Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we reach the grand finale of Frieren’s confrontation with Aura the Guillotine, as the woman whose bloody history earned her the title “Slayer” confronts one of the proud remnants of the Demon King’s army. This has been a fraught and ambiguous arc for Frieren both in a dramatic and conceptual sense; the distrust these characters have felt towards Frieren judgment has been matched by my own distrust of the author’s judgment, in theoretically making the theme of this arc “some people are born evil and the only thing for it is to butcher them.” That’s a bad theme and a boring narrative, but the evidence we’ve seen points towards a slippier, more interesting truth: demons are just as emotional and full of diverse passions as humans, but their conception of value and society may be inherently incompatible with our own.

Demons are “animalistic” in the fact that they value strength above all else, and are ruthless in their pursuit of such strength – but then again, does that make them any different from a great number of humans? And aside from that, they exhibit pride, scorn, loyalty, playfulness, and a gamut of other emotions, often seeming more animated by their passions than the blank-faced Frieren and Fern. It was in fact Aura’s offhand mockery of Himmel, the man who first introduced Frieren to love and loss, that convinced her Aura is beyond understanding – an entirely personal judgment, and one emphasizing how little distance exists between Frieren and Aura’s perspectives. If war is inevitable, so be it, but I am happy to leave this arc more uncertain of Frieren’s judgment, and more attuned to the ruthless moral ambiguity of this world.

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The Legend of Vox Machina S3 – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to Vox Machina in a moment of unqualified triumph, as they have not only retrieved Pike’s spiffy new breastplate from the depths of hell, they’ve also managed to kill the ice dragon Vorugal in the bargain. The Chroma Conclave’s most relentless bulldog, and the destroyer of the party’s own delightful chateau, now lies buried among the frigid wastes of Tal’Dorei. It’s starting to seem like our team might actually pull this off!

Given that, I imagine Mercer has some terrible reckoning awaiting our heroes. DnD campaigns obviously shouldn’t feel hopeless, but they also shouldn’t feel effortless – ideally, the party should feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders, but that their best efforts might just come to some triumphant end. In practice, this tends to mean DnD drama follows a sort of roller coaster structure, building the party up just to send them plummeting down, often at moments aligned with some sort of narrative act change. My own prior campaign integrated such plummets at the conclusion of its first and second acts, letting each act finale serve several roles: offering a massive action payoff, reaffirming the party’s bonds with the world and characters, and putting the overall forces of good on the backfoot in order to give the party room to rise again.

So far, Vox Machina’s only such reckoning has been the arrival of the Chroma Conclave. Given their recent successes, I imagine we’re due for some manner of rude awakening, something to assure both party and audience that Thordak still has the upper hand. Mechanical and narrative design are in agreement on this one: challenges must feel challenging, drama must feel heart-pounding, and parties that are doing too well must be properly chastened. Let’s drop that other shoe, Mercer!

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 49

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today is a bittersweet moment indeed, as we at last reach the conclusion of the emphatically charming Hugtto! Pretty Cure. After having brought so much joy to both her familiar town and us in the audience, Hana and her friends will be charging towards the camera and greeting us for the very last time, before racing off towards their shining futures. Popple, Dr. Traum, Hugman, and all the rest – it feels like we’ve come to know this community intimately, which only makes it that much harder to say goodbye.

Of course, to lament the necessity of moving forward would be to disregard all the lessons Hugtto has worked to instill in both its characters and its viewers. The future need not be a source of fear or anxiety; it is forever an opportunity, an open canvas, a chance for transformation and renewal. Just as Saaya and Homare grappled with their shifting ambitions, just as Popple and Gelos picked themselves up and charted a new path forward, so must we bid farewell to this persistent source of comfort and cheer, this show that has been a companion to me for years now. Hugtto was wonderful, but its spirit assures me that there are still many wonders ahead. Now let’s finish strong!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero (Washio Sumi Chapter) – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I announce with great trepidation that we are returning to Yuki Yuna is a Hero, and concluding Togo’s ill-fortuned first tour as a defender of the divine tree. In the early episodes, I occasionally felt eager for the other shoe to drop, to at least save us from the anxiety of watching these girls come to care for each other, knowing the cruel fate awaiting them. Now I know I was too naive; this production’s mastery of torment is simply too well-honed, its hooks barbed with a heart-rending acuity of convincing, incidental characterization. I was able to genuinely believe in the bond between these three, and that has made the fallout all the harder.

Now, with Gin having nobly sacrificed herself to an ignoble cause, our two remaining heroes stand awakened but depleted. Even if they were to challenge the authority of the divine tree, what would be left for them? They exist wholly within its sphere of influence, and to falter now would be to betray the faith Gin fought and died for – not as a sacrifice to the divine tree, but as a proud defender of her friends and family, who would give everything without question that the people she loves might carry on. We cannot always choose our cause, but that is not to say we can’t choose our conviction; for Togo and Nogi, the fight continues for Gin’s sake, and for all the dreams they once shared.

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Mezzo Forte – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re swerving into the second half of Yasuomi Umetsu’s Mezzo Forte, a stylish slice of exuberant sex and violence from one of anime’s premiere grindhouse titans. The first episode of this OVA featured dynamic action scenes aplenty, from a negotiation prematurely ended by an exploding sex robot to an eight-lane gunfight at a local bowling alley. Along the way, our so-called heroes kidnapped corrupt baseball team owner Momikichi Momoi, only to discover they’d somehow killed him along the way.

I imagine that won’t sit well with Momokichi’s psychotic daughter Momomi, meaning we’re likely in for a Terminator-style manhunt, as Mikura and her companions evade Momomi’s clutches while attempting to divine the connection between them. Regardless, I’m expecting a fresh slate of inventive, smartly constructed, and beautifully executed action setpieces, sequences demonstrating an understanding of cinematic action language that goes far beyond “fluid motion and fight choreography.” Great action scenes tell a story, using their environmental variables to create successions of challenges for their stars to overcome, and perhaps even expressing a sort of visual communication through the divergent styles and approaches of their contenders. Let’s see what madness awaits as Mezzo Forte rides towards its cacophonous conclusion!

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Galaxy Express 999 – Episode 9

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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.

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Yaiba: Samurai Legend – Episode 1

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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!

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Spirit of Wonder: Miss China’s Ring

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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!

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Angel Cop – Episode 1

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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!

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Monogatari Off/Monster Season – Episode 4

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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!

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