Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to check back in on the trials of Doremi and the gang, as our crew continues their magical training and witch baby-raising under the dubious tutelage of Majo Rika. Of course, there’s plenty of room for detours along the way, along with self-imposed trials like messing with Hadzuki’s dance lessons. Ultimately, magic is really just a fantastical garnish for Doremi’s true substance: its thoughtful, wide-ranging exploration of the trials of youth, and the lessons we must internalize to mature happily and with confidence.

In Hadzuki’s case, that lesson was a familiar one, resonating with past trials like Onpu coming to understand her mother’s trauma, or Aiko accepting her father’s pursuit of new romance. Ojamajo Doremi’s empathy and insight stretches to its adults as well as its leads, emphasizing that we are all fallible works in progress, and in turn encouraging its heroes to walk forward with an understanding that there is no finish line to growing up. We’re all just doing the best we can, and in this production’s hands, the wonder of coming to love ourselves and our fellows feels as magical as any outright fantasy. Let’s see what shenanigans our team gets up to next!

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The Big O – Episode 21

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to The Big O, which we last left in a moment of total crisis, as both Roger and Dorothy found themselves under assault by agents of the mysterious “Union,” the only glimmer of civilization we’ve seen from outside the walls of Paradigm. Living in the ruins of the wider world, they have infiltrated Paradigm on all levels, from Roger’s would-be confidant Angel to Alex Rosewater’s associate Alan Gabriel. And now their agents have gathered, amassing in their chapel to pass judgment on this hedonistic dreamworld.

The unveiling of Paradigm’s true peculiarity has been the great work of Big O’s second half, as both Roger and the audience shift from taking his retro-futuristic city for granted to acknowledging it as a strange and unnatural outlier in a world otherwise fallen to ruin. Whatever Gordon Rosewater did, it appears his intent was to create a bubble world much like his tomato garden, a patch of enduring twentieth century excess that would resist the ruin otherwise enveloping the earth. To this end, he likely programmed Roger and others like him to act as this vessel’s antibodies, rooting out threats both internal and external in order to ensure the safety of the harvest. But what can Roger even do with this information? Knowing he is a pawn, would it be better to rebel against his programming and risk all of Paradigm, or remain complicit in Gordon’s project to protect his home? Neither answer seems quite right, which makes me all the more eager to see his own choice. Let’s get to it!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in on Blue Reflection Ray, and see how our heroes are faring in the wake of their successful rescue operation. Saving Miyako from the red reflectors ultimately required a brave step forward from Ruka, as she pushed past her anxieties to stand up for a person who was hurting, and thereby become the kind of person who can actually reach out to others. That in turn echoed the very reason she was fighting for Miyako: for no matter how painful our feelings, if we choose to learn from them rather than tuck them away, there is always hope we will do better next time.

It’s a fine dividing line between our blue and red reflectors, tethering that familiar conceit of “powerful emotions conjure powerful magic” to the further question of how precisely we choose to process those emotions. I’ll be interested in seeing how this metaphor develops, but in more immediate terms, I am also eager for the snarky, self-important Miyako to spend more time aggravating our initial pair. The irritants in these groups often turn out to be my favorite characters, and Miyako has so far proven to be an extremely charming brand of irritating. Let’s get to it!

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Call of the Night – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a certain yearning for the wild side, a clamoring for deviant adventure that can obviously only be sated with some Call of the Night. Granted, our featured nightwalkers aren’t exactly the most intimidating of creatures; in fact, they spent most of their last encounter debating the significance of a first kiss and also playing Street Fighter. Nonetheless, their dissatisfaction with daylit society and slow progress towards mutual trust have been an overall delight, a charming slow burn of romance and incidental escapades.

Through both its careful color design and the anxieties of its main cast, Call of the Night has been articulating a poignant sense of dislocation within modern society. This fundamental loneliness is balanced by the tentative intimacy shared by Kou, Nazuna, and newcomer Akira; none of them are quite sure where they belong, but all of them are desperate to not be alone. All that plus a heaping helping of sensually charged imagery makes Call of the Night a natural continuation of director Itamura’s Monogatari-forged expertise, and a show I’m always happy to revisit. Let’s not waste any more time then, and see what Nazuna and her human companions are up to!

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Big Windup! – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to the field for a fresh episode of Big Windup!, with our team having successfully navigated Mihashi’s surprise birthday party. And I mean that “surprise party” in sort of the reverse of the normal sense, as Mihashi himself was the one who invited his team over to his house, thus surprising them with the reveal that their team meeting was actually a birthday party. Nonetheless, the gathering ultimately drew our team closer together, with Abe again resolving to carry this scrappy yet unexpectedly talented team to victory.

Though actually, his phrasing was a little more precise than that. Abe is no longer thinking in terms of “carry” or “exploit” – he’s come to realize that these are teammates he can genuinely rely on, not just tools to fulfill his own ends. Just as Mihashi was scarred by his resentful middle school teammates, so were Abe’s ambitions corrupted by his unreliable former pitcher. Smart as he was, he could not see the limitations of his own cynical perspective; but now, with a trusted team beside him, he’s learning to put his tactical thinking to use in service of trust-building gambits like “casually demonstrate to the rest of the team just how precise Mihashi’s pitches can be.” With his scheming now ostensibly aligned with the team’s greater good, I’m eager to see how our boys handle their first serious opponents. Let’s get to it!

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Spy x Family – Episode 32

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond eager to charge back into Spy x Family, wherein the Forger’s Family Cruise is ratcheting up its tension and violent provocations by the second. When last we left off, Yor was on the verge of fighting the appropriately titled Sickle-and-Chain Barnaby, an assassin who apparently cares a great deal about appearances and very little about disguises. With this ostentatiously murderous assailant stalking the halls, how will Yor hide her assignment from her husband in the next room!?

I have no idea, but I’m quite certain the solution will be marvelous in its ingenious stupidity. That’s most of what I’m looking for here: ideas so stupid they loop back around to brilliant, something this cruise ship arc has so far offered in abundance. Drawing the family together for a group adventure always adds a welcome dash of spice to Spy x Family’s theatrics, and if protecting these informants prompts Yor to reflect on her relationship with her own alleged family, so much the better. Let’s see what madness awaits in a fresh Spy x Family!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to a scene of epic tragedy, as the young two-time hero Togo faces off against all the forces of the cosmos. Everything she once believed in has been proven false; rather than noble defenders of her proud homeland, she has learned they are actually just human sacrifices, destined to torture themselves in pointless battles all for the sake of the Divine Tree’s sustenance. They are pawns of an arbitrary conflict between gods, and what’s worse, it was Togo herself who was utilized as the instrument of Yuna’s demise, guided into friendship entirely so Yuna might eventually be exploited as a “hero” as well.

It is a hard thing to learn your home only sees you as meat for the grinder, particularly for someone as civic-minded as Togo. Her desire to support her home and Yuna’s general concern for those surround her were both ruthless exploited by the Taisha; drawn away from their genuine community-oriented club activities, their selflessness was instead directed towards an arbitrary conflict of and for the gods alone, a shortsighted response to heaven’s own shortsighted failings. Given all this, it is no surprise that Togo now wants only to burn it all down, and at least ensure no future heroes are similarly betrayed by their own kindness. Let’s see how her battle fares!

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Skip and Loafer – Episode 8

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Skip and Loafer, for an episode that promises some of our most intense drama so far! I know, honestly not the biggest threat for this charmingly mild-mannered production, but I’m nonetheless excited to see Shima confront some of the lingering aspects of his past, and for Mitsumi to grapple with what exactly Shima means to her.

So far, Mitsumi has been enjoying a lighthearted high school life by virtue of her own personal buoyancy, being able to both draw people towards her and rise above her own insecurities through her earnest positivity and relative maturity in pursuit of her life goals. She has avoided friction by not imposing herself on others, but love is necessarily an imposition: a hopefully positive one, yes, but nonetheless a request to meaningfully insert yourself into the life of another, and act with their feelings in mind with the understanding that they’ll be doing the same.

As Shima’s old friend noted, our boy has already unconsciously begun this process, but introducing a rival for his affections will quite likely force him to make his connection with Mitsumi explicit, which would go against the carefree persona he’s adopted as a shield against painful consequences. Shima had gotten very close to the point of successfully shrugging his way into a relationship with Mitsumi, but Ririka’s arrival seems poised to force him into actively committing to his desires, with all the unwanted responsibility that entails. Let’s see how our lovebirds fare as we return to Skip and Loafer!

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we might check back in on the gentle drama of Freiren: Beyond Journey’s End, and see what our perpetually unbothered mage and her young apprentice are getting up to. Our last episode actually covered a great deal of ground, taking us from the last years of Heiter’s life through the first years of Fern’s wandering with Frieren, which turned out to involve a lot less glamor than Fern was expecting. Helping with errands, gathering niche magical proficiencies, and venerating those who came before: Frieren’s passions are not exactly the peak of fantastical drama, and that is precisely what makes this production special.

In our frequently action-obsessed animated media ecosystem, the idea of fantasy not being a route to power, but instead a tool for achieving greater understanding, appreciation, and integration into the world around us makes for a lovely change of pace. And Frieren doesn’t simply luxuriate in its unique atmosphere; through the course of its meditative vignettes, it takes the long view in grappling with the idea of a “life well-lived,” using its heroine’s unique perspective to consider how we might pass each moment without regret, as well as the legacy we will ultimately leave behind us. Great acts of momentary glory tend to fade in memory; what remains is often intimate and incidental, allegedly idle moments shared with the people we love. Let’s see what our wandering mages get up to this time!

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Star Driver – Episode 25

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I imagine we’re in for one hell of a bumpy ride, as we join Takuto for the grand finale of the whimsical, richly layered, and altogether thrilling Star Driver. With anime legends Igarashi and Enokido at the helm, Star Driver has offered plenty of the theatrical embellishments, adolescent psychological inquiry, and grand theories of human relations that I’d expect from such distinctive, creatively driven artists. We’ve rambled from baseball episodes to creation myths, pursuing all the while that indistinct horizon of the adult world, where the legends and rituals that have guided us prove themselves either trustworthy signposts or merely the bars of a larger cage.

Southern Cross Isle’s patriarchal order is ultimately ruled by fear; fear of female agency, fear of the adult world, and most fundamentally fear of being unmoored, of no longer being the lord of your domain. Sugata’s predecessors feared losing power so much that they essentially became avatars of power alone, sacrificing their ability to choose their own destiny just to ensure that others would be similarly contained. Kiraboshi have come up with a unique solution to their simultaneous fear of the external world and desire for greater power: simply expand their cage outward, capturing the entire world within the domain of their abilities. But to those who’ve chosen to walk away from the island, to all those painted women Tokio failed to capture, the solution is far simpler. Can Takuto break the bars of Southern Cross, and rise fearlessly upward into adulthood? Let’s find out!

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