Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been avoiding the summer heat by playing a whole ton of Death Stranding 2, which is proving both immensely compelling and also quite different from its predecessor. I can see why Kojima was worried that his playtesters were “enjoying it too much” – the franchise has largely abandoned the austerity of both form and function that defined its predecessor, that singular sense of loneliness and unending toil that made it a distinct emotional experience within the medium. In contrast, Death Stranding 2 embraces enough of Metal Gear Solid 5’s mechanics to offer a crowd-pleasing summation of Kojima’s career to date, meaning it’s less of a revelatory art experience than simply a damn good videogame. It has nonetheless got its hooks in me deep, but I still managed to spare enough time to sneak in some film viewings. Let’s get to it!
Yaiba: Samurai Legend – Episode 3
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re bounding back into the ongoing revival of Yaiba: Samurai Legend, the bombastic shonen spectacle originally created by Case Closed mangaka Gosho Aoyama. Within our first two episodes, Yaiba has accidentally shipped himself from his mysterious jungle home to Japan, taken up residence with local girl Sayaka Mine, and found himself a destined rival in the form of kendo specialist Takeshi Onimaru. In fact, Yaiba has proven so intolerable to Onimaru that he was goaded into claiming a demonic sword, an artifact of the wind oni Fujin, which must surely be countered by Yaiba’s own acquisition of the matching Raijin blade.
The story has proceeded at a breakneck pace so far, demonstrating an enticing mixture of dynamic, Kaneda-style action posing and flexible, CG-facilitated storyboarding. The overall effect is one of profound kinetic energy in both framing and animation, yet I’ve nonetheless found myself particularly struck by the production’s moments of stillness, the predawn light cherished by Sayaka and Takeshi alike. Still, with a magic sword-bearing demon on the loose, I imagine we’re in for a hectic time as Yaiba reunites with his rival. Let’s get to it!
Rock is a Lady’s Modesty – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we might check in on Oushin Girls’ Academy, and see how new arrival Lilisa is managing to uphold the tenets of dignified high-class ladydom. Having crawled up from the ranks of the peasantry through her mother’s union with the distinguished Suzunomiya family, Lilisa is determined to become the academy’s Noble Maiden, and thereby secure a lasting future for herself and her mother. And it won’t take much – just abandoning her current personality and her most precious memories, including her conjoined love of her father and the guitar.
So yeah, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Nonetheless, it took the intervention of fellow young maiden and born blue blood Otoha Kurogane to shake her poise, calling her back to the guitar and the earnest, unvarnished feelings it represents through the time-honored challenge of “what are you, chicken?” Along the way, Rock is a Lady’s Modesty has presented a bevy of charged visual motifs, defining life at Oushin as a series of cages and mirrors, barring true expression while consistently allowing glimpses of humanity to seep through in fountain pools, painted glass, or the sweat of pure, reckless passion. I’m at this point most curious to learn of Otoha’s “true self,” or whether she has actually managed to integrate the duality of propriety and rebellion more gracefully than Lilisa, but I’m down for whatever this team has to throw at us. Let’s get to it!
Monogatari Off/Monster Season – Episode 6
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are concluding Nadeko’s quest to pull herself back together, and hopefully come to love all the divergent personas that brought her to this point. Having recaptured Flirty Nadeko and Wrath Nadeko, she now finds herself facing off with God Nadeko, the medusa that once threatened all life in her town. With neither Kaiki’s guidance nor Yotsugi’s Unlimited Rulebook to assist her, she will have to confront one of the most powerful creatures in Monogatari history, and somehow convince her to help with Nadeko’s embarrassing romance manga.
It’s not unusual to come to hate your own past self. In fact, it can often be quite comforting to blame your former identity for all the failings of your current life, or to at least feel embarrassed regarding the ignorance, insecurity, or audacity that inspired your prior forms of self-expression. The passion that inspired one era of your life can seem embarrassing or naive from a further vantage point – but as Kaiki told Nadeko once before, passion is inherently embarrassing. Commitment is embarrassing. Staking your claim in the world, stating what you truly desire and how hard you’d work to acquire it, is always kinda embarrassing. We cling to indifference or even nihilism as defensive measures, knowing only that to admit we care is to invite mockery, to let others poke holes in our shameful ambitions.
But that’s no way to live. To truly thrive we must embrace the embarrassment of committing fully to our passions, and to understand ourselves we must forgive and embrace our past selves, knowing that their passion is still a part of us. The girl who used meekness as a shield, the girl who danced for the crowd’s applause, the girl who hated that crowd for their shallow adoration – all of those were earnest forms of Nadeko, each trying their best to get along in a world that tells us the only true crime is to wear no mask at all. If Nadeko wants to create stories that speak from the heart, she must first learn to embrace her own – and in forgiving these rambling Nadekos, she might just see the path forward a little more clearly. Let’s return to the final battle!
Summer 2025 – Week 1 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ve hit the first week of the summer anime season, which of course means we’re in truth a third of the way through summer, because the year actually starts a month into winter and nothing truly means anything. Regardless, this occasion marks the perfect time to take a glance at the contenders of last season, whose glimmering early potential has at this point solidified into cold, uncompromising reality. It seems folks aren’t so hot on Shinichiro Watanabe’s latest, but I’m looking forward to checking out our latest Gundam, and have been hearing nothing but positive things about Apocalypse Hotel. Clearly more investigation will be needed, but for now, let’s run down our latest film contenders in the Week in Review!
The Fire Hunter – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to the fraught, entrancing world of The Fire Hunter, as Touko begins her pilgrimage to the capital, hoping to redress the crime of a fire hunter’s death by shepherding his dog Kanata home. She has said goodbye to the village she has known and the adopted mother she loved, climbing aboard an imposing forest-bound train that embodies both the technological sprawl of this series and the dangers lurking in the wilds. What awaits her is unknowable; in this world where fire sparks death, the terrors of the deep woods must surely be beyond our comprehension.
As you can probably tell, I’m having a great time so far. Rieko Hinata’s world is distinctive and fascinating, and the show so far is revealing its secrets with the offhand confidence and measured pacing of a master storyteller. The show’s art design is also distinctive and compelling, offering a landscape both melancholy and beautiful, and populating it with characters rich in expressive flourishes of body language. Stillness, anticipation, and grief; there is a charged, mournful aspect to Touko’s story, like a dark cloud promising a cold rain. Let us see where the journey takes us as we return to The Fire Hunter.
Big Windup! – Episode 17
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to announce we’re returning to Big goddamn Windup, as our Nishiura boys charge into the fourth inning of their contest with Tosei, the returning summer tournament champions. So far our team has secured one precious early run, and have so far succeeded in defending that lead through Mihashi’s distinctive pitching. However, the storm clouds gathering overhead might well be an echo of Nishiura’s fortunes, as a team with every other advantage chips away at Nishiura’s crumbling element of surprise.
All of this has of course made for a rich, aromatic tactical stew served to us in the audience. Big Windup’s mixture of psychological analysis and game strategy was engaging even before we reached the field, and now the show is blooming into a vivid tactical simulator of impressive scope, factoring both the skills and mindsets of the various players into its ongoing drama so gracefully that it’s all parsable as a collective, coherent evolving conflict. Between the individual character reflections and the ongoing commentary of Abe, Momoe, and Tosei pitcher Takase, the knuckle-biting turning points of this conflict are apparent on both a micro and macro level, leaving us with the inescapable impression of Nishiura playing aboard a sinking ship, desperately attempting to secure runs before Tosei’s superior training shuts them out entirely. Let’s get to the game!
BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 5
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we drop in on Ave Mujica in a moment of chaos and catastrophe, with our improbable quintet once again on the verge of dissolution. What had seemed like a brief unity of purpose has proven just a mirage – for it was not Mutsumi who was gabbing gracefully with bandmates and interviewers, but the alter ego Mortis herself. Having been shamed and abandoned by everyone she once relied on, Mutsumi has retreated inside herself, leaving the manic, pattern-matching Mortis to face the outside world.
Worse still, in the wake of Mutsumi entirely abdicating control of her own body, Sakiko was the only one who noticed anything was wrong. The other girls were simply happy to have less band drama, with Uika and Umiri favoring whatever created less discord, and Nyamu actually seeing Mortis’ shape-shifting talents as evidence of Mutsumi’s professional genius. A band that is incapable of recognizing when one of its own members is mid-psychotic break couldn’t possibly serve as an emotional sanctuary – but from the start, Ave Mujica has been an act of projection and deflection, a way for Sakiko to abstract her emotions rather than embrace them, to find validation through the public embrace of a theatrical project that means nothing to anyone but her.
Obviously, such an act of performative denial was never going to make her whole. But at this point, Sakiko may no longer be able to stop what she has started, or to rescue Mutsumi from the protective clutches of Mortis. And frankly, I’m quite enjoying Mortis as an addition to the cast – she’s essentially serving as a translator between Sakiko’s melodrama and her bandmates’ professionalism, demonstrating how their various masks all conceal a common urge for unity and understanding. Let’s see how negotiations are fairing as we return to Ave Mujica!
Spring 2025 – Week 13 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This past week saw me returning to my Anime Classics investigations with a vengeance, as I burned through the entirety of the original Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. The series was a delight on the whole, serving as a somewhat more whimsical counterpoint to Gundam’s stoic war drama. It was interesting to see how the production’s focus on music over mechanical innovation (presumably echoing its intention to sell albums rather than models) impacted its dramatic structure; with songs taking the place of new weapons, the show swerved and soared at the pace of Minmay’s emotional narrative, painting a sad portrait of an icon who is too beholden to everyone to carve a space for herself. Plus the lead pair of Hikaru and Misa actually possessed excellent chemistry, making them easy to root for as the world collapsed around them. I can see why it’s such a beloved franchise, and I’m looking forward to continuing through its various successors. But for now, let’s burn down the week in film!
Shoushimin Series – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re going to be continuing our investigations of the intriguing Shoushimin Series, originally written by Hyouka scribe Honobu Yonezawa, and adapted by the accomplished Mamoru Kanbe. The series’ first episode demonstrated both of these artists at their best, with Yonezawa offering a fresh collection of intriguing, multifaceted adolescent stars, and Kanbe bedecking their stories in a singular combination of lush background art and sterile, alienating intimacy.
So far, what is most clear about our protagonists Osanai and Jogoro is that we don’t actually know anything about them. Jogoro is observant and Osanai is indifferent to her peers, but they are otherwise self-conscious ciphers, dedicated to a project of “becoming normal” that seems to imply a goal of becoming part of the scenery, making no waves and attracting no attention from those around them. It’s a particularly bleak variation on Hyouka’s pursuit of low-energy living, and its advocates are as strange as you’d expect, their idle exchanges betraying a callous disconnection from their environment. Such ambiguity might be worrying if presented by another team; but given Yonezawa’s understanding of characterization and Kanbe’s fluency in dramatic tone, I have every reason to suspect these mysteries are purposeful, and our leads are precisely as unknowable as this team wants them to be. Let’s delve into their dark hearts as we return to Shoushimin Series!