Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Trigun Stampede – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on Vash and the gang, as we race towards the climax of Trigun Stampede. Through the winding adventures of Vash and his companions, Stampede has set up something resembling a theological parable, a question of what we owe to each other, the planet, and the quasi-gods above. Million Knives is our old testament arbitrator, eager to wipe the slate clean, and fundamentally contemptuous of humanity’s struggles for survival. In contrast, Vash may well serve as our redeemer, witnessing the sins of generations and yet perpetually struggling to save our frail, fractious species.

In between these two poles, our last episode reintroduced Zazie as an avatar of the planet itself, a collective organism potentially incompatible with humanity’s rapacious hunger. Mankind’s better instincts will always face an uphill battle; it is far easier to destroy than it is to rebuild, and as this journey has shown, desperation can drive even the best of us to tribalism and hatred. But so long as one soul remains committed to a brighter, kinder future, I imagine Vash will stand alongside them, still loyal to the compassion his precious guardians have taught him. If we can help raise a being as fundamentally decent as Vash, perhaps we might be worth saving after all. Let’s find out!

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CITY the Animation – Episode 8

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to take another stroll downtown, and see what new fever dreams are cooking among the preposterous inhabitants of CITY the Animation. The show has recently been hard at work demonstrating that continuity need not imply coherency, as Mr. Makabe’s adventures with dining out have risen to new heights of lunacy, and Niikura has proven herself some kind of midnight food demon (no doubt at the insistence of her six or seven shoulder devils).

So basically business as usual for these wacky characters, alongside those steady apportionings of genuine mutual support and comfort that provide such a winning foundation for their variable antics. Life is a funny thing, full of moments of glory or sorrow that seem almost willfully disorienting in their senseless distribution. Through its various vignettes, CITY captures the absurdity of life with humor and compassion, providing an exaggerated yet still recognizable portrait of the unexpected trials and triumphs of the everyday. We’re all in this nonsense together, so let’s do our best to make our collective journey a pleasant one!

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Birdie Wing – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re embarking on a fresh new journey, as we explore the action-packed world of high-stakes golf drama. That’s right, it’s time for motherfucking Birdie Wing, which I know by reputation as a proud entry in anime’s distinguished “sports are basically DBZ battles” subgenre. Having greatly enjoyed such delightful genre forebearers as Scorching Ping Pong Girls and Sk8 the Infinity, I am eager to see how this production elevates what is generally agreed to be a sedate, largely retiree-aimed sporting passion.

Apparently our heroine’s origin story is “competes in unlicensed golf challenges to earn money for underprivileged youths,” which is a statement of such simultaneous absurdity and confidence that I’m already hooked. Our director Takayuki Inagaki is a seasoned veteran, having done key work on productions ranging from Desert Punk to School Rumble to Chio’s School Road, meaning he definitely has the comedy chops for this sort of thing. Meanwhile, screenwriter/series composer Yōsuke Kuroda seems even more appropriate for the project, having proven both his sports and melodrama cred through works like Big Windup!, BASTARD!!, and Gundam Build Fighters. All signs point towards an exceptionally executed slice of birdie-seeking absurdity, so let’s get right to the action of Birdie Wing!

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Kamiina Botan – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a fresh new production, as we screen the first episode of the currently ongoing Kamiina Botan, or in full adapted parlance “Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk.” The show follows a university student who is apparently introduced to the joys of drunken revelry when she moves to a new dorm, and befriends her alcohol enthusiast dorm leader Ibuki Tonami.

That’s not really much to go off! By premise and tags alone, it seems like we’re in for either college-oriented iyashikei or yuri romcom, with both director Takashi Sakuma and composer Yōko Yonaiyama possessing sturdy but relatively unexceptional credentials. Things get a bit more intriguing when we run down to the animation department, which appears stuffed with strong new-gen animators who’ve lent their talents to all sorts of acclaimed productions. That all seems like a fine combo to me, so let’s see what’s in store for us with Kamiina Botan!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Hero Chapter – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the field for one more challenge against God, as the brave champions of Yuki Yuna is a Hero face the potential destruction of their entire world. After three hundred years of stewardship, the Divine Tree is nearing the end of its life, and requires (surprise surprise) the sacrifice of a maiden “bride” to restore itself. Of course, even this wouldn’t result in the continuation of their current world – it would result in humanity joining the “land of the gods,” which sounds a whole lot like some instrumentality-adjacent death of human consciousness.

But really, have we come to expect any better from the Divine Tree or its intermediaries? As Nogi bitterly put it, truly embracing this cause demands a surrender of all human sentiment, of the small acts of charity and precious personal connections that define all that is good, all that is worth saving. This reorientation towards a denial of human consciousness is really nothing new for this faith; all along, the Divine Tree has sought to transform the brightest lights of humanity into fuel for its own perpetuation, seeing this as the highest calling to which humans might aspire. Thus stasis is maintained through the surrender of humanity itself, a variable which has no value in the Divine Tree’s cosmology, and which is accordingly drained from those who most fully embrace its divine purpose. But to live without humanity is to be an animated corpse, a semblance of consciousness with no greater conscience. It is the mission of the best of us to reject such a cynical ethos, and magical girls are the best of us made manifest, the living prayer that “if anyone says there’s no reason to hope, I’ll prove them wrong every single time.” Let’s get to proving!

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The Apothecary Diaries – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m thinking we could all do with some thorny palatial intrigue, meaning it’s likely time for a fresh episode of The Apothecary Diaries. The show has proven an absolute delight so far, in large part due to its preposterously charming heroine. Combining a keen intellect and curious mind with a variety of more grumpy, gremlin-reminiscent qualities, Maomao fits into a proud tradition of reluctant detectives, running from modern favorites like Oreki Houtarou all the way back to the indifferent, self-medicating Sherlock Holmes.

With Maomao as our guide, life at the palace has proven a treacherous and fragile balance, a continuous negotiation of loyalties spiced with the threat of venomous betrayal. It’s becoming oddly understandable how Maomao might find comfort in poisons; poisons might harm, but they rarely lie, generally revealing themselves through odor and texture and a certain stiffening of the limbs. In contrast, the nobles of the court are born liars, and that bastard Jinshi the least trustworthy of them all. Let’s see how Maomao navigates this nest of vipers as we return to the palace!

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Rock is a Lady’s Modesty – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome the fuck back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Rock is a Lady’s Modesty in the wake of our group’s first full band performance, wherein they rocked the faces off Bitter Ganache at an unsuspecting local club. Though the performance started out rocky for both Tina and Lilisa, Otoha’s support was able to drive both of them to glory, as she first threw a lifeline to Tina, and then aggravated Lilisa into her triumphantly selfish true form.

Their performance proved one of the show’s most compelling visual spectacles so far, drawing on the charged imagery of imprisonment, flowers, and leather-bound combat to illustrate our leads rising above their anxieties, and demonstrating their urge for both undiluted self-expression and earnest personal connection through their sound. Their band is not a happy family; they are a vicious nest of rivals, all intent on outshining each other while glorifying their own sound. Also, Tina is there.

Considering my misgivings regarding this show’s characterization of musical rebellion, I suppose it’s no surprise that Tina’s arrival has been a great relief to me. Tina’s lack of technical expertise forces the other band members to play at her pace, to moderate, to share; her inability to keep up demands solidarity from the others, and I was delighted to see Otoha taking the lead in doing so. Now let’s rub this win in Bitter Ganache’s stupid faces!

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Monogatari Off/Monster Season – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re winding towards the conclusion of Monogatari’s Monster Season, as our elite team of investigators work to hunt down the life-draining killer stalking their town. With four exsanguinated basketball players in the hospital, a similarly drained Deathtopia at Mayoi’s shrine, and one body still unaccounted for, the race is on to crack this case before Kagenui arrives and just punches everything to pieces.

While our killer remains elusive, the journey so far has offered plenty of thematically resonant touchstones to sift through, presenting echoes of both Acerola and Araragi’s passage into vampirism. Acerola believed becoming a vampire was the only way she could take account for the lives she stole, pledging that each life taken would be as precious to her as her own flesh was to the gourmet Deathtopia. But in meeting and transforming Araragi, she actually fulfilled her previous wish: to discover someone she could truly save, and thereby redeem her own existence. Each found a vessel for their self-sacrificing instincts in the other, and with the validity of their existence affirmed, they were each able to grow beyond those instincts, and discover the ordinary, fundamental truth that if you keep living, good things will eventually happen.

“Happiness isn’t a race,” Araragi once said, and the wandering passage of himself and Shinobu speak to the truth of those words. Though the journey has been arduous, this arc’s glance back towards their origins demonstrates just how far they’ve come, all the great strides towards happiness they have taken. Whatever mysteries remain, the emotional growth of Araragi and Shinobu has never been more certain. Now let’s get to work!

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Wicked: For Good

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re journeying back into the fantastical land of Oz, as we explore the followup to 2024’s Wicked film adaptation. Yep, it’s time for Wicked: For Good, as Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba suffers the slander of our Wizard charlatan, and Ariana Grande’s Glinda assumes the mantle of magical inheritance. Having formed an unlikely bond during their days at Shiz Academy, the two have been torn apart by the Wizard’s machinations, and Elphaba now finds herself the scapegoat for all of Oz’s manifold problems.

The first film offered an intriguing stew of thematic variables, touching on notes of classism, discrimination, and the ways skillful propagandists can reshape society in their own preferred image. I’m generally a fan of narratives that frame magic as a fading whisper in the age of man, and the idea that the Wizard is intentionally provoking such an outcome through his attacks on education and rewriting of history is an exceedingly compelling twist on that convention. Additionally, Ariana Grande has proven herself absolutely fuckin’ hilarious, and though I expect this film will provide fewer opportunities for her to make a delightful fool of herself, I’m eager to see where Elphaba and Glinda go from here. Let us return to unrest in the land of Oz!

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 18

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in with Frieren and the gang, as they continue their journey north to the land of souls’ rest. When last we met with our adventurers, they were making an impromptu goodbye to Sein, the priest who’d been accompanying them ever since they convinced him to pursue his old friend. Discovering his objective had wandered in a different direction, he parted with a simple wave, content in the time he had shared with our crew.

His departure served as a play on expectations that ultimately reinforced Frieren’s melancholy themes; though we often think of parties in stories like this as natural, unbreakable units, every journey shared is in truth a happy accident. Frieren has explored the tragedy of taking others’ presence for granted through its reflections on the original hero’s party, but Sein’s brief presence put that discussion in immediate terms, as we in the audience were given barely enough time to get to know him before he was already gone.

But that’s enough melancholy and nostalgia for now. With the first class mage exams presumably ahead of us, I’m guessing we’re moving into some crunchy action territory for the moment, and am eager to see these animators flex a bit. Let’s get to it!

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