Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Oregairu S3 – Episode 12

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Alright folks, it’s time to finish this journey. I’ve been watching and writing about Oregairu for basically as long as I’ve been writing about anime; I was writing seasonal reflections back on reddit during the first season, handled Anime News Network’s articles for the second, and am appropriately finishing off the third on my own humble website. After nearly a decade of writing about Oregairu, it’s an exceedingly bittersweet feeling saying goodbye.

That said, it certainly feels like the time is right for this story to end. To be honest, this third season itself has felt somewhat superfluous; both Haruno’s claims of codependency and Yukino’s need to host the prom felt like new injections of drama, not conflicts that emerged naturally from the initial premise. This season also can’t help but embrace the sort of melodrama its predecessors would sneer at, with its character study origins giving way to something a lot more heightened and sentimental. But in spite of the ways we’ve grown apart, I still feel a great fondness for this cast, and am eager to see them step out into the wider world. Let’s say goodbye to Oregairu!

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Eureka Seven – Episode 13

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Eureka Seven, where we most recently experienced Renton’s first full-on psychological breakdown. As an admittedly post-Evangelion property marked with countless parallels to its big brother, it was clearly only a matter of time before we dove into the weeds of Renton’s mental state, as well as the familial trauma he’s been so assiduously denying. And as a first look at that trauma, this episode provided a number of fresh connections with its predecessor, along with some key points of differentiation.

Much of last episode’s imagery seemed to link Renton’s burgeoning adolescence with the environmental catastrophe facing his planet. Imagery like Renton staring down at himself in a classroom emphasized his expanded post-childhood perspective, while simultaneously evoking the sense of looking into a fishbowl, in keeping with Eureka Seven’s general aquatic theme. Other sequences offered a similar fusion of the personal and portentous – his navigation of an endless bathroom illustrated common feelings of adolescent sexual shame, while the ensuing sequence of falling into a deep sea brought us back to this world’s tectonic emergency. A great deal of anime could be summed up as “adolescent awakening framed as a battle for the fate of the world,” and Eureka Seven is effectively interweaving its internal and external conflicts towards just such an end.

Beyond the episode’s general evocation of adolescent anxiety, there was the further question of Renton’s absent sister. Renton’s sister is the key to his story, the blank space that explains everything else, and his relationship with her complicates his burgeoning feelings for Eureka. Does he truly desire Eureka as a romantic partner, or is he just looking for a feeling of safety, a home to return to? Evangelion made this mismatch of desires explicit: all of the Eva pilots were seeking parents rather than lovers, and thus could never truly comfort each other. But Eureka Seven seems to believe there is hope for its leads to connect, and I’m eager to see how. Let’s get to it!

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The Big O – Episode 18

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Big O, where the assumptions that define Roger’s world are collapsing with terrifying rapidity. More and more, it’s seeming like the entire city of Paradigm is some vast fabrication, a dream of a city more than the genuine article. As last episode quotes from Hobbes, “Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations hath diverse names.” What we don’t know or remember, we fill in with creations that feel just as substantive as our true memories. And in a city without memory, who is to stop a man like Rosewater from painting our collective consciousness in the hues of his dream?

In a city that’s already seeming like cardboard facades on wooden struts, Roger feels like the greatest fabrication of all. He’s already learned he’s a product of Rosewater’s conditioning, specifically bred and brainwashed to pilot the Megadeus. Given that knowledge, how could he possibly believe he’s acting of his own volition, rather than simply playing out some minor thread in Rosewater’s grand opera? Given the profound incuriosity of Paradigm’s general population, perhaps Roger’s desire for the truth was also premeditated – perhaps Rosewater, having already claimed everything else, now desires an observer to witness his ascension. Did Rosewater intend for all of this, and to ultimately claim Roger as his chosen son? Let’s find out!

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86 – Episode 10

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So what’s the plan now, Lena? 86 has arrived at the end of the known world, whether you’re looking at it geographically or narratively. The show has been propelled by twin narratives: Shin’s journey towards reuniting with his brother, and Lena’s slow separation from Republic protocol. With the events of episode nine, both of these threads have reached their conclusion, as Lena took matters into her own hands in order to ensure Shin’s victory. With the dust having settled and Spearhead passing beyond the reach of Lena’s communications, 86’s narrative as originally conceived is over. Truly overthrowing the Republic was impossible within the confines of this narrative’s original variables, but our leads managed to overcome their entrenched suspicion of each other, and rise to become the Republic’s feared symbols of hope.

If this were a traditional novel, this would likely be where the story ends. All of the dramatic variables as initially introduced have been expended, the key characters have completed their emotional arcs, and the conclusion found a clever way to “defeat” the Republic philosophically without indulging in the fanciful impossibility of truly overthrowing it. Cohesive, self-contained, complete. That said, light novels tend to keep going until they can no longer pay to keep the lights on, so I’m guessing we’re on the cusp of some new antagonistic variable, introduced just in time to provide a season two hook. The intersection of art and commerce is a thorny venue, but I’m sure we can navigate it together, as we explore the tenth episode of 86!

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The Legend of Vox Machina – Episode 3

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Hello everyone, and welcome the fuck back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to The Legend of Vox Machina, where I’m fairly certain the team just finished off their tutorial quest. I mean, I’ve only participated in one long-term D&D campaign myself, but given that my campaign also opened on killing a local dragon and receiving a nice estate in return, I have to assume that we’re still working off the standard D&D template here.

That makes this episode all the more exciting, as we’re presumably finally stepping out from the shadow of Wizards of the Coast, and can start to see what our own dungeon master has planned. Along with that, I’ll be keeping an eye on how our secondary cast members “grow into” their characters, presumably becoming more confident in expressing their personalities as the campaign continues. The twins and Scanlan have gotten the lion’s share of the dialogue so far, so I’ll be interested in seeing if our druid, cleric, or even berserker get more loquacious as the journey continues. Either way, Vox Machina continues to be a fascinating exercise in translating narrative into gameplay (the fundamental promise of D&D) and then back into narrative, so I’m sure I’ll find something to mutter about. Let’s get back to the adventure!

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 29

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re charging right back into Hugtto! Precure, and I couldn’t begin to guess what we’ll do next. I mean, last episode’s concept turned out to be “Homare’s Dog Falls in Love with a Pet Food Mascot,” and I have to say that wasn’t even in my top twenty guesses. We’re apparently in the generous middle stretch of a Precure season, where the established nature of the team and antagonists allows Toei to get a little wild in their episodic conceits. Personally I’d love to see more of Harry’s old friends, but wherever the wind blows us, I’m sure this cast and production team will make the journey special. Let’s pile in for a fresh episode of Huggto! Precure!

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Star Driver – Episode 3

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Alright Star Driver, what’s your plan here? It seems clear that we’re setting up our thematic conflicts along lines of sexual agency, but the details are a little less certain. Southern Cross Isle’s fated shrine maidens feel like a very near reincarnation of Utena’s Rose Bride: icons of the feminine, passive figures that are acted upon in the fulfillment of some ancient, patriarchal ritual. By “breaking the shrine maiden’s seal” (ie taking her virginity through the imposition of masculine power), Star Driver’s equivalents of Utena’s student council hope to extend the theoretical power of the Cybodies into the physical world.

All of that is well and good, and pretty much maps to a neo-Utena interpretation of the action so far. But calling out this show’s parallels with Utena is easy; at the moment, I’m more interested in pinning down the ways Star Driver differs from Utena, and thus might be proposing a different argument. I’d initially figured the two sides of this conflict mapped cleanly to traditional versus progressive gender presentation and sexual agency, but if anything, the nefarious student council seem more uninhibited than our fairly chaste lead pair. Of course, everyone involved here is a teenager, and thus none of them really know what they’re doing; the stark contrast of their self-presentation and stated goals might itself be part of the point, reflecting their attempts to aesthetically embody a sexual maturity that they can’t emotionally reach yet. And of course, this complex stew of thematic variables is pure candy for me, so I’ll be happy as long as the show stays weird, layered, and ambitious. Let’s get right to it!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 52

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am happy to announce that we’re charging back into Sun and Moon, as we near the climax of this production’s first major arc. We’re not due for another Misaaki Iwane episode for a while yet, but I’m still anticipating a glorious display of animated action as our team enter The Twilight Zone. I mean, does the zone on the other side of these wormholes have an actual name, or can we just call it The Twilight Zone? Look, it’s already taking all my strength not to make any terrible jokes about the term “Ultra Hole,” so you can at least give me this one.

Ambiguous multidimensional nomenclature aside, the team has gathered and the conditions have been met. Let’s continue our journey through Sun and Moon’s most exciting act so far!

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The Demon Girl Next Door – Episode 6

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Demon Girl Next Door, where we last left off with Shamiko wishing for a donut pillow, so her horns won’t hurt so much when she sleeps. I feel like that wish basically sums up the Shamiko existence: even lying down to sleep is a painful and difficult task, replete with dangerous hurdles to traverse. But at the same time, that wish also illustrates her humility and indefatigable spirit. Life being tough is just how it goes for Shamiko, and though she could really use a donut pillow, she’ll surely muddle through regardless.

A girl like Shamiko could really use a friend to spoil her, and we may have found one in the reluctant Magical Girl Momo. While Momo seems to be well-off and competent in most things, she lives alone, and appears to have no friends beyond her incompetent nemesis. Her life as a magical girl has been one of austerity, loneliness, and obligation, and it seems like Shamiko might be the first good thing that’s happened to her in a long time. The two of them clearly need each other, so let’s not keep them apart any longer, as we dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door!

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Oregairu S3 – Episode 11

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be diving back into Oregairu’s final season, where when we last left off, Sensei had finally stepped in to help guide our severely mixed-up protagonist. Both Hachiman and Yukino have been laboring under Haruno’s prognosis of “codependency” all season, assuming that their implicit methods of supporting each other were in some way fundamentally childish or unhealthy.

Of course, what Haruno is actually describing is “friendship” and “mutual trust,” concepts which are undoubtedly foreign to her world, but which are nonetheless healthy aspects of any developed social life. In truth, the only thing holding Hachiman and Yukino back is their own insecurity; they’ve actually discovered the sincere bonds they were seeking, they just don’t have enough faith in their feelings to believe it. Hopefully that push from Sensei will provide Hachiman with the confidence he needs, as our long-suffering service club members only have two episodes left to sort things out. Let’s get to it!

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