to parry and push back his opponents.
And when does he FINALLY throw a punch? In the last episode after one of his rings shatters to pieces.
The shape of Haruto's transformation rings are based on gem cuts. Water Style is a teardrop cut.
Not quite; it's a demimonde cut, the bottom's angular.
While Kamen Rider OOO's Yummys operated by feeding the victims with what they really desired, Phantoms do the exact opposite by taking it all away. It's really not much better.
Wonder how Phoenix could be back after being destroyed by Wizard? Because phoenixes will always be reborn from the ashes when they die.
And, in the movie, it's not that he was unable to revive; he's not powerful to revive that fast. He probably came back in the morning, after the heroes left the scene and forget about him.
Normal styles feature a black dominant outer coat while each styles's specific colour is seen on the inner side of the cloak, while Dragon Elemental styles reverse the colours. It is so because Haruto is bringing out his inner power (Dragon) to buff up his powers!
Santa Claus finding Haruto in an Underworld may seem random, but bear in mind who this is: he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good....
The first two unreleased Phantoms that Wizard and Beast fought respectively were mentioned in the first and last lines of a Through the Looking Glass poem.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"
Kousuke Nitoh loves his mayonnaise and mana satisfies him as well. The connection between the two very different substances is all in the spelling: Mayonnaise.
Nitoh needs to eat the Mana from people to feed the Chimera Phantom, something Haruto doesn't need to do. This makes sense when you realize Haruto was a Gate and thus, Dragon is a natural part of him while Chimera came from the Beast Driver. There's no indication Nitoh was a Gate, thus he couldn't generate mana to sustain Chimera like Haruto does. This also means he doesn't have natural magical potential, thus the danger to his life. What would happen if Chimera were to have found a Gate to be host is unknown.
If Chimera found a Gate to inhabit, it would likely just feed off of their natural mana.
If Nitoh managed to consume Phoenix like he planned, Phoenix's constant regeneration may have provided the loophole to free Nitoh of Chimera's mana hunger and possibly the entire Beast business. Of course, Status Quo Is God.
Why is it when Nitoh rolls a 1 on the Dice Saber, it always leads to an Epic Fail? In most Tabletop RPGs (which have a majority of their games be in the fantasy genre), rolling a Natural 1 (as in the 1 has to be what's on the die, not if you manage to get a 1 through bonus points) on your die almost always means a failure. Not just any kind of failure, but a critical failure. How did he manage to defeat that one monster with a one, you ask? Sometimes critical failures are ignored or perhaps the bonuses put into the roll prove to be effective.
RPG roots might also explain why Dragon has four elemental powers as opposed to the classic fire element. In Dungeons & Dragons, there are different kinds of dragons that each have their own breath power, with the Red Dragons being skilled in fire. While the breaths in D&D aremuchdifferentfrom Dragon's, he still highlights the elemental diversity of the Dragons.
Why is the Violet Golem a familiar that makes stuff, rather than going on recon duty? It's because the golem was created out of clay, and was a rather benign fellow.
Some theorize (with some Word of God helping them) that Fourze was attempting to cheer people up after the earthquake that hit Japan. Well, what else can help? Hope.
How is Legion able to beat both Dragon and Chimera fighting together? His weapon has the power to destroy underworlds, which is where the two phantoms reside and manifest. As such, they are likely much more vulnerable to his attacks, giving him a major advantage.
Why is Wizard's Infinity Form able to deflect and break Legion's Halberd? Because nothing is harder than diamond.
Near the end of Life is SHOW TIME, the lyrics say "Take those tears and turn them into jewels. How is the infinity ring created?
Furthermore, why would Wiseman imprison Legion? Because he destroys Underworlds. Not very helpful when your true motive is to create more Mages.
Strangely enough, the first time Beast's Engage Ring was used, it said 'Please' afterwards. The second time it was used, it said 'GO'. This may have been an error, but the time it said 'GO', it was being used on Haruto. While 'Please' is asking for the magic to happen, 'GO' demands it. With Haruto's Dragon still being active, the Engage Ring might have needed to demand entry into Haruto's underworld.
Wizard Infinity wields the Axcalibur's axe mode by holding the sword blade. Normally, that'd simply be an impractically designed weapon, but the fact Infinity Style is shown to be extremely durable makes it more logical; he's simply too tough to be hurt by his own weapon.
When Dragon is resurrected, if one looks closely, his wings can be seen on Haruto's back during the magic surge, just like when he was first born. However, this time, they're composed of white light instead of purple darkness. Why? Dragon was born from a Despair Event Horizon, but reborn from Haruto absolutely refusing to giveinto despair. In other words, Dragon was reborn from hope, the antithesis of despair. Light is the antithesis of darkness.
Haruto scans his rings, while Kousuke has to insert and turn his. This is reminiscent of technology, with inserting being old school and scanning being new, representing how Beast's belt is older.
Also usage of Beast Rings with Wizardriver can be considered as backward compatibility.
Medusa represents stone, Phoenix represents fire, and Sora/Gremlin is air. (Sora is sky in japanese while gremlins torment people on airplanes) If the rumors of a mermaid greater phantom are true then the 4 Dragons of the show will mirror Haruto's forms.
Wiseman/Fueki is a counterpart of Infinity form.
Gates are safe as soon as they leave Tokyo. Why? Because the Phantoms are notoriously lazy! Few of them have plans more elaborate than "attack the Gate and see if they get scared enough to turn into a Phantom", of course they are not going to run around Japan chasing Gates
Gremlin's annoyance and status as a general nuisance may actually be intentional, since Gremlins are known to be annoying.
More specifically, traditional gremlins are often blamed for unexplained machine damage, making it an appropriate motif for the Spanner in the Works.
Gremlin's claim of still being human on the inside makes a lot of sense when you think about it. For one he lacks the emblem that every other single phantom has and unlike Phoenix or Medusa his greater phantom pauldrons are clunky and silver compared to theirs, which are more smoothed out and golden. Nice foreshadowing hidden in plain sight.
Beast managing to hurt Bogy in #33 after rolling a one on his Dice Saber, something that normally leads to Epic Fail, is brilliant for two reasons. Firstly, he was fighting for his friend, and secondly, it was the third time this had happened.
Gryphon, Beast's signature PlaMonster, is part-lion, part-eagle, keeping with Beast's motifs of lions and animals fused into one monster as well as the PlaMonsters colors not matching their elemental affiliation.
While Cerberus has three heads, mirroring White Wizard's multiple faces and agendas. Moreso when we learn that he's also been Wiseman the whole time!
Gremlin is a Foil for Haruto because he's a Phantom with a human trapped inside, while Haruto is a human with a Phantom trapped inside. But they're also foils in another way. Haruto's Phantom ultimately became more heroic as the series progressed due to Haruto's own heroism. Gremlin retained his humanity because he was already a monster to begin with. They're not just foils in what they are, but who they are.
The Reveal that Haruto used to be a soccer player explains why he's so good with his legs.
Mayu returning as Kamen Rider Mage makes sense when you realize that she was the White Wizard's personal apprentice. The White Wizard is likely on the same level as the Golden Wizard, so it's possible Kamen Rider Mage is simply the rank for the apprentice of a master magician (while Haruto got his gear from the White Wizard, he wasn't trained directly by him).
It could also be that Haruto already had his rings ready for him and can use them, but with Mayu, she has to wait until she could get a unique ring for her powers.
Or, quite possibly, Mage could be her Phantom-powered Rider Form, as crystalline spikes were on her back when she was transforming, and Mage had crystal spikes on her shoulders.
In addition to this, from the trailer, the mook class Mages don't seem to need an inner Phantom and it takes three of them to stand a chance against Beast, while Mayu can stand up to Medusa. So it's possible that Mayu is a cut above the Mook Mages.
Why didn't Kamen Rider Gaim appear in Magic Land? Because Haruto and Koyomi spend the majority of the film in a whole-other dimension. Basically, this would only result in unwanted Fridge Logic as to how exactly the newest Kamen Rider (who is most certainly NOT a magician in any sort of way) managed to somehow get into Magic Land.
Phoenix was rather easily taken out in the The Movie because the movie version had probably been killed once previously at most if the Mages got really lucky/he got in Orma's way. This Phoenix was at the same level he was at during his second encounter with Wizard.
Wiseman uses Medusa as his right hand, while Fueki has Mayu. Gremlin and Sora are basically foils to Haruto seems he was playing both sides the same.
Makes even more sense when you consider both sides have someone that the leader considers a liability/doesn't really like. Nitoh for Fueki, Phoenix for Wiseman.
The Arachne Phantom's design is based on both a spider and a bat - covering the obligatory reference to the first two Kamen Rider villains at once.
#1 says science and magic used to work together. This doesn't comeback till #48.
Phantoms are LITERALLY people's inner demons.
Magic typically uses the four classical elements in performing a spell. Mayu's Mage form is yellow, for Earth as hinted by her Gravity Ring. Yuzuru's is blue, likely Water. Finally Yamato's is green, probably Air. Fueki represents Space, an element above the normal ones, so where's his representative for Fire? His first project, Haruto. This also explains why he doesn't want him using the Infinity Ring, it not only rivals his own power, it may be non-elemental and thus cannot be controlled by him. As for Nitoh, his powers revolve from animals, not elements, a much more unpredictable source, hence Fueki was right, he has no use for Nitoh or his powers.
While each Rider has some connection with the enemy, this show harkens back to the old days. Why? Because Wizard and the Mages were all created due to Wiseman's plans and all given their belts form him.
And if you see it as such, the last two Mages would probably be akin to the Shocker Riders, which were just Ichigo with differently colored scarves and boots.
You see the Engage Ring being put on Koyomi in the opening? Why would Koyomi need an Engage Ring? It's not the Engage Ring... it's the Hope Ring.
Why was Foundation X nowhere to be found in the entirety for this season? Simple answer: Phantoms are unpredictable. Longer answer: To become Phantoms, one would have to basically die and this only works by being a Gate and go over the Despair Event Horizon. However, many humans do not have the means to see latent magic potential, not to mention, there's no telling how a Phantom born from a Foundation X member will react. There's no telling if the new Phantom will have a new personality altogether or has their old personality, and that last part depends entirely on if the person was so evil he might have already been a Phantom when he was becoming one.
Then again, considering how it was a scientist who was pulling the strings of the operation, it could be implied that he had connections with Foundation X, especially since said scientist unpersoned himself, making finding out about him very difficult and how this isn't the first time a scientist was motivated by the death of a family member to go out and preform a sketchy operation revolving around bringing them back to life. Especially an operation that had some brush-off in Foundation X (though they rejected the idea in favor for a more suitable one), so it could be more-or-less implied that Foundation X had a remote connection to the Phantoms, though in the same way that they're connected to NEVER.
The White Wizard's driver saying "Now" instead of "Please" makes a lot of sense if you use the theory of the belt asking the Phantom for the magic, since The White Wizard is a Phantom.
The White Wizard's official name released by Toei after the series now makes a lot of sense and also spoilerffic. Kamen Rider Wiseman
Perhaps unintentional on their part, but the entire show had elements of a fantasy tabletop RPG akin to Dungeons and Dragons. Two examples include the aforementioned 1 = Epic Fail fridge mentioned above and how Kamen Rider Beast in the long run isn't as strong as the other Riders. But one major fridge moment comes in the endgame. The Wiseman's plans are foiled by spanners in the works, people he didn't expect to derail his plot. Villains are usually controlled by the GM and when something goes Off the Rails, it's usually because the players become their spanner in the works.
Kamen Rider Gaim being able to beat the stolen powers out of Amadum makes sense when you realize Amadam was able to steal powers due to being powered by the Cross of Fire, the source of power of all Kamen Riders, essentially their Morphing Grid. Remember that the Kamen Rider Beast that appears came from the past, meaning entering the world in the stone can involve time travel. It's entirely possible Kota came back in time to assist in the battle. This means from Amadam's perspective, Gaim may have yet to exist, and thus wasn't connected to the Cross of Fire yet, explaining his ability to fight Amadam head on when the other Riders couldn't due to his power stealing ability.
While Amadum beat up the other Kamen Riders due to their connection to the Cross Of Fire, Kouta easily beats him... but he's also tied to the Cross, right? Well, not really. While his powers are tied to Helheim, his actual Driver was born from human scientists. All the other Drivers have some mystical or scientific origin, and if they were also by human hands, they'd heavily tap into a power source which is the true source of the Cross of Fire. The Sengoku Drivers, on the other hand, is the opposite. They also are made by human hands, but the only power of Helheim they tap into is converting the fruits into Lockseeds, something that has been established as filtering Helheim's power rather than amplifying it like in some cases with the other Riders. Everything else, like the Lockseeds, were made by humans. This helped minimize his connection to the Cross of Fire.
Another possibility is that the reason Kouta wasn't tied to the cross was because he lacked a Mid-Season Upgrade and Super Mode at the moment he was summoned - all the other riders were appearing after their season had ended and gained their final forms. Haruto should consider himself lucky that he summoned Kouta so early in the latter's story.
The White Wizard and Kamen Rider Sorcerer are pretty much foils of each other. The White Wizard is a human who manipulated phantoms, while Sorcerer was a phantom who manipulated humans.
Think about this for a second: The original Gates were regular humans, with real-life problems. This terrible fate of being killed by a Phantom could happen to anyone, even the most unsuspecting person. And just like with Fourze and the teens who suffered trauma that transformed them into monsters, we've got this:
Amino (Minotauros): He was a police detective, possibly stressed out by his job as a detective.
Rinko Daimon: Another detective, always trying to live up to the memory of her father and to her own expectations.
Kazuo Tajima (Hellhound): A morning announcer on TV, he was always in the eyes of the public and constantly stressed by having to one-up his previous shows.
Shunpei Nara: A young man whom didn't want to grow up and accept that magic was false.
Cat Sith: A down-on-his-luck guy that lives in a junkyard. No family, no money, no home, and no job.
Eisaku Takagi: A famous pianist and a musical prodigy, constantly being forced to live up to everyone's expectations and currently faced with the equivalent of Writer's Block.
Gnome: Possibly a similar situation to Eisaku, though it was wine that he couldn't do good enough, rather than music.
Katsuya Kiritani (Valkyrie): The manager of a large chain of stores, a job that would contain constant pressure with so much relying on you to keep control.
Manticore: A fortune teller who had to either dealt with controversies on his job, or predicted his own demise.
Haruto (Dragon): An orphan whose parents died in a car crash and is suffering from serious Survivor's Guilt after the accident.
Beelzebub: The former director of a band from the looks of it, he was probably stressed out about music like Eisaku.
Yugo Fujita (Phoenix): A completely ordinary guy. Seriously, this guy had nothing abnormal in his life, and was just a sweet guy who wanted to run a flower shop, and he became pure evil.
There's another thing: Remember in #2 where Haruto thought that one of the children could be the Gate?
Something that is realised in #8.
In #8 Medusa implies that the last time Phoenix went after a Gate, he ended up killing his target by mistake.
The National Security Bureau has been covering up the existence of the Phantoms. Keep in mind that normally only one or two people see the Phantom reveal themselves. What do the people who cared about that person, not knowing they'd already died and been replaced by a demon, think when they never come back after Haruto destroys them?
This is part of the plot in #14 and #15, as Haruto can't let the Gate know who the Phantom is at risk of destroying their hope.
In #15, Haruto had to tell a white lie just to keep the Gate's hope intact. Just how long can the lie be kept before the gate knows the truth and becomes a phantom?
Considering that the Phantoms never go after a Gate more than once, even if Wizard doesn't destroy their inner Phantom, it seems that there's only a certain period when Gates are able to produce Phantoms. Restoring their hope enough seems to help, as well. Either way, one of two things will happen: either Chizuru will live the rest of her life unaware of the truth, or she one day finds out in the future when it won't be as emotionally devastating to her, since she has gotten her passion for acting back and can move on from her daily worry about Satoshi.
Haruto sent Phoenix into the sun. Sure, he'll still be stuck there, but he'll eventually be strong enough to withstand the sun's heat so that it won't kill him easily. So by the time he can live in the sun easily, will he return much stronger than ever, or blow the sun up?
Of course it's possible for him to grow strong enough to survive the flames but not die. Though that means he'll be trapped, isolated for at least several billion years.
But he could fly, as shown in #23! Possibly out of the sun. The only hope is for his wings to be permanently broken.
He could fly, but there's the problem of A: the sun's gravitational pull and B: the distance.
A: One of Phoenix's abilities is to adapt to whatever it was that destroyed him previously, so it's not inconceivable that he'll one day revive with the ability to fly fast enough to achieve escape velocity, and B: It didn't take very long to send Phoenix to the Sun via magical means, it couldn't possibly take much longer for him to make it back.
Gravitational pull has no role in destroying him, so that would be a ridiculous asspull to suddenly make him able to fly fast enough. Plus it was Haruto who sent him into the sun, Phoenix doesn't have any powers that would allow him to warp like that. Also, the actor got flowers from the rest of the cast, only done when they wrap for the series. Deal with it, he's gone.
That and this follows a usual trope found in the recent Kamen Riders, in which one of the head villains gets killed off/incapacitated and is promptly replaced with another (Nazca replaced by Weather, Gamel and Mezool replaced by Lost Ankh, and Scorpio replaced by Libra). The only hope there may be to have is that Phoenix comes back in some form that mostly involves just the suit returning, much like the other Sacrificial Lions. (Saeko becoming Nazca R, Uva reviving Gamel and Mezool, and Leo using the Scorpio Switch)
In #24, Grandma Nitoh is willing to sacrifice her soul to become a Phantom so Beast can eat her. The Horror? If she succeeds, Phantom!Grandma is going to want to KILL Beast, not let him eat her. Extends further that wanting to die may prevent her from falling into despair, making it impossible to save her grandson, and if she figures that out she may also fall into despair...because she couldn't fall into despair.
The last bit actually gets pointed out by Sora afterwards when he explains it to Weretiger.
Try and imagine a Crossover between Kamen Rider Wizard and any show of your choice. Particularly the ones where the villains would make people unhappy.
The Madoka analogy is made worse when you equate The White Wizard To Kyubey. Kosuke made a 'Contract' with Chimera, and the White wizard Bestowed the means of Haruto Using his magic (The Belt, his initial rings, and the magic stones Wajima then crafts)
Or shows intended for children like the Kyoryugers (through collection of sorrow energy), Suite Pretty Cure ♪ (Melody of Sorrow) and Smile Pretty Cure! (Bad End), though it all depends on to what extent they all count as despair.
So, in #31, Haruto finally destroyed Legion. All well and good, right? But, what happened to all his victims? Unless No Ontological Inertia is in play, they're probably never going to wake up from their comas!
The Other Wiki shows that the Poison Ring poisons the wearer. And do take note that Haruto tends to try it out on the whim and that's the only way to know what the ring does.
If that happened he would probably be healed by Kosuke using Dolphi Mantle.
Or could only use enough to experience the light effects, or enough to be immunized. After all, since ancient times, the antidote to poisons are obtained from the poison itself being used on a smaller dose on a larger animal.
The Reveal that Gremlin is a Serial Killer makes all those scenes where he suddenly, playfully appears behind someone a lot less funny. Not to mention the realization that his swords look like a pair of scissor blades, both his tool as a hairdresser and his weapon as a murderer.
Not to mention, a good chunk of his scenes are with Medusa, whose human form is a girl with long black hair, much like all the victims he had. The scary factor of him being assigned to have Medusa work for him might be mitigated because Medusa is no saint herself, as her... "encounter" with Mayu proves.
It also made the scene where he was alone with Koyomi more unnerving... Especially since she dies by his hands in the end.
In #47 where Mayu traded Haruto's Infinity Ring in exchange for Fueki's Holy Ring, it was revealed that Fueki is both the White Wizard AND Wiseman. Because of the aforementioned trade, Haruto is now locked out of his Super Mode and the key to it is in the hands of the series' Big Bad.
What happened to Yugo's mother after he became a phantom?
What happened to anyone's parents after they became Phantoms? We know what happened with Medusa's.
Sora's weapon of choice is called the Rapture. You know? THAT Rapture? Scary stuff considering he's our Big Bad.
As above, Kouta kicked Amadum's ass because of his loose ties to the Cross... However, the Kachidoki and Kiwami Lockseeds were made direct from two different versions of Helheim itself (the avatar for Kachidoki, and the forest for Kiwami). Had Kouta used those, he would have been victim to the Cross of Fire and Amadum would have nigh limitless power.
Opening states that once upon a time both magic and science were used by people. But why it was not used before series? Because Lords from Kamen Rider Agito killed all of them.
The PlaMonsters' primary colors, for reasons unknown, fail to match up with Haruto's Color-Coded Elements. Garuda, a creature of the skies, is red; Unicorn, a land-based beast, is blue; and the water-housed Kraken is yellow.
I'm thinking the reason why the colors are so out-of-place is that they are a Shout-Out to Kamen Rider Hibiki. Red Garuda = Madder Hawk. Blue Unicorn = Azure Wolf. Yellow Kraken = Yellow Crab.
the symbols in the magic circles semi-confirm that Haruto is asking for the magic.