Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to one of our more unusual projects, as we explore the next episode in the hilarious and highly imaginative The Girl in Twilight. So far, the show has turned out to be a unique mixture of some very disparate priorities. On the one hand, it’s a high-concept timeline-hopping science fiction adventure… but in practice, the show frequently seems less interested in exploring the mechanics of its timelines, than it is in simply celebrating the personalities and friendships of its main cast, as well as the ways different worlds play off their “natural” temperaments.
As someone who generally cares a whole lot more about characterization than worldbuilding, this has been absolutely all right by me – and with endearing, multifaceted characters and a great script, The Girl in Twilight has consistently made the most of its unique dramatic balance. Additionally, Tomoyo Kurosawa is just plain killing it as our heroine Asuka, and proving she clearly needs more starring roles as soon as possible. However the secrets of our current world play out, I’m looking forward to spending more time with these idiots in another The Girl in Twilight!
Episode 7
We open with Chloe writing a note to warn her friends of the danger White Goat represents, which also neatly serves as a summary of this arc’s story so far
There are literally infinite ways to integrate exposition into narratives without forcing the characters to stop and actively explain things to the audience, which is why I tend to come down so hard on shows that fail to do so – it’s not just graceless and tedious and unnatural-sounding, it also tends to betray a lack of imagination or concern for pacing on the part of the writer. If you handle exposition this poorly, why should I trust you to handle the other elements of storytelling well?
Chloe has been sending all her letters via White Goat, which she’s fortunately realizing might not be the most reliable vector for revealing that White Goat is evil
“These waves are high. It’d be difficult to get to their island by myself.” This setting is a graceful fusion of paradise and prison
And on the other side, Asuka is mostly just annoyed that Chloe hasn’t reacted to her silly presents yet. Asuka is so good
Meanwhile, Nana, Yu, and Mia have all been defeated by their phones. I kinda wish this show were better about integrating its full cast into its character-focused narratives; the Wild West story was the best at that, but both here and in the Marriage World, the show just kinda shuffled the other members of the cast to the side in order to construct a story about one focus character. This particularly stings here, since both Nana and Mia have at this point been the heroines of their own arcs, and should theoretically know better. Though I guess both of them ultimately just learned “it’s okay to be yourself,” and now their selves are telling them to keep messing around with smartphones
On the other hand, I do appreciate how each new arc so far has taken place in an entirely different genre, chosen specifically to match the personality of its focus character – romantic melodrama for Nana, western epic for Mia, and dystopian science fiction for Chloe
Apparently this world’s Chloe, Yu, and Asuka developed a virus to take down White Goat, which simplifies our current Chloe’s mission immensely. It is difficult for me to imagine how any universe’s Asuka could have contributed in any way to the development of a computer virus, though – I think dystopian Chloe is just being generous here
Now we’re even dunking on Asuka structurally, by revealing that this universe’s Asuka has been brainwashed into a mindless idiot who spends her time talking to her beach furniture and chikuwa body pillow. Poor dystopian Asuka
“At this rate, everyone will be isolated all by themselves.” Chloe’s world is an exaggerated version of her secret wish for time to herself. All of these worlds so far have given their focus characters what they were ostensibly hoping for in their own lives: a loving family and relationship for Nana, a chance to embody heroism for Mia, and a place to herself for Chloe. By embracing these extreme worlds, they are able to celebrate the parts of themselves they feel are unappreciated in their own life, incorporate those elements into their overall self-image, and then return to their friends once they see the downside of these desires taken to extremes. I suppose that might be why each of these characters end up isolated on their journeys – they must spend time away from the main group to grapple with their personal desires, before reconciling those desires with their overall personality and returning to their friends
Meanwhile, Asuka is off fleeing from her friends after stealing their phones. Keep up the good work, Asuka
“Sheriff Mia’s going to have to do a strip search!” Oh my god Mia
Asuka is saved by Sexy Yu, who of course immediately picks up where Mia left off, and is only stopped by Seriousuka. Seriousuka, what did you think was going to happen?
Sexy Yu still seems genuinely infatuated with Asuka, though she plays it off as general horniness. I assume we’ll eventually learn how close she was with her original Asuka; at this point, she’s graduated from “occasional meddler” to a genuine member of the secondary cast
Alone on the ocean, Chloe loses the virus chip, and makes the key revelation: “I can’t do this on my own.” The VR headset she’s actually using makes for a natural thematic transition here – the moment she acknowledges her need for her friends, they appear
“Even though you said you liked being all alone, we would never abandon you!” Asuka is certainly an idiot, but she’s also a loyal and valuable friend
Tomoyo Kurosawa’s weird noises are so good. She is extremely good at making natural-sounding yet still absurd squawking sounds
“Most likely the Clutter in this world is on that island, pretending to be the AI.” Hmm. That raises some interesting questions, particularly in the context of Cowboy World. In both that world and this one, the oppressive governmental forces keeping the characters down turned out to be “Clutters” – but in both cases, those Clutters were merely taking the places of local representatives of the current world order, not its actual overseers. In light of that, it doesn’t seem like the Clutters are actually responsible for the dystopian nature of Cowboy or Island World – they’ve just aligned themselves with existing dystopian frameworks. I’d question whether we in the audience are just supposed to assume that the governments our heroes fight are all that exists, since the story simply doesn’t have enough time to expand to a larger scale than that, but that feels like a clumsier handwave than I’m used to from this writer. The more interesting takeaway, if we’re taking the show’s worldbuilding at face value, is that our heroes aren’t really accomplishing much at all – they’re dealing with the “Clutters,” but the Clutters are far from the only problems with these worlds
Sexy Yu knows how to prod Asuka into joining her against Seriousuka
The whole internal base glows with that yellow light of the “Clutter dimension.” Perhaps this whole organization is run by the Clutters
As someone who rarely expresses her feelings, Chloe coming to embrace the support of her friends is conveyed largely through grateful smiles – but as her close friends, Asuka and Yu understand exactly what she means
Ahaha, I totally forgot Nana’s supersuit was a mecha bridal dress
Even her tiara has a little heart on it. They did a wonderful job with the characters’ themed suits, and I’m very excited to see Chloe’s version
Damn, this cut of Mia approaching while dodging enemy attacks is excellent. As in the first episode, this episode’s use of CG combatants means it can pull off some pretty ambitious camerawork – nothing on Land of the Lustrous’ scale or anything, but I really like how the camera swerves and ducks backwards as Mia approaches, emphasizing her skillful, rapid movement
And at last, Chloe reveals her secret fear – that by relying on her friends, she might lose the strength to make it alone. But as she’s come to understand, it is not weakness to rely on your friends – by accepting they’ll support you, you can actually reach further than before
Nice Itano circus by Mia
Chloe’s suit is… very fluffy? Not sure what to make of it yet, though it seems her suit comes with a full internal HUD, befitting her role as the calculating one
It also comes with a talking teddy bear, Nunurusu. Sure, why not
And her suit is basically controlled by a Nintendo Switch. Trust Chloe to create the one suit you pilot like an actual robot, and not just like a sentai uniform
“If you destroy me, you will destroy the infrastructure of this entire area.” So this Cluster is localized, as I suspected
“We’ll create a new system. My double and everyone here will.” So I suppose that’s the assumption – our cast take the first step, and their doubles continue the work of changing their worlds
And Done
Take that, Amazon! Our heroes have conquered yet another alternate dimension, and return with Chloe having finally internalized the knowledge that Friends Are Okay. Alright, yeah, the individual character journey was a bit more simplistic this time, but the worldbuilding was very compelling, and perhaps most importantly, this arc offered plenty of room for Asuka and her friends to be hilarious idiots. From the very first episode, this show’s greatest strength was its characters – and as the series has progressed, their relationships have developed in a variety of endearing and convincing ways, with characters who were initially just sort of incidental to the group, like Mia and Nana, becoming genuinely committed to their communal strength. That said, we have yet to explore the show’s most fully developed relationship of all – the bond between Asuka and Yu. With all their friends having now experienced adventures of their own, I think it’s time to stress-test Twilight’s closest pair!
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