Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 14

What A Way to Go Book Review: Rich, Dead, and Detestable

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

A super-rich man dies at his outrageously lavish birthday party, impaled by a piece of party décor. But was it an accident, suicide, or murder? ‘What A Way to Go’ by Bella Mackie is a murder mystery that straddles both life and the afterlife, as billionaire Anthony Wistern wakes up in a bureaucratic facility for the newly dead. To ascend to his “forever after” stage, he must remember how he died, but all he recalls is having a bloody good time and doing drugs before dinner.

Bella Mackie tells ‘What A Way to Go’ through shifting POVs, mainly Anthony Wistern, his wife Olivia, and a nosy true-crime junkie known only as “The Sleuth,” who takes it upon themselves to crack Anthony’s murder. For nearly a hundred pages, I pictured the Sleuth as a young man, which shouldn’t matter, but it make me imagine some encounters in a very different light. Regardless of the gender, the character is a bit of a nutter.

While the cops immediately declare Anthony’s death an ‘accident’, the sleuth and a few others think otherwise. The suspect list is long: his wife Olivia, his mistress Lainey, a disgruntled business partner, and several bitter rivals who had reason to want him gone. Then there are the Wistern children, three daughters and a son, each one vile, selfish, and happily living off daddy’s fortune, making them just as likely culprits. Like many murder mysteries, Olivia, the wife, emerges as the prime suspect, though she seems furious at the fact that he “ruined” the lavish party she had so carefully planned, stealing the spotlight in death. So to the reader, it doesn’t sound like she could’ve finished him off.

The Sleuth’s POV is both annoying and slightly entertaining, as it’s clear she’s a total amateur relying only on her “gut feeling” about who might have killed Anthony. She even starts to vlog and live-stream her “investigation,” gradually gaining a steady following for her channel and conspiracy theories. The Sleuth embodies the ever-growing community of true-crime enthusiasts who believe they can take it upon themselves to solve murders.

‘What A Way to Go’ is one of those novels where practically nobody is likable, not even the investigator (the sleuth). Or at least I couldn’t care much about anybody, least of all Anthony himself, who is such a huge prick, his POV shouldn’t have gotten the kind of space the author gives him. The only thing truly interesting in the novel is how Anthony is forced to figure out how he died in the afterlife. This supernatural element reminded me of ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida‘ by Shehan Karunatilaka, which follows a journalist’s ghost investigating his own murder case after he gets stuck in a similar afterlife facility.

The afterlife facility in ‘What A Way to Go’ becomes a humbling experience for Anthony, where for the first time his wealth is worthless and he’s forced to play by the rules. Detestable as he is, there’s a certain satisfaction in watching him flail after death, trapped in what feels like a dreary boarding school for the dead. Here, residents can only progress once they piece together how they died, a process meant to grant closure before being shipped off to their forever-after. Unfortunately, Anthony cannot remember a thing, and constantly makes the wrong guess as to who killed him, which makes for a comical element in the tale.

While not ‘unputdownable’, ‘What A Way to Go’ ties its mystery together with a sensible, satisfying revelation about Anthony’s death, finally putting to the mystery to rest under comical circumstances. I didn’t feel cheated as a reader, like ‘Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone’, which is a very entertaining mystery told through the POV of a crime writer, but ends with a vibe-killing reveal.

Rating: 3 on 5 stars.

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‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ Episode 7 Review: As Tense as a Climactic Chapter

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“Sometime, somehow, winter melts into spring. That night sky will become dawn tomorrow. Pour all your wishes onto a flock of clouds. And send it away to an unknown future. Without a sound… keep dreaming that dream. And secretly… keep seeking what you seek…”

There are five more episodes left in ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’, yet episode 7 feels like an emotionally charged climax. It features a beautiful choir performance by Yoshiki’s class, while he skips school with Hikaru, clearly intending it as a final goodbye. You’re not sure what his plan is, but the moment he suggests they skip school together, there’s a sense of foreboding, a premonition that he wants to bid farewell to the entity pretending to be his best friend.

Quick Recap of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ Episode 6: Hikaru invites a few classmates over for a sleepover, Yoshiki among them. Things take a dark turn when he steps out with Asako to buy something, and she voices doubts about his identity. Flashbacks show Asako’s sensitivity to the supernatural, so she voices her suspicion that Hikaru returned from the mountains changed.

Fearing its secret might be exposed, the entity tries to kill her, only to be stopped just in time by Yoshiki, who had followed them. Asako faints and later apologizes for asking a “weird” question, unaware that her instincts were right or that she could’ve been dead. Yoshiki, however, begins to grasp the full danger of the entity, especially after it casually admits it sees little difference between the living and the dead.

Back to Episode 7 of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’

This edition was such an emotional punch to the gut! It starts off with Hikaru drowning in anxiety over Yoshiki hating him for what he tried to pull with Asako. The entity realizes it cannot grasp the value of human life, but also understands that Yoshiki might be upset with its lack of empathy. However, Yoshiki turns outside his house as usual before school and then suggests they play hooky.

I wish I could write a longer critique about the animation style of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died‘, but I find myself so emotionally absorbed in the protagonists’ psychological struggles that I rarely notice the artistic details. That said, the visuals are engaging enough to complement the intensity of the plot and its eerie supernatural atmosphere.

What stood out most in episode 7 was the class song sung at school, a nostalgic piece, intercut with Yoshiki’s day out with Hikaru. The two catch a train to watch a movie, spend the day together, and later return to Yoshiki’s home, where an unsettling confrontation unfolds between the two of them. “Confrontation” isn’t quite the right word, but I’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers for anyone reading before watching the episode.

From sunlit summer moments that capture carefree youth, like Hikaru and Yoshiki riding the train, to the shadow of their darker encounters, this chapter of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ carries the weight of a climactic finale. Each time I watch this anime, I find myself thinking, “I hope this show never ends,” because its world-building is that gripping. Rather than growing repetitive or overbearing, Yoshiki’s grief over the absence of the “real” Hikaru only deepens, keeping the story profoundly moving. On the other hand, his growing bond with the entity (I feel like maybe it should be referred to as ‘Hikaru E’ or something?) only complicates things further.

Watch ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ on Netflix.

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‘Momo Deal’ Short Film Review: Closure, Lightly Steamed

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Would you come back to haunt your best friend over a plate of momos? In the short film ‘Momo Deal’, Mahima does exactly that. As a ghost, she wants to devour one last plate of her favorite momos with BFF Naman, except he isn’t too keen on honoring her whim, even if she is a spirit now.

Directed by Dheeraj Jindal and written by Palak Shah, ‘Momo Deal’ is a quirky fare, opening with a paradoxical comedic start: Anushka Kaushik who plays Mahima, a dead young woman, expresses a few wishes for her funeral, none of which are followed by her family. Worst of all, her best-friend Naman (Akashdeep Arora) won’t even shed a single tear for her. So she is back to haunt him!

Set against the streets of Jaipur, ‘Momo Deal’ unfolds as a supernatural tale about friendship, loss, and letting go. But instead of being spooky, the 13-minute short delivers a breezy reunion, where two friends meet under unusual circumstances, 13 days after Mahima’s death, for one final conversation and a chance at closure. Their banter is a blend of comedy, drama, and the casual randomness of two old friends catching up. That said, Naman’s whimpered scream at first seeing her ghost feels underplayed, one loud scream could’ve landed a bigger comic payoff.

Actors Anushka Kaushik and Akashdeep Arora bring to life the classic introvert–extrovert pairing as Mahima and Naman. Mahima is boisterous, mischievous, energetic, expressive, slightly reminiscent of ‘Geet’ from ‘Jab We Met‘ (a film the short cheekily alludes to). Naman, meanwhile, is her quiet foil: introverted, brooding, and the sorts who bottle up their feelings. So, it’s fun to watch Mahima’s ghost boss Naman around, nudging him to spill what’s on his mind while their chat drifts from neighborhood gossip to personal regrets.

Just when it seems ‘Momo Deal’ might slip into predictable sentimentality about death, it swerves with a cheeky twist involving ghostly antics. In under 14 minutes, it turns grief into something unexpectedly lighthearted, leaving viewers with a smile.

Watch ‘Momo Deal’ on YouTube.

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Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 Review: Gothic, Fantastical, and Still Biting

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Teen psychic Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) is back for another school term at Nevermore, the Hogwarts equivalent for magical ‘outcasts’. This time around, her younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), who loves blowing things up, is joining too. So it’s twice the macabre mayhem at school.

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Directed by Tim Burton, ‘Wednesday‘ Season 2 Part 1 spans just four episodes, but once again offers fans the best of both worlds: teen fantasy and gothic horror. The season opens with Wednesday spending her summer vacation digging into a cold case, tracking a serial killer, and delivering justice, her way. Back at Nevermore, she returns as the school’s celebrated savior (to her utter disgust), and attracts an unsettling new stalker. Fresh murders in town and a disturbing vision of best-friend Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) in mortal danger pulls Wednesday straight back into sleuth mode, with Thing (Victor Dorobantu) as her assistant.

A whole bunch of new exciting characters are added to the Wednesday universe for season 2, including new Principal Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), new music teacher Isadora Capri (Billie Piper), Dr Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) who looks after inmates at the Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, and Joanna Lumley as Wednesday’s grandmama. However, the standout new cast member is teen actor Evie Templeton as Agnes Demille, a new student who leads the Wednesday fan club at school.

Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles as Gomez and Morticia Addams, with much more screen time in Season 2. Principal Barry invites Morticia to chair a charity gala for Nevermore and asks the couple to stay on campus, putting a spotlight on Wednesday’s strained relationship with her mother. The two frequently clash over how Wednesday uses her psychic abilities.

While I wasn’t entirely convinced by Guzmán and Zeta-Jones as the iconic Addams couple in Season 1, this time they won me over with their wonderfully offbeat chemistry, bringing back fond memories of the animated series I loved as a kid. Fred Armisen too is fantastic as Uncle Fester, who returns to Nevermore to help out his favorite niece in her latest investigation.

While the first episode of ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Part 1 was slightly slow, I started enjoying it so much more because Tim Burton introduces one of my favorite horror elements in the story: an unhinged zombie! The special-effects for the zombie are over the top, but it’s a nice macabre edition to the story, causing quite a few gruesome deaths in just these four episodes.

As ‘Wednesday‘, Jenna Ortega once again steals the show, her teen gothic charm as sharp as ever. She’s so convincing as the stoic, death-obsessed heroine that one of the season’s funniest moments is her breaking into a sly smile after a minor psychological triumph over her mother.

While some viewers online complain that Jenna appears “too perfect” or “airbrushed” in the show, but I couldn’t care less, this is gothic horror fantasy, where realism isn’t the point. If anything, I’m impressed by how convincingly childlike she appears in certain moments, reminding us that the character is still just a teenager.

Friendship, family, and supernatural mayhem are the main themes in this season, with Wednesday’s need to protect Enid from a grisly death serving as the driving force in the tale. A lot of clues point Wednesday to the Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, where several dangerous ‘outcasts’ are patients.

Fans will be happy to see familiar monsters, including Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galphin, kept imprisoned in the psychiatric facility. However, there’s a new mysterious shadowy antagonist in the tale, someone whose identity is kept under wraps until an unexpected reveal in episode 4.

From lavish camping trips to grisly deaths, murderous crows, electric shock therapy, psychological duels, and sword fights, Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 dials up the gothic violence. The soundtrack soars, with a standout scene where the new music teacher delivers a haunting piano rendition of “Zombie” by The Cranberries, underscoring bloody chaos in intercut sequences.

If you loved season 1 of ‘Wednesday’ and its world-building, do not miss out on season 2.

Watch ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix.

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My Girlfriend Is The Man! Episodes 7-8 Review: Neighborly Nightmare

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Romantic jealousies, rivalries, and comedic chaos peak in the latest chapters of ‘My Girlfriend Is The Man‘. Protagonist Ji-Eun (Arin) remains stuck in her male form as the dashing Ji-Hoon (Yoo Jung-hoo), all while worrying about boyfriend Yun Jae (Yoon San-Ha) as his cute junior Min-Ju (Chuu) relentlessly pursues him. Min-Ju even resorts to donning a fake wig and new clothes to mimic Ji-Eun, hoping to confuse, charm, and steal Yun Jae away. To top it off, Min-Ju and Ji-Hoon are now neighbors!

Recap of My Girlfriend Is The Man! Episodes 5-6:

Ji-Hoon grows increasingly insecure over Min-Ju’s relentless flirting with Yun Jae, while Yu-Ri steals the spotlight with her confused, hopeless crush on Ji-Hoon, despite knowing he’s really her best friend Ji-Eun in temporary male form. Her romantic panic only intensifies when Ji-Hoon, now going viral as the “mystery doe-eyed” campus heartthrob, agrees to pose as her fake boyfriend to deflect attention from both gossiping peers and his sudden online fame.

Meanwhile, Yun Jae becomes more relaxed around Ji-Hoon, their buddy chemistry taking center stage, while Min Hyeok develops a mild (and funny) interest in Yu-Ri, still calling her “Yu Ri 4.” Min-Ju, however, remains the show’s most shameless schemer, persistently chasing Yun Jae despite his repeated reminders that he’s taken. The episode ends with Min-ju arriving to move into the same building as Ji-Hoon.

Episodes 7-8 of ‘My Girlfriend is the Man’

Comically titled ‘Sleeping With the Enemy‘ Part 1 & 2, these new chapters focus on an increasingly jealous Ji-Hoon as Min-Ju moves in next door. She, of course, asks Yun Jae for help, and Ji-Hoon agrees to assist as well, unwilling to leave his boyfriend alone with a rival. After all, he can’t exactly reveal that he’s actually Yun Jae’s girlfriend, Ji-Eun, magically transformed into a man by a family curse.

Episode 7 of ‘My Girlfriend is the Man’ leans heavily on Ji-Hoon’s comedic run-ins with Min-Ju, whose slight character growth makes her far less irritating than in previous installments. Still oblivious to Ji-Hoon’s true identity, she even lends him a hand with an offbeat part-time job, no small gesture, considering he’s been struggling to find work without identity papers. Which is why Yun Jae gets him to be his sister Yun A’s (Lee So Won) sister.

Some surprisingly emotional revelations are made about the generational curse plaguing Ji-Eun/Ji-Hoon’s family in Episode 8 of ‘My Girlfriend is the Man’ through a new family member. The twist promises to shake up the central romance, even though Yun Jae has grown more accepting of Ji-Eun’s transformation into a handsome man. He even invites Ji-Hoon over for a cozy movie date at home, one that hilariously goes south. Arin only appears as Ji-Eun in fleeting flashbacks and dream sequence in these chapters.

I’m still not sold on the subplot involving Ji-Eun’s sister, Kim Ji Hye (Choi Yoon Ra), who unexpectedly reconnects with her high school crush, Hong Yeong Seok (Kim Jong Hoon). The coincidence of Yeong Seok also being the man Yun Jae sets up on a blind date with his café owner, Jeong Ha (Jeon Soo Jin), feels far too contrived. And in an even more forced twist, Jeong Ha ends up as a client at the matchmaking agency where Ji Hye works, her profile handled by none other than Ji Hye herself.

I’ll admit, Jeon Soo Jin’s portrayal of the cool, wealthy, and confident Jeong Ha is starting to grow on me. She felt like such a random addition to ‘My Girlfriend is the Man’ at first, but her attitude and fondness for the nerdy Yeong Seok are genuinely amusing. That said, the show really didn’t need two love triangles, one with the main trio and now another involving Jeong Ha, Ji Hye, and Yeong Seok, even though the studious Yeong Seok remains completely clueless that two women are in love with him.

Episodes 7 & 8 are arguably the most entertaining editions of the show, packing in some big ‘laugh out loud’ moments, including a ridiculous cat-fight between Ji-Hoon and Min-Ju. It will be interesting to see if Yun Jae will be able to put their bitter rivalry to an end.

Watch ‘My Girlfriend Is The Man’ on Viki.

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Revenged Love Series Review: Snakes, Scheming, & RomCom Hilarity

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Nothing mends a broken heart like vengeance or new love, and in ‘Revenged Love’, the protagonist gets two birds in one shot. When somebody is brutally dumped in a romantic comedy, the traditional way of revenge is to fake date someone hotter to make the ex-partner jealous, but in Chinese series ‘Revenged Love’ (逆爱), the protagonist Wu Suo Wei (played by Zi Yu) decides to steal his girlfriend’s new boyfriend Chi Cheng (Tian Xu Ning). Things get comedic when they fall for each other for real.

Directed by Gong Yu Shi, ‘Revenged Love‘ spans 24 episodes and is based on the novel ‘Counter Attack‘ by Chai Ji Dan, the same author behind the 2016 hit series Addicted, which was banned by the Chinese government for refusing to dilute its gay romance into a tame bromance. Fans will be relieved to find that ‘Revenged Love‘ isn’t wishy-washy when it comes to the sexuality of its primary characters. The plot follows Wu Suo Wei and his hilarious plan to seduce the wealthy Chi Cheng (Tian Xu Ning), who is dating Suo Wei’s gold-digging ex, Yue Yue (Sun Qian Yu), but is known to prefer men. In fact, Chi Cheng’s order of preferences seems to be: pet snakes > men > women.

Suo Wei turns to his newly found gay doctor friend Jiang Xiao Shuai (Liu Xuan Cheng) to teach him the art of attracting men and the two come with a whole bunch of funny ideas to win over Chi Cheng. In a twist, Xiao Shuai is aggressively pursued by wealthy playboy Guo Cheng Yu (Zhan Xuan), a close friend of Chi Cheng. Yeah, the plot is a familiar combination of co-incidences, trickery, silliness and delivers some exaggerated yet entertaining drama, generously laden with comedic moments.

From staging constant “accidental” meetings, fake-reading complicated literature, and playing basketball, to smoking cigarettes, pretending to love classical music, and even learning to breed snakes, Wu Suo Wei tries every trick in the book to catch Chi Cheng’s attention. The first few episodes of ‘Revenged Love’ are all about the ‘chasing’ game, where Sun Qian Yu’s Yue Yue (Suo Wei’s ex-girlfriend) is reduced to caricatured ‘gold digger’. While Suo Wei romance hurtles at a good speed, the secondary storyline following Cheng Yu’s efforts to win over Doctor Xiao Shuai is a lot slow-burn in nature. The snakes in the show serve as strong supporting character, although they progressively appear less and less.

While Zi Yu is comically cute as ‘Revenged Love’ protagonist Suo Wei, Tian Xu Ning is pitch-perfect as the fiendishly good-looking Chi Cheng and reminded me of Japanese actor Ito Asahi from ‘Futtara Doshaburi’. Their onscreen chemistry is fun to watch, especially in the first few episodes of the show, where Suo Wei often experiences ‘gay panic’ around Chi Cheng, while the latter often looks like he would devour Suo Wei in one bite. Tian Xu Ning suavely portrays Cheng’s dual personality, cool as a cucumber on the outside, but a maniac on the inside. He has ‘crazy in love’ eyes and often unsettles Suo Wei by blatantly flirting with him, which includes sending sleazy texts and memes.

Just like drag queens have fairy godmothers, Liu Xuan Cheng, who plays Doctor Xiao Shuai, is like Suo Wei’s gay godmother in ‘Revenged Love’, inducting him into the world of queer love and sex. Xiao Shuai has a flirty and feisty personality, although later episodes reveal he has a lot of emotional baggage due to an abusive boyfriend. Guo Cheng Yu’s character is probably the most under-developed in the series, although actor Zhan Xuan potrays him with a Don Juan-like flair: he is sexy, seductive, and has great onscreen presence. In-fact, there’s a lot of sexual tension between Zhan Xuan’s Cheng Yu and Xu Ning’s Chi Cheng, which works well for the series, because Xiao Shuai suspects the two might be more than friends.

If there’s one glaring problem with “Revenged Love“, it’s the weird dubbing. It’s evident that several actors in the cast have not done their own voiceovers. While this is fairly standard in the Chinese industry, it can be quite distracting for foreign viewers. This problem persists for many episodes in the show, but at least the background score is engaging, featuring a few catchy English tracks that elevate scenes. Although, some sections could’ve benefited from more music.

The first 13–14 episodes of “Revenged Love” are briskly paced and engaging, but the direction in the second half shifts noticeably, becoming choppier. Plot-wise, fresh complications arise that test Suo Wei and Chi Cheng’s romance, even though they’re already committed boyfriends by mid-series, complete with Chi Cheng affectionately calling him “Wei Wei.”

Actor Liu Jun plays Chi Cheng’s legendary ex-boyfriend Wang Shuo, who enters the show in the second-half, stirring up jealousy and trouble between the lead pair. And despite his late entry, Liu Jun holds his own as the unpredictable, emotionally unstable, scheming ex-boyfriend. In the few scenes he shares with Tian Xu Ning’s Chi Cheng, the tension between them is palpable. There’s a love-hate gaze they exchange that makes their shared history as lovers believable and Wei Wei’s insecurities understandable.

In the latter half of ‘Revenged Love‘, the drama piles on, not just with the clichéd “ex-boyfriend” trope, but also a “sick parent” twist. Wei Wei’s mother, Li Ya (Qin Yue), faces a health crisis, and in a surprising turn, it’s Chi Cheng who rushes her to the hospital. She makes him promise to keep her illness from Wei Wei, sparking a chain of miscommunication and misunderstandings between the boyfriends. Even so, the show maintains an amusing balance between seriousness and comedy.

ian Xu Ning and Zi Yu are the stand-out stars of the show, with both their characters undergoing significant growth. They each start out as immature, hot-headed individuals. Tian Xu Ning’s Chi Cheng sees the most transformation, starting out as a blazing “red flag”: promiscuous, unreliable, moody, overly impulsive, self-centered, and obsessed with snakes. However, by the end of the show, his love for boyfriend Wei Wei outweighs everything, even his inflated ego.

Overall, ‘Revenged Love’ is fun, chaotic, and a pretty entertaining adaptation for BL fans who are tired of censored Chinese adaptations. The last few episodes suffer from sloppy editing and a rushed pace, but it’s still worth a watch.

Watch ‘Revenged Love’ on Viki or YouTube.

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The Turing Test: Short Film Review

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We live in an age where some people choose romantic relationships with AI chatbots over human partners. It seems unlikely that they would care if their AI companions failed the ‘Turing Test’, a measure designed to determine whether a machine can be as perceptive and intuitive as a human. For programmers, though, passing it is imperative.

Written and directed by Jaschar Marktanner, the short film ‘Turing Test’ follows a programmer’s efforts to train their AI to fool colleagues into believing it is human. Yet the AI’s unpredictable behavior becomes frustratingly challenging. It could either be a glitch or maybe the AI playing its human.

Running under seven minutes, the film opens in a stark, minimalist room containing only two white chairs. Soon, Sophie (Marlene Fahnster) and Alan (Richard Lingscheidt) take their seats, engaging in a heated debate about the ‘Turing Test’. Strikingly, their exchange lacks any trace of genuine human emotion, except for a few seconds, where one of them lets their mask slip.

From the moment their interaction begins, viewers are left wondering who is human and who is AI, especially since the conversation is clearly designed to push that very question. The ‘Turing Test’ is already underway.

Both Fahnster and Lingscheidt deliver performances so eerily mechanical that one might believe they were actual humanoid machines. The film is slightly reminiscent of ‘Ex Machina’, where the Turing Test was central, underscored by the tagline: To erase the line between man and machine is to obscure the line between men and gods.

The final minute reveals the true human, and the stark contrast between the programmer’s cluttered office and the sterile digital space of the AI interactions creates a striking visual divide. However, the short runtime keeps the film from truly pushing the envelope in exploring the blurred lines between programmers and their machines.

Overall, Jaschar Marktanner’s short is a taut little film that edges into techno-horror territory in its climax, delivering a creepily-comic last second twist.

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Dan Da Dan Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Maid Café Pranks & Evil Eye Mayhem

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Momo Ayase’s close friends, Miko and Kei, rarely appear in ‘Dan Da Dan‘, but they take their BFF duties seriously, which includes embarrassing their friend in front of her crush!

Quick recap of Dan Da Dan Season 2 Episode 6: The Hayashi musicians launch into an electrifying performance to aid Granny Seiko in her exorcism ritual, meant to purge the “Evil Eye” yokai from Jiji’s body. But Jiji tearfully begs them not to banish it, insisting it only needs a friend. Surprisingly, Seiko agrees, and Momo, Okarun, and Aira promise to keep an eye on Jiji to ensure the “Evil Eye” doesn’t spiral out of control again. The episode closes on a hilarious note as Okarun, dragged by Miko and Kei to a café, is stunned to find Momo working there, in a maid’s uniform, no less! It’s her new part-time job.

Titled ‘Feeling Kinda Gloomy‘, episode 7 of ‘Dan Da Dan‘ season 2 opens with the hilarious scene of Okarun realizing he’s been tricked by the girls into visiting Momo’s new workplace, resulting in one heck of an embarrassing encounter. Which of-course generates a lot of laughs for both us viewers and the mischievous girls.

While the opening minutes deliver plenty of maid café comedy, the main focus of the episode is Granny Seiko’s attempt to train Jiji to control the Evil Eye, while Aira lazily watches them. The communal atmosphere at Seiko’s house adds a lot of warmth to the story, since all major characters in the show are camping at her place. Manjiro, the “Bootuber” priest, may have been absent during the Hayashi performance, but he’s still around too, and he doesn’t believe it’s wise to let such a powerful spirit remain within Jiji, no matter how talented, dedicated, kind, or strong he may seem.

The second half of this ‘Dan Da Dan’ chapter delivers some tense supernatural moments, as the Evil Eye is unleashed once again. Everyone scrambles to fight the possessed Jiji with their hot water bottles (remember, hot water deactivates the Evil Eye), though this time, it proves a bit trickier than before.

Funnily awkward interactions, mildly romantic moments, teenage bickering, supernatural mayhem, this chapter has a little bit of everything ‘Dan Da Dan‘ is known for. It closes on a spooky cliffhanger, with Okarun heading out late at night with Turbo Granny to train, determined to become strong enough to fight the Evil Eye yokai.

Stream Dan Da Dan on Netflix or Crunchyroll.

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Rachel Rising Volume 6 Review: It’s Die, Wake, Rage, Repeat

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Rachel wakes up after dying for the 100th time in ‘Rachel Rising’. Lilith is back from dead too. They fight. And the plan is still to stop the more evil Malus.

What’s even new?

Not much. Except for a new revelation about Rachel’s biblical connection with Lilith. Which didn’t even seem like much of a surprise. Flashbacks in earlier issues of the horror comic hinted at some sort of sisterhood between the two, but it turns out their bond runs deeper than merely being women feared as witches by religious zealots.

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Artistically, there are quite a few changes through the comic-book series. For instance, it’s no longer incessantly snowing in Manson, Rachel’s little town plagued by ancient malevolent entities, herself included.

Volume 6 of ‘Rachel Rising’ starts with a rain-soaked scene, where a fresh bleeding body is lying covered on the road. The town has yet another murder mystery to solve, and the body ends up in aunt Johnny’s morgue.

The plot is getting repetitive at this point, but I’ve grown fond of some of the characters, so it’s still entertaining to watch them chat, bicker, gossip, and plot. Lilith, who was out of commission for a while, is back on the scene, seeking both Zoey’s and Rachel’s help in her mission to stop Malus from unleashing hell on Earth.

Why can’t Lilith pick a lane? On one hand, she wants to annihilate Manson and everyone in the little town; on the other, she wants to win ‘God’s’ favor by defeating Malus. So… does she hate humans or not? Rachel almost half-solves her murder mystery, but still has a mission to complete.

The only bit that was perhaps slightly uncharacteristic in this volume of ‘Rachel Rising’ was the cutesy, sweet blossoming romance between Rachel’s best-friend Jet and the nerdy, gentle-giant Earl. The sprinkling of their unlikely romantic bond was perhaps the only fresh offering in these chapters.

Well, there’s only one more volume to go, and I am hoping we get an explosive finale, because things are beginning to lose steam in ‘Rachel Rising’. It’s Terry Moore’s excellent artwork that’s keeping me around.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. ‘Rachel Rising‘ is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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6 Ways ‘My Girlfriend Is the Man!’ is Different From The Webtoon

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The Korean series ‘My Girlfriend is the Man’ is adapted from the webtoon of the same name (내 여자친구는 상남자) by Massstar. The plot follows Park Yun Jae’s (Yoon San-ha) comedic trials after his beautiful girlfriend Kim Ji Eun (Arin) turns into a guy (Yoo Jung-hoo plays the male Ji Eun) and they need figure out how to solve the bizarre-fantastical situation. Until then, Ji Eun goes by the male name Ji-Hoon.

Just by watching the first few episodes of the show, fans of the webtoon will be able to see major differences between the two mediums. And since the webtoon was still ongoing when the series started airing, clearly the writers of the live-action show had to take lots of creative liberties with how they would shape the story. Here are six major ways the live-action has already deviated from the original story of ‘My Girlfriend Is the Man’.

1. In the webtoon, Kim Ji Eun lives alone, however, in the live-action version, she shares her flat with her older sister Kim Ji Hye (played by Choi Yoon-ra).

2. In-fact, in the original comic, Kim Ji Eun doesn’t even have a sister, but three older brothers who she rarely gets to meet. In the live-action series, Ji Eun only has one other sibling.

3. One major way the series differs from the comic is the fact that Ji Eun’s original self, essentially her girl form, gets a lot more space, since Arin who plays Ji Eun is a big name and is billed as a primary protagonist. So there are a lot of flashbacks in the show, or scenes where Yun Jae imagines Ji-Hoon as Ji-Eun. The comic focuses more on Ji Eun’s struggle as a man AKA Ji-Hoon.

4. In the comic, Kim Ji Eun is mostly clueless for the first weeks about why she turned into a guy, but in the live-action series she and her sister are already aware that it’s some sort of generational curse that runs in their mother’s side of the family. So the sister’s get matching tattoos, hoping it will serve as a marker if one of them ever changes.

5. In-fact, the series goes a step ahead in the very first few episodes and shows a flashback where Kim Ji Eun’s parents show the sisters photos where their father is with a man, and it’s supposedly their mom! Although, this little change in ‘My Girlfriend is The Man’ makes one thing strange: why doesn’t the mother also tell the girls how the curse is reversed when she tells them about it?

6. Another major difference between the webtoon and live-series is the fact that Ji Eun’s sister gets a significant romantic sub-plot to herself. In the comic, the siblings are only in the background. While some might enjoy this, others might not be welcoming of these new distractions.

Well, these are some ways in which both versions differ. What changes did you like or didn’t?!

‘My Girlfriend Is The Man’ is streaming on Viki.

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