Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Bloom Into You – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and thank you for joining me as we explore another episode of the excellent Bloom Into You! This show has carried itself with confidence all throughout its first half, and as we near its halfway point, I find myself ever more invested in the strange, perpetually unequal relationship between Yuu and Touko. Our two leads definitely don’t have a healthy relationship at the moment, but their bond convincingly reflects each of their identities, and what each of them are looking for.

If Yuu was a confident and well-adjusted person, she’d almost certainly never have agreed to this quasi-relationship with Touko… of course, we know well that Yuu is anything but a confident and well-adjusted person. Yuu is defined by her insecurities and worried that there’s something fundamentally wrong with her, and even though she can’t reciprocate Touko’s feelings, she’s happy just to have a close friend and confidant who both values her presence and can actually listen to her worries. Meanwhile, Touko is too preoccupied with her infatuation to really engage with Yuu’s needs, or respect her boundaries – an issue further complicated by Yuu’s tendency to blur the lines of whether they’re joking or flirting with each other. Their relationship is a mess, in short, but it’s the kind of mess that emphasizes the relatable flaws and fundamental humanity of its occupants. Right now they are each asking the other for something they can’t really provide, and though they certainly care about each other, that’s not enough to create a real relationship. I’m very excited to see where this flaming car of a romance goes, so let’s get right on with exploring the next episode!

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 45

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Do you truly think that with your pitiful strength, you could hope to stop me from watching more Ojamajo Doremi? From delighting in the adventures of these girls, and celebrating the lessons illustrated thereby? From cherishing this world’s wonderful art direction and profoundly empathetic perspective, which has become so valued a source of optimism in a world of ruin? Fool that you are, perhaps you assumed my dedication to magical girls and their charming escapades might waver, or my hunger for giggling uproariously at ridiculous faces might be sated. Your hopes are as dust. Doremi continues!

Alright, seriously, let’s get to this. Doremi’s last episode was friggin’ awesome, and offered a variety of charming anecdotes and thoughtful lessons throughout. Mutsumi was a great addition to the class roster, seeing a Doremi episode all about professional wrestling was adorable, and I particularly appreciated how Mutsumi being interested in a stereotypically “boyish” interest wasn’t even the point – obviously girls can be into pro wrestling, why wouldn’t they? Instead, the show offered a broader mix of lessons, from the importance of adjusting your behavior to respect your friends’ current feelings, to the variable nature of strength itself. It was one of the best classmate-focused episodes so far, and I’m eager to see whatever’s next. Let’s get to it!

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Princess Tutu – Episode 19

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We open Princess Tutu’s nineteenth episode with a familiar story, one this show seems to have been telling all along. As we peer over blooming flowers towards an eternally closed window, our narrator tells us that “once upon a time, there was a maiden in love. ‘I want to tell my beloved how I feel, but my love might be over the moment I say it.’ Every day she suffered, agonizing this way. She took no meals, and she was unable to even sleep. And finally, she died without ever having been able to communicate her feelings. But the man she loved married another woman and lived happily ever after, without ever even knowing the maiden had existed.”

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 44

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Folks, it’s time for more Doremi. I’m sure you all know the drill at this point – we’re nearly fifty episodes into this endlessly charming and consistently poignant children’s show, and it has demonstrated its many strengths again and again. Though Majo Ruka and Onpu briefly threatened to upend Doremi’s status quo, the show has actually pretty much settled back into its original dynamic, with Onpu essentially just adding occasional barbs of snark or overt antagonism to our girls’ adventures. Meanwhile, Doremi, Aiko, and Hadzuki have arrived at a fairly solid understanding of their magical powers; Doremi may be a screwup who’s only interested in steak, but her spells at least tend to do what she wants them to. In light of this, our main crew have essentially become the magical guardians of their class, successfully solving problems ranging from thorny parental drama to messy breakups with giant monsters. To be honest, it almost feels like things have been going too well for our crew as of late, and that they’re about due for some kind of magical reckoning. The show’s been seeding the encroaching danger of Onpu’s reckless magic usage for a while now, but I also wouldn’t mind if we highlighted some new classmates, either. Doremi is very good at nearly everything it does, and I’ve learned to trust its instincts. Let’s see what’s up in this next episode!

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Bloom Into You – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we’re continuing our journey through Bloom Into You, a thoughtful romance that has been impressing me at every turn. While the show’s first three episodes essentially acted as a self-contained arc setting up the initial relationship and club situation of Yuu and Touko, our most recent episode significantly expanded the scale of our drama, directly roping in new characters like Maki while also hinting at potential conflicts for characters like Sayaka and Koyomi. Yuu and Touko’s feelings are still central, but the scope of this world is clearly expanding, and I’m looking forward to seeing more complex character dynamics develop between all our leads.

At the moment, Maki feels like the biggest question to me. While his desire to be a romantic spectator is to some extent understandable, it still feels like a strange motivation that won’t necessarily lend itself to realistic or sympathetic drama. But given Bloom Into You has handled all its prior conflicts with such thoughtfulness and grace, I have plenty of confidence that Maki will also develop into a multifaceted and at least theoretically sympathetic character. Either way, I’m excited to see whatever’s coming next as we continue our journey through this terrific show!

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 10

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Get ready everybody, it’s time for another episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha! Nanoha’s last episode was a thrilling demonstration of all of Nanoha’s strengths, from Nanoha’s own compassion and convictions to the uniquely engaging mechanics of this show’s magical world. Rising from relatively genre-standard early episodes, the show has successfully combined magical girl trappings, shonen action, and scifi worldbuilding to arrive at something unique and influential, an aesthetic that would go on to inspire many other anime properties. It’s also just gotten very good; influential nature of its narrative choices aside, Nanoha is delivering consistently engaging visual spectacles and satisfyingly nuanced emotional moments, all building towards Nanoha finally connecting with the long-suffering Fate.

We’ve also built up a relatively robust thematic stew at this point, though it all sort of hinges on “the importance of human connection.” Nanoha’s compassionate conversations with her family present one ideal of connection, while Fate’s painfully well-observed conversations with Arf demonstrate another very valid kind of family. It is the fact that Nanoha has not just been supported, but genuinely trusted by both her friends and family that has instilled her with such personal strength; it is the view of both Nanoha herself and Nanoha the narrative that she could do nothing more righteous with that strength than share her trust with another. Whether through the family we’re born with or the family we choose, everyone needs that sense of trust and support. Let’s see if Nanoha can finally connect with her beleaguered rival!

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 43

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Folks, it is absolutely time for more Ojamajo Doremi. After basically gorging myself on the show for two weeks following a windfall of Doremi funding, I have at this point taken a week and a half off from the production, which I feel is more than enough time to grant me the perspective of distance. And what this perspective of distance tells me is: Doremi kicks ass. The show has been a visually engaging, charming, and emotionally rich production from early on, but the introduction of Onpu actually seems to have taken the show to a whole new level. Recent episodes like the level four exams and the sentai spectacular of last episode stand among the best in the series to date, alternating between beautiful magic world adventures and sensitive personal dramas.

Though Doremi still struggles with each new exam, we’ve at this point moved past our leads generally failing to use their magic effectively. Their magic actually works now, and though magical stage’s solutions are often a little circuitous, the growing competency of Doremi and her friends is enabling more and more ambitious and fanciful stories, as they pull off tricks like summoning an entire friggin’ kaiju. Between that and Onpu’s growing prominence, I’m very excited for whenever our young witches actually clash. But whether we’ve got that, Doremi’s exam retake, or something else entirely coming, I’m pumped for more Doremi. Let’s get right to another episode of this lovely show!

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Bloom Into You – Episode 4

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Hey folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m thrilled to continue our journey through Bloom Into You, a show that’s only been impressing me more each episode. Bloom Into You has already convincingly sculpted both of its leads into flawed, multifaceted, and totally sympathetic characters, each with their own compelling sources of insecurity and reasons for relying on the other. Their relationship is based on a give and take that feels totally understandable – Touko’s support gives Yuu the confidence to accept her own nature and become a more generally expressive person, while Yuu’s trust gives Touko a place where she can admit to all her insecurities, letting down the mask she bears around everyone else. The two of them are stronger together for convincing and well-illustrated reasons, and possess a chemistry that makes them inherently fun to watch together.

Beyond that, there’s plenty else to enjoy here, from the show’s thoughtful reflections on how narratives shape our personal expectations, to its visual elegance and compassionate engagement with sexual identity. And with Touko having won her student council race, it feels like the show may just now be settling into its principle dramatic mode. Let’s see what’s in store for our hapless teens in the next episode!

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Why It Works: Anime Every JoJo Fan Should Watch

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Today on Why It Works, I’ve got a pile of recommendations for lovers of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures. While I’d recommend any of these shows on their own merits, the first two in particular feel so precisely JoJo that I genuinely feel if you’re watching any of these three, you’d almost certainly be a fan of the others. Whatever your feelings on idols or puppets, Symphogear and Thunderbolt are JoJo As Fuck, and deserve your full attention.

Anime Every JoJo Fan Should Watch

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 9

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Buckle up folks, it’s time for another episode of Nanoha! The show actually seems to be moving towards its endgame at this point, as Nanoha joins up with the space force and Fate recommits to gathering those dang jewel seeds, each of them all the more strongly resolved to succeed. It frankly feels like we’ve only been with these characters for a very brief time, but Nanoha has never been a show that’s busy with overt narrative happenings – it focuses steadily on a variety of small, incidental moments, and tends to only have one major “plot event” per episode. That’s a perfectly reasonable narrative style, and last episode’s phenomenal conversation between Fate and Arf easily demonstrated its value.

Arf’s efforts to save Fate from her mother’s abuse have turned out to be Nanoha’s most poignant and well-observed material so far, offering a stark and well-written counterpoint to Nanoha’s own happy and mutually trusting family. Meanwhile, Nanoha’s recent engagements with the space force have expanded the show’s dramatic scale, and established a universe so primed for adventure that it seems strange we’re almost at the finale. Obviously shows actually get sequels because they turn out to be successes and the investors decide a second season’s worth the effort, but Nanoha’s world in particular feels like a story that’s practically begging for sequels. But before we can get to any of that, we’ve got Fate and Nanoha’s epic clash to witness. Let’s get right to it!

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