Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Record of Lodoss War – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re embarking on the first step of a new adventure, as we check out the beloved Record of Lodoss War, a truly distinct artifact of the anime OVA boom. Though it was eventually adapted into a series of fantasy novels by Ryo Mizuno, Lodoss War initially arose as a series of actual play transcripts in the gaming magazine Comptiq, detailing the Dungeons & Dragons adventures shared by a handful of fantasy writers.

As such, Lodoss War is in many ways a product well ahead of its time, a precursor to the podcast-driven resurgence of DnD typified by shows like Dimension 20, adaptations like The Legend of Vox Machina, and even my own ongoing recounting of my first campaign as Dungeon Master. Dungeons & Dragons began as little more than a fantasy-flavored combat simulator, but it has become a flexible canvas for grand acts of myth-making and emotional drama, as different groups of players find their own balance between mechanical rigor and fantastical invention.

All of this makes Lodoss War an interesting cultural harbinger, if nothing else. That said, it’s doubtful this OVA series would be remembered for that alone – instead, it is Record of Lodoss War’s sumptuous art design and iconic characters, including the inescapable elf maiden Deedlit, that have made it such an enduring artifact. Yutaka Izubuchi’s original character designs are lifted into the stratosphere through this production’s strong array of storyboarders and animators, with director Akinori Nagaoka here assisted by such legends as Rintarou on episode boards and Toshiyuki Inoue on key animation, as well as Escaflowne character designer Nobuteru Yuki handling the adapted designs. It’s always a pleasure visiting this beautiful production, and I’m personally fascinated by DnD’s intersection of game design and collaborative storytelling, so let’s not waste a moment longer. The adventure begins!

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Yuri is My Job! – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re diving back into the tangled performance of masks that is Yuri is My Job!, as our heroines struggle to discover something approaching intimacy among the performances and expectations of both genre and adolescence. We arrive back after a moment of great victory for Hime and Mitsuki, with the two having simultaneously repaired their friendship and affirmed their validity as Schwestern for the cheering crowd. Though Mitsuki has tremendous difficulty admitting to her feelings, the strictly defined language of Cafe Liebe ultimately served as something like training wheels for true expression, equipping her with the language and confidence necessary to admit she genuinely loves Hime.

Of course, she immediately walked that confession back with a convenient “that was all part of the performance,” but that too is part of why she was able to speak in the first place. To the awkward and uncertain, the itemized emotional beats of genre can be a lifeline, a common language that offers less ambiguity and vulnerability than fickle, unmediated conversation. And it’s not like regular conversation lacks strict conventions – after all, it was Mitsuki’s inability to match that lingo, to downplay her passions and laugh lightly with the crowd, that isolated her in the first place. And while Hime thrives in the superficial conventions that attend adolescent acquaintances, it’s clear that she too is seeking something more, something lasting, honest, and maybe even transformative. Let’s see if our heroines can find it as we return to Yuri is My Job!

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Spy x Family – Episode 37

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d check back in on Spy x Family, and see what improbable shenanigans our Forgers have been enduring lately. When last we left off, Becky was still caught in the throes of a Berlint in Love-fueled hysteria, but was ultimately forced to concede Yor was a worthy opponent. That leaves the canvas open for any manner of drama, though given the season’s imminent conclusion, I imagine we’re in for some sort of dramatic coda; likely a low-stakes and somewhat reflective episode, tying a bow on the family’s recent growth.

It’s certainly been a productive season for the Forgers! Loid’s development has been apparent in how often his first thoughts are of Anya, rather than the maintenance of his cover, as well as how frequently he has renegotiated his work-life balance. Meanwhile, Yor has finally received some much-needed nuance and texture, with her cruise ship adventure serving as an affirmation of her new values and commitment to the family. Spy x Family will always be most fundamentally a comedy, but these steady flourishes of characterization and sequences of pure familial harmony do an excellent job of weighting its gags with emotional substance, insisting that supporting the people we love is the only way to truly find satisfaction in this world, and that an aspirational mask worn long enough can actually become our personal truth. Let’s see how our weirdos prove their love as we return to Spy x Family!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to Blue Reflection Ray, after an episode that proved the series’ strongest yet. With our core team of Ruka, Hiori, Miyako, and Momo established, the team set to work hunting down “Princess Yuki,” who appeared to possess the power to remove the Fragments of others. However, this turned out to be a ruse – the true Yuki was being manipulated by the sadistic Uta, who only wished her to become so isolated that her own fragment would naturally emerge.

Alongside serving as a fine mystery caper in its own right, that episode offered a satisfyingly nuanced exploration of social media’s positive and negative potential. To those who are isolated within their own lives, the internet can become a lifeline, a path to community and mutual support. But at the same time, the inherent distancing effect and public nature of online discourse can make anyone a lightning rod for abuse, offering a sobering reminder that anonymous strangers make fickle confidants.

As an antidote to this crowdsourcing of intimacy, Miyako offered herself, making a genuine, vulnerable connection with the lonely Yukiko. I quite liked how this resulted in the episode ending without a fight altogether; rather than banishing Yukiko’s negative feelings via magic, Miyako actually challenged the emotional root of the problem. She’s already proven a key voice of reason within the group, and I’m looking forward to seeing how her journey continues from here. Let’s get to it!

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The Legend of Vox Machina S3 – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into the rambling adventures of Vox Machina, wherein our heroes have currently divided their forces between fighting a dragon and infiltrating hell itself. Not normally a time when I’d recommend splitting the party, but given their impressive history of dragon-slaying, I’d imagine… what’s this? They’ve fought this dragon twice already, and it kicked their asses even as a full party? Yeah, they’re fucked.

Fortunately, seeing how a group of players and their DM can collaborate in getting themselves un-fucked from some seemingly unwinnable scenario is one of DnD’s greatest pleasures. Readers of traditional fiction will generally look poorly upon entirely foreshadowing-free deus ex machina, but it’s not hard to weave some complicating variable into your prior narrative such that a group’s fortunes can change from desperate to triumphant at a moment’s notice. In contrast, DnD prioritizes player agency above all, which means a solution that doesn’t emerge from skillful application of their player abilities is always going to be less satisfying than a victory that feels “mechanically earned.”

This issue only becomes all the more prominent as a campaign rises in scale over time, presenting ever-more intractable opposition for its brave heroes. The easiest solution to this riddle comes in the form of providing your enemy an Achilles’ Heel, or, in game parlance, a giant glowing weak point. An enemy’s strength can be utterly overwhelming so long as its weakness is also apparent – that way, there’s no need to limit your conception of an enemy’s power relative to your party’s available strength. And depending on the style of your campaign, these weaknesses can range from something as tangible as the Vestiges to simple overconfidence, so long as you provide the players opportunities to exploit that confidence. Given we’re pitting Vox Machina’s craftiest members against the Chroma Conclave’s dimmest dragon, I imagine some trickery will be involved in the task ahead, and I’m eager to see how Mercer realizes this chapter’s oversized threats without outright killing the party. Let’s get to it!

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Sol Bianca: The Legacy – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re stepping back into Sol Bianca: The Legacy, a six-episode OVA from the tail end of the twentieth century, and the sequel to a never-concluded predecessor from the early ‘90s. Anime’s direct-to-video era is littered with such artifacts, series that were cut short either by disappointing sales or staff exodus, leaving only fragmentary segments of ambitious, beautifully realized fantasy in their wake. Works were smaller in scale yet greater in implication; in an era largely given over to franchise replication, a landscape dominated by such lingering absences feels strangely alluring.

Anyway, context aside, Sol Bianca’s first episode introduced us to the titular ship and its crew of apparent bounty hunters, on the hunt for a pistol scavenged from the ruins of Earth. Along the way, they ran afoul of the ambiguous Terra Force, and ultimately picked up a young girl named Mayo with a mysterious past, who claims her parents await on the long-lost ruins of Earth itself. Thus the stage is set for a grand pilgrimage, one overtly framed in the context of Abraham’s journey to Canaan. Whatever awaits, I’m looking forward to more of this production’s sumptuous art design. Let’s get to it!

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The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are in for some absolute nonsense, and that’s even by the already-nonsensical standards of 100 Girlfriends’ usual fare. Having infiltrated Hakari’s house in order to rescue her from her tyrannical mother, Rentaro was eventually brought face-to-face with the tyrant herself, the imperious Hahari Hanazono. Then, after being thoroughly moved by her tale of love and loss, Rentaro tearily gazed into Hahari’s eyes – and realized that yes, she too is one of his destined soulmates.

So, both one of his fellow high schoolers and that girl’s own mother are going to end up in the Rentaro family, apparently. Well, we knew we were in for absurdity right from the start, and I suppose it’s only a small step from founding the Rentaro Family to that clan consuming other families entirely, enveloping both mothers and daughters in Rentaro’s boundless love. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how this story was going to top the preposterousness of Kusuri’s whole deal, but they immediately found a way. God bless them, they found a way.

Anyway, enough marveling at how gloriously stupid this turn of fate is. Let’s admire the fallout!

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Agent Aika – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a new production, as we explore the first episode of late-90s OVA Agent Aika. The show falls in a venerable tradition of fanservice-laden action-adventure projects that flourished following the widespread adoption of home VHS players, which allowed artists to bypass the strict standards of TV broadcasting, and create explicitly adult-aimed entertainment for the broadening anime market. Agent Aika director Katsuhiko Nishijima was basically a legend of this era, having directed the similarly horny Megami Paradise and Najica Blitz Tactics, alongside the monumental Project A-ko (from which I suspect Agent Aika derives its name).

Nishijima wrote, boarded, and directed this first episode, so we’ll clearly be seeing about as unfiltered an example of his aesthetic philosophy as possible. He is here complemented by frequent collaborator Noriyasu Yamauchi, who would work as character designer and animation director on a number of Nishijima projects, and still occasionally lends his AD talents to modern productions like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon (dear lord modern titling conventions are obnoxious). They are both essential figures of an oft-overlooked era in anime history, so I’m eager to get better acquainted, and Agent Aika’s tale of post-apocalyptic ruin exploration sounds like a lovely place to start. Let’s get to it!

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Galaxy Express 999 – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to the somber yet fanciful Galaxy Express 999, a parade of cosmic wonders imbued with a keen understanding of humanity’s self-defeating nature. Tetsuro journeys across the galaxy in pursuit of a dream that seems to invite only ruin; stop by stop, he chronicles the wreckage of others who hoped to find meaning at the end of the line, their regrets as boundless as the stars in the sky.

Tetsuro’s last excursion neatly summed up the duality of Galaxy Express, as Tetsuro found himself marveling at the strange gravity and endless volumes of the Comet Library, only to nearly become imprisoned by overwhelming medical debt. These exceedingly timely trials point to the universality of Galaxy Express’s concerns; so long as we labor under capitalism and see technology as an escape from the drudgery of our daily labors, we will continue to dream false dreams, with even our ambitions confined within the cage of what the profit motive allows. No matter how beautiful the scenery looks at a distance, drawing closer will reveal those sacrificed for the ambitions of our jailors, the endless ranks of the damned on Mars, on Pluto, or praying to “at least take my child” from the clouds of the Comet Library. No matter how far we journey, the cruelty of this world built on exploitation remains. Can Tetsuro truly hope to travel beyond the greed of mankind? Let us find out together.

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero (Washio Sumi Chapter) – Episode 4

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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’s Washio Sumi Chapter, after three straight episodes that have been a delightful mix of group bonding and tactically grounded Vertex takedowns. If this were any other show, I’d at this point expect this is the tone we should assume going forward, and simply enjoy the charming vignettes shared by Togo, Gin, and Nogi. But this is goddamn Yuki Yuna, and what’s more, we know precisely the fate awaiting these girls down the line.

As such, Washio Sumi has instead been an exercise in ruthless dramatic irony, inviting us to learn and care about these heroes with full knowledge their journey will end in disaster. This unique perspective has played naturally into the sense of doomed cyclical inevitability represented by the Divine Tree system; it’s as if we’re watching Madoka Magica play out from Homura’s shoulder, certain this path will end in disaster, hoping against reason that catastrophe might be avoided. The original Yuki Yuna played like a senseless tragedy; this plays like a premeditated crime, a long con perpetrated against the most passionate and self-sacrificing among us. If Yuki Yuna is hoping to raise our hackles against the systemic abuse of the young facilitated by jingoism and organized religion, it is certainly succeeding. Good luck out there, girls!

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