Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the tantalizing mysteries of Shoushimin Series, as Urino’s precious arson investigation seems poised to draw all surrounding actors into the conflagration. Having flipped the script on club president Kengo’s attempts at a graceful withdrawal from the spotlight, Urino has claimed the presidency for himself, and now eyes not just a continuing investigation, but the chance to catch the culprit personally.

With the arsons continuing and Osanai clearly involved, even Jogoro has been shaken from his stupor, and is now making his own plays alongside the ever-watchful Kengo. And frankly, it’s hard to say who Jogoro was actually convincing; his focus has remained on the horizon all through his time with Nakamura, and even the revelation that she was apparently cheating on him prompted nothing more than a surprised “huh” from our detective.

It is easy enough to just live passively, but clearly neither Osanai nor Jogoro have the stomach for it. Osanai’s been manipulating this case all along, and Jogoro has been so emotionally absent that all he could muster regarding his feelings for Nakamura was “you seemed like a good person.” That exchange laid his true intentions bare; his words spoke only to his own self-image and desire for transformation, his need to see in himself what he had come to assume was laudable in others. Both Jogoro and Osanai entered into new relationships assuming the blandness of their partners would rub off on them – little wonder that both of those relationships have stalled, given they were built on a foundation of assuming others essentially lacked emotional interiority, and that it was furthermore noble to pursue such blandness of spirit. With their facades in tatters, I’m eager to see both our leads abandon their aspirations of lukewarm geniality, and return to the wildness that makes them shine!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to the tangled mysteries of Shoushimin Series, as Jogoro and Osani continue their wandering journeys toward normalcy. Having spent a season realizing they were each enabling the other’s alleged worst tendencies, the pair have split and found new partners, with Osanai dating newspaper club member Urino while Jogoro pursues the charming Nakamura. And yet their underlying passions still endure, exemplified through both the awkward distances of their new bonds and their embroilment in the town’s latest mystery, a serial arson case that is only rising in intensity with each new incident.

It was a bold play by Honobu Yonezawa to take their stable paradigm and shatter it, but the results are already proving this franchise can survive and even thrive with its leads no longer in close contact. Frankly, their lack of physical proximity has only underlined the strength of their bond; Jogoro is constantly framing Nakamura in terms of how she differs from Osanai, while Osanai seems to be performing some kind of Vertigo-style personality resculpting of her boyfriend Urino. It’s a messy, emotionally fraught situation, and those are precisely the sort of situations that let richly realized character dramas like this thrive. With both their personal bonds and the town at large in a state of violent flux, let’s see how this case continues to develop!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the enigmatic wanderings of Shoushimin Series, as Jogoro and Osanai continue in their renewed commitment to becoming ordinary. Having severed their connection in the wake of Osanai’s outrageous self-kidnapping gambit, they have each found new partners who seem to earnestly appreciate them, and who crucially do not enable their respective antisocial tendencies.

In fact, the two of them have seemingly become so ordinary that they’re no longer the protagonists of their own series. Season two has opened with a graceful flipping of perspective, centering on Osanai’s new boyfriend Urino and his efforts to uncover an alleged serial arson case around town. Through this reversal, Shoushimin Series is elegantly demonstrating the strength of Honobu Yonezawa’s character writing; though Jogoro and Osanai are certainly compelling characters, it’s just as interesting to explore this world from a new shoulder, with the appearances by our old leads lent all the more impact by their newfound rarity. And in director Mamoru Kanbe’s hands, it is already equally apparent what this new formulation is lacking – that spark of restless, relentless inquiry, the powerful unity of intellectual intent that was heretofore represented through the production’s consistent location-jumping visual flourishes. Richly articulated characters navigating a world whose physical and psychological contours have been realized through a distinct visual vocabulary – that’s essentially the core recipe for cinematic psychological drama, and it’s been extremely gratifying seeing season one’s visual language put to such novel and dramatic purposes. Let’s get back to the investigation!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Shoushimin Series, as our two leads attempt to truly, finally kick their antisocial habits. Having accepted that they will likely always enable each other’s allegedly abnormal tendencies, Osanai chose to break off their relationship altogether, ending the ambiguity of their ill-defined bond with the finality of “we are no longer anything to each other.” And thus the two continue their wandering high school lives, each finding new opportunities in the wake of their separation.

Normally, this is where I might talk about how denying your passions only hobbles your potential, or how the anxieties they’re currently experiencing are largely reflective of the identity-forming panopticon that is high school, and what they truly need is to embrace their own truths and seek out the people who genuinely relate to them. All of that is generally true, but here’s the thing – Osanai just committed a litany of crimes in order to falsely frame an old enemy of kidnapping her for ransom, all while making Jogoro and Kengo unwitting accomplices in her conspiracy. That’s not really on the “harmless eccentricity” end of personal quirks; Osanai is quite frankly a danger to herself and everyone around her, and it seems unclear at this point if she could sculpt her lust for revenge into something compatible with civil society. Of course, I don’t engage with fiction to watch morally pristine characters engage in socially laudable behavior; I love the messy shit, and Osanai’s passion being so difficult to pacify or integrate only makes it all the more compelling. Let’s see how normal our leads are becoming today!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the scrumptious Shoushimin Series, just after the full revelation of Osanai’s scheme. This was no idle game of deduction for our heroine; with the threat of Isawa’s revenge to motivate her, she decided to go fully scorched earth, conscripting both Sanae and Jogoro into a scheme that would ultimately see Isawa buried under a variety of semi-invented criminal charges. In the end, the mastermind behind Osanai’s abduction was Osanai herself, who knew she could manipulate things such that Isawa took the fall.

That is some truly dark shit, if you don’t mind me saying. Isawa seemed troubled and possibly even dangerous, but “if you threaten me I will destroy your life” is a pretty hair-trigger response, and Osanai seems not only satisfied with this conclusion, but actively proud of her work. There is a violence in her that goes well beyond Jogoro’s occasionally friction-prompting intelligence; his skill is morally neutral and actually quite valuable, whereas her passion seems to inevitably leave scarred victims in its wake. And morality of her talents aside, how is Jogoro supposed to feel about this? Yes, they often mislead each other for the sake of a shared game, but when that deception puts lives at risk, and even makes Jogoro complicit in her conspiracy, how can he continue to trust that she is fundamentally on his side? Is there anything Osanai truly cares about beyond sweets and getting to bare her fangs? Let’s find out!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Turn. Today we’re returning to the adventures of Jogoro and Osanai, as they recuperate from a potentially devastating moment of crisis. Moving far beyond questions of who ate which cake, their last adventure found Osanai outright kidnapped by a group of drug-dealing students, and almost stabbed by their leader. It was only through the swift intervention of Jogoro and the police that Osanai was rescued from a dangerous situation entirely beyond her control.

Though of course, it wasn’t entirely beyond her control. As Jogoro subsequently pointed out, it seems likely Osanai provoked this situation intentionally, knowing she would be kidnapped in the process. This forms a natural parallel with the sixth episode’s conflict, wherein Jogoro intentionally misled Osanai about her cakes in order to provoke a fun mystery – but the clear differences between these two scenarios emphasizes the wildly differing stakes of their “becoming ordinary” mission. For Jogoro, indulging his allegedly “anti-social nature” means slightly misleading a friend in order to instigate a battle of wills – for Osanai, it means picking fights with criminals who are known to employ violence and intimidation, purely for the thrill of the conflict.

That is not a safe, sustainable hobby, and it points to a destructive instinct that clearly must be either denied or at least guided towards a different, less dangerous form of fulfillment. As Jogoro is our perspective character and Osanai generally keeps her own council, we haven’t had that many opportunities to dig into the psychology of the wolf, but we’re clearly reaching a breaking point. Let’s see how the pair handle this latest backslide towards the extraordinary!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Shoushimin Series at a moment of unexpected crisis, having just learned that Osanai has apparently been abducted for ransom! It’s a development so sudden and dramatic that I’m frankly not entirely sure I believe it, but Osanai does have a habit of getting dangerously ahead of the team when it comes to these investigations, as demonstrated through her reckless actions during the bicycle thief incident. And as that adventure also demonstrated, there are stakes to these investigations beyond boredom or disappointment; our protagonists are idly toying with their town’s various crime rings, heedless of the material consequences.

But can you really blame them? Abduction aside, these last two episodes have served as a warm celebration of Jogoro, Osanai, and even Kengo in their element, flexing their wiles and enjoying each other’s company and eating a whole bunch of good cakes in the bargain. Shoushimin Series’ marvelous character chemistry should come as no surprise to any fan of Hyouka, with each conversation demonstrating layers of affection, one-upmanship, and an underlying testing of comfort levels, as Osanai continues to push their relationship in a more overtly codified, romantic direction. Well, there’s nothing like a dramatic rescue to prove your love, so let’s see where the case takes us today!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I imagine we’ll be embarking on a fresh mystery, as we join Osanai and Jogoro for another installment of the sharp, endearing, and immaculately constructed Shoushimin Series. Though our leads retain their commitment to becoming normal, they continue to prove themselves anything but, with even the simple act of sharing some cakes turning into a tense battle of wills. But hey, how else do you apply your restless intellect to a hot summer day, especially when you’ve got such a willing opponent beside you?

By winnowing this show down to its fundamentals, our last episode reveled in the profound chemistry of its leads, echoing the similarly charming duo adventures of author Honobu Yonezawa’s Hyouka. Of course, that comparison also points to the clear differences within these series – while Oreki and Chitanda find a soothing balance in their differences, Osanai and Jogoro are united by their similarly slanted perspective, their desire to bring order to a disorderly world. In their hands, a cake-centered riff on Rope becomes something like a courtship ritual, their one-upmanship demonstrating both their shared mentality and mutual respect. Shoushimin Series has many strengths, but its most fundamental is the essential truth of great romance from Toradora to Spice and Wolf to Hyouka and beyond: spending time with two well-illustrated characters who genuinely care about each other is a delight, no matter where they go or whatever they do there. Now let’s get to the case!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we are returning to Shoushimin Series, as Osanai and Jogoro continue their seemingly hopeless crusade to become normal human beings. It’s been a tough road for both of them so far, replete with backsliding and compromises, but I imagine they’re pretty used to that. After all, what they are attempting is nothing short of rejecting and replacing their own personalities, the passions that animate them and the natural talents that make them special.

So yeah, probably a bad call on the whole. But as I’ve said before, their feelings are understandable – they are weirdos who prompt friction wherever they go, uninterested in social niceties and so motivated by their off-kilter ideals that they tend to make enemies by accident (and that’s when they’re not intentionally making enemies). They belong in a smoke-filled room pouring over crime scene photos, but instead they are stuck in high school, forced to play nice with kids who seem like different organisms entirely. Adolescence is a process of defining yourself in a social context, and when you receive only negative signals from your surroundings, you’re liable to think that you are the problem. But it is a tragic, regrettable thing to abandon your reason for being, and I can only hope they’re reconsidering this whole self-lobotomy process. Let’s find out!

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