Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a couple solid months since we last visited the shores of Alola, and I’m currently still working off an awful cold, so I’d say we’ve more than earned a return to Sun & Moon. Though at this point, I doubt we’ll be seeing too many sun-dappled beaches or cloudless skies, given the crew just rode Solgaleo through a goddamn wormhole. The land of the Ultrabeasts awaits, and I’m expecting some impressive feats of pokebattle animation as our team seeks to rescue Lusamine. Just fighting one Ultrabeast seemed too much for our shamelessly stat-modded Pikachu – even with a legendary pokemon at their side, can our heroes truly battle them on their own turf? With the stakes higher than ever before, let’s return to the fantastical world of Sun & Moon!
Category Archives: Episode Writeup
The Demon Girl Next Door – Episode 7
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to The Demon Girl Next Door, where Shamiko most recently staged a daring counterattack against her magical girl nemesis. Seeing her opponent in a moment of weakness, Shamiko first pillaged her blood to feed her ancestors, before commencing an outright invasion of Momo’s secret base. For once, victory was claimed by the forces of evil, and it was Momo who was left to mutter a defeated “I’ll get you next time.”
At least, that’s what I assume Shamiko’s ancestor will write for her status report. In truth, although Momo did indeed show some weakness last episode, Shamiko responded to it with all the kindness we’ve come to expect from our demon girl. After frequently coming across as impossibly perfect throughout the first several episodes, the struts propping up Momo’s poise came tumbling down, revealing the mess of a person behind them. Through the exploration of Momo’s dreamspace, we learned she is haunted by nightmares of her past life, and convinced of her own unsuitability as a magical girl. Through the visit to her house, we further learned she lives a life of isolation, and struggles with even the basic demands of independent life. And through her simultaneously tragic and hilarious familiar, we learned she sees herself as over the hill, a relic who’s already lost her magic spark.
That’s a lot of stress for such a young person! Given the lofty expectations placed upon her, it’s no wonder that Momo has retreated into this distant, seemingly “perfect” affectation, and also no surprise that her image is starting to crack. Just as the world expected Shamiko to fail due to her status as a “fallen girl,” so has it expected Momo to shine unerringly, embodying an ideal of femininity that no human being could hope to match.
Through the reveal of Momo’s circumstances, last episode demonstrated how this Madonna/whore binary punishes even those it’s ostensibly celebrating, forcing them to deny their preferences or imperfections in order to please society’s arbitrary strictures. And through that revelation, it became clearer than ever that Shamiko is precisely the person Momo needs: someone who accepts her failings, and who understands that “if you always live in fear of other people seeing your weaknesses, you’ll never make any progress in life.” As a person composed almost entirely of weaknesses, Shamiko has had to embrace that philosophy from the start; if she can get her friend to share it, they might just escape from this prison of society altogether. But I’ve rambled for more than long enough, so let’s dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door!
Symphogear XV – Episode 10
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the sun is shining, the birds are trilling, and we’re watching some goddamn Symphogear. When last we left off, Hibiki had just emerged from her doctor-prescribed Pit of Despair, the place she generally visits before rallying for a given season’s final battle. Having once again lost Miku to the allure of jet-propelled pants, she was forced to commiserate with her father, who for once actually had some reasonable advice for her.
Meanwhile, our sword lesbians were busy hashing out some disagreements in the only way sword lesbians can. Kazanari’s violently nationalist philosophy was frankly too distant from Tsubasa’s values to ever present a genuine allure, but where authentic philosophical conflict fails, brainwashing can serve in a pinch. I’m not particularly bothered by that admittedly clumsy turn; having Tsubasa be caught between familial legacy and personal feelings was a natural direction to take this story, and ending it with Kazanari literally killing his son in order to impart his values to his granddaughter felt like a perfect capstone for his role in the narrative. It’s the ultimate counterpoint to his claims of working to protect the family: in the end, nationalists will sacrifice anything for the sake of their own glorious self-image.
With XV’s political thread having pretty much resolved itself, it’s time to get personal, as Hibiki fights to save her wife from some new god-summoning ritual or whatever. However things turn, I’m sure the battles will be absolutely spectacular for Symphogear’s grandest of finales. Let’s get to it!
Ranking of Kings – Episode 4
Hello again, and welcome to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to the world of Rankings of Kings, wherein Bojji most recently set off on a grand adventure. All the pieces are now set for a classic work of heroic fantasy: a young boy with grand dreams but untested abilities, a nefarious half-brother claiming his birthright, and a vast world sprawling out before him. But of course, even by this point, it’s clear that Ranking of Kings intends to complicate our understanding of heroism, justice, and righteousness.
For two full episodes, and up through the first half of the third, Queen Hyling was presented as an unambiguous antagonist to Bojji. She scolded him for his fundamental nature, marveled at his weakness relative to her trueborn son, and even led the charge to prevent his ascension to the throne. We were given every reason to believe Hyling belonged to a long lineage of evil stepmothers, whose motives require no unpacking, and whose role in the narrative is entirely one-dimensional.
And then, we learned who Hyling truly was. How she’d initially possessed such enthusiasm for connecting with Bojji, and how she genuinely respected his gentle nature. How they’d grown together, and then how the birth of her son had slowly drawn them apart. Crucially, what we learned about Hyling did not reframe her prior actions as secretly noble – Hyling has done both kind things and selfish things, sometimes operating according to her most charitable instincts, and at other times reacting out of fear, impatience, or simple frustration. She is the first to embody Ranking of Kings’ most central and urgent theme: that people are not simply good or evil, people are people, with complex motives, concerns we’re not privy to, and the capacity to act in both kind and unkind ways. Hyling was not drawn away from Bojji by some equally noble cause; she simply let love slip into indifference, and from there to resentment. So it goes.
Ranking of Kings’ general refusal to engage in moral absolutism, its understanding that we all contain multitudes, is its most compelling thematic thread. But beyond that, the show is also charming and beautiful and a generous adventure in its own right, embodying the strengths of its genre predecessors while dancing around many of their pitfalls. With Bojji at last on his way, I’m eager to see where his adventure leads, so let’s get right back to the delightful Ranking of Kings!
Simoun – Episode 24
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to the skies of Simoun, where Chor Tempest is currently on the verge of total abolition. In fact, it’s not just Chor Tempest, but the foundations of Simulacrum society that’s threatened by this new peace. At least during the war, Simulacrum could still cling to its identity as a chosen land, and the sole wielder of the Ri Majoon. But with the walls between these societies falling just as foreign engineering catches up with them, all of the things that defined Simulacrum as special are swiftly disintegrating.
Of course, as Onashia just revealed, the alternative promises its own form of disintegration. To maintain Simulacrum’s status as a pristine gem, and to fully embrace the power of the Ri Majoon, is to separate yourself from the natural cycles of life and death. Simulacrum’s overall society has been mirroring the nature of its sybillae: kept pristine through isolation, utterly preoccupied with the fear of “contamination,” and in many ways contained to a perpetual adolescence.
The parallels between simoun sibyllae, Simulacrum itself, and the Class S narratives this story is drawing on are abundantly clear, and at this point, the show’s proposed solution seems clear as well. To seek perfection is to seek non-existence; only through embracing the world will Simulacrum survive, just as how only through embracing their imperfect humanity will the sibyllae grow into adulthood. Perfection is beautiful, but it is also static; Simulacrum was a wonder, but it was built to fall. Let’s return to this mirage’s final days, as we explore one more episode of Simoun!
Hakujaden
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be exploring the oldest work of anime I’ve ever covered on the blog, and in fact, the first full-length film Toei Douga ever produced. Known as Hakujaden, “The White Serpent,” or “Panda and the Magic Serpent,” it’s an adaptation of a classic work of Chinese folklore, and is essentially the anime equivalent to Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
In this film, we will be witnessing the process of a new art form coming into being, as the scattered shorts of prior years gave way to a new era of anime production, led in large part by the luminaries of Toei Douga. Eventually the studio’s film productions would jumpstart the careers of modern legends like Takahata and Miyazaki, but for Hakujaden, the key animation would be composed by just two animators: Akira Daikubara handling the humans, and Yasuji Mori taking care of the animals. Hakujaden is a staggeringly significant work by any metric, and I’m frankly well outside my depth in attempting to “critique” it in anything but the most wildly ahistorical of styles, but I hope at the very least we can simply sit and appreciate it together. Let’s explore the birth of Toei Douga’s film catalog!
Scum’s Wish – Episode 4
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to the torturous drama of Scum’s Wish, wherein basically everyone is having a lousy time not being with the one they want. Our misguided leads started unhappy and have only gotten worse, with their preposterous hopes for a “relationship of surrogates” predictably falling apart the moment it began.
Though they are united under the vague umbrella of each wanting someone they can’t have, it’s already clear that what Hana and Mugi want from each other is quite different. It seems Hana is beginning to realize the impossibility of getting together with Kanai; having observed Ecchan’s own hopeless crush, she now sees the emotional burden her desires are placing on others. If not for Akane’s presumed infidelity driving her forward, she’d likely be happy to honestly date Mugi in a totally healthy, non-displaced-affection sort of way.
On the other hand, Mugi probably shouldn’t be dating anyone right now. It’s clear that his relationship with Mei messed him up pretty badly, with her push for sexual contact leaving him uncomfortable with any sort of physical relationship. What Mugi actually needs is a therapist, but this is anime, and so presumably those feelings will be synthesized into chaos by the trauma-to-drama pipeline. That’s the shit we’re here for, so let’s batten down the hatches and get ready for a storm as we return to the world of Scum’s Wish!
Zoku Owarimonogatari – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to one of the series that actually started my anime writing career, way back when I was just making rambling reddit posts. That’s right, it’s time to check out Zoku Owarimonogatari, the as-of-now final piece in the vast Monogatari tapestry.
Monogatari has been one of my favorite series ever since 2013’s Second Season blew my mind, offering a richness of characterization and purposefulness of visual storytelling that basically no other series can match. In fact, as far as character writing goes, I consider it and Evangelion to be the peak works of the medium, exploring the nuances of identity formation and interpersonal relations with a subtlety, sharpness, and compassion that puts them in the running with the great works of film and literature. Frankly, if Monogatari weren’t so good, I’m not sure I’d be writing about anime right now – it was the brilliance of this show’s characters that provoked in me a need to write about these stories, and it was the positive response to that writing that gave me the encouragement to keep going.
This franchise embodies that particular alchemy that is most resonant to me in anime, that combination of deep-dive character studies, doggedly humanist themes, and visual synthesis of both that first electrified me as a teenager, back when Evangelion became my favorite work of art. It is a rare and beautiful thing, a harnessing of animation’s infinite aesthetic potential, as well as anime’s often deeply personal priorities, in order to make the raw clay of human nature viscerally felt and transcendently visualized. Though I can certainly appreciate visual splendor, I will always be a writer at heart, and Isin is one of the greatest authors to lend his pen to animation. His work has had a profound impact on my aesthetic sensibilities and life more generally, and it all started with Bakemonogatari.
All that said, in my view, the greater arc of the Monogatari franchise was essentially concluded by Owarimonogatari Second Season. As such, I’m expecting this to be more of a victory lap than an essential addition to the canon, and have preemptively forgiven it for its presumably extraneous nature. Of course, “extraneous Monogatari” is still one of the best writers to touch anime riffing on his masterpiece, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty to savor in this encore performance. For perhaps the very last time, let’s dive into the world of Monogatari!
Anne of Green Gables – Episode 7
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to report that the ferry ride has concluded, a carriage has been arranged, and we are on our way to Green Gables. When last we’d visited, Marilla had finally confirmed that Anne can stay, on condition that she be a good girl and learn how to say her prayers properly. Anne broke the first of these conditions pretty much immediately, rushing out the door to tell all the flowers and trees about her victory, and I can’t imagine she’ll have better luck with the second one. But the truth of it is, I doubt Marilla could imagine parting with Anne regardless, and these stern proclamations are simply the last, futile gasps at reasserting some pre-Anne order.
But Anne is not just Anne anymore, she is now Anne of Green Gables. Flush with confidence and standing on ground that is truly hers, Anne’s expansive personality is sure to reshape this family’s lives in all sorts of ways. It’s been a pleasure to spend time with Anne even in the pits of despair, so I can’t wait to see how she tackles this world with a renewed spring in her step. Let’s get right back to Green Gables!
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – Episode 13
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we arrive at the end of a long and fascinating journey, as we explore the final episode of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Over the course of its run, Fujiko Mine has explored the politics of sexuality with a frankness and maturity I’ve elsewise never seen in anime, excepting the more adolescence-focused analysis of Utena. The show has swum through the nuances of femininity as an ideal, sexual agency as a weapon, and the ever-pressing strictures of society with grace, and beyond that, it’s done it without ever feeling the least bit didactic or slow. Beyond anything else, Fujiko Mine has always been fun, never compromising on either its intellectual perspective or its love of adventure.
The show was frankly at its best in its episodic vignettes, where Fujiko was better able to push back against the world’s fetters. But I’m told this final arc ends with a bang, and am eager to see what Okada and Yamamoto have cooked up. For the last time, let’s return to The Woman Called Fujiko Mine!