The Haunting of Hill House ~ TV review

The Haunting of Hill House is a supernatural/horror television miniseries created and directed by Mike Flanagan for the streaming platform, Netflix. The 10-episode TV series premiered on the platform on October 12, 2018.

It's a fantastic TV show, so I'm inspired to do this quick mini review on it. I am a fan of Mike Flanagan's films such as Oculus and Before I Wake but for some reason I was dragging my feet when it comes to his many TV series that were currently available on Netflix. Finally this year, I took the first big step and watched the show, which is loosely adapted from the 1959 novel with the same name by Shirley Jackson. The show follows the Crain family, the husband and wife with their 5 children, and their experiences with paranormal activities after living at the Hill House. The show alternates between the time when the five children were still kids staying at the Hill House, and when they were adults still grappling with the tragedy that happened when they were kids.

I love how the way the show tells the story of the family; it took its time and slowly building up the tense and mysteries to finally revealed everything at the end. It's as much of a family drama as it is a horror story. The two elements blended beautifully. The first 5 episodes focused on each of the five children characters respectively (both when they were kids and adults), and I find that really helpful for me to get to know each of them and their struggles. There's also an episode each that focused more on the parents in the second half of the show.

Shadows House is airing on Animax Asia

I actually never heard of this anime before but I am so glad I stumbled upon it when it was first aired on TV. Shadows House is an anime adaptation of Japanese manga series of the same name written and illustrated by duo So-ma-to. The animated series is produced by CloverWorks.

The anime is about Living Dolls who are the servants of the denizens of Shadow House who all live in a grand mansion. Each Shadow person would have his or her own Living Doll not only to serve them but also represent them as the Shadow person is not visibly recognizable by face. The story focused on a new Living Doll named Emilico and her mistress, Kate. Together they uncover the dark secrets behind the mystery of the mansion and its inhabitants. I wish I could tell you more but as of the 4th episode that I've watched, not much has been revealed yet. Besides, I think it is best for you to enjoy the story yourself without any spoilers.

So far, I have enjoyed the story and the animation is nice visually too. I like the characters that have been introduced thus far with both Emilico and Kate are my favourites. That kind of make sense since the anime explored much of these two characters anyway in the first 4 episodes. I'm looking forward to get to know more about the rest of the characters especially Lou, she seems rather mysterious and interesting. I am also very much in love with the closing theme track "Nai Nai" by ReoNa. It's an awesome song.

The anime is licensed to Funimation outside of Asia. For Asian viewers, if you have Animax Asia, you can watch it there. It is airing every Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm (2 episodes airing on each day). It started airing on September 20th so 4 episodes have been aired so far. I'm sure they would have repeat airing afterwards but it's not too late for you to catch up with the series now if you haven't already.

For more info, you can check out Animax Asia website.

The Undoing (2020 miniseries) ~ TV review

The Undoing is a 6-episode miniseries aired on HBO (here in Malaysia and I believe in most Asian countries) starting in the end of October until end of November 2020. It starred Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser, a therapist who found herself intertwined in a murder case of an acquaintance which unbeknown to her involved her family members as well. As the murder case begins to unravel, so do her personal life as she tries to make sense her connection to it and the impact it has on her family.

Overall, this is a really good miniseries. I've been a fan of many HBO miniseries before and I must say this is another one from them that they delivers. The story is very compelling and engaging. It also gave an interesting insight into the life of an elite New Yorker family dealing with a murder, and the attention and spotlight that comes with it.

The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 Winners!

Parul (left) and Maggie

Congratulations to Maggie & Parul for winning the 5th season of The Amazing Race Asia! These beauty queens not only powered through all the challenges and finished the race first but also made history by making the contestants of the Philippines to win the TV reality competition for two consecutive seasons (season 4 of the show also won by contestants from the Philippines). Good job girls!

I really enjoyed this new season of the TV show, partly because it has been awhile since we had a new season, but even on its own, season 5 is a really good and entertaining season. It has interesting contestants, showcasing beautiful and unique places in Asia, and also contained some pretty challenging tasks as well as some heartbreaking moments for the contestants. I had missed an episode for this season (in which I will try to catch the re-run of it as soon as I could possibly can) but overall I can say that I'm very entertained and pleased with season 5 of The Amazing Race Asia.

While I pretty much enjoyed this new season, I also have some criticisms. First of all, they eliminated a team way too early, and I'm not talking about the end of Leg 1 of the race. They eliminated a team after the very first task of the season which is a pretty cruel thing to do in my opinion. If they don't have the budget for 11 teams, they should have make it a 10-team race from the beginning.

Another criticism is about the countries that they visited, they were only South-East Asian countries. I think they should of at least bring the contestants to one country outside of the Asia region. Or if they couldn't afford it, it could be one of the countries in Asia but outside of the South-East Asia region like Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, India or Sri Lanka. But in their defense, it's a pretty tough economy in 2016 so they might have less budget for this season than they used to.

Anyway, I hope we don't have to wait few more years for another season of The Amazing Race Asia. It has been a great season and I hope they could keep the momentum going by making a new season every year, or perhaps every other year if they couldn't secure enough fund to make it an annual thing.

Before I end this post, I would also like to congratulate Yvonne & Chloe from Malaysia (Malaysia Boleh!) and Eric & Rona from the Philippines for making it into the finale and getting second and third place respectively. A pat in the back is also due to all the people behind the scenes for this great season as well. You all have done a great job so well done!

Yvonne (left) and Chloe

Rona (left) and Eric

Images from the official The Amazing Race Asia website.

The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 - Are you ready?

The season 5 premiere of The Amazing Race Asia is almost here. It's been 6 years since Season 4 last aired and I'm glad that the show is finally back. Allan Wu returned as the host for the show but he will not be alone this time as for this season, there will be a pair of hosts and Allan will be accompanied by another host, Tara Basro. Eleven teams of two will compete in a race across regions to win the prize of US$100,000. For this season, the racers comprised of 3 teams from Malaysia, 2 teams from Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore while 1 team each from Vietnam and Thailand.

Let's hope it will be a great and entertaining season just like the previous 4 seasons. The new season will start airing on 13th October 2016 at 9 pm (8 pm for Jakarta and Bangkok). You can catch it every Thursday at those times after that.

Itching to find out more about the new batch of racers? Or maybe even about the new host, Tara Basro? Check out the official website to find out more.

Are you ready for the new season?

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4 Winner!

AsNTM  Cycle 4 winner: Tawan

This is kind of an old news but I think it's not too late for me to wish congratulations to Jiratchaya Kedkong or better known as Tawan for winning Cycle 4 of Asia's Next Top Model. Although she had only received first call-out once, she was quite consistent and had been praised by the judges quite a few times throughout the season and in the end she had finally proved to the judges that she has what it takes to win this cycle of the reality show.

To be honest, all the final 3 contestants; Tawan, Sang In and Patricia, are strong and unique in their own way and I would be just as happy if any of them winning the competition. It was a tight race and really they are all winners in my eyes.

I had really enjoy watching this cycle of Asia's Next Top Model. It's nice to see (almost) all of the girls got along quite well. Although there were a bit of fight between the contestants, overall they were quite supportive to each other and being competitive in a healthy way.

The other thing that I love about this cycle is the new head judge, Cindy Bishop. She acted not just like a mentor and advisor but also like a mom to the contestants and it was nice seeing how supportive she was to them. And seeing her almost heartbroken several times during the eliminations truly showed how much she cared for them. There's a warmth in the way she handle any issue or situations related to the contestants and I really love that part of her personality. The previous head judges of the show had been good as well but I really, really hope Cindy Bishop will continue to be the head judge in the upcoming seasons because she is part of the reason I watched this cycle of the show.

It has been a great season so thank you for all the crew behind this cycle, it has been a great show and keep up the good work for Cycle 5 (whenever that is).

Images from Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4 official website.

AsNTM Cycle 4 Head Judge: Cindy Bishop

Apply now to be apart of The Amazing Race Asia Season 5!

Great news!

The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 will be coming soon and they are now looking for 10 suitable teams to join the show. It's been years since the previous season has been aired so I was quite surprised to hear this...I thought the show has been cancelled for good. It's a very delightful news to the fans of the show who have been clamouring for a new season of the reality competition. Anyway, if you think you are good enough to join the show, you can submit your video with your teammate now. It's open to citizen of Asia or non-Asian citizen who is currently living in Asia who are 21 years old and above. The travel will start around August until October 2016 while the show will be aired on TV later this year.

You can find more information in their official website.

Do you have what it takes to win the race? If yes, apply now!

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4 ~ Who are the Top 5?

We're almost at the finish line. Few weeks more and we will finally find out who will be crowned the winner of Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4. I've been enjoying the TV show so far. What about you?

Below are the five finalists for Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4 and my thoughts on each one of them. If you have not watch the show before, well, let me introduce you to these fine ladies. ;-)


1) Patricia (Indonesia)

I was quite impressed to see Patricia made it this far. With two first call-outs back-to-back in episode 7 and episode 8, she has definitely improved a lot and the clients seemed to like her too. What I love most about Patricia is her personality. She's so candid and funny, very likable and such a joy to watch on the show. She was not really consistent in her performance in the beginning of the competition but she is definitely one of the lead now. She could even make history by making it the second time Indonesia's contestant to win the title back-to-back on the show.


2) Julian (the Philippines)

I think Julian can be considered as an underdog in this competition. The judges always seemed to not really like her photos and she had barely made it into the competition in more than one occasion. To be honest, it was a bit frustrating for me to watch because I think she is such a beautiful girl, one of the prettiest in the competition, and I love most of her photos, but somehow it doesn't seem to be enough for the judges. I hope she will stay strong and determined to win this competition. All the best to her.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 4 ~ 2 episodes impression

Asia's Next Top Model season 4 had premiered on StarWorld Asia (channel 711 and 722 on ASTRO Malaysia) on Wednesday, 9th March 2016, and currently it is at its second episode which had already been aired on 16th March 2016. At first I wanted to write a post after its season premiere but I thought maybe I should give it one more episode before I write anything about it. It allowed me to know more about the contestants and also the new line of judges.

For this season, not only do we have 14 new contestants vying for the title, we also have a new host, and a new model mentor. Taking over from Georgina Wilson as head judge and host is Cindy Bishop, while Kelly Tandiono is replacing Joey Mead-King as the model mentor. I must say, I will truly missed Joey Mead-King, not only she has been the consistent face on the show but she was also funny and entertaining to watch. She was a good mentor to the contestants too.

I was a bit confused on who is the creative director for this season. It was promoted on TV before the premiere that Yu Tsai would be the creative director, even in the official website it was stated that he will be taking that role for this season. So when he didn't show up in the first episode and Kenneth Goh showed up instead, I felt a bit cheated. For the second episode though, neither Yu Tsai nor Kenneth Goh showed up so who is the real creative director for season 4? As it was heavily promoted that Yu Tsai is indeed the creative director, I guess maybe we would eventually see him on the TV show, starting with episode 3 perhaps?

Danganronpa: The Animation ~ full season review

Welcome to my full season review of the anime series, Danganronpa: The Animation. I did a 4-episode impression for the anime before, so if you're interested to know what was my initial reaction to the anime series, you can click here for my post for that.

Danganronpa: The Animation is the anime adaptation of the visual novel game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It's the first game in the franchise and it became so popular that it spawned more video games, manga adaptations, novels and of course an anime series. There might be a few spoilers scattered in this post regarding the plot so if you plan on watching the anime, you may want to skip and read something else. There won't be any big spoilers though so you might not need to worry much.

So what's the anime about? It's about a young boy named Makoto Naegi, along with 14 other students, who were trapped in the building of Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy which only accepts talented students. All the doors and windows were closed and locked, the facilities were run with an enclosed self-sustainable system, security cameras were everywhere watching them, and they were monitored by a mysterious someone who controlled a stuffed teddy bear named Monokuma who also acted as their school's principal. All students who were trapped were to live in the facility forever and if they want to get out from there, all they have to do is to kill another student BUT they cannot be caught doing it. A trial will be held when someone is killed and if the killer is caught, then he/she will be punished, or should I say executed. If the killer got away with the murder and someone else was blamed for his/her action, then the killer will be released from the facility and the other students who will be executed instead. It's a weird (but definitely fascinating!) premise.

Danganronpa: The Animation ~ The first 4 episodes impression

Danganronpa is a video game franchise which currently consists of 3 main titles (with one upcoming title) and had also spawned manga series, novels and of course, anime adaptation, in which I will review now based off the first four episodes that I had watched. Danganronpa: The Animation had been aired in Japan beginning of July in 2013 but it had just premiered on Animax Asia last Monday on 16th November 2015. It's kind of sad to see that it only got released on the channel more than 2 years later but I guess it's better late than never.

I've never heard about this series before and I was just lucky to have seen TV ads for it a few days before its premiere. So what is it about? It's about several people trapped in a building and the only way for them to get out is to kill someone but they have to make sure they don't get caught doing it. Sounds dark, creepy and interesting, right? The ads just showed this simple premise but that definitely caught my attention straight away.

The anime starts off with the main protagonist (Makoto Naegi), a regular, normal, "extremely lucky" student walking into Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy that only accepts the best of the best of students. But once he step his foot into the academy territory, he passed out and next thing he knew, he was trapped in the academy's building along with 14 other "accepted" students of the academy. As they assembled at the assembly hall, they were introduced to an evil-talking-stuffed bear named Monokuma and were told that they were to stay in the academy forever and if they want to get out from there, they have to kill someone but they cannot let themselves get caught by the others for doing it...and so the story begins.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 5 - 1)

Here is the third and final post for my Top 15 favourite photos for Cycle 3 of Asia's Next Top Model. My apologies if I have kept you waiting. Without further delay, let's begin the final countdown. Can you guess which photo will top my list?

5. Monika ~ Episode 5: Close-Up Diamond Attraction Ad campaign

Monika is extremely photogenic and when she smiles, she just melt people's heart away. She not only look stunning and sweet in the photograph, but she looks natural and approachable as well which I think is important for an ad campaign like this. I must say that the position of her right hand seem a bit awkward to me but other than that, she looks gorgeous. She won best photo for this episode, which I think is deserving, and as part of the prize for winning best photo, her shot was run as an actual commercial ad for the product as well. Great job Monika!


4. Gani ~ Episode 3: Jewelry photoshoot

I really like this shot of Gani and I was a bit disappointed that it only received lukewarm reviews from the judges. The jewelries look good on her, the clothes fitted her perfectly, the make-up was not overly done; personally I feel that she simply looks stunning in this photo. I wish they would just adjust the necklace's position on her neck because as you can see, some part of the necklace got tangled up in her clothes but other than that she looks amazing and she sold the necklace to me as what she should be doing for this jewelry photoshoot.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 10 - 6)

Welcome to the 2nd post of my Top 15 Favourite Photos for Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3. I've already listed the 5 photos that occupied the bottom part of the list. So now it's time to countdown the middle half of the chart from number 10 to number 6.

I hope you enjoy this post and the beautiful photos of the contestants below.

10. Melissa ~ Episode 1: Swimwear shoot

I noticed that Melissa always somewhat hunched in her photos. Although it looks kind of weird to a certain extent, somehow I was captivated by it, and she caught my interest from this first photo of her from the very first episode of the cycle. The photo seemed unique to me from all the other girls and already she was a standout. Although she only finished in 8th place in the competition, I had always liked her photos and I wish her all the best in her modelling career.


9. KB ~ Episode 6: Zalora campaign

You can tell from her personality that KB is an active and energetic girl, and although that works against her in most of the photoshoot, it certainly played to her strength when it comes to this Zalora campaign photoshoot. She didn't won best photo for this episode though but I feel her photo is one of the strongest for this photoshoot. She looks free, active and comfortable and this picture is certainly one of her best photo in the entire competition.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 15 - 11)

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 was aired around March till June 2015 in Asia and it was a fun season. There are some truly amazing and beautiful shots taken during this cycle so here I am again, listing my favourite photos from the season just like what I did for the previous season. But unlike Cycle 2 in which I listed my top 10 favourite photos, for this cycle I'm going to make it a top 15 list. There are just too many photos that I like and I want to list them as much as I can.

I managed to shortlist 29 photos that I like from this cycle and even though I had add 5 extra spots for this year it was still not easy to cut down into the top 15. I will be dividing this list into 3 different posts featuring 5 photos for each post.

Without further delay, let's get started.


15. Melissa ~ Episode 7: Subaru photoshoot

I'm not a fashion expert (obviously) so I would definitely have different opinion on what looks good and what's not. So it would not be surprising for me to pick this photo for my number 15 spot. The Subaru representative that came as guest judge for this episode slammed this photo and it eventually got Melissa eliminated from the competition. I like this photo, so I was a bit disappointed by how that turned out. To me, Melissa looks good in it and her demeanor suited with the background as well.


14. Gani ~ Episode 9: Alex Perry's long gowns

This is another photo in which I loved but was hated by the judges. This photo landed Gani in the bottom 2 and almost got her eliminated. I think I like this photo because of the fantasy element in it. In fact, this is actually my favourite photoshoot in this cycle and you will see several more of the photos taken during this episode listed in my top 15. I love this photo because Gani looks like she is in the water or falling gracefully from the sky. I remembered they mentioned that Gani didn't do enough in this photoshoot so I guess compliments must go to the photographer then, Jez Smith, for making this shot happened and also for the clever editing.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 Winner!

This is a late post, but seeing that I have post something like this for the past 2 seasons, it seems odd if I didn't post it for season 3 as well, so here it is.

Congratulations to Gani for winning the third season of Asia's Next Top Model! Gani had always being praised as the Asian beauty multiple times throughput this season and now she has proved herself to have what it takes to win the competition. Believe it or not, I missed the final episode of this season eventhough I had watched all the other episodes prior to the finale. Until now I had not watched the final episode although I believe there are multiple repeated airing of the episode already. I only knew the result through my sister (who was devastated, of course, since she's a die-hard fan of Monika who came in second).

I guess I should congratulate both Monika and Aimee too for reaching to the finale. It's not an easy thing to do considering so many people had auditioned for this season, and they had beat out the rest of the contestants who had reached the top 14 too, so they should also be proud of themselves.

It's been a fun season and I enjoyed watching the show very much. For all the staff and crew behind this cycle, well done! I'm not sure if the season is considered a success or not (since I don't know about the ratings and stuff) but hopefully it is and they will continue on with a new season.

And again, congrats Gani!

Images from AsNTM3 official website.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Who are the Top 5?

We are almost at the end of the competition in Asia's Next Top Model season 3 and it's down to the final 5 now. It has been a great season thus far but if you had missed this cycle, I've listed down the final 5 contestants below and my thoughts on them. Check these ladies out.


Aimee (Singapore)

I think Aimee gained the most from the makeover that the contestants had gone through this season. Her makeover suits her very well and elevate her look to a whole new level which I think give her an edge and advantage compared to the rest of the contestants. So I'm not surprised that she made it this far. She had been doing pretty well in the competition, pretty consistent, but I think for her to go farther, she has to give more and take more risks with her poses. She had received a best photo call-out once before, so I'm sure she can push it further.

Amanda (Philippines)

Amanda is such a sweet girl, I like her a lot but I think out of these 5 ladies, she is probably the weakest one. In the beginning of the competition, I thought she was one of the strongest contestant but her "blinking eyes" issue was getting in her way during photoshoots, and it's kind of hard for her to get good photos with that issue. Nevertheless, it's still great to see her come this far, and I still believe she has a shot in winning this but she needs to fix that "blinking eyes" issue quickly. She received her 2nd best photo in the latest episode (episode 9) so hopefully she had managed to get rid of that "blinking eyes" problem.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 ~ My 5 Favourite Photos (Guys)

Welcome to my second post for America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 where I'm listing down my top 10 favourite photos from this cycle. I've separated the list into Top 5 Guys and Top 5 Girls. I had already done the list for the girls, if you missed it, you can check out the post here. Before we start, let me remind you of the rule that I made when I was shortlisting the list; I've limit the photos to 2 photos per contestant. Now, let's find out who are listed in my top 5 list for the guys. Let's start!


5) Keith

Contestant: Keith Carlos
Episode: 08 (Heritage + A.I. relationship)

Keith is the first ever male winner for the reality show, so congratulations to him! While I do like some of his photos, I must admit that sometimes he always give the same kind of look in his photos and there is lack of variety in his expressions. That is why I like his photo from this photoshoot, where his face had this mixture of confusion and angry expressions that differs from his other photos. For this photoshoot, the contestants were dressed based on their heritage (which was based on their DNA results), where it also involved Cory Hindorff, a contestant from the previous cycle. Cory acted as a cyborg and they played a science-fiction future scenario where the contestants had some kind of relationship with an artificial intelligence. I know, sounds complicated. But at least Keith nailed it. He look really good in this photo, so bravo to him.


4) Adam

Contestant: Adam Smith
Episode: 12 (Honeymoon)

Adam oh Adam, how had I misjudged you in the beginning of the competition. Who would have thought you would go all the way to become a top 3 contestant? I certainly didn't when I first saw him in the first couple of episodes for this cycle. He didn't seemed to be taking this competition seriously, as noted by some of the contestants too. But if you continue to watch his progress throughout this cycle, you will notice his determination and how he worked really hard to excel in each photoshoot, and how he also highly respected the judges and taking every criticism that had been thrown to him with his head held high. He got my respect for working very hard despite the doubts and skepticism that had come his way. And he really improved a lot especially towards the end of the competition, like this shot taken at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Although Adam landed in the bottom 2 because of this photo, I still think he looked great in it.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 ~ My 5 Favourite Photos (Girls)

I know the 21st cycle of America's Next Top Model had aired a long time ago in the US but it was only one or two months ago when the finale was aired through StarWorld channel in Asia. So here I am, listing down my top 10 favourite photos for this cycle from the show. Or should I say top 5? I will be separating my list into girls and guys photos, with 5 of my favourite photos for each category. I also include one simple rule when I was shortlisting my list; each contestant can only have a maximum of 2 photos each. That makes it a lot easier for me to cut it down to only my top 5 picks.

Since the girls didn't win this cycle, let's start with them first, shall we? Below are my top 5 favourite photos of the girls from America's Next Top Model Cycle 21. Hope you enjoy it!


5) Chantelle

Contestant: Chantelle Young
Episode: 11 (MCM brand)

Chantelle was one of the unique contestant in the reality show because of her unique skin condition, nevertheless she was still a fierce competitor, perhaps maybe too fierce that made her somewhat alienated from the rest of the contestants. She was also the contestant that was originally eliminated and then brought back into the competition based on public voting. Obviously she was very popular based on the votes. I like this photo of her because her face looked soft, which was the opposite of her strong personality. I like the movement she made in the photo too. Sadly, this is the photo that landed her in the bottom two. But still, I like it! She looked good in this.


4) Kari

Contestant: Kari Calhoun
Episode: 06 (Hair whipping)

For this sixth episode, the contestants were doing a motion shoot with photographer Massimo Campana that involved whipping their hair. So it was not really a "photo" produced in this shoot, instead it was a short slow motion video. There were some amazing shots produced for this episode, and Kari's was one of my favourite. I always thought Kari have a very interesting face that set her apart from the rest of her competition. However, I feel her make-over was a bit too much and it turned her face a bit weird, but maybe that what was Tyra Banks was going for? A unique look for her? Nevertheless, she looked amazing in this shoot and I like it a lot.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ First Impression

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 had its Global premiere last Wednesday (25th March 2015) with a fresh batch of contestants and a stunning new host. So how was the first episode of the season?

As per usual for the first episode of the reality show, the new season showed the new contestants arrived for the competition, this time once again held in Singapore. I was hoping it would be held someplace else, since the show had already made Singapore its home in the first cycle. The Philippines or Hong Kong sound like a good place for a new cycle, but I guess maybe to hold it in Singapore is more convenient for the producer of the show.

The very first challenge for this cycle that the contestants had to face was a catwalk challenge with a turntable at the end of the runway for them to pose. Under the eyes of the new host and head judge, Georgina Wilson; model mentor, Joey Mead King; and Marina Fairfax from Storm Model Management, the challenge was quite nerve-wrecking to some contestants who struggled on the spinning platform. After some feedback from the judges, the first challenge winner was announced as Barbara from Japan.

Parasyte -the maxim- ~ midseason review (episode 1 - 12)

Parasyte -the maxim- anime series which is currently airing on Animax Asia (ASTRO Malaysia channel 715) is based on the manga series Parasyte by mangaka Hitoshi Iwaaki. The plot is basically about a male high school student named Shinichi Izumi who had been 'infected' by a parasitic being that had ate and replaced his right arm. This review is for episode 1 until 12 (the series is ongoing), and there might be some spoilers here and there. If you haven't watch it and plan to do so and don't want anything spoil for you, you might want to skip this one out.

Let me start this review by saying that this anime series is awesome! It truly is! The manga it was based from was published in magazine from 1988 until 1995. I was wondering why did it took so long for them to make an anime series out of it? It has a nice plot with very interesting twists, certainly it would become a great series. Maybe it was not as popular back then? But that couldn't be the case since the manga had won several awards, so it must have quite a following. Nevertheless, the series seems to be in full swing now, it not only have an anime series, a two-part live-action movies had also being developed with the first part had been released in Japan's cinemas in November 2014, with the second part scheduled to be released in April 2015.

I've mentioned that the anime series had a nice plot. Well, to be more precise, it actually has a great plot (at least up until episode 12). I expected it to have a basic story surrounding the main character fighting other parasyte-infected beings. While that is definitely true, it is actually more than that as the plot has a much deeper story revolving around the main character (Shinichi Izumi) emotional journey as he become involved with the parasytes. I love how the story portrays his relationship with his parents as he struggles to keep his secret from them, also his relationship with his friends as he become more distant and cold towards them as his power evolved inside of him. It's very interesting to explore that side the character as it made the story more personal and not just another typical anime with one-on-one fight between characters.