BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re diving back into the musical mayhem that is BanG Dream! Ave Mujica, as our girls continue to poke each other with sharp sticks in the hopes of either dying or making a very important point. Our last episode saw Ave Mujica reunited at last, and actually seeming to reach a healthier point of collaboration both in their personal and professional relations. Of course we can’t have that, so our post-credits stinger came through with a fresh point of conflict, potentially floating Uika and Sakiko as long-lost sisters or whatnot.

We’ll deal with that salvo of soap opera silliness when we get to it, but for now, I have to admit I’m impressed with how well episode ten brought these character journeys together. It has at times been difficult to see why any of these characters would want to collaborate on anything, but that performance saw them all reaching towards a collective goal for their own coherent reasons – Sakiko to repair the damage she’s done, Mortis and Mutsumi-chan to declare their collective right to exist, Umiri to embrace sincere dedication to her craft and group, Nyamu to transcend her superficial divahood by chasing Mutsumi’s ascent, and Uika to stay by Sakiko’s side, whatever it takes. That resounding, defiant chorus of “still alive,” relevant to each of them in their own ways, binding them to the declaration of resilience that Ave Mujica has always been.

Everyone except Uika is in a far healthier place than they were several episodes ago, so I suppose it’s only right that it falls to her to burn everything down. Let’s see what torment awaits as we return to Ave Mujica!

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Big Windup! – Episode 21

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the bitter battlefield of high school baseball, as Abe, Mihashi, and all of their Nishiura compatriots seek to topple the first-seeded Tosei team. After some fortuitous early innings that saw Nishiura pulling away by two runs, Tosei rallied back in force, gaining two runs in quick succession, and then a third when Mihashi stumbled in the rain. With two innings to go, opportunities are swiftly dwindling for Nishiura to somehow topple Goliath.

Of course, that sober articulation of the scoreboard can’t begin to express the frantic battle of wills and talents that has brought us this far. Nishiura has scrambled for every possible inch of advantage in this matchup, exploiting a wealth of pre-game pitching data, effectively manipulating the Mihashi surprise factor, leaning on Tajima’s remarkable eyesight, and ultimately even exploiting the temperamental heavens’ looming stormclouds. And though their efforts have required the dedicated support of every team member, at this point it seems to all point to one question – does Mihashi have the strength to finish this game?

After practically collapsing in exhaustion multiple times so far, he seems to have gained one last boost of energy from the knowledge that his old teammate Kanou is pushing through to the next round. Big Windup! has consistently emphasized how baseball is in large part a mental game, but when your body is actively failing, can your mind really carry you to victory? Let’s find out!

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Winter 2026 – Week 9 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re striding forth boldly into March, though sadly, here in New England that still means it’s the middle of winter. Though I seem to recall the existence of spring and fall from my childhood, lately it’s felt like there’s only two seasons around here: the blessed summer of May through October, and the hateful winter of November through April. Fortunately, we’ve still got plenty of stories to tide us through the cold, and I’m personally excited to be cracking the seal on a whole slate of new features. Having finished Fallout, Moribito, and the delightfully soapy Sandokan, we’re now returning to the Tomino well with Aura Battler Dunbine, while also looking forward to the upcoming second season of One Piece’s live-action adaptation. I’m frankly eager to get back to Dunbine right this minute, but first, let’s run down the week in film!

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The Complete Crepax – Volume 1

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It is always a pleasure to be introduced to a vibrant, fully realized artistic voice, to learn of a wholly distinct perspective on storytelling and human psychology. I consider it something akin to a moral duty to continuously check out new artists, for the simple reason that it is only through such far-flung trawling that I can hope to better understand our capacity for self-expression, and to better express whatever humanity I might possess through the works I create. As such, I’m happy to today be sharing my own experience of the works of Guido Crepax, as contained in the first volume of his collected works.

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CITY The Animation – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the bustling streets of CITY The Animation, after an episode that casually offered one of the defining sequences in twenty-first century animation. That’s not a claim to make likely, but it seems inevitable that episode five’s screen partition medley will be referenced and celebrated for years to come, a visual articulation of CITY’s “every community is a living organism” theme that astonishes both as a feat of sheer animated manpower, and also as a somehow cohesive, easy-to-follow master class in visual direction.

Episode five also offered the show’s first continuous narrative, taking advantage of its compelling venue to articulate a tale of hospitality deferred across a distinctive series of preposterous non-challenges. Given all that, I’m expecting we’ll be returning to the usual skit-based fare this time, if only because episodes like that last one must be a strain on even KyoAni’s incredibly healthy project scheduling. Fortunately, “a standard episode of CITY” is still one of the best things you could possibly experience, and with every episode we watch, more amusing/endearing bonds between its sprawling cast reveal themselves. Let’s see what’s going on in the city today!

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Kemonozume – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to report our return to Kemonozume, Masaaki Yuasa’s bloody and enthralling full-series debut. The series has wasted no time in introducing us to a series of generational, political, and emotional conflicts, as we were introduced to the proud warriors of the “Kifuuken,” a clan dedicated to destroying Flesh Eaters that hide in human skins. While our protagonist Toshihiko seeks to overcome his fears and carry on the family traditions, his half-brother Kazuma sees this battle as an opportunity, a chance to introduce his mechanical warriors to the world at large.

The clan’s drama is already providing us a hearty stew of thematic variables, from questions of inheritance and familial duty to the relationship between war and technological progress. And that’s before we add in this narrative’s actual thrust – the burgeoning relationship between Toshihiko and one of the Flesh Eaters, a woman who seems determined to constrain her violent nature. Then of course, there’s the contrast of the opening sequence’s conflation of flesh eating and misogyny with the reversed power structure of this new bond. Yuasa’s works generally delight on both a visual and thematic level, and between Kemonozume’s wild aesthetic flourishes and layered conflicts, I’m eager to see how this story unfolds. Let’s get to it!

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Winter 2026 – Week 8 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week a fresh carpet of snow has descended to terrorize my poor neighborhood, meaning I’ve had plenty of time to stay inside and screen fresh projects. We completed the second season of the Fallout adaptation, which continued to nail the aesthetics and rightfully bleak philosophy of the games, while apparently receiving enough of a budget boost to include dramatic full-scale clashes of New Vegas’ various factions. I thought Mr. House’s preoccupation with an ultimate “man behind the curtain” felt more about providing plot hooks and incentive for a third season than furnishing the show’s main themes, but was otherwise a fan, particularly since this season actually upped the Walton Goggins quotient significantly. That aside, we’ve of course been plowing through our regular allotment of feature films, so let’s get down to the Week in Review!

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Toradora! – Episode 13

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Can human beings truly come to understand each other? Can we untangle ourselves from the bitter biases of our own hearts, applying only what insight might be considered “universal” to our judgment of another’s feelings? And what is truly “universal,” what core of humanity might be extracted from the threshers and autoclaves of lived experience, might be applied without error in our assessment of another’s feelings? Is there any way of analyzing human psychology while removing the human element, or are we all just applying personal frameworks of purpose, passion, and morality to stories built on wholly incompatible fundamental assumptions?

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Rock is a Lady’s Modesty – Episode 8

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re touching down at Oushin Academy during a moment of crisis, as Lilisa’s fledgling rock band faces its first major clash of personalities. Lilisa invited Tina into the band somewhat by accident, initially unimpressed by her piano skills, but ultimately inspired by her unflagging dedication to the cause, a passion that reminded her of her own efforts to impress her father. However, Shiro has no patience for imperfect performers, and has at last demanded Lilisa fire Tina from the group outright.

This disagreement speaks to a more fundamental issue the group hasn’t resolved: articulating what specifically they want out of this band. Lilisa set their initial goal as appearing at a specific festival venue, but that alone doesn’t dictate what sort of dynamic they’re seeking to cultivate as a group. Is this just a place where adversarial individual musicians spar and rage at each other, as Otoha seems to desire? Lilisa might have initially accepted that, but Tina’s continued presence would likely require a softer touch, and that in turn would challenge the show’s unconsidered assumption that “social niceties are false, aggressive confrontation is authentic.” I’m frankly ready for the text to move beyond that adolescent “fuck normies” ethos, but I’ve at this point learned to temper my expectations regarding this production’s insights into the philosophy of music. And hey, violent clashes of big personalities are basically their own reward, so let’s settle in for the fireworks as we return to Rock is a Lady’s Modesty!

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Dear Brother – Episode 14

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we might take a stroll down to Seiren Academy, and see what fresh hell our students are enduring this week. After the revelation that Miya-sama is actually Saint Juste’s older sister, our last episode seemed to revel in the callous contrast between them, framing every luxury or cruelty of Miya-sama against the deprivation and agony of her sister’s experience. Living alone in a shadowed hall of mirrors, Saint Juste is surrounded by ghosts, from the lingering memories of her porcelain doll to the hated reflections of her own face.

All of this misery served to raise a further question of what it means to be close to one another, and what responsibilities arise from love or affection. Kaoru sees her “friendship” with Saint Juste as a vow of trust, a pledge to be at her side until these storms eventually pass. Though their bonds seem destructive, Shinobu at least sees something vital in that, believing that there could be nothing more romantic than a pledge of mutual self-destruction. Is it possible to commit yourself so fully to love without losing yourself, or is it that act of surrender that defines love in the first place? Let us hope Nanako at least draws something more life-affirming from her bonds, as we return to the tragedy of Dear Brother!

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