Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am floating on air, as the second session of our third formal DnD campaign ended up sprawling into a seven-hour extravaganza of dynamic roleplaying and haunted house exploration. After two campaigns where the drama was almost entirely provoked by external narrative elements, my group has finally reached the point of in-character confidence for us to spend an hour or so figuring out if our rogue is constantly lying to us, and another hour building up my poor goblin Tilly’s confidence enough to serve as an effective cleric. As you all know, I believe engaging character writing is the heart of emotionally resonant storytelling, and so at last achieving the improv confidence necessary to truly have the party members lead the action has been a thrilling revelation. We’re bickering, revealing our histories, setting up long-term character growth arcs – it’s all that crunchy stuff that I love so much in fiction, here executed on the fly as we beat on ghosts and vampires. Anyway, that was the highlight of my week, but we also ran through some films as well! Let’s run ‘em down!
A Pale Mirror: Maborosi
Hirokazu Kore-eda makes somber, majestic films about quietly unhappy people, people whose lives didn’t amount to everything they might have hoped, but who still hold a candle for tomorrow. You can chart a direct line from his work back to the gorgeous films of Yasujiro Ozu; like Ozu, Kore-eda understands that the substance of our lives is captured not in the grand acts of defiance or reinvention, but in the countless, frequently indistinct moments between, as well as the spaces in which we spend these moments. I imagine they find a sort of redemption in venerating these segues and stillnesses; for the lonely and longing and perpetually noncommittal, the beauty both these directors find in our everyday interactions is a profound comfort.
Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 9
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to Yuki Yuna is a Hero, after an episode that saw the other shoe plummeting to earth and leaving a devastating crater in its wake. As it turns out, the Taisha knew all along that our young heroes would be forced to fight again, that they would acquire lasting, debilitating injuries from this hero labor, and that they would eventually be reduced to utter dependency, as one after another of their limbs or senses were sacrificed as offerings to the Divine Tree. There are no old soldiers in this system; only used-up figures of worship, deified for sacrifices they never knew they were making.
As horrible as this is for our girls on the ground, it’s nonetheless a fascinating thematic turn, tethering Yuki Yuna’s magical girl and martial elements together through their common thread: how both young women and old soldiers are misused by society, ostensibly venerated but often materially denied and despised. Like so many other eager young patriots, these girls’ innocent love of their home has been turned against them, exploited for the sake of a system that consumes lives and produces martyrs, all to ensure the next wave of victims is properly motivated. It’s a rich and deliciously cynical turn, and I’m eager to see how our team responds to these shocking reveals. Let’s get to it!
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re setting off on a new journey, or more precisely beyond a journey’s end, as we check out the first episode of the recent and much-loved Frieren. There was a great deal of buzz surrounding Frieren prior to its release, and it’s not hard to see why; in this era of modern otaku being constantly flung into Dragon Quest-reminiscent worlds, an honest-to-god committed fantasy drama is an inherent and very welcome change of pace. And beyond that, Frieren’s novel twist on genre convention provides an additional pull: the allure of a more somber, reflective story, one primarily concerned with finding value and beauty in life after the great adventures are over.
That’s a hook that holds a great deal of appeal to me! It feels adjacent to my beloved “apocalyptic travelog” subgenre (think Girls’ Last Tour or Kemurikusa), stories where the chance for transformative, world-shifting change has already passed, wherein the great challenge lies in coming to a happier understanding of our place in a land at peace. It’s so appealing that I actually wrote a long-form variation of it back in high school, though no, I am not showing you my high school fiction. Anyway, Frieren is also directed by Bocchi the Rock’s fast-rising Keiichirō Saitō, and from what I’ve told, the production is a lush spectacle from start to finish. That’s a fine stack of reasons to be optimistic, so let’s see what we’ve got in the first episode of Frieren!
Winter 2024 – Week 12 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am riding high on the success of our new campaign’s first session, wherein I took on the guise of Tilly The Goblin With Anxiety, and became fast… well, acquaintances at least with my party of a swashbuckler, mad scientist, and Dandelion From The Witcher. Having already completed two campaigns with this group, our confidence in executing in-character drama has never been higher; compared to actually serving as dungeon master, simply staying in character during the session feels totally effortless, and I’m thus looking forward to more directly party-driven drama in the sessions to come. And alongside that, I have of course continued with our regularly scheduled film and anime screenings, munching through some light One Piece adventures while also completing Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. I’m frankly not quite sure where to go at this point in our Gundam journey; I suppose Gundam Unicorn would be the next natural step? Anyway, I’ll figure that out myself, while you all enjoy my latest week in films!
Chainsaw Man and the Country Mouse
Late in Chainsaw Man’s fifth volume, Denji and Aki are each presented with a brief parable, the story of the country and the city mouse. “The country mouse gets to live in safety,” they are told, “but doesn’t get to eat delicious food like they have in the city.” On the other hand, “the town mouse gets to eat delicious food, but runs a higher risk of getting killed by humans or cats.” It’s a dichotomy so simple it could apply to almost anything: risk versus reward, stasis versus progress, or the more obviously applicable choice between living in Makima’s devil-haunted world versus running with all your might. Of course, in order to fear the city enough to desire the country, you first require something to lose.
Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a brand new adventure, as we check out the first episode of the recent magical girl drama Blue Reflection Ray. The show is apparently a spin-off of the 2017 RPG Blue Reflection, which I recall a fair number of my friends enjoyed back on release, as well as a precursor to the franchise’s second game, Blue Reflection: Second Light. Aside from that, I confess I know next to nothing about either the games or show’s actual content; my general impression is “magical girls and intimate drama in a modern urban setting,” but that’s about all I’ve got.
As for the show’s production team, director Risako Yoshida has risen through the key animation grind to arrive at consistent directorial positions within the last five years or so, meaning we’ll hopefully be appreciating their animator’s eye for staging drama. Meanwhile, this is actually series composer Akiko Waba’s first full composition, having previously written scattered episodic scripts for a variety of productions (not too many notables, though A Lull in the Sea was probably effective training for this sort of story). Though it technically possesses the “source material” of the first game, as an anime-original narrative, I’m hoping the series will embrace the unique opportunities of shows that aren’t beholden to source expectations. Anime-originals are preposterously over-represented among the best anime for a variety of reasons most people are too polite to go into, so with any luck that’ll hold true for Blue Reflection Ray. With this admittedly limited context to go on, let’s check out the first episode!
Star Driver – Episode 22
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am thrilled to be returning to Star Driver, as we charge forward into what I have to assume is the show’s endgame. With Ko and Madoka having abandoned their pursuit of the Ginga Bishonen, we’re basically out of secondary conflicts at this point; all that’s left is the school play and Tokio’s machinations, meaning I have every expectation that we’re in for a school festival episode.
Taking one final break before the big action climax seems more than fine by me. Both Igarashi and Enokido are in their element spearheading comedy; the two have been collaborating on delightful goofiness ever since their Sailor Moon days, and given his long stewardship of the Doremi franchise, I’ve likely laughed at more Igarashi nonsense than any other artist in the industry. In their hands, irreverent school adventures and ludicrous expressions aren’t just a break from the action, they’re often a vehicle for characterization, revealing as much or even more about their casts as their actions under pressure. With that play and its long-anticipated kiss scene approaching, I’m guessing we’re in for an episode that revels in school shenanigans while simultaneously harnessing them as a vehicle to explore Wako’s hesitant, shifting emotions. Let’s find out!
Winter 2024 – Week 11 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. This has been an altogether productive week on my end, as my screening crew accompanied a fresh pile of films with a run through Netflix’s recent Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation, which I’m frankly embarrassed to admit I actually quite enjoyed. Aside from that, my regular DnD group are now gearing up for our third shared campaign, wherein I’ll be stepping back from dungeon mastering to once again participate as a player character. That’s frankly more than fine by me; DMing was an absurd amount of work, and I’m looking forward to taking a break from writing several novels’ worth of narrative-sculpting and quest design to instead portray exactly one character: a goblin cleric with anxiety. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about all that after our first session on Monday, but for now, let’s break down a fresh week in film and television!
The Wonderful World of Puss ‘n Boots
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to announce we’re returning to the venerable films of Toei Doga, this time screening the much-loved Wonderful World of Puss ‘n Boots, one of the final films of the studio’s original golden age. Coming out shortly after the landmark Horus, Puss ‘n Boots was actually something of a step back in terms of dramatic content – Isao Takahata’s first masterpiece was a true outlier in its era, and it would take some time for projects like the World Masterpiece Theater to catch up with his vision of a more tonally somber, morally ambiguous medium.
That’s not meant as a jab against Puss ‘n Boots, though! There’s no shame in offering a rip-roaring adventure, and Puss ‘n Boots further benefits from involving most of Toei Doga’s best animators at the peak of their powers. The legendary Yasuji Mori is once again handling animation direction, meaning I’m sure we’ll be able to admire the fluid sensitivity of his character acting scattered throughout the film, while Yasuo Otsuka, Reiko Okuyama, and Hayao Miyazaki all stand among the film’s formidable slate of key animators. Otsuka described his time on Puss ‘n Boots as something like a playground of unbound animation, and Miyazaki’s contributions here are so legendary that he himself would end up echoing them in later projects like The Castle of Cagliostro. Hell, the film’s so iconic that its protagonist still stands as Toei’s mascot, half a century down the line. I’ve rambled more than enough about the film’s unimpeachable credentials, so let’s get to it!