Tag Archives: Anime

Yuri is My Job! – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a brand new adventure, as we check out the first episode of Yuri is My Job! I doubt I need to explain to any of my readers that “yuri” generally refers to lesbian romance in anime or manga. Yuri has a long and storied tradition in these fields, with the early 20th century Class S dramas that were often focused on all-girl schools informing the works of the Year 24 Group in the 1970s, including such enduring classics as Riyoko Ikeda’s Dear Brother. These stories influenced the next generations in turn, with ‘90s highlights like Maria Watches Over Us and Revolutionary Girl Utena paving the way for modern, somewhat more grounded stories like Bloom Into You or Adachi and Shimamura, as well as lighter romcoms like The Demon Girl Next Door.

Anime and manga have often been a haven for society’s outsiders, realizing the hopes and aspirations that would invite censure in a rigid, conservative culture. And even as we’ve begun to break the shackles publicly inhibiting expressions of homosexual love, yuri dramas have continued to evolve with the times, even hopping aboard the isekai boom through stories like I’m In Love With The Villainess. Yuri is My Job seems to fit neatly within the modern self-aware paradigm, with its genre-savvy title and heroine whose name is literally Hime, meaning “princess.” It apparently takes place at a cafe themed after those classic Class S dramas, making me curious as to both how it might comment on genre convention, and how it will express earnest character drama in its own right. Let’s find out!

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Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 12

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to check back in on the trials of Doremi and the gang, as our crew continues their magical training and witch baby-raising under the dubious tutelage of Majo Rika. Of course, there’s plenty of room for detours along the way, along with self-imposed trials like messing with Hadzuki’s dance lessons. Ultimately, magic is really just a fantastical garnish for Doremi’s true substance: its thoughtful, wide-ranging exploration of the trials of youth, and the lessons we must internalize to mature happily and with confidence.

In Hadzuki’s case, that lesson was a familiar one, resonating with past trials like Onpu coming to understand her mother’s trauma, or Aiko accepting her father’s pursuit of new romance. Ojamajo Doremi’s empathy and insight stretches to its adults as well as its leads, emphasizing that we are all fallible works in progress, and in turn encouraging its heroes to walk forward with an understanding that there is no finish line to growing up. We’re all just doing the best we can, and in this production’s hands, the wonder of coming to love ourselves and our fellows feels as magical as any outright fantasy. Let’s see what shenanigans our team gets up to next!

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The Big O – Episode 21

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to The Big O, which we last left in a moment of total crisis, as both Roger and Dorothy found themselves under assault by agents of the mysterious “Union,” the only glimmer of civilization we’ve seen from outside the walls of Paradigm. Living in the ruins of the wider world, they have infiltrated Paradigm on all levels, from Roger’s would-be confidant Angel to Alex Rosewater’s associate Alan Gabriel. And now their agents have gathered, amassing in their chapel to pass judgment on this hedonistic dreamworld.

The unveiling of Paradigm’s true peculiarity has been the great work of Big O’s second half, as both Roger and the audience shift from taking his retro-futuristic city for granted to acknowledging it as a strange and unnatural outlier in a world otherwise fallen to ruin. Whatever Gordon Rosewater did, it appears his intent was to create a bubble world much like his tomato garden, a patch of enduring twentieth century excess that would resist the ruin otherwise enveloping the earth. To this end, he likely programmed Roger and others like him to act as this vessel’s antibodies, rooting out threats both internal and external in order to ensure the safety of the harvest. But what can Roger even do with this information? Knowing he is a pawn, would it be better to rebel against his programming and risk all of Paradigm, or remain complicit in Gordon’s project to protect his home? Neither answer seems quite right, which makes me all the more eager to see his own choice. Let’s get to it!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in on Blue Reflection Ray, and see how our heroes are faring in the wake of their successful rescue operation. Saving Miyako from the red reflectors ultimately required a brave step forward from Ruka, as she pushed past her anxieties to stand up for a person who was hurting, and thereby become the kind of person who can actually reach out to others. That in turn echoed the very reason she was fighting for Miyako: for no matter how painful our feelings, if we choose to learn from them rather than tuck them away, there is always hope we will do better next time.

It’s a fine dividing line between our blue and red reflectors, tethering that familiar conceit of “powerful emotions conjure powerful magic” to the further question of how precisely we choose to process those emotions. I’ll be interested in seeing how this metaphor develops, but in more immediate terms, I am also eager for the snarky, self-important Miyako to spend more time aggravating our initial pair. The irritants in these groups often turn out to be my favorite characters, and Miyako has so far proven to be an extremely charming brand of irritating. Let’s get to it!

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Call of the Night – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a certain yearning for the wild side, a clamoring for deviant adventure that can obviously only be sated with some Call of the Night. Granted, our featured nightwalkers aren’t exactly the most intimidating of creatures; in fact, they spent most of their last encounter debating the significance of a first kiss and also playing Street Fighter. Nonetheless, their dissatisfaction with daylit society and slow progress towards mutual trust have been an overall delight, a charming slow burn of romance and incidental escapades.

Through both its careful color design and the anxieties of its main cast, Call of the Night has been articulating a poignant sense of dislocation within modern society. This fundamental loneliness is balanced by the tentative intimacy shared by Kou, Nazuna, and newcomer Akira; none of them are quite sure where they belong, but all of them are desperate to not be alone. All that plus a heaping helping of sensually charged imagery makes Call of the Night a natural continuation of director Itamura’s Monogatari-forged expertise, and a show I’m always happy to revisit. Let’s not waste any more time then, and see what Nazuna and her human companions are up to!

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The Boy and the Heron

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll be stomping our way through Hayao Miyazaki’s latest allegedly final feature, last year’s How Do You Live?, released abroad as The Boy and the Heron. Though its original title refers to a 1937 novel by Genzaburō Yoshino, it is apparently not a direct adaptation, and that’s frankly all I want to know about it. The film’s own promotion was limited to a single, ambiguous image of a man decked in a bird-like costume, implying both extraordinary confidence on Studio Ghibli’s part, and also an apparent desire for audiences to enter the film with no meaningful preconceptions.

That’s an easy enough request for me to fulfill; new Miyazaki films are rare events, and I count myself lucky that I’ve been able to admire this last act of his illustrious career in real time. From animating feats of fancy in Toei’s early films like Puss ‘n Boots and The Flying Phantom Ship, Miyazaki went on to spearhead some of the greatest TV productions of the ‘70s and ‘80s, before forming Studio Ghibli and becoming anime’s premier international ambassador. His remarkable catalog needs no introduction, and recent works like The Wind Rises demonstrate he’s still as passionate and determined to express a personal truth of artistry as ever. Let’s see what The Boy and the Heron has to offer!

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Big Windup! – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to the field for a fresh episode of Big Windup!, with our team having successfully navigated Mihashi’s surprise birthday party. And I mean that “surprise party” in sort of the reverse of the normal sense, as Mihashi himself was the one who invited his team over to his house, thus surprising them with the reveal that their team meeting was actually a birthday party. Nonetheless, the gathering ultimately drew our team closer together, with Abe again resolving to carry this scrappy yet unexpectedly talented team to victory.

Though actually, his phrasing was a little more precise than that. Abe is no longer thinking in terms of “carry” or “exploit” – he’s come to realize that these are teammates he can genuinely rely on, not just tools to fulfill his own ends. Just as Mihashi was scarred by his resentful middle school teammates, so were Abe’s ambitions corrupted by his unreliable former pitcher. Smart as he was, he could not see the limitations of his own cynical perspective; but now, with a trusted team beside him, he’s learning to put his tactical thinking to use in service of trust-building gambits like “casually demonstrate to the rest of the team just how precise Mihashi’s pitches can be.” With his scheming now ostensibly aligned with the team’s greater good, I’m eager to see how our boys handle their first serious opponents. Let’s get to it!

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Spy x Family – Episode 32

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond eager to charge back into Spy x Family, wherein the Forger’s Family Cruise is ratcheting up its tension and violent provocations by the second. When last we left off, Yor was on the verge of fighting the appropriately titled Sickle-and-Chain Barnaby, an assassin who apparently cares a great deal about appearances and very little about disguises. With this ostentatiously murderous assailant stalking the halls, how will Yor hide her assignment from her husband in the next room!?

I have no idea, but I’m quite certain the solution will be marvelous in its ingenious stupidity. That’s most of what I’m looking for here: ideas so stupid they loop back around to brilliant, something this cruise ship arc has so far offered in abundance. Drawing the family together for a group adventure always adds a welcome dash of spice to Spy x Family’s theatrics, and if protecting these informants prompts Yor to reflect on her relationship with her own alleged family, so much the better. Let’s see what madness awaits in a fresh Spy x Family!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to a scene of epic tragedy, as the young two-time hero Togo faces off against all the forces of the cosmos. Everything she once believed in has been proven false; rather than noble defenders of her proud homeland, she has learned they are actually just human sacrifices, destined to torture themselves in pointless battles all for the sake of the Divine Tree’s sustenance. They are pawns of an arbitrary conflict between gods, and what’s worse, it was Togo herself who was utilized as the instrument of Yuna’s demise, guided into friendship entirely so Yuna might eventually be exploited as a “hero” as well.

It is a hard thing to learn your home only sees you as meat for the grinder, particularly for someone as civic-minded as Togo. Her desire to support her home and Yuna’s general concern for those surround her were both ruthless exploited by the Taisha; drawn away from their genuine community-oriented club activities, their selflessness was instead directed towards an arbitrary conflict of and for the gods alone, a shortsighted response to heaven’s own shortsighted failings. Given all this, it is no surprise that Togo now wants only to burn it all down, and at least ensure no future heroes are similarly betrayed by their own kindness. Let’s see how her battle fares!

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Skip and Loafer – Episode 8

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Skip and Loafer, for an episode that promises some of our most intense drama so far! I know, honestly not the biggest threat for this charmingly mild-mannered production, but I’m nonetheless excited to see Shima confront some of the lingering aspects of his past, and for Mitsumi to grapple with what exactly Shima means to her.

So far, Mitsumi has been enjoying a lighthearted high school life by virtue of her own personal buoyancy, being able to both draw people towards her and rise above her own insecurities through her earnest positivity and relative maturity in pursuit of her life goals. She has avoided friction by not imposing herself on others, but love is necessarily an imposition: a hopefully positive one, yes, but nonetheless a request to meaningfully insert yourself into the life of another, and act with their feelings in mind with the understanding that they’ll be doing the same.

As Shima’s old friend noted, our boy has already unconsciously begun this process, but introducing a rival for his affections will quite likely force him to make his connection with Mitsumi explicit, which would go against the carefree persona he’s adopted as a shield against painful consequences. Shima had gotten very close to the point of successfully shrugging his way into a relationship with Mitsumi, but Ririka’s arrival seems poised to force him into actively committing to his desires, with all the unwanted responsibility that entails. Let’s see how our lovebirds fare as we return to Skip and Loafer!

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