04/10/2025

LYFE SATURDAY | OCT 4, 2025

25

TV SHOW REVIEW

Jiji, Momo and Okarun find themselves not only fighting ghosts and aliens, but also a kaiju this season. – ALL PICS FROM SCIENCE SARU

Dandadan season two soars higher o Science Saru sharpens action, humour, heart in latest instalment of animated series A FTER a great first season in bringing Yukinobu Tatsu’s Dandadan manga to life, animation studio Science monsters and robot tomfoolery, Momo (Shion Wakayama) and Okarun’s (Natsuki Hanae) relationship continues to grow, with the young psychic and shy nerd learning more about themselves and each other. Ű BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR

Jiji and the Evil Eye entity become permanent characters in the series.

Saru scores yet another home run with the science fiction and supernatural animated series’ second season. Picking up directly from the previous season’s cliffhanger, Dandadan ’s latest season primarily covers Jiji’s (Kaito Ishikawa) house, him being possessed by the Evil Eye entity, how the existing characters have to deal with the situation, before wrapping up by introducing the robot-obsessed Kinta (Daichi Fujiwara) and a new, unnamed female character. Amid Dandadan ’s usual ghosts,

Unlike other anime, Dandadan does not follow the typical storytelling approach of each season having an overarching plot. Every few episodes, the season shifts gear, introducing new characters and then propelling into a new plotline involving those characters. Though in the first season, this tendency to jump from one plotline to another was slightly jarring, Science Saru handles it more naturally this time around, but the same pattern remains: how the season starts is radically different from how it ends.

animation and action to its more human beats involving aspects such as Momo and Okarun’s relationship and Evil Eye’s sad backstory as a child. Given the cliffhanger, fans are in for a treat with Dandadan ’s future third season involving the mysterious girl.

power metal band Dragonforce, Marc Hudson, was brought on board to play a minor character and perform a full-blown rock song during an important exorcism sequence. In more ways than one, the season is a step up, from the humour,

It is also worth noting that while good English dubs for Japanese animation is a rarity, the voice work by Dandadan ’s English cast remains stellar this season. In one instance, it was even better than the original Japanese, like how the vocalist for

Action thriller One Battle After Another tops North American box office PAUL Thomas Anderson’s action thriller One Battle After Another stormed to the top of the North American box office on its debut weekend, industry estimates recently showed. good and evil, violence and power, inalienable rights and the fight against injustice”. “The film is performing on the level of an action series launch and that’s impressive. Critics’ reviews are fantastic and the audience score is outstanding.” Coming in second was Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie , a features the titular Gabby going on adventures with her feline friends in the animated world of her dollhouse. Continuing its strong showing at the box office was anime feature Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle , which logged a further US$7.1 million to take its estimated North American take to US$118.2 million. Rounding out the top 10 were: The Strangers: Chapter 2 (US$5.9 million) Him (US$3.7 million) The Long Walk (US$3.4 million) Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (US$3.3 million) Spider-man Trilogy

One Battle After Another took an estimated US$22.4 million (RM94.3 million), according to industry group Exhibitor Relations, and has been generating early Oscar buzz for director Anderson and lead DiCaprio. “This is an excellent opening for an action thriller,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a retired radical fighter who is dragged back in to action to help his daughter, the film’s veering from the ridiculous to the deadly serious had audiences riveted. The New York Times described the film as “a carnivalesque epic about

live-action-animation hybrid aimed at family audiences that put in a strong showing with an estimated US$13.7 million in sales. The film is based on a popular children’s animated series airing on streaming platform Netflix and

Behind it, the juggernaut of horror franchise film The Conjuring: Last Rites rolled on, taking in a further US$6.9 million to push its overall pot to US$161.5 million. – AFP

(US$2.3 million) They Call Him OG (US$1.5 million)