Umamusume: Pretty Derby S2 – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re taking a trip down to the race track, as we return to the equestrian escapades of Tokai Teio and her fellow horse girls. That’s right, it’s time for more Umamusume: Pretty Derby, and I have a feeling that this will be a particularly rough installment for our would-be champion. Having conquered the latest challenge in her pursuit of her idol Symboli Rudolf, she currently appears on top of the world – but given the ominous focus on her ankle that concluded our first episode, it’s clear she’s barreling towards a disastrous injury.

As for my own thoughts on all these urgent proceedings, I must say I’m still waiting to be hooked. I’ve enjoyed a fair number of comedy sports dramas, but so far remain unconvinced by Umamusume in terms of either its comedy or drama. I assume part of that comes down to the first episode’s busyness in terms of establishing all its players; the premiere’s endless procession of intricately designed horse girls felt like a perpetual reminder this is based on a gacha game, which is one of the surest ways to pull me out of a narrative. It’s also hard to believe in this world even on its own terms; our characters’ lives and aspirations feel so abstracted from human experience that I can’t really relate to Teio’s trials, and the show feels unconcerned with offering enough Girls und Panzer-style incidental pleasures to entertain if I’m not compelled by the character drama.

All that said, overstuffed first episodes are a common and entirely forgivable issue, and I imagine this season’s true strength will only be revealed once Teio’s wax wings start to melt. I’m not counting out these horse girls charming me yet, so let’s get back to the action and see what Teio gets up to next!

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Trigun Stampede – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re racing towards a second extinction event, as the huddled humans of No Man’s Land await the judgment of either Million Knives or the very planet itself. Having fled our own home in arc ships after destroying its ecosystem, we sought refuge among the stars – but our reliance on the life-giving Plants sparked the ire of the young Knives, and we were thus struck down from heaven, and forced to survive among the wastes of a planet where safety is a fantasy and solidarity a lie.

But while Knives sees in us only brutality and greed, his brother Vash believes we possess something worth saving. A higher calling, a compassion hidden under rust, or perhaps simply the same right to exist as any other creature that suffers and strives, desperate to propagate its own tiny spark. Thus we arrive at a collision of near-gods, as the inheritor of our suffering faces the adjudicator of our sins, lost in the bowels of a city whose extravagance defies the planet itself.

Y’all ready for some Trigun?

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CITY The Animation – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s a beautiful day today, as the last holdouts of the winter frost melt in the warm spring sun, and birds trill and respond across the budding bows of my neighborhood. I’ll likely be treating myself to a walk through the park later on, but for now, I’m eager to dig into the next best thing: a fresh episode of CITY The Animation, wherein all the manifold pleasures of urban living are celebrated with delirious enthusiasm.

Our last episode reveled in the interconnected vitality of all its players’ various adventures, highlighting the charming relationship between Tatewaku and the middle school duo, as well as the community-uniting power of our playwright’s admittedly confusing performances. But that’s the thing about giving back to the community; the precise nature of your contribution is far less important than simply getting out there, connecting with your neighbors and sharing your passions. CITY embodies a view of local society that feels desperately needed in our increasingly atomized world – between that noble ethos, its absurd aesthetic execution, and its regularly hysterical payoffs, it’s proven itself a much-needed comfort in these past months. Now let’s see what those fools are up to today!

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Summer 2026 – Week 5 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been keeping active in spite of this summer’s absolutely brutal humidity, heroically jogging through the pain before collapsing into an air-conditioned puddle. I’ve also been keeping busy on the anime screening front by finishing off the first season of Witch Hat Atelier, which proved, well, likely as good as it could be. The unfortunate issue with Witch Hat Atelier is that it is so well-suited to its original medium that any adaptation will almost necessarily be a lesser version, and though this production team is obviously excellent, there’s basically no way to effectively translate the original manga’s deftness of paneling, or to perfectly balance its drama versus its humor. Still, it’s certainly a strong show in its own right, and will undoubtedly find a place within my annual wrap-up. I’ll likely be tackling one of this ongoing season’s many apparent delicacies next, but in the meantime, let’s burn down the week in review!

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Birdie Wing – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a hankering for some high-octane sports nonsense, and thus feel it’s about time to get back to the course with Birdie Wing. The show’s first episode introduced us to underground golf ace Eve, who employs her devastating “Blue Bullet” drive to raise money for her family of orphans. After handily defeating two professional contenders, Eve ultimately met her match in the form of Aoi, an apparent legacy golfer whose diminutive stature belies her ability to smack balls really, really hard.

Eve’s preposterous concept aside, that blunt summary does little to evoke the delightful silliness of Birdie Wing in action. Eve has so far fired off golf balls between train cars and straight through trees, faced off with masked golf jesters, and even shot a pensive music video detailing her rough life on the fringes of Golftopia. The production is hitting that precise golden ratio of absurdity of concept versus commitment to mechanical drama, and I only imagine things will be getting even more charmingly preposterous as Eve is drawn further into the cutthroat underworld of high-stakes golfing. Let’s see how her bout with Aoi continues as we return to the course!

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Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re diving back into Thunderbolt Fantasy, as a half-dozen nested schemes stand ready to collapse into open violence. While Shang prepares to return from the demon realm to the Void Junction, each member of the Divine Swarm’s alliance stands with daggers bared, ready to either charge their collective foe or simply kill each other.

And of course, much of the credit for this fraught state of affairs goes to our friendly neighborhood wizard, the Enigmatic Gale. Having somehow insinuated his way into the company of villains, Lin has swiftly planted an entire sowing season’s worth of doubt-seeds, manipulating the understandable apprehensions underlining this alliance of cultists, witches, demons, madmen, and well-meaning yet severely misguided soldiers. Their mutual enmity towards the sword-sealing, fun-spoiling Shang has kept them tenuously aligned so far, but with Xing Hai’s scheme on the verge of fruition, it’s clear either Jun Po or Lou Zhen is about to crack. Let’s see what allies become enemies and enemies become allies as we return to Thunderbolt Fantasy!

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Kamiina Botan – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a need for some solid stress-relieving shenanigans, and thus feel it’s a perfect time to check back in on Kamiina Botan. Having at this point settled into the peculiarities of dorm life, Kamiina has already forged friendships with her RA Ibuki and post-grad senpai Gujo, drawing together the standoffish inhabitants of her cozy home. Of course, this is Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk, so that process has necessarily involved a fair amount of whiskey, red wine, and sake, alongside some decidedly unsubtle advances from our dear Kamiina.

Director Takashi Sukuma’s team have so far done an excellent job of bringing Kamiina’s world to life, offering inviting watercolor backdrops and plenty of dynamic character acting. The show has thus been a pleasant watch on the whole, though I’m still hungry for a bit more of a hook, be it through the show’s interrogation of different liquors or perhaps the progression of its central relationships. Drinking as a concept just doesn’t offer as much of an aesthetic payoff as music or dance or exploring the countryside; nonetheless, given the show’s generally exceptional execution, I imagine it’s still got plenty of visual pleasures in store. Let’s not waste any more time then, and get straight to lounging!

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Summer 2026 – Week 4 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Summer’s passing us by with alarming speed, but I’m doing my best to make the most of it, having recently discovered some excellent new jogging routes around my neighborhood. It’s been a bitter pill to swallow that diet and exercise are indeed the truest routes to physical and mental health, but I’m at least working to complement such disappointingly mature revelations with plenty of cartoons and videogames. As far as that goes, I recently screened the excellent Gunsmith Cats OVA series, and have also been bashing my head against Mina the Hollower for a couple of weeks now. The game is clearly made with love, but it often feels like the developers take their love of “old-school design sensibilities” to a self-defeating extreme; I like many hard games, but I have no patience for obtuse design as a shortcut to difficulty, and I feel like Mina too often strays over that line. And of course, there have been plenty of our regular movie screenings, so let’s get started on the week in review!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 15

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the fast-evolving drama of Blue Reflection Ray, as blue reflectors, red reflectors, and reflectors of indeterminate denomination all spin and collide through the buildup to another imminent apocalypse. Having learned that Mio abandoned her family and friends because the outcome of their collaboration was certain destruction, our blue reflectors must now find a way to ensure this repeat convergence resolves in a happier outcome, all while fending off the malicious meddling of Shino and her masochistic minion Uta.

Of course, Blue Reflection Ray is fundamentally more about individual human emotions than apocalyptic fantasy, and our most recent episode offered plenty of that, as we dug into the bond between newcomers Ryoka and Amiru, as well as the guilt that has driven Niina to believe she is unworthy of happiness. Ryoka and Amiru embody a common second-act magical girl convention, with the increasingly complex fantastical drama being echoed through the introduction of characters who themselves seem more complex and world-weary, new foils to shepherd our protagonists through their own evolving emotions (as Ryoka demonstrated through her talks with Ruka). Meanwhile, Niina at last seems like she might be willing to forgive herself, assisted greatly by our reliable ball of sunshine Hiori. It’s a complex stew of variables we’ve got cooking here, and I’m eager to see how our core team handles all these new arrivals. Let’s get back to the battlefield!

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HeartCatch Precure! – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re starting off on a new journey, and watching the premiere of a production I’ve been curious about for years now: HeartCatch Precure! I had an absolutely phenomenal time watching through Hugtto with you all, and from what I hear, HeartCatch stands among the very best entries in the Precure catalog. It’s frankly been kinda depressing not having a Precure to be working through, and I’m eager to see what this storied entry in the franchise has up its sleeve.

Based on its main staff alone, it’s easy to see why this entry is so acclaimed. Director Tatsuya Nagamine is a Toei legend, who before his tragic passing handled both Dragon Ball Super and One Piece’s absurdly accomplished Wano arc. Meanwhile, our character designer is friggin’ Yoshihiko Umakoshi, the legend responsible for Ojamajo Doremi’s marvelous designs, alongside such other distinguished projects as Casshern Sins and Mushishi. Beyond that, we’ve got the tantalizing promise of Rie Matsumoto’s debut film awaiting down the line, the project that preceded her triumphant Kyousogiga. I’m eager to see what this dream team has cooking, so let’s not waste another moment, and get on with the Precure!

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