CITY The Animation – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today it is altogether too cold for me to be tramping around outside, so we’re instead going to take a vicarious walk around the neighborhood, by enjoying a fresh episode of CITY the Animation. Keiichi Arawi and Kyoto Animation’s latest collaboration has proven an absolute wonder so far, and if anything, it seems like the show’s ambition is only growing with every passing episode.

Last episode’s concluding race served as the show’s most impressive flourish so far, combining copious kinetic animation and skillfully attention-drawing boarding to involve the entire community in Niikura’s quest to retain her dignity. What made that sequence possible was not just the production’s ability to maintain dramatic momentum across half a dozen distinct sub-narratives, but also the underlying fact that the show had set up all those narratives so well, making it easy to spend just a few seconds with any given story and pick up a bonus punchline. The best sitcoms tend to culminate in sequences that weave A, B, and C plots together into something surreal yet dramatically inevitable, and if CITY continues at its current rate, we’re likely due for future climaxes that reach all the way to F, G, and even H plots. I can only be thankful Kyoto Animation is using their terrifying powers for good, as we charge forward towards another day in the city!

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Winter 2026 – Week 1 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to hooooly shit it’s 2026. That is too large of a number, too late of a year. That’s far enough into the 21st century that I can’t actually blame The Youth for categorizing people as “from the last century,” even if such framing makes my bones creak. I’m fuckin’ old, you guys; I’m now “slept on my knee wrong and thus suffered a month of agony” old, and all that is new is strange and terrifying to me. Even the fact that I’m typing this rather than announcing it into my phone’s camera marks me as an Old Person; the written word has lost the war, but I’ll be fighting this fruitless battle until my beard descends into a cozy grey cocoon, and I’ve gained the solemnity of age to mumble indistinctly about “the war” and “back in my day” and other comforting mantras of obsolescence. But that is fortunately still a great number of movie screenings from now, and in the meantime, I’ve got plenty of thoughts on my latest viewings. Let’s get to it!

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BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 10

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Hello friends, and welcome the fuck back to Wrong Every Time. Today the curtain rises on another performance by Ave Mujica, the crowd thundering in applause as our girls curse and spit and tear each other’s hair out. Though that brief CRYCHIC reunion seemed like it might stabilize our wayward quintet, the precise opposite has occurred: with the threat of CRYCHIC fueling their anxieties, Uika, Umiri, and Mortis have all rallied to demand a return of the tormented theatrical and (sometimes, if Mortis isn’t just screaming the whole time) musical extravaganza that is Ave Mujica.

The tables have turned dramatically since this group’s first incarnation. Back then, most of its members primarily joined as a favor to Sakiko – Uika was happy to feel needed by her target of obsession, Mutsumi was too desperate to say no, Umiri never says no to a new band, and Nyamu smelled an opportunity to expand her own profile. For Mutsumi, this was a chance to be with her old friend; for the rest, this seemed like a fine opportunity to pursue their otherwise well-tended personal ambitions.

Since then, all three would-be professional musicians have lost basically everything beyond Ave Mujica; Umiri has abandoned all of her superficial band engagements, Nyamu’s career has stalled, and Uika has grown increasingly dependent on Sakiko’s presence. In spite of its melodramatic trappings, there is an authentic pain expressed by Sakiko’s music, a pain that has shifted from an idly appropriated costume to the guiding star of all her bandmates. Can Sakiko save her allies from this nightmare? I couldn’t possibly say, but I’m eager to hear Nyamu’s thoughts on the matter as we return to Ave Mujica!

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Rock is a Lady’s Modesty – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the storied halls of Oushin Academy, as our fledgling high class ladies continue to “rock out with their cocks out,” as Lilisa so eloquently put it. Having rocked out so successfully they actually conscripted Lilisa’s sister into their conspiracy, they have since learned that their symphonic band mutiny attracted a good deal of additional attention. Now both the accomplished guitarist Shiro and council vice-president Tina want to join their band, forming an unruly quartet where it’s unclear if any of these rock stars actually like each other.

Nonetheless, a collective love of music can be a powerful binding agent. And with such distinct and potentially incompatible personalities vying for power, my main hope is that the friction will force them to reveal more of themselves; both the personal histories that led them to rock music, as well as whatever ambitions they might possess regarding their musical future. So far, rock music has been framed as a form of “rebellion” that is as ethereal and temporally bound as the vision of queer love presented by this story’s Class S influences – a lark that might be tolerated during their questing adolescent school years, but which will surely be “outgrown” by the time they emerge from their chrysalides. Modern versions of these narratives have directly challenged this assumption of eventual passive integration into society’s conservative expectations, and given it’s actually starting from a point of “conservative social norms are bullshit,” I’m eager for this story to also chart a course beyond fully closeted expressions of identity. But for now, let’s see how the first full band meeting goes as we return to Rock is a Lady’s Modesty!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Hero Chapter – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a strong urge to defy some cruel and distant gods, which can only mean it’s time for Yuki Yuna is a Hero. After this show’s first season built to the chilling revelation that our brave heroes are actually just batteries being sacrificed to facilitate a war between eldritch superbeings, it’s been hard to feel that much enthusiasm for the Divine Tree’s sacred tasks. And as this Hero Chapter has already demonstrated, even their alleged retirement was another illusion, as Togo was nonetheless tasked with single-handedly appeasing the fires of creation, a perpetual witch burned on a perpetual pyre.

Unsurprisingly, Yuna was not going to let her best friend suffer eternally in a pit of celestial agony. Thus the contract was broken, and our team was provided the frail assurance that “Togo was simply too tough to die,” even as the seal of duty migrated from Togo to Yuna herself. What does this mean for our team? Well, I’m frankly excited to not know; after two seasons with a fairly similar structure, we are now charting unknown territory, continuing the battle both for and against the Divine Tree into an era of increasing information parity. Can the empathy Yuna and her companions bring to their duties chart a new path, an escape from either the inhumanity of the Divine Tree or the oblivion lurking beyond the wall? Let’s find out!

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Top Anime of 2025 (and Year in Review)

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Hello folks, and welcome to the end of 2025. I’m sure you don’t need me to summarize this year on a global scale; in short, shit sucks, and it’s questionable when or if things are getting better. While the damage of Donald Trump’s first term as president was limited by his own laziness and ineptitude, the collective forces of evil made sure they hit the ground running this time, and thus the America of today is already a significantly more unstable, hateful, and corrupted empire than even the one of just twelve months ago. Alongside the cruelty raining down on us from our elected officials, Trump 2.0 has also unleashed a fresh wave of cruelty from his supporters, who have declared “woke is over” and revealed themselves to be wholly constructed of belligerence and resentment.

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Witch Hat Atelier and the Cruelty of Prudence

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As we return to Witch Hat Atelier, our first title page sees our young mage bedecked in flowers, with even our adorable squirrel-caterpillar creature in attendance to celebrate the fun of an approaching festival. The intent seems clear – after the heavy, portentous drama of the last few chapters, both Qifrey and his students have clearly earned a moment of rest. Witch Hat Atelier is perfectly comfortable stretching towards fantasy action or large-scale drama, but its heart resides in the day-to-day interplay of these young witches, as both their collaborations and the manga’s distinctive realization of those actions demonstrate the inherent thrill of bettering yourself, of marching determinedly towards your next skill horizon, and of making sure to be kind to yourself and stopping to smell the roses along the way.

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Monogatari Off/Monster Season – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re continuing our journey through Monogatari’s aptly named Monster Season, having just concluded the tale of the Princess Acerola’s transformation into Kiss-shot Acerola-Orion Heart-under-blade. As we discovered, that name is not just an ornate title, but also a statement of intent: from her first moment as a vampire, Kiss-shot pledged to make her violence an act of love and sacrifice, always killing with a kiss so that she might eventually extract her heart from the blade of her inherent nature.

That brief arc demonstrated Nisio Isin at his most fanciful, turning a twisted fairy tale into a reflection on how we sculpt our own identities, externalizing Acerola’s self-hatred and Deathtopia’s self-regard as reflections of their respective curses. Acerola’s journey towards valuing her continued existence mirrored Deathtopia’s path towards valuing the life of another, and with Acerola now having theoretically achieved the bond Deathtopia hoped for, I’m curious to see just what the original vampire makes of Araragi and Shinobu’s whole deal. Let’s return to the season of monsters!

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The Legend of Vox Machina S3 – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be delving back into the adventures of Vox Machina and company, as they work to defeat the evil that they themselves kinda-sorta accidentally unleashed. Isn’t that always the way of it, though? You defeat one evil dragon, think you’ve done something good, and then some entirely other evil dragon decides to fuse itself with the corpse of your quarry, becoming a dread-creature of power beyond imagining. It’s enough to make a hero want to hang up their +2 sword and just take a load off, letting someone else save civilization as we know it for a change.

There’s certainly an inherent tension in the construction of a D&D campaign, a balance necessitated by the party’s simultaneous need for heroic validation and dramatic incentive. How do you as a DM keep going bigger while still validating the party’s prior process, telling them in the same breath “that was some glorious, consequential heroism you just did” and “also, things are now worse than ever before.” At what point do unintended consequences shift from feeling “earned through recklessness” to “inflicted by a hostile narrator,” and how do you manage that balance while both surprising and validating your party’s expectations? These are questions whose answers depend on a million factors, and which must be approached with a distinct tactic for any given player party – and that very variability is what makes DnD so endlessly interesting to me as a storyteller and game designer. No puzzle so compelling as one without a defined solution, so let’s get back to the board as we conclude season three of Vox Machina!

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Fall 2025 – Week 12 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We’re really into the winter doldrums at this point, which I frankly at least prefer to the agonizing November period of knowing winter is right around the corner. Anticipation of a calamity tends to be more painful than the calamity itself; at this point, even though a mercilessly cold January is approaching, I can at least comfort myself with the assurance that the year’s shortest day is almost behind us. And yes, I really should have moved out of New England years ago if I hate winter this much, I am quite aware of that thank you very much. On the plus side, the cold has at least given me a perfect excuse to hole up and finish The Summer Hikaru Died, which puts me in fairly reasonable shape to reflect on the year in cartoons. And of course, there were film screenings aplenty, as we all did our best to tuck in against the hateful salvos of That Bastard Nature. Let’s run ‘em down!

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