Buckle up and secure your hands over your peepers, folks. We ended up screening a horror-themed collection of films this week, perfectly on time with… fuck, Halloween was like three weeks ago, wasn’t it? Alright, fine, we just watched a bunch of horror movies because we like horror movies. Watching a bunch of idiots stumble around and get sequentially liquified has become our comfort food in times of trouble, as we high-five their harbingers and make wagers on survivors and applaud the brutality of their kills. The violence is so abstracted it becomes almost freeing; while many of the best horror films draw on the anxieties that populate our own world, they refract those horrors into a universe where courage and a sturdy axe just might see you through. And even if a horror film does genuinely unsettle me – good! I like being scared! When I get back to writing fiction, I expect to begin by cataloging a few of my own nightmares – until then, let’s see what beasties await in the Week in Review!
Scum’s Wish – Episode 3
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re diving back into the thorny drama of Scum’s Wish, a show whose second episode was kind enough to answer basically all my complaints about its premiere. After the show’s first episode presented the world as conceived by Hana’s melodramatic mindscape, the second was quick to puncture her bubble, complicating the situation with the introduction of Moca and Ecchan. With a strong social irritant like Moca in the mix, Hana and Mugi are both revealing new facets of their personalities, becoming more convincingly realized with their every argument.
Meanwhile, Ecchan seems like an emotional disaster area in her own right, and is blitzkrieging her way into the drama lips-first. Hana hasn’t demonstrated romantic feelings for anyone but Kanai, but given her feelings for Kanai are a childish sort of puppy-love in the first place, it’s hard to say where her story will turn. Both Hana and Mugi are reveling in adolescent fantasies of idealized, “destined” romances, and both of them are in for some hard lessons as they develop into their young adult selves.
When we’re young, we treat every romantic event and feeling as iconic and significant, because we benefit from the rush of novelty and the absence of experience. Currently, each of our leads believe their crushes are the only choices for them, because they have been the only choices up until now. But with other suitors intruding on both of them, the insubstantiality of “destiny” will make itself known soon enough. The question then becomes, with so much of their identity wrapped up in their infatuations, who are Hana and Mugi when you set those feelings aside? I’m eager to see our leads grapple with these questions, so let’s get right to the action!
The Demon Girl Next Door – Episode 2
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to The Demon Girl Next Door, for a very clear and obvious reason: the first episode was delightful, and I’d like to see more of it. Yuko has already proven herself to be a charming mess of a heroine, and it seems like Momo’s combination of wry amusement and deadpan delivery will make for a perfect contrast with her “nemesis.”
At the same time, the show’s assumption of “destined roles” for demons and magical girls, as well as its offhandedly class-aware framework for this dichotomy, seem to imply it may be interested in grappling with the same questions of feminine agency articulated by shows like Madoka Magica. The magical girl genre often features inspirational stories of solidarity and personal growth, but it can easily be used to cast a light on the systems that bind young women, with even ostensibly “lighthearted” shows like Pretty Cure frequently tackling these issues. I’ll be intrigued to see if Demon Girl continues to complicate its thematic subtext, but for now, I’m also happy just to watch Yuko trip and fall on her face repeatedly. Let’s get to it!
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – Episode 10
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which most recently offered one of its most fascinating episodes so far. The tale of the woman who’d become a tattooed piece of art clearly had a special resonance for Fujiko. Fujiko spent her childhood in the captivity of Count Armeid, and has since then seems to have defined herself in opposition to that captivity: where Armeid prized delicacy, obedience, and chastity, Fujiko has defined herself as an embodiment of independence and proud sexual agency.
Of course, Fujiko would undoubtedly hate to be told that her identity is still defined by a man’s influence, even if only through opposition to that influence. But when presented with the tattooed woman, Fujiko couldn’t help but see herself – and thus strove manically to kill this girl, almost destroying herself in the process. Some traumas are too painful to confront directly, but Fujiko has never been one to back down from a challenge. If she truly wants to untangle herself from Armeid’s influence, she will likely have to confront her nemesis, and prove to herself that the shadows of the past can never reclaim her. But however today’s adventure goes, I’m eager to spend more time with Fujiko and the rest of these rapscallions. Let’s get to it!
Fall 2021 – Week 6 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With the immediate pandemonium of the Playstation 5’s arrival cooling into a calmer epoch of peaceful coexistence, we were able to sift through a generous variety of films this week, with selections ranging from acclaimed new films to unimpeachable classics to the usual algorithm-driven outliers. There was also Nicolas Cage in one of the most gloriously ill-fitting wigs of his entire career, but I’ll save that for the end. I know, I know, you’re all hungry for the Cage… you know what, I’ll start off with a different Cage performance, and then we can work our way towards the power metal hair. Let’s get to it!
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 – Episode 8
The universe beckons! Having made their last farewells to the known world, the Yamato’s intrepid crew now set their sights starward, as they move beyond the boundaries of our known solar system. Fearsome terrors beyond our imagining surely await them, yet our gallant heroes are undeterred, and proudly bear the weight of humanity’s future. What secrets await beyond the celestial shroud? That is for our brave sailors to discover, as they chart a course beyond the horizon.
Man, I could probably write a whole essay in that voice, though I’m sure it’d get tiresome after a paragraph or two. Regardless, I’m delighted to announce that we are indeed returning to Space Battleship Yamato! Last episode offered a clear denouement for the story’s first act, as the crew’s victories in our solar system were capped off by a line-crossing ceremony that saw them moving beyond the reach of terrestrial communication. After all the action theatrics of the first act, an episode that explored the motivations and relationships of the core crew was quite welcome; but with all that foundational character-building work covered, I’m eager to see what obstacles Matsumoto conjures up next. Space Battleship Yamato embodies a spirit of fantastical possibility, fusing iconic presentation with outlandish invention to bring its audience back to the wide-eyed wonder of childhood. Its world has won me over entirely, so let’s not waste any more time, and return to the bridge post-haste!
Anne of Green Gables – Episode 3
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be returning to Anne of Green Gables, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve actually been looking forward to this return for most of a week now; the show has already captured my imagination, offering a window into a sedate yet beautiful world, where the peaceful mastery of Montgomery and Takahata intertwine.
Many of anime’s finest attractions advertise themselves with great fanfare, promising dazzling animation highlights and stories like nothing you’ve seen. Anne of Green Gables is more my speed: a work of extraordinary craft that still sees the mundane as worthy of attention, helping to reacquaint us with the beauty of the living world, and the profundity of small acts of kindness. I feel at home in its lovingly painted hills, and comforted by the presence of its humbly human characters. Productions this generous are an odd quirk of history, borne of production conditions that ebb and subside, never to return. I am thus thankful it exists at all, and doubly thankful to be exploring it with you readers. Let’s return to the rolling fields of Green Gables!
Eureka Seven – Episode 8
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be diving back into a property that we last touched five goddamn years ago, as we return to the long-dormant Eureka Seven. It’s been so long since we watched Eureka Seven that my last episode’s writing style feels almost unrecognizable, so yes, this is a pretty weird feeling for me. That said, I still have a pretty clear recollection of Renton’s journey so far, and can’t imagine we’ll have too much trouble getting reacquainted with the Gekkostate and its many strange inhabitants. Emerging from the earth to claw at the sky, let’s celebrate the reanimation of Eureka Seven!
Fall 2021 – Week 5 in Review
Hoo boy, we watched some garbage this week, folks. It wasn’t really intentional – my housemates have learned to schedule their hate-watching outside of my hangout hours, and we entered all of these films with the hope of at least being entertained, if not enriched by the experience. But somehow the cards just didn’t fall in our favor, and we ended up watching a half-dozen or so films that peaked at “middling” and bottomed at “how much longer is this, again?” So congrats folks, it looks like I’ll be back on my old bullshit for a moment, as I callously assess and disregard a pile of film productions, and also mention maybe one or two ones. Let’s get to it!
Adachi and Shimamura – Episode 12
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I have some bittersweet news, as we’ll soon be reaching the end of a delightful journey, and leaving some friends behind. Yes, it’s time at last to watch the conclusion of Adachi and Shimamura, and see if these two mixed-up kids are gonna make it out okay.
Of course, it’s unlikely that this episode is going to feel truly definitive in its resolution of our heroines’ drama. For one thing, the light novel series this show is based on just released a new volume five days ago. But more importantly, Adachi and Shimamura are still a great distance away from true emotional honesty, or even a comfortable understanding of themselves.
This isn’t their fault, obviously; I mean, they’re high schoolers, how well could they know themselves? But it’s a credit to Hitoma Iruma’s storytelling that I can already see the road sprawling out beyond them, the hills they’ll traverse and hurdles they’ll encounter on the way. Adachi and Shimamura are imperfect and unsure in resoundingly human ways, and at all times, their story has emphasized that our identities are not fixed points.
The Adachi and Shimamura we met at the beginning of this story are quite different from the Adachi and Shimamura we now know, or the ones we might meet in the future. The easy, ignorant solace of their first few encounters has been lost; they each know too much about the other, and have each grown in their own way. Adachi has gained the confidence to act on behalf of her desires, while Shimamura has begun to feel like she has desires, after a long period of emotional dormancy. The desire for intimacy and inevitability of change have set our heroines on a tumultuous course, but their feelings for each other have held strong. Let’s join Adachi and Shimamura for one last time!