Great Pretender – Episode 1

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be exploring the first episode of one of 2020’s most impressive productions, the energetic and visually dazzling Great Pretender. Now, I’ve actually seen the first two arcs of Great Pretender, and have arrived at my own conclusions (a fine-enough heist narrative with outrageously good visual design), so I’ll be bringing a somewhat more informed perspective to this rewatch. But to catch everyone up to speed, what exactly is Great Pretender?

Judging by staff alone, it’d be easy to pin the show as one of 2020’s highlights. The production’s angular, expressive character designs could only come from one artist: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the legendary character designer who handled both Evangelion and FLCL’s character art. Meanwhile, the show’s gorgeous backgrounds, blending realistic line art with simplified, impressionistic color palettes, bear the clear mark of their own creator: Yuusuke Takeda, the art director responsible for The Eccentric Family’s marvelous background aesthetic. Topped off with a director who’s well acquainted with these sorts of narratives, having spearheaded the altogether reasonable 91 Days, and you end up with a production that seems destined for greatness. So how does it all shake out?

Continue reading →

The Girl in Twilight – Episode 8

Posted on by

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. When last we left off The Girl in Twilight, we’d just completed Chloe’s world, and defeated a malicious AI in order to… restore peace to the Amazon delivery peninsula? Frankly, I’m not entirely sure how Asuka and her friends’ actions actually changed the conditions of Chloe’s world, considering their current lifestyle was established long before the introduction of any malevolent Clusters. And when you couple that with Chloe’s arc not really possessing any thematic heft beyond “the power of friendship,” you end up with an arc that was undoubtedly The Girl in Twilight’s weakest yet, with Sexy Yu doing an absurd amount of work to keep things interesting.

Fortunately, with Chloe’s arc concluded, The Girl in Twilight will presumably now be interrogating Asuka’s long-suffering best friend, Yu. While Nana, Mio, and Chloe clearly all value their friendship with Asuka, Yu is clearly her closest confidant, and a reflection on her life will undoubtedly serve as a reflection on her relationship with Asuka, as well. After all, as we learned in Chloe’s world, Sexy Yu actually lost her own Asuka, which presumably had a major effect on her values and self-image. The Girl in Twilight is at its best in two extremes: when it’s digging into the subtle edges of its characterization, and when it’s embracing the absurdity and doppelganger-driven potential of its strange worlds. I’m hoping for both, but would be happy enough with either, as we dive once more into The Girl in Twilight!

Continue reading →

Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 15

Posted on by

A still blue sky is pierced by the roar of helicopters as we enter Evangelion’s fifteenth episode. Evangelion loves contrasting the abrasive intrusion of military hardware and the serene beauty of the natural world – but even as it labors over that contrast, it can’t help but loving the military hardware in its own right. Anno seems a lot like Miyazaki in that way; aware of the ugliness implied by his otaku passions, but unable to deny those passions, with both the love and the critique coming through in his work. Though Anno also extends his interrogations to his basic narrative structures, while Miyazaki has seemingly never lost faith in the purity and power of the classic adventure fable.

But this episode is not about that.

Continue reading →

Winter 2021 – Week 1 in Review

Posted on by

Hello everyone, and welcome to 2021! Last year was an abject horror show, but things are already somewhat looking up in my country, and presumably the world doesn’t have a second plague in store for us. On a more personal note, I had already written this entire goddamn Week in Review post, but then wordpress decided “save draft” is more of a suggestion than a demand, so I’m banging most of it out again. I hope the first week of your new year is going a little more smoothly than mind, but if not, hopefully my rambling reviews can offer some relief. Let’s dive into 2021’s first Week in Review!

Continue reading →

Dorohedoro – Episode 6

Posted on by

They’re currently still counting the votes that may herald the end of democracy in my country altogether, so you might say I’m feeling a little tension at the moment. In light of this, I’m going to do what I usually do at times like these: turn to one of my favorite ongoing projects, and bury myself in some productive work for a little while. Today that means Dorohedoro, where Nikaido is currently facing off against Noi in the guts of En’s estate.

Considering its bountiful worldbuilding flourishes and incidental genre digressions, you’d think Dorohedoro would be the kind of story to take its time with its central narrative, and simply luxuriate in its environment while dropping occasional hints about Caiman’s quest. Instead, in just five episodes, we’ve already discovered the identity of the man in Caiman’s throat, tracked down his gang, and twice faced off with En’s loyal enforcers. Dorohedoro is progressing with the pacing of a series that has nothing to lose, seemingly determined to resolve its initial conflict before it even finishes its first season.

This could either mean that we’ve yet to discover the actual magnitude of Caiman’s quest, or that his quest is merely a prelude to Dorohedoro’s true narrative, the story that’s kept it chugging along for two decades now. Given Hayashida’s confident writing so far, I’m not feeling apprehensive about that reveal – I’m simply excited to learn the truth, and discover precisely what kind of epic we’re dealing with here. Without further ado, let’s inch closer to that truth, and enjoy a fresh episode of Dorohedoro!

Continue reading →

Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 34

Posted on by

Hello all, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. We’re just about due for another trip to Alola by my watch, so I hope you’re all prepped and ready for more adventures on Akala Island – thermoses filled, compasses secured, and tiny ball-bound creatures prepped to smack the holy terror out of each other. Last episode was a ridiculous highlight, as Lana once again proved her power and ferocity by personally besting the Lord of the Lake. In the wake of that victory, Lana earned both a Z-crystal and the wrist guard for it, as well as a new move for Popplio. Given all that Lana powerleveling, I’m expecting the story to transition to another member of our team this time – but wherever the story takes us, I’m happy to return to Sun and Moon!

Continue reading →

Top Anime of 2020

Posted on by

It’s been a year, huh, folks? Trapped inside by a pandemic, tormented by the xenophobia and callousness of our own governments, and hurtling towards a climate change precipice, 2020 has been a year where thriving is utterly out of the question, and just surviving is worthy of applause. In light of the extreme conditions of the world at large, it’s no surprise that anime studios suffered a strain as well, and thus it’s been a relatively light year in anime. But that’s only half the story – personally, this has been a year of change for my relationship with the medium, too.

Continue reading →

Fall 2020 – Week 13 in Review

Posted on by

This week-numbering system doesn’t really make any sense at this point, huh? Initially, they were supposed to match the “weeks” of each anime season, though of course that itself is a vague concept, considering the unique release schedules of various shows. But then it lost what little sense it made after I stopped centering it around seasonal anime, and now we’re not even in a real “anime week,” since shows don’t generally come out in the last week of the year. But it’d be even weirder to switch to a system that just numbers all the weeks of the year, right? I dunno, something to think about.

Anyway! Ambiguous titling aside, I did indeed consume some media this week, along with putting together my Top Anime of 2020 post. That’s coming on Friday, but for now, let’s break down some films and games in 2020’s very last Week in Review!

Continue reading →

Why It Works: Worldbuilding, Storytelling, and Weaving a Song

Posted on by

For this week’s Why It Works, I pulled together an old-fashioned “philosophy of storytelling” essay, centered on the relationship between worldbuilding and dramatic structure. As usual, this was initially prompted by my perpetual annoyance at people Doing Stories Wrong, but I think it ended up in a fairly approachable place. Exploring the give-and-take of drama and narrative structure is just absolutely fascinating to me, and I’ll be happy if I can spark that fascination for anyone else out there. Here’s the piece!

Worldbuilding, Storytelling, and Weaving a Song

The Big O – Episode 10

Posted on by

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to return to The Big O, if that’s okay with you all, as I feel this show is one of the most rewarding projects I’m currently working on. The show is just such a complete package – I’d be happy enough simply to marvel at its terrific architecture and use of visual geometry, but it also succeeds as a polished, tightly written noir drama, somehow finding a natural meeting point between mystery, horror, and giant robot drama. As for this episode, it apparently features a storyboard by Kazuyoshi Katayama himself, the series’ overall director, and also the architect of its first three storyboards. If anyone has a natural fluency in The Big O’s aesthetic mix, it’d be Katayama, so let’s see what he has in store for us in episode ten!

Continue reading →