Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am thrilled to be returning to Star Driver, as we charge forward into what I have to assume is the show’s endgame. With Ko and Madoka having abandoned their pursuit of the Ginga Bishonen, we’re basically out of secondary conflicts at this point; all that’s left is the school play and Tokio’s machinations, meaning I have every expectation that we’re in for a school festival episode.

Taking one final break before the big action climax seems more than fine by me. Both Igarashi and Enokido are in their element spearheading comedy; the two have been collaborating on delightful goofiness ever since their Sailor Moon days, and given his long stewardship of the Doremi franchise, I’ve likely laughed at more Igarashi nonsense than any other artist in the industry. In their hands, irreverent school adventures and ludicrous expressions aren’t just a break from the action, they’re often a vehicle for characterization, revealing as much or even more about their casts as their actions under pressure. With that play and its long-anticipated kiss scene approaching, I’m guessing we’re in for an episode that revels in school shenanigans while simultaneously harnessing them as a vehicle to explore Wako’s hesitant, shifting emotions. Let’s find out!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to Star Driver, after an episode that graciously drew back the veil obscuring the prior generation of would-be Cybody pilots, revealing some clear parallels with our current group in the process. Ryosuke and Tokio make for an odd contrast with Takuto and Sugata; though both pairs are defined by their competition regarding a shrine maiden, Tokio’s Takuto-reminiscent role as societal outsider stands in contrast with his obsession with mastering the Cybody system. In that, he is more like Sugata, while the insider Ryosuke’s antipathy towards this whole order makes him more like Takuto. And that’s before you get to the question of Takuto’s parentage, and the pocket watch connecting all six key players.

It’s been nice to have so much of this island’s history clarified, but to be honest, episode twenty’s revelations didn’t actually change our understanding of the ongoing conflict. Star Driver has been focused on clear personal dramas and equally clear thematic concerns from the outset, the strictures of tradition and call for personal agency set in conflict through both the love triangle at its center and hormonally charged scaffolding of its science fiction inventions. Rather than obscuring the truth, its metaphors have emphasized the clarity of its philosophy, painting adolescent identity-forming as the crux of apocalypse or revolution in the manner of many anime classics, including a number penned by Enokido himself. Let’s see how our young lovers fare in a fresh episode of Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into Star Driver, and see what those schemers at Kiraboshi have been cooking while Wako enjoys her birthday. Our last episode served as a general referendum on Wako’s tenuous current position: suspended between childhood and adulthood, shrine maiden duties and personal ambitions, the long-destined Sugata and the upstart Takuto. It’s no surprise she’s hesitating; at this point, a step in any direction might close countless doors, resolving a horizon that’s glimmering with potential into one fixed destination.

We all worry about making the wrong choices as adolescents, but for most of us, we have enough room to try and fail, knowing there will be future opportunities ahead of us. For the children of Southern Cross, birth is destiny, and adolescence merely the affirmation of their roles within a society that sees them as tools rather than individuals. It’s little wonder Wako is so hesitant to grow up, but I’m curious as to Sugata’s true feelings; having gained the King’s Pillar but rejected Kiraboshi, he seems the only player with agency within the system, who might claim a destiny of his own without first fleeing the island altogether. As the day of reckoning draws near, let’s return to Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond impatient to get back into Star Driver, and see what fresh calamities are besetting the inhabitants of Southern Cross Isle. After a brief flash of normalcy guiding us into the story’s third act, the last episode saw us again off to the races, as fresh secrets were unveiled and Kate’s ambiguous role in our story came into focus.

As it turns out, Kate has been lying about basically everything to basically everyone. Her friends have little idea of her role within Kiraboshi, while her identity as a shrine maiden is a secret kept even from her Kiraboshi collaborators. And it’s little wonder why – shrine maidens here are not active actors, they are tools, beings kept both metaphorically and even literally in bird cages. It is the wielder of the King’s Pillar who acts, affirming the conservative world order that has caused one after another shrine maiden to flee the island, seeking their own identity outside of the confines of Southern Cross.

In this way too has Kate been an irrepressible liar, lying about her desires even to herself. Though she scorns Wako for holding onto dreams of stardom, her own yearning for that dream is clear in her rigorously practiced karaoke performances. And though she claims to have accepted Wako’s status as Sugata’s betrothed, her nightly visits with the King’s Pillar prove she has not given up on her first and only love. It’s an intriguingly anguished position she’s found herself in, and I’m eager to see what happens as her tangle of deceptions come to light. Let’s dive into Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to storm back into Star Driver, which most recently commenced its third act with the introduction of Ko and Madoka, alongside a power grab by Head that has left him as the undisputed leader of the Kiraboshi council. Between Head’s clear hostility and the growing misgivings of Kiraboshi leaders like Kanako and Benio, I’m guessing the time for plotting in dimly lit council chambers is coming to a close, as we lead into Star Driver’s tumultuous finale.

Where is all this chaotic striving headed, you ask? Well, while I’m not sure the precise narrative destination of Kiraboshi’s variable machinations, it’s easy enough to see how things are culminating in a thematic sense. Just like he did with Revolutionary Girl Utena, Enokido has constructed a cage of adolescence overseen by adults who wish to harness the power of youth, wherein the barriers of propriety and insecurity form invisible but nonetheless implacable bars.

Sex is at the center of this universe, yet it is framed as unreachable, the uncertainty of our protagonists recast as the lock and key to oblivion in the form of the shrine maiden system. The yonic gate of Wako’s shrine, the phallic weapon that is the King’s Pillar – all roads lead towards consummation, and yet the act itself is framed as the end of the world, thereby echoing in worldbuilding the war between natural instincts and conservative social mores the whole cast is struggling with. To overcome this system, Takuto will undoubtedly have to reach out his hand as Utena once did, and forge a bond that denies and shatters the staid ethics of Southern Cross Isle. Let’s get to it!

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Hello and welcome all back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to Southern Cross Isle in a moment of crisis, with Mizuno having just discovered the true, inarguable limits of her gilded cage. After a lifetime of considering this island her sanctuary, the return of her despised mother made it suddenly intolerable. Seeking escape by ferry, she soon realized that shrine maidens aren’t simply forbidden from leaving the island, they physically cannot escape it. Every attempt to escape its grasp sent her tumbling back to the prior morning, with only increasing cracks in this island’s supernatural firmament to show for it.

Alongside its clear narrative import, all the visual signifiers of that last episode further emphasized that we’ve reached the conclusion of Mizuno’s comfortable fantasy. All of the sequences that initially introduced her (the ferry passing, the bird nest) were here reframed as conclusions, new friends and baby birds replaced by Mizuno’s mother and an empty nest. I’m feeling for Mizuno, but also eager to see how all these revelations change her relationships with the rest of the cast – after all, as Kanako and Benio have demonstrated, it is only once these students shed their false, expectation-borne shells that they can express their true selves. Let’s see what chaos awaits as we return to Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we arrive at Southern Cross Isle in a moment of crisis, with Kiraboshi having at last discovered the identity of their missing shrine maiden. Though Marino did everything she could to hide the secret identity of her sister, the fact that she denied seeing any western maiden with Ayingot’s eyes nonetheless gave the game away. All of the maidens are assigned within a year of the king’s birth, so if Marino can’t see the western maiden, that simply means she’s lying – and who, if not Mizuno, would Marino be lying to protect?

As such, I imagine Mizuno will soon be drawn into the active Kiraboshi drama, and be forced to grapple with greater obstacles than finding the courage to smooch Takuto. I’m eager to see how integrating Mizuno into that side of the narrative will change our overall group dynamic, and also keeping close tabs on Sugata’s evolving relationship with the newly reinstated Head. All signs seem to point to an approaching act two climax, so let’s not waste a moment more, and dive back into the evolving drama of Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to catch the ferry to Southern Cross Isle, and resume our investigation of the fascinating Star Driver. We’re now a solid stretch of episodes into the show’s vaguely defined second act, which was essentially delineated by the activation of the King’s Pillar, and Takuto’s subsequent clash with Sugata. Though they allegedly resolved their differences via the Fists of Friendship, it’s clear that Sugata is no longer satisfied with the status quo as realized in the show’s first act. Encouraged onward by his troubling friendship with Head, Sugata is slowly learning to embrace his power, as well as a philosophy that frames power and righteousness as one and the same.

Meanwhile, Takuto’s been busy hacking away at a fresh fleet of Cybodies, and dramatically undercutting Kiraboshi solidarity in the process. For both Kanako and Benio, it seemed like contributing to Kiraboshi was initially the only way they could gain power and, through that, perhaps some fragment of agency in their lives. In defeat, each of them actually seem far happier than they were before, and more willing to embrace their conventional teenage desires.

With Sugata embracing conservative hierarchies just as Takuto dismantles them, it’s clear we’ve got a collision awaiting some time in the future. But considering we just reached this act five episodes ago, I imagine there’s still some time for shenanigans between then and now. Let’s see what wonders await as we return to Star Driver!

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond eager to dive back into Star Driver, because goddamnit, what is happening in this show!? The last episode saw the narrative seemingly tensing for a whole-scale board flip, with Kanako demonstrating the variable subfactions and distinct priorities within Kiraboshi, even as Sugata slipped ever closer towards proud villainy. Having shifted from just sort of being a generally creepy guy to receiving private lessons on arrogance from Head, it’s clear that Sugata is now headed down a dark road; even if he’s currently using the King’s Pillar simply to assist Takuto, I can’t imagine he’ll stop there. After all, as Head says, power is gifted by the gods, and the gods intend us to use our gifts.

Meanwhile, the drama of both Kanako’s makeshift family and the You sisters is demonstrating a variety of awkward fault lines both within and adjacent to the Kiraboshi organization. Both Kanako and Marino seem more dedicated to protecting their loved ones than progressing the organization’s central cause, so I’m hoping we might see some defections in the near future, which could shed some light on how this organization came to be. Regardless, with Igarashi and Enokido at the helm, I’m sure we’re in for a fun and fascinating time. Let’s get to it!

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