Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 124

Dragons of Wonderhatch Episode 5 Review

While Episode 4 of “Dragons of Wonderhatch” (Wandahatchi: Soratobu Ryu no Shima) ended in an exciting/fun twist, things take a dark, somber turn in episode 5. A flashback from ten years ago reveals what happened with Supes, an older hero from the world of Upananta, now living in Japan and planning something sinister.

Titled “The Creator”, episode 5 begins with the animated world, where Supes’ daughter Saila confronts Jairo to send her to the world beyond Upananta. As soon as Saila crashes into the regular human world of Japan, she looks for Nagi’s mother, leading to new truths and secrets being spilled. Thirty-five minutes long, the edition is tightly paced and maintains a serious tone throughout, focusing on the entity that created the fascinating world of Upananta.

In flashbacks, viewers meet a pagan cult-like group with wild theories about ‘the creator’ and dangerous practices. The episode also reveals the origin story of Jairo, the imposing villain who doesn’t let anybody cross him, and his connection to Supes (Morita Go), who is plotting something sinister in his human form. Until episode four, Supes’ motives didn’t seem clear, making his presence somewhat confusing and almost annoying, but most of the loose ends in the tale fall into place in this edition. The protagonist, Tyme (Okudaira Daiken) , is drawn into Supes’ plan, and as a young lad eager to save Upananta, Tyme easily gets swayed by the older warrior’s ideas.

There’s an almost 50:50 balance between the animated scenes and the live-action sequences in this episode of ‘Dragons of Wonderhatch’, and the animated stories stand out better since they shed insights on several key characters. Actor Sumire, who lent her voice to the animated version of Saila, finally gets to appear in the show, and while her embodiment of the quirky, confident character is amusing, she doesn’t seem as feisty or intimidating as her anime counterpart. One wishes there were more of Guphin’s scenes in the series, Tyme’s adorable little dragon, who is just shoved into a large bin for most of the runtime. In another minor disappointment, there is no sign of Akuta (Mackenyu) in the episode, who was last working on his own ambitious plan of building a new nation.

The episode ends with a tense climactic twist, where Supes’ puts into motion his plan to save Upananta, which is completely misguided and dangerous.

You can stream “Dragons of Wonderhatch” on Disney Plus and Hulu.

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Good Grief Review – Where Art Heals…

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“You’re right, people don’t have their shit together. But I think for our sake… we have to try harder.”

Written and directed by Dan Levy, “Good Grief” starts with a beautiful celebratory Christmas scene where a roomful of friends and family sings together. Their joy is abruptly interrupted by police sirens outside, as one of their own dies in a car accident after leaving early to catch a flight.

Dan Levy portrays the protagonist Marc, who witnesses the death of his husband Oliver (Luke Evans) in the accident, shattering his existence. Marc’s best friends Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel) help him stay afloat and not drown in loss. However, things begin to unravel when they take a trip to Paris, and each of them finally fess up about things they’ve been holding back from each other.

Luke Evans only has a small cameo as Marc’s husband, but his presence is magnetic as the charismatic author Oliver, with bestselling books being made into movies. One wishes there were some more flashback scenes of Marc reminiscing about his time with Oliver. However, with a crisp 1-hour 40-minute runtime, the primary focus of the film is on Marc’s efforts to start over his life with the help of his friends. “For such a meticulous person, he left behind one hell of a mess,” Marc says in one scene about his deceased husband. The dialogue succinctly conveys how the protagonist is left to pick up a lot of pieces after his partner’s death and not simply grieve in peace. Dan Levy delivers his best bits in the happier moments of the film, and is even more biting in scenes where he grudgingly gives in to participating in social activities with his friends. So while Dan is potent as the “bitter widower” parts, he struggles a bit with scenes that require him to be emotionally vulnerable.

The cinematography in “Good Grief” is dreamily charming, with the opening scene setting the tone for a story rooted in art, music, love, and friendship. Whether going to karaoke with friends to sing his heart out or playing a record from his husband’s collection to ease their pain, music is a recurring and powerful presence throughout the runtime. Art also plays a significant role; Marc is an artist and children’s book illustrator. When he meets a new man called Theo, the latter takes him to an art museum in Paris and shares something profoundly poetic and beautiful.

However, while the artistic nods are a treat for those artistically inclined, sometimes the dialogues become too literary, as if rehearsed rather than spontaneous. Even some of the casual heart-to-heart conversations between Marc, Thomas, and Sophie sound like they are having a “who can spout a more quotable response” competition. Regardless of the slightly “trying too hard to be literary” writing, the friendships portrayed in “Good Grief” are a joy to watch. Who doesn’t want to have friends who they can trust to go looking out for them at 2 am in the night if they smell something fishy?

“Good Grief” is a good look at grief, love, and the complexities of modern relationships. The film fluidly comes a full circle at the end – it begins with friends and family singing together, celebrating music and the climax closes with Marc’s friends celebrating art again.

Rating: 7.5 on 10. Stream “Good Grief” on Netflix.

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Strange Planet Review – Family, Fandom, Footorb, Feels

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

“Hey there, sounds like a frustrating day. Can I lift your spirits with some jitter liquid?”

A server in a cafe asks two young customers in ‘Strange Planet,’ the 2023 animated series based on Nathan Pyle’s webcomic. Inhabited by gender-fluid blue beings, the animated version is set on a planet where its beings are quite similar to humans but kinder. They have many unique words and phrases, and in this world, ‘jitter liquid’ refers to coffee, probably my favorite word from their lexicon. Or well, ‘limbshake’ was a pretty fun word for prom.

Titled “The Flying Machine,” the first episode of ‘Strange Planet’ follows a popular band that breaks up, sending their ardent fans into a tizzy. Meanwhile, a flight attendant struggles to fit in with her colleagues after a promotion alienates her from her friends. The episode serves as a slow parody of human life and is arguably the weakest of the ten episodes in the first season. It might be wise to watch at least the second edition before deciding to commit to the entire series.

Considering that the original characters from Nathan Pyle’s webcomic are simple blue alien beings, the animation stays faithful to the source illustrations. So, the animation is dominated by blue and pink shades too, although, the colors have nothing to do with gender, in-fact, the show is refreshingly gender fluid. It’s probably a great show for people to see first hand how “they/them” pronouns aren’t all that confusing and work just fine.

“Strange Planet” is laden with parallels to the human world, complete with pop culture references. The beings love to watch a TV series called “Hot beings do hot things” (an obvious dig at “Baywatch”), and the youngsters prefer a show called “Dampires” (this one needs no explanation). The beings on the planet love playing or watching ‘footorb’ (football), feel the same kind of pressure from their caregivers (parents) about marriage, procreation and must have a job to be independent.

In many ways, the series is both a tribute to human life and a subtle mockery of cultural things and phenomena that make little sense yet are taken too seriously by people. Each episode tackles a different aspect of life on ‘Strange Planet,’ from the challenges of romance, new jobs, and heartbreak to helicopter parents, sports obsession, and existential crises (the beings get quarter-life crisis at age 25 too!). Viewers get an alien yet familiar slice of life in each chapter.

While the series may not be very funny, fast-paced, or exciting, it’s the kind of show you can watch at your own pace, with a meandering storyline that makes for enjoyable leisure viewing.

Rating: 7 on 10. You can stream the series on Apple TV+

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Surfside Girls Volume 2 Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Best friends Samantha and Jade love to swim, surf, and solve mysteries in their free time. In “Surfside Girls” Volume One by Kim Dwinell, the two friends discover a whole new world of friendly ghosts, helping to save their favorite surfing beach, Danger Point, from being turned into a touristy resort. Titled “Surfside Girls – The Mystery at the Old Rancho,” Volume Two of this middle-grade graphic novel series begins with Samantha training as a junior lifeguard to monitor the beach for an upcoming surf competition. However, she runs off to Danger Point to hang out with Jade and their new ghostly friends, sparking a new mystery.

Similar to Volume One, the artwork by Kim Dwinell is breezy, sunny, and easy on the eyes, offering readers a slice of beautiful beach summers wherever they are. Despite the numerous ghosts in this issue, it’s easy to differentiate them due to distinct color variations—the supernatural beings are all white-blue, while regular humans are in varied hues. When a ghost speaks, their entire bubble is in blue, creating an interesting clash of colors on many pages.

While the plot in Volume Two is intriguing, it’s also somewhat far-fetched. Samantha and Jade crack an almost two-hundred-year-old case when they meet a ghost named Maria, who claims she saw her father on the beach. The catch is, Maria was dead in the 1800s, so it couldn’t have been her dad, who she claims disappeared in the 1820s. The girls think it might be a direct descendant of Maria’s family, who used to own the old rancho by the beach, now a historical site with her family home converted into a museum.

Apart from a somewhat silly subplot about Samantha’s crush on her ghost friend Robert (reminiscent of Casper and Kat from the 1995 film “Casper”), which wasn’t very amusing, ‘Surfside Girls Volume 2’ is a fun read about two friends going to great lengths to trace Maria’s family history and the possible connection between her and the man she insists looks exactly like her father.

From sneaking into the rancho museum late at night to going all the way to another town for research, the adventurous spirit of the girls is a joy to read about. Pick up this volume if you enjoyed the first one.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment’ Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

On a quest to determine how diets and lifestyle affect a person, researchers enlist identical twins to take part in a unique eight-weeks long study. In this 4-part Netflix documentary, titled ‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment,’ the twins are made to adopt two vastly different food habits for eight weeks while maintaining the same fitness regime.

Episode one introduces some of the twins participating in the research, showcasing them cooking and discussing their relationship with food. “Everybody knows that the average American diet is not very healthy. We sometimes call it the Standard American Diet, or S-A-D for SAD,” says Christopher Gardner, a Nutritionist scientist from Stanford University. He goes on to explain how most studies on diets face a primary challenge – everybody is unique. That’s why studying identical twins is a fantastic way to move forward, as they share the same genetic composition. Putting a pair of twins on different diets will help researchers draw more conclusive results on how food affects the body.

Each episode lasts about 40-50 minutes, and episode one is a good hook to draw audiences in, as it introduces 4 pairs of twins (among 21 who participated in the study) and also has a whole bunch of different experts taking the participants and audiences on the parameters that are going to be measured through the eight weeks. In each pair, one is put on a vegan diet, while the other is on a meat-based diet, however, each diet is designed to be as healthy as it can be.

The findings from the study are obviously fascinating and provide viewers with a lot of food for thought. However, given the documentary’s title, ‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment,’ I expected more focus on the twins and their journeys in adopting a whole new diet, including their training and exercise experiences. Instead, the documentary often meanders away from the twins, concentrating on different people who aren’t part of the study but have their own unique stories about ditching meat and going vegan.

For instance, the show features Daniel Humm, a famous chef who owns “Eleven Madison Park,” a restaurant that was ranked as the world’s best in 2017. Humm decided to make the restaurant completely vegan in 2021, drawing several headlines and harsh critique even before it reopened with a vegan menu. While the “Eleven Madison Park” story is excellent and could have been a separate one-hour documentary, it’s somehow intertwined with the twins’ experiment, along with other stories about people who believe in the vegan way of life.

Visually, the documentary is engaging, featuring colorful food shots and interviews with experts and individuals for whom food is not only personal consumption but also a part of their livelihood. From a farmer who owned a chicken farm that’s housed millions of hens over the years to small food business owners and students studying food science, ‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment’ packs in quite a range of perspectives.

While Episodes 2 and 3 are slower and feel somewhat fragmented, as the focus shifts away from the twins and their new diets to other individuals, Episode 4 brings the show to a compelling conclusion. The results from the studies serve as a big eye-opener for most participants, prompting them to question their body’s relationship with what they eat. If you hadn’t considered that most aspects of your health are directly connected to what you put in your mouth, ‘You Are What You Eat’ will likely make you rethink that perspective.

Rating: 7 on 10. You can watch the series on Netflix.

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Surfside Girls Volume 1 Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

It was a good idea to read “Surfside Girls – The Secrets of Danger Point” on a dull, cold winter evening. This graphic novel by Kim Dwinell transports readers to sunny summer days, where best friends Samantha and Jade hang out and decide to save their favorite beach from being taken over by a commercial resort.

Kim Dwinell blends the bright, breezy joys of beach life with supernatural elements in fun visual ways that work. Samantha discovers a park by the beach full of ghostly residents who can talk to her and seek her help. Although talking to the ghosts initially freaks Samantha out, thanks to them, she can save her beloved beach spot from becoming another tourist trap.

The artwork is cartoonish, with characters resembling bobble-heads, but since “Surfside Girls” is aimed at middle-grade readers, the demographic should enjoy Kim Dwinell’s art style. Kids who love drawing characters from books would find it easy to draw different characters and scenes from this work. I loved the colors through the pages, which looked like a blend of pencil shades and water paints.

The friendship between Samantha and Jade will be relatable to a lot of readers, especially those who know who their one “best friend” is. The girls are straightforward with each other, trusting and constantly engaged in activities like skating, swimming, surfing, or solving mysteries together. While Jade is the more extroverted of the two, getting giggly and silly whenever she spots cute boys, Samantha is more introverted, ruminative, and serious about everything.

“Surfside Girls – The Secrets of Danger Point” is cute, easy to read, and wraps up before you know it.

Rating: 4 on 5. Surfside Girls is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

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Pokémon Concierge Series Review

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“Dumped over text, young working professional Haru decides to take up a new job at a beautiful island resort and discovers that being happy doesn’t have to be too difficult in the 2023 animated series Pokémon Concierge. Maybe not the best origin story for a children’s show, but it feels like the series is made for nostalgia enthusiasts who grew up watching Pokémon in the early 2000s.

Set in Satoshi Tajiri’s Pokémon universe, “Pokémon Concierge” (Original title: Pokemon konsheruju) has been animated by Dwarf Studios and spans four episodes. The show utilizes stop-motion animation, and many of the characters, especially the Pokémon, look like dolls and stuffed toys, giving the whole story a childlike magical charm. There are no fights, battles, or competitions in this show; it’s all about Haru learning about her new job as a Pokémon concierge, which mostly involves keeping their Pokémon guests happy with games, food, and fun activities.

Since the whole series is set against an island resort, the color palette is consistently bright, with sunny yellow, grass green, and pleasant blues dominating the screen. The background score is very subtle; the creators use a lot of ambient sounds and focus on dialogues instead of relying on music to enhance their storytelling. The stop-motion animation is smooth, and it almost looks like the characters were digitally animated.

Full disclosure: I used to watch Pokémon with my younger brother when we were in school and even owned a bunch of Pokémon-themed playing cards. Also, I haven’t seen anything Pokémon-related since the 2000s, so I found the colorful, dreamy world of “Pokémon Concierge” very cute. The episodes are less than 15 minutes long, so it takes less than an hour for viewers to finish the show, making it easy to enjoy without demanding much of your time.

You can stream the series on Netflix.

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5 Graphic Novels Published in 2023 Worth Reading

It’s 2024, and while the year has ended, it’s impossible to have read everything from 2023. Here’s a quick list of 5 graphic novels published in 2023 that might be worth your reading time. These are all standalone works and not comic-book series. Click on the pictures for detailed reviews.

1. Sunshine by Jarrett J. Krosoczka – this is a graphic novel memoir that follows the author’s experience as a teen volunteering at a camp for kids with cancer or other serious terminal illnesses.

‘Sunshine: A Graphic Novel’ Review

2. Monica by Daniel Clowes – a genre-bending graphic novel that spans decades, following the story of a woman even before her birth! It’s a meandering yet exhilarating book that blends horror, sci-fi, mystery, and the supernatural together.

Monica Graphic Novel Review – Twisty As Hell

3. Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying – follows a teen girl’s complicated relationship with her body, food and her domineering mother. It’s gorgeous artwork is the highlight of this graphic novel.

Hungry Ghost Review – Gut Punch For Some

4. Mariko Between Worlds by Matthew Erman and illustrator Liana Kangas – an inter-galactic sci-fi romance which tells the story of a couple spending their last day together before breaking up.

Mariko Between Worlds – Graphic Novel Review

5. Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas by Paco Roca – an often funny graphic novel memoir about the famous cartoonist’s life and adventures as an artist who works from home and is a serial people-pleaser.

Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas – Book Review

The God Delusion – Book Review

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins oscillates between being fantastically insightful, witty, and amusing to becoming blindingly boring in certain sections. While it took me 43 days to finish the novel (it was quite a struggle to swim through some parts that were too jargon-y and dry), I’d say this is an essential read for anybody interested in seeing religion from an atheist’s perspective. Dawkins, throughout the book, presents several arguments against religion and the existence of an omnipotent creator who monitors every move made by billions of humans to determine who goes to heaven and who is condemned to hell.

I read the 10th-anniversary edition of the book, and the introduction by Dawkins is perhaps my favorite part. In this section, the author talks about why the temptation to believe in a higher power is so compelling, and in many cases, delves into the reasons behind the inclination to feign religiosity as well. I guess I was just hoping for the rest of the book to be just as entertaining too (fiction reader here).

Sample this snippet from the introduction (from 2016) –

Of the 535 members of the combined houses of Congress, not a single one admits to not believing in a higher power. That is statistically beyond implausible, verging on impossible. More than 20 per cent of the US population at large now tell pollsters they have no religious belief. The figure swells to 40 per cent of American scientists and 90 per cent for elite scientists (those elected to the National Academy of Science) and is probably similar for other educated elites such as top philosophers, historians, and other scholars, including (for sure) many biblical scholars. In the face of these numbers, how is it even remotely plausible that the figure for the US Congress is zero? The conclusion is glaring: a substantial number of US politicians are simply lying when they profess faith. To put it in starkly cynical terms, a successful US politician is either religious or a well-educated and intelligent liar.

Richard Dawkins

Dawkins goes on to add a little side note at the bottom of the page about having confirmed off-the-record that some politicians indeed prefer to keep atheism in the closet because they don’t want to lose out on voters. Makes perfect sense. And no matter what anybody says, the “religious vote bank” is a thing around the world.

“The first 80-90 pages of ‘The God Delusion’ are very engaging. However, from thereon, it becomes a mighty struggle for an average reader not accustomed to non-fiction. It gets dry, and some chapters resemble research papers, which could be impressive to readers who enjoy a formal tone, as opposed to an informal and casual one. I found it a little reader-unfriendly in many sections, particularly in chapters where Dawkins refers to scientific theories, expecting readers to already be familiar with the content.

I had bought this copy as a gift for my Dad years ago, and he never read it. After reading it, I know a casual reader like my dad, whose favorite genre is fast-paced thrillers (think Sidney Sheldon and Chase), would’ve abandoned it after a few pages. But I also know of friends who’d be able to enjoy reading it a lot more than I did. Definitely get this book if you are bit of a science nerd and open to debating religion.

Rating: 3 on 5.

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Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions Season 1 Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

When a murder case comes their way, most cops/detectives first secure the crime scene and try not to touch anything to ensure any possible shred of evidence is not tampered with. And then there’s Ron Kamonohashi, a genius detective, whose first move is to head straight to the dead body, lie down next to them, practically whisper into their ear, asking them to tell him everything, and then promising the corpse he would avenge them. It’s almost morbidly poetic.

Based on the manga “Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective” by Akira Amano, the 2023 anime series follows the comedic collaboration of genius detective Ron with amateur cop Totomaru Isshiki. Ron is banned from doing any detective work, his license officially revoked, but he is obsessed with unraveling mysterious murder cases. Befriending Toto gives him a great opportunity to learn about cases and help solve them. Toto, on the other hand, is a simple-minded cop whose boss berates him for being “useless.” It’s by a stroke of luck that he is introduced to the asocial Ron, and he is immediately floored by Ron’s incredibly fast deductions. Solving cases together becomes a win-win situation for both: Ron gets his adrenaline rush, and Toto is able to take all credit and slowly become popular.

Akira Amano drew inspiration from Sherlock Holmes for this series, making Ron a sixth-generation descendant of the renowned detective. Much like the British mystery series “Sherlock,” where Benedict Cumberbatch deduced a person’s background with a mere glance, Ron in this anime series exhibits lightning-fast deductive skills. He can solve a case in just a few minutes, with some complicated ones spanning two episodes.

The animation in “Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions” is simple yet engaging. The character interactions between the dim-witted but friendly Toto and the eccentric genius Ron is the most fun thing about this series. Ron’s asocial behavior often causes second-hand embarrassment for Toto, like when he wears funny disguises to assist in solving cases, to avoid detection by anybody who might be after him. However, even though the two fail to understand each other sometimes, they develop a strong friendship over the course of thirteen episodes. The voice actors do a fantastic job in heightening the personality clash between the duo.Yôhei Azakami voices Ron, who has “know it all” tone of speaking, which is very apt for the character. Junya Enoki voices the dim-witted Totomaru, bringing a youthful verve to the character. Enoki is also the voice of Yuji Itadori, the protagonist of the hugely popular anime series “Jujutsu Kaisen”.

What sets this anime apart is the intrigue surrounding Ron’s own life, adding a layer of mystery beyond the typical detective show format. His expulsion from BLUE, a premier detective training institute, becomes a major sub-plot. Accused of killing a murder suspect, Ron suspects foul play, as he has no memory of the alleged crime. A larger, sinister conspiracy by powerful figures to discredit Ron unfolds, making the series more than just a collection of standalone cases.

You can stream the series on Netflix.

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