Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Kiss x Sis – Episode 2

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Honestly, at this point, bring on the little sister fetish shows. I at the time thought they were generally as artless as television anime was going to get – utterly lacking in any sort of meaningful character writing or thematic intent, but at the very least siloed within a specific realm of fetish-driven content, proudly offering no reason or incentive for actual critics and art enthusiasts to engage with them. They were valueless, but they were also harmless; a clear reflection of a particular sub-subculture’s fetishization of their difficulties connecting with the opposite sex, nothing more or less.

I was wrong. Dear reader, I was so, so wrong.

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Bocchi the Rock! – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ve got a bittersweet spectacle ahead of us, as we journey through the final episode of Bocchi the Rock! I’m eager to see this last performance, but sad to say goodbye; Bocchi has been a delightful journey from start to finish, owing both to the inherent strength of its material and the inventive passion that Keichiro Saito and his team have brought to its adaptation.

Bocchi shines from pretty much whatever angle you choose to approach it. As a character-driven slice of life or situational comedy, the show possesses an uncommon understanding of anxiety’s variable manifestations, and realizes the halting, often circuitous process of acclimating yourself to social confidence and even performance with grace. But the show’s sensitivity of characterization isn’t limited to Bocchi herself; though they’re obviously given less screen time, her bandmates also come across as fully realized teenagers, convincing in both their oddball competencies and emotional blind spots.

Then there’s the show’s articulation of the music club scene: a quietly fading world of basement venues and found families, where weirdos who’ve found community in chord progressions assemble to bleed their hearts out on the stage. From the care taken in visually realizing these spaces to the tenderness with which characters attest to their worth, Bocchi the Rock serves as a loving tribute to local music scenes of all stripes, affirming how even those who have trouble speaking their feelings can feel at home strumming them on guitar.

And then, there’s of course Bocchi’s luxurious production merits, from its spacious, often thematically purposeful layouts to its countless stylistic digressions and animation flourishes. It seems like every moment spent with Bocchi offers some fresh reward, so while I’m loath to say goodbye, I’m thrilled we’re finishing on one last performance. Good luck up there, Bocchi!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m thinking it’s about time to check back in on the continuing trials of Yuki Yuna, as the Hero Club celebrates their recent domestication of transfer student-slash-Divine Tree guardian Karin Miyoshi. In spite of her efforts to live a life of spartan dedication to her martial duties, Karin was unable to resist the charms of her new companions, and was last seen sharing in the celebration of her recent birthday. I’m sorry Karin, but this show’s slice of life predilections are at least as significant as its action ones, thus there’s simply no way you’re avoiding a lot of snacks and club meetings.

With Karin now integrated into the overall group dynamic, I suspect we’ll be turning back to matters of Divine Tree defense, and am curious to see what new wrinkles this narrative phase might provide. Outside of the understandable tension provided by Fu unilaterally conscripting her friends into a deadly supernatural battle, our cast have so far been largely unchallenged and on the same page regarding their current circumstances, so I suspect complications will be arriving soon. Let’s see what Uezu has in store for our heroes as the battle for the Divine Tree continues!

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Land of the Lustrous – Episode 12

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Perhaps it would be easier if Phos had simply failed. Was their life so very bad to start with? They lived smiling and carefree, beloved by their fellow gems in spite of, or perhaps even because of their physically useless nature. They possessed few questions and fewer doubts about their world, were looked upon kindly by Sensei and Dia, and had no end of species to catalog in their encyclopedia. If they had simply been a little less curious, or perhaps a little less moved by the plight of Cinnabar, they could have lived happily within the gems’ peculiar terrarium. Happiness need not require answers to all of life’s difficult questions – it only requires the absence of doubt.

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 38

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Hey there folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Hugtto! Precure, which most recently dazzled us with a two-part crossover event featuring dozens upon dozens of other Pretty Cures. There were witchy Precures and pâtissière Precures, Precures by the twos and threes and sevens. It was an undeniably bewildering but nonetheless engaging introduction to the wide, rambling history of this venerable franchise, capped off by some phenomenal cuts of animation as our collective heroes squared off against a monster the size of a planet.

It was a lot of fun seeing both the vast diversity and points of commonality across all these generations (it seems like pink cures are always a little stupid, huh?), and provided further incentive for me to check out the much-lauded Heartcatch after Hugtto is concluded. But for now, I’m quite happy to return to some smaller-stakes drama back with our own team, and perhaps dig further into the intriguingly melancholy circumstances of our dear Dr. Traum. Hugtto’s villains have been just as engaging as its heroes, driven by sympathetic regrets and fears of abandonment, and I suspect Lulu’s “father” will prove one of the best of them. Let’s find out in a fresh episode of Huggto!

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BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into the increasingly thorny drama of BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, wherein our heroine Anon’s carefree pursuit of a high school band has accidentally stirred up a maelstrom of drama for the former members of CRYCHIC. Through her blunt pursuit of Tomori’s support, she has conjured a hope of community that Tomori seemed to have abandoned. And though drummer Taki is wary of Anon’s unabashedly narcissistic schemes, CRYCHIC’s former bassist Soyo sees in Anon the perfect instrument of her own ambitions.

Though Anon is socially savvy enough to make friends with ease, she’s also self-absorbed and predictable and kinda stupid. This has made her a delightfully terrible perspective character, and also means she’s no more than putty in master manipulator Soyo’s hands. Soyo plans to exploit Tomori’s clear desire for a bond with Anon in order to secure both of them as bandmates, while using the threat of her own proximity to Tomori to drag in Taki as Tomori’s guardian. Having proven herself a very different but equally compelling brand of terrible relative to Anon, I’m eager to see how Soyo keeps her alleged friends dancing to her tune. Let’s get to it!

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Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to the early films of Toei Doga, as we explore their adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Released two years after the beautiful landmark that was The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon, Gulliver echoes the transition in art design philosophy that was initiated by Little Prince, though it pulls back somewhat from the clean geometric designs and impressionist background art of its predecessor.

Toei Doga’s artists were stretched thin across multiple productions throughout this era, so it’s little surprise that there’s a touch less continuity or artistic evolution than you’d expect across these films. Nonetheless, many of Toei’s early masters are still present on key animation, including the incomparable Yasuji Mori and the ascendant Yasuo Otsuka.

Mori has essentially been the emotional backbone of Toei’s film animation right from the start, lending an intimacy of character acting to their fantastical fables that grounds them in relatable human expressions, while Otsuka had already more than proven himself through his collaboration in animating the preposterously ambitious final battle with Little Prince’s titular dragon. Meanwhile, an ambitious young upstart named Hayao Miyazaki would here swiftly jump from in-betweening to concepting, as the relationships that would inform Takahata’s approaching Horus continued to be forged. Scanning across Gulliver’s contributors, you’ll see names that reach back to the beginning of Toei’s film animation and forward to the Masterpiece Theater works and Ghibli beyond, a human timeline of the personal bonds that made anime’s early works so magnificent, in spite of the immense responsibilities heaped on each individual artist. Let’s slot one more piece into this historical puzzle, as we explore the adventures of Gulliver and his companions!

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The Legend of Vox Machina S2 – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Legend of Vox Machina, as Grog and his companions square off for a battle that will surely kill them. Seriously, there’s like no way Grog can fight his uncle Kevdak – Kevdak’s wielding a legendary pair of knuckles, Grog already lost this fight back in the day, and he’s currently as taut and muscular as a strip of beef jerky. As such, I’m intrigued to see in what particular fashion Mercer “cheats” for this encounter, giving Grog some productive route forward while nonetheless making it seem like Grog himself earned this victory.

Skillfully laid deus ex machina is well and good in a traditional narrative, but relying on outside interference generally strips players of agency in a tabletop setting. I’m guessing Grog’s victory might serve as a payoff for his last-episode revelation (perhaps Pike will counter his “strength is looking after the little folk” with a “sometimes strength is looking after the big folk”), but I’m eager to find out how.

As for my own campaign, the bustle of moving furniture out of our old apartment and searching for a new one has made it difficult to schedule any new sessions, so I’ve instead been hard at work plotting out the last act of the campaign. This is of course an inherently fraught proposition, as player agency and a fully scripted narrative are naturally at odds, but we’ve fortunately journeyed far enough into the campaign that it’s essentially all payoff from here, meaning I can at least script the broad beats of the upcoming adventures. To be honest, it’s actually quite similar to a common strategy for writing novels: establish the big structural beats so you can be thinking long-term, but allow the characters to surprise you as you’re filling in the individual scenes and sections. This whole process has been so invigorating that I’ll likely start working on some original fiction again once this campaign wraps up, but for now, my mind is abuzz with final boss concepts worthy of the time my players have invested in this rambling tale. Now enough of that, let’s see what Vox Machina are up to!

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Bocchi the Rock! – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to check back in on the status of Bocchi and the gang, who are currently gearing up for a performance at Bocchi’s school festival. From a starting point of lugging her guitar to school in the vague hope of being recognized as a Cool Rocker Chick, Bocchi has now earned the credentials to truly support that optimistic self-image. She’s in a real band! She’s played at a real club! She’s made friends with a real alcoholic bassist!

Kikuri’s support has indeed been crucial to get Bocchi this far, alongside the persistent encouragement of Seika and her bandmates. Through their steady guidance and Bocchi’s own faltering efforts, Bocchi the Rock! has articulated the evolving challenges of gaining social confidence with sympathy and precision, consistently acknowledging the fragility of new gains, inevitability of wayward digressions, and cruciality of a loving support network. With Bocchi’s initial goal now within reach, let’s see how our anxious hero is faring!

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Kaiba – Episode 8

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After half a season of rambling episodic tales with diverse thematic takeaways, Kaiba’s eighth episode finds itself falling victim to that enduring foe of metaphorical fiction: narrative continuity. With our protagonist’s fate uncertain following Vanilla’s heroic sacrifice, our story turns to the planet highlighted in the show’s opening, the planet of rule and rebellion. Here, the tyrannical Warp rules from on high in a body that’s strangely familiar, while Lord Dada foments rebellion below, aided by his chief accomplices Popo and Neyro. The course of this episode resolves as so many dominoes tumbling into place, the falsehoods of both Warp and Dada breaching the surface as the friends Kaiba has long grasped towards make their final stand.

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