Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 20

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the frost-tipped forests of the northern lands, as Frieren and her new allies continue their first-class mage trials. In attempting to capture a supersonic Stille, a sparrow-like bird highly attuned to the presence of magic, Frieren used the creature’s own sensitivity against it. By directing her allies to “contaminate” all sources of water with magic, she ensured the birds would come to drink at the final remaining pool, thus making them easy to capture with even the shortest of ranged spells.

Unfortunately, though pretty characteristically for Frieren, it doesn’t seem she put much thought into the second-order effects of this gambit. Thus we find ourselves with the first-class prospects poised on the verge of conflict, hoping to steal one of the already-captured Stilles now that Frieren has poisoned the well. Though these challenges were initially framed as staid tests of formal aptitude, it seems that Frieren has grasped their true nature; such trials only ever lead to violence, particularly when a number of their entrants actively wish it so. As both the warriors and politicians of this contest well understand, one cannot rise ever upward without stepping upon the dreams of others. With their fangs now bared, let’s see how these mages fare!

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Shoushimin Series – Episode 12

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the enigmatic wanderings of Shoushimin Series, as Jogoro and Osanai continue in their renewed commitment to becoming ordinary. Having severed their connection in the wake of Osanai’s outrageous self-kidnapping gambit, they have each found new partners who seem to earnestly appreciate them, and who crucially do not enable their respective antisocial tendencies.

In fact, the two of them have seemingly become so ordinary that they’re no longer the protagonists of their own series. Season two has opened with a graceful flipping of perspective, centering on Osanai’s new boyfriend Urino and his efforts to uncover an alleged serial arson case around town. Through this reversal, Shoushimin Series is elegantly demonstrating the strength of Honobu Yonezawa’s character writing; though Jogoro and Osanai are certainly compelling characters, it’s just as interesting to explore this world from a new shoulder, with the appearances by our old leads lent all the more impact by their newfound rarity. And in director Mamoru Kanbe’s hands, it is already equally apparent what this new formulation is lacking – that spark of restless, relentless inquiry, the powerful unity of intellectual intent that was heretofore represented through the production’s consistent location-jumping visual flourishes. Richly articulated characters navigating a world whose physical and psychological contours have been realized through a distinct visual vocabulary – that’s essentially the core recipe for cinematic psychological drama, and it’s been extremely gratifying seeing season one’s visual language put to such novel and dramatic purposes. Let’s get back to the investigation!

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Apocalypse Hotel – Episode 5

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d head downtown and check out the Gingarou Hotel, which I hear has recently expanded its clientele base and diversified its catering options. With the addition of Ponko and her chaotic companions, Apocalypse Hotel has bloomed into a delightful found family drama, expanding beyond the gags and melancholy of its opening act through the strength of Ponko and Yachiyo’s relationship.

Our last episode was a clear standout, as the pair were forced to square off with a gargantuan space worm in order to protect the earth’s fragile ecosystem. With lots of dynamic storyboarding and flourishes of animation, the episode was likely the most visually ambitious so far, while also furthering Yachiyo and Ponko’s collective interrogation of what it means to be human. Yachiyo’s directives are essentially the end result of thousands of years of attempted coexistence, the guard rails placed atop a presumed understanding of what we owe to each other – now, with Ponko at her side, the two are steadily filling in that underlying sense of collective responsibility. Let’s see how their journey fares as we return to the Gingarou!

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Journal with Witch – Episode 4

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I think I’m feeling emotionally secure enough to weather another stab directly in the heart, meaning it’s obviously time to revisit the sumptuous melancholy of Journal With Witch. Asa’s journey through grief has so far been articulated with precision and compassion, as her reflections on surviving the intolerable are balanced against Makio’s struggles with merely surviving. You never really “figure it out” as a human being, never get handed a rulebook that makes sense of our unfulfilled longings and daily tragedies. You just keep living, one day after another, while making sure to offer whatever kindness you can spare to the companions who make that march tolerable.

Our last episode offered a fine contrast of two such companions, as Asa’s feelings of betrayal towards her friend Emiri were assuaged through Makio’s reflections on her long-time friend Daigo. Makio’s assertion that “fighting is reserved for outgoing people” could be taken in two equally appropriate ways – either emphasizing how Makio lacks the social batteries to engage in such exhausting theater, or how the solitude of the introvert means that every single relationship is that much more precious, and worth more than the fleeting vindication of indulging your anger. The future seems endless from a teenager’s eyes, but in truth, we don’t actually get that many second chances in this life – and for particularly precious treasures like “friends who knew you before you were you,” one chance is often all you have. It’s a tough world out there; we must do all we can to make sure we face it together.

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Big Windup! – Episode 24

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am pleased as punch to announce we are returning to the mound for a fresh episode of Big Windup!, as our Nishiura boys attempt to pull one over on the top-seeded Tosei players. This game has ended up consuming Big Windup!’s entire second cour, and I for one couldn’t be happier; by honing in on the individual plays and counterplays of these two variably talented lineups, the production has brought the exceedingly complex strategic drama of baseball to life, going far beyond the battery-versus-batter standard to explore how every player, every gambit, and every twist of fate might influence the game’s eventual outcome.

Rather than focus on either player psychology, mechanical ability, or tactical ingenuity, Big Windup! has taken the sensible choice of emphasizing all three, resulting in a thrilling yet consistently parsable, mechanically grounded road to the bottom of the ninth. And now, with a one-run lead courtesy of our boy Tajima, it all comes down to Mihashi to at last shut Tosei down. Let’s take it home, Nishiura!

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Umamusume: Pretty Derby S2 – Episode 2

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re taking a trip down to the race track, as we return to the equestrian escapades of Tokai Teio and her fellow horse girls. That’s right, it’s time for more Umamusume: Pretty Derby, and I have a feeling that this will be a particularly rough installment for our would-be champion. Having conquered the latest challenge in her pursuit of her idol Symboli Rudolf, she currently appears on top of the world – but given the ominous focus on her ankle that concluded our first episode, it’s clear she’s barreling towards a disastrous injury.

As for my own thoughts on all these urgent proceedings, I must say I’m still waiting to be hooked. I’ve enjoyed a fair number of comedy sports dramas, but so far remain unconvinced by Umamusume in terms of either its comedy or drama. I assume part of that comes down to the first episode’s busyness in terms of establishing all its players; the premiere’s endless procession of intricately designed horse girls felt like a perpetual reminder this is based on a gacha game, which is one of the surest ways to pull me out of a narrative. It’s also hard to believe in this world even on its own terms; our characters’ lives and aspirations feel so abstracted from human experience that I can’t really relate to Teio’s trials, and the show feels unconcerned with offering enough Girls und Panzer-style incidental pleasures to entertain if I’m not compelled by the character drama.

All that said, overstuffed first episodes are a common and entirely forgivable issue, and I imagine this season’s true strength will only be revealed once Teio’s wax wings start to melt. I’m not counting out these horse girls charming me yet, so let’s get back to the action and see what Teio gets up to next!

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Trigun Stampede – Episode 11

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re racing towards a second extinction event, as the huddled humans of No Man’s Land await the judgment of either Million Knives or the very planet itself. Having fled our own home in arc ships after destroying its ecosystem, we sought refuge among the stars – but our reliance on the life-giving Plants sparked the ire of the young Knives, and we were thus struck down from heaven, and forced to survive among the wastes of a planet where safety is a fantasy and solidarity a lie.

But while Knives sees in us only brutality and greed, his brother Vash believes we possess something worth saving. A higher calling, a compassion hidden under rust, or perhaps simply the same right to exist as any other creature that suffers and strives, desperate to propagate its own tiny spark. Thus we arrive at a collision of near-gods, as the inheritor of our suffering faces the adjudicator of our sins, lost in the bowels of a city whose extravagance defies the planet itself.

Y’all ready for some Trigun?

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CITY The Animation – Episode 9

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s a beautiful day today, as the last holdouts of the winter frost melt in the warm spring sun, and birds trill and respond across the budding bows of my neighborhood. I’ll likely be treating myself to a walk through the park later on, but for now, I’m eager to dig into the next best thing: a fresh episode of CITY The Animation, wherein all the manifold pleasures of urban living are celebrated with delirious enthusiasm.

Our last episode reveled in the interconnected vitality of all its players’ various adventures, highlighting the charming relationship between Tatewaku and the middle school duo, as well as the community-uniting power of our playwright’s admittedly confusing performances. But that’s the thing about giving back to the community; the precise nature of your contribution is far less important than simply getting out there, connecting with your neighbors and sharing your passions. CITY embodies a view of local society that feels desperately needed in our increasingly atomized world – between that noble ethos, its absurd aesthetic execution, and its regularly hysterical payoffs, it’s proven itself a much-needed comfort in these past months. Now let’s see what those fools are up to today!

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Birdie Wing – Episode 2

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a hankering for some high-octane sports nonsense, and thus feel it’s about time to get back to the course with Birdie Wing. The show’s first episode introduced us to underground golf ace Eve, who employs her devastating “Blue Bullet” drive to raise money for her family of orphans. After handily defeating two professional contenders, Eve ultimately met her match in the form of Aoi, an apparent legacy golfer whose diminutive stature belies her ability to smack balls really, really hard.

Eve’s preposterous concept aside, that blunt summary does little to evoke the delightful silliness of Birdie Wing in action. Eve has so far fired off golf balls between train cars and straight through trees, faced off with masked golf jesters, and even shot a pensive music video detailing her rough life on the fringes of Golftopia. The production is hitting that precise golden ratio of absurdity of concept versus commitment to mechanical drama, and I only imagine things will be getting even more charmingly preposterous as Eve is drawn further into the cutthroat underworld of high-stakes golfing. Let’s see how her bout with Aoi continues as we return to the course!

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Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 – Episode 9

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re diving back into Thunderbolt Fantasy, as a half-dozen nested schemes stand ready to collapse into open violence. While Shang prepares to return from the demon realm to the Void Junction, each member of the Divine Swarm’s alliance stands with daggers bared, ready to either charge their collective foe or simply kill each other.

And of course, much of the credit for this fraught state of affairs goes to our friendly neighborhood wizard, the Enigmatic Gale. Having somehow insinuated his way into the company of villains, Lin has swiftly planted an entire sowing season’s worth of doubt-seeds, manipulating the understandable apprehensions underlining this alliance of cultists, witches, demons, madmen, and well-meaning yet severely misguided soldiers. Their mutual enmity towards the sword-sealing, fun-spoiling Shang has kept them tenuously aligned so far, but with Xing Hai’s scheme on the verge of fruition, it’s clear either Jun Po or Lou Zhen is about to crack. Let’s see what allies become enemies and enemies become allies as we return to Thunderbolt Fantasy!

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