Tag Archives: Anime

Dear Brother – Episode 16

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I hear the bells tolling coldly from a distant tower, and feel a rush of wings as pale birds blot the sun, meaning it can only be time for a return to Dear Brother. Our last episode struck at the heart of Seiren Academy’s psychological sickness, as the return of exam results and resulting Sorority pleasure cruise brought Nanako closer than ever to the imperious Miya-sama. Having banished poor Junko for failing due to her ill health, Miya-sama then attempted to corral Nanako’s rebellious spirit, offering both an apology and a warning to cut off her contact with Dear Brother himself.

It all served as a blatant display of manipulation and cruelty, and fortunately, Nanako has now gained the confidence and independence of spirit to recognize Miya-sama’s games. As such, when Junko came to thank Nanako for being the sole student to stand up for her, Nanako was quick to agree with her perspective, and acknowledge the terrible cruelty of the Society’s dictates. After the briefest interval of feeling at peace with Seiren’s eccentricities, Nanako stands ready to challenge Miya-sama’s authority, or at the very least undercut it through her own compassionate stance. Let’s see how this delicate duel commences as we return to Dear Brother!

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 19

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the snow-topped peaks and lush vales of Frieren, as our indifferent mage is roped into competing for her first class mage driver’s license. The arc at large is proving a natural test of her priorities; as someone who lives many hundreds of years, she’s seen little benefit in flattering the human organizations that claim to define and validate magical proficiency. And frankly, I get it; between freelance work and simply existing in the modern world, there are few phrases I dread more than “we’re adopting a new portal/platform/processing service.”

Nonetheless, such indulgences are the cost of existing in a world defined by common societal rules, and Frieren’s willingness to subject herself to this nonsense is an obvious demonstration of her growing integration into the lives of others. Having been separated from Fern and teamed up with two girls whose mutual concern is as obvious as it is oblivious, she’s found an opportunity to test her increasingly personable nature with neutral players, and proven a far warmer, more inquisitive person than the mage Himmel first called to adventure, or even the one he parted from beneath the fireworks. With only two days left to acquire a supersonic sparrow, let’s see how our trio is faring!

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Summer 2026 – Week 1 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. The summer anime season appears to be an absolute deluge of quality cartoons, but in characteristic fashion, I have so far not sampled any of them. Look, I spent most of a decade writing for ANN’s preview guide, I feel like I can be forgiven for my temporal obstinance when it comes to new shows. Nonetheless, even I feel tempted to check out such enticing propositions as a new Naoko Yamada show or fresh Kyoto Animation adaptation, so I’ll likely be diving in myself in short order, presumably when enough episodes have been released to make a proper meal of any of them. In the meantime, my house has been knocking off film viewings and supplementary series with uninhibited abandon, so let’s see what treasures await in the Week in Review!

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Shoushimin Series – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Shoushimin Series, as our two leads attempt to truly, finally kick their antisocial habits. Having accepted that they will likely always enable each other’s allegedly abnormal tendencies, Osanai chose to break off their relationship altogether, ending the ambiguity of their ill-defined bond with the finality of “we are no longer anything to each other.” And thus the two continue their wandering high school lives, each finding new opportunities in the wake of their separation.

Normally, this is where I might talk about how denying your passions only hobbles your potential, or how the anxieties they’re currently experiencing are largely reflective of the identity-forming panopticon that is high school, and what they truly need is to embrace their own truths and seek out the people who genuinely relate to them. All of that is generally true, but here’s the thing – Osanai just committed a litany of crimes in order to falsely frame an old enemy of kidnapping her for ransom, all while making Jogoro and Kengo unwitting accomplices in her conspiracy. That’s not really on the “harmless eccentricity” end of personal quirks; Osanai is quite frankly a danger to herself and everyone around her, and it seems unclear at this point if she could sculpt her lust for revenge into something compatible with civil society. Of course, I don’t engage with fiction to watch morally pristine characters engage in socially laudable behavior; I love the messy shit, and Osanai’s passion being so difficult to pacify or integrate only makes it all the more compelling. Let’s see how normal our leads are becoming today!

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Apocalypse Hotel – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d take a walk through the ruins of Tokyo, and stop by the prestigious Gingarou Hotel. In spite of humanity’s apparent decline, Yachiyo and her fellow robotic staff members have been doing a fine job of keeping the beds made, cupboards dusted, and shampoo hats in proper working order. And lately, their diligent efforts have actually been paying some dividends, as they’ve entertained both plant-based lifeforms and alien tanukis in a mere fifty-year operating span.

Though it’s been a fine show from the start, it felt like Apocalypse Hotel really hit its rhythm with the introduction of Ponko and her tanuki family. With Ponko on the staff, Yachiyo now has a sounding board for her philosophy, one of those classic guileless characters who through their sincere ignorance can often arrive at unexpected wisdom. And with the cast now fully furnished, I’m hoping the show will return to some of the vivid melancholy of its premise, that poignant search for meaning in a world with no apparent future. Are they just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, or is there something vital and worthwhile in this staff’s struggles, even if just for their own sake? Let’s see what guidance their hotel directives can offer as we check back on Apocalypse Hotel!

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BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 13

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the curtain rises on the final performance of Ave Mujica, a band defined by mental illnesses so powerful they may well topple the titanic Togawa Group. After twelve episodes of wailing and collapsing and scratching at each other with passionate, loving fury, our girls have more or less coalesced, reuniting via an admittedly abridged resolution of Uika and Sakiko’s drama. Now the group stands united, ready to entrance all of Japan with the nightmare visions of their extremely chuuni rock band.

It has admittedly been a rougher ride to get here than for MyGO. Alright, I won’t sugarcoat it: Ave Mujica has been kind of a mess, more interested in audacious spectacle than human inquiry, and its characters have resultantly failed to rise beyond melodramatic caricatures. But given the contrast between MyGO’s confessional slam poetry and Ave Mujica’s ornate theater, I can’t say it’s terribly surprising the show has embraced such tonal excess off-stage as well.

I certainly wish characters like Uika and Umiri were handled better, but I can also more fundamentally admit that Ave Mujica is simply less my sort of thing that MyGO; I like stories about people, and Ave Mujica is more about a grandiose, indulgently self-destructive vibe than offering convincing character studies. Nonetheless, it’s been an entertaining and often shocking ride here, and I do love Nyamu dearly, largely sharing her “so this is how rich girls entertain themselves” view of her bandmates. With the chandeliers lit and blood generously pooling, let’s enjoy one last moonlit sacrament!

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Journal With Witch – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce I’m feeling pretty darn emotionally stable, which puts me in fine shape to survive an episode of Journal With Witch. The show has so far done a commendable job of psychologically demolishing me with both of its first two episodes, digging into the intersection of grief, self-realization, and creative expression with nuance and acuity. Makio is one of the most sharply drawn characters I’ve seen in years, and through her awkward navigation of adulthood, parenting, and professional writing, Journal With Witch is constructing a human portrait as raw and incisive as its titular journal.

Our last episode saw Makio consulting with allies regarding the Asa question, conferring with first her close friend Nana Daigo, and then her ex-boyfriend Shingo. Unfortunately, as is often the case in such matters, they mostly just served to affirm things she already knew: that she couldn’t put off managing her sister’s personal effects, that her life would be changing rapidly now, and that in spite of it all, she would still remain her standoffish, singular self. Personal growth is both a practice and an inevitability; sometimes pledges turn to practices and then to habits through conscious effort, and sometimes we look up and have to blink at the figure in the mirror, uncertain how we assumed some strange new shape. Regardless, the fundamentals of the isolated creative life remain constant – we dig deep within and excavate our embarrassments, throwing them onto the page in hope of connection, simultaneously praying and fearing to be truly known. Perhaps next time, that hot stovetop might offer the validation we need, the certainty that we haven’t wasted our life in letters. Perhaps not, but what else is there?

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Eureka Seven – Episode 19

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am pleased as punch to announce we are at last returning to Eureka Seven, after far too long a leave of absence from Renton and the Gekkostate crew. There’s really nothing like that particular era of ambitious ‘00s originals, and believe me, I’ve looked. Not to say that the era I grew up with was the best era of anime production – that’s just nostalgia talking, obviously. But every shift in the medium’s output offers its own pleasures, and I am exceedingly fond of these sweeping, go-for-broke combinations of insular personal narratives and globe-trotting fantasy, particularly when Dai Sato or Igarashi and Enokido are involved.

When last we left off, Renton had received a melancholy reminder of home in the form of the old miner Brittany, who remained convinced that just two more meters of digging would strike the motherload that would revive his town. Seeing his own grandfather in this man’s struggles, Renton was happy to make himself useful, until Brittany’s obsession eventually put the whole Gekkostate crew in danger. Thus this brief flash of nostalgia only served to remind him how far from home he was, and how disconnected he remains from the strange, violent world he now occupies.

Renton’s conflict embodies the synergy of Eureka Seven’s surfer crew/revolutionary dichotomy, with Renton essentially experiencing the same disillusionment as a young reporter following a spiraling rock group, or a boy who abandons his home to join the circus. The Gekkostate crew are not here to provide him with a purpose; they are mired in their own troubles, barely getting by, and far from the ideal mentors for a boy seeking to find himself. But no one ever matures under ideal circumstances, and now that the glow of chasing his dream has dimmed, Renton might at last begin the unglamorous process of learning to live with both his triumphs and his regrets. Let’s return to the skies!

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Big Windup! – Episode 23

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the field at the top of the ninth, after an eighth inning that saw both Nishiura and Tosei securing one more run. Unfortunately for Nishiura, this means they’re once again behind their first-seeded opponents, with only a single inning left to first tie and then surpass their opponents. What’s worse, Tosei’s pitcher Takase has clearly shrugged off his early-innings slump, making it all the harder for our boys to run those bases. It seems all hopes rest on Nishiura’s cleanup hitter Tajima – but with Takase at full capacity, will Nishiura survive long enough to let him swing?

Yep, it’s time for more friggin’ Big Windup!, as we return to Nishiura’s absolute nailbiter of a first summer tournament game. Having earned the misfortune of facing off against the first-seeded Tosei players, Abe and his teammates have employed every possible trick to gain an inch of advantage, and at this point might understand the quirks of Takase’s pitching better than he himself does. To win in baseball requires a combination of hard-trained athleticism, ingrained coordination, opponent-specific preparation, in-game analysis, and luck; throughout this match, all of those factors have risen and woven together, demonstrating the exhilarating heights of mechanically grounded drama. Fight on, Nishiura!

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Umamusume: Pretty Derby S2 – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a somewhat unorthodox piece for you all, as we touch down at the beginning of Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s second season. I actually reviewed the first two episodes of the original Umamusume back when they premiered, and apparently had a laundry list of critiques: the slice of life material felt by-the-numbers, the sports side failed to create tension, and the concept was so absurd that I could never achieve the buy-in necessary to engage with it emotionally. However, I have consistently heard that Umamusume’s second season is a vast improvement on the original, and am thus prepared to have another go at its fantastical horse girl world.

From what I hear, this second season apparently tunes down both the slice of life interludes and preposterous “also they’re idols” contrivance, honing in on the franchise’s sports drama fundamentals. That seems like a sturdier foundation than the first season’s mix, so while this is still pretty far outside my usual wheelhouse, I’m gonna do my best to keep an open mind about everyone’s favorite horse girl idol drama gambling app tie-in franchise. Let’s get down to the track!

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