Category Archives: Episode Writeup

BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to the stage of nightmare and delirium that is Ave Mujica, as our heroines attempt to exorcise their demons and find a place where they belong through their collective surrender to visual kei theatrical music experience. Surprisingly, as of eleven episodes in, this doesn’t seem to have worked; practically every member of the group is actually in a worse place than they started, whether professionally, psychologically, or a healthy combo of the two.

Our last to reveal her particular blend of self-hatred, obsession, and dissociation was Uika, born Hatsune Misumi, the daughter of Sakiko’s grandfather and unacknowledged black sheep of the Togawa group. Forced to grow up like a princess constrained in a faraway tower, Hatsune developed a fascination with the darling heir Sakiko that saw her claiming the identity of her little sister Uika, a version of herself that she could allow to betray her father’s directives, and actually become friends with the golden child.

Between her own forlorn existence and Sakiko’s seemingly irresistible aura, Uika’s curiosity soon turned to obsession; and when Sakiko’s life collapsed in the wake of Uika meeting with her father, she was swift to break Sakiko’s fall, her love for her double only matched by her hatred of herself. Now we’ve got Uika in Togawa Jail, Sakiko being shipped off to Switzerland, and our three other foundlings left in a practice room with no AC or music on. Let’s see if Sakiko manages to single-handedly end Swiss neutrality as we return to Ave Mujica!

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Journal With Witch – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m willing to wager that my heart is prepared for another expert pummeling, and am thus ready to check out a fresh episode of Journal With Witch. Our first episode introduced us to Makio Kōdai and her niece Asa Takumi, two near-strangers who were brought together by the sudden death of Asa’s parents. Though Makio had a painful relationship with Asa’s mother, her sympathy for Asa led her to offer her own home to the teenage orphan. Thus we find ourselves with two near-opposites cohabiting, colliding, and collectively attempting to navigate this strange and sorrowful life.

Journal With Witch’s first episode did a masterful job of conveying Makio’s emotional experience, gracefully articulating the shadows and ghosts that populate her lonely world. As a shut-in author who never really learned to get along with others, her daily rituals and hesitant stabs at connection felt painfully well-observed, realized through a combination of precise boarding, understated sound design, and hard-won scraps of personal wisdom. As a character study, the show already feels brutally relatable; as a reflection on life, love, and loss, it’s shaping up to be a poignant and quietly life-affirming journey. Let’s see how our lonely souls are faring as we return to the show!

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Big Windup! – Episode 22

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the field at the bottom of the eighth inning, with clear underdogs Nishiura having just earned their third run, tying them up with the first-seeded Tosei team. And frankly, Tosei seemed lucky to get away with just that; given the extended fastball duel between Tosei pitcher Takase and Nishiura cleanup Tajima, it’s clear those Nishiura boys are hungry for a win. Meanwhile, Nishiura’s new pitcher Mihashi might well be the story of the season; after an apparently lackluster middle school career, he’s rallied back as the spearpoint of a remarkable lineup, showing tremendous talent in his suppression of Tosei’s best-in-class batting lineup.

That’s right, it’s time for more Big Windup!, as we surge towards the conclusion of Nishiura’s first summer tournament game. After a half season of interrogating both the general psychology of baseball and the distinct abilities of Nishiura’s players, their faceoff with Tosei has proven an absurd buffet of tactical gambits and countermeasures, seasoned with the occasional dash of unlikely misfortune. The show seems a perfect marriage of base material and adaptive talent; Asa Higuchi’s emphasis on both the psychological and mechanical ebb and flow of baseball is perfectly suited to Tsutomu Mizushima’s love of grounded, gamified drama, resulting in a viewing experience where every new challenge emerges naturally from the previously explicated board state. Now, with the score tied and just an inning and a half to go, let’s see what fresh hurdles await our brave players!

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Dear Brother – Episode 15

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m hankering for some sumptuously scripted melodrama, and thus feel it’s past time for a return to Seiren Academy. When last we left off, it actually seemed like things were looking up for our luckless adolescents. After Nanako sent Saint-Juste into a rage by attempting to destroy her pills, the two reconciled by the bay, leading to Saint-Juste’s unexpected reappearance for finals week. Meanwhile, Kaoru’s hard love during Shinobu’s convalescence appears to have developed into a genuine friendship between them, with Kaoru now assisting Shinobu with her finals prep.

It’s all been such a healthy, productive turn of events that I have to imagine the other shoe is currently mid-descent, gaining calamitous speed as it plummets towards the earth. Given Miya-sama’s prior warnings against Nanako’s involvement, I’m guessing Nanako will soon have all the Sorority turning against her, and Shinobu’s loyalties harshly tested. Regardless, I am sure Dezaki will continue to festoon Ikeda’s delicious tale in all the finery it deserves, as our heroines spiral towards absolution or mutual destruction. Let’s get to it!

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Kemonozume – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to the dazzling Kemonozume, the first TV production by the remarkable Masaaki Yuasa. Set in a modern world where brave Kifuuken warriors face off with shape-shifting Flesh Eaters, the show has swiftly established a Romeo and Juliet-esque pairing of Kifuuken heir Toshihiko and Flesh Eater Yuka, whose whirlwind romance culminated in a confrontation at the funeral of Toshihiko’s father, resulting in the two of them fleeing from Toshihiko’s vengeance-minded compatriots.

It was an unexpectedly sudden detonation of the narrative’s central powder keg, but Yuasa has never been one to linger in narrative stasis. From Mind Game to Kaiba to Inu-Oh, his originals move quickly and with great dynamism, balancing their speed of transformation with the acuity and intensity he brings to each stage of their development. In this case, the ethereal beauty of sequences like Toshihiko and Yuka’s embrace in a fountain have already done an excellent job of selling their love, while the boiling rage of Toshihiko’s half-brother Kazuma is clear in his every delightfully rendered facial contortion. With both sides of this conflict hot on our lovers’ trails, let’s see what fresh wonders await!

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CITY the Animation – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m looking at about a half foot of snow that had the temerity to land just outside my window, and preparing to stay enshrouded in blankets until the spring thaw. However, while it’s far too cold and blustery to currently enjoy my own city, it’s never a bad time to check back in with CITY the Animation, and see how its lovely community is making the most of their own summer days.

After the screen-splitting animation extravaganza that was episode five, CITY’s most recent episode returned us to the production’s usual mode, wherein we learned a great deal more about several of this city’s most prominent families. Having already met so many members of this community, we’ve reached a point where each new scene demonstrates either a new point of connection (like Ryota’s family situation) or new facet of an old friend (like Wako being responsible for Mr. Happiness). This in turn emphasizes what must surely be CITY’s most fundamental theme: that we are simultaneously wildly unique and deeply interconnected, a communal organism that is greater for each eccentricity of its component parts. Fostering those connections and celebrating those quirks is essentially the work of being a community, and CITY’s every episode demonstrates the incidental joys of that process. Let’s head downtown!

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1000xRESIST – Chapter 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a somewhat unusual reflection for you all, as we check out the first segment of the recently released 1000xRESIST. I’ve heard nothing but effusive praise regarding this post-apocalyptic project, which apparently falls in that vaunted echelon of literary interactive media. As a lifelong gamer and an equally lifelong critic regarding the medium’s often limited aspirations, I’m always eager to check out the properties that strive for more than entertainment; putting agency in the audience’s hands is a remarkable way to foster a sense of connection and even responsibility towards a narrative, facilitating the emotional peaks of works like Nier Automata and The Beginner’s Guide. By all reports, 1000xRESIST is a similar gut-punch of an experience, so let’s not waste another moment, and get right into the drama!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Hero Chapter – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the tragic tales of Yuki Yuna and her companions, as their sincere love for each other is once again co-opted by the machinations of the Divine Tree, an organism which views its most faithful acolytes as pure fuel to burn. Having further developed its forms of manipulation from the religious fervor of Togo and Nogi’s trials or the plain duplicity of Yuna’s first run, the Divine Tree has learned how to turn their desire to protect each other into one more manipulative weapon, forcing Yuna to suffer and die lest her friends experience the same.

Fortunately, Yuna’s friends are far too attuned to her feelings to let this torture regimen go undetected, and have recently learned the full truth regarding her private suffering. Thus we find ourselves at last in the thunderous payoff segment of the season, as Togo leads the charge against a deity that has misled and betrayed its acolytes at every turn, consuming them to perpetuate a war that cannot be won. Are these “fires of creation” just one more convenient invention of the Divine Tree, or will this be the moment when the walls finally crumble, and all the horrors of the cosmos descend on our humble city? Regardless, this false peace based on perpetual suffering cannot last; if Yuna’s torment is the only way to maintain this world, then let the curtains fall and a new world be born. Onward!

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The Apothecary Diaries – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on the reluctant adventures of our unfortunate Maomao, as we explore the second episode of The Apothecary Diaries. Having suffered the initial indignity of being abducted and sold into the emperor’s service, she has since committed the grave mistake of demonstrating her aptitude for poisons and remedies, thus earning herself a position as the favored Gyokuyou’s lady-in-waiting. And with that annoyingly handsome eunuch Jinshi peering over her shoulder, it now seems increasingly unlikely she’ll be able to live out her term of service in any sort of peace.

All of that sounds like nothing but trouble for Maomao, but certainly a gift to us sadists observing her suffering. Maomao has already proven herself a charming, multifaceted heroine, while Hyūganatsu’s storytelling has gracefully guided us into familiarity with the contours of her world. Additionally, Naganuma’s adaptation is doing a fine job of illustrating Maomao’s journey with bright colors and alluring visual motifs, alongside a wide array of excellent aggrieved expressions. The Apothecary Diaries has firmly announced itself as a compelling story told with professional confidence, and I’m eager to see what it subjects Maomao to next. Let’s get to it!

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Toradora! – Episode 14

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Toradora!’s thirteenth episode brought us the terrible culmination of Taiga’s attempted reconciliation with her father, leaving Ryuji and Minori to help her pick up the pieces. And yet, for all this ultimate fallout was both calamitous and predictable, and for how deeply Ryuji misunderstood both Taiga and her father’s intentions, their ultimate reconciliation came swiftly, the two rekindling their friendship alongside the festival’s roaring bonfire. That’s kinda the thing about youth; we bruise easily, but we also bounce back, so long as we are given the room and support necessary to regain our footing.

The episode’s last sequence in particular, as the fire dimmed and the festival drew to a close, felt like it was drawing on something fundamental and ineffable – that sense of vital, floating ephemerality that attends monumental adolescent thresholds. It is a strange thing to be observing your own life like a bystander as it passes by, but in moments of such clear temporal passage as that, it comes naturally to see your life through an outsider’s eyes.

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