Simoun – Episode 21

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Let’s return once more to the troubled skies of Simoun! The show’s previous episode was one long, somber dirge, as all of Chor Tempest struggled with Mamiina’s death in their own ways. With the actual, senseless consequences of war made so inescapably clear, Tempest seemed on the verge of dissolution. The team’s theoretical rocks, Aaeru and Para, both blamed themselves, while Neviril sank into the familiar grief she’s been struggling with all season, and Floe decided to leave altogether.

What ultimately saved them was not their own ability to rise out of tragedy, but instead the uniting influence of a common enemy. The military’s callous discarding of Mamiina’s remains brought the team together in rage, before Onashia’s gift of Mamiina’s braid reminded them that ultimately, the only support structure they can now rely on is each other. Once protected by their religious status, military importance, and inherent class advantages, the sybilla have discovered that as Simulacrum society disintegrates, none of their old guards can now be trusted. The only people still at their side are their fellow sybilla; the squadmates they once bickered with, but now realize are their only true friends. Let’s see how Neviril’s team hold together through one more episode of Simoun!

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Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 11

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Pile in folks, it’s time for more Chihayafuru! When last we left off, the Masters qualifiers had just ended on a surprising conclusion: Arata and Harada would be competing for the challenger seat. Taichi fought his hardest, but his run through the qualifiers was ended by one more luck of the draw, and he was forced to shuffle off to Kyoto in total defeat.

Where this leaves the overall Chihayafuru narrative is a bit of an open question. Taichi had seemingly planned on treating the Masters tournament as his karuta swan song, but I can’t really imagine him happily submitting to his mother’s wishes from here out; additionally, his struggles over the course of that tournament also seemed to indicate he might be moving towards a more positive and fulfilling relationship with karuta, and not just seeing it as an avenue to get closer to Chihaya. Meanwhile, Chihaya seems to have possibly realized that Taichi is love with her, while Arata has discovered that acknowledging that fact prompts feelings of jealousy.

And over all of this, Suo’s strange prediction still looms, dictating that Arata will be the Master one day, but not the next Master. Does that mean that Harada actually has a chance here, or will Suo remain unchallenged for another year, and only fall when Taichi takes the crown? Either way, the Harada-Arata match hovers in the distance, and I can’t wait to see Chihaya and Taichi awkwardly stumbling through their new relationship dynamic. Let’s get to it!

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 11

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I’ll let you folks in on a secret – at the time of writing this article, Huggto’s eleventh episode wasn’t actually funded yet. Normally I try not to push ahead of the funding on specific projects, even if I’m fairly sure they’ll get there, because I’ve already got more than enough projects to work on – but today, I feel like I just need some Huggto! It’s been a long week, I’ve accomplished more work than I have in over a month, and I think I’ve earned the right to spoil myself with some charming magical girl adventures. We’re checking in with Hana and the gang, and that is final.

When we last left Huggto!, I was actually feeling some uncertainty about our current arc. Hana has always served as a beacon of optimism within the group, essentially embodying the “hope for the future” that this season’s enemies are trying to destroy. Having her lose that hope simply by seeing her friends competently serve as waitresses felt a little abrupt, narrative-wise – though of course, Hana is young and impressionable and far less certain of her identity than an adult would be. At times like this, you need friends who can build you back up, and personally, I’m hoping this situation provides a chance for Emiru to return to the narrative, and maybe even pay back Hana for her support before. Look, I’m a simple and very anxious person, “The Magical Girl With Anxiety” is an easy sell for me. Either way, let’s see what awaits in the next Huggto! Precure!

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Fall 2019 – Week 10 in Review

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Well folks, it’s just about that time again. Wednesday has arrived once more, and though I’m currently buried under a variety of end-of-year lists and other assorted projects, the ongoing anime season still demands a moment of reflection. The anime was quite good this week, on the whole – My Hero Academia seems to finally be realizing the dramatic potential of the Overhaul arc, while Stars Align and Vinland Saga remained as reliably excellent as ever. There’s plenty to discuss and never enough time, so let’s jump right into another Week in Review!

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Texhnolyze – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to a series I actually haven’t touched for several years now, at an oddly appropriate moment. With Hiroshi Hamasaki’s adaptation of Blade of the Immortal currently demonstrating the unique range and appeal of his style, today we look back at Texhnolyze, one of the shows that initially solidified his aesthetic and built his reputation.

Many elements of Hamasaki’s style have remained consistent over the years, from his clear fondness for light saturation, to his love of layouts that act more as hyper-focused tonal signifiers than coherent scene-setting. His stories are always drenched in an oppressive white light, and his regular use of uncomfortably extreme closeups and symbolism give his shows a sense of disorientation and alienation, as well as the sense that there’s some greater conspiracy or logic at work. Some works are perfectly suited to this style, while others are not; he was the ideal choice to direct Steins;gate, but a very weird one for a show like Orange. As it turns out, Texhnolyze might be the most resoundingly “Hamasaki-esque” show of all time, and its first three episodes have let him utterly indulge in his love of slow-burning, aesthetically driven theater.

To be honest, Texhnolyze’s visual style has been stronger than its narrative so far. The story being very slowly revealed here seems like a pretty familiar tale of future-tinted gang violence, with the ultimate question of “what do you become when you rebuild your body with mechanical parts” striking me as extremely quaint in 2019. But Texhnolyze is more a mood piece than a thematic treatise, and it is a goddamn effective mood piece. Let’s see what awaits in episode four!

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Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 10

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Folks, it is undoubtedly time for more Chihayafuru. We return to the ongoing drama in the midst of a tumultuous transition period, as both Taichi and Arata are grappling with their true reasons for playing karuta. The unsustainability of Taichi’s simultaneous deference to his mother’s wishes and dedication to karuta came to a head at the Masters qualifier, where Taichi bet everything on winning the Master’s crown, and lost everything in one more tragic luck of the draw. That loss forced Taichi to at last honestly grapple with the hopelessness of his current situation, but his joy at watching Harada ascend to the finals seems to imply he may find a way out of this emotional swamp yet. Taichi really does like karuta, and he is also extremely good at it – if he can somehow divorce his healthy passion for karuta from his unhealthy infatuation with Chihaya, he might actually be able to convince his mother to let karuta be a part of his life.

Elsewhere, Arata seems to finally be engaging with his own feelings regarding Chihaya, while Chihaya herself seems to be grasping the nature of Taichi’s own feelings. And at the same time, Harada is still locked in desperate battle, about to face Sudo for a chance at fighting the Master himself. We’ve got a whole bunch of urgent, paradigm-threatening balls hanging in the air, and I’m eager to see where they all land. Let’s get back to Chihayafuru!

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Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 11

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Hey folks, let’s watch some more Girls’ Last Tour. You’ve already funded me through the end of this season and the conclusion of the manga besides, so I think it’s safe to say at least some of you are enjoying this series, and for that I’m glad. Like Yuu and Chi’s own journey, Girls’ Last Tour seems like an experience that’s best shared, and though you’re not all technically here beside me, it still feels nice to ramble about this very pleasant show with the Theoretical You. And though you folks don’t also get to appreciate this, it also feels very Girls’ Last Tour-appropriate to channel something I’d already want to do into theoretically “useful labor,” since this is also my job. Though I’m often too busy to watch anime on my own time, perhaps an even greater hurdle to personal viewing is that nagging voice in my head that demands I Must Be Producing all the time, that if what I’m doing isn’t productive or moving towards a greater end, I’m going the wrong way.

That voice in my head is pretty stress-inducing, but it’s also one of the things that helps me keep pushing forward. But you can’t just have the Chi voice – if you’re perpetually trying to put the world in a clear and coherent order, and act upon that stable order in the most sensible and productive manner possible, you’re going to burn yourself out. The world is chaotic, and though pursuing a greater purpose is admirable, you also need to be able to rest, appreciate the chaos, and enjoy the world that’s already around you. Yuu is extremely good at, as she bluntly put it, “getting along with the hopelessness,” and I think you all help me in a similar way – I know what I’m doing is productive in terms of my job, so I can get my Chi voice to shut up for a bit, and fully appreciate each moment for its own sake. So thank you all for helping me get out of my own head for a bit, and let’s see what’s in store in one more Girls’ Last Tour!

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Fall 2019 – Week 9 in Review

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Hello all, and welcome back for another Week in Review! The year’s winding down at this point, meaning I’m grappling with a variety of year-end summaries and lists and whatnot, and am happy to report it’s been a pretty solid year in anime. I believe Mob Psycho 100, Carole & Tuesday, and Stars Align are currently wrestling for the top of my annual listings, but there’s a fair number of other fine contenders as well, and I still need to find the time to finish off overlooked shows like O Maidens. Meanwhile, this season’s own airing anime continued in its reliable fashion, as My Hero Academia at last entered the punchy part of its new arc, as Vinland Saga put the breaks on its own relative punchiness. There’s plenty to discuss and never enough time to do it, so let’s dive into another Week in Anime!

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Winter 2020 Season Preview

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Hello folks, and welcome back to… what the fuck, does that actually say 2020 at the top of the post? As in, the beginning of an entire new decade? As in, I’ve been writing about anime for…

You know what, we’re just not gonna think about that. Instead, we’re simply going to appreciate the upcoming attractions of the newest anime season, a season which holds no greater temporal significance whatsoever, and which will solely be a source of animated joy, not existential career-focused dread. As usual, my picks here won’t include every single new anime production – just the ones I think already possess some obvious potential, be it due to strong source material, excellent key staff members, or whatever else catches my attention. I’ll also focus my descriptions on highlighting those factors, rather than offering a reheated synopsis; you can find synopses for everything over on anichart, and synopses rarely have much correlation with quality in the first place. If that dismissal of Plot As A Meaningful Concept raises your hackles, feel free to exit the building – if not, I hope you find something worth checking out in my rundown. Without further ado, let’s start the Winter 2020 Season Preview!

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Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 9

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Buckle in folks, it’s time for more Chihayafuru! We return in the midst of another tense tournament sequence, as both Taichi and Arata separately battle for the right to challenge the current karuta Master. However, claiming that karuta crown might be the least of Taichi’s worries at the moment, or at least, just one potential solution to his current anxieties. As Taichi faces his toughest opponents ever, with Harada too burnt out to support him and only Hanano defending him from his mother’s rage, he seems to also be at last facing down the emotional conflicts that have consistently haunted his relationship with both Chihaya and karuta. With only this tournament remaining before he must dedicate himself fully to a pre-med career track, Taichi is finally asking himself what he truly wants, and who he wants to be.

These are difficult questions for any teenager to answer, and in Taichi’s case, his inability to articulate and pursue what he truly wants has been Chihayafuru’s most intractable emotional conflict for the majority of its run.  Whether he truly loves Chihaya or is simply infatuated with her, whether he’s genuinely passionate about karuta, whether there’s even a path he can follow if he wants to continue the sport at the highest level – these questions have been percolating for three seasons now, and it’s both gratifying to see Taichi at last acknowledging he needs to answer these questions, and thrilling to wonder at where he’ll move from his current stasis.

It’s also a little worrying, to be honest, largely because of Chihayafuru’s overarching strengths and weaknesses, as well as its specific genre-melding compromises. The Chihaya-Taichi-Arata love triangle has consistently been Chihayafuru’s weakest element, and has hung on a certain style of fantastical “destined love” inevitability that feels dramatically and emotionally unconvincing, particularly in the context of the show’s far stronger reflections on personal anxiety and identity. On top of that, the question of whether Arata truly loves karuta is complicated by the fact that Chihayafuru has one foot in classic sports dramas, where total obsession with some sport is a base dramatic assumption, and one foot in coming-of-age character dramas, where “hyper-obsession over one pastime to the exclusion of all else” isn’t actually a healthy attitude. How the show will navigate both the base dramatic/emotional complexity of this situation, as well as how it intersects with the show’s traditional weaknesses, is a question that has me equally thrilled and nervous for whatever’s next. Either way, I love Chihayafuru, I’m happy to see Taichi engaging with these questions, and I’m eager to see where we go from here. LET’S GET TO IT!

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