Tag Archives: Anime

Hugtto! Precure – Episode 37

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to Hugtto! Pretty Cure, for an episode that by all accounts is going to be almost incomprehensible to me. Our last episode involved the main Hugtto party linking up with about half a dozen previous Cure generations, some of whom they were already acquainted with, all of whom were essentially new to me. Having rallied these supplementary ranks, we then saw half a dozen other Cure parties get frozen in time, trapped in the re-unveiling of Dr. Traum’s totally bullshit time control robot.

For long-time Cure aficionados, I imagine these meetups are a familiar element of the Precure package. For me, this has been a somewhat overwhelming but altogether charming journey through decades of design sensibilities, with each new team demonstrating the diversity of what Pretty Cure can be. The franchise appears to possess a gratifyingly straightforward “if it’ll make for a fun crossover, do it” approach to worldbuilding, while the appearance of all these classic Cures likely gives the current animation team a chance to bring characters they grew up with to life, much like how One Piece’s current staff is stacked with lifelong One Piece fans. When you’re given a chance like that, magic frequently results, so I’m eager to see what wonders await in this pan-Precure bash. Let’s get to it!

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The Demon Girl Next Door S2 – Episode 10

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Demon Girl Next Door, following up on one of the series’ warmest and fuzziest entries so far. Though Momo and Shamiko’s zoo date ended up sabotaged by their so-called friends, the ensuing trip to Sakura’s shrine proved just the romantic excursion they were hoping for, with Momo embracing greater honesty in expressing her feelings and Shamiko embracing more horniness all around. Plus she won her first demonic battle! A tremendous victory for Shamiko.

On a metaphorical level, Momo’s issues purifying and regulating her magic serve as a fine echo of her personal difficulty in opening up to Shamiko, and figuring out how to orient and define herself as someone within Shamiko’s life. Momo’s life of isolation has taught her to be self-sufficient, and she was comfortable enough doting on Shamiko as a helpless project, but learning how to exist as equals, with all the emotional vulnerability that implies, has been a difficult process. “Who am I when I’m with you” can be a difficult question for young lovers to answer, and for Momo, that question is lent further urgency via the harsh consequences of melding magic. Let’s see how our young couple is faring!

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Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m pleased to announce we’ll be embarking on a brand new adventure, as we check out the first episode of Yuki Yuna is a Hero. To be honest, I don’t know all that much about this series, save its place within the industry’s overall development of genre trends.

Yuki Yuna was one of a number of “dark magical girl” dramas that followed the breakout success of Madoka Magica, typified by shows like Day Break Illusion and Magical Girl Raising Project. Most of these shows landed with little impact, in a heartening rebuke of their producers’ assumption that talent and passion are less important than following genre trends, but Yuki Yuna has flowered into a broad and successful franchise. There’ve been Yuki Yuna light novels, manga, visual novels, and even smartphone games, and I get the feeling that if its American release hadn’t been produced by the hideously overpriced and utterly shelf-averse PonyCan imprint, it might have been a commercial hit here as well.

So yeah, I actually know a fair amount about Yuki Yuna’s commercial circumstances, but almost nothing about its narrative. And as anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the magical girl genre knows, darkness and grief have always stood alongside its aspirational themes, making the optimism its heroes struggle to embody all the more meaningful. Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu, Ojamajo Doremi, Pretty Cure – I’ve bawled my eyes out to a variety of magical girl dramas, and hope to find many more with the power to yank at my heart. Let’s see how Yuki Yuna fares!

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Spring 2023 – Week 12 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It is currently a muggy, clouded, altogether inhospitable day out, but I refuse to let nature’s frankly childish behavior ruin my afternoon. This has been a week marked by a variety of gratifying personal milestones: I released my last writeup of the excellent Simoun, caught up on both my Witch Hat Atelier and Chainsaw Man articles (currently in my drafts), and finished Mitsuo Iso’s fascinating Dennou Coil, while also plotting out much of the remainder of my house’s D&D campaign. I suppose it’s no great secret that accomplishing things makes you feel accomplished, but it’s nonetheless been a great source of pride and energy to see my “Current Outstanding Projects” pile diminish so significantly over the past half year. I’ve got more fun stuff coming, but for now, let’s explore some fresh films and Mitsuo Iso’s acclaimed production as we burn through the Week in Review!

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Simoun – Episode 26

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And so it ends. Having long held the future of Simulacrum on their shoulders, the era of the Simoun Sybillae concludes in acrimony and hope, Neviril and Aaeru soaring off in pursuit of the Emerald Ri Majoon and whatever realms await the eternal maidens. No longer is Neviril seeking to undo the past, or Aaeru to prove her worthiness; they believe in themselves and each other utterly, and this final act is an expression of that belief. Simulacrum’s faith may well have been an arbitrary set of strictures draped over a fundamentally value-neutral phenomenon, but the course of Simoun has proven that faith has a power of its own, regardless of its genesis. Even as Neviril’s companions accept their transition beyond this stage, they are still inspired by her actions – and in that faith, a point of commonality is found between them and their new priestly order.

It has been a poignant and rewarding journey riding alongside Chor Tempest, and though I’m sad we’ve arrived at the end, I’m happy it’s ending with such conclusive, elegant finality. Simoun has always possessed a grace of execution that belies its absurd thematic complexity, and thus it seems appropriate that the story ends where it begins: Neviril and her pair in flight, seeking the infinite in the fulfillment of their love.

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Spy x Family – Episode 20

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to get back into Spy x Family, and see what ridiculous nonsense the Forgers have been up to in our absence. Our last episode proved an intriguingly frictious experience, pushing against the presumed boundaries of Tatsuya Endo’s spy drama sandbox. Spy x Family is a situational comedy first, a found family drama second, and a war drama a distant third, and though it can usually juggle those aspects with relative grace, there are inherent tensions in its premise that will undoubtedly surface again. I’m particularly intrigued to see how Endo handles the characterization of Desmond’s father, whose narrative position naturally draws together all of Spy x Family’s contradictory instincts.

But for now, I assume we’re in for some more immediately gratifying shenanigans, and I’m absolutely ready for them. Genre tensions aside, Spy x Family remains immensely entertaining, Endo having proven himself a master of slapstick, deadpan, and anticlimax. Let’s see what lunacy awaits as we return to Spy x Family!

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The Necessity of Shingo Natsume

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“My style is to have no fixed style. Other people would accuse me of having a style, though. It may be that I understand myself the least.” – Shingo Natsume

I’ll admit, I got off on the wrong foot with Shingo Natsume. My formal introduction to his work was One Punch Man, a show that seemed to me an embodiment of anime’s increasing artlessness and lack of narrative ambition, the growing divide between animated aesthetic form and meaningful narrative, emotional, or thematic content. It was simply “man punches hard” animated as beautifully as possible, and “man punches hard” is a story anime has told countless times, a story perhaps only outnumbered in its evocations by “me horny.” And as the years have gone by, it seems this divide between form and content has only widened, with modern animator troves like Jobless Reincarnation offering nothing of substance, while sequels and indistinguishable light novel adaptations dominate the wider landscape.

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Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 – Episode 3

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am pleased as punch to be returning to Thunderbolt Fantasy, as its third season most recently introduced one of the franchise’s most delightful characters: Chao Feng, the sadistic murder princess of Bewitching Melody of the West. Chao Feng effortlessly won my heart through her twin enthusiasms for music and murder, and I am thrilled to see her getting upgraded from a side story antagonist to a main series threat. While I can’t imagine we’ll be getting a repeat of Bewitching Melody’s guitar duel murder brawl, simply having her around and craving Lang’s performances is sure to add a delightful note of chaos to our proceedings.

So far, our heroes have spent this season mostly stumbling into beehives, seeking one enemy only to trip headfirst over another. They’ve attracted the ire of evil swords, corrupted monks, malevolent cults, tyrannical rulers, and the entirety of the demon realm, making Lin Xue’s yearning for a decent nemesis seem perhaps a touch premature. I’m eager to see what our terrible princess makes of these new arrivals, so let’s dive back into Thunderbolt Fantasy!

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Bocchi the Rock! – Episode 7

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Heyo folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got my ticket in hand, and am eager to shuffle into Starry for Kessoku Band’s first four-member performance. Well, technically they performed a trial song that one time, but playing for two people is quite a different experience from playing for an unruly live crowd. Fortunately, Bocchi’s recent street performance clearly did some work in bolstering her confidence, and in particular helped her towards a key personal realization: your crowd is not your enemy, they actually want you to succeed.

For most of her musical career so far, Bocchi has essentially treated her desire to play music and connect with fans as something to apologize for – like listening to her music is inherently an imposition, and thus she has to either hide her identity or trick people into paying attention. But with one eye opened towards the street crowd, she is beginning to realize that people actually want to hear her music, and that the experience of playing live is inherently a conversation between musicians and audience.

Many artists struggle with the contradictory desire to be heard and terror of being known, but the reason that struggle is worth it is that nothing can compare to the feeling of seeing someone’s eyes light up in response to something you created, and knowing your ideas and emotions enriched or spoke to them in some way. Now that Bocchi has experienced a brush with that feeling, I’m hopeful it will inspire her to greater confidence on the stage, but would also be perfectly content with more lovingly animated Bocchi freakouts. Let’s get to it!

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The Demon Girl Next Door S2 – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today is a good day: the sky is clear, the sun is shining, and we’re checking in on the continuing misadventures of Momo and Shamiko. Yes, it’s time for The Demon Girl Next Door, which most recently offered up a refreshingly low-stakes zoo trip. After all the propulsive and fantastical drama of season two’s first half, it was lovely to see Demon Girl return to the core dynamic of Momo and Shamiko at rest, still battling with their personal anxieties, but doing their best to improve for each other.

Frankly, it seems like the show has largely elaborated its underlying “what demons and magical girls represent” metaphor at this point, leading me to suspect future drama will lean more into the show’s character relationships and comedy. Ogura’s intimidating appearance at the end of last episode seems to support that guess, promising an episode of chaotic science and questionable ethics to come. Let’s see what the gang is up to in a fresh episode of The Demon Girl Next Door!

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