Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking in on Kamiina and her liquor-loving dormmates, as we lounge our way through a fresh episode of Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk. When last we left off, the gang had just returned from a trip to Nagatoro, an excursion that let this production luxuriate in what it does best: offering scene-snippets and montages of young adults enjoying their freedom, and luxuriating in the incidental beauty of the world that these artists so capably bring to life.

For all that, I’m still feeling fairly ambivalent about this production so far. While I quite enjoy the focused outings like that Nagatoro trip, the show’s focus on liquor has so far failed to really add anything to the proceedings in either an aesthetic or dramatic sense. Watching other people get drunk simply isn’t particularly interesting, and beyond that, the show hasn’t really textured its characters enough to make their relationships dramatically compelling. Admittedly, part of this disconnect is simply that I’m less a fan of pure slice-of-life anime than most, but the ones I’ve enjoyed tend to have a little more immediate appeal, be it the intriguing worlds of Flying Witch and Girls’ Last Tour, or the engaging focus activities of Laid-Back Camp and K-On! Nonetheless, the show is so lovingly realized that it remains an easy watch regardless, so let’s see if our third episode finally seizes my attention!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling a need for some solid stress-relieving shenanigans, and thus feel it’s a perfect time to check back in on Kamiina Botan. Having at this point settled into the peculiarities of dorm life, Kamiina has already forged friendships with her RA Ibuki and post-grad senpai Gujo, drawing together the standoffish inhabitants of her cozy home. Of course, this is Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk, so that process has necessarily involved a fair amount of whiskey, red wine, and sake, alongside some decidedly unsubtle advances from our dear Kamiina.

Director Takashi Sukuma’s team have so far done an excellent job of bringing Kamiina’s world to life, offering inviting watercolor backdrops and plenty of dynamic character acting. The show has thus been a pleasant watch on the whole, though I’m still hungry for a bit more of a hook, be it through the show’s interrogation of different liquors or perhaps the progression of its central relationships. Drinking as a concept just doesn’t offer as much of an aesthetic payoff as music or dance or exploring the countryside; nonetheless, given the show’s generally exceptional execution, I imagine it’s still got plenty of visual pleasures in store. Let’s not waste any more time then, and get straight to lounging!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a fresh new production, as we screen the first episode of the currently ongoing Kamiina Botan, or in full adapted parlance “Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk.” The show follows a university student who is apparently introduced to the joys of drunken revelry when she moves to a new dorm, and befriends her alcohol enthusiast dorm leader Ibuki Tonami.

That’s not really much to go off! By premise and tags alone, it seems like we’re in for either college-oriented iyashikei or yuri romcom, with both director Takashi Sakuma and composer Yōko Yonaiyama possessing sturdy but relatively unexceptional credentials. Things get a bit more intriguing when we run down to the animation department, which appears stuffed with strong new-gen animators who’ve lent their talents to all sorts of acclaimed productions. That all seems like a fine combo to me, so let’s see what’s in store for us with Kamiina Botan!

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