Today I’m eager to return to a production I’ve been greatly enjoying, the gracefully genre-splicing Big O. Last episode saw Roger Smith taking a journey to Electric City, where he met the thieving femme fatale Angel, and ended up doing battle with a genuine electric kaiju. The episode was somewhat light on narrative tissue, but rich in atmosphere, with Roger’s quiet investigations of a rundown power plant offering plenty of that distinct, slow-burning noir appeal. The fact that Smith is generally just a guy in a suit asking questions actually makes The Big O feel remarkably close to its film forebearers at times, at least until a giant robot rises out of the ground and punches an electric eel. I’m looking forward to enjoying as much of that atmosphere as I can this week, but to be honest, I mostly just want to see Roger and Dorothy have more adorable bickering fits. Look, I’m a simple man, I enjoying watching a stuffy detective get owned by his robot assistant. Let’s get to it!
Tag Archives: Anime
Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 8
Strap yourselves in folks, we’re catching a flight to the sunny shores of Alola, for one more episode of Pokemon Sun and Moon! Sun and Moon’s last episode was essentially constructed as a tiny adventure film composed from the perspective of a cat, so, you know, that was fantastic. I’m not expecting episode eight to match a conceit as strong as “full damn episode about an adorable cat,” but I’m certainly looking forward to reuniting with Sun and Moon’s larger cast, and am particularly hoping that Team Rocket have a fun role in this one. However this episode plays out, Sun and Moon has been a charming and nostalgic journey so far, and as long as we continue to explore the delightful Alolan scenery, I’ll probably have a fine time. Let’s get to it!
Hugtto! Precure – Episode 13
Folks, it has been altogether too long since we checked in with the stars of Hugtto! Precure, and I’m aiming to fix that right now. When last we left off, the gang was enjoying some well-earned time off, as they hosted a classic slumber party over at Harry’s quasi-treehouse. That episode concluded on a menacing cliffhanger, however, as we learned that Criasu Corp’s resident robot had somehow smuggled herself into Hana’s home, and even brainwashed her mother into believing she’s a member of their extended family. Having spent a great deal of time with some of twitter’s preeminent magical girl aficionados, I already know that Lulu the robot is a fan-favorite character – and with her currently disrupting Hana’s home life, I’m eager to see how the team deal with this unprecedented new attack. Let’s get to it!
Why It Works: How Princess Connect! Re:Dive Captures the Spirit of Konosuba!
The title pretty much says it all with this one! Featuring the same director and a variation on the same premise as Konosuba, Princess Connect feels like a direct spiritual successor to Takaomi Kanasaki’s last comedy hit, and also just a great time in general. I actually kinda prefer Princess Connect’s more slice of life-oriented tone to Konosuba’s harsher comedy, but they’re both excellent productions, and comparing them gave me plenty to talk about. Let’s get to it!
How Princess Connect! Re:Dive Captures the Spirit of Konosuba!
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – Episode 9
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am very excited to return to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, in the wake of the team’s successful premiere of their giant robot anime. Not only did Asakusa and her team’s production garner a massive crowd and dazzle the student body, it also neatly resolved Mizusaki’s conflict with her parents. Having seen how Mizusaki is able to “perform” through her animation, they have no doubts that she’s found a path that is right for her – she has proven she can convey unique human experiences through her art, to the point where even her professional actor parents can see their daughter in her work.
Unfortunately, it turns out making great art isn’t actually the hard part when it comes to anime production – it’s making money. Having been commissioned to create their most recent anime by the giant robot club, it seems quite likely that, as it goes for actual anime studios, they won’t have much right to the spoils of their labor. The actual industry’s production committee system tends to treat anime studios as replaceable contract workers, who get paid a flat rate regardless of how well their production does. On top of that, staggeringly predatory wages mean most young animators can barely support themselves, and often rely on their family, or projects like the animator dorm initiative, just to get by. We’ve spent plenty of time exploring the sheer joy of creation and the steady labor of production, but we’ve yet to cover the true dark heart of anime, and I’m guessing that time has finally arrived. Let’s dive into another episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
The Girl in Twilight – Episode 1
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we’ll be embarking on a new notes project, as we explore the first episode of 2018’s The Girl in Twilight. This show was technically just the first wing of a theoretical multimedia project that also included a mobile game, a specific cross-promotional mix that has become increasingly common in recent years. It’s only really the mobile game aspect that’s new, though; anime are rarely green-lighted as fully self-contained commercial objects, and are generally intended to at the very least sell toys or music. In the age of massive mobile game sales, anime productions have naturally migrated towards promoting more mobile games; though in The Girl in Twilight’s case, the game it was promoting barely survived until the end of its own seasonal airing.
Moreso than its promotional intent, The Girl in Twilight’s most noteworthy feature is the presence of Kotaro Uchikoshi, who contributed the show’s base concept and scenario. Uchikoshi’s anime work has been pretty limited; his biggest “claim to fame” there is writing 2015’s Punch Line, which was a conceptually interesting and visually appealing production whose unfortunate “if I see panties the world ends” gimmick kept me from sticking with it. However, Uchikoshi is also responsible for writing the acclaimed Zero Escape game trilogy, along with a variety of other reality-bending, mystery-centered visual novels. The golden age of visual novels has tragically passed (they too have largely been replaced by mobile games), but Uchikoshi is considered one of its titans, and I’m excited to see his ideas at work in The Girl in Twilight. With our journey’s first steps established, let’s dive into The Girl in Twilight!
Symphogear AXZ – Episode 1
Well folks, it’s looking like we’re watching some goddamn Symphogear. I’m frankly not quite sure how much I’ll be able to critique for you all here – Symphogear is pretty much insane nonsense from start to finish, and attempting to soberly quantify it as an artistic text feels like a bit of a fool’s errand. That said, I am an acknowledged fool, and have actually already reviewed the show’s first three seasons over on Anime News Network.
Looking back on those, I see I docked the second season for “losing any semblance of intelligent writing” and the third season for “going all-in on narrative ideas it’s not nearly well-written enough to support,” so uh, I guess that’s where we’re at as we embark on season four. But really, Symphogear has never actually been about clever or thoughtful writing – it’s about absurd, bombastic action setpieces tethered to an incredibly charming core cast, making for an experience that can see-saw wildly between goofy character drama and world-threatening apocalyptic theater at a moment’s notice, or even faster. It is indulgent and exuberant at all times, and by following the Nanoha model of “giant robot action, magical girl heart,” it’s able to tether its excesses to characters I would probably die for. Let’s dive into the fourth season of Symphogear!
Why It Works: Fighting With Impact: The Brilliance of Hunter x Hunter’s Nen System
With the already-limited spring season now experiencing a necessary wave of delays and cancellations, my Why It Works columns are at last able to assume their final form: weekly odes to Hunter x Hunter, each column celebrating a different aspect of its collective majesty. Alright, that’s probably not actually going to happen, but I really could write about Hunter x Hunter’s excellence forever, and I was happy to ramble about the nen system this week. Let’s get to it!
Fighting with Impact: The Brilliance of Hunter x Hunter’s Nen System
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Reflection
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ll be returning to a franchise that has at last transcended the boundaries of TV anime production, as we continue our post-A’s journey into Nanoha with Nanoha Reflection. As with the two seasons that preceded it, I’m seeing this film for the first time myself, and eager to see how the Nanoha universe expands beyond Hayate’s narrative. Though I’m watching them in reverse order, it’s easy to see how Nanoha’s villain-redeeming structure would go on to set the blueprint for shows like Symphogear; and at this point, the recruitment of Hayate and her Belkan Knights mean this is truly an ensemble narrative, demanding ensemble narrative-scale conflicts.
Reflection isn’t a direct followup to A’s, though, at least in terms of its release schedule. A’s was actually directly followed by Strikers, which jumped the timeline ten years forward, and then ViVid, which takes place four years after that. Those TV productions pushed the Nanoha universe past the point of Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate all working together as young magical girls – but ten years later, Reflection and Detonation would reverse the clock, establishing a “movie timeline” that would allow the franchise to return to that immediate post-A’s dynamic. In an artistic sphere that often seems hamstrung by its reverence for worldbuilding, it’s nice to see a franchise saying Fuck It, we’ll establish a new timeline to justify returning to this franchise’s most promising dramatic template. And if this is just an excuse to see Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate be badasses, that’s fine with me too. Let’s dive into Nanoha Reflection!
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 14
It’s a strange thing, how the process of describing history seems to fundamentally transform it. Fitting the events of Evangelion’s first half into a historical record lends its battles clarity, coherency, perhaps even a sense of purpose. New trials are announced through stark title cards, and their resolutions are conveyed just as cleanly, twenty minutes of hardship transformed into thirty seconds of recap. The picture that emerges depicts an inexperienced but talented team, rushing to improve their defensive capabilities, but handling each new challenge with absolute professionalism.