Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This was a productive week in One Piece writing, as I finally broke down the main thematic concerns of Fishman Island over on Crunchyroll. I’ve frankly wanted to write that piece ever since I first watched the series, so I was happy to use the recent Fishman Island “update” as an excuse for it, even if I’d caution against actually using that update to replace the original series. I frankly agree the arc could use some tightening, but they just cut too close to the bone here – the central flashback sequence desperately needs time to breath, and this version resultantly loses the impact of Koala’s presence. Nonetheless, it’s exciting to be back in Egghead as the anime jumps back into gear, and as usual, my weekly anime viewings were complimented by a fun scattering of films. Let’s break ‘em down!
Author Archives: Bobduh
Galaxy Express 999 – Episode 9
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am thrilled to announce we’re returning to the ever-enchanting Galaxy Express 999, joining Tetsuro and Maetel on their ambiguous journey towards the outer reaches of the galaxy. Having become trapped in the “graveyard at the bottom of gravity” by the ambiguous Ryuz, Tetsuro was invited to join her on her lonely planet, and learned her tale of being briefly coveted and then swiftly discarded for her unchanging metal body. Trapped with only her regrets, she pleaded with Tetsuro to join her, and even offered him the mechanical body he covets – but Tetsuro declined, saying his future was still wide open, that he had much left to do in his own time, and that he would not accept a mechanical body at the cost of his own freedom.
Of course, as we’ve seen time and again, the freedom from mortality offered by a metal body heralds its own form of isolation. Those whose mortal bodies have been discarded seem equally trapped, frozen in a single moment, unable to change physically or emotionally. Metal bodies seem little more than tombstones in this world, markers signifying a vital human life that once was, but no longer. And what is freedom without the power and agency to truly change your destiny, anyway? Tetsuro travels the galaxy on a borrowed ticket, but is constantly reminded of those who lack such financial freedom, who scrape and bargain for a glimpse of the self-determination he so carelessly enjoys. The galaxy is full of dazzling wonders, but their forms cast heavy shadows, revealing a Kaiba-like vision of technological development where the injustices of society have been written directly onto our skin. Does Tetsuro understand the weight of his task, and when the time comes, will he truly be able to choose between Maetel and freedom?
Let us return to the stars.
Yaiba: Samurai Legend – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we’re embarking on a new adventure, as we explore the first episode of the currently ongoing Yaiba: Samurai Legend. This production is actually based on a shonen manga that ran from the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama, better-known for his later series Case Closed. Yaiba actually received an adaptation back around its initial conclusion, but as with their upcoming One Piece, Wit Studio have taken the chance to update a shonen classic for a modern audience.
Granted, I don’t expect Yaiba to feel too updated. From everything I’ve heard about this production, it sounds like director Takahiro Hasui and his team have successfully fused old and new, synthesizing a winningly retro combination that will hopefully offer the same textured aesthetic appeal as Wit’s recent Ranking of Kings. A callback to Dragon Ball-era shonen rambling and Kanada-style posing by the creator of Case Closed and director of Mob Psycho 100’s third season? Yeah, that all sounds delicious to me. Let’s get to it!
Spirit of Wonder: Miss China’s Ring
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re going to be examining another OVA from the format’s late ‘80s-early ‘90s heyday, as we check out Spirit of Wonder: Miss China’s Ring. This OVA was adapted from the overall Spirit of Wonder manga series written and illustrated by Kenji Tsuruta, who channeled his love of fantastical storytellers like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells into a series of steampunk-adjacent vignettes, with each chapter centering on a new character and a new marvelous invention.
Combining the playful storytelling of the great nineteenth century fantasists with the generous animation of the OVA era sounds like a great time to me, and Spirit of Wonder’s key staff also seem promising. The key director/animation director team of Mitsuru Hongo and Yoshiaki Yanagida would actually go on to reprise this partnership as the director/AD of the recent Ascendance of a Bookworm, while Hongo’s significant work on the Shin-chan franchise makes me suspect he’s a director with a clear eye for how boarding and character animation can play off and elevate each other. Meanwhile, fellow art director Ogura Hiramasa will likely be managing the background art, as his own credits as art director include such standouts as Royal Space Force and Patlabor the Movie. And with reliable hand Michuru Shimada (Little Witch Academia, Before Green Gables, Galaxy Express 999) handling the screenplay, I imagine Tsuruta’s tale will be adapted with absolute confidence. Let’s see what this spirit of wonder is all about!
Spring 2025 – Week 3 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Here in the middle of April it appears that spring has finally sprung, as we are at last receiving survivable external temperatures consistently enough for me to start running again. I know an exercise regime of “running intermittently through the spring and summer, then hibernating through the winter” is more suitable for a bear or squirrel than a human being, but my willpower sadly is what it is, and if going outside makes me regret the vast, frigid distances between our planet and the sun, I am not likely to don my jogging shorts. Anyway, today looks basically perfect, so let’s not waste any more time vamping out an introduction, and dive straight into this week in features!
Angel Cop – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re exploring another seedy artifact of anime’s indulgent OVA era, as we check out the first episode of Angel Cop. This six-episode series falls neatly in the popular bubble-era genre of cyber crime dramas, whose entrants range in tone from the lighthearted Bubblegum Crisis or Dominion Tank Police to more grim affairs like Wicked City or Cyber City Oedo, all offering some mixture of investigative theater, explosive action, and salacious interludes.
Angel Cop hasn’t exactly maintained a high profile over the years, but its principle creators have me extremely curious. The series is directed by Ichiro Itano, a legend of mecha animation history whose contributions to Space Runaway Ideon and Macross included the “Itano Circus” missile barrage, and who has otherwise acted as both director (his Megazone 23 segment is brutal) and mentor to a wide array of successors. He is here joined by writer Sho Aikawa, whose contributions to the original Fullmetal Alchemist and stewardship of the phenomenal, underappreciated Concrete Revolutio set him as one of the few anime writers I have absolute faith in. I’m quite interested to see how Aikawa’s restless political insight intersects with both the narrative tropes and cultural concerns of bubble-era action, so let’s not waste any more time rambling. Onward to Angel Cop!
Monogatari Off/Monster Season – Episode 4
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re diving back into Monogatari’s Off Season, as we explore Nadeko’s continuing efforts to pull herself back together. Having embraced Yotsugi’s brilliant idea of dividing her manga labors between four shikigami doppelgangers, Nadeko swiftly discovered that her old selves are an unruly bunch, and none of them have any interest in practicing drafting. Instead, they’re now rampaging all about the town, causing all manner of havoc for our unfortunate Current Nadeko to clean up.
It’s a pretty classic Monogatari problem: you hide the disliked aspects of yourself for long enough, and eventually they break free and run wild, demanding you acknowledge your full, unflattering identity for what it is. Nadeko’s numerous doppelgangers reflect her tendency to dramatically reinvent herself, to fully reject an old persona and embrace one she believes will make her happier. Given this tendency, it’s little wonder she has trouble truly believing in her current identity either, and was thus so shaken by her parents’ ultimatum. Like so many of Monogatari’s heroes, she must learn to embrace and forgive herself – to acknowledge that all these fragmentary selves are indeed sincere aspects of her identity, and that she should not be ashamed of either previously embodying them or now hoping to move beyond them. With Ougi’s needling “if you were happy, you wouldn’t seek such lofty dreams” and Sodachi’s well-intentioned “the world won’t end if you’re not sure what to do” both ringing in her mind, let’s return to the trials of Sengoku Nadeko!
Dear Brother – Episode 10
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am happy to announce we are returning to the tormented halls of Seiren Academy, as Nanako endures a fresh collection of schemes and crashouts and ornately illustrated sorrow, all so she can achieve a god damn high school education. Do they even have classes at this school? I can’t imagine where they’d find the time for them, what with all the backstabbing and plotting and hopelessly draping themselves across school furniture all the students pack into their schedules.
Nanako is certainly receiving an education in something, though. As our last episode demonstrated, she is becoming a key fixture in the lives of both Kaoru and Saint-Juste, a confidant and tether maintaining their connection to this fragmentary, floating world. Though Nanako sees herself as perfectly ordinary, her ability to pierce the veils enshrouding Seiren’s three icons nonetheless makes her a unique quantity, as the one person able to see them as normal, reachable fellow students, rather than visions of Icarus that can only be glimpsed from a great distance. And in Dezaki’s hands, both the luxurious splendor and woeful melodrama of these stories is brought vividly to life; rather than abstracting Ikeda’s cast into caricatures, this adaptation simply realizes their feelings at the tenor they are experienced, offering the delightful two-cakes pleasure of both indulging in wild dramatic excess while still enjoying a story about recognizably human characters.
Well, except maybe Shinobu, that girl is something else. But that is also why we love her, and I’m eager to see what nonsense Nanako’s self-assigned nemesis is plotting as we return to Dear Brother!
Spring 2025 – Week 2 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It has been an overstuffed week in shows and films on my end; in fact, I haven’t even yet finished writing up all the features I screened, having left myself the unenviable task of writing twelve film reflections just before compiling this piece. Alongside that, it’s been a week of catching up on One Piece, as we charged an Egghead refresher preceding the show’s triumphant return, and also breaking into Arcane’s apparently concluding second season. Plus there’s a whole new anime season premiering, and all these Godzilla films left to screen… things have been busy, but I have nonetheless emerged with my promised collection of reflections, here to nourish or at least distract with some ramblings on the wide world of cinema. Let’s get to it!
BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 3
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the tormented saga of Ave Mujica, as Sakiko’s bandmates continue to enable her high-concept exorcism of personal demons. Though really, it doesn’t seem like she’s making emotional progress through any of this; rather, Ave Mujica is merely a vehicle for her to wallow in despair, framing her whole identity as a product of her trauma. By pinning her hopes on this melodramatic act of alleged liberation, she is only demonstrating how she is still defined and bound by her abandoned hopes. She is like Soyo cringing at that first-season performance of Haru Hikage, still too wrapped up in the pain of its associations to enjoy it as a fond memory.
Moreover, while MyGO’s post-CRYCHIC players had the good fortune of encountering Anon Chihaya, a sympathetic figure bearing baggage of her own, Sakiko’s associates seem far less inclined to guide her through this fraught period. Uika’s the only one who seems like a genuinely good influence, while Umiri is indifferent, Nyamu actively hostile, and Mutsumi clearly caught up in her own parental anxieties, clinging to her one friend even as that friend actively provokes her trauma. Is this the night that the doll Mortis cuts her strings, and can she even walk without those strings to guide her? Let’s get to it!