Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to Ojamajo Doremi Sharp, as we check in on the continuing fortunes of our increasingly competent ojamajos. Our last episode featured the welcome return of Aiko’s best friend Nobuko, who came ready to greet the fourth grade with a new adventure, “The Boy Who Ran.” Seeing all of Aiko’s friends add their own additions to the narrative was both inherently funny and also a satisfying riff on their individual personalities – even if they hadn’t inserted themselves as characters, it would have been easy enough to assign Hadzuki, Onpu, and Doremi to their respectively gothic, melodramatic, and steak-obsessed contributions.

Ojamajo Doremi’s classmate-focused episodes embody one of its greatest strengths: its dedication to furnishing its entire ensemble cast with distinctive, multifaceted, and evolving personalities, such that they feel like people we’re coming to know better all the time, rather than devices serving some specific dramatic purpose. With its remarkably thoughtful, generous narrative and marvelous production team, every episode of Doremi is a reminder of just how good anime can be, and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. Let’s find out!

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Star Driver – Episode 24

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to Star Driver on the eve of apocalypse, as Sugata embraces his fated role standing atop Kiraboshi’s nefarious organization. Though to be honest, he’s been trending in this direction for at least half the show so far; though he denied Benio and the others in the wake of the first King’s Pillar activation, he was clearly not willing to go so far as to actively reject his birthright. And since then, Tokio has become a close confidant of our would-be king, all while his alleged fiancé grows closer to that interloper Takuto.

So yes, I was frankly expecting this from Sugata, and can only hope his bond with Takuto is strong enough to save him from his dark destiny. On a pure plot level, releasing the Cybodies from Southern Cross would at best instigate an era of forever-adolescent robotic terror, and at worst instantly kill every single person who’s not similarly apprivoised. On a thematic level, this act would represent the victory of stasis over embracing maturity, the latent awareness of self as an active participant in the world gestured towards by the fusion of adolescent and Cybody. Cybodies are essentially masks our characters use to play-act adulthood, but if true maturation is to be achieved, our heroes must set aside their armor and, like all of the hopeful maidens trapped in Tokio’s gallery, at last set sail for the real world. Let’s get to it!

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Spring 2024 – Week 9 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. It would seem that summer has finally unleashed its fiery tendrils, as I am currently laboring under an oppressive, obnoxiously humid heat that has reduced my cat to a wilting blob on the sofa. Nonetheless, I remain steadfast in my dedication to bringing you only the freshest film reviews, be they features of yesteryear or alluring new productions. This week we actually caught up on a variety of recent films, checking out the latest escapades of the reliable Jason Statham while also continuing our journey through the world of Dragon Ball. Much screening time has also been dedicated to my housemate’s rampage through Critical Role’s second campaign, an adventure that has increasingly played like a cautionary tale regarding the role of the dungeon master. I might actually write up some thoughts about that campaign as a whole once we’ve reached the end, but for now, let’s break down the week in films!

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 20

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Dull green eyes possessing a keen yet feral intelligence. Gleaming teeth that rip and tear with abandon, uncomfortably human in shape. Bulging muscles that test and snap their bindings, revealing the grotesque organism beneath the metal shell. Too human and also not enough – uncanny in its scale and alarming in its movement, like some great and bloody wolf that has risen on its hindquarters, nose drifting in search of threat or quarry. In order to fight angels, mankind has conscripted devils. Unit 01 is free.

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Call of the Night – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a hankering to return to the low-stress drama of Call of the Night, and see how our young vampire-in-training is getting along with his, shall we say “socially indifferent” temptress. Though Nazuna aspires to the sort of effortless cool and seductive allure of your traditional Draculas and whatnot, she in truth possesses the kind of personality you’d expect for someone who’s been wandering the night alone for decades: awkward, prone to self-doubt, and desperate for companionship.

As such, the reveal that Kou actually has daylight friends waiting for him was a nasty shock for Nazuna, who understandably feels a little possessive of her first real friend. But in characteristic Call of the Night fashion, this friction was resolved not through violent conflict, but through intimate conversation, with Kou reaffirming his dedication to one day truly sharing the night. Watching these two grow closer through their adventures is a pure and simple pleasure, and I’m eager to see how they reconnect in the wake of their first quasi-fight. Let’s get to it!

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Spy x Family – Episode 31

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Spy x Family, wherein we’ve most recently commenced the Grand Forger Cruise Ship Operation, involving Yor protecting the wife and child of a recently deceased crime lord while Loid learns to relax for once in his fuckin’ life. And so far, it unfortunately seems like neither of their missions are proceeding smoothly; Yor has just accidentally clued the entire ship’s worth of assassins into the assumed identity of their target, while Loid is, well, still Loiding it up in his usual, painfully self-reflective fashion.

Personally, I’m just delighted to see a specifically Yor-focused extended arc, particularly since this mission is clearly prompting her to reflect on the motivation and continued relevance of her Thorn Princess persona. Having taken on this role in order to provide for her brother, she is now beginning to question whether it’s still a necessary part of her life, or if it’s simply a crutch preventing her from discovering her own purpose. That’s some satisfyingly weighty personal drama, and though I very much doubt her ultimate conclusions will shift the show’s status quo, I’m happy to see Yor at last getting the sort of layered, conflicting interiority that lends some dramatic heft to Loid, Anya, and even Damien’s stories. Our choices are only meaningful if we’re the ones making them; by shifting Yor from a passive to an active actor, Spy x Family will ultimately make her bond with Loid and Anya that much more impactful, a reflection of the priorities she herself has chosen. Let’s get to it!

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Spring 2024 – Week 8 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am proud to announce that I’ve actually fucking done it – my last episodic Evangelion writeup is already sitting in my drafts, and I’m feeling confident it’s one of my best so far. Charging through this last act of the show in a matter of weeks turned out to be the perfect way to approach it; I could feel the same sense of desperation and longing as our poor pilots, calling back to the many times I marathoned Evangelion back in high school and college. The show is still just as poignant and insightful as it struck me back when it was permanently reshaping my brain chemistry, and I feel fortunate to have this chance at articulating just how much it means to me. Anyway, those will be popping up over the next few weeks, but for now I’ve got a fresh selection of film features for your perusal. Let’s get to it!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to an adventure that I’m frankly not sure I even want to continue, as we check back in on the beleaguered magical girls of Yuki Yuna is a Hero. Not because the show has gotten less interesting or anything; with the Taisha’s true nature revealed, the show’s reflections on genre convention and fundamental character drama have never been stronger. But all of that strength is now being put to work torturing our young hero club, and I simply will not have it! Leave our heroes alone, you stupid evil tree!

Anyway, personal feelings aside, we are now well and fully past the point of ignorance regarding this system’s true intent. The vertexes are essentially bait for hopeful young heroes; expending their energy to protect their homes, they are converted into food for their ever-ravenous homeland. Rather than saving this world for the next generation, magical girls are consumed to maintain a static order, venerated as martyrs for a cause they would never willingly have supported. It’s a sturdy metaphor for an increasingly aging Japan, wherein blind patriotism and a renewed fervor for militarization are apparently supposed to make up for a lack of genuine opportunities. What can our young handful of heroes do in the face of such structural malevolence? Let’s find out!

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Skip and Loafer – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to stop back in with Mitsumi and the gang from Skip and Loafer, and see what those crazy kids are getting up to now. After half a season of largely warm and fuzzy adventures, last episode saw Mitsumi and Shima experiencing their first genuine fight, which was ultimately a healthy exercise for both of them. I don’t expect massive changes in the wake of this personal reorientation, but I am looking forward to seeing them navigate this new level of comfort in expressing their feelings.

If you never fight with someone, it generally means not that you agree on everything, but that you simply don’t care enough about changing their opinion or behavior to challenge them on it. It is easy to be indifferent to the opinions of a stranger or acquaintance (well, unless you’re Larry David), but if you genuinely care about someone, there will undoubtedly be times when you question their wisdom. It is only because Shima has grown to value Mitsumi’s feelings that he was hurt by her challenging him – a key shift for the boy who responded to premature fame by retreating from investment in the world altogether. And with Shima’s confession of concern stoking some of those dangerously fuzzy feelings in Mitsumi, I’m looking forward to the shoe being on the other foot, and Shima poking Mitsumi in some particularly ticklish emotions. Let’s get to it!

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to continue traveling beyond the journey’s end, catching up with Frieren and maybe learning something about human nature or nostalgia in the process. Frieren’s first episode demonstrated a refreshingly meditative approach to fantasy drama, focusing not on some big arbitrary external threat, but on the simple, inescapable melancholy of growing older, watching things you love pass into memory, and finding some peace with what you have left.

While defeating a demon king might not be easy, I’d imagine finding purpose and satisfaction in such an objective certainly is. But for the rest of us, the process of identifying and appreciating what is most important to us is not quite so obvious. We are driven by dreams that are frequently unfulfilled, beset by anxieties that are often as not unresolvable; life is riddled with such disappointments, and the great task of living is not “defeating” these challenges, but learning to find joy in the imperfect messes we make of ourselves. Frieren blinked, and the man who loved her was nearing his death – how might she go forward and live such that future happiness will not similarly pass her by? Let’s find out!

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