The Girl in Twilight – Episode 7

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to one of our more unusual projects, as we explore the next episode in the hilarious and highly imaginative The Girl in Twilight. So far, the show has turned out to be a unique mixture of some very disparate priorities. On the one hand, it’s a high-concept timeline-hopping science fiction adventure… but in practice, the show frequently seems less interested in exploring the mechanics of its timelines, than it is in simply celebrating the personalities and friendships of its main cast, as well as the ways different worlds play off their “natural” temperaments.

As someone who generally cares a whole lot more about characterization than worldbuilding, this has been absolutely all right by me – and with endearing, multifaceted characters and a great script, The Girl in Twilight has consistently made the most of its unique dramatic balance. Additionally, Tomoyo Kurosawa is just plain killing it as our heroine Asuka, and proving she clearly needs more starring roles as soon as possible. However the secrets of our current world play out, I’m looking forward to spending more time with these idiots in another The Girl in Twilight!

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Fall 2020 – Week 6 in Review

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Hey all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve got a slew of new film impressions for all of you this week, and for once, they’re not even dominated by horror movies! Well, I did watch one horror movie, and one that’s theoretically horror-adjacent, but all in all this week featured a fairly diverse screening collection, including an animated film that I’ve been both personally and professionally meaning to get to for years. It’s been a lot easier to invest in movies now that I’m not half-expecting our president to blow up the moon at any given moment, and while Trump is still clawing to the office with all the infantile lawlessness we expected, it seems his party will not be following him into full-on coup territory. So hurray for my country just barely avoiding a coup, and let’s break down some intriguing new films!

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Why It Works: Ojamajo Doremi and the Magic of Children’s Animation

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Heck yeah, writing about Doremi on Crunchyroll. I’d likely never have gotten the chance if not for this upcoming film, so count that as another reason I’m so excited this revival project exists. Beyond that, this article is more generally about how children’s anime tends to actually inhabit a more mature, thoughtful perspective than late-night anime, largely because it’s written to help kids grow, rather than to make teens feel badass. Let’s get to it!

Ojamajo Doremi and the Magic of Children’s Animation

Spirit Circle: What We Keep, and What We Leave Behind

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Initially, Kouko’s demand that Fuuta relive his past lives must have felt like a kind of divine punishment. Dragged out of his happy, oblivious adolescent experience, he has been forced to experience hardship after hardship, carrying the suffering of multiple lives on his own shoulders. Fuuta’s past lives don’t even possess the decency to merely lurk in memory; they surge upwards at the most inopportune times, tainting his current experiences with the stifling taste of old, unfulfilled grudges and regrets. Thanks to Kouko, Fuuta carries his past with him always, living with one foot dragging through a mist of half-forgotten sentiment.

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 28

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s friday for me right now, and though the particular conditions of my employment mean I don’t have a “work week” so much as an unending stream of content production responsibilities, it still feels nice to end the theoretical week with something lighthearted and fun. And I’m guessing you all know what that means: we’re heading back to the Alolan islands, back to the Pokemon school, and back to the adventures of Ash and his exuberantly animated friends. Last episode finally introduced Gladio into the show’s lineup, progressing the show’s actual, overarching narrative enough to clearly earn a retreat back into goofy episodic shenanigans. But whether this episode offers comfort or continuity, I’m confident we’ll all have a resoundingly pleasant time. Let’s get back to Sun and Moon!

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Symphogear AXZ – Episode 11

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You folks ready for some Symphogear? When last we checked in, Hibiki and Kirika had concluded this season’s “let’s do some off-brand Symphogear pairings” conceit with fabulous fury, as Kirika unleashed a Climax Song in order to protect St. Germain from her betrayal-happy superior. We always knew Adam and Tiki were huge assholes, but at this point their dickery has exceeded even my most jaded predictions, and I am beyond ready to see our team initiate some countermeasures.

In terms of narrative structure, it also feels like we’ve at this point basically resolved all of this season’s individual character conflicts. The season’s first half was essentially dedicated to Maria and Chris’s struggles with accepting their former lives; Maria resolved that through her trial with Elfnein, and then paid that assistance forward by assisting Chris with her conflict with Sonia. Then Shirabe and Kirika each received a boost from Tsubasa and Hibiki, leading us to a point where the cast can hopefully communicate more confidently and honestly among themselves. Hibiki herself has actually taken a bit of a backseat in terms of emotional development, but given she carried the bulk of season three’s drama, it makes sense to put her on the backburner for the show’s penultimate season. But anyway, that basically catches us up to now – let’s dive on in then, and explore a new episode of Symphogear!

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Fall 2020 – Week 5 in Review

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Hello all, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. I ran through a fresh bevy of films this week, with some fresh horror picks in keeping with the season, along with a classic that had been sitting on my list for months. There was some “how many horror classics have you seen” quiz going around on twitter a couple weeks ago, and when it turned out I’d only seen around fifty-five or so of the one hundred entries, I felt consumed by a deep shame, and determined to improve my ratio. So of course, I ended up watching a couple no-name horror flicks with no lasting cultural legacy whatsoever, but hey, one step at a time here. Incidentally, I also watched some actual goddamn anime this week, so you can look forward to at least a few words in that direction, too. All this and… well, yeah, pretty much exactly this, as we run down one more Week in Review!

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Why It Works: Fabulous Hair, and Other Character Design Fundamentals

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For this week’s Why It Works, I leapfrogged off Ninny’s absolutely fantastic hair from Burn the Witch, in order to discuss the nature and importance of character designs more generally. I don’t often focus too much on characters’ fashion choices in my critiques, but I have a great deal of respect for the difficult craft of character design, and Tite Kubo has always been one of the best when it comes to designing stylish characters. Let’s get to it!

Fabulous Hair, and Other Character Design Fundamentals

Dorohedoro – Episode 4

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Hello everyone, and welcome once more to Wrong Every Time. Today I come to you in a spirit of contrition, as my motives for this current article could not be more impure. We’re going to be continuing Dorohedoro, largely because I… I… I want to know what happens next.

I know, I know. I’m the one who always says that plot is details, and regularly spends a good third of my articles rambling about layouts, and who generally only addresses narrative events insofar as they’re relevant to character journeys or thematic arguments. But Dorohedoro’s world is just so damn interesting, and pretty much every time it offers an explanation for one of its magic tricks, that explanation blossoms into five new questions demanding an answer. I’m also genuinely invested in the fates of both our humans and our sorcerers, and also simply eager to see more of Hole’s beautiful architecture, as well as Hayashida’s marvelous narrative inventions. Most plots are not so fascinating that they offer much more than a template for genuine craft to shine, but Dorohedoro’s story has me genuinely intrigued, and I’m prepared to follow this alarming instinct where it leads. Let’s check back in with our friends in Dorohedoro!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 27

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Folks, I’ve been consulting the relevant sages, and it is absolutely time for some Pokemon Sun and Moon. They foretell of pleasant, lighthearted adventures under the Alolan sun, and perhaps even a generous dash of expressive, comically exaggerated character acting. They also mentioned a crew of characters it is impossible not to love, accompanied by creatures who are equally comfortable chilling out as cute pets or battling each other through sumptuous cuts of fight animation. I frankly think I need not have bothered consulting these sages in the first place, as all of their predictions seem suspiciously obvious, but I nonetheless agree with their fated prediction. Let’s enjoy another new episode of Pokemon Sun and Moon!

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