Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 10

Maa Review: Kajol Fights Demons and Ghastly CGI

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Kajol playing a fierce, protective ‘Maa’ in a legend haunted, folklore horror movie? Sounds pretty great on paper. And the film opens with a beautiful, colorful celebration of Kaali puja by masked dancers in a mansion. Then begins the problem: despite being visually rich in regular sequences, the scenes with supernatural effects and demons are sub-par.

Directed by Vishal Furia, ‘Maa’ stars Kajol as protagonist Ambika, a mother forced to fight an ancient demon to protect her daughter Shweta (Kherin Sharma) from a generational curse. Much like Furia’s horror film ‘Chhorii’, this story also deals with the theme of female infanticide, although in this tale, babies are killed as ritualistic sacrifices to vanquish an ancient evil.

‘Maa’ is centered on a folk legend about a demon lurking in the dense forests of Chandrapur, a fictional village. Ambika is married to Shuvankar (Indraneil Sengupta), whose family has long been cursed, but the couple choose to distance themselves from the village and its superstitions. Fate, however, pulls Ambika back to Shuvankar’s ancestral mansion under tragic circumstances, where her daughter Shweta becomes the demon’s next target. Ronit Roy plays village chief Joydev, who helps Ambika navigate Chandrapur and its challenges.

For a horror film, ‘Maa’ has several strong elements: an intriguing folk legend, the atmospheric setting of a grand mansion, and a talented cast. Kajol delivers a layered performance as an empathetic mother who transforms into a Goddess-like warrior to save her daughter from evil. Unfortunately, the demon’s special effects are atrocious, more laughable than terrifying. It might have worked in a horror-comedy like Munjya or Stree, but not here.

And for no good reason, a village crone branded a “witch” by the locals is buried under layers of terrible makeup. Sadly, the rest of the possessed characters aren’t any better, just caked in bad cosmetics that scream cheap, not creepy. Within the first hour of ‘Maa’, the pace begins to feel overbearing, especially because it’s not scary at all. Towards the climax, the film was simply a predictable, visually jarring mess.

If you still haven’t seen ‘Tumbbad’ or ‘Kumari’, both folktale horror movies, I’d recommend you watch them instead of Maa.

Rating: 4 on 10. ‘Maa’ is available on Netflix.

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‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Review: Slow, Scant on Spooks, High on Sentiments

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

The 2025 horror film ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ makes little pretense of being anything other than an emotional farewell to the Warrens, the paranormal duo whose cases inspired one of the world’s biggest horror franchises. And while the Warrens get a soaring goodbye, the scares are overshadowed by sentiment.

Directed by Michael Chaves (‘Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’, ‘The Nun II’), the film sees Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise their roles as Lorraine and Ed Warren for the final haunting of their careers. Mia Tomlinson plays their 22-year-old daughter Judy, while Ben Hardy portrays her boyfriend Tony Spera.

‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ opens in 1964, where a much younger Ed (Orion Smith) and a heavily pregnant Lorraine (Madison Lawlor) visit an eerie antique shop and encounter a powerful demonic mirror. Cut to 1986, and the same mirror ends up with a family of eight in Pennsylvania, where ghostly entities begin tormenting the entire household. Even though the Warrens have retired, they are forced to help the Smurl family at their daughter Judy’s insistence.

As newcomers, Mia Tomlinson and Ben Hardy bring warmth to this horror tale, and the amount of screen time they receive hints that their characters may be poised to inherit the Warren mantle. Tomlinson is compelling as a young woman unraveling under demonic visions, balanced by Hardy’s dependable presence as the partner who never wavers. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson remain dependable as the paranormal investigators, and the ‘protective parents’ sub-plot makes their characters more nuanced.

Ironically, the film’s strongest moments aren’t the supernatural scares (which are surprisingly sparse) but the everyday family dynamics: the noisy dinner-table scenes at the Smurls, or Tony’s painfully awkward efforts to impress Judy’s parents, especially the ever-skeptical Ed. For a more effective “haunted mirror” horror, Mike Flanagan’s ‘Oculus‘ (2013) remains far scarier, while ‘Last Rites’ recycles familiar Conjuring tropes which frankly feel slightly stale.

Of course, part of the fun lies in the nostalgia: spotting familiar elements from earlier films, like the Warrens’ infamous occult museum. “Don’t touch anything. Everything you see here is either haunted, cursed, or tied to some ritualistic practice. Nothing’s a toy. Not even the toys,” Ed warns memorably in this installment, just as the camera lingers on the ghastly Annabelle doll.

Only in the second half does the haunting truly escalate, with Ed, Lorraine, Judy, and Tom gathered for the climactic exorcism. But what should have been terrifying instead plays out like a family affair, robbing horror fans of a truly terrifying experience. The special effects are mediocre at best, the ghostly entities overtly garish, making them more laughter-inducing than scream-inducing. Despite being such a successful franchise, it’s ridiculous that the creators still refuse to invest in delivering better VFX.

‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ may stumble with pacing and recycled scares, but it earns points for giving the fictional Warrens a warm, memorable goodbye.

Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ in theaters.

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Don’t Let Her Stay Review: Stepdaughter From Hell

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

‘How could I be so stupid?’ the protagonist wonders in the last few pages of ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’, a thriller by Nicola Sanders. For readers, though, her naivety is obvious almost from the start, and it soon becomes an exasperating part of the story.

The novel is a rather straightforward thriller about a young woman having to deal with her evil step-daughter, who decides to live in her house out of the blue. Her husband is a jerk and both husband and wife aren’t very transparent about things to each other. This lack of communication and trust leads to avoidable tragedy. Fine, I’ll be more specific…

Spoiler-free plot overview: Joanne lives an idyllic suburban life with her newborn, Evie, and husband, Richard, until his 20-year-old daughter Chloe, absent for two years, suddenly reappears offering to help. At first a welcome companion, Chloe’s unsettling behavior soon makes Joanne doubt her true intentions. In-fact, Joanne starts to suspect that a jealous Chloe is trying to harm her baby Evie.

There’s some legitimate suspense through ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’ over whether Joanne is right about Chloe being evil or if she is an over-exhausted new mother being paranoid and over-protective about her baby. However, Joanne can be ridiculously dumb at times, doing things that make it hard to root for her. For instance, she is extremely distrustful of Chloe, yet, she gives the girl her phone’s pass-code. This is days after the same girl threatened Joanne with a photo-shopped photo. WTF?

Joanne’s character reminds me of a Hindi idiom, which roughly translates to “hitting the hammer on your own leg,” meaning self-sabotage. That’s what Joanne keeps doing to herself for most of ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’. She often behaves like a whiny little girl, constantly tattling to Richard as if she were a high school student dealing with a bully. It doesn’t help that her husband is also a very unlikable character, who often treats Joanne like she belongs to a nuthouse. Both Richard and Chloe keep gaslighting Joanne throughout the chapters of ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’.

Things would’ve been different if Joanne were portrayed as a helpless, naive housewife. But no, she’s a real estate agent on maternity break. She has enough presence of mind and resources to, for instance, get a medicine tested for tampering. Yet, more often than not, she displays a complete lack of tact and basic common sense. Besides, Richard has an absurd amount of secrets from his past, the kinds that make you wonder why the couple is even married to each other.

Chloe, the stepdaughter, is probably the best written character in ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’. She’s duplicitous in the best way, chirpy and innocent with Richard, then viciously cutting when it’s just her and Joanne. The only flaw is that her overconfidence sometimes stretches believability.

The climactic chapters of ‘Don’t Let Her Stay’ are completely unhinged, but in a frustrating way. Some of the twists are just ‘duh’. The only good thing about this novel is that it’s well-written, easy to follow, and doesn’t bore readers with unnecessary descriptions, although some dialogues could’ve certainly been trimmed. The novel definitely doesn’t have a “breathtaking end” like the cover claims. But overall, I guess it was an okay read.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars. ‘Don’t Let Her Stay‘ is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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Dan Da Dan Season 2 Episode 10 Review: Pervs and Golden Ball Chase

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Before even hitting click on ‘Dan Da Dan’ Season 2 Episode 10, I was already laughing out loud at the title: ‘The Secret Art of Being Attractive’. With a label like that, one can guess that the edition might deliver some awkward romantic moments between Okarun and Momo. And it does. But before that, a funnily flamboyant new character is introduced!

Quick recap of Dan Da Dan Season 2 Episode 9: Turbo Okarun and the Evil Eye yokai inhabiting Jiji’s body fight it out. The two of them end the battle by striking a deal that they will fight every Tuesday after school and that the Evil Eye will not try to hurt or kill anybody. Just like Jiji, Okarun too realizes that the Evil Eye simply wants somebody to play with. The edition ends with Jiji going back to school; however, the Evil Eye resurfaces in his body and causes some chaos on campus. Nothing too dangerous, just some hilarious stuff for viewers.

Dan Da Dan Season 2 Episode 10

The episode opens by introducing Kinta, Takakura’s (Okarun’s) classmate, who looks nerdy on the outside but behaves like he’s a “dashing romantic hero” in a movie when nobody is around. Kinta’s intro scene is pretty hilarious, and half the episode follows his quest to figure out why Okarun is so popular with girls, since he notices Okarun’s proximity to both Momo Ayase and Aira Shiratori, two of the prettiest ladies on campus.

From this edition of ‘Dan Da Dan’, Kinta seemed like a louder, more confident, and more annoying version of Okarun, because otherwise they both appear to be nerdy boys who love reading sci-fi magazines in their free time. Also, Kinta is a lot more ‘girl crazy’ than our poor shy, insecure Okarun.

As Kinta busies himself with comically overanalyzing Okarun’s supposed charm, Momo and Okarun fumble through their shy affection for each other. The story takes a more exciting turn in the latter half when the pair embarks on a mission to chase down a “golden ball” sighted in a housing complex… yes, Okarun’s very own missing jewel. Kinta follows the duo to the complex and Momo is already convinced he is a creepy pervert. LOL.

Obviously, getting it back isn’t going to be an easy task, and things end on a super fun, Kaiju-sized cliffhanger. It leaves viewers with the promise of an action-packed, violent next episode. Overall, this chapter of ‘Dan Da Dan’ was very entertaining, sprinkled with many funny interactions and fantastic animation.

Stream Dan Da Dan on Netflix or Crunchyroll.

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Love Untangled Movie Review: Shin Eun Soo & Squad Are Super Cute

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Korean film ‘Love Untangled’ is all about teen crushes, beaches, friendships, and its protagonist’s quest to get her curls straightened before she can ask her crush out. And that’s because she thinks girls with straight hair are prettier. Of-course the film goes on to give a subtle lesson on ‘you shouldn’t have to change yourself for love’ in the second-half, but until then, it’s all about finding ways to fix the curls.

Directed by Namkoong Sun, ‘Love Untangled’ is set in Busan in the late 1990s and stars Shin Eun Soo (‘Twinkling Watermelon’, ‘Summer Strike’) plays primary protagonist Park Se Ri, a high-school student with a massive crush on Kim Hyun (Cha Woo Min), a popular guy on campus. Her loyal squad of friends team up to help her confess to Kim Hyun, however, new transfer student Han Yun-seok (Gong Myoung) makes her have second thoughts.

Shin Eun Soo’s is the sunshine of this seaside tale, portraying the energetic, optimistic, cheery Park Se Ri with infallible magnetism. Interestingly, she meets both her love interests while swimming in the sea. Although, unlike what the title suggests, ‘Love Untangled’ isn’t big on the love triangle. Cha Woo Min’s (‘Study Group’, ‘Weak Hero Class 1’) screen-time as the school heartthrob is criminally minimal. So those expecting a full-blown romantic rivalry, confusion, might feel a little disappointed.

Instead, ‘Love Untangled’ focuses more on Se Ri’s silly shenanigans with her school squad, and her blossoming friendship with Yun-seok. As soon as Se Ri finds out Yun-seok’s mother runs a hair salon, which an incredible hair-straightening treatment, she starts helping out Yun-seok, whose leg is in a cast, hoping to get a discount. But the best thing? Se Ri assists Yun-seok wholeheartedly, inducting him in her little friend group.

Se Ri’s relationship with her father, Park Hong (Ryu Seung Soo), may not get much screen time, but it’s sweet and memorable. Hong, a photographer, keeps a storage room that doubles as a studio and comic-book library. When Se Ri brings Yun-seok there during a rainy evening to escape the weather, the space transforms into their shared hideout for studying, reading, and just being together. From an aloof, asocial, broody new kid on the block, Yun-seok quickly integrates into the life of a regular teen, participating in campus activities and having fun, all thanks to Se Ri’s infectious positivity.

The likability of ‘Love Untangled’ rests heavily on how much you warm up to Se Ri’s character, and fortunately, I was instantly charmed. Curly hair or not, she is lovable, and the story is heavily focused on her POV. Scenic beach swims, chaotic class chatter, colorful school trips, and hilarious sporting face-offs, the film is drenched in Se Ri’s high school experiences.

Then comes the final act, a familiar, tragic turn that briefly raises the specter of domestic violence. It feels mismatched against the otherwise sunny mood of teen crushes and carefree laughter, though it is foreshadowed well. Still, the shift injects the kind of emotional punch that keeps ‘Love Untangled’ from drifting along as nothing more than pleasant, low-stakes fluff. But you know, low-stakes fluff also has its advantages.

Anyway, ‘Love Untangled’ ends with a small time jump, giving protagonist Se Ri a well-deserved happy ending, and given the overall tone of the story, it shouldn’t have ended any other way. Some more romantic moments would’ve sweetened this tale. If you’re looking for a breezy high-school Korean , this is a great pick for the weekend.

Rating: 8 on 10. Watch ‘Love Untangled’ on Netflix.

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Rachel Rising Volume 7 Review: A Violent Demon-Slaying Finale

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Ah, Terry Moore’s ‘Rachel Rising’ finally comes to an end with this volume. And even though the journey was bumpy, the climactic pages were violent, tragic, almost emotional, before throwing in one last dark comical twist.

To be honest, after the extensive build up on how ancient and powerful Malus, the primary antagonist is, the way he is defeated was rather underwhelming. But Moore’s detailed artwork and the dark comedy makes the ending of ‘Rachel Rising’ quite satisfactory.

“How do you get rid of a demon who can’t die?”

Titled ‘Dust to Dust’, the volume is all about Lilith growing a new wild garden as she tries to figure out how to vanquish Malus. Yes, gardening and demon-slaying can go hand in hand. Zoey comes up with a ridiculous idea, which Lilith starts to consider seriously since she doesn’t have many other options.

Meanwhile, Rachel finally figures out who murdered her the first time she rose from the dead, with lacerations on her neck. Aunt Johnny stumbles upon new clues to find the killer, discovering there were other female victims that died in a similar manner: strangled to death with a rope and buried face down. Does Rachel get her vengeance after all the dying? Of course!

This volume of ‘Rachel Rising’ features several beautifully drawn, wordless pages where the art alone carries the story forward. One page, for instance, has just five panels showing Lilith walking through the forest, serious and determined to track down Malus’ latest human vessel. Another standout moment is a pair of back-to-back pages split into three horizontal panels each, quietly depicting Earl and Jet asleep together, smiling, images that perfectly convey the warmth of their growing relationship. Seriously, read this horror comic-book series simply for the art (although you need to be a fan of the genre too).

In the last issue of the volume, Lilith defeats Malus with relative ease, but the real impact comes in the closing pages as Rachel’s killer is finally revealed. The revelation is both disturbing and chilling, and Terry Moore crafts a darkly satisfying ending, despite leaving several subplots hanging.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. ‘Rachel Rising‘ is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’: Disturbing

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Netflix documentary ‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ dives into the bizarre case of American teenager Lauryn Licari, who was deluged with thousands of nasty messages from an anonymous stalker shockingly well-aware of her every move. The cyber-bullying was relentless through various randomly generated numbers, and even the Lauryn’s then boyfriend Owen McKenny was targeted. It seemed like the stalker wanted the young couple to break up, but investigation into the case revealed a far more disgustingly disturbing, twisted, and hard-to-grasp truth.

“All of the text messages in this film are real,” says a disclaimer at the beginning of the documentary. The next 90 minutes are interspersed with the awful messages Lauryn was deluged with. They were either sexually charged, explicit, spiteful, threatening, hurtful, going as far as asking the teen to kill herself. And Lauryn was only 14 when this torrid saga began. The texts are shown over both old and new footage of those involved in the case.

If you don’t know anything about the Lauryn Licari cyber-bullying case, then its best to go into ‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ blind. Directed by Skye Borgma, “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” features interviews from all parties involved: victims Lauryn Licari, Owen McKenny, their families, their classmates, the teens who became suspects, their parents, school authorities, the investigators, and even the FBI official who worked on the case, and the kicker: the real culprit’s interview too.

To keep this spoiler-free, I am obviously not going to write about who the culprit is, but the revelation is truly shocking. And the biggest problem with this documentary is the fact that is gives too much space to the perpetrator to present their side of the story. The creators sadly shy away from posing tough questions to the culprit, who seems to have little remorse over their actions. The perpetrator practically smirks at the camera and says something along the lines of: everybody commits some sort of crime, many people drink and drive, the only difference is, I got caught.

‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ almost plays out like a thriller, where the events are narrated chronologically and multiple suspects emerge. What is does best is highlight how ill-equipped schools and local authorities are when it comes to protecting students from cyber-bullying. It only took a few days for the FBI to find out the IP addresses of the Catfish and nab the accused, something that could’ve been done by the police months ago.

Stream ‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ on Netflix.

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Sakamoto Days Episode 19 Review: Deadly Team Battles

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Akira stitching shirts mid-air after their flight crashes in ‘Sakamoto Days’ had us in stitches! Only in anime can a character start sewing in the air, although, well, you never know with over the top live-action action movies. It would be fun to see Ethan Hunt in the ‘Mission Impossible’ movies stitching a parachute amid clouds after being kicked off an aircraft by villains.

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Titled ‘Exam, Stage Three‘, episode 19 opens with the few survivors of the crash as the JCC academy announces the next stage of the exams. With most candidates already dead, the evaluators assign a surprisingly simple team mission to keep the casualty count low. But in a twist, three “special candidates” arrive by boat to join the third stage, shaking things up.

What makes this edition of ‘Sakamoto Days’ interesting is the fact that Taro Sakamoto and Shin are not on the same team, so they will have to fight as rivals. If you remember, Shin is very serious about passing the JCC exam without any help, so he assertively tells Sakamoto not to go easy on him. In some convenient turns, clean freak Mafuyu is on Shin’s team, while Akira ends up in Taro’s group along with the comedic character “Kill Baby.”

Except for a brief scene featuring antagonist Slur and his lackeys, the episode completely focuses on the stage three team competitions. And despite the invigilators hoping for fewer deaths, participants are allowed to use whatever weapons and means they want to win the exams. Since it’s clearly been established that most participating students are psychos who’d kill their rivals in a heartbeat to seal their spot in the assassin academy, some deadly team battles unfold.

The pacing drags at times, but the episode stays engaging thanks to an intriguing reveal about Akira’s link to Sakamoto’s past. With any luck, upcoming episodes will dive deeper into flashbacks from Sakamoto’s JCC days.

Watch Sakamoto Days on Netflix.

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The Proper Way to Write Love – Renai Rubi no Tadashii Furikata Review

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Japanese series ‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ (Renai Rubi no Tadashii Furikata) probably has the fastest progression of ‘enemies to lovers’. The leads start dating by episode one. And it’s not even a cliffhanger twist.

Based on the manga “Renai Rubi no Tadashii Furikata” (恋愛ルビの正しいふりかた) by Ogeretsu Tanakam, this live action adaptation spans eight episodes. The plot follows protagonist Suzuki Hiroshi (Iwahashi Genki), a charming hair-stylist, who is runs into his high-school bully Washizawa Natsuo (Soma Satoru) at the salon where he works. To his surprise, not only does Natsuo not recognize Hiroshi, he even asks him to date. Hiroshi agrees, hoping to extract revenge from his former bully. The plan is simple: date for a bit and dump him hard. But we all know how ‘Revenged Love’ stories go, right?

‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ is a great example of how background music changes everything. Flashbacks show Hiroshi’s interactions with Natsuo at school, while broody, dark music plays in the background, adding a lot of tension to their exchanges. Although, in a comical twist, Natsuo was only trying to get closer to Hiroshi and is grossly misunderstood. If the same scenes were played over with upbeat sounds, the interactions wouldn’t look like Hiroshi was being bullied.

Iwahashi Genki as Suzuki Hiroshi is quite convincing in the nerdy high-school flashbacks but isn’t as suave as the older stylist version is supposed to be. Soma Satoru is a lot more entertaining as the straightforward, cheery, impulsive Washizawa Natsuo. Nakai Dai who shot to fame from dating reality show ‘The Boyfriend’, has a small cameo as Hiroshi’s colleague Takumi. Intially, it felt like Takumi might have a significant part in the tale, but the character could’ve been deleted and it wouldn’t make a lot of different to the show.

The onscreen chemistry between Iwahashi Genki and Soma Satoru flits between cute and awkward. Their characters go on lots of dates through the episodes, encounter a few difficulties, and it’s almost bizarre how Natsuo doesn’t recognize Hiroshi until the very end. Natsuo’s character is so naive, he is almost stupid. Meanwhile, Hiroshi’s character development in ‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ is simply frustrating to watch. Even though he wants revenge, he indulges in zero scheming, and is possibly the laziest revenge-seeking protagonist in a drama.

For the most part, ‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ tends to be light-hearted, but it is also peppered with serious, dramatic scenes that often feel jarring. Basically, this drama doesn’t pick a lane, it’s neither a light romantic comedy nor an intense romantic drama. Sure, some shows are able to walk the tightrope between both genres, but not this one. The comic potential of this series is completely under-explored.

I often complain that Japanese romances can be too chaste, so it’s a surprise when ‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ throws in a decently shot steamy scene towards the end. But guess what? It didn’t need one. It’s executed nicely, but considering the overall tone of the show, it would’ve worked just as well without any intimacy.

For instance, Japanese Romantic Comedy ‘Cherry Magic’ definitely could’ve used a long final kiss between the leads, but viewers were robbed. On the other hand, the high-school RomCom ‘My Love Mix-Up!’ didn’t need any kisses, and doesn’t serve any either. A more recent example of a drama that could’ve benefited from more onscreen intimacy between its leads is ‘Futtara Doshaburi’.

Anyway, ‘The Proper Way to Write Love’ does have its merits, it’s a leisurely paced romance that makes for a decent one time watch. Maybe six episodes would’ve been an ideal length for this show though.

Rating: 6 on 10. You can watch the show on TVer or GagaOolala.

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Gachiakuta Episodes 7-8 Review: Jabber Loves the Hurt

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How do you beat a masochist without making things weird? That is Rudo’s latest conundrum in ‘Gachiakuta’ episode 7 as he fights the Jabber Wonger, a dangerous Raider.

Also Read: Gachiakuta Episodes 5-6 Review: Cleaners vs. Raiders

Titled ‘A Score to Settle’, the episode kicks off with the face-off between Rudo and Jabber. Unfortunately for Rudo, Jabber quickly figures out a way to counter the protagonist’s new vital instrument. Luckily, Rudo’s “trainer” Zanka joins the battle in the nick of time, and the duo fight with surprising synergy against their lethally powerful opponent.

Episode 7 of ‘Gachiakuta’ is fast-paced, violent, and also slightly comical. One of the funniest moments is when Rudo realizes Jabber is a masochist, which is why he hilariously wonders how one “beats a masochist” without making the situation awkward. The episode in-fact opens with Jabber howling as he crashes into a corner, what sounds like pain at first quickly reveals itself to be his twisted idea of pleasure.

“How the hell does stabbing yourself make you stronger?” Rudo blurts out at one point. And that’s when it dawns on him, Jabber isn’t just tough, he’s a full-blown masochist. The animation perfectly captures Jabber’s maniacal personality: his eyes go completely blank, like a demon’s, and his jaws drip with drool, making him look like a possessed beast with murder on his mind. Definitely a very entertaining antagonist for the show!

Thankfully, Jabber isn’t able to kidnap Rudo, but only because he is practically dragged away by a fellow Raider. However, he leaves everybody a little shaken with his powers and abilities, including Rudo, who begins to have an existential crisis over not being strong enough to defend himself or save others. Enjin and the other Cleaners try to cheer him up.

Episode 8 of ‘Gachiakuta’, which is aptly titled ‘Moving Forward’, is a bit of a filler edition, where Rudo officially becomes a part of the ‘Cleaners’. He finally gets to meet the leader of the organization and is even handed his own uniform. Enjin and Riyo show him around the headquarters, and some light moments follow.

But not like nothing of importance happens in the edition, the last few minutes show Enjin, Zanka giving Rudo some fascinating new insights about his power as a ‘Giver’. Not just that, they offer to help him on his mission to find a way back to the ‘Sphere’, so that he can avenge his father’s murder.

The episode ends with an intriguing cliffhanger, which essentially gives us a brief glimpse of Jabber’s boss.

Watch Gachiakuta on Crunchyroll.

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