As Kouko drives him forward and Rune cheers him on, it’s becoming more and more clear that our young Fuuta is beginning to come apart at the seams.

This is not really Fuuta’s fault. At this point, he’s carrying the regrets of three past lives with him, all of whom lived longer lives than Fuuta himself. The vast majority of Fuuta’s memories are now inherited, and as he goes through his daily life, old selves float like intrusive thoughts to the surface. Sometimes, even Fuuta himself doesn’t notice the change; Spirit Circle frequently employs sequences of panels where Fuuta slips between selves without warning, with only the audience truly understanding his flickering selfhood. At other times, his past lives trudge behind him like a sad caravan, a burden he must carry wherever he goes.

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Last week I just barely managed to scrabble together enough airing shows to return to my traditional streaming-focused Week in Review model, but since then, my circumstances have taken a couple major turns that make that style significantly less tenable. For one thing, I’m dropping God of High School, because it’s not a good show and I don’t really enjoy watching it anymore. But more importantly, and far more positively, I’ve received some extremely generous reader donations directed towards Oregairu S3 writeups – meaning that from here out, I’ll hopefully be jamming out full weekly Oregairu articles, just as soon as I marathon the entirety of the first two seasons to refresh myself.

Considering the only thing you can really say about God of High School is “animation good, story bad,” hopefully all this counts as a net positive for you folks. And meanwhile, after a slight cooldown period to rekindle my engine after Preview Week, I’ve resumed munching through classic films in earnest, and have plenty more reflections to share with you all. Let’s dive into another Week in Review!

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Well shit, guys. We’re really in the depths of it now, aren’t we? Taichi at last confessed, was rejected, and responded in the most dramatic possible way: by dropping out of the karuta club completely, and not even telling anyone. Chihaya had to actively chase him down to get any answers out of him, and even then, nothing was fixed or resolved; the club has suffered a dramatic splinter, and it’s questionable whether it can even recover.

This schism was certainly dramatic, but it’s a conflict that’s been brewing since the very start of the series. Taichi’s present relationship with karuta has almost nothing to do with karuta itself; though he also shares fond memories of playing with Arata and Chihaya, neither those memories nor a genuine, personal love of the sport are what drive him to compete. Taichi competes for Chihaya’s sake, making for a situation that is both consistently painful and unfulfilling for him personally, and also utterly unfair to Chihaya herself.

Chihaya does not owe Taichi anything; he has persistently been the one to make personal sacrifices in pursuit of an entirely theoretical romantic relationship, placing selfish expectations on Chihaya that would likely already have destroyed their relationship, if Chihaya weren’t so romantically oblivious. And now that he’s finally admitted the truth, and Chihaya has responded, he is taking back all the support he has provided to Chihaya’s entire team, even though he’s the team captain. It’s a very selfish act, but also an understandably human one, and a decision likely necessitated by the unhealthy attitude and romantic expectations he’s brought to this team all along. Taichi’s self-destructive behavior, overwhelming insecurities, and tendency to bottle up his unhappiness are all parts of him we’ve come to know; it’s painful to see them result in such a negative end, but that’s the pain of seeing a convincingly human character take a convincingly human fall.

Of course, “Taichi falls into despair and quits karuta forever and that’s the last we see of him” wouldn’t make for a particularly satisfying drama, so the question now is, where does Taichi go from here? I doubt he even wants to look at Chihaya right now, but one of his other rivals or clubmates might be able to reach him – or even Suo, who could likely relate to his current bleak perspective. Wherever Chihayafuru goes from here, I’m thrilled to at last be excavating the thorny relationship at the heart of this series, and eager to see what this shattered team do next. Let’s get to it!

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This week I’m once again diving into Eizouken-adjacent articles, as I use the show’s unique production focus to shamelessly promote some of my other favorite anime, like Shirobako and Paranoia Agent. As an artist and critic, stories about the creative process are obviously one of my weak points, and I’m happy to find another excuse to ramble about my favorites. Let’s get to it!

What Are the Best Anime About Anime?

This was not the best week in spring anime, I am sorry to say. Carole & Tuesday had what was easily its worst episode to date, and leaned into pretty much all of the show’s most dubious qualities, from its questionable sense of humor to its nearsighted cynical streak. Demon Slayer’s visual execution tried its best to make up for its lousy writing, but with even the mechanics of this week’s fight lacking in creativity, there was only so much to be done. And Sarazanmai… well, I’ve actually dropped Sarazanmai for now, after having it feel like a chore for most of the season. The show had recently made some strides towards humanizing its relatively flat characters, but trying to care about the show has always felt more like work than pleasure – like it assumes I should care about its characters and their entirely metaphorical world just because those things exist, and not because the show offers any points of emotional entry or narrative hooks. But hey, at least JoJo is still great! We’ll save the JoJo rambling for the finale then, and start off this week in review with a treacherous journey through the week’s lowlights. Let’s break down some cartoons!

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As our divided heroes each grapple with the weight of their own destiny, Princess Tutu’s twenty-second episode opens on an image of stacked hallways lined with endless doors. “Once upon a time, there was a princess raised by loving parents. One day, the princess snuck by the guard at the gate and slipped out of the castle for the very first time. However, no matter how far she went, outside the castle, there was only an endless forest as black as pitch. Before she knew it, the princess ended up unable to either escape the forest or return to the castle. In that kingdom, the inside of the castle was the entire world.”

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