Author Archives: Bobduh

Adachi and Shimamura – Episode 7

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Oh my god Adachi, what the hell are you doing. After a full episode of working herself up to asking Shimamura on a date, and another episode of screaming internally all through that date, she ultimately capped off Christmas by declaring her intent to become Shimamura’s… best friend. The girl is a mess, but Shimamura isn’t exactly helping. She can clearly recognize Adachi’s much stronger feelings, and isn’t really sure what to do about them. Paralyzed by indecision about her future course, she sees reciprocating Adachi’s feelings as a step too far – and if she acknowledges them without reciprocating them, their current relationship would collapse. The two are currently progressing by telling each other lies that they both know are lies, and if that’s not the proper foundation for a lasting relationship, I don’t know what it is.

However this mess plays out, I’m sure it’ll be as entertaining and thoughtfully observed as the road so far. Let’s dive back into the mess of emotions that is Adachi and Shimamura!

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ODDTAXI – Episode 4

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The rain hasn’t stopped for hours. When I first woke up, the sky seemed clear enough; but of course, I slept through my first alarm, and thus slept through my chance to start the day with some kind of head-clearing walk or jog. That failure heralded a cascade of other minor tragedies, as long-term wellbeing projects were once more shelved for the day, with the hope of “I’ll get to that tomorrow” tempered by the reality of all the tomorrows where I failed to get to them. For now, for today, let’s just focus on the job, and the maintenance required just to keep the lights on.

Welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to ODDTAXI, a show which has so far captured the mundane adult experience with more acuity than virtually any anime I’ve seen. Its characters slump with the fatigue of professional fatalism and personal isolation; bereft of purpose or community, they cling to the hollow affirmation of social media, or simply accept that life will always be like this. These bedraggled misfits are my people – I also feel most alone when scrolling through tweets, yet can’t help crave that dwindling dopamine rush of online validation. It’s not the internet’s fault that we are all fundamentally alone; it has merely underlined the issue, and offered the opportunity to reinvent ourselves as brands rather than individuals. In a world as segmented and dehumanizing as this, perhaps that’s the best we can hope for.

Well, I hope Odokawa makes it out okay. Let’s return to ODDTAXI.

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Summer 2021 – Week 1 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. According to the anime season-based schedule that I’m still pointlessly employing, this is technically the first week of the summer, which greeted us with a scorching heat wave followed by an inexplicable cold front. This was also the week that saw me getting sick as a dog for the first time since quarantine began, and thus unable to power through quite as many films as I’d have liked. I still ended up with a pretty diverse selection of features though, from films to live-action series to the inexorable procession of One Piece. I hope you’re all enjoying these meteorological harbingers of doom as best as you can, and if not, perhaps my rambling can at least distract you for a moment or two. Let’s storm on through another Week in Review!

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Big Windup! – Episode 4

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Hello all, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond eager to return to Big Windup!, as we’ve finally arrived at our team’s first actual game. After three episodes of Abe and Mihashi struggling to connect, witnessing Mihashi’s treatment by his former teammates finally gave Abe the context he needed – he now understands where Mihashi is coming from, and what’s more, he actively sympathizes. Abe doesn’t just want to manipulate his pitcher, he wants his pitcher to succeed, and I’m guessing that means we’re going to see some real cunning from our scheming catcher. The show’s premiere offered a brief taste of how Abe can use his opponents’ psychology against them, and since then, each episode has only reaffirmed Big Windup!’s insightful approach to its characterization and drama. With Mihashi’s old teammates arrayed against them, I’m looking forward to a thrilling fusion of sports tactics and psychological drama. Let’s get to it!

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86 – Episode 2

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Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to the spring production 86, a war drama about a world where the citizens of the eighty-five known districts are supported by the suffering of the eighty-six, an underclass that they don’t even really see as humans. So far, my feelings on the production are somewhat mixed. The direction is generally excellent, and seems far more ambitious in terms of its visual storytelling than most productions; unfortunately, the writing so far has been pretty simplistic, with both the worldbuilding and the individual line-to-line dialogue lacking in much nuance or voice.

The show’s vision of prejudice feels too abstracted into fantasy to really bite as human drama; but there’s obviously plenty of time to get to know these characters as people, such that their conditions might cut with the sharp edge of emotional investment. The finale of the first episode was able to evoke a sense of personal tragedy with a remarkable economy of scene-setting, so I’m hoping things continue to improve throughout the second episode. Let’s get to it!

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Symphogear XV – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to the site. You all seated and securely fastened? You better be – this train’s not stopping once it starts, and today we’ll be traveling at the speed of SYMPHOGEAR. XV’s second episode served up an absurd buffet of animated action greatness, offering two separate battles that each measured up to Symphogear’s best, alongside an entire goddamn Tsubasa-Maria concert. It was actually even more impressive than the season’s premiere, and while I don’t expect that trend to continue across every episode… I mean, it might? This is Symphogear’s confirmed final season, a season that was greenlit alongside its predecessor, and thus likely benefits from particularly generous scheduling. 

Either way, the show hasn’t wasted any time in introducing its latest villains, and given the last episode featured Kirika/Shirabe and Tsubasa/Maria facing off against the lieutenants, I’m guessing it’s time for Hibiki and Chris to fight their leader. The rhythm of a Symphogear season has gotten pretty familiar at this point (see what I did there), but familiarity isn’t necessarily a bad thing – Symphogear is intended to be action-packed comfort food, and knowing the refrain just makes it easier to sing along. Let’s raise our voices in chorus then, as we return to the dazzling Symphogear!

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Spring 2021 – Week 13 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week, as you might imagine, I watched a whole bunch of One Piece. Seriously, I say that pretty often, but it was a loooot of One Piece. Dressrosa is over one hundred goddamn episodes long, and I ended up powering through the last two-thirds of it in roughly eight to ten days. And as if that weren’t enough, I also started diving into One Piece’s associated films, and at last checked out Hosoda’s utterly stunning contribution to the One Piece canon (canon as in body of work, not canon as in… you know what I mean). I did also watch one live-action film this week, but I’m warning you now that the One Piece onslaught is about to begin. Let’s break it all down in the Week in Review!

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Horimiya – Episode 5

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Hello all, and welcome back to the show. Today I am eager to get back to Horimiya, which appears to have reached a critical juncture courtesy of last episode’s final scene. After two episodes of wandering around their feelings for each other, and lamenting the approaching end of their domestic happiness, Miyamura finally Did the Thing. Having assured Hori that he would stay so long as she wanted him to, he ended his visit with a tossed-off “I love you,” leaving the ball firmly in Hori’s court.

By only admitting his feelings to Hori’s silent back, Miyamura intentionally left her an exit route: “if you don’t feel the same way, you can just pretend you didn’t hear me.” But Hori does feel the same way, and at this point, it’s become clear that their bond reflects more than just enjoying each other’s company. Both Hori and Miyamura responded to their isolated, unhappy childhoods by becoming self-sufficient individuals, but both of them still bear a sense of profound loneliness and uncertainty, something they cannot admit to their general classmates. Each of them has found a confidant in the other, someone they do not have to perform strength for, and someone who understands their fear of isolation. One of Horimiya’s finest features is its refusal to draw out personal drama, so I’m hoping for some romantic fireworks as we enter episode five. Let’s get to it!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 44

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Hello everyone, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to relax with some Sun and Moon, and hope you all don’t mind if we just chill out in Alola for a while. After last episode’s absurd animation spectacle, which essentially compressed twenty years of animated passion into twenty glorious minutes, I’m not expecting a similar feat this time – and I’m actually quite okay with that. Animation highlights are fun and all, but Sun and Moon’s perennial attraction is the simple, peaceful joy of hanging out with this crew, and going on rambling adventures across their beautiful home. Sun and Moon is a place of rest and recovery, where you’re always welcome to just chill out for a while, and I hope you all appreciate that peace just as much as I do. Whether we’re finding a new pokemon or just lounging on the beach, let’s ease right into another day under the Alolan sun!

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Space Battleship Yamato 2199 – Episode 6

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The schemes of Commander Schultz have borne wicked fruit, sending the Yamato careening into the seas of Pluto. Humanity’s last hope now rests beneath a frozen tundra, while elsewhere, the fighter squadron surges forth on a mission now doomed to failure. Will this be the end of the Yamato’s grand voyage, and will the earth be resigned to its awful fate? Is this our punishment for choosing vengeance over salvation!?

That would certainly make for an unexpected conclusion, but for now, I have my doubts about the Yamato’s alleged destruction. Playing dead under Pluto’s surface should provide a perfect opportunity for repairs and new strategies, while the fighter squadron is presumably far too nimble for Schultz’s mirror tricks to work. However the battle develops, I expect Yamato to maintain its confidence of execution and mythic tone as we spar with Gamila’s advanced guard. Let’s return to the (currently submerged) deck of the Yamato!

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