Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 5

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Settle the fuck down everyone, we’re watching more Ojamajo Doremi! Doremi’s been offering us some truly stunning episodes recently, as a two-episode star turn by famed director Shigeyasu Yamauchi served as a demonstration of both his distinct talents, as well as Doremi’s own consistent strengths. Yamauchi’s layouts are always beautiful, and consistently evoke a sense of otherworldly mystery (and at times even terror) that merges wonderfully with Doremi’s increasingly tense adventures. From his alienating portrayal of Doremi’s insecurities to his fanciful depictions of the witch world and Maho-dou, Yamauchi really made his presence felt these last couple episodes, and I can’t wait to see his work again.

On the narrative end, the introduction of Hana-chan has continued to force our leads to mature and accept responsibilities well beyond the concerns of the first season. Onpu has demonstrated consistent strength and wisdom in the face of this challenge, while both Pop and Doremi have risen to this responsibility in their own ways. It’s been great to see these characters grow, but frankly, I also wouldn’t mind a super farcical episode as a palette cleanser, perhaps one featuring Doremi, Loyal Dog. But hey, whatever happens, this show is great, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Let’s watch some more Ojamajo Doremi!

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The Big O – Episode 1

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be embarking on an entirely new journey, as I explore the first episode of the widely acclaimed The Big O. Though The Big O enjoys a generally positive reputation among western fans, I’ve never actually seen the property before now, which might not be a surprise if you know me particularly well. Giant robots aren’t really a draw for me in anime – you might as well tell me “this show’s characters wear a lot of sweatshirts” for all it’ll grab my attention. Additionally, “this show is like a western superhero story” is a pretty strong anti-draw for me, and I’m far from enamored with Batman’s “billionaire decides the route to societal justice is to individually punch muggers until they stop committing crimes” mythology, which is often the first reference point people highlight when trying to pitch The Big O.

But as I’ve since learned, those pitches are more a product of their typical resonance in the wider fan community than an accurate reflection of The Big O itself. More recent pitches, coming from people who actually know me, have seized on much more alluring details – like how director Kazuyoshi Katayama was an animation director on Giant Robo, or how it’s written by Chiaki Konaka, a veteran of both Princess Tutu and Serial Experiments Lain. And visual echoes of Batman: The Animated Series (a very good show, my antipathy for Batman himself notwithstanding) aside, The Big O’s gothic arches and lumbering beasts feel naturally evocative, and clearly reflective of Katayama’s Giant Robo past. I enter The Big O with as few preconceptions as possible, and simply hope to have an interesting time. Let’s get to work!

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Summer 2019 – Week 9 in Review

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To the likely surprise of no-one, I spent last week desperately assaulting a fortress of professional responsibilities both fresh and familiar, and have at this point come to terms with the fact that I’m probably not catching up on O Maidens before the end of the season. Fortunately, the shows I’m still sticking with offered more than enough to ramble about, and Given in particular is turning out to be one of the most unexpected gems of the year so far. Though the show’s visuals are a little restrained, its richness of character and acuity of dialogue run circles around most anime, with each episode leaving me even more impressed with its scripting, and even more invested in its stars. It’s definitely my breakout pick of the season, so let’s start with that one, as we run down one more Week in Anime!

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Fall 2019 Season Preview

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You folks enjoying this summer season? ME NEITHER. FUCK this summer season, we deserve better than this, we’re throwing it out and starting over.

Seriously though, this summer season’s actually been pretty great, but time’s cruel grinding of gears creaks ever onward. With only three weeks left in our current season, it’s time once more to turn our gaze forward, as we examine the approaching highlights of the fall season. Some anime seasons are defined either by larger-than-life creators or ambitious new productions, but for Fall 2019, the biggest stories for me are a pair of long-awaited sequels. My Hero Academia’s fourth season will finally be arriving, and even more importantly, friggin’ Chihayafuru is at last getting its third season! Chihayafuru is one of my absolute favorite recent anime, and having never gotten the chance to watch it as it was airing, I’m absolutely thrilled to experience season three alongside all of you.

Those two shows are likely the biggest stories, but as always, there are plenty of other properties with strong potential or talented creators attached, and every season ends up offering some welcome surprises (like the excellence of this summer’s Granbelm). Per usual, I won’t be summarizing every single upcoming show here – you can check out a site like anichart for something like that. Instead, I’ll just be highlighting the shows that actually catch my attention, with an explanation of what element of their production team or source material or whatnot caught my eye. Without further ado, let’s preview the top prospects of the upcoming season!

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Episode 12

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The endgame is upon us, everyone! Though I’d had a moderate suspicion that this season would actually end through dialogue, rather than cataclysmic action spectacle, it turns out we’re actually getting the best of both worlds. A’s eleventh episode pretty much covered the dialogue end of this argument, with both Fate and Hayate directly confronting their central emotional conflicts.

On Hayate’s side, her quick journey from despair to actually comforting the Book of Darkness offered one more demonstration of her incredible personal strength and emotional character. With her progressively crippling injury and absent family, no one would have blamed Hayate for despairing at any point in this season. Instead, she’s been a persistent source of strength to those around her, actually having to assure both her guardians and the book itself that she is not someone to be pitied, and is rather someone they themselves can rely on. In a series that often focuses on epic exchanges of physical prowess, Hayate has consistently demonstrated that strength comes in many forms, with her charitable, unwavering spirit proving to be the only force that could turn her guardians into a family, and her cursed tome into a friend.

On Fate’s side, her rejection of a happily ever after with Precia and Alicia demonstrated a different kind of emotional strength. This paradise was exactly the resolution she was seeking all through Nanoha’s first season – but having embraced Nanoha as a friend and Lindy as a mother, she’s learned the incomparable strength of the bonds you choose for yourself, as opposed to the false peace of “how my family is supposed to be.” Though at first she was hesitant to move out from her mother’s shadow, Fate has proven she’s no longer dependent on anyone, and that she’s strong enough to actually reject the past in order to embrace the family she’s chosen for herself.

Though their journeys there have been quite different, each of these stories have served as resounding arguments for the variable nature of family, and the joy and power gained through sharing both your strength and your vulnerability with others. And with each of them having demonstrated their clear emotional strength, it’s time for the battle to shift to more practical terms, as our heroes attempt to stop the rampaging Book of Darkness. With Yuuno having conveniently laid out the conditions of this fight as “I don’t give a shit, just hit her with everything,” I’m guessing it’s finally time for the fireworks. LET’S GET TO IT!

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Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 7

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I’m in a deeply melancholy mood today, due to some real-world tragedies that aren’t related to Girls’ Last Tour in any way. I normally try to remain an upbeat and energetic traveling companion for these watch-alongs, but it’s a truly awful day for the anime community at large, and I’m guessing you’d all realize pretty quickly if I was faking positivity. Sometimes the world can be so senseless in its cruelty that you begin to question the point of trying at all – if all good things can be so easily undone by random hatefulness, what hope is there to even strive to build good things? It sometimes seems like the most powerful force in human nature is how some people can act with complete, even gleeful disregard for the suffering they inflict on others. And with devils like that roaming around, what hope do any of the rest of us have?

I’m watching Girls’ Last Tour now because Girls’ Last Tour doesn’t try to deny any of that. It’s not a beacon of untarnished positivity – it essentially starts from the assumption that all striving is hopeless and all dreams will fail, and attempts to make sense of living in the face of that. Its world is a crumbling testament to the fact that in spite of our grand ambitions, our selfishness and capacity for violence will ultimately undo all we have accomplished. In Girls’ Last Tour, all we can truly believe in is that one day will follow another, and that some people are genuinely decent. It posits that that’s enough, and I hope it’s right; in today’s world, it feels like we’ll be testing the show’s philosophy soon enough regardless. Keep moving. Keep striving. Be kind. If we don’t have each other we have nothing, so please try to bring some good to the world.

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Summer 2019 – Week 8 in Review

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With a massive backlog behind me and a whole bunch of reader-funded projects and various other freelance works ahead of me, it’s been hard to find time to watch anime for my own enjoyment this week. I wasn’t actually able to get to O maidens in time for this Week in Review, but fortunately, I had more than enough thoughts on this week’s other productions to make up for it. I’m actually watching a lot less seasonal anime than I used to, but the thoughts I’m producing on those shows are both lengthier and better-informed, so that’s an okay tradeoff, right? WATCHING ANIME IS HARD, OKAY.

Alright, enough excuses. Let’s break down what I actually did watch in one more Week in Review!

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Why It Works: What to Expect from the My Hero Academia Anime’s Fourth Season!

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Today on Why It Works, it’s time for some shameless promotion, as I break down just a few of the things to look forward to in My Hero Academia’s fast-approaching fourth season. If you’ve read the manga, none of this will be new to you, but if you haven’t, this post should offer a spoiler-free sampler of the directions the story will soon be taking. Have at it!

What to Expect from the My Hero Academia Anime’s Fourth Season!

A Bright Mechanical Dawn: Patlabor The Movie

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Many giant robot properties are, most fundamentally, about the power and freedom of becoming your adult self. Often centered on young men on the cusp of adulthood, their robotic instruments become vehicles through which those boys can explore the responsibility of genuinely impacting society, and deciding what kind of mark they want to leave on the world. It’s a robust metaphor that gracefully implies the world-shifting nature of adolescence, but the dramatic range of giant robot narratives expands far beyond individual transformation, as the brilliant Patlabor demonstrates. Developed throughout the late ‘80s by the five-artist Headgear collective, and set only a brief decade after its own creation, Patlabor focuses on a very different kind of transformation – not on one boy becoming a man, but on Japan becoming a modern and technologically advanced global power.

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Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 4

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Pack it in folks, it’s just about time for some more Ojamajo Doremi. Doremi’s second season has been a total joy so far, with the trials of taking care of Hana-chan offering an emotionally rich and consistently rewarding focal point for the show’s continuing drama. It really does feel like the girls have had to grow up a little bit – from the relatively carefree adventures of chasing after episodic Bad Items, they’re now being forced to accept the compromises necessary for embracing adult responsibilities, and putting the needs of their little magical time bomb over their own desires. Last episode saw Pop demonstrating the inherent rewards of accepting such responsibilities, as her time spent caring for Hana-chan ended up giving her the strength to finally pass her witch exams.

That episode also served as a beautiful demonstration of Doremi’s substantial aesthetic strengths, as acclaimed director Shigeyasu Yamauchi lent his unique talents to an episode full of evocative layouts and standout visual sequences. The moody framing of the Maho-dou, Pop and Onpu’s shared lullaby, Pop’s dazzling entrance into the Witch World – Doremi’s always a good-looking show, but Yamauchi’s presence added a welcome touch of dark fantasy surrealism, and apparently he’s directing this episode as well. Let’s see what he brings to Doremi’s wonderful world in episode four!

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