Category Archives: Week in Review

Spring 2026 – Week 12 in Review

Posted on by
3

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I finished my run-through of Final Fantasy VIII this week, offering welcome closure to a lingering adolescent quest, in spite of the game’s third act being exceedingly underdeveloped. I suppose it’s a credit to the game’s character writing that I felt annoyed by how swiftly everything wraps up; this is definitely one of the best overall parties within the Final Fantasy lineage, and I’ll absolutely miss them. With that concluded, I’ve also been continuing a Blue Lions run of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which has led me to the amusing revelation that there’s no real justification for house leader Dimitri’s behavior, he’s just Like That. Sorta figured his route would offer similar revelations of intent to Black Eagles and Golden Deer, but nope, Dimitri’s just some kind of feral, vengeance-driven creature. I’ll hopefully be wrapping that adventure up shortly, but in the meantime, let’s run down the week in films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 11 in Review

Posted on by
Reply

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week has been defined by an extremely nostalgic journey for me, as I’ve been hacking my way through Final Fantasy VIII for the first time since junior high. Though it’s always been overshadowed by the apparently immortal FFVII, I’ve always been fond of FFVIII’s unique aesthetic style and highly personal story, and have been enjoying seeing my fond memories rewarded with a cast of characters that’s just as endearing as I remembered. The whole junction-refining magic system also scratches the Persona fusion center of my brain just right; I can see why many players would prefer a more traditional approach to spellcasting, but I really appreciate how Squaresoft followed up the titanic FFVII with such a bold swing, particularly considering their fearful, self-cannibalizing recent development choices. I actually got stuck somewhere in Ultimecia’s castle as a teenager, so I’ll also be enjoying actually beating the game for the first time sometime next week – but in the meantime, let’s run down the week in films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 10 in Review

Posted on by
Reply

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a productive week on my end, as I’ve been keeping up my jogging routine, hacking away at the new book, and sampling a variety of new productions courtesy of you generous readers. My only scribing struggle at the moment seems to be balancing my own fiction with a return to writing DnD quests for my friends; I’d sorta been using DnD as a springboard back to traditional fiction, so I’m both out of practice and somewhat loathe to divide my already-limited writing time. That said, “my friends are clamoring to play through more of my adventures” is an extremely good problem to have, and in the meantime, I’m quite enjoying the ongoing theatrics of my housemate-DMed new campaign. And of course, the movie screenings have maintained their place of pride within my weekly endeavors, so let’s quit with the rambling and get to some films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 9 in Review

Posted on by
Reply

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We’ve finally hit June, which in pretty classic Me fashion is naturally a call for a wave of “oh god, summer’s started, that means summer is on its way to being over” anxiety. My extremely bad brain aside, it’s actually been a fun week on the home front – we snuck in two D&D sessions taking us halfway through an ongoing tournament, got started on the admittedly inferior but still-pretty-fun Dirty Pair Flash, and began a replay of Final Fantasy VIII, which I hadn’t touched since high school. Alright, technically it’s just my housemate who’s made actual progress – I just spent three hours playing Triple Triad in the opening area, precisely like god intended. I’ll perhaps venture further than Balamb Garden in the week ahead, but for now, let’s run down the week in films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 8 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week has seen us continuing our march through the Dirty Pair canon, as we finished the original series, screened their Project Eden film, and then continued onward into the tragically brief second season. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to Kei and Yuri, but I’m also excited to embark on a new project, and am currently juggling a handful of outstanding anime possibilities. In other news, Critical Role’s fourth season has reached the convergence point of its three wayward tables, and proven anew that Brennan Lee Mulligan is some kind of genetically modified DnD machine. His ability to jump between tables, tones, and even genres is spectacular; it’s frankly hard at times to even draw lessons from his performance, since the prevailing takeaway seems to be “just be a genius, the rest will come naturally.” I’m nonetheless greatly enjoying the ride, and am awaiting the rest of this preposterously ambitious project with great anticipation. In the meantime, let’s run down some films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 7 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a busy few weeks in our neck of the woods, as we’ve returned to regular weekly DnD sessions while maintaining our usual program of film and TV spectacles. Our new campaign’s party is now battling through a tournament in the pirate city of Westgate, while our previous party has just set off for another sojourn in the nine hells. We’re reaching the point of narrative ambition where we might consider some actual crossover drama, but for now, it’s just nice to be once again hanging out, rolling dice, and incinerating waves of enemies with the force of my mild-mannered goblin’s Spirit Guardians (man that spell is ridiculous). I’ll surely provide more updates on our adventures as they proceed, but for now, let’s run down the week in film!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 6 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I completed my watch-through of the original Dirty Pair TV series, which has left me wallowing in those tragic post-series doldrums of just wanting to hang out with my animated buds again. Kei and Yuri are a delightful pair of rampaging rascals, and nearly every episode of the series offered a satisfying riff on spy, mystery, or space drama adventures. The series was simply top-notch popcorn entertainment, and though I’ve heard their further escapades offer somewhat diminishing returns, I’m at this point invested enough to run through the various other Dirty Pair adaptations and remakes. It’s frankly been a terrific year so far in terms of catching up on outstanding older productions; I’ve marched through Future Boy Conan, Moribito, Aura Battle Dunbine, and now Dirty Pair alongside my Turn A and Katanagatari rewatches, and have had a great time with all of them. I’ll have to figure out what older favorite is up next, but in the meantime, let’s burn down the week in film!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 5 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been doing my service as a tertiary member of the Straw Hat Fleet, by inducting another friend into the cult of One Piece via the astonishingly well-executed live action series. It seems almost unfair to have such an easy on-ramp for engaging with One Piece; after grappling with low points like Captain Kuro’s Long Walk or Don Krieg in general, I can’t help but feel a tinge of battle-hardened pride relative to these newcomers’ easy stroll from Windmill Village right to Alabasta. Of course, that is always an instinct to be fought; more people getting to enjoy stories I love is an unquestionably good thing, and if that means I have to explain what’s up with Garth and Coby when they jump mediums, it is a duty I will embrace gladly. In the meantime, let’s burn down the week in films!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 4 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I concluded my rewatch of Turn A Gundam, which proved just as inventive, character-rich, and generally charming as on my first watch. The show has a dynamite cast, a delightfully novel premise, and some of the best art design of any Gundam, all with a kinder, more thoughtful Tomino at the helm – it’s a well-deserved classic, and a show I’d recommend to basically anyone. With that behind us, my house has since checked out Bleach’s Thousand Year Blood War, which has proven to so far be an excellent adaptation of a shapeless and derivative story. Kubo just completely ran out of ideas after Soul Society, but I do appreciate how this production is leaning heavily into the impactful individual compositions that are his greatest strength; the man was aura farming when the term’s creators were in diapers, and he has not slowed down in the years since. That covers my current anime journeys, so let’s dive into the Week in Review!

Continue reading →

Spring 2026 – Week 2 in Review

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a busy week for me, as I’ve been racing to maintain my lead on reader projects while also munching through films and some recent anime productions. Inspired by kViN’s fantastic breakdown of Souta Ueno’s adaptation of last season’s Shiboyugi, I ended up munching through the whole series in a couple of days, and was similarly impressed by Ueno’s economic yet distinctive, holistic approach to the material. In his hands, the series’ death games are rendered ethereal and elegiac, a perpetual synthesis of the freedom of a great leap and the solidity of the approaching ground. The actual source material seemed pretty mediocre, harboring pretensions of human insight that its character writing couldn’t really support, but this would be far from the first time an anime director spun straw into gold. Regardless, Ueno’s elevation of the material has me eager to check out whatever he directs next, and it’s always a thrill to be introduced to a distinctive, vital creative voice. That aside, we’ve got a fleet of movies to get through, so let’s bound right into the Week in Review!

Continue reading →