Tag Archives: Anime

The Demon Girl Next Door S2 – Episode 6

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Holy shit, ring the alarms, evacuate the facilities, we’re in full crisis mode. Sakura Chiyoda has appeared on the scene, confounding all my pacing and structural expectations for this season, and rocketing us to within striking distance of actually learning about Shamiko’s father. I was fairly confident we’d be spending most of this season chasing Sakura’s footprints, but now that she’s here in the flesh (or at least whatever equivalent of flesh applies to a mental projection within Shamiko’s memories), it seems like we might be moving right onto the secondary task of dismantling her barrier, and establishing true freedom of interaction between demons and magical girls.

Granted, that initial plan was hatched before Shirasawa revealed that this town is literally the world’s only demon sanctuary, raising some question as to whether undoing Sakura’s work is the wisest choice. But regardless, I’m eager to hear from this story’s most hyped-up heroine. Let’s get to it!

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Spy x Family – Episode 14

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re diving right back into the drama of Spy x Family, in the midst of a high-stakes adventure involving psychic children, future-sighted dogs, and an attempted political assassination! The show is certainly wasting no time in its second cour, and appears to currently be charging towards the fulfillment of one of its most tantalizing promises: the whole Forger family in full battle array, coordinating their powers to solve some grand political crises.

This lever was pulled only once before, during that purse-snatching incident near the beginning of the series, but it’s looking like preventing this assassination will require all hands on deck once again. The key staff also look quite strong for this one; episode director Takahiro Harada has credits ranging from Idolmaster to Birdy the Mighty, while storyboarder Takahiro Miura appears to be something of an action specialist, with regular Ufotable credits on Demon Slayer and the various Fate adaptations. Given Spy x Family’s split studio production, I imagine the team has been afforded plentiful time and resources for what is essentially a “second premiere” of the second cour. Let’s see what they’ve got on offer!

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Star Driver – Episode 15

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we arrive at Southern Cross Isle in a moment of crisis, with Kiraboshi having at last discovered the identity of their missing shrine maiden. Though Marino did everything she could to hide the secret identity of her sister, the fact that she denied seeing any western maiden with Ayingot’s eyes nonetheless gave the game away. All of the maidens are assigned within a year of the king’s birth, so if Marino can’t see the western maiden, that simply means she’s lying – and who, if not Mizuno, would Marino be lying to protect?

As such, I imagine Mizuno will soon be drawn into the active Kiraboshi drama, and be forced to grapple with greater obstacles than finding the courage to smooch Takuto. I’m eager to see how integrating Mizuno into that side of the narrative will change our overall group dynamic, and also keeping close tabs on Sugata’s evolving relationship with the newly reinstated Head. All signs seem to point to an approaching act two climax, so let’s not waste a moment more, and dive back into the evolving drama of Star Driver!

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Dear Brother – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to announce we’re checking out one of the most essential anime series I’ve yet to see, Osamu Dezaki’s adaptation of Riyoko Ikeda’s Dear Brother. Both of these names are legends in their own right, who can rightfully be said to have shaped the course of their relative mediums. Ikeda was one of the key mangaka of what has been retroactively dubbed the Year 24 Group, a collection of female mangaka who elevated the ambitions of shojo manga, introducing new complexities of storytelling and pointed themes regarding sexuality, politics, and much else. Alongside Dear Brother, Ikeda also wrote the massively acclaimed The Rose of Versailles, a story set alongside the French Revolution that counts among the great works of shojo history, and even earned her a Legion of Honor from the French government.

And then, of course, there’s Osamu Dezaki. One of the greatest, most iconic directors in anime history, a man who essentially pioneered a visual vocabulary of melodrama. Dezaki’s influence on anime ranges far beyond individual techniques like his “postcard memory” freeze frames. His visual philosophy of drama, his deft employment of abstraction, and his manipulation of the frame via splitscreens, dutch angles, and shadows would all go on to influence countless future artists, from Tomino to Ikuhara to Shinbo. Any anime education is incomplete without a healthy dose of Dezaki, so I’m eager to dive into this beloved work.

As far as Dear Brother itself goes, my understanding of its narrative is “elite boarding school melodrama,” and I’m content to let the show itself flesh out that impression. Let’s get to it!

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The Demon Girl Next Door S2 – Episode 5

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be checking back in on The Demon Girl Next Door, wherein Shamiko most recently acquired a new part-time job, and is currently serving as a waitress in the most demon-haunted cafe in town. Fortunately, the demons in question seem like the agreeable sort; Shamiko’s tapir boss is at the very least utterly harmless, and while her Huli Jing coworker’s food might occasionally send her into an amnesiac stupor, that’s ultimately more a result of oblivious negligence than malice. In spite of Momo’s worries, Shamiko’s infiltration mission has been a clear success, and the team now have a direct line to this town’s demonic community.

The story could theoretically rush straight ahead towards more revelations about Sakura Chiyoda, but I’m guessing that, like with Mikan’s introduction, we’re presumably in for an episode or two of adjusting to these new arrivals. Even Shamiko simply hanging out with Mikan tends to inspire some jealousy from Momo, so I’m mostly just holding out for more adorable possessiveness from our least sincere of magical girls. Let’s dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door!

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Bocchi the Rock! – Episode 2

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to jump back into the misadventures of Bocchi and her friends, as we explore the second episode of Bocchi the Rock! Well, I say friends, but truthfully you couldn’t call them more than acquaintances at this point. Bocchi simply lacks the confidence or comfort level to interact on any level more familiar than a hostage negotiating with its captor, and so it’s a little tough for real camaraderie to develop. And that itself is one of the things I loved best about that first episode: it wasn’t simply “wacky girl finds friends,” it was “girl with painfully realistic portrayal of anxiety finds people willing to tolerate that for the sake of a successful performance.” Some of my favorite moments from the premiere were those that genuinely acknowledged how Bocchi’s nature would impact her life, as when Nijika briefly considered abandoning her, or when Bocchi herself turned down a post-performance chat because she’d simply used up all her social energy.

Alongside its refreshingly frank portrait of anxiety, that premiere was elevated tremendously by its manifest production strengths. The layouts which, through their management of character blocking and overall spatial configuration, managed to visually convey Bocchi’s journey from isolation to a vast new world. The energetic character animation, boasting infinite ideas for contorting Bocchi into shapes that better articulate her mental state. Heck, even the show’s moment-to-moment sense of timing and visual-aural synchronicity is remarkable, whether it’s applied to something like using a Bocchi original to score a sad montage, or to illustrate how Nijika and Ryo are in mental sync on the stage. Bocchi the Rock! hit the ground running with an altogether remarkable premiere, and I’m eager to see how our anxious heroine develops. Let’s get to it!

Episode 2

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Winter 2023 – Week 4 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a touch of sound and fury for you all, as the week’s screenings included a film I hated with every single fiber of my being. Yes, we did indeed watch Favreau’s detestable Lion King remake, so you all get to enjoy a dash of that naked fury that I only direct at things that make the world worse. Fortunately, the rest of this week’s screenings were much more fortuitous, ranging from a distinctive artifact of anime’s digital transition to a just plain excellent slasher film. Let’s start with the bad and push on through the good then, as we run down the latest Week in Review!

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Land of the Lustrous – Episode 7

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Day by day, Phos’ quest for purpose and identity reaps fresh disappointments. The most common, unquestioned identity for these gems is “warrior,” and so Phos throws themself into battle, hoping to earn the praise of their fellow lustrous. Even as Phos’ actual strengths and virtues (a kind heart, an inquisitive mind, an effortless ability to make their friends laugh) solidified their bond with Amethyst, they struggled to lift a sword and run a patrol route, desperate to prove they could somehow overcome the fundamental reality of their atomic structure. And in the end, the results were disastrous. Struck silent by the terror of the Lunarians, Phos proved utterly incapable of aiding Amethyst in battle, and was ultimately rescued by the increasingly exasperated Bort.

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Spy x Family – Episode 13

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to the ongoing drama of the Forger clan, and see what new troubles await in the wake of Loid’s successful Penguin Operation. The show seems to have arrived at a comfortable narrative neutral at this point, with Anya’s successful integration into school life leaving time for ambitious larks like the dodgeball episode or aforementioned penguin shenanigans. That’s fine by me; I’m interested to see how this story develops, but Spy x Family is most fundamentally feel-good comfort food, elevated not by the wild twists of its narrative, but by the skill and polish with which it executes comedy beats and family moments. A tale’s intrigue is largely defined by the facilities of its teller, and between the strong base material and exceptional adaptation, this production is a tale-teller I have come to trust. Let’s see what nonsense our makeshift family’s been getting up to!

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Star Driver – Episode 14

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to catch the ferry to Southern Cross Isle, and resume our investigation of the fascinating Star Driver. We’re now a solid stretch of episodes into the show’s vaguely defined second act, which was essentially delineated by the activation of the King’s Pillar, and Takuto’s subsequent clash with Sugata. Though they allegedly resolved their differences via the Fists of Friendship, it’s clear that Sugata is no longer satisfied with the status quo as realized in the show’s first act. Encouraged onward by his troubling friendship with Head, Sugata is slowly learning to embrace his power, as well as a philosophy that frames power and righteousness as one and the same.

Meanwhile, Takuto’s been busy hacking away at a fresh fleet of Cybodies, and dramatically undercutting Kiraboshi solidarity in the process. For both Kanako and Benio, it seemed like contributing to Kiraboshi was initially the only way they could gain power and, through that, perhaps some fragment of agency in their lives. In defeat, each of them actually seem far happier than they were before, and more willing to embrace their conventional teenage desires.

With Sugata embracing conservative hierarchies just as Takuto dismantles them, it’s clear we’ve got a collision awaiting some time in the future. But considering we just reached this act five episodes ago, I imagine there’s still some time for shenanigans between then and now. Let’s see what wonders await as we return to Star Driver!

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