Tag Archives: Anime

Yuri is My Job! – Episode 2

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in on Hime’s part-time adventures, as we explore the second episode of Yuri is My Job! Having forcibly established a “Schwestern” bond of sisterhood with her coworker Mitsuki, Hime has solidified her place in the cafe’s kayfabe dynamic while simultaneously earning the enmity of Mitsuki herself. Though Hime is accustomed to performance, she has little fluency with the unspoken rules of engagement here, and seems poised to trample over any number of sacred traditions in her acclamation to life at Liebe Academy.

Of course, tangled as it is, that’s only the first layer of drama we’re dealing with here. Through its transposing of Class S traditions to this maid cafe-reminiscent venue, Yuri is My Job! is also naturally interrogating how the aesthetics of personal liberation can themselves become a new kind of limiting convention, as well as how performances of selfhood can either mask or facilitate emotional sincerity both in fiction and our own lives. Can these genre-born rituals convey genuine personal truths, offering vectors for feelings that must otherwise remain unspoken? And how does that hope square with the expectations of the audience, their insistence on performances that abide by strict models of personal expression? This show’s concerns stretch beyond the specific confines of Cafe Liebe’s performances, exploring the new realities of intimacy in an age where confessions are also Content, and finding a perfect vehicle for the universal in the specificity of the yuri boarding school’s narrative conventions. It’s a fascinating stew, so let’s not waste any more time talking around it, and get right into the action!

Continue reading →

Big Windup! – Episode 12

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking back in on the team with a fresh episode of Big Windup!, as our boys prepare for the first round of the summer tournament. It certainly won’t be an easy trial; our luckless captain Hanai managed to draw an immediate matchup with last year’s champions, meaning no matter how hard our team practices, they’ll still be laboring under a substantial experience deficit, facing players who’ve bolstered their profound natural talents with superior facilities and an arduous long-term training regimen.

That’s all lousy news for our players, but certainly an easy pitch (pun slightly intended) for us in the stands. Big Windup!’s fundamental hook is navigating the complex intersection of athletic ability, group psychology, and competitive strategy, exploring how the mindset with which we approach the game can be just as consequential as our mechanical abilities. Stacking the deck against our players is an excellent way to push the limits of schemers like Abe and Momoe, so I’m eager to see how they grapple with this fresh misfortune. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Call of the Night – Episode 6

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check in on the nocturnal escapades of Kou and Nazuna, wherein Kou has just been presented with his most intimidating challenge yet: give a massage to fatigued office worker Kiyosumi Shirakawa, as Nazuna is feeling lazy and just wants to play videogames.

It’s a predictably low-stakes challenge for this charming production, which has so far offered a pretty even mix of romantic comedy shenanigans and more general reflections on modern ennui. Though Nazuna claims to be an avatar of the night’s allure, as we’ve already seen, the night is actually pretty boring when you don’t have someone to share it with. Kou, Nazuna, and Akira are all most fundamentally seeking a sense of purpose and community in a world that’s less validating and more atomized by the day. It is as of yet unclear whether playing Street Fighter at 3AM is the solution to our crisis of modern alienation, but goddamnit, these kids are gonna try. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Spy x Family – Episode 33

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to Spy x Family, wherein it seems we’re galloping towards the conclusion of its cruise liner arc. While Anya provides cover and Loid works on his Normal Man impression, Yor has been fending off a procession of devious assassins, each more cunning and lethal than the last. At the same time, her growing bond with her targets has led her to question the meaning of these missions, and whether she still needs this Thorn Princess persona at all.

Granted, I don’t expect her to actually abandon her duties as a result of these questions. Spy x Family’s conceit relies on a delicate balance of comically contradictory circumstances that doesn’t really allow for that much personal reinvention (even the very title is a riff on “spy vs spy”), at least until Tatsuya Endo decides to aim for the endgame. At the same time, its best personal drama tends to involve chafing at the edges of this paradigm – Loid favoring Anya over the “greater good” of his professional duties, Anya risking exposure by flagrantly using her powers, and now Yor questioning whether she has outgrown her Thorn Princess role, as she has found in the Forgers the stable family life she once saw her secret identity as protecting. Regardless of her conclusion, Yor challenging her own unconsidered beliefs has made her feel significantly more substantive as a character, and I’m eager to see how this story ends. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Toradora! – Episode 12

Posted on by

To truly open up to another is a pursuit fraught with danger. To reveal both our passions and our vulnerabilities invites misunderstanding, our rough edges frequently pinching and bruising as they align in ill concert with the sharp extremities of another. As Schopenhauer described and Evangelion agreed, for those not naturally inclined to absolute sincerity, intimacy is a hedgehog’s dilemma, a process by which we hurt each other precisely because we wish to grow closer. And after a season’s worth of managing that process with whatever grace they could muster, Ryuji and Taiga have at last been torn apart by the very closeness of their feelings, and their desperation to understand each other.

Continue reading →

Yuki Yuna is a Hero – Episode 12

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re rejoining the battlefield alongside Yuki Yuna and her companions, as our heroes fight for the last fragment of reality in a hostile, voracious world. The revelation that our heroes were sacrificing themselves as nourishment for the Divine Tree proved only the first of this story’s terrible secrets; now, they have learned that their island stands alone, the last remaining holdout of a battle between hungry gods. It is a sobering and satisfyingly Lovecraftian twist on convention; our heroes are no more than the barest eddies swirling around the movements of god-titans, sacrificing themselves only so that future innocents might live to take their place.

Having been twice over manipulated and abused by this system, and now having drawn her precious friend Yuna into the conflict as well, it is little surprise that Togo is ready to watch the world burn. If their only choices are to be sacrificed piece by piece or reject this bargain altogether, better that this paradigm be destroyed wholesale, and that a new world might be born. Togo’s loyalty to family and country made her the perfect target for the Divine Tree, but she is as fearsome in rebellion as she is in complicity, and now the walls are beginning to fall. What hope remains is aspirational, perhaps even foolish – that the collective loyalty and love of the Hero Club might conquer all the forces of heaven, a hope for which Karin gladly sacrificed her senses. And now we come to a familiar standoff, with the scenery of apocalypse furnishing that most fundamental of questions: can love truly save us?

Continue reading →

Skip and Loafer – Episode 9

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the rain is casting a dreary scene outside my window, and giving me a craving for something upbeat and energetic to brighten my day. As such, we obviously have no choice but to return to Skip and Loafer, and check in on the continuing adventures of Mitsumi and her companions. Mitsumi’s earnest cheer is so contagious it actually extends beyond her own friends; it’s hard to watch this show and not feel warmed by her endearing presence.

Granted, we’re currently mired in some uniquely thorny territory as far as Skip and Loafer is concerned. The introduction of Ririka has brought Shima’s unhappy history to the forefront, as he is condemned anew for derailing her route to stardom. It’s easy enough to see why this experience would prompt Shima to withdraw from both celebrity life and earnest, vulnerable engagement with the world, but in truth, my own immediate response to Ririka’s “you think it’s okay now that four years have passed” was an unconditional “yes, absolutely.” Ririka is holding an unreasonable grudge against a boy who no longer exists, and I can only hope Mitsumi is able to help Shima forgive himself. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 4

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in Frieren and Fern’s rambling journey, as they pay back the debts of the past and chart out an unknown future. A lifetime is a very long thing for an elf, but with Fern at her side, Frieren is being forced to embrace at least a touch of urgency. Is life best appreciated as a long arc towards an uncertain destination, or as a series of individual challenges and experiences? Frieren’s perspective invites us to consider both, with a melancholy assurance that no matter your perspective, precious things will inevitably slip through your fingers.

Our last episode explored the vagaries of time’s passage from a new angle, emphasizing how the grand lifespans of fantastical beings can make them ill-equipped to counter the curiosity and industry of mankind. Time moves slower when it is in abundance, as the young blithely accept and the old are unfortunate to know well. An ageless being might see its power as similarly ageless, but the returning Qual found himself outgunned by progress, his once-singular powers now incorporated into the bedrock of magical inquiry. You could take that as a lesson in clinging to past glories, an assurance that seemingly insurmountable hurdles often just require dedicated consideration, or a rueful acknowledgment that mankind will always find a way to build a better gun – regardless, it serves as a fine extrapolation of Frieren’s fundamental questions. With an open road before them, let’s see what new questions await the mage and her apprentice!

Continue reading →

Scum’s Wish – Episode 9

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d check back in on the bedraggled stars of Scum’s Wish, who are presumably hard at work doing the most mutually destructive things they can do to each other. Though to be fair, they were actually on the right track going into our last episode, with both Mugi and Hana having resolved to announce their crushes and thereby move past them. Unfortunately, Akane would never turn down such a ripe opportunity for chaos, and thus answered Mugi’s confession by manipulating him into sleeping with her.

That’s all of a course with Scum’s Wish’s usual style, wherein youthful dreams are left to rot into festering obsessions, and every day stacks fresh sorrows upon the old. In the context of Mugi and Hana’s somber perspectives, I actually quite enjoy Akane’s proud “I am going to cause problems on purpose” attitude, a callousness and whimsical cruelty that positions her in a long and illustrious line of bodice-ripping baddies. Akane is a Dear Brother character in a world with no melodrama antibodies, offering a perpetual promise that things could always be worse. Let’s see how her latest crimes play out as we return to Scum’s Wish!

Continue reading →

Hugtto! Precure – Episode 44

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the drama of Hugtto! Precure, after an episode that was largely preoccupied with Homare resolving her crush on a shape-shifting, time-traveling hamster. That’s just sometimes how it’s gonna be in the land of Precure, and to be perfectly honest, it actually made for a surprisingly poignant adventure. Rodent-related specifics aside, Homare’s feelings offered an endearing portrayal of how even unrequited love can be emotionally enriching, and her journey towards that realization was adorned with all sorts of lovely visual compositions.

With Henri and Homare’s skating performances now behind us, the slate is once again clear as we march towards Hugtto’s endgame. Is it time for George’s plan to be unveiled, or can we still sneak in some seasonal shenanigans with Hana and the gang? I’m sure whatever we’ve got coming will be delightful in its own way, so let’s dispense with the preamble here, and dive into the continuing adventures of our hug-happy heroes!

Continue reading →