Tatsuki Fujimoto is a connoisseur of what you might call “dirtbag compassion.” Though his works explore complex and difficult topics with elevated nuance, his perspective always hangs near the muck – dicks getting kicked, toilet jokes, unrepentant, gleeful acts of deviance and perversion. There’s an honesty in that; rather than maintaining the soapy, reverent tone often employed for difficult topics, he talks about grief and hunger and oppression in the way they are experienced, in the context of our messy lives and allegedly “incorrect” emotional responses. His work is essentially the opposite of a Very Special Episode, wherein the harsh aspects of life are framed in slow motion and soft lighting, accompanied by a pensive indie rock ballad. Life is rarely so tonally accommodating – and as imperfect, ever-struggling human beings, our reactions to life’s troubles are rarely the ones you see on television.
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You – Episode 3
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d stop back in with Rentaro and the gang, and see how his sacred mission to acquire one hundred girlfriends is proceeding. Look, it’s not like he’s a cold philanderer or anything; as has been clearly established by the suspiciously convenient worldbuilding, all of those girlfriends are doomed to perpetual unhappiness if he does not find them and date their worries away. It’s a heavy burden, but given Rentaro’s deft navigation of his first two true loves, I have every confidence he’ll be able to manage it.
Rentaro’s woes aside, 100 Girlfriends continues to be an altogether charming, entirely ludicrous riff on romantic comedy convention, persistently innovating on its core joke of “what if we played this fantastical polycule entirely straight, complete with soaring string arrangements accompanying each ridiculous romantic threshold.” It doesn’t seem like there’s much of a larger point beyond the comedy yet, but comedies don’t necessarily need a thematic backbone; the faces are good and the gags are snappy, making it an energetic watch regardless. Let’s see how Rentaro fares with his third destined love!
BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! – Episode 11
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m once again overcome with curiosity regarding the fortunes of our woebegotten bandmates, meaning it’s time for another episode of BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! Our last episode served as at least a partial reconciliation after the suffering of the previous two, with Tomori’s solo confessions eventually gathering Raana, Taki, Anon, and even Soyo back to her side. Everyone except Raana has at some point tried their hand at leading this band, but ultimately, it was up to their emotional heart to guide them back under the lights. At Tomori’s side, they were reminded of what they actually founded this group for – to claim a place where they belong, where their voice is valued, regardless of whoever else is listening.
That spirit of community was made clear by their ultimate performance, where they were clearly playing for each other more than any external audience. And god, what a show! Their tearful reunion was the goddamn definition of catharsis, each musician baring their heart on stage and finding their feelings treasured and echoed by the girls beside them. Between episodes three, seven, and ten, MyGO is racking up a preposterous slate of all-timers, and I’m eager to see how they formally reconcile in the wake of that shared moment. All right, I’m most eager to see how the other bandmates razz Soyo for her late return, but still! It’s a credit to how well-characterized this show’s cast are that it’s such a pleasure simply watching them interact, letting their complex, thorny, and ultimately sympathetic personalities spark friction and understanding in equal measure. Let’s get to it!
Winter 2024 – Week 8 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week in film screenings was defined by an unexpected themed project, owing to the recent dumping of basically the entire Snyderverse onto Netflix. That’s right, we watched some goddamn superheroes, munching through, if not the majority, at least a generous selection of the various Justice League-adjacent film productions. The picture that emerged was of a franchise in disarray, tonally at war with itself owing to the obvious contrast between Snyder’s preferences and Marvel’s template, forever juggling its need to appeal to a superhero-fatigued general audience with its dedication to a more angular, ‘90s-reminiscent era of comic drama. You know I like an interesting failure, so let’s dive right into Zack Snyder’s doomed empire!
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 16
After a season and change of cloaking its personal inquiry in the trappings of a more or less traditional, episodic giant robot anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion’s sixteenth episode represents a formal casting off of its genre pretensions, in favor of directly interrogating the psychology of its forlorn protagonists. This is less dramatic of a transition than some might argue; given the overwhelming focus on cast psychology that has characterized these writeups, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn I see this process as more fulfillment of the show’s lurking ambitions than a genuine shifting of its trajectory. But premeditated or not, this is undeniably the moment when Evangelion fully strayed from its design document, embracing a prioritization of psychoanalysis that to Anno seemed the only way to fully respect the characters he’d conceived, the audience he was seeking, and the hope of happiness he still carried for himself.
Call of the Night – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to slink back into the shadows of Call of the Night, after a premiere that embodied the manifold strengths of author Kotoyama and director Tomoyoki Itamura. Anxious yet intensely felt sensuality, charmingly off-kilter protagonists, and a preoccupation with the “dead time” of our lives, the many moments between active concerns that accumulate into the collective tone of our private worlds – all things Kotoyama grappled deftly in Dagashi Kashi, and all represented with as much confidence here. Those concerns feel right at home married to Itamura’s aesthetic sensibilities; his Monogatari-forged methods of conveying character perspective neatly illustrate the difference between these characters’ self-assigned and outward presentation, while his emphasis on otherworldly landscapes suits a story about the allure of exploring the night perfectly. Let’s see what Ko and his strange new companion get up to this time!
Solo Leveling – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a new property I was recently commissioned, as we explore the first episode of the currently airing Solo Leveling. To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure what to expect from this one, or how exactly it might be my sort of thing; the synopsis seems to indicate it’s basically a post-Sword Art Online riff on similar concepts, and I didn’t really have anything positive to say about the original Sword Art Online. “We’re growing stronger in a world that’s essentially a videogame” is a concept that has very little appeal to me; I prefer my fantasy worlds to be realized as genuine places, and am of the wrong generation to get a thrill out of watching someone else be excellent at a videogame.
In general, I see these works as the consequence of fans not reading broadly, or really at all; if you only consume videogames and light novels, you are almost categorically incapable of writing something rich enough to keep my interest. As for the staff, neither director nor art director nor series composer have any noteworthy credits to their names, but I imagine we’re in for some bombastic musical cues courtesy of the ever-excessive Hiroyuki Sawano. With almost no idea of what we’re getting into, let’s check out the first episode of Solo Leveling!
Winter 2024 – Week 7 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week has been one of tremendous progress in terms of my own community projects, as my former housemates gathered to complete our first D&D campaign, and also carry our second me-written one within at most two sessions of completion. It’s been a delight to actually resolve these stories we’ve been crafting for the last several years, even if my efforts to avoid D&D’s generally “roll a dice to decide the outcome”-centered conflicts have been less effective than I’d hoped. We’ve basically got half a table that genuinely enjoys mastering the game’s mechanical systems, and half a table that sees those systems as an awkward translation of the emergent creativity the game is designed to facilitate (myself included), which can at times lead to some strained interactions. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to sending my players to hell for their final adventure, and in the meantime, I’ve got plenty of film reflections for you all. Let’s break down some fresh features in the Week in Review!
Seeking This Moment in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
You could describe our passage through life as an accumulation of regrets, of opportunities missed and promising roads not traveled. We rise through youth bearing dreams of becoming astronauts or rock stars, or at the very least not disappointing our parents; we ultimately settle for smaller victories, savoring financial independence or whatever slice of happiness we can find. We compromise and forgive and compromise again, as the once-open canvas of life is weighed down by responsibilities and disappointments, a thousand thousand doors closed forever behind us. And slowly, what once seemed like active choices become the terms of your imprisonment, the endless cycles that define your journey from unhappy adulthood to the grave.
Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 8
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m hearing the rumble of storm clouds on the horizon, as the peaceful days of the Hero Club’s summer vacation are swiftly coming to an end. In spite of having defeated the twelve vertexes and sustained a variety of lingering injuries in the process, Yuna and her friends are being called to battle once more, facing both an uncertain threat and an increasingly suspicious alleged benefactor. Though their tour of duty was explicitly framed as a clear and finite quest, it seems a hero’s duties are never truly ended – or at least, that our Taisha is far less certain of this venture’s scope than Fuu and the others expected.
This is all great fun for me, of course, as wandering into uncertain structural territory means Yuki Yuna’s thematic intent is now certain to reveal itself. For the first half of this season, Yuki Yuna presented a reasonably executed but generally familiar narrative, focusing on the magical girl genre’s common themes of finding community and developing self-confidence through adolescence. However, the show was always seasoned with an uncommon dash of fatalism – a quiet implication that its heroes were less “destined warriors” than “conscripted soldiers,” forced into mortal peril yet considered expendable by their distant overseers. Fuu’s bargain to protect her family, Karin’s maniacal focus on combat, Tougou’s fear of being called a “traitor” – all of these lingering peculiarities seem to at last be resolving themselves, and I’m eager to see where the show ultimately lands. Let’s get to it!