Hello everyone, and welcome back to the site! How are all your weeks going? I’ve personally been working harder than ever, and actually feeling pretty good about it. By pushing most of my weekly busywork tasks from the weekend to the week proper, I’ve reassigned my weekends to more long-form projects, and thus have been making great strides in articles on Spirit Circle and Toradora. I’m looking forward to releasing those, but in the meantime, we munched through some interesting feature films, as well as an excellent recent cartoon. Let’s check ‘em out!
Category Archives: Episode Writeup
Big Windup! – Episode 6
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. You all ready for some baseball? When last we left off, Mihashi and his new teammates had at last pulled ahead of his former team, securing two runs while Mihashi maintained his clean shutout. Mihashi’s actual skill level was always clear to opposing pitcher Kanou, and with his teammates refusing to see it, Kanou’s nerve was badly shaken. In fact, he almost got in a fight with his catcher Hatake, before their reliable ace and apparent mediator Oda cleared everyone’s heads.
Things have been going smoothly so far, but that’s largely been a result of the Mihoshi team not taking this match seriously. With Kanou now having made clear just how much this match means to him, his teammates have rallied to his side, and Mihashi will now be facing a far more motivated opposing lineup. Even Momoe recognized the fraught nature of this moment, urging Abe to protect his pitcher the best he can. Mihashi is currently like a bright-eyed baby bird on the verge of leaving the nest, and it’s up to Abe to keep him from being… perforated with emotional buckshot? I dunno, that metaphor kinda got away from me. Regardless, we’re at a critical moment, and I’m eager to see these teams face off at full strength. Let’s get to the field!
Bodacious Space Pirates – Episode 14
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today, if weather permits, I was thinking about taking a brief space flight, and perhaps checking in on the crew of the Bentenmaru.
Last episode saw Marika solidifying her alliance with the Serenity royal family, by which I mean she invited the princesses to her house for dinner. Marika possesses a unique combination of amiability and confidence that makes it easy for her to disarm basically anyone, turning political negotiations and pirate standoffs alike into conversations between friends. She is a master of drawing others into her pace, and as the leader of a crew of rowdy rapscallions, that skill is likely even more important than her general competency and intelligence.
Of course, Marika is at her best when she has a Spock to balance her inherent Kirk-ness – thus I’m hoping this episode will see the return of Chiaki, and more delightful bickering between our main pair. But whatever the future holds, I’m sure we’re in for a pleasant time as we return to Bodacious Space Pirates!
Adachi and Shimamura – Episode 9
It’s just one thing after another with these two, isn’t it? It seemed like we were making some genuine progress through their Christmas date, but then Adachi pulled her usual disappearing act, resurfacing just in time to get anxious all over again about Valentine’s Day. Then, when it seemed the two of them were actually inching towards some sort of mutual understanding, Shimamura’s original Adachi-like lamprey appears, eager to rekindle a personal relationship with her. Considering Adachi’s profound insecurities regarding her importance to Shimamura, I imagine we’re in for a real charnel house of a Valentine’s Day celebration.
That said, our leads have made some key, undeniable steps forward in terms of their psychological conflicts. Both of them have admitted that the other’s presence has “returned some color” to their world, a clear enough metaphor for rising above the muffling haze of depression. Additionally, they’re each starting to recognize the differences in how they perceive each other; Adachi understands that Shimamura doesn’t reciprocate her overwhelming passion, while Shimamura is doing her best to respect Adachi’s intense feelings. They’re close enough now that the idea of genuinely honest conversation is no longer a distant dream – so of course, here comes Tarumi to throw a wrench in the works. Let’s wince our way through the fallout for another episode of Adachi and Shimamura!
Oregairu S3 – Episode 5
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to Oregairu, where we most recently witnessed Yui once again martyring herself for the sake of her friends. Though she’s been attempting to pursue a relationship with Hachiman since the very beginning of the series, she also feels that Yukino actually needs Hachiman, and thus steps aside with a smile the moment her happiness inconveniences their relationship.
Yui’s actions aren’t really unexpected. She’s been sacrificing her happiness for her friends’ sake all series long, and one of Oregairu’s fundamental lessons is that personal growth doesn’t progress in a straight or orderly direction. Sometimes we take strange detours on the road to adulthood, and frequently we’ll find ourselves backsliding into habits we’d hoped to escape from. Hachiman himself has experienced this process a few times, but at least with Hachiman, there is generally the intent to improve. In contrast, it seems like Yui has fundamentally accepted that her needs will always come second to those she cares about, and has no plans to impose her desires on anyone. It’s a very Yui decision, but not a healthy one; kindness is a virtue, but everyone has the right to seek happiness, and Yui’s friends would ultimately want her to be happy as well.
Meanwhile, Yukino is busy locking horns with her mother, in what appears to be a proxy battle representing her overall quest for autonomy. I’m not sure how Hachiman plans to address this situation, but I’m content to watch the sparks fly as these battleships collide. Let’s return to the emotional battlefield of Oregairu!
The Big O – Episode 15
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to The Big O, in the wake of a season premiere that was more boldly surreal than anything the show’s first season threw at us. With the revelation of his origins having shaken his faith in his own identity, Roger Smith walked the streets of a city that was alien to him, and saw his own life story refracted through theater and fiction. After a season of repeatedly dipping its toe in the water, The Big O at last took a plunge into the waters of existentialism.
The Big O has dabbled in surrealism and art-horror before. After all, these genres make for comfortable bedfellows with Big O’s central noir and giant robot influences. Noir has a tendency to embrace ambiguity of all kinds – moral ambiguity, of course, but also a more existential sort of uncertainty, a sense that this world is more vast and inexplicable than our capacity to contain it. Noir heroes know they cannot tame this world – they struggle against it, but the genre’s best moments are often acts of surrender, the “forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown” or “stuff that dreams are made of” moments. In these moments, the distance between noir and conventional crime dramas becomes clear – crime dramas are a fantasy of order and control, whereas noir understands this world is too strange and terrible to ever be pinned down.
Unsurprisingly, this sense of existential unease fuses naturally with The Big O’s psychological inquiry, presenting a world where the boundaries between reality and fantasy, or mystery and horror, are frequently blurred. Whether investigating his client’s requests or his own past, Roger is beginning to discover secrets that are perhaps better left undisturbed. The question is shifting from “can Roger discover the secret of Paradigm” to “should Roger discover the secret of Paradigm, and will his own sense of self survive the process?”
Let’s find out.
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – Episode 8
Good day everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, as Sayo Yamamoto and Mari Okada continue to tease unexpected and fascinating results out of their twist on the Lupin formula. Last episode saw Fujiko deftly navigate a clear analogue for the Cuban Missile Crisis, spending a little quality time with “Fiadel Kastro” before Goemon cut some missiles in half. In spite of the episode’s loaded political context, Fujiko’s emphatically apolitical perspective actually resulted in a relatively lighthearted episode, more of a vacation than a revolution.
Fujiko’s disinterest in any larger political or moral framework for her actions is one of the most interesting, revealing aspects of her character. As a thief who loves her work, she obviously has no compunction to act in ways that echo larger moral principles. But beyond that, she seems to have embraced a kind of amorality that serves as an essential defense in a hostile world. Fujiko doesn’t have the luxury of principle – the world has been against her from the start, and thus anything she wants, she has been forced to claim by whatever means are available.
Rather than seeking solidarity with fellow victims and pushing back against this unfair world, Fujiko is content to manipulate the rules as she understands them, using intractable, demeaning cultural assumptions like “feminine innocence and fragility” to mislead her opponents. It’s a savvy response to a situation that is entirely outside her control, the natural deduction of someone who knows she can only depend on herself. Fujiko didn’t choose this world, but she’s happy to exploit it, and I’m eager to see where her adventures lead her next.
Oregairu S3 – Episode 4
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today, we are at long last returning to Oregairu, where things are currently going so well that it’s making me nervous. Normally, watching Oregairu is a sensation not unlike being tortured on a medieval rack, where each new episode’s awkwardness and drama stretches your limbs just a few centimeters past their breaking point. But recently, pretty much all of our principal characters have been getting along, and supporting each other with their various endeavors. What does this mean?
It’s pretty simple, actually: these kids are finally growing up. Yukino is learning to set aside her brittle pride, Hachiman is becoming more comfortable admitting he cares, and Iroha is earnestly committing herself to the projects she’s passionate about. The crew have grown so much that they might not even need Yui to act as a social moderator anymore – a fact that Yui herself is keenly aware of. With the end of high school approaching, the artificial closeness of the Volunteer Service Club will soon end as well – and at that point, our stars will have to decide what they truly mean to each other. Let’s return to the rich drama of Oregairu!
Symphogear XV – Episode 4
At last, our grand mastermind has been revealed! After several seasons of blustering for a return to Imperial Japan and being a general dick to all of his relatives, Fudou Kazanari has revealed himself to be an even more heinous figure than anticipated, and an outright traitor to the Symphocause. This time, victory for our heroes might demand outright rebellion against the Japanese government, as warmongers at home and abroad squabble over the fruits of alchemical research, and the terrible relics left by those who came before.
In structural terms, this reveal aligns the whole Symphogear organization on a dramatic axis the franchise has been favoring from the start: the perpetual conflict between duty and desire, as your orders contradict your human emotions. Most of Hibiki’s allies joined her after discarding the shackles of duty, and even many of her enemies have walked that same path, regardless of whether they joined the team or evaporated in a cloud of narrative-simplifying mist. Now it looks like the Symphogear team as a whole will have to shed the patriarchal bonds of its Japanese stewardship, in order to… join the larger, chosen family of our global alliances? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that metaphor works. Anyway, we’ve got punches to get to, so let’s not waste any more time poking at Symphogear’s thematic architecture. LET’S GET TO THE BATTLES!
The Girl in Twilight – Episode 12
Heads up fuckers, Asuka and Yu are in love and there’s nothing you can do about it. Last episode’s conclusion was all I could have hoped for and more, as Yu and Asuka’s emotional journeys reached their destined ends, and the show reaffirmed their relationship in the best way possible.
First off, the explanation for both Asuka and Yu’s current emotional stasis turned out to be a graceful reflection of this story’s inspiring incident. Kyo’s disappearance had shaken both of them to the core, driving a rift between them that no amount of time could really repair. For Asuka, choosing a future beyond her home would feel like a betrayal of her brother, and so she refused to think about the future. For Yu, her frustration at being unable to reach her friend would eventually build into an emotional wall, where she’s willing to joke and hang out with Asuka, but unable to truly speak her mind. With a little help from her less-inhibited self, Yu was at last able to break through that wall, and admit she loved Asuka – and with Yu’s love supporting her, Asuka was then able to love herself, and forgive herself for losing Kyo.
It was a perfectly crafted culmination of both their arcs, and a testament to The Girl in Twilight’s consistently elegant narrative structure. But as structurally sound as it was, that sequence wouldn’t have landed without Twilight’s equally compelling character work, or its charming, convincingly naturalistic dialogue. Asuka and Yu have sounded like an old married couple all season long, constantly bickering, but always acting with a clear understanding and respect for the feelings of the other. It’s easy enough now to see them as romantically coded – I simply didn’t expect The Girl in Twilight to break that barrier, and make their relationship explicit. Well, it’s explicit now, and I couldn’t be happier for these two idiots. Let’s defeat the King of Twilight with the power of love, heroes!