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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, the two of them have seemingly become <\/span>so<\/span><\/em> ordinary that they\u2019re no longer the protagonists of their own series. Season two has opened with a graceful flipping of perspective, centering on Osanai\u2019s 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\u2019s character writing; though Jogoro and Osanai are certainly compelling characters, it\u2019s 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\u2019s hands, it is already equally apparent what this new formulation is <\/span>lacking<\/span><\/em> \u2013 that spark of restless, relentless inquiry, the powerful unity of intellectual intent that was heretofore represented through the production\u2019s consistent location-jumping visual flourishes. Richly articulated characters navigating a world whose physical and psychological contours have been realized through a distinct visual vocabulary \u2013 that\u2019s essentially the core recipe for cinematic psychological drama, and it\u2019s been extremely gratifying seeing season one\u2019s visual language put to such novel and dramatic purposes. Let\u2019s get back to the investigation!<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 12<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, we certainly know the significance of this \u201cA Warm Winter\u201d title now, as a cheeky way to refer to the arsons<\/span><\/p>\n Alongside its playful visuals, I also like the more upbeat, less painfully earnest tone of this song. \u201cPainfully earnest\u201d worked very well for the first season, given the alleged seriousness with which the leads approached their pact. But we are all several people across adolescence, and learning to get along with that fact fits well with this song\u2019s \u201chey, so it goes\u201d tone<\/span><\/p>\n Jogoro calls Kengo from the fire, and we learn that Osanai was indeed asking Kengo to kill the story, and not write anything about the abductions in the newspaper. Her allegedly \u201cperfect crime\u201d is still causing major inconveniences for her unwitting accomplices<\/span><\/p>\n The moment we\u2019re back with Jogoro, the show begins employing its spatial flourishes again, though in a minor way here \u2013 Jogoro just imagines Kengo as standing beside him during this conversation<\/span><\/p>\n Kengo was willing to put a hand on the scales for Osanai, but couldn\u2019t deny Itsukaichi\u2019s perfectly reasonable request for a January column. Doing his best to manage his loyalties here \u2013 and of course, he still only sees Osanai as a victim in the kidnapping<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI need to make some decisions if the newspaper club is about to be framed.\u201d He\u2019s an excellent leader \u2013 not assigning blame to anyone, just clarifying what needs to be done to protect the club and the people he\u2019s responsible for<\/span><\/p>\n Osanai is a little impressed with Urino\u2019s deduction of the next fire\u2019s location, but says \u201conce isn\u2019t enough to know for sure.\u201d Osanai might say she likes straightforward guys, but she\u2019s clearly missing the circuitous intellectual games she used to play with Jogoro. And Urino notices this distance, that Osanai is more grading him than growing closer to him<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, I think she\u2019s joking about something, but I don\u2019t get it.\u201d A significant portion of Osanai\u2019s behavior is not authentic self-expression, but self-conscious distribution of clues, little hints intended to lead her company to whatever conclusion she desires. This is how she entertains herself, and also how she flirts \u2013 and if you\u2019re not on her wavelength, it will ensure a perpetual emotional distance from her<\/span><\/p>\n Urino notes they barely meet on the weekends, and that he would \u201cfeel bad about interrupting her private time.\u201d A sharp contrast from the constant impositions Osanai would make on Jogoro, persistently being the one to drag him out into society<\/span><\/p>\n Hiya advises him to show some confidence, to clearly tell Osanai when he\u2019d like to hang out with her. Hiya\u2019s sort of directing Urino\u2019s romantic <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> club life<\/span><\/p>\n Urino predicts <\/span>another<\/span> arson, hoping this will at last impress Osanai. Sadly, she is more wrapped up in the implied violence of breaking a cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e\u2019s crust. Of course she would like a desert that necessitates breaking and entering<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSorry. I didn\u2019t think you\u2019d go this far.\u201d Osanai\u2019s praise is immediately tempered by her reflection that she didn\u2019t have this much faith in him<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, in his efforts to impress Osanai, Urino is attracting significantly more attention \u2013 both from his classmates, and from the school authorities<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell me you\u2019re the ones who started the fires.\u201d Kengo\u2019s exact fears are coming to fruition \u2013 but of course, he accepted responsibility for this all the way back when he agreed to Urino\u2019s proposal. He knew there\u2019d be a danger of the newspaper club being seen as either a gossip rag or even a conspirator in the arsons, and he accepted his potential future role as protector of Urino and the newspaper\u2019s reputation. He\u2019s not just intelligent, he\u2019s a genuinely honorable guy, which of course makes him somewhat exploitable for our leads<\/span><\/p>\n This teacher has nothing concrete, and Kengo knows it \u2013 but both of them also know that nothing concrete is required for this article series to negatively affect the school\u2019s reputation. A delicate dance, but Kengo manages it by never being browbeat by these accusations into unnecessary concessions, and also by never letting Urino speak a damn word<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s quite a fun changeup after the first season to now be situated on the shoulder of a significantly more ordinary student, who is largely being blown about by the force of the abnormal giants around him<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat got me pretty pissed off, too.\u201d Even Kengo has his pride. He demands Urino detail his method of predicting the fires in the next issue, therefore not submitting to their teacher\u2019s censorship, but still fulfilling his request to not write any more \u201cbaseless\u201d speculation<\/span><\/p>\n Hiya laments their inability to spin the story out for more months of growing buzz, but Urino can appreciate how effectively Kengo both protected and enabled him<\/span><\/p>\n Hiya is clearly disappointed that Urino is unwilling to continue the story, even if it means disobeying both the school and his club president. His position is getting more suspect by the second<\/span><\/p>\n Hiya advises him to at least prepare a copy of the article that would continue the series, predicting a \u201cbig turnaround\u201d that will likely enable him to keep writing. So is Hiya our arsonist, using Urino to raise his own profile? After all, there wasn\u2019t actually a \u201cserial arson case\u201d in the first place until Hiya pulled those disparate articles together, showed them to Urino, and convinced him that there was more to the story<\/span><\/p>\n Blooming cherry blossoms carry us to the next scene, implying the beginning of spring \u2013 another month has passed, another article is due<\/span><\/p>\n Urino is once again meeting Osanai at one of her snack spots. The tethering of these meetings to the changing of the season seems to emphasize the distance between them, that their dates are as infrequent as Urino\u2019s articles, and basically just formal progress reports<\/span><\/p>\n Urino even asks Osanai \u201cyou really like sweets, huh,\u201d implying that obvious topic of conversation still hasn\u2019t been raised between them<\/span><\/p>\n Nonetheless, Urino at last taking interest in Osanai\u2019s hobby sparks a genuinely comfortable discussion<\/span><\/p>\n Osanai describes the process of making a specific sweetened chestnut treat, by applying layers of sugar around a chestnut that \u201cwas never that sweet in the first place.\u201d Is this how she sees her process of becoming ordinary \u2013 that if she continuously submerges herself in company who embody normalcy, one day their flavor will be imparted on her as well?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe public face switches places with true intentions. At some point, the means become the end.\u201d Goddamnit Osanai, if you spell out the metaphor I don\u2019t get to look clever explaining it<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd you are my syrup.\u201d Yeap. She\u2019s basically putting herself through forced immersion therapy here, hoping that if she hangs around with Urino for long enough, his mild sincerity will rub off on her<\/span><\/p>\n She leaves him with a note she says will become relevant, but also tells him \u201cno more naughtiness.\u201d She\u2019s been enjoying watching his investigations, but if he just starts acting like Jogoro, that defeats the whole point of this relationship<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Jogoro is messing up a date with Nakamura by leaning on all his Osanai-indebted sweets shop expertise. He ultimately suggests they go back to his place, a choice that naturally implies \u201cI am committed to pushing forward in this relationship with you\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo you like Japanese sweets?\u201d \u201cYeah, I do.\u201d Their conversations cannot escape the specter of Osanai, and Nakamura feels it acutely, her fraying faith in the relationship captured in this brief still shot staring right at the camera. With that thread already untangling, she begins to question Jogoro on why he agreed to go out with her in the first place<\/span><\/p>\n His answer is \u201cyou seemed like a good person up close,\u201d an answer that doesn\u2019t really say anything about Nakamura beyond \u201cyou seemed unlike Osanai.\u201d Thus their relationship is again framed in the context of Osanai\u2019s absence<\/span><\/p>\n In contrast, Nakamura\u2019s answer is thoughtful and complex, reflecting a close examination of how he presented himself, how he related to his peers, and why he might have been in a relationship with Osanai. She sums it up as \u201cyou had a weird face,\u201d but she was clearly intrigued by his behavior, and wanted to find out what made him tick<\/span><\/p>\n Uncomfortable with this level of intimacy, Jogoro attempts to change the subject to something that actually compels him: the fires around town. But Nakamura is smart enough to not let him get away with \u201cyou seemed like a good person\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We then conclude on our not-so-good person Osanai sitting on the very bus stop that was last set on fire<\/span><\/p>\n And Done<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I can\u2019t deny they\u2019re trying their best, but it is abundantly clear that these relationships are <\/span>not<\/span> making them any more ordinary. Urino and Nakamura both seem like perfectly charming people, but they cannot break their partners\u2019 shells \u2013 and though Osanai here made explicit her desire to be redefined by proximity to Urino, it\u2019s clear as well that she hasn\u2019t actually changed, and is in fact keeping her new boyfriend at a significant emotional distance. But what are they supposed to do? If they were to share their true feelings, they\u2019d be indulging in precisely the behaviors they\u2019re trying to avoid \u2013 thus their partners\u2019 desires for intimacy is the exact thing they cannot provide, desiring as they do to change their fundamental passions and thought processes. This situation seems painful for our leads and utterly unfair to their partners, and I am eager to see how it all burns to the ground!<\/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 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\u2019s outrageous self-kidnapping gambit, they have each found new partners who seem to earnestly appreciate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7044210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12036],"tags":[13211,1297,72721],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7044209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anime","tag-episode","tag-series","tag-shoushimin"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/August13105027.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
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<\/p>\nRelated<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"