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Blood of Zeus Season 2 Review – Packs More Lore

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“I would rather suffer for all eternity, than be a pawn again.”

You may or may not remember, but “Blood of Zeus” Season One ended with a fantastic scene featuring antagonist Serapahim’s first encounter with the King of the Underworld – Hades. It’s an ironically comical scene, as even after death, Seraphim is ordered around by Gods, with Hades ordering him to kneel down, which elicits an angry scream in response. While it marks a great end to season one, it also lays a strong foundation for what’s to come next in the tale.

Created by Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides, season 2 of “Blood of Zeus” opens with Hades’ plotting to seize power in the wake of the chaos from the ongoing war between the Gods and the Titans. With Zeus seemingly dead, this season focuses on Hades and his wife Persephone’s plan on stealing a powerful stone that could make them the next rulers of Olympus. But the couple needs Seraphim on their side, who isn’t just dead, but also extremely disinclined to help any God with anything. Meanwhile, Zeus’ half-mortal son Heron and all the other Gods are embroiled in the battle for Olympus, after which an ugly legacy tussle follows over who’d take the throne.

The animation by Powerhouse Animation Studio remains pretty much the same, so again, you’ll see a lot of Castlevania style illustrations and movements. However, this time around, the pace is slightly faster than season one of “Blood of Zeus”, so the creators don’t use too many slow-motion shots on the backgrounds and landscapes. I really liked the gritty personality of Hades, whose appearance is on the lines of his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, very unlike the starkly evil look made popular by Disney in its cartoon “Hercules”.

This season of “Blood of Zeus” is a lot more rich in lore, the episodes dwell into how Zeus grew up; how the underworld functions, and viewers get a firsthand account of Hades’ back-story and motivations, as the God recalls how his brother unfairly relegated him to the underworld after defeating their father Kronos. Hades also retells his rather poignant, and moving story of how he and Persephone, the Goddess of Spring, fell in love and had to face the wrath of Persephone’s scary mother Demeter, who ensures the couple couldn’t have a happily ever after. If you’re looking for a fluffy, modern retelling of the epic love story between Hades and Persephone, you should check out the webtoon “Lore Olympus” by Rachel Smythe.

I wasn’t a big fan of Heron, the primary protagonist who dominated the first season of “Blood of Zeus”, so this installment was definitely more entertaining for me, since there’s plenty of focus on Seraphim and the others Gods. Heron continues to be boringly one-dimensional, struggling with his anger issues, while he goes on a mission to find the sword Zeus forged for him. All Hermes does in this show is run around doing errands for everybody, but despite his brief screen-time, Hermes is a lot more likable. After wreaking havoc on Olympus and trying to kill her own husband, Hera gets a redemptive arc in this season, which was quite contrived, but does add to some drama. Seraphim on the other hand sees significant character growth, even though he remains just as hot-headed, but his motivations are completely different from before.

For those who enjoyed the first season, “Blood of Zeus” season two is arguably a lot more gritty, and gripping. Although, if you’re a fan of Heron, than maybe his reduced presence in this follow-up might feel disappointing. The episodes running up to the climax make viewers expect a tense, exciting battle for Olympus’ throne, however, the writers deliver a rather underwhelming end. I thought that all the Olympians – especially Zeus’ innumerable powerful children – will get a chance to prove their mettle, but that doesn’t happen, instead, a fish-market style fight unfolds over the precious stone. Regardless, there’s a big surprising twist in the end, a killer one at that, which serves as a gigantic cliffhanger, so a bigger, bloodier season three might be in store!

Definitely stream “Blood of Zeus” season two on Netflix if you liked the first one.

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Marta Review – Quirky Short Film Follows Aspiring Killer

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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Marta is a young woman who loves horror movies and dreams of becoming a serial killer. She targets a skinny stranger named Carlos by pretending to need help with her car. But will she be able to commit her first murder?

Written and directed by Lucía Forner Segarra, the Spanish short film “Marta” stars Thais Blume as the titular protagonist, an aspiring serial killer, while Daniel Pérez Prada plays the unsuspecting Carlos, possibly Marta’s first victim if she is serious about her criminal ambitions.

The film opens with Marta nervously smoking a cigarette while leaning against a car, hinting at her sinister intentions. Thais Blume is comically likable as the unhinged young woman who takes her love for horror movies too far. In the first half of the film, Carlos doesn’t take her seriously, wondering if it’s all an elaborate prank when he is kidnapped and Marta declares her intent to murder him. However, the mood shifts dramatically in the second half, creating significant tension over whether a gruesome murder will actually occur.

Daniel Pérez Prada is riveting as Carlos, a random man who finds himself at the mercy of a woman he’s never met. He tries to talk his way out of the bizarrely dangerous situation, and the banter between the two characters is both low-key hilarious and suspenseful. “I am a woman, so I cannot kill you?” Marta subtly rages when Carlos begs for his release. She is a strange blend of friendly, unstable, and threatening, making her completely unpredictable.

The cinematography uses warm tones, with most of the action unfolding in a well-lit basement that looks like it could belong on the set of “Saw.” The film relies on the performances of its lead actors to drive the story, and both Thais Blume and Daniel Pérez Prada deliver their roles with the right amount of punch. Viewers will be divided over whom to root for: should Marta get her first kill, or should Carlos make his great escape?

For a 14-minute short film, “Marta” is a clever, entertaining take on what happens when a young woman decides to become a serial killer.

You can watch it on YouTube. It’s also embedded below.

Raise Hell! Issue #2 Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Now that Comixology has picked up Jordan Alsaqa’s fantasy comic-book series “Raise Hell!”, issue #2 of the series has finally materialized! I’m glad I read issue #1 of “Raise Hell!” in May 2024, because Alsaqa first self-published the comic way back in November 2020, and the second installment came out in June 2024. That’s a pretty long wait between the two books.

Anyway, publication history aside, Issue #2 of “Raise Hell!” sees protagonists Victor, Miri, and Reeves gear up for their first day of school after summer break. Victor is the only one excited to be back in a classroom, while his best friends are still in vacation mode. They are all jolted from their bubbles when their newly acquired demon Alistair joins them on the car trip to school! The trio realizes Alistair is bound to them and cannot be away from them beyond a certain distance. They must find a way to transfigure him. The issue explores the misadventures of the friends as they figure out how to face their new problem.

The artwork is just as colorful and engaging as in the first issue, even if it’s a little rough on the edges. As I said earlier, it’s nice how all three friends—Victor, Miri, and Reeves—have distinct personalities, making it easy to differentiate between them. A lot of new characters make their way into the second issue, including a bunch of bitchy witches who were friends with Reeves in the past, but then they got too cool and fashionable to hang out with her. Most of the plot unfolds at school, so there’s some mild school drama and amusing shenanigans. Even the new character illustrations are vividly individualistic and different, so despite a number of new faces, it’s easy to keep track of them. I keep mentioning this as a token of appreciation because I’ve read plenty of comics where half the characters look like doppelgangers.

Only about 25 pages long, this edition of “Raise Hell” is light-hearted, with quite a few comical moments, even though Alistair the demon doesn’t get a lot of space. While each of the friends tries to find a way to make Alistair shape-shift, all Alistair has to do is sit still in one spot and not get into trouble. But he obviously does! Regardless, the issue ends on a cheery, celebratory note and also in a way that won’t leave you wishing that you had waited for the whole comic-book series to be out. Basically, if Jordan Alsaqa and his team decided to end the series right here, they could, even though it would be a shame because it’s turning out to be a fun read.

Rating: 3.5 on 5. Raise Hell! is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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Watching ‘Inside Out’ Nine Years Later

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“Seriously, you haven’t seen Inside Out yet?!”

A friend of mine totally judged me a few weeks ago when we were discussing animated movies, and I revealed that I hadn’t seen “Inside Out,” which came out in 2015. That year, a lot was going on in my life, including moving to a new city for a new job, house-hunting, and navigating many other new things. Watching movies was at the bottom of my list; I probably didn’t see more than ten movies that year, a number I surpass in a month now.

Now that it’s 2024 and Pixar’s “Inside Out” has gotten a sequel, I decided it was high time I saw the critically acclaimed movie. The story follows 11-year-old Riley, who moves to a new city with her parents. Her emotions—Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness—are very conflicted over the overwhelming change, leading to a big existential crisis for the little girl. Can Riley’s emotions work together to help her navigate the challenges of a new city, school, and making new friends?

I convinced my parents to watch it with me, and while Dad declared it boring after the first 20 minutes, Mom didn’t have to say anything—she simply dozed off after 40 minutes. So okay, it’s definitely not as amusing for folks past the 50 mark. As for me, I always thought that the concept of showing human emotions as little people inside our heads was really cool and fun. “Inside Out” was definitely interesting, even though I didn’t think it was as entertaining as everybody else made it out to be. But it could also be because plenty of fun animated movies have come out since, including Pixar’s “Elemental,” which borrows the basic concepts of “Inside Out” to show elements in human-like forms. If I had to name five animated movies that came after 2015 and I enjoyed more than “Inside Out,” they’d be:

Sing (2016) – I’ve seen this thrice, but that’s also because I love pop music.Nimona (2023) Luca (2021)Encanto (2021)Raya & The Last Dragon (Unpopular opinion maybe, but I really enjoyed it)

The primary protagonist of “Inside Out” is Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Riley’s dominant emotion, who is illustrated as a luminescent young woman with shocking blue hair and a green dress, which somehow to me looked like a homeless Tinker Bell. All the other emotions looked a lot more engaging than Joy, especially the wide-eyed, gloomy blue Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith) and the feisty, outspoken Anger (voiced by Lewis Black). All these emotions live in Riley’s head and take turns helping her make important life decisions. They also take care of her memories, but it is mostly Joy who leads through the day.

The focus on a little girl’s big emotions is done really well, especially in demonstrating how kids are psychologically impacted by their parents’ decisions. Riley is scared of all the new changes in her life, sad about leaving her friends behind, and worried she will not be able to keep up a happy front in front of her parents. Things only feel worse because her parents are too caught up with the changes too and don’t give Riley the same attention, making her feel more alienated, to the point of wanting to run away from home and go back to her old life. However, I wish the makers had shown a little bit more of Riley as a person, instead of focusing most of the runtime on Joy and Sadness getting lost and trying to find their way back. They waste a lot of time with Riley’s imaginary friend Bing Bong, a silly character who tries to lead them through a shortcut but gets them in trouble. I really kept hoping to see more interactions between Riley and her parents because they seem to have such a cute, happy dynamic, but their scenes are far too few.

“Inside Out” packs its best moments towards the end, where the moral of the story is beautifully executed in an emotional climax featuring Riley, who finally opens up to her parents about what’s going on in her head. The moral? It’s okay to be sad, but not okay to bottle up our sadness. Love the message. I couldn’t help but sniffle up just a little in the end. Overall, this is still a nice, cute film to watch on the weekend and some viewers might obviously love it a lot more than I did.

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Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Review – Outstandingly Boring

Rating: 1 out of 5.

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Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Writers: Aditya Basu, Vashu Bhagnani, Suraj Gianani

It’s great to be ambitious, but if you’re going to make a movie with a larger-than-life villain who threatens to wipe out an entire nation, then show the heroes dancing to a mediocre song at the beach, you risk erasing any sense of tension, thrill, and suspense. The viewer is going lose attention.

Only the first few minutes of the 2024 Bollywood action movie “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (now on Netflix) are gripping. It begins with a well-shot scene of a terrorist attack on Indian forces transporting a top-secret package. The battle is well choreographed, featuring heavy armor, guns, tanks, rocket launchers—the whole shebang. The primary antagonist, a masked megalomaniac, swoops in on a chopper, goes on a murderous rampage, and steals the package. The Indian army enlists two elite court-martialed soldiers—Freddy (Akshay Kumar) and Rocky (Tiger Shroff)—to retrieve their goods. Will they save the country? That’s the premise. (Of course they will).

With an almost three-hour runtime (it’s 2 hours and 43 minutes but feels like forever), “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is packed to the brim with combat sequences, explosions, blood, sweat, and deaths, but it’s all strung together in the most inane manner. And the jokes—don’t get me started on the jokes—are so bad that the writers even acknowledge it by having other characters repeatedly say Rocky’s sense of humor “sucks.” When Rocky is shown a video of the terrorist attack, with the bodies of martyred soldiers, his first response is, “This psycho is definitely a virgin.” Not funny at all, Rocky. Not funny at all.

Both Akshay Kumar’s Freddy and Tiger Shroff’s Rocky are insufferably self-important, so much so that you’d think they are superheroes. Well, that’s definitely how they are portrayed, and not even in a fun manner. Prithviraj Sukumaran plays the primary villain, whose look and voice feel slightly inspired by Bane from the Batman universe. Sonakshi Sinha is wasted in her small part as Captain Priya Dixit, while Manushi Chhillar does her best to take on the bad guys as Officer Misha but isn’t badass enough. They should’ve given Manushi’s part to Sonakshi instead. But I don’t know if it would’ve made much of a difference in making “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” slightly more watchable. With ill-timed forgettable songs, familiar action sequences, and a cliched climax, this film colossally struggles to be gritty.

Even Jennifer Lopez’s bizarre over-the-top sci-fi action flick “Atlas” wasn’t as bland as “Bade Miyan Chote Miya”. But if you really want to watch a fun action movie from 2024, there’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”, Fahadh Faasil’s Avesham and a bunch of other titles to choose from.

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Sweet Tooth 3 Review – Slow, Glum, But Glorious End for Gus’ Odyssey

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“Sweet Tooth” Season 3 probably comes closest to being as grim and dark as Jeff Lemire’s original comic-book series, on which the Netflix series is based. Spanning eight episodes, the season sees the adorable Christian Convery back as protagonist Gus, who embarks on an epic journey to Alaska with his friends to find his mother Birdie (Amy Seimetz), who is looking for a cure for the Sick.

Episode one of “Sweet Tooth” Season 3 opens with a flashback set in Alaska, which serves as a prologue to how the Sick might have started. It establishes a mysterious tone for the post-apocalyptic show, where most of humanity is wiped out and the rest struggles to come to terms with their new reality – a strange, incurable sickness continues to kill them, and humans only give birth to hybrid children who are part animal, part human, and immune to the Sick. Josh Brolin reprises his role as the narrator, with his heavy-set, worldly-wise voice leading viewers through the stormy, whirlwind journey of a small boy with big dreams.

Read: ‘Sweet Tooth’ 2 – No dessert, but binge-worthy!

Viewers are then taken to the current timeline where Gus, Jepperd AKA Big Man (Nonso Anozie), Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen), and Wendy (Naledi Murray) strategize on how to get to Alaska. Gus experiences strange visions of a cave and is convinced that he could help Birdie find the cure. However, even though the blood-thirsty group ‘The Last Men,’ who persecuted hybrid children like Gus, no longer exists, a nefarious criminal syndicate led by a woman called Zhang (Rosalind Chao) is now after Gus. So, the group must move fast before they are imprisoned and tortured.

If you thought the last season was a lot darker than “Sweet Tooth” Season One, which was more like a mash-up between a bright Disney fantasy and a dark “Walking Dead”-style dystopian tale, let me tell you this—season three bears almost no resemblance to the first one. There are no ‘sweet’ moments or sunny sequences, although at least the road trip theme is back! Like season one, Gus is back on the road to get to his mother Birdie, a scientist desperately trying to unlock the secrets of what went wrong with the world. It’s quite different from season two, where everybody was trapped in different situations and were busy trying to free themselves from the shackles they were bound in.

Adeel Akhtar reprises his role as the obsessive Dr. Aditya Singh, one of the most morally conflicted characters of “Sweet Tooth.” This time around, he doesn’t want to cut up Gus for experiments; instead, he claims he wants to help him reach Alaska to find Birdie. The writers throw in some mystical mumbo-jumbo about fate in the story, which just felt too far-fetched for me—Dr. Aditya Singh says he has been having visions similar to Gus’s and asserts they are fated to work together. The first three episodes struggle with pace; there’s plenty of uncertainty over what’s going to happen with Gus and his gang, and things only become certain and gripping from episode 4 onward, when Gus finds a definitive way to get to Alaska.

Episode 4, in fact, is one of the most somber editions of all “Sweet Tooth” episodes so far, where Gus faces death in a way no kid his age should have to. It’s a heart-breaking installment where the deer-shaped boy does a lot of growing up in just one night. Christian Convery continues to be the beating heart of the show as Gus, the ever-optimistic deer-boy who, despite his horrid experiences with humans, still sees the best in people. Nonso Anozie as his guardian-cum-bodyguard Jepperd, who Gus still fondly refers to as Big Man, continues to be fiercely protective of the boy, and their bond shines through as always. Stefania LaVie Owen is as feisty as ever as Bear, although she is awkward with her newfound ‘older sister’ status with Wendy. I was hoping to see definitive growth in Bear and Wendy’s relationship, but the two don’t have as many interactions, although the sisters do have each other’s backs until the end.

The warm bond between the already established characters is the most likable thing in season 3 of “Sweet Tooth,” as their interactions are a testament to the power of friendship. Bear delivers a memorable reinterpretation of the quote “blood is thicker than water,” suggesting that the water in the saying symbolizes the fluid surrounding a baby in the womb, while the blood represents the sacrifices made during battles and strife. Thus, bonds forged in adversity are portrayed as stronger than biological relations. I think that was my favorite dialogue from the season.

The creators also introduce many new characters throughout the eight episodes. Some of those who stand out are Kelly Marie Tran as Rosie, Zhang’s older daughter, who relentlessly pursues Gus and has a tragic backstory; Cara Gee and Ayazhan as the mother-daughter duo Ciana and Nuka, who are friends with Birdie in the snowy Alaska. Ayazhan is the season’s most cheerful character, a fox hybrid child whose blue eyes glint with hope, joy, and a zest for life. And if you were wondering—Zhang and her cronies are just as bad as The Last Men, to the point that I was anxious about the motives of almost every new character introduced.

Since getting to Alaska is the primary focus of the protagonists, the cinematography is dominated by a snowy landscape, which flits between being beautiful and grimly ominous. There are very few colorful scenes to exude any sense of positivity in “Sweet Tooth 3”, instead, a warm palette and forbidding settings tower over the runtime, which fittingly complement the bleak tone of the story. But after having fallen in love with the bright first season, some fans would’ve like to see some visual breaks and comic relief in between.

“Man versus Nature” emerges as the dominant theme in “Sweet Tooth 3,” with Gus learning the harsh lesson that maybe humans deserved the fatal sickness that plagues their kind. Can the sick really be stopped? If so, how? Some seem to have brutally bizarre ideas of how things “can be fixed,” and I was quite disappointed with the ultimate origin story, which remains slightly cryptic until the end and feels like watching something about a pantheistic cult. There’s a ridiculous “Black Panther”/“Thor”-like sequence towards the end, where Gus meets somebody in a different realm, akin to how the Black Panther and Thor meet their ancestors for guidance, and the conversation helps Gus take the next course of action.

Despite all the not very convincing plot twists nearing the end, the climax gives Gus and his friends a picture-perfect finish—an end so satisfactory that it washes over all the little complaints one might have with the rest of the story. It’s an epic ending for the sweet deer-boy who journeys to the end of the world—Alaska—to fulfill his destiny and maybe save the world! The climax makes this season totally worth the watch.

Rating: 7.5 on 10. Stream the show on Netflix.

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Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc – Ep 5 Review

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This was arguably the most entertaining episode of Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc. It’s features protagonist Tanjiro Kamado going through the rigorous training of not one, but three unhinged Hashiras! So it starts with the exuberant Mitsuri Kanroji, the bubbly Love Hashira with bright pink and green hair, who had earlier fought alongside Tanjiro and the others in the Swordsmith Village Arc against upper ranking demons.

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Ominously titled “I Even Ate A Demon”, episode 5 of Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc begins with Tanjiro receiving a cheery-warm welcome from Mitsuri Kanroji, before he gets to face her crazy flexibility coaching with other junior corps members. After Kanroji, it is Serpent Hashira Obanai Iguro, who gives Tanjiro a mean-spirited welcome, ensuring he has a hard time under his tutelage. “I just arrived and he totally hates me,” the poor boy exclaims through nervous sweat as Iguro stares him down. But he’ll soon learn Iguro isn’t even half as cut-throat as the next trainer!

This edition packs a lot of comedy, is fast-paced, and thoroughly entertaining. Fans finally get to see Zenitsu Agatsuma, who happens to be one of my favorite characters in the series, so I was totally thrilled despite his very brief—but hilarious as always—screen-time. Even in his brief scenes, Zenitsu is mostly depicted in an exaggerated Chibi-style animation because almost all his scenes are funny as hell, so the animators portray him in comically distorted postured instead of in his regular form.

Surprisingly, there are no signs of demons or Muzan Kibutsuji in this chapter at all. However, Wind Hashira Sanemi Shinazugawa appears in the second half of the episode and treats his juniors just as badly as a demon would, if not worse. Sanemi is mean to the point of being cruel, making his part of the training both amusing and nail-biting, since he doesn’t even care if his training method and temper end up killing sub-plot. Apart from his mean nature, Sanemi’s subplot also delves into his stormy relationship with his younger brother Genya.

With lots of familiar characters and back-to-back fights (as part of the training), episode 5 of Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc was a fun segment. The climax ends with a teaser of the next Hashira waiting to take Tanjiro Kamado under their wing, and it looks like things are going to remain difficult for him. But at least he has Zenitsu by his side!

You can stream the series on Netflix, CrunchyRoll and JioCinema.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Review – Fury madder than Max?

By Akshay Prabhakaran

Stepping out of the movie, my friend said that he liked Furiosa more than Fury Road. We both took a moment, I was thinking, “Really? More?” and before I could ask him, he said, “No, I think Fury Road was better”. If you liked Mad Max: Fury Road and are wondering if you should watch Furiosa, WATCH FURIOSA, you’re sure to like it.

That said, Furiosa is the entertaining back story that you probably didn’t ask for. This movie tries really hard to help build context for characters and worlds while explaining scenes in Fury Road so much, that it might have forgotten to be a good stand-alone movie. George Miller couldn’t really make Iron Man, Captain America and Thor before making his Avengers film. So, he made Fury Road (a la Avengers) and then made Furiosa. Unlike the Tony Stark-Robert Downey Jr problem of actors embodying the character, Furiosa is the character you connect with and is co-opted by Alyla Browne, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlize Theron equally. It’s hard to see the transition between the three across two movies and that is amazing work from casting, make-up to CGI.

Possibly an unintended consequence, the most interesting character is Chris Hemsworth’s (fake distracting nose not withstanding). We’ve had baddies recently vary from the cold- eccentric- calculating to the unpredictable- insane- tragic, Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus is a good- crazy bad guy who is bad at being a bad guy. I say unintended because his point seems to be to help us understand the mind and development of Furiosa, unfortunately/fortunately the stupidity of the masses (myself included) is content with the Dementus who lived. The acting in this movie is top-notch from every character.

One issue for Mad Max fans is the absence of Mad Max from this movie. It’s an issue because if you watch any other Mad Max movie, the frame of reference to watch the movie is Mad Max. That said, this movie is Furiosa, unfortunately, you can’t watch the movie just from Furiosa’s perspective because it is also a Mad Max Saga, the world building and explanations are essential parts of the movie.

A lot of the criticism is because it is a 2.5-hour movie, had this been a limited 5-part series on a streaming platform, it would have been the best weekend binge. The only problem would have been missing out on the visualization. This movie is a visual orchestra, from its action sequence to the music this movie is stunning to experience in a movie theater. Even though the movie is a little confusing in intent, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an amazing experience. 

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Am I Ok? Review – Dakota’s Late Bloomer Act is Awkwardly Likable

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“I am so stupid. I should’ve figured it out by now. I am 32-years old!”

My favorite scene from this film is one where protagonist Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is lying on a bed with her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno). She is in tears, not only because Jane is moving to another country for work, but because she has finally mustered the courage to acknowledge that she might not be straight. Dakota Johnson tenderly expresses Lucy’s confusion and exasperation about her uncertain sexuality, asking Jane questions with the wide-eyed curiosity of a child trying to understand how the world functions. You cannot help but empathize with her.

Directed by Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro, the 2022 movie “Am I OK?” was written by Lauren Pomerantz. The story follows Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a receptionist at a spa, who spends her free time hanging out with her BFF Jane or Ben (Whitmer Thomas), the latter having a romantic interest in her that Lucy doesn’t reciprocate. When Jane announces she is moving to London, Lucy is devastated, so Jane decides to help her find a girlfriend before she leaves. Their first target is Lucy’s co-worker Brittany (Kiersey Clemons), a beautiful, flirtatious masseuse.

The first half of “Am I OK?” unfolds like a cozy, intimate look at Lucy’s life. She is infinitely awkward when it comes to romance and can barely figure out what she likes. However, her friendship with Jane is solid; the two share everything, like girlfriends do, and rely on each other to get through their problems. Dakota Johnson as Lucy is very likable—a 32-year-old woman who is afraid of exploring her sexuality and ridden with anxiety over it. Each time Lucy cries on screen, it’s tenderly convincing; you can relate to her plight as a late bloomer.

Sonoya Mizuno as her confident, outgoing, bossy friend Jane is sassy in the part, even though she is often too pushy with how she deals with Lucy. Both characters are flawed, and some viewers might not even like them, but they do paint an accurate representation of the different kinds of people you’d meet in your life. The screenplay subtly captures the various moods of these characters, especially Lucy’s struggle with her emotions.

Despite its crisp 1h 26m runtime, “Am I OK?” becomes a little confused in the last 40 minutes. From promising to show Lucy navigating her journey into coming out and discovering what she likes, it turns into a friendship drama over Lucy having a fallout with Jane. Their childhood bond made the film super-sweet in the first half, so seeing them fight like little kids, unprofessionally in Jane’s office, dilutes the warm, realistic tone the story exuded in the first hour.

Towards the climax, “Am I OK?” becomes entertaining again, with a hilarious cameo featuring Tig Notaro as a spiritual guru who runs a weird hammock retreat in the woods. Here, Jane takes a break and vents her negative emotions. The retreat scene is a funny mockery of fancy wellness retreats, even though, ironically, it helps Jane feel better. And even though I wanted the story to dwell more on Lucy’s journey of navigating the new waters of dating life, in the end, I liked how the focus was more on her existing platonic relationships and her desire to pursue art more seriously.

The film lives up to its tagline—”It’s never too late to figure it out”—delivering an entertaining slice-of-life drama about two different young women trying to get their lives together.

Rating: 7 on 10. You can stream “Am I OK?” on Jio Cinema.

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10 Anime Series That Deserve A Lot More Love

Ashley Suvarna (Instagram | Twitter)

If you’ve been tempted to click on this write-up, chances are, you’ve already seen popular anime series like Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer and the likes. But if you’re open to exploring some underrated anime shows, you might want to add the following shows to your “to watch” list.

Aldnoah Zero

I started Aldnoah Zero particularly because I love a good mecha anime, and early reviews were pretty positive. Besides, the score was by none other than Hiroyuki Sawano. And let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint at all.

The plot is pretty straightforward – in an alternate version of the present, humans have split into two groups – the people on Earth, and the Vers Empire of Mars. When the Versian princess is seemingly assassinated during her diplomatic visit to Earth, Vers declares war. Both sides have giant, single-pilot fighting machines called Kataphrakts, but they are not evenly matched. The Kataphrakts from Vers have unique abilities, are almost unstoppable, and are powered by a strange Martian technology called an Aldnoah drive. The story revolves mainly around Inaho Kaizuka, a trainee pilot in the Earth military who relies on his tactical genius to even the odds, and Slaine Troyard, a rookie from Vers with a fierce sense of loyalty to the princess.

Aldnoah Zero is a fast-paced show with a 24-episode run split into two seasons. The visuals are brilliant, the soundtrack is a banger, and despite a drop in writing quality towards the end, it remains one of the best original mecha shows I’ve watched so far.

Ajin

Kei Nagai, a high schooler, lives in a world where certain immortal demi-humans exist. With the ability to fully heal and spring back to life immediately after dying, these Ajin are often captured and subjected to brutal experiments by the government, who use them as organ farms and test subjects. And then one day Kei gets accidentally run over by a truck and killed, only to revive moments later and realize his true nature. The show follows his subsequent attempts to escape being hunted by officials, facing government agents who are Ajin themselves, and getting tangled with a terrorist group comprising of rogue Ajin who claim to fight for the freedom of their kind. Not to mention Black Ghosts, paranormal entities that can be manifested and controlled by each Ajin as weapons.

This is one of the few shows that use a 3D-like, cel-shaded animation style, much like Knights Of Sidonia or the 2016 Berserk. However, unlike Berserk, which was an abomination, Ajin’s cel-shading is quite polished. With dark themes, well-written characters, and a hard-hitting background score, this anime is what you might call a hidden gem, particularly if you love supernatural thrillers.

Dororo

A beautiful anime based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka, the show follows the exploits of two young boys during the Sengoku era of feudal Japan. The powerful Lord Daigo, in exchange for bringing prosperity to his dying lands, forges a pact with 12 demons. As payment for their services, the demons take one part each of Daigo’s unborn child. When the baby boy is born, he has no eyes, ears, nose, limbs, or even skin. Set adrift on a river and left to die, he is instead found by a man who heals him and fits him with prosthetics. When he grows up, the boy Hyakkimaru sets out on a journey to reclaim the missing pieces of his body, and together with an abandoned kid named Dororo, seeks to kill the demons so he can be whole again.

Full of mystique and a decent amount of gore, Dororo feels like a mix between a piece of folklore and a Ghibli flick. A must-watch that lingers in your mind long after.

Yuri On Ice

The only sports anime on this list, Yuri On Ice is the story of Yuri Katsuki who abandons skating after a crushing defeat and goes back to his hometown. There, at a local ice rink, he ends up perfectly copying an entire skating routine belonging to the famous Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov. When videos of Yuri’s performance reach Victor, he decides to travel to Japan and become Yuri’s coach. What follows is a beautiful mentor-muse relationship that eventually transforms into love.

But this is not a romance anime. It’s about competitive sporting with a queer romantic subplot included. There’s some light comedy, dramatic moments that don’t feel overpowering, and of course a dose of healthy rivalry. And perhaps if you’re too concerned, it has no sexual displays or yaoi (male-male love) stereotypes that are often found in Japanese media. Think of it as an endearing slice of life anime about a young sportsman’s rise to the top that you can probably finish on a lazy afternoon.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer

The fearsome Demon Lord Satan has almost conquered the kingdom of Ente Isla when he is defeated in battle by the hero Emilia. Before being fully vanquished, he makes his escape through a dimensional gateway and lands in modern-day Japan along with his loyal general Alsiel. Except, having lost almost all their magic, the demonic duo are reduced to lowly human forms and forced to live as normal people. Satan, after a couple of amusing scenarios trying to figure out the basics of this new world, takes on the name Maou Sadou, moves into a tiny rented apartment with Alsiel (now Ashiya), and gets a part-time job flipping burgers at MgRonalds. While also secretly working on ways to slowly collect whatever little magical energy exists around. One day, Maou believes, he will have enough magic to regain his powers and return to his realm, but for now, the conquest of Ente Isla will have to wait. Right now he has another pressing mission – to become Employee Of The Month.

This is peak Japanese sitcom, and while it doesn’t go into ‘batshit crazy’ territory like Gintama, it’s hilarious in its own right. Watch it not for the plot (solid, but nothing too great) but for the assortment of idiots who are either trying to make the most out of their situation or plotting to ruin each other’s lives.

Baccano

Well, this one’s a bit difficult to describe. Where do I even start? Alright, so it’s an urban fantasy spanning multiple centuries. It begins in a New York office in 1932, where a news tycoon and his subordinate are trying to investigate a whole bunch of strange events that happened in the last decade or so. The narration shifts between multiple different stories set in different parts of the early 1900s that don’t seem to be connected to each other, but there’s something strange going on – some of the people in them can’t seem to die. There’s a whole list of macabre stuff going on – alchemists from the 18th century who can devour each other, a demon with secrets of eternal life, and an immortality elixir that keeps moving from one set of people to another. And then, like fragments of a puzzle slowly inching closer to each other, the narrative brings them closer and closer until it all culminates in a fateful journey aboard a train called The Flying Pussyfoot. Part mystery, part pulp fiction, Baccano is a complicated tale scattered across 16 equally complicated episodes, with a heady mix of comedy, gore, tommyguns, steam engines, and whiskey bottles, all of it punctuated by fast-paced jazz music.

Psycho Pass

Set in a futuristic Japan, this cyberpunk anime features an interesting premise that touches upon one of science fiction’s most explored tropes – the downside of technology dependency. In this era, all crime and law enforcement are managed by a computer network called the Sybil System. Each citizen’s mental state and physical metrics are constantly measured to assess if they have the potential to become criminals, and based on those readings they are given a Crime Coefficient. This measurement is called a Psycho Pass. If their Coefficient exceeds a certain level, cops are sent to apprehend them. Now each of these cops carries a gun-like device called a Dominator, used to scan the target for their current threat level. If the gun decides the target is not going to be a real problem, they are arrested, but if it decides their Coefficient is dangerously high, the Sybil System lets the cops fire a shot that can instantly turn someone into a steaming goop. Mind you, this is regardless of whether the target has committed an actual crime or not.

That’s pretty oppressive, you may think. But this is where the real fun begins. Our main characters – a group of cops called Unit One – come across a criminal mastermind named Shogo Makishima. Now Makishima is an anomaly. Despite having committed multiple crimes, the System detects him as someone with an extremely low Coefficient. Even when they scan him with their guns. And so when our team encounters him, they cannot fire their Dominators because auntie Sybil thinks the guy is practically a saint.

Psycho Pass is a slow-burn anime that reminds you of films like Blade Runner and Minority Report, full of moral dilemmas and philosophy. Fair warning though. It also contains some very dark themes and visually disturbing imagery.

Gurren Lagann

Do you know why Dragon Ball Z is still widely loved by male anime fans? Because of the pure adrenaline rush it provides. However, when it comes to anime that make you want to march to battle or punch your problems straight into next week, even DBZ pales in comparison to the glorious Gurren Lagann, the second mecha anime on this list. It all starts with Simon the Digger, a little kid living in an underground colony like most of humanity, while the surface world is ruled by the powerful King Lordgenome and his army of Ganmen (weird looking mecha robots with pilots). The only thing that makes his meager existence bearable is Kamina, a crazy delinquent whose motivational speeches and hyper-optimism would make Sandeep Maheshwari blush, and someone who fills Simon’s head with dreams. One day while digging, Simon finds a key for a strange little Ganmen robot that has the weird ability to combine with other automatons. And so Simon and Kamina become rebel leaders with the goal to achieve freedom – both for themselves and the rest of the humans.

If you’re looking for deep, artistic storytelling or a meaningful plot or anything of that sort, I’m sorry, look somewhere else. Gurren Lagann is sort of an acid trip that requires you to do one thing and one thing alone – keep your brains aside and just let it take over. Do it, and you’ll be rewarded with something that plays hopscotch with all your senses. It will fascinate you, it will induce goosebumps on a fairly regular basis, it will tug on your emotions in all directions like a tarpaulin, it will leave you gasping for air one moment, then clenching your fist and silently going ‘hell yeah’ the next. But most of all, it will inspire you over and over again until you feel like nothing is beyond your reach. And when the end credits roll for the last time, you might find yourself falling to your knees, weeping, thanking the gods for blessing you with such a rollercoaster of an experience, before staring into the void and realizing your life has no meaning anymore.

Paranoia Agent

One of the most unsettling shows I’ve seen, Paranoia Agent is a straight-out psycho thriller that deals with the subject of mass hysteria. But it wouldn’t be wrong to also call it borderline horror. Tsukiko Sagi is a cartoonist who creates a pink dog mascot named Maromi, which goes on to become a phenomenon. Maromi is pretty much a household name, selling a lot of merchandise and even turning into sort of an obsession. So Tsukiko’s bosses ask her to create something else that could become equally famous, something to eventually replace the Maromi craze. She tries hard to think of a character but fails, eventually starting to crumble under desperation and despair. One night as she’s returning home, someone hits her on the head and knocks her out. The next day, she provides cops with a description – a young boy wearing inline skates, a cap, and holding a gold-colored, dented baseball bat. News of her encounter quickly spreads, and then another woman in town gets assaulted. Same description – skates, cap, bent baseball bat. As the terror of this Golden Bat fella among the public grows, so do the number of his victims, causing the media and the police to launch a hunt for this elusive guy. But is he a real kid, or an entity birthed from collective imagination?

If you’re familiar with Satoshi Kon’s works like Perfect Blue and Paprika, you will find yourself in familiar waters, with prominent themes of mental instability, trauma, and dealing with one’s deepest fears. Satoshi can make even the most innocent-looking object seem like a thing of terror. For example, the cute little dog Maromi. One look at it and you can’t figure out if its face is the most adorable thing ever, or something that creeps the heck out of you. Even the anime’s opening song (which you should definitely check out on YouTube) feels like a mix of mirthful and macabre. A masterpiece of a show that makes you realize, even blood or violence or ghostly entities can never be as terrifying as the darkest corners of the human mind.

Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans

We started this list with a mecha anime, and we will end with another. Gundam has been a decades-long franchise, the big daddy of the mecha genre, with dozens of sequels and standalone series. Not all of them were hits, obviously. Iron Blooded Orphans, however, is considered one of the better shows to have come out of the Gundam universe. And I can see why. Even though it features amazing mecha battles, both on land and in space, IBO is more about the humans involved, and their unflinching resolve.

The story is set in the post-Calamity War era. A group of child soldiers are used as workhorses on a Martian base, under the employment of a security firm named CGS. When the base is suddenly attacked, the higher-ups decide to escape by using the children as decoys. But the leader of this unit, the young Orga Itsuka, uses this opportunity to turn the tables by activating the base’s power source, an old Gundam suit called Barbatos. Orga and the orphan kids manage to repel the attack, kill the higher-ups, and establish a new group called Tekkadan (Iron Flower), with a single purpose – to gain enough power to forge their own destiny.

But how far can a small, practically powerless group made up of nobodies get when they’re up against mighty organizations and political systems? That’s what forms the crux of the story.

We’ve got two lead characters who pretty much carry the entire show on their shoulders – Orga Itsuka and Mikazuki Augus. While Orga is your typical leader figure, Mikazuki is the one who elevates this show to another level. The only one capable of piloting Barbatos, Mikazuki is Tekkadan’s backbone and the only reason the team gets as far as they do. He even reminds me a lot of Inaho Kaizuka from Aldnoah Zero. Both Inaho and Mikazuki share a calm, focused demeanor, but while Inaho depends more on careful tactics, Mika is more of a single-minded savage who isn’t bound down by morals or petty emotions, and will follow Orga’s commands without question, even if it means throwing away his own life or ruthlessly mowing people down in cold blood. Gundam IBO is spread across two seasons, chronicling the rise and fall of Tekkadan, the underdogs with nerves of steel, willing to pay for their audacity in both tears and blood.

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