Kemonozume – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to the dazzling Kemonozume, the first TV production by the remarkable Masaaki Yuasa. Set in a modern world where brave Kifuuken warriors face off with shape-shifting Flesh Eaters, the show has swiftly established a Romeo and Juliet-esque pairing of Kifuuken heir Toshihiko and Flesh Eater Yuka, whose whirlwind romance culminated in a confrontation at the funeral of Toshihiko’s father, resulting in the two of them fleeing from Toshihiko’s vengeance-minded compatriots.

It was an unexpectedly sudden detonation of the narrative’s central powder keg, but Yuasa has never been one to linger in narrative stasis. From Mind Game to Kaiba to Inu-Oh, his originals move quickly and with great dynamism, balancing their speed of transformation with the acuity and intensity he brings to each stage of their development. In this case, the ethereal beauty of sequences like Toshihiko and Yuka’s embrace in a fountain have already done an excellent job of selling their love, while the boiling rage of Toshihiko’s half-brother Kazuma is clear in his every delightfully rendered facial contortion. With both sides of this conflict hot on our lovers’ trails, let’s see what fresh wonders await!

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CITY the Animation – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m looking at about a half foot of snow that had the temerity to land just outside my window, and preparing to stay enshrouded in blankets until the spring thaw. However, while it’s far too cold and blustery to currently enjoy my own city, it’s never a bad time to check back in with CITY the Animation, and see how its lovely community is making the most of their own summer days.

After the screen-splitting animation extravaganza that was episode five, CITY’s most recent episode returned us to the production’s usual mode, wherein we learned a great deal more about several of this city’s most prominent families. Having already met so many members of this community, we’ve reached a point where each new scene demonstrates either a new point of connection (like Ryota’s family situation) or new facet of an old friend (like Wako being responsible for Mr. Happiness). This in turn emphasizes what must surely be CITY’s most fundamental theme: that we are simultaneously wildly unique and deeply interconnected, a communal organism that is greater for each eccentricity of its component parts. Fostering those connections and celebrating those quirks is essentially the work of being a community, and CITY’s every episode demonstrates the incidental joys of that process. Let’s head downtown!

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1000xRESIST – Chapter 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a somewhat unusual reflection for you all, as we check out the first segment of the recently released 1000xRESIST. I’ve heard nothing but effusive praise regarding this post-apocalyptic project, which apparently falls in that vaunted echelon of literary interactive media. As a lifelong gamer and an equally lifelong critic regarding the medium’s often limited aspirations, I’m always eager to check out the properties that strive for more than entertainment; putting agency in the audience’s hands is a remarkable way to foster a sense of connection and even responsibility towards a narrative, facilitating the emotional peaks of works like Nier Automata and The Beginner’s Guide. By all reports, 1000xRESIST is a similar gut-punch of an experience, so let’s not waste another moment, and get right into the drama!

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Spring 2026 – Week 4 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I concluded my rewatch of Turn A Gundam, which proved just as inventive, character-rich, and generally charming as on my first watch. The show has a dynamite cast, a delightfully novel premise, and some of the best art design of any Gundam, all with a kinder, more thoughtful Tomino at the helm – it’s a well-deserved classic, and a show I’d recommend to basically anyone. With that behind us, my house has since checked out Bleach’s Thousand Year Blood War, which has proven to so far be an excellent adaptation of a shapeless and derivative story. Kubo just completely ran out of ideas after Soul Society, but I do appreciate how this production is leaning heavily into the impactful individual compositions that are his greatest strength; the man was aura farming when the term’s creators were in diapers, and he has not slowed down in the years since. That covers my current anime journeys, so let’s dive into the Week in Review!

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Yuri is My Job! – Volume 6

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Yuri is My Job!’s fifth volume concluded with a long-awaited emotional revelation. Having found herself distanced and disoriented by Mitsuki’s seemingly contradictory behavior, Hime vented her feelings to Sumika, and thus learned the messy truth: for Mitsuki, the cafe performances are not an assumed, alternate self, but an aspirational one. Mitsuki isn’t just acting nice because that’s what the patrons demand; she is performing kindness and grace and social acumen because she wishes to genuinely embody those qualities, whether on or off the stage. The Mitsuki who exists backstage is actually her private shame; in truth, Mitsuki Ayanokouji is the person she wants to be.

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Hero Chapter – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the tragic tales of Yuki Yuna and her companions, as their sincere love for each other is once again co-opted by the machinations of the Divine Tree, an organism which views its most faithful acolytes as pure fuel to burn. Having further developed its forms of manipulation from the religious fervor of Togo and Nogi’s trials or the plain duplicity of Yuna’s first run, the Divine Tree has learned how to turn their desire to protect each other into one more manipulative weapon, forcing Yuna to suffer and die lest her friends experience the same.

Fortunately, Yuna’s friends are far too attuned to her feelings to let this torture regimen go undetected, and have recently learned the full truth regarding her private suffering. Thus we find ourselves at last in the thunderous payoff segment of the season, as Togo leads the charge against a deity that has misled and betrayed its acolytes at every turn, consuming them to perpetuate a war that cannot be won. Are these “fires of creation” just one more convenient invention of the Divine Tree, or will this be the moment when the walls finally crumble, and all the horrors of the cosmos descend on our humble city? Regardless, this false peace based on perpetual suffering cannot last; if Yuna’s torment is the only way to maintain this world, then let the curtains fall and a new world be born. Onward!

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The Apothecary Diaries – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on the reluctant adventures of our unfortunate Maomao, as we explore the second episode of The Apothecary Diaries. Having suffered the initial indignity of being abducted and sold into the emperor’s service, she has since committed the grave mistake of demonstrating her aptitude for poisons and remedies, thus earning herself a position as the favored Gyokuyou’s lady-in-waiting. And with that annoyingly handsome eunuch Jinshi peering over her shoulder, it now seems increasingly unlikely she’ll be able to live out her term of service in any sort of peace.

All of that sounds like nothing but trouble for Maomao, but certainly a gift to us sadists observing her suffering. Maomao has already proven herself a charming, multifaceted heroine, while Hyūganatsu’s storytelling has gracefully guided us into familiarity with the contours of her world. Additionally, Naganuma’s adaptation is doing a fine job of illustrating Maomao’s journey with bright colors and alluring visual motifs, alongside a wide array of excellent aggrieved expressions. The Apothecary Diaries has firmly announced itself as a compelling story told with professional confidence, and I’m eager to see what it subjects Maomao to next. Let’s get to it!

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Spring 2026 – Week 3 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week it’s somehow returned to the forties again, so I’m huddled up under a blanket with Eevee while we wait for my housemate to return from his sensibly timed vacation. With the apartment to myself, I’ve been continuing my journey through the enduring anime of the ‘80s, by munching through the extremely watchable Dirty Pair. The show has so far offered precisely the charms I was hoping for: a fun duo bouncing between energetic and lovingly illustrated space adventures, pulling off their secret agent shenanigans with such effortless confidence that they mostly just bicker about crushes and vacation time. A strong genre riff is a laudable thing, and Dirty Pair is an altogether accomplished slice of old-fashioned scifi adventure. That aside, I’ve of course continued my endless film screenings, so let’s talk movies!

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Toradora! – Episode 14

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Toradora!’s thirteenth episode brought us the terrible culmination of Taiga’s attempted reconciliation with her father, leaving Ryuji and Minori to help her pick up the pieces. And yet, for all this ultimate fallout was both calamitous and predictable, and for how deeply Ryuji misunderstood both Taiga and her father’s intentions, their ultimate reconciliation came swiftly, the two rekindling their friendship alongside the festival’s roaring bonfire. That’s kinda the thing about youth; we bruise easily, but we also bounce back, so long as we are given the room and support necessary to regain our footing.

The episode’s last sequence in particular, as the fire dimmed and the festival drew to a close, felt like it was drawing on something fundamental and ineffable – that sense of vital, floating ephemerality that attends monumental adolescent thresholds. It is a strange thing to be observing your own life like a bystander as it passes by, but in moments of such clear temporal passage as that, it comes naturally to see your life through an outsider’s eyes.

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Alien Stage – Round 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to a novel recent production, as we check out the second episode or “round” of Alien Stage, the apocalyptical musical web series pitting hapless singers against each other in a contest to entertain their capricious alien overlords. The prize for victory? You get to keep singing, keep dancing, and keep competing for the adoration of a heartless crowd. The cost of failure? Well, I think you can guess.

The series’ first episode did a fine job of laying out the terms of this reality, as well as offering a sprinkling of vignettes illustrating the close bond between its two unfortunate contestants. A story illustrated in such brief snippets must necessarily gesture rather than fully articulate; through odd details of their shared history and the fragmentary explanation of their world at large, Alien Stage has articulated a world where artists must bow and scrape for fundamentally hostile overseers, competing for scraps rather than helping each other shine.

Given the art-hostile progression of global capitalism and increasing integration of artist-displacing artificial intelligence, as well as the parasocial, possessive dynamics of modern indie production, it’s certainly not hard to draw parallels between this contest and the struggles faced by artists in our own world. And until capitalism fits its own collars around our necks, the best we can do is support each other, practicing solidarity in the face of a world whose every institution demands we embody the selfishness of our billionaire butchers. Let’s get to it!

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