Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. The fall anime season is now upon us, which for me means it’s time to look back on the summer season, and see if any of its brave contenders seem worthy of revisiting. I have to admit a certain nostalgia for putting my whole heart into some seasonal contender only for it to flame out spectacularly, but I’m afraid my heart can only take so much disappointment these days, and thus I generally employ the safer strategy of letting the race end and retroactively assessing the wreckage. Of course, all that personal philosophy goes out the window when money enters the equation, and thus I was happy to munch through the first episode of Hiroshi Nagahama’s Uzumaki adaptation for you faithful viewers. I’ll have a full notes article on that out soon, but for now, I present to you ravenous hounds a fresh trencher of film reflections. Let’s get to it!
Category Archives: Week in Review
Summer 2024 – Week 13 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Though anime season scheduling would disagree, it is clear we have reached the end of summer at this point, making my every humble attempt to go for a jog now a struggle against the vicious winter elements. My feud with the concept of seasons is well-established at this point, but every fall has me wondering afresh why I still live in New England, when there are so many other regions less afflicted by dreaded seasonal conditions. In spite of this lamentable state of affairs, I have been doing my best to keep busy for you all, and at this point have once again brought myself up to date on outstanding reader projects. This puts me in the thrilling, terrifying position of actually having some free time to work on my own short fiction, something I haven’t done since just after college. I’ll let you all know how that goes soon, but for now, let’s break down the week in films!
Summer 2024 – Week 12 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I hit another milestone in my reader projects, as I followed up my Evangelion episodic writeups with a piece on the final Rebuild film, attempting to put my many contradictory thoughts on this franchise revival to bed. I’m quite happy with the result, and also feel profoundly liberated in knowing that I might at long last have said everything I need to say about Evangelion. I’ve also been rewatching some One Piece and enjoying how damn good the show looks in its pre-time skip era, when absurd talents like Naoki Tate were actually regular contributors. The show continues to enrich my understanding of animation, offering more “hey, I recognize that animator” moments with each revisit. I’m still deciding on what my next major backlog project will be now that Sailor Moon is behind me, but in the meantime, I’m keeping busy as usual with film viewings. Let’s get to it!
Summer 2024 – Week 11 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With my Sailor Moon journey almost completed and my housemate having returned from vacation, these last two weeks have seen us charging through a new Netflix arrival, the intriguing format blend that is Kevin Can Fuck Himself. The show combines three-camera sitcom and single-camera drama styles to a variety of interesting effects, and left me with a pile of thoughts for you all. We also indulged in some classic comfort food, checking out both a questionable Dolph Lundgren vehicle and a superior Argento feature. We’ve got lots of thoughts to get through, so let’s dive right into the Week in Review!
Summer 2024 – Week 10 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With my housemate back from vacation, my progress through Sailor Moon’s final season has slowed precipitously, but I am determined to complete the journey! And though I miss Chibi Usa, if that’s the bargain that must be made to ditch Pegasus, I will make it gladly. Meanwhile, my house’s reassembly has facilitated a return to Strahd for our DnD group, wherein I continue to be deeply unimpressed with Chris Perkins’ approach to character design. Practically everyone I’ve come across in on-book DnD feels no more substantive than that guy in an RPG who says “there are many dangers in the forest” and exactly nothing else – even Strahd himself, who is allegedly the centerpiece of this campaign, is a tedious and superficial villain. Still, we are determined to conquer this foul land, and I’ll be sure to keep up my reports on our efforts to do so. In the meantime, let’s break down some films!
Summer 2024 – Week 9 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been continuing my brave journey through Sailor Moon, completing Sailor Moon S and trekking perhaps two-thirds of the way through SuperS. It hasn’t always been easy; the episodic pleasures of hanging out with the girls remain a delight, but the overarching narrative has shifted from “tedious” to “actively aggravating,” with SuperS for some reason introducing a horse that Chibi Usa is in love with. The further I get into this series, the more an idea of a “manga-faithful remake” like Crystal seems utterly absurd to me; though Takeuchi built a fine initial template, basically all of her narrative ideas are a net negative, with the entirety of the show’s strength coming down to its adapted brilliance. I’m hoping the show’s final season has a better conceit than this goddamn horse, but in the meantime, we’ve got some films to get through. Let’s get to it!
Summer 2024 – Week 8 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I write to you from deep in the midst of my Sailor Moon marathon, having completed the show’s first two seasons and first film, and just recently started on Sailor Moon S. The show’s got a pretty steady formula, but it’s a good one – the main cast are charming and bounce off each other well, and both the direction and character acting remain exceptional, which is no surprise given its absurdly distinguished core team. Funnily enough, it’s actually when the show tries to do serious, multi-episode drama that I generally tune out; the fantasy action is repetitive and seasonal arcs kinda weightless, so my interest tends to ebb whenever the stakes start to rise. Fortunately, each new season offers a reset back to sailor guardian infighting and cat episodes, so there’s always something fun just around the corner. I’ve also been munching through some interesting films as of late, so let’s turn our attention to those, as we burn down the latest Week in Review!
Summer 2024 – Week 7 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week my housemate has set off on a trip to Germany, meaning I get to watch all the classic anime I couldn’t successfully pitch as group viewings. This has in practice translated to around three hours of Sailor Moon a day, which has by all accounts been a deeply enriching experience so far. Sailor Moon has one of the strongest core production teams of any anime in history, with Junichi Sato, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Takuya Igarashi, and plenty of other legends all elevating the tales of the charmingly unheroic Usagi and her brave companions. The show’s mostly been about the surface pleasures so far, but with a team this good, even the most frivolous of premises offers plenty of strong gags and ridiculous faces. And of course, all this Sailor Moon has been accompanied by a steady diet of cinema as well. Let’s break down some films!
Summer 2024 – Week 6 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. As the summer heat continues to bear down upon us, this week saw my house concluding our run through Victory Gundam, which has left me scrambling to find a proper followup production. I definitely need to take a break from Gundam, but I’m not really sure what else I can rely on for group viewings – we’re currently watching through the highlights of the modern isekai boom (Log Horizon and Grimgar), but I’m still in the market for a new longer-term project. Maybe the Hajime no Ippo adaptation, or possibly Sailor Moon? Anyway, I’d welcome any suggestions from all of you, but in the meantime, the conclusion of Victory was of course accompanied by plenty of old-fashioned film screenings. Let’s break ‘em down!
Summer 2024 – Week 5 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. This week our film screenings ranged from classics of western cinema to modern spinetinglers, alongside one of my few outstanding theatrical projects spearheaded by either of Ghibli’s legendary directors. I believe I’ve actually seen every Miyazaki film at this point, but still have both Grave of the Fireflies and the intriguing mixed-media project The Story of Yanagawa’s Canals outstanding among Takahata’s projects. I’m basically waiting for the right mental state to watch Grave of the Fireflies, but in the meantime was happy to savor a lighter project embodying many of Takahata’s finest qualities. Let’s start with that feature, as we burn down a fresh Week in Review!