The Fire Hunter – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to set out on a new journey, as we explore the first episode of the recent production The Fire Hunter. This show was announced with much fanfare several years ago, owing both to its distinct source material and eminently noteworthy key staff. First off, the series is based on a collection of traditional fantasy novels by Rieko Hinata, rather than light novels, which is perhaps the single most reliable delineator of narrative quality in animation. That means that both its world and characters will likely be constructed by a practiced hand; a place people could actually live in, populated by characters who presumably speak like humans rather than favored archetypes.

Secondly, the show marks another return to animation by the improbable Vladlove duo of Junji Nishimura and Mamoru Oshii. Vladlove aside (it’s clear the pair were feeling some nostalgia for their Ranma days), both Nishimura and Oshii are supremely capable artists; Nishimura’s Simoun is one of the great unsung masterpieces of animation, and Oshii presumably needs no introduction. Between Angel’s Egg, Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, and his many other projects, Oshii has left a singular mark on animation, and stands alongside such titans as Satoshi Kon and Masaaki Yuasa as one of the great auteurs of the medium. With the two of them handling direction and writing, we could not be in safer hands, and I’m eager to learn what about this story drew them back to the medium. Let’s get to it!

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Scum’s Wish – Episode 11

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking in with what might well be the most gleefully self-destructive cast of characters I’ve critiqued in my animation tenure, a group who could literally trip over happiness and fulfillment and emerge only with scuffed knees and fresh demons. That’s right, it’s time for Scum’s fucking Wish, as our misguided collection of high schoolers and high school-brained teachers bash against each other in some grotesque, self-harming approximation of intimacy.

When last we left off, Scum’s Wish had dedicated a full episode to articulating Akane’s psychology, and her feelings towards both Kanai and Mugi. Brief summary: she sucks, being simultaneously empty and self-absorbed, and combining Hana’s desperate need for affection with a power-hungry cruel streak all her own. Like many of Scum’s Wish’s characters, she is more of an exaggerated articulation of one particular feeling than a coherent psychological profile, a melodramatic irritant who, if you opened up her skull and looked inside for the real story, you would discover is literally defined as “melodramatic irritant.” Akane is less of a person than a slow-moving natural disaster, and at this point I can only hope Hana is strong enough to pull at least one of her delusional suitors out of her orbit. Let’s get to the bloodshed!

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Spring 2025 – Week 8 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m back from vacation and back on the grind, churning through episodes of Shoushimin Series as I work to once more be up to date on every single Current Project. The series is proving to be even more compelling than I anticipated, a sharp-edged variation on Hyouka that possesses many of its predecessor’s strengths alongside a few new tricks of its own. My housemates have also introduced me to Balatro, which was very reckless and cruel of them, as the game is designed to tickle basically every obsessive game-design bone in my body. So I’m basically drafting a storm engine in the form of a poker deck, where even playing out a winning hand improves my combo pieces? Fucked up stuff, people. Anyway, let’s get to some films!

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BanG Dream! Ave Mujica – Episode 4

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Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today it’s looking to be another day, another dissociative episode as we return to BanG Dream! Ave Mujica, with Mutsumi clearly on the verge of some kind of psychotic break. Having been exploited and abandoned by her parents, her former bandmates, and now apparently Sakiko herself, Mutsumi has decided there is only one person she can rely on: her alter ego Mortis, the implacable guitarist of Ave Mujica. Mutsumi is not strong enough to carry the weight of her own pain and Sakiko’s as well, but Mortis is free from such responsibilities, a grim realization of the facile “liberation” Sakiko seeks through this group.

It’s been quite a journey for the girl who was initially defined as “quiet, likes cucumbers,” but I suppose that’s of a piece with Ave Mujica’s general dramatic maximalism. What’s becoming increasingly apparent is that Mutsumi’s complaint of “my sound was drowned out within a band” applies to more than just her; frankly, it seems like not one member of Ave Mujica is seeking the same thing as any other, save for the amusing compatibility of the equally professionally-minded Nyamu and Umiri. So if the only members getting what they want are the ones who are here for a paycheck, and the players who actually share Sakiko’s desire for a community are only suffering more, who exactly is benefitting from this group? For Sakiko, breaking up the band might not just be a tragic inevitability – it might be the only way anyone who cares about her can escape her toxic orbit.

But for now, the show must go on. Take it away, Mortis!

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Trigun Stampede – Episode 6

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d journey back to No Man’s Land, and see how things are faring in Trigun Stampede. Our last episode offered a ruthless demonstration of life’s brutality here in this desolate place, as we were introduced to a young boy named Rollo suffering from a debilitating illness, and that same boy as a man who had been monstrously transformed by Knives and his associates. Vash’s promise to this boy was proven hollow; while he could do nothing but offer tears and apologies, it fell to Wolfwood to provide Rollo’s last rites.

The episode offered a tidy summation of Vash’s ambiguous role here in No Man’s Land. His motives are pure; he simply wants to help people where he can, and refuses to raise a hand in anger. He is understandably afraid of his own god-like power, and wishes at all costs to avoid becoming a self-assigned arbiter like Knives, the one who unilaterally chooses who lives and who dies.

However, in a world as harsh as No Man’s Land, simple kindness is often not enough to ensure a positive outcome. Saving Rollo would have required dismantling the society that chose to sacrifice him – similarly, saving many others could have been achieved simply by executing one or another murder-happy bandit, an act of arbitration that most would agree is worth the cost. Equipped with infinite power yet unwilling to use it for even the most obviously righteous reasons, it’s understandable that someone like Wolfwood would call Vash a hypocrite; even if pacifism is a noble pursuit, it is a philosophy unequipped to handle the cutthroat moral calculus of life on the barren frontier.

What good is a superman who never interferes, who offers moral support or stands in judgment, but will not lift a hand to change the world? I imagine these questions are weighing on Vash as well as we return to Trigun Stampede!

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Spring 2025 – Week 7 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’m out and about with my mother and sisters, going on our first family trip since well before the COVID lockdown. It’s refreshing to be out of my cozy den for once, though with my Playstation back at the apartment, I am now grappling with the agonizing question of whether I pick up Blue Prince on Steam just so I can keep shuffling through manor layouts. The game’s just too damn addictive! I’ve basically broken the economy through exploitation of experiments, I’m just one fortunate run away from defeating the chess puzzle, and my housemate is surely getting further ahead of me with every misspent hour. Still, I’m at least getting some solid reading done (just finished Michael Dylan Foster’s informative yokai index, and am now starting on Titus Groan), and my movie review buffer means there will be no disruptions in service regarding our weekly breakdowns. So let’s get right on that then, and charge through some fresh films!

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Shoushimin Series – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a new journey, as we check out the first episode of the ongoing Shoushimin Series, bearing the curious subtitle of “How To Become Normal.” Of course, if you’re familiar with original author Honobu Yonezawa’s other works, that title actually seems perfectly appropriate – for it is Yonezawa who wrote Hyouka, centered on Oreki Houtarou and his own quest to live an ordinary, low-energy life.

Yasuhiro Takemoto’s adaptation of Hyouka is a masterpiece; to be honest, it stands among the handful of shows I’d consider uncontroversial choices for best television anime of all time. And while much of that brilliance comes from Kyoto Animation’s singular elevation of the material, they would have nothing to elevate if not for the fundamental richness of Yonezawa’s characterization, his keen interest in human psychology and mastery of using incidental mysteries as tools for illustrating human nature. I’m frankly not a fan of mystery fiction in general, but Hyouka embodies what I consider art’s highest callings – its ability to illuminate the countless peculiarities of human identity, and to bind such inquiries into anthemic statements regarding our fears and ambitions, our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the world at large.

That’s a tall order for any show, but Shoushimin Series does seem to have a solid team behind it. Director Mamoru Kanbe has a variety of excellent productions to his name, having served as director of Sound of the Sky, The Perfect Insider, and The Promised Neverland, among a variety of other productions. That trio in particular demonstrate a clear knack for matching his direction style to the material at hand; Sound of the Sky is expansive and atmospheric, The Perfect Insider is sterile and precise, and The Promised Neverland features some of the best horror cinematography in anime. Meanwhile, series composer Toshiya Ono both composed and wrote half the scripts for Gatchaman Crowds, alongside working with Kanbe on both Perfect Insider and Promised Neverland, giving me every reason to expect a thoughtful, expertly realized adaptation. Let’s get to it!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 8

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Blue Reflection Ray, in the wake of a confrontation that proved devastating for our would-be heroes. Hiori’s positive attitude has always seemed brittle at best, an aspirational facade draped over a core of hurt and longing for her sister’s return. Having been abandoned by both her mother and sister, she was nonetheless beginning to embrace the new family of her fellow reflectors – until her sister Mio at last reappeared, now dedicated to stealing the pain from the hearts of others, and with a replacement sister standing at her side.

Hiori’s situation echoes the moral ambiguity of our reflectors’ general ambitions. Though they seek to address the pain of others through offering companionship and nurturing their hopes, Hiori clearly demonstrates that such an approach doesn’t necessarily address or repair their core emotional wounds. If even a blue reflector like Hiori is only pretending to have overcome her trauma, what right do any of our heroes have to claim their mission is just, particularly when the alleged victims of the red reflectors are outright telling them to mind their own business. Is it truly any healthier to live with trauma than to excise it? We cling to the post-hoc rationalization that suffering makes us who we are, but is it fundamentally noble to feel broken, or are we simply attempting to draw meaning from the senseless violence of life? With such difficult questions now clouding the air, we return to the battlefield of Blue Reflection Ray!

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Spring 2025 – Week 6 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve been keeping busy by tormenting my players as usual, as they continue their trek through a temple that has swiftly proven itself some sort of cult initiation center, demanding personal revelations and demonstrations of faith and trust fall-adjacent exercises all the while. It’s the sort of concept that demands a party who have total confidence in both their characters and their ability to embody them, making for a nice payoff now that we’re mostly communicating in character voice, rather than above-table strategizing. I basically snuck the whole Nadeko-reassembly arc in as a way to fill out my own player character’s psychology, and am proud to report my players greatly enjoyed reassembling her psyche one fragment of identity at a time. And of course, there was also plenty of movie screening to be had, as I charged through anime and kaiju collections alike. Let’s get to it!

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Yuri is My Job! – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the exclusive halls of Liebe Girls Academy, where dark clouds are currently gathering across the shimmering, verdant fields where our ladies practice their polo and dressage skills. Having attempted to disarm the threat Kanoko represents for Cafe Liebe, Sumika has discovered there is no reasoning with the girl, and that Kanoko’s passionate feelings for Hime have set her against the Schwestern system altogether.

Kanoko’s feelings are understandable: she’s only attached to this cafe because Hime is here as well, and her sole desire is to halt whatever transformation she believes is carrying her friend away from her. Hime is actually growing into a more well-rounded, socially earnest person, but Kanoko desires a monopoly on Hime’s sincerity, and will do everything she can to achieve that. It’s a selfish, one-sided love, but it’s certainly a common motive. On the other hand, I am quite intrigued to learn why Sumika is so attached to this cafe, what it represents for her, and how it reflects her ambitions and self-image. Let’s try and divine how our gyaru senpai really feels as we return to Yuri is My Job!

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