Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to Hugtto! Precure, though frankly, I’m a little intimidated by the kind of episode we’ve presumably got coming. Apparently the franchise is celebrating its ten year anniversary, which in practical terms means the original Pretty Cure have just popped out of the sky, ready to celebrate their formidable legacy. Unfortunately, I haven’t actually watched any of that legacy, so I’d ask you all to please bear with me, as I’ll likely be out of my depth for any major callbacks to earlier seasons. That said, given this franchise’s general focus on accessibility, I’m sure there’ll be plenty to enjoy even for the more recent Cureheads in the audience. Let’s check in with the Precures of Old, and learn what wisdom we can glean from their vast Precure knowledge!
Spring 2021 – Week 5 in Review
Hello everybody, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve sadly got a pretty quick Week in Review for you all this week, as I didn’t actually get around to too many films. On the other hand, my house did push through a fair amount of anime, even beyond our continuing voyage through One Piece. I’m still keeping up with My Hero Academia, even if it seems like the world at large has moved through several Next Big Things since then, and we also made a final push through the last peaks of Bleach’s adaptation. Shonen series have basically consumed all the time slots I was previously dedicating to exploring western cartoons and prestige dramas, so while I feel a little guilty that The Wire and The Sopranos and whatnot have to wait, I simply cannot imagine I would be having more fun with them than the Straw Hats at the moment. You guys will get your turn, I just gotta see what Luffy does over the next seven hundred episodes first. In the meantime, here are my scattered weekly thoughts!
The Big O – Episode 13
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m pretty much bubbling over with excitement, as we’re about to explore the original “final” episode of The Big O. Though the production was slated for twenty-six episodes from the start, poor viewership numbers in Japan forced them to cut back to a lean thirteen. It was only a couple years later, after a successful Toonami run resulted in Cartoon Network co-funding the followup, that The Big O’s second half was produced; because of this, I assume this original thirteenth episode is going to attempt to serve as a “conclusion” to a story it cannot possibly conclude.
Roger has barely learned a thing about Paradigm’s history, and the last episode only just introduced the idea that Megadeus have some intrinsic connection with the city, and a will of their own. Fortunately, considering this is a noir-soaked property that delights in ambiguity, I imagine there won’t be any clumsy rush to tie up loose ends; I’m mostly just eager to see how such a talented team handled this unfortunate reality of the industry, and what Chiaki Konaka chooses to leave us with. Let’s return once more to Paradigm!
Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 41
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve spent the first half of today proofreading and messaging and formatting and emailing, and goddamnit, I’ve earned some Sun and Moon. As much as I love my work, the busywork inherent in being a full-time freelancer can get pretty stifling; fortunately, the upside of this is that my actual “core labor” mostly involves laughing and clapping at Pikachu. I’m eager to get back to that critical business, and hope you’ll join me for whatever delights Sun and Moon shares with us next. With most of Ash’s other companions having experienced some sort of trainer powerup over the last set of episodes, my idle prediction is that it’s Sophocles’ turn – but Sun and Moon is never in any narrative rush, so I could just as easily see us simply enjoying a day at the beach. Either way, the sun is out and the pokemon have been fed, so let’s go sample the sights of Alola!
Symphogear XV – Episode 1
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Are you all ready for some goddamn SYMPHOGEAR!? I took a little break after season four to catch my breath, but my tanks are more or less refilled at this point, and I’m ready to Blast Off Into The Starry Tomorrow of Forever’s Yesterday, or whatever other preposterous seasonal subtitle comes next.
Given that Symphogear’s fourth and fifth seasons were greenlit at the same time, it’s no surprise that season four ended us on a serious cliffhanger. As Adam was atomized by Hibiki’s fists, he warned that the “custodians will soon be descending,” implying some higher power that he, Fine, and others have actually been battling against. But the worldbuilding justification of More Punching was probably the least important thing about that finale – more relevant to the show’s own goals is that it’s already established an antagonist before the season starts, thus leaving more time in-season for roaring and punching. Let’s see how this delightful show tops itself next, as we soar into the final season of Symphogear!
Spring 2021 – Week 4 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve once again got an oddball collection of films for you all this week, along with more reflections on my ongoing journey with One Piece. I’ve learned over time that you really have to tune down the amplitude of praise people apply to their favorite properties, as they’re generally speaking from a position of deep emotional attachment, and more expressing that than anything essential to the property itself. Because of that, claims of One Piece being some uniquely spectacular shonen kinda faded into the din of claims that every show is uniquely spectacular – thus, I have been completely blindsided by the fact that One Piece actually is as good as everyone says it is. It’s doing stuff in shonen that I’ve associated with Hunter x Hunter and literally nothing else, and I’ve found myself hooked on it with precisely that same HxH intensity, a need to barrel through episodes like I’m stuffing my face with delicious, narratively nutritious popcorn. But we’ll get to that soon enough – let’s first start off with some films, as we bound through the Week in Review!
Horimiya – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to one of the year’s most compelling productions so far, as we check out the second episode of Horimiya. Horimiya’s first episode impressed me on a few fronts, with the most expected of them clearly being Masashi Ishihama’s excellent direction. Ishihama has tuned down his frequently aggressive style a bit for this laid-back production, lightly employing the post-processing and collage-like elements he tends to favor, but his excellence is clear in Horimiya’s abstract visual flourishes, as well as its terrific OP. Meanwhile, the actual story is demonstrating a welcome nuance of characterization, neatly sidestepping cliche dramatic beats through its characters’ willingness to actually, honestly communicate. There’s a lot to enjoy so far, and I’m eager to see where this story goes. Let’s dive in!
Why It Works: Hope Lights the Way Through Desolation in To Your Eternity
For this week’s Why It Works piece, I wrote a response to To Your Eternity’s phenomenal first episode. I haven’t been cross-posting my Why It Works pieces, since I link them all on Twitter anyway, but I’m particularly proud of this one, so I figured I’d post it here too. Here’s the piece!
Hope Lights the Way Through Desolation in To Your Eternity
Bodacious Space Pirates – Episode 11
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the bridge. Everyone strapped in and securely fastened? I’d certainly hope so, considering we’ve been traveling through a perilous nebula for several episodes now, and just came under fire from a squadron of Serenity attack ships. That’s right, we’re returning to Bodacious Space Pirates, as Marika and her crew seek the Golden Ghost Ship of Serenity, at the command of their runaway princess!
Last episode was ultimately all about that runaway princess, as Gruier was forced to truly contend with the reality of this situation. Up until now, her adventure has likely felt more like an exciting field trip than a political ploy; she’s far from home, sure, but still vaguely certain that everything will work out okay. Confronted by hostile Serenity ships, Gruier was forced to confront the truth: she is now a princess in exile, and the ships and symbols which once promised security have all turned against her. Marika did her best to ease Gruier through this realization, but it is a difficult thing to learn that your home is gone. With no choice but to surge onward through the storm, let’s return to the bridge of the Bentenmaru!
Backflip!! – Episode 1
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got an unusually timely article for you all, as I’ll be exploring a show that’s airing this very season: Bakuten!! (or Backflip!!), an anime-original production centered on a group of gymnasts. All anime-original productions tend to deserve at least a glance, for a variety of reasons. First off, productions that are designed from the ground up for animation unsurprisingly tend to lend themselves to animation quite well – issues of translating still manga panels or heavy exposition are irrelevant, as the narrative is designed for movement from the beginning. Additionally, in this current era of media mix productions, an original anime with less tie-in potential generally implies confidence, or even prestige; the production’s funders have faith that the work will sell itself, rather than selling the source material, and this faith is generally predicated on trusted key staff with a clear artistic vision. Lastly, anime-original works are generally written by professionally vetted writers, rather than folks riding the novice-to-published manga/light novel pipelines. This generally means the writing, characteristically anime’s weakest element, is at least of professional quality.
When you wrap all this together, it’s easy to see why anime-originals at least have the potential to shine, however their fortunes may turn. And for Backflip!!, we also have some impressively animated PVs to sort through, attesting to at least the first couple episodes’ visual splendor. My main concern going in is how well this show will be able to maintain animation quality in depicting such a visually demanding sport, but I suppose that’s a problem for the show itself to answer. Let’s check out the first episode of Backflip!!