Hugtto! Precure – Episode 16

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to the always-charming and frequently visually dazzling Hugtto! Precure – in fact, I’m even more excited than usual, given just how good Hugtto’s previous episode was. That episode saw Emiru returning in a blaze of glory, teaming up with Lulu to teach her about music and friendship and stuff. Emiru rocketed to the top of my favorite characters within her very first opponent, and pairing her with the ostensibly emotionless Lulu was an inspired choice, as Lulu was able to learn from Emiru’s passion and sensitivity, while Emiru gained a bit of necessary self-confidence from Lulu’s support.

Along with last episode’s rich character chemistry and consistently excellent humor, it was also one of the show’s most visually impressive episodes so far, with Emiru in particular being brought to life through plentiful character acting and goofy expression work. But most importantly, while I was busy raving about last episode on twitter, I received a number of responses telling me to keep on watching through the next episode, since they’re apparently a matching, equally accomplished set of episodes. The wait from there to the point where I actually had the next episode funded was agony, but it’s over now, and we’re all set to dive back into Precure. Let’s see what the sequel to Emiru & Lulu’s Big Day has in store!

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Summer 2020 – Week 8 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to another goddamn Wednesday. I watched a fairly balanced array of features this past week, including an unexpected horror gem, another American classic, and a whole lot of Steven Universe. I enjoyed Steven Universe the first time I watched it, but it turns out my momentum ran out that first time just as the show itself was starting to ramp up. The show only seems to improve as it continues through its third, fourth, and fifth seasons, capping off with a movie that had me bawling again and again. Steven Universe now stands securely besides Avatar: The Last Airbender at the highest echelon of American cartoons, and though I’m sad to leave it behind, I’m glad it’s ending strong, and not repeating Adventure Time’s slow fade of an ending. Anyway, I’m still in the introduction here, so I should probably save some Steven Universe love for the article proper. Let’s break down another Week in Review!

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Dorohedoro – Episode 1

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am excited to be embarking on a journey through one of 2020’s most intriguing properties, the long-awaited adaptation of Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro. Dorohedoro’s manga has been beloved for many years, at least among my social circles, and I’ve heard it described as an ultraviolent yet somehow cozy slice of life story in hell-world. I’m a fan of cozy slice of life, but don’t really have any love of ultraviolence, so I’ve held off on checking out the manga – that said, great storytelling can sell pretty much any premise, and Dorohedoro’s reputation is lofty enough for me to be expecting great things here.

As for this adaptation, we’ve got an excellent director in Yuuichirou Hayashi, who has more than demonstrated his ability to realize distinctive aesthetics through works like Garo and Kakegurui, as well as a legendary art director in Shinji Kimura, who’s contributed background art to works like Beautiful Dreamer and Akira. The use of CG character models is certainly a little disappointing, but for a work with designs like this, it’s likely the only way an adaptation could have been realized in the first place. With the stage set and my own experience established, let’s see what we find in the first episode of Dorohedoro!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 19

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Right now, I’m still mired in what I believe is known as the dog days of summer, where it’s too hot and humid out to even appreciate the sunshine. Meanwhile, with COVID preventing any sort of group outing that might distract from the heat, my current Survival Strategy is to sit within an air-conditioned room, silently staring at the blistering heat outside. This is not a particularly enthralling summer vacation experience, but fortunately, I know a place where the summer heat is always just right – Alola, a special archipelago that just so happens to also house a diverse menagerie of friendly, collectable creatures.

Last time on Sun and Moon, we joined Mallow in her quest for the perfect Alolan soup, a journey that ultimately resulted in Bounsweet evolving into the powerful high-kicking Tsareena, as well as the acquisition of aforementioned perfect soup. After a fair stretch of episodes that have all been episodic adventures, I’m somewhat expecting us to return to Ash’s island pilgrimage today – but if not, I’m also absolutely down for some kind of wacky one-off again, perhaps involving hot air balloons or an angry Miltank. Whatever’s in store, Sun and Moon is always a good time, so let’s dive right into our next episode!

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Symphogear AXZ – Episode 8

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The ancient rites have been completed and the door to eternity is cracking open, so I hope you folks are ready for another episode of SYYYYMPHOOOOGEAAAAAR! Last episode was mostly just a continuous series of battles from start to finish, but we did end up learning more about the internal dynamics of the Bavarian Illuminati – namely, that everyone except Tiki thinks Adam sucks, and are actually loyal to St. Germain. However, with Prelati potentially having been destroyed outright by the young Symphogears, and Adam now asking St. Germain to sacrifice her one remaining follower, it’s looking like the time for any potential leadership struggle may already be passed.

That’s generally how it goes with Symphogear, though – the enemy team starts with maybe a half dozen or so individual members, and gets whittled down over the second half of the season, leaving us with a climactic confrontation with whoever the biggest bad guy is. Structural forecasts aside, what I’m actually most looking forward to is seeing whatever new power mode Hibiki and her friends synthesize out of the “Fool’s Stone” that they’ve been seeking. Let’s hit the ground running with another episode of SYMPHOGEAR!

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Summer 2020 – Week 7 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Wednesday has arrived again, and though my ostensible “Week in Review” posts are continuing their steady transformation into a shapeless, abyssal mass of unprompted media opinions, they’re still keeping me busy with plenty to write about. This week I watched through the first half of Steven Universe’s final season, caught up on the fascinating and beautifully executed Deca-Dence, and also tossed in a fresh film for seasoning. Deca-Dence has been so damn interesting that I’m almost certainly going to write some sort of long-form essay on it, but in the meantime, I can’t exactly let Tachikawa’s statement that “we were mostly inspired by Wreck-It Ralph” go unanswered. Without further ado, let’s explore some fresh new stories!

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Why It Works: What Does It Truly Mean to Be “Over 9000?”

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I had a whole lot of fun with this week’s Why It Works article, as it fell into one of my favorite categories of criticism: thorough explorations of seemingly trivial cinematic moments. In this case, the inescapable “it’s over 9000” meme from Dragon Ball Z, a meme whose resonance and enduring nature seems to me to be a natural result of how it articulates the dramatic recalibration from the original Dragon Ball to the more self-serious Z. But enough explaining the article, let’s just get to it!

What Does It Truly Mean to Be “Over 9000?”

The Girl in Twilight – Episode 6

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Hello everyone, and welcome back. You all feeling ready for some The Girl in Twilight? So far, this show has proven itself to be absolutely full of surprises, as it shifted from the relatively grounded and thematically concise Nana arc, to the absolutely fantastical and often just-plain-ridiculous Mia arc.

Not to say Mia’s arc was bad in any way – it was actually a very entertaining ride, and Mia’s own journey was convincingly executed. Using this world of cowboys and outlaws to illustrate Mia’s desire to be more than “cute” was a neat trick; not only was it a fun way to explore her character, but it also neatly illustrated how the conditions of our own world can be just as limiting as any other, further emphasizing how there is no such thing as a “neutral” or “true” self. We are all reflections of our environments in myriad ways, and coming to terms with that is a necessary process both for learning to understand ourselves, and learning to coexist with others.

That aside, Cowboy World was also just an incredibly fun, silly adventure, and made great use of this show’s charming cast and their various duplicates. The Girl in Twilight’s excellent character writing has proven to be not just a welcome asset, but the show’s foundational bedrock – it is our understanding of the initial main cast that makes these what-if versions so compelling, and it is their overall chemistry that makes their adventures so fun. I’m eager to see what world we visit next as we continue this strange and hilarious journey!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 18

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I have just concluded my duties on the summer season’s preview guide, meaning I am treating myself to another fun-filled episode of Pokemon Sun and Moon. I hope you’re all enjoying this journey as much as I am; while I often ramble at exhaustive length about the visual beauty and thematic poignancy of anime’s most ambitious productions, a great deal of anime’s importance to me comes down to how soothing and rewarding it is to settle down with a show as comforting as a good friend or a long, lazy nap.

As someone who watched a great deal of anime growing up, the art form’s fundamental modes of visual and emotional expression feel a bit like home to me. And when you combine that with the artistry and affectionate characterization of a show like Ojamajo Doremi, or Chihayafuru, or Sun and Moon, you end up with productions that aren’t just pleasant to watch, but a genuine source of stability and emotional support. Supporting people through difficult times is one of art’s greatest callings, and I can only hope that joining me on these journeys has given some of you that sense of support, as well. I’m glad you’re all here with me, and eager to get back to the adventure, so let’s dive into another episode of Sun and Moon!

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Big Windup! – Episode 1

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a new journey, as we explore the first episode of 2007’s baseball-focused drama, Big Windup! I didn’t really know anything about Big Windup! before starting this project, save for a general familiarity with its character art, so I of course went to work checking out the staff and such to get some picture of what I’m in for. That led to me discovering this was directed by Tsutomu friggin’ Mizushima, and with that, my anticipation for baseball action was thoroughly primed.

If you’re not familiar with Tsutomu Mizushima, I’d describe him as a workmanly director with a particular mastery of editing, meaning his shows usually benefit from both high-paced narrative momentum and phenomenal comedic timing. His shows are defined less by specific visual signatures than a general sturdiness of form and lightness of tone, and his recent catalog is brimming with fine shows like Girls und Panzer, Shirobako, Witch Craft Works, and Prison School. Both Witch Craft Works and Prison School clearly demonstrate he’s able to augment his style to match the aesthetic of his source material, and beyond that, I’m also excited to see an award-winning sports manga by a female mangaka.

As a final point, this first episode is directed by Mizushima himself, with animation direction by the show’s character designer and Chief AD Takahiko Yoshida, meaning we’re undoubtedly in for a blueprint of the show’s intended style going forward. With all that established, let’s check out the first episode of Big Windup!

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