Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we celebrate the very last Week in Review of 2022, a year that has seen me consuming as many films as possible in my quest for genuine cinematic literacy. Granted, I’ve leaned heavily towards the horror and fantasy productions that my overall house tends to favor, and also complimented that with plenty of “whatever’s on Netflix” watches that I wouldn’t inflict on anyone, but there were still plenty of classics in the mix as well. From Sorcerer to Fitzcarraldo to Tokyo Story to Suspiria, I feel like I’m actually starting to solidify a list of favorites that actually represent what I love in art, and look forward to continuing this journey with you all over the year to come. For now, let’s sift through the cinematic spoils of the holiday season, as we charge through the year’s last Week in Review!
Spy x Family – Episode 11
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the preposterous drama of Spy x Family, which most recently blessed us with its funniest goddamn episode so far. Anya’s high-stakes volleyball game was a symphony of playful animation and outrageous punchlines, elevating the manga’s excellent comedic fundamentals with generous visual embellishments at every turn. It was intelligent in its pursuit of humor in ways both subtle and obvious; sometimes a joke would emerge simply from the camera’s framing relative to Bill Watkins, and sometimes it would stem from the luxurious executed anticlimax of an incredible power-up animation leading into a super-deformed faceplant.
The episode was so funny that I didn’t even mind that it was only funny, with no real family drama to speak of. I often struggle to maintain interest in pure gag comedies, and tend to require some sympathetic human element to supplement the appeal of a comedy-centered production. For twenty minutes of lunacy, Spy x Family’s last episode proved the exception to that rule, and if this is a sign of Tatsuya Endo gaining more confidence in his writing, I can only imagine what madness lies ahead. Let’s dive back into Spy x Family!
Fall 2022 – Week 12 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It seems we’ve arrived at the year’s penultimate Week in Review, and I’m still hard at work catching up on the year’s top shows. I’m only a couple episodes back on Chainsaw Man, and have finally started Orbital Children, but I’m probably gonna have to schedule some sort of all-day marathon for catching up on Mob Psycho 100. Oh dear me, three straight hours of inventive art design and gorgeous animation, what a burden. My own good problems aside, we also munched through a respectable pile of films this week, with our choices ranging from noir classics to some of the most unintentionally hilarious slices of propaganda I’ve ever witnessed. Let’s dive right into the Week in Review!
Bocchi the Rock! – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am excited to announce that we are embarking on a new journey, and exploring a show that has been lighting up the internet for the last few months. That’s right, it’s time to check out Bocchi the Rock!, wherein social anxiety meets musical passion with hilarious results.
In a season that by all rights was destined to be dominated by Chainsaw Man, Bocchi has gone above and beyond in distinguishing itself, offering an impressive mix of thoughtful direction, impressive character acting, and regular feats of imaginative animated fantasy. Though I checked out the first episode near the beginning of the season, I’ve since then merely been admiring its theatrics via the excerpts posted by friends, and am eager to see for myself how all this nonsense comes together. Additionally, I also love performing music and frequently suffer from overwhelming social anxiety, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty to dig into on a more personal scale. Let’s quit with the rambling and get with the rocking then, as we explore the thunderous misadventures of Bocchi the Rock!
Star Driver – Episode 12
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re going to be continuing our examination of the fascinating Star Driver, which as of now appears to be settling into the rhythm of its second act. After a tumultuous climax wherein Sugata first activated his King’s Pillar, the show rapidly shifted gears, introducing first Mizuno and then Marino as fresh dramatic irritants. But now that both sisters have been reasonably established, it seems we’ve reached a point of relative stability, allowing for the reintroduction of more tangential side stories like last episode’s Simone vignette.
Still, it’s clear that larger forces are rearranging themselves beneath our surface drama. Last episode’s most potentially consequential moment was undoubtedly the meeting between Sugata and former Kiraboshi leader Head, wherein Sugata’s misgivings about his power were ameliorated by Head’s assurance that “talent is bestowed on us by the gods for a reason. To not use it might be a sin.” These words gave Sugata the confidence to activate the King’s Pillar during the ensuing battle, which was lucky for Takuto at the time, but will likely incur more significant long-term consequences. The flipside of “talent is bestowed on us by the gods for a reason” is “my actions are righteous because I am a chosen vessel of god,” which aligns alarmingly well with both Sugata’s self-righteousness and his preordained role in this island’s ritual structure. Takuto and Sugata were able to settle their differences with some old-fashioned roughhousing last time, but with Head whispering flattering devilry in his ear, I imagine there’s trouble in store for our core trio. Let’s check it out!
Tending the Fire in Outer Wilds
Standing on the crumbling surface of a dwarf planet, you watch as tendrils of light dance across the earth, chasing shadows as the sun creeps over the horizon. Daybreak sees a glow briefly rising and crashing upon these ruins, the sun their only visitor since times unknown. Camped beside your spacecraft, sifting through the wreckage of a dead civilization, you feel a loneliness more acute than that of total abandonment; the loneliness of absence, of the empty spaces where life once thrived, but no longer. As the light becomes too bright to bear, as the sun reaches a terrifying fullness of form, you think back on your journey, hoping to at least find companionship in memory.
Then, from your scanner, a gurgle of static resolves into a sharp tone: the mournful song of a harmonica. Somewhere out there, someone is watching the same sight you are, feeling that same tug of homesickness, fear, and awe. Even in the darkest recesses of space, you are never truly alone.
Fall 2022 – Week 11 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’m currently in the midst of cataloging all the anime I watched this year for my end-of-year article, and in the process realizing that hey, I actually watched a lot of anime this year! I’ve kept current on One Piece, munched through most of Boruto, checked out some old classics, and even watched a few seasonal productions. And crucially, I haven’t really been watching with any sort of system in mind – like in my early years of anime enthusiasm, I’ve just been grabbing what seems interesting and taking a look. With the preview guide long behind me, I no longer need to care what percentage of a season appears watchable to me; I can just watch the cream of the crop, and leave the demarcation of seasonal cruft to less fortunate souls. You all can look forward to that post coming in a couple weeks, but in the meantime, this week offered its own set of cinematic attractions. Let’s break ‘em down!
Bodacious Space Pirates – Episode 25
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we stand at the penultimate episode of Bodacious Space Pirates, with Marika having assembled the remnants of Sea of the Morningstar’s once-proud pirate armada. From a position of strength so great they were once relied upon to maintain the region’s independence, these pirates have been winnowed down not by open combat, but by the steady erosion of the economic climate where they once thrived. Once proud privateers, they have been reduced to couriers and theme park attractions, more emblems of local flavor than drivers of martial destiny. And now, they are being targeted practically for sport, their existence deemed an acceptable loss for the cause of testing new weaponry.
It’s a dark day for pirates, to be sure, but they fortunately have the irrepressible Marika on their side. Though a life of piracy initially seemed far-fetched to our young heroine, she now appears to represent piracy’s future, or at least the hope of piracy having a future. With the implacable storm head of capitalism bearing down on her and the remaining stalwarts of piracy at her back, Marika stands ready to make history however this plays out. Let’s embark on a fresh episode of Bodacious Space Pirates!
The Demon Girl Next Door S2 – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d check back in on The Demon Girl Next Door, which at long last is demonstrating some genuine honesty in titling. With both Momo and Mikan taking up residence in Banda Terrace, Shamiko is now literally next-door neighbors with her local magical girls, a development that is sure to accelerate her and Momo’s blooming relationship. With a full summer break ahead of them, our leads are certain to at least enjoy a bounty of shared home meals, if not necessarily make any progress on their larger quest.
And to be honest, I’d be totally fine with that. Between the first season’s last episode and this season’s premiere, Demon Girl has stuffed in more plot development in two episodes than the rest of the first season combined. With both their larger goals (the hunt for Sakura Chiyoda) and personal shifts in circumstance having been sorted out, I’d be happy to see an episode or two spent exploring this new normal, now that Shamiko and Momo are only separated by a thin apartment wall. With a bright summer stretching before our heroes, let’s see what awaits in The Demon Girl Next Door!
Spy x Family – Episode 10
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s currently a bleak and drizzly day outside, so I’m thinking we disperse these clouds with a sunny slice of Spy x Family. I have to admit I’ve been getting quite fond of the Forger clan over the course of these adventures. Spy x Family possesses just the right balance of deadpan comedy and character intimacy to appeal to me, with its initial hook of “look at these wacky characters in this outrageous scenario” swiftly making way for the firmer, lasting allure of people you know well doing their best by each other (while still screwing up plenty in the process). And with the last several episodes offering a closer perspective on Yor’s feelings, it’s finally starting to feel like all three of our Forgers are equal partners in this grand fabrication, collectively weaving a fantasy of the life that their circumstances have denied them. With Yor’s fears hopefully assuaged and the family closer than ever, let’s get back to Spy x Family!