Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 17

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check back in on our ojamajos, and see how Doremi and the gang are handling the trials of raising their witch baby Hana-chan. Having recently learned how to crawl, Hana-chan spent the last episode raising all manner of hell at both the Majo-dou and Doremi’s house, screaming through the night and crawling on ceilings and generally running wild over her beleaguered caretakers.

So yes, a nightmare of an episode for our witches, but definitely a treat for us in the audience. Doremi at its most whimsical is basically prestige comedy, demonstrating ambitious, dynamic storyboarding, marvelously silly expression work, and persistent creativity of storytelling. The show is a master class in limited animation fundamentals, demonstrating that animation economy need not limit your production’s brilliance. I’d be perfectly happy with another silly one, but whether we’re due for farce or heartbreak, I’m sure we’re in good hands!

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The Apothecary Diaries – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a production that’s earned basically universal acclaim over the past few years, as we explore the first episode of The Apothecary Diaries. Based on a light novel series by Hyūganatsu, the series takes place in an alternate medieval China (apparently specifically based on the Tang dynasty), and centers on a girl named Maomao. After learning the ways of medicine (and poison) from her apothecary father, she is sold as a servant to the emperor’s palace, entering a world of courtly intrigue with only her pharmacological skills to aid her.

That already sounds like a novel, compelling premise, and from what I’ve heard, both the light novels and their adaptation ably realize its potential. Our director and series composer Norihiro Naganuma seems perfectly appropriate for the job, given their hands-on work directing, composing, and even key animating portions of The Ancient Magus Bride. It’s a rare thing to find a director who both composes and animates, and I imagine the production will feel all the more cohesive as a result; meanwhile, character designer/AD Yukiko Nakatani appears to be an old hand at Toei, having handled similar duties for both Precure and One Piece productions. An accomplished team adapting a sharp historical drama? That all sounds great to me, so let’s dive right into The Apothecary Diaries!

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Winter 2026 – Week 4 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. My house is currently buried under the biggest snowfall we’ve received in half a decade, making travel anywhere beyond a five hundred yard perimeter basically impossible. Fortunately, that only gives me all the more incentive to sit here and watch movies, thereby passing all those savings on to YOU, my beloved readers. And we’ve certainly been doing plenty of that, alongside variable anime and TUBI screenings. We actually just polished off the last season of My Hero Academia, which was forced to compete for screentime with “The Pirates of Dark Water,” an early ‘90s Hanna-Barbera relic that turned out to be an unexpected delight. I particularly appreciated how its characters just sorta kept integrating more of their own world’s lingo in the place of any child-unfriendly swear words, resulting in a production whose final episodes involved more exclamations of “chungo-lungo!” and “noi jitat!” than actual words. Anyway, that’s all on TUBI if you’re curious, but in the meantime, let’s run down some films!

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Jujutsu Kaisen S3 – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re trying something a bit unusual, as we drop in right at the beginning of Jujutsu Kaisen’s third season. Though I have actually watched Jujutsu Kaisen’s first two seasons, I haven’t really written about them at length, for a pretty simple reason: I didn’t like them, and it takes a lot to motivate me to write about things I’m not enjoying. Quickly panning a movie for a Week in Review post is one thing; writing a fully negative piece on something someone cared about enough to fund is always a terrible feeling, and something I try to avoid in general these days.

Nonetheless, my patron is well aware I haven’t enjoyed Jujutsu Kaisen so far, so I’m taking a chance on this one. As for my general impression of the show so far, I’ve been quite impressed by some of the animation, but otherwise don’t feel I have anything to grab onto here. The characters feel superficial and grating, the worldbuilding feels ill-considered, the narrative lacks strong trajectory or momentum, and the combat system is essentially Calvinball – an attempt to make a Hunter x Hunter-like system without understanding the checks and balances inherent in such a system, which thus inevitably leads to contests of characters “going bigger” without any rhyme or reason. There is nothing about the source material that grabs me, and even in adaptation, it feels like the show often falls into the glossy, weightless spectacle of something like Demon Slayer. As I said, I’m not a fan, but I will do my best to address season three on its own merits, even if I lack the emotional attachment with which one should really be approaching a third season. Let’s get to it!

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Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 13

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the tormented drama of Blue Reflection Ray, in the wake of a grand confrontation that seemed to leave everyone worse off than before. Shino’s plans to align the realm of contiguous emotions known as the Common with our own world were ultimately thwarted, but Mio ended up paying the price, once again assuming the burden of suffering such that her loved ones might be spared. Both parties fled the church in disarray, with the fabric of reality rent but not entirely broken.

Fortunately, at least one of our poor reflectors appears to have improved their circumstances. Niina was always the most sympathetic of the red reflectors; having suffered a lifetime of exploitation and rejection, it was completely understandable why she’d cling to Mio for salvation, and agree to whatever scheme Mio’s allies had planned. When it became clear Mio herself was being exploited by Shino, the resulting guilt almost led her to embrace the emotional absolution of her allies – but through Shiori’s vindication of her emotions, she found the strength to take pride in her love, and ended up accompanying the blue reflectors in their retreat. The girl has seriously earned a break, and I’m hoping the cooldown of that confrontation will give her a chance to enjoy the lighter side of adolescence. Regardless, the threat of world convergence continues to hang overhead as we return to Blue Reflection Ray!

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The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity – Episode 1

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a fresh new production, as we explore the debut of last year’s The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity. Based on a manga by Saka Mikami, the show centers on the romance between a girl from a fancy prep school and a boy from a school for delinquents. So we’ve clearly got some elements of class conflict to complicate our would-be romance, alongside a school rivalry that puts this drama somewhere between West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet.

Not that I’m expecting anything quite so tragic as that; by all accounts this is a charming and gentle narrative, and also a genuine hit for Netflix, where it stayed among the top rankings for a significant portion of the year. That all sounds fine by me; I’m a fan of romances of all stripes, and adaptation director Miyuki Kuroki’s work boarding and key animating for productions as visually impressive as The Idolm@ster and Fate/Grand Order, as well as animation director Kōhei Tokuoka’s prior work as AD on Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, gives me ample reason to assume we’ve got a delicate and character acting-rich drama ahead of us. Let’s meet our lovebirds!

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Winter 2026 – Week 3 in Review

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been an anxious yet oddly encouraging week on the world stage, as our mad king’s ravings appear to have inspired resistance from both the brave people of Minnesota and from Europe at large. It’s been decades since the demonic Karl Rove declared us to be living in the “post-truth” era, and it seems like for Trump’s true supporters, there is no longer any possibility of drawing them back to reality. What comes next will either be an empire’s death rattle or the total deconstruction of the American right; anything short of the second will surely only hasten the first.

Apocalyptic tidings aside, my house has continued with its usual screenings, as we munched through the first half of Dragon Ball Daima and checked out some films on the side. Daima’s been fun on the whole; it’s largely holding true to a more original Dragon Ball-like tone, though I’m a little disappointed it’s so swiftly returned to the Super Saiyan-level combat that basically outscales any sort of cunning or choreography. As for the films, well, that’s what we’re here for – let’s break ‘em down in the Week in Review!

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Trigun Stampede – Episode 9

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on the evolving drama of Trigun Stampede, after our last episode revealed the tumultuous childhood of Vash and his brother Knives. As ambiguous creations with the form of humans yet the genealogy of power-generating plants, it was the pair’s caretaker Rem who taught Vash the fundamentals of true humanity, and his companions at Home who showed him that life is a continuous cycle, and that hope can spring from even the most barren of soil.

As long-living children of the stars, Vash and Knives are destined to experience many cycles of human existence, with all the good and bad that entails. But it is up to them to decide the meaning of such an existence, whether it leads them to the megalomania of Knives, the despair of Vash’s early years, or the hope he now carries for the next turn of the wheel. Can Vash’s faith in our better nature survive the endless deprivations of No Man’s Land, wherein the fragility of life so often forces us to be our worst possible selves? More so than his physical power, it seems that faith might be his greatest strength – for just as Vash’s surrogate parents taught him to treat others with compassion and dignity, so might his own ethos foster such fragile, precious values in the world at large.

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Shoushimin Series – Episode 8

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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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Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 – Episode 7

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to a long-dormant adventure, as we continue to navigate the dramatic twists and turns of Thunderbolt Fantasy’s third season. Having dealt with death cults, demon lords, murder princesses, and even a goddamn dragon over the show’s first two seasons, Shang and his allies now stand in dangerous disarray, ill-prepped for the simultaneous machinations of Ming Huang’s divine swarm, Xing Hai and her sister-sword, and whatever the fuck Murder Princess and her new cyborg ally are up to.

Fortunately, we’ve still theoretically got Lin on our side, and boy is he having fun with this one. The Enigmatic Gale is fully in his element at the moment, forging bonds with fresh would-be villains and utterly infuriating Xing Hai in the process. The delicate alliance of convenience between the Divine Swarm’s allies makes it easy for Lin to play characters like the genuinely honor-driven Jun Po and utterly malice-driven Xing Hai against each other; if anything, I assume he’d complain that such foes are too simple, lacking the complexity of motivation necessary for him to really yank the floor out from under them. Nonetheless, he can at least console himself in the knowledge that his vile Nendoroid is pissing off Shang and the others, who have enough trouble as it is without suffering through Lin’s pint-sized provocations. With alliances forging and crumbling by the second, let’s see where today’s adventures take us!

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