Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Star Driver – Episode 21

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to Star Driver, after an episode that graciously drew back the veil obscuring the prior generation of would-be Cybody pilots, revealing some clear parallels with our current group in the process. Ryosuke and Tokio make for an odd contrast with Takuto and Sugata; though both pairs are defined by their competition regarding a shrine maiden, Tokio’s Takuto-reminiscent role as societal outsider stands in contrast with his obsession with mastering the Cybody system. In that, he is more like Sugata, while the insider Ryosuke’s antipathy towards this whole order makes him more like Takuto. And that’s before you get to the question of Takuto’s parentage, and the pocket watch connecting all six key players.

It’s been nice to have so much of this island’s history clarified, but to be honest, episode twenty’s revelations didn’t actually change our understanding of the ongoing conflict. Star Driver has been focused on clear personal dramas and equally clear thematic concerns from the outset, the strictures of tradition and call for personal agency set in conflict through both the love triangle at its center and hormonally charged scaffolding of its science fiction inventions. Rather than obscuring the truth, its metaphors have emphasized the clarity of its philosophy, painting adolescent identity-forming as the crux of apocalypse or revolution in the manner of many anime classics, including a number penned by Enokido himself. Let’s see how our young lovers fare in a fresh episode of Star Driver!

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 42

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Hugtto! Precure, where I’m frankly hoping for some kind of irreverent, nonsensical side adventure, perhaps one starring our former villains and the hamster villagers or something. After the one-two punch of Traum’s reunion with Lulu and Emiru’s grappling with this story’s conclusion, I’m just not sure my heart could take much more of the heavy stuff. Can’t we just hang out and maybe beat up an Oshimaeda or something?

Of course, given last episode’s allusions to Henri’s physical injuries, I imagine we’re actually on the verge of a heel turn by our young ice skater. And to be honest, I’m actually fine with that. I’ve long felt that Henri’s character and arc embodied Hugtto’s most thoughtful instincts, exploring not just the difficulty of defining yourself outside of society’s expectations, but also the challenges of aging out of your preferred self-image, and grappling with the frequently undesirable changes of puberty and adulthood. Henri carries Hugtto’s general focus on finding hope for the future into challenging, deeply personal territory, and him stumbling here would serve as a natural continuation of the world-weary ambiguity that has always attended his episodes. Let’s see what’s in store in a fresh episode of Hugtto!

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Spy x Family – Episode 28

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today seems like a perfect day to treat ourselves to some cozy Spy x Family, so that’s precisely what we’re going to do. Our last episode provided an equal portioning of Spy x Family’s two principle offerings: ludicrous spy drama shenanigans and heartfelt family drama. Of course, Endo’s always gotta be mixing it up, so each of those courses were provided by an unexpected server, with Bond headlining the spy mission while the unfortunate Damien learned a thing or two about community and friendship.

Damien’s unhappy family situation, and the way the lessons of his father have filtered down into his classroom social dynamics, have unsurprisingly made him one of my favorite characters in Spy x Family. While the Forger house is pretty close to idyllic, Damien embodies the consequences of family constructed as a strict hierarchy, where only deference and scholastic accomplishments might earn you the favor of your allegedly loving parents. Seeing both his peers and caretakers push him towards embracing ordinary, unconditional happiness has been one of the most satisfying arcs within Spy x Family, and I’m anxious to see where his journey leads next. But whatever’s coming, I’m sure we’re in for an altogether lovely time with this eminently likable production. Let’s get to it!

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BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, for the very simple reason that I cannot wait another moment to find out what happens to these goddamn teenagers. MyGO was riveting enough as a richly characterized drama about pulling a mismatched group of musicians together, but now that Soyo is threatening to destroy the group, it has become a truly un-put-downable page-turner. Tomori is in despair, Anon is blaming herself, Taki is ready to throw hands, and Raana is… well, probably enjoying a parfait somewhere, blissfully unaware of the maelstrom spinning overhead.

Raana aside, Sakiko’s unambiguous denial of any CRYCHIC reunion has laid bare the insecurities and deceptions undergirding our group’s sunny surface. Anon finds herself facing the precise combination of disconnects that prompted her to flee home from England: an inability to keep up with the group’s technical ability and a failure to parse the “language,” here articulated as the unspoken bond of the former CRYCHIC members. Tomori has discovered that Soyo is just like all the others, smiling to her face while secretly engineering ways to avoid her discomforting presence. Taki is once again grasping at straws, seeking a closeness with Tomori that she can only articulate as misdirected anger and redoubled physical commitment. And Soyo might be unhappiest of all, having resigned herself to the superficial high school experience and false smiles that Anon once saw as her only future. It’s an absolute mess at the moment, but such frictions often force us to be our best; when we cannot abide our current circumstances, we have nothing to lose, allowing us to fling ourselves bravely towards a better future. Let’s see how our band fares!

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Call of the Night – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be checking out the very first episode of a new project, as we explore the recent adaptation of Kotoyama’s supernatural romantic comedy Call of the Night. The show got some solid buzz two years ago, with audiences generally praising its strong atmosphere and charmingly silly cast. That sounded about right for me, given my experience with Kotoyama’s previous work Dagashi Kashi. Though Dagashi’s hook is “crazy-eyed girl lustily explains the merits of various snack foods,” the show’s greatest strengths were actually its evocation of small-town boredom and understanding of listless youth – two qualities that I imagine will carry on gracefully into Call of the Night.

As for the anime adaptation, I can’t imagine a better choice of director than Tomoyuki Itamura. After Tatsuya Oishi left the Monogatari TV series to go sculpt Kizumonogatari, it was Itamura who picked up the torch, serving as the series’ primary director from Nisemonogatari all the way through Owarimonogatari Part II. The aesthetic he sculpted in that time was one of lust and austerity and nightmares, featuring a world that felt cold and alien even in broad daylight, one which naturally reflected the preoccupations and emotional tensions of its anxious young occupants. He basically cut his teeth on this era’s premier supernatural romantic drama, making him perfectly suited for a production like Call of the Night. That basically covers my preconceptions, so let’s get on with the dang show!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today seemed like a perfect opportunity to hop back into the drama of Yuki Yuna is a Hero, where we’re currently all scanning the skies and waiting for some kind of celestial second shoe to drop. Having allegedly defeated their enemies and completed their duties as heroes in the fifth episode, the gang are now suffering under mysterious injuries and uncertain expectations, their tight-knit community the only shield against whatever comes next. Though their overseers claim their symptoms will subside, there’s no real indication their contacts even know what’s going on – or if they do, they’re content to keep such secrets from their troops on the ground.

Personally, I couldn’t be more pleased by this intriguing turn of fortunes. The idea of moving on past the standard magical girl paradigm, of accomplishing your grand task and attempting to reintegrate into normal life, seems like a novel and compelling way to explore the true motivations guiding our young heroes. Additionally, their treatment as veterans who’ve been abandoned by their country feels like a natural thematic expansion of Yuki Yuna’s interrogation of genre assumptions, placing our girls within a long and storied tradition of post-war dramas. Let’s see how they’re faring in a fresh episode of Yuki Yuna!

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Kaiba – Episode 11

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We return to Kaiba in a moment of utter catastrophe. Having journeyed halfway across the universe in pursuit of a love he could barely remember, Kaiba’s dreams have turned to nightmares, his life stolen by the very woman he sought to protect. Through the meddling of Popo and his allies, Neyro was conditioned to see her former love as the enemy, another tyrant who must fall in pursuit of a brighter dawn. Only when the damage was done could our star-crossed lovers recognize each other; only in the ruin of Warp’s empire could their promise be fulfilled. In his pursuit of a world without Warp’s all-consuming tyranny, Popo has sacrificed everything that made that pursuit desirable: the hope of a happier world with his friends beside him, where Neyro and Cheki can live freely, both in body and mind.

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Star Driver – Episode 20

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Star Driver, and see what those schemers at Kiraboshi have been cooking while Wako enjoys her birthday. Our last episode served as a general referendum on Wako’s tenuous current position: suspended between childhood and adulthood, shrine maiden duties and personal ambitions, the long-destined Sugata and the upstart Takuto. It’s no surprise she’s hesitating; at this point, a step in any direction might close countless doors, resolving a horizon that’s glimmering with potential into one fixed destination.

We all worry about making the wrong choices as adolescents, but for most of us, we have enough room to try and fail, knowing there will be future opportunities ahead of us. For the children of Southern Cross, birth is destiny, and adolescence merely the affirmation of their roles within a society that sees them as tools rather than individuals. It’s little wonder Wako is so hesitant to grow up, but I’m curious as to Sugata’s true feelings; having gained the King’s Pillar but rejected Kiraboshi, he seems the only player with agency within the system, who might claim a destiny of his own without first fleeing the island altogether. As the day of reckoning draws near, let’s return to Star Driver!

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BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to the apocalyptic high school band theater of MyGO, wherein Soyo most recently had all of her dreams shattered into microscopic pieces. Having spent this entire series so far sculpting a new band purely to entice Sakiko back, she has now received the final word that Sakiko and CRYCHIC are gone for good. No more superficial smiles and steepled fingers; Soyo is now in absolute despair, her treasured dream in ruins, and her only companions now the bandmates she only saw as means to a greater end.

That’s probably for the best, honestly. Anon, Tomori, and Taki have all joined together out of genuine emotional need, finding in their shared performance the community, understanding, and validation that adolescence has otherwise denied them. For Soyo to move forward, she necessarily needed to rip off the band aid of her dependance on Sakiko – and though she’s hurting now, she is surrounded by people who care for her, and who know well the pain of being abandoned. If Soyo can let her shields down and become open to new sources of pride and companionship, she might find in this new group a more lasting, reliable source of identity than Sakiko could ever provide.

Or she might just take the whole band down in flames, letting her personal resentment poison the fragile bonds shared by the others. I’m sure it’ll be a great spectacle either way, so let’s dive right back into MyGO!

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Spy x Family – Episode 27

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured I’d treat myself to a fresh episode of Spy x Family, and see how the Forger family are holding up these days. It certainly hasn’t been easy juggling family life, professional cover stories, and clandestine operations, as last episode’s “Yor got shot in the butt” saga clearly demonstrated. As goofy a concept as that was, I appreciated how her troubles pushed her out of her physical and emotional comfort zone, prompting the sort of friction that might actually help Loid and Yor come to better know and ultimately trust each other.

There’s an obvious tension at the core of Spy x Family, in that its protagonists’ need to keep their secrets pushes against their efforts to become a truly unified family. Whereas most found family dramas consistently trend towards greater mutual understanding across their principle characters, Spy x Family’s alternating spy and family drama modes each resist subordination to the other, making it that much harder for the Forgers to truly connect. It is both the story’s core hook and also perhaps its limiting factor, and either way, I find the story’s efforts to juggle these contradictory instincts fascinating in action. Let’s see what our crew gets up to next!

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