Tag Archives: Film

Fall 2026 – Week 6 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. After an extended slate of warm and sunny days, we have unfortunately reached the turning of the season by now, heralded by daylight savings time shifting sundown from a respectable evening hour to halfway through the afternoon. From the ruthless plundering of daylight to the jog-precluding cold and towering heating bills, there is basically nothing about winter that doesn’t suck, and I am already struggling heroically against my natural urge to curl up under blankets and sleep until April. I mean, bears get to do that, and I’d like to think humanity has evolved to a higher standard of living than friggin’ bears. Anyway, I’ve been rallying against the cold with a whole lot of Fire Emblem and movie screenings, as I fight to somehow escape Fortune’s Weave’s nigh-endless first act. I’ll have more thoughts on that if I ever actually finish it, but in the meantime, let’s run down some films!

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Fall 2026 – Week 5 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’m currently writing this on election day as the votes are being tallied, an occasion that could signal either the ebbing of the MAGA tide or the end of the United States as we know it. I have hope, though; American voters are for the most part simple, tribalistic creatures only vaguely aware of external stimuli, but the one-two punch of pointless tariffs and pointless wars has inflicted enough economic own-goals on our country that I think they may actually correlate causes and effects for once. That nightmare aside, I also finished up the altogether slight but generally charming Sparks of Tomorrow, and am thus once again on the hunt for outstanding 2026 anime to accompany my slow savoring of Scenes from Awajima. It’ll be time to actually get cracking on my year in review post soon, but in the meantime, let’s run down the week in films!

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Fall 2026 – Week 4 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week has seen me juggling multiple productions in my race through the year’s outstanding anime, with my apartment diligently munching through both A Hundred Scenes of Awajima and Sparks of Tomorrow. The first has proven an absolutely staggering experience, pairing one of Madhouse’s greatest directors with one of the most wide-ranging and emotionally acute stories of recent years. From its tender illustration of the lies we tell each other to its stark, generation-hopping dramatic scope, Awajima is proving a poignant and insightful drama on all fronts. Meanwhile, in spite of its high-concept premise, Sparks of Tomorrow is falling more in that comic fantasy KyoAni mode of shows like Beyond the Boundary or Phantom World; it’s less ambitious or intelligent than I’d like, but remains visually compelling and generally watchable. I’ll hopefully have both shows tidied up by next week, but for now, let’s run down in the week in film!

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Fall 2026 – Week 3 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. My march through the year’s anime highlights continued this week, as I ran through the charming throwback Goodbye, Lara. I’m thinking my next investigations will concern either Sparks of Tomorrow or the spring season’s Nippon Sangoku, but I’m certainly open to other pitches regarding this year’s bountiful productions. Perhaps A Hundred Scenes of Awajima? I initially overlooked that one, but learning it came from the author of Wandering Son has definitely piqued my interest. Anyway, I’ve clearly got plenty of work ahead of me, but there are far worse problems than having too much good anime to sort through. And rest assured, I have not let this deluge of animation prevent me from watching altogether too many goddamn movies. Let’s get to it!

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Fall 2026 – Week 2 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. The fall season is churning along at this point, accompanying a general dulling of the sky and dimming of the sun as we slip into another year’s depressive winter huddle. That bleak transformation has served to underline the urgency of my annual catch-up process, which has most recently seen me diving into the charming and nostalgic Goodbye, Lara. Bold anime-original dramas are precious gems in our demon-haunted era, and so far Lara is impressing on a variety of fronts, from its cel-aping aesthetic to its charming cast to its gentle interrogation of various forms of love. I’ll surely have more to say on that when I get deeper in, but for now, let’s run down the week in films!

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Fall 2026 – Week 1 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. After the overstuffed summer anime season, it seems like we’re in for a quiet one this fall, with seemingly just the return of Apothecary Diaries to look forward to. That suits me just fine though, as I’ve still gotta catch up on a fair number of outstanding seasonal productions, as well as sneak in whatever films I can before year’s end. Regardless, it’s already certain my “new to me” segment of the year in review is going to be absolutely stacked – between the pile of OVAs I’ve screened and highlights like Future Boy Conan, Dirty Pair, and Galaxy Express 999, this has been an exceedingly fruitful year for delving the depths of anime history. I’m still figuring out what legacy project I’ll tackle next, but for now, let’s run down the week in films!

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Summer 2026 – Week 13 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been continuing my journey through the outstanding summer productions, following up A Witch in Mongolia with a run through Science Saru’s The Ghost in the Shell. Having only previously viewed Mamoru Oshii’s take on the material, it was a bit of a surprise to see how breezy and energetic the source material could be. Watching this version made me feel all the more validated for having munched through Shirow’s classic era OVAs this year, which actually provided a much stronger comparison point than Oshii’s ponderous, melancholy interpretation – it seems like Shirow is fundamentally a pulp action-comedy writer at heart, and I think this new adaptation works much better in that light than as an era-bound and sorta reactionary political text. Of course, all that scifi action was supplemented by a healthy selection of feature films, so let’s dive into the Week in Review!

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Summer 2026 – Week 12 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. While I’m continuing to churn through the summer season’s outstanding highlights (I’m currently about halfway through the new Ghost in the Shell), the story of the week has undoubtedly been Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. The game’s scale is frankly a bit intimidating; my housemate and I are each running different initial routes, and the profound differences between them are already cluing us in to how much game we’re really dealing with here. Nonetheless, I’m quite enjoying the game’s mixture of high fantasy, strategy, and world exploration, and even if the game isn’t quite matching Three Houses’ level of character writing, I’ve still grown quite attached to my team of sewer-scavenging weirdos. I’ll let you know how I feel after I pour another ungodly quantity of hours into the experience, but for now, let’s run down the Week in Review!

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Summer 2026 – Week 11 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With the summer season coming to a close, I’ve at last begun catching up on its glut of prestige productions, beginning with the much-anticipated A Witch in Mongolia. The show has proven an absolute delight so far, continuing the thread of sharp, intimate historical drama begun by Yamada’s Heike Monogatari, and complementing her mastery of melancholy with a great deal of wit and courtly subterfuge. It’s an absolute delight seeing my favorite director expand her tonal and narrative palette while still embodying all the compositional delicacy and attentiveness to character that first dazzled me in her work. It’s been an incredible evolution from K-On! to here, and I’m exceedingly thankful that Science Saru has proven such a reliable partner for her talents. I’ll likely have more to say on that shortly (even if it’s just “season two when”), but for now, let’s run down the Week in Review!

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Summer 2026 – Week 10 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With the summer anime season nearly finished and my journey through Galaxy Express 999 at last complete, I’m eager to catch up on what appears to have been the strongest anime season in years. At a glance, I absolutely need to check out A Witch in Mongolia, Goodbye Lara, The Ghost in the Shell, and Sparks of Tomorrow, as well as find time for outstanding films like Cosmic Princess Kaguya, The Ribbon Hero, and The Last Blossom. Between all those, Witch Hat Atelier, and Journal With Witch, this is proving to be a pretty ludicrous year in prestige productions, and a generally heartening sign for the medium’s strength and diversity. I’ll be sure to check back in as I munch through the season’s highlights, but for now, let’s run down the week in films!

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