Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to hop back into The Demon Girl Next Door, and join our heroes in exploring Mikan’s tempestuous mindscape! With the instigator of her curse having been identified as the demon Ugallu, Shamiko and Momo hope to negotiate with the creature, and perhaps come to some sort of compromise that will allow Mikan to enjoy her daily school life. Well, that’s Shamiko’s hope, at least; I imagine Momo thinks that goal is very cute, but she’ll probably have to end up cracking some skulls nonetheless.

All of this serves as a commendable and perfectly normal final goal for a season that has committed itself to a variety of perfectly normal milestones. And I don’t mean that as a jab at all; I was genuinely curious where the show would go after its apparent half-season climax, and have been delighted to learn the answer is “illustrating commitment to the everyday practice of self-improvement and bonding with the people you love.” So many shows end at the moment when some pair of characters commit to a life together, but I personally find the perpetual compromises, commitments, and personal reorientations of life as a couple even more interesting than the breathless courtship. Beyond its layer of magical girl as metaphor, The Demon Girl Next Door is simply a thoughtful, earnest human story, and it’s been a privilege to watch these characters grow together. Let’s send them off right!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be stopping back in with The Demon Girl Next Door, after an episode which saw Shamiko accomplishing the last thing I expected: actually committing to a magical training regimen, and earning some clear results. Having already defeated her first magical adversary during her mountain spring date, Shamiko continued to improve her mastery of magical mayhem, taking another clear step towards becoming a shadow mistress worthy of Momo’s allegiance.

Although this is a first for our demon lord, it’s not exactly a surprise. Though Shamiko has frequently (and humorously) been defined by her incompetency, that incompetence was largely just a result of starting from zero understanding of this world with next to no magical energy. Though there have been many setbacks along the way, Shamiko has nonetheless been consistently exercising and expanding her powers, maintaining a positive attitude in spite of her anxieties. And with the committed support network of her family, ancestor, Momo, and Mikan behind her, it’s little surprise that consistent effort has at last borne meaningful results.

It is very in keeping with Demon Girl’s focus on the gradual process of improving yourself for the person you love that Shamiko’s training would follow a similar pattern. Just like attempting to shift your mindset or personal habits, attempting to master a new skill is a practice you must commit to, not simply a choice, and Demon Girl is all about illustrating the active practice of personal growth. With her magical powers clearly developing, let’s see if Shamiko’s earned a reward from Momo as we return to The Demon Girl Next Door!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Demon Girl Next Door, following up on one of the series’ warmest and fuzziest entries so far. Though Momo and Shamiko’s zoo date ended up sabotaged by their so-called friends, the ensuing trip to Sakura’s shrine proved just the romantic excursion they were hoping for, with Momo embracing greater honesty in expressing her feelings and Shamiko embracing more horniness all around. Plus she won her first demonic battle! A tremendous victory for Shamiko.

On a metaphorical level, Momo’s issues purifying and regulating her magic serve as a fine echo of her personal difficulty in opening up to Shamiko, and figuring out how to orient and define herself as someone within Shamiko’s life. Momo’s life of isolation has taught her to be self-sufficient, and she was comfortable enough doting on Shamiko as a helpless project, but learning how to exist as equals, with all the emotional vulnerability that implies, has been a difficult process. “Who am I when I’m with you” can be a difficult question for young lovers to answer, and for Momo, that question is lent further urgency via the harsh consequences of melding magic. Let’s see how our young couple is faring!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today is a good day: the sky is clear, the sun is shining, and we’re checking in on the continuing misadventures of Momo and Shamiko. Yes, it’s time for The Demon Girl Next Door, which most recently offered up a refreshingly low-stakes zoo trip. After all the propulsive and fantastical drama of season two’s first half, it was lovely to see Demon Girl return to the core dynamic of Momo and Shamiko at rest, still battling with their personal anxieties, but doing their best to improve for each other.

Frankly, it seems like the show has largely elaborated its underlying “what demons and magical girls represent” metaphor at this point, leading me to suspect future drama will lean more into the show’s character relationships and comedy. Ogura’s intimidating appearance at the end of last episode seems to support that guess, promising an episode of chaotic science and questionable ethics to come. Let’s see what the gang is up to in a fresh episode of The Demon Girl Next Door!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door, and at last enjoy the spoils of our hard-fought sense of genuine normalcy. After a first half-season that saw Shamiko and the gang racing through the entirety of their established conflicts, ending in both the discovery of Sakura Chiyoda and a dramatic declaration of love from Momo, it seems like things are finally calming down around Banda Terrace. Shamiko is learning to assert herself, Momo is learning to embrace vulnerability, and both of them are looking forward to a significantly less stressful fall semester.

I imagine some new conflicts will emerge to muck up all this peace and quiet, but I’d frankly also be happy to just marinate in the peace for a moment. Shamiko and Momo have been so busy accomplishing things that they haven’t really had much chance to put their new declarations into practice, and figure out how their relationship works now that they’re being so much more honest with each other. I tend to find the day-to-day practice of a relationship more interesting than the theatrics of courtship, and this production has always been uniquely perceptive when it comes to small changes in character dynamics, so I’m eager to check in on our awkward couple. Let’s return to The Demon Girl Next Door!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door, which most recently surprised me with what felt very much like a mid-season season finale. Pretty much all of our immediate narrative concerns were addressed and to some extent resolved by our last episode, whether we’re speaking in terms of the characters’ overt task or their emotional trajectory.

As far as the “save Sakura” quest goes, Sakura Chiyoda has been discovered nestled safely in Shamiko’s heart, serving as her magical protector until Shamiko is strong enough to stand on her own. And Shamiko’s private vow to make Momo smile has reaped stunning rewards as well: not only has Momo earned that treasured genuine smile, but it was even in the context of Momo pledging that “make Shamiko happy” is her new goal to strive for, just hours after Momo embraced the darkness to save Shamiko from bad dreams.

Such definitive conclusions would generally mark the end of a series, which makes me all the more intrigued about what comes next. How will Momo act now that she’s free from the stress of saving Sakura, and will all these relational milestones crossed help Shamiko realize that she and Momo are already dating? Let’s find out!

Continue reading →

Holy shit, ring the alarms, evacuate the facilities, we’re in full crisis mode. Sakura Chiyoda has appeared on the scene, confounding all my pacing and structural expectations for this season, and rocketing us to within striking distance of actually learning about Shamiko’s father. I was fairly confident we’d be spending most of this season chasing Sakura’s footprints, but now that she’s here in the flesh (or at least whatever equivalent of flesh applies to a mental projection within Shamiko’s memories), it seems like we might be moving right onto the secondary task of dismantling her barrier, and establishing true freedom of interaction between demons and magical girls.

Granted, that initial plan was hatched before Shirasawa revealed that this town is literally the world’s only demon sanctuary, raising some question as to whether undoing Sakura’s work is the wisest choice. But regardless, I’m eager to hear from this story’s most hyped-up heroine. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be checking back in on The Demon Girl Next Door, wherein Shamiko most recently acquired a new part-time job, and is currently serving as a waitress in the most demon-haunted cafe in town. Fortunately, the demons in question seem like the agreeable sort; Shamiko’s tapir boss is at the very least utterly harmless, and while her Huli Jing coworker’s food might occasionally send her into an amnesiac stupor, that’s ultimately more a result of oblivious negligence than malice. In spite of Momo’s worries, Shamiko’s infiltration mission has been a clear success, and the team now have a direct line to this town’s demonic community.

The story could theoretically rush straight ahead towards more revelations about Sakura Chiyoda, but I’m guessing that, like with Mikan’s introduction, we’re presumably in for an episode or two of adjusting to these new arrivals. Even Shamiko simply hanging out with Mikan tends to inspire some jealousy from Momo, so I’m mostly just holding out for more adorable possessiveness from our least sincere of magical girls. Let’s dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door!

Continue reading →

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to embark on a journey back to The Demon Girl Next Door, and see what nonsense the denizens of Banda Terrace are getting up to. Last episode saw Shamiko exploring the wonders of the internet for the first time, which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of a grand prize: Momo’s fiercely protected ChitChatterer profile. With this secret True Name in hand, Shamiko will surely uncover all of Momo’s weaknesses, and defeat her utterly come their next battle!

Or, more realistically, this will simply help the two of them grow closer through idle conversations, with the mediating barrier of the internet working its usual magic in facilitating carefree, low-stress communication. That’s sort of been a theme for this season: gradual steps towards more honest communication, as Shamiko learns to more clearly assert her desires, and Momo learns to earnestly confess her fears. It’s always charming to see these two attempt a normal conversation, so let’s not waste any more time dithering, and jump right back into The Demon Girl Next Door.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am happy to report that we’re diving back into The Demon Girl Next Door, and continuing the squad’s investigation of Sakura Chiyoda. Their attempts to trace Sakura’s final known activities have reaped both strange rewards and further mysteries, with the biggest victory so far coming in the form of Momo’s newly acquired Combat Fork. An apparent relic of her father’s, its appearance at Mikan’s old family factory seems to draw a line between Mikan, Sakura, and the fate of Shamiko’s dad. But what could it all mean?

Well, I’m sure these mysteries will unveil themselves in time. As you might have guessed, I’m more intrigued by how these developments will impact the story on a personal and thematic level, rather than that of pure plot. The fact that Shamiko only heard a voice guiding her to the fork after thinking back on a time when Momo seemed happy feels significant; after Momo spent so much of the first season looking after Shamiko, developments like Momo’s move to Banda Terrace seem to be leveling out their relationship, and giving Shamiko more opportunities to take care of Momo instead.

All of this serves as a direct challenge to one of Momo’s greatest weaknesses: her inability to admit weakness, or to accept the help of others. As such, Shamiko’s acquisition of the Combat Fork feels like a validation of both her personal progress in becoming someone who can support Momo, and also an illustration of how Momo is becoming more willing to be supported, and not take all the weight on herself. I expect we’ll be seeing more negotiation of their evolving dynamic in the wake of this victory, and I’m eager to get to it. Let’s return to The Demon Girl Next Door!

Continue reading →