Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I think I\u2019m feeling emotionally secure enough to weather another stab directly in the heart, meaning it\u2019s obviously time to revisit the sumptuous melancholy of Journal With Witch. Asa\u2019s journey through grief has so far been articulated with precision and compassion, as her reflections on surviving the intolerable are balanced against Makio\u2019s struggles with merely surviving. You never really \u201cfigure it out\u201d as a human being, never get handed a rulebook that makes sense of our unfulfilled longings and daily tragedies. You just keep living, one day after another, while making sure to offer whatever kindness you can spare to the companions who make that march tolerable.<\/span><\/p>\n Our last episode offered a fine contrast of two such companions, as Asa\u2019s feelings of betrayal towards her friend Emiri were assuaged through Makio\u2019s reflections on her long-time friend Daigo. Makio\u2019s assertion that \u201cfighting is reserved for outgoing people\u201d could be taken in two equally appropriate ways \u2013 either emphasizing how Makio lacks the social batteries to engage in such exhausting theater, or how the solitude of the introvert means that every single relationship is that much <\/span>more<\/span><\/i> precious, and worth more than the fleeting vindication of indulging your anger. The future seems endless from a teenager\u2019s eyes, but in truth, we don\u2019t actually get that many second chances in this life \u2013 and for particularly precious treasures like \u201cfriends who knew you before you were you,\u201d one chance is often all you have. It\u2019s a tough world out there; we must do all we can to make sure we face it together.<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 4<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cCower.\u201d Our episode titles are rarely gentle, more often as precise and unsparing as Makio\u2019s words<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll message you the recipe!\u201d Makio has clearly settled into the habit of having her own personal chef. A funny, sorta sideways form of growth \u2013 she\u2019s starting to appreciate eating better, but only because she\u2019s managed to sidestep the need to actually cook for herself<\/span><\/p>\n It seems that Makio is heading out to get drinks with Daigo and two other friends, making good on her advice regarding maintaining the friendships you treasure. It becomes more and more of an intentional practice as the years pass by; I remember being in pretty much constant contact with my social circle from adolescence through my early twenties, but since then it\u2019s been a perpetual job of negotiating schedules and making sure to catch people when they pass through town<\/span><\/p>\n The psychology of it has changed as well, for whatever reason. I used to be the one who actually organized get-togethers, but these days I have to be dragged out to events, and actively think about maintaining friendships in terms of Persona \u201cgotta maintain your social links\u201d terminology<\/span><\/p>\n Makio\u2019s friends maintain this production\u2019s understated yet excellent approach to character designs, each with distinct degrees of angularity and softness in their unique features<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHaving someone around constantly is enough to wear me out.\u201d Stop skewering me like this, Makio<\/span><\/p>\n Makio says she and Asa are \u201cbarely related,\u201d an odd phrasing given they\u2019re actually quite closely related, but perfectly understandable considering how Makio sees her sister as an implacable barricade. Anyone separated from her by her sister\u2019s presence will inherently feel like a distant relative<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI cower at the thought of her being that woman\u2019s child.\u201d \u201cYou mean you can\u2019t love her?\u201d Always thrilled by this show\u2019s willingness to dive into the unpleasant messiness of our genuine feelings. It is in no way Asa\u2019s fault that Makio sees her own sister when looking at her, but that doesn\u2019t make the pain and frustration of being constantly reminded of your failings any less acute<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCan you believe we even made it to adulthood?\u201d So apparently all four of them were high school friends<\/span><\/p>\n Makio\u2019s words about long-term friendships resonate again as we flip between their current and adolescent visages. It\u2019s nice to have companions with whom you can say \u201cmy god, we made it\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Asa then meets Shingo Kasamachi. I like the little detail of his carelessly unbuttoned sweater<\/span><\/p>\n Asa immediately clocks Kasamachi as more mature than Makio, and then assumes they must be dating. An assumption that emphasizes how almost everything is still in the present for her; \u201cpast lovers\u201d is a less immediate consideration than this guess. Also reflects how little Makio has apparently shared about herself with Asa<\/span><\/p>\n While Makio immediately flees this awkward social encounter by going to get milk, Asa jumps to her first question without hesitation<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe were friends before that and have been since. But who knows? Our feelings may change tomorrow.\u201d On a long enough timeframe, the idea of \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cdestined\u201d love proves itself an empty fantasy. We don\u2019t find love \u2013 we <\/span>build<\/span><\/i> it, constructing it from shared experiences and compromises and moments of honest trust. And it can ebb and rise, but no such changes make it any less real<\/span><\/p>\n Their breakup is clearly a sore spot for Kasamachi, who seems to still hold out for reconciliation. \u201cAdults are much more sensitive than you youngsters might think\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kasamachi plays the classic adult trick of endearing a child to you by \u201cletting them in on a secret.\u201d And it works perfectly, all the more convincing Asa of how adult he is. I presume Makio engages in no such flattering tricks, given how she tends to always speak her mind<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you supposed to put in bento boxes, anyway?\u201d They\u2019re pricey and generally intended for adolescents, putting them well outside Makio\u2019s recent experience<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRaising a kid and loving them were two separate concepts, in my parents\u2019 case.\u201d We do the best we can to rise above the mistakes that made us, and carry on whatever useful lessons we might draw from our own parents\u2019 failures<\/span><\/p>\n Oof, tough moment. Kasamachi calls out Asa for calling Makio \u201cMakio-chan,\u201d which seems like a particularly soft term of endearment for the icy Makio. But then Asa reveals that this nickname isn\u2019t her own fond invention, but actually inherited from her mother, who Makio would naturally assume chose it to belittle her, to frame her as a perpetual child. Just another way her sister\u2019s presence is poisoning her relationship with Asa<\/span><\/p>\n We again flash back to that scene where Makio\u2019s sister laughed at her ambitions. Moments like that never leave you; I certainly bear my own collection of bitter crystalized moments, and carry on one of my father\u2019s that he once shared with me. Sometimes spite really is the fuel you need<\/span><\/p>\n And once again, Asa swiftly makes friends with one of Makio\u2019s few treasured companions<\/span><\/p>\n Thus the days pass swiftly by, until Asa at last reaches her first day of high school<\/span><\/p>\n Makio still can\u2019t understand how Asa is so cavalier about leaving her journal open. Makio projecting, of course \u2013 she is full of so many uncharitable private thoughts that she can\u2019t imagine not caring if others read them<\/span><\/p>\n Emiri\u2019s mother is surprised that Makio isn\u2019t at Asa\u2019s entrance ceremony. As close as she presumably is to her own daughter, she can\u2019t imagine the comfortable independence Asa is developing<\/span><\/p>\n Odd rituals of meeting and parting, as Asa runs into an old middle school acquaintance, someone who presumably is only connected to her because they attended the same school. Is that itself worth something?<\/span><\/p>\n She then meets two new faces, Asuka Sone and Yumi Kanda, along with a huge boy named Yuto Togo<\/span><\/p>\n Their class rep is Chiyo Morimoto, a girl who bears a powerful resemblance to Makio<\/span><\/p>\n Incredibly smooth introduction by Asa into this group of classmates, as she lightly mentions her parents\u2019 death before framing her current circumstances as a quiet victory of independence. It would be easy for her situation to distance her from her peers as it did in middle school, so she\u2019s presumably trying to get ahead of the issue by presenting a collected, entirely non-tragic front<\/span><\/p>\n And yet, the very fact that the conversation moves on so smoothly only makes her feel all the more isolated. She wanted to act like she\u2019s past her grief, but that only brought it back to the front of her mind<\/span><\/p>\n As a result, when Makio lacks much of a reaction to her story, she immediately superimposes the \u201cmotherly\u201d responses she would have expected from her own mother. Washing her hands in the bathroom, the running water takes the role of the tears that won\u2019t come<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStanding out for real takes a lot of work.\u201d Makio doesn\u2019t make immediate gut responses \u2013 she listens, considers, and then eventually says her piece<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t expect you to like people who stand out.\u201d \u201cAre you kidding? I\u2019m a novelist! I make my living writing out my fantasies and publishing them to the world.\u201d You definitely need a certain kind of ego to believe your thoughts are worth paying money for. I don\u2019t really see any point in insincerely apologizing for that at this point!<\/span><\/p>\n Makio suggests joining a band, to which Asa replies that her mother never liked them. Makio\u2019s challenge of \u201cbut she\u2019s not here anymore\u201d once again sends Asa to the desert \u2013 her mother remains an implacable wall between them, Makio shutting down her inquiries about their falling out with a firm \u201cI\u2019ll never tell you that\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Putting aside Makio\u2019s still-burning insecurity regarding her sister\u2019s judgment, it still seems like an impossible conversation \u2013 how can you tell your sister\u2019s daughter why you despised her mother?<\/span><\/p>\n We then jump to Emiri\u2019s unexpected arrival at Makio\u2019s apartment. An invader!<\/span><\/p>\n The girls\u2019 mocking renditions of their own parents\u2019 reactions to guests only further needle Makio\u2019s anxieties regarding being a \u201cfailed adult\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Makio stands dissociating by the kettle, suddenly a stranger in her own noisy, unwelcoming home<\/span><\/p>\n She firmly denies Emiri\u2019s question of a favorite snack to tell her mother about. Alongside her general antisocial tendencies, this also feels like a rejection of the idea that the two of them are equivalent \u2013 or more fundamentally, that Makio is now Asa\u2019s parent. The idea of being a \u201cguardian\u201d seems less threatening, less life-changing, less permanent<\/span><\/p>\n And so she reestablishes her separate world, closing the door on her study, and once more using the general boundaries of this apartment as a partition between their lives<\/span><\/p>\n Emiri at last leaves when presented with a new, unfamiliar facet of Asa \u2013 her post-crash tendency to fall into deep sleep, a quality that\u2019s quite familiar to Makio. One of the few things that connects them specifically<\/span><\/p>\n Once again, the layouts emphasize the distance between them, whether through this profile panning shot highlighting the wall between them, or the subsequent racking focus shot that presents Makio as enshrined in darkness, cut off from the light of Asa\u2019s meal<\/span><\/p>\n Having both weirded out her friend with her new behavior and scared off Makio as well, Asa likely feels more alone than ever. She curls up and sobs on the couch<\/span><\/p>\n And Makio attempts to connect, in her own blunt Makio way. The truth of it is that being around people exhausts her, and she knows that will make her insensitive at times. \u201cJust like you can\u2019t understand the suffocation I feel, I can\u2019t understand your loneliness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n God, this continues to be the most \u201cI am in this picture and don\u2019t like it\u201d show imaginable. As I said, I often have to push myself to maintain personal bonds \u2013 I am generally perfectly fine being alone, and find being around others exhausting, even if they\u2019re people I deeply care about. And that of course leads to misunderstandings and painful misinterpretations, as people assume I am reacting out of dislike or malice instead of simply being hamstrung by my own bad brain<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf I made you feel neglected, I apologize.\u201d All you can do is work to make your intentions clear, and emphasize that you truly do care, even if your actions don\u2019t seem coded to imply that<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you ever want to talk, we\u2019ll talk then and there.\u201d \u201cAre you sure? Even though you\u2019re not my parent? Even though you don\u2019t love me?\u201d \u201cMy hope is that you live a healthy life free of despair. I feel that way because I think fondly of you.\u201d Makio won\u2019t lie, but she\u2019ll use the tools she has to make Asa\u2019s life as comfortable as possible<\/span><\/p>\n They cannot truly share their feelings, but they can at least offer the comfort of their shared presence. \u201cWater from an oasis may sooth, but it will not become one with the body\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And Done<\/strong><\/p>\n Whew, what a relentlessly scouring show this is! Like Makio herself, Journal with Witch pulls no punches in its interrogation of our human foibles, presenting both Asa\u2019s loneliness and Makio\u2019s inability to relate to it with such unflinching clarity that it seems to become its own form of sympathy, a dedication to honoring the truth of our fractious human interactions and inevitable points of misunderstanding. This was clearly an exhausting episode for Asa in particular, who was forced through both the gauntlet of her entrance ceremony and the awkwardness of Emiri\u2019s visit to confront the ways she is now irreparably separated from her peers, yet also not truly integrated into Makio\u2019s life. That of course made the loneliness of her absent parents strike all the more acutely, leaving Makio ill-equipped to handle this more frank, immediate demonstration of longing for the sister she hated. And god, Makio! Her description of how she relates to others pretty much skewered me entirely, articulating not just that initial sense of discomfort in the presence of others, but also how such a psychology ends up warping and withering even treasured relationships. It\u2019s all a struggle, but if we can\u2019t be there for each other, then the desert will take us all. Keep fighting, you two.<\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0article\u00a0was\u00a0mad<\/a><\/em>e possible by reader support<\/a>. Thank you all for\u00a0all that you do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I think I\u2019m feeling emotionally secure enough to weather another stab directly in the heart, meaning it\u2019s obviously time to revisit the sumptuous melancholy of Journal With Witch. Asa\u2019s journey through grief has so far been articulated with precision and compassion, as her reflections on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7040086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12036],"tags":[13211,2218,4187],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7040085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anime","tag-episode","tag-journal","tag-witch"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/April12160044.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
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<\/p>\nRelated<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"