Perfect Blue is the Blueprint for Modern Psychological Horror

You Don't Know Me AnymoreWhat happens when a pop idol walks away from the stage to chase her dream of becoming a serious actress, only to find that the person she used to be refuses to let her go? Perfect Blue descends into a suffocating psychological nightmare where the line between performance and reality dissolves completely, and a stalker's obsession becomes the least terrifying thing lurking in the dark. Join us as we unpack Satoshi Kon's landmark debut, the crushing weight of public identity, and the question that follows Mima through every shattered mirror and blood-soaked hallway -- who are you when everyone else has already decided?Joining Brendan in the studio for this episode is returning friend of the show and stand up superstar, Sam Bellwood!In this episode (FULL SPOILERS): Going In Blind | Story & World-Building | Characters & Chemistry | Standout Moments | Animation, Sound & Style | The VerdictFrom first impressions to final verdict, at Sakura Society, we cut through the hype to help you decide what's actually worth your time.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

The Anime & manga worlds did WHAT this week?! Massive news from some of the industries biggest titles, including:One PieceJujutsu KaisenOvergearedFall in Love You False AngelsVampire Hunter DBlueboxIf you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

Welcome to Manga Monday!This week we're diving into Ichi the Witch, written by Osamu Nishi, the creator of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, and illustrated by Shiro Usazaki of Act-Age fame.In this world, living creatures called Majiks are the source of all magic, and only women can become Witches by completing a Majik's trial. Then Ichi shows up. He's a feral hunter raised alone on a mountain who stumbles into a battle between the strongest Witch alive, Desscaras, and the terrifying King Majik Uroro, kills it, absorbs its power, and accidentally becomes the first male Witch in history. Now he's dragged out of his mountain life and into the Witches Association, paired with Desscaras in a blood oath that ties their fates together, and prophecy says he's the messiah destined to stop a world ending threat at the cost of his own life.Winner of the Next Manga Award 2025. This one's building into something special.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into The Climber, also known as Kokou no Hito, illustrated by Shinichi Sakamoto and based on a novel by Jiro Nitta inspired by the life of real solo climber Buntaro Kato. Mori Buntaro is a deeply introverted kid who transfers to a new high school, gets dared into climbing the school building, and in that moment discovers the only thing that's ever made him feel alive. What follows is a lifetime of chasing higher and harder peaks, from high school climbing clubs all the way to K2. But this isn't really a sports manga. It's a character study about isolation, depression, obsession, and what happens when the only place you feel at peace is somewhere that can kill you. Winner of the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival, ranked in the top 100 on MyAnimeList, and now being published in English by VIZ. If you want a manga that makes you feel the cold, the height, and the loneliness all at once, this is the one for you.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

Welcome to Manhwa Monday!This week we're diving into Fog Land by POGO, an action horror series on Webtoon that takes Dante's Divine Comedy and turns it into a supermax prison nightmare.Dante Kang is a science teacher who believes everyone deserves education, even the worst criminals on Earth. So he volunteers to teach inside Fog Land, a mysterious international prison built in a meteor crater that houses the world's most dangerous inmates. His first class ends in a violent riot that kills most of his fellow teachers, and now he's trapped inside with no way out.Fog Land isn't just a prison though. It's an entire city unto itself, drenched in a mysterious substance called Fog that transforms people into superhuman monsters and keeps them addicted, with withdrawal sending them into a comatose state called Limbo. Now Dante has to navigate through nine circles of literal hell to escape, armed with nothing but his brain and the belief that even the people in here are still human. The author has planned nine seasons to match the nine circles, potentially spanning a decade of storytelling.If you want a manhwa that goes full Dante's Inferno with body horror, incredible world building, and a protagonist who refuses to stop caring, this one's already being called a masterpiece in the making.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

The Anime & manga worlds did WHAT this week?!• Kingdom Hearts anime series ANNOUNCED (Disney + Nomura!)• Tenkaichi: The Greatest Warrior first trailer + cast• Chained Soldier Season 3 confirmed• Tower Dungeon hits 1 MILLION copies• McDonald’s x Hello Kitty x Godzilla collabIf you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Wataru Watari's light novel series better known as OreGairu, with a manga adaptation by Io Naomichi. Hachiman Hikigaya is a high school loner who's turned cynicism into an art form. He thinks youth is a lie, friendship is performative, and romance is a scam. So naturally his teacher forces him into the Service Club, where he has to help other students with their problems alongside Yukino Yukinoshita, a girl who's brilliant, beautiful, and has the warmth of a freezer. Then there's Yui, the bubbly, kind hearted girl who genuinely wants to be friends with both of them. What starts as a comedy about a bitter kid slowly becomes one of the most psychologically sharp character studies in the genre. Hachiman's self-sacrificing methods of solving problems by making himself the villain work, but they hurt everyone around him, and the series never lets him off the hook for it. Three seasons of anime, 14 volumes of light novels, and over 10 million copies sold. If you want a rom-com that actually interrogates what it means to connect with people, this is the one.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

The anime and manga worlds went WILD this week. Let’s talk about it.Huge updates and announcements on Gachiakuta, Marvel x Kadokawa, Kabaneri and the Iron Fortress, KonoSuba and Kohei Horikoshi returning with a new one shot manga!If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

Welcome to Manga Monday!This week we're diving into The Apothecary Diaries, based on Natsu Hyuuga's light novel and adapted into manga by Nekokurage, a mystery series set in an imperial court that shouldn't work as well as it does.Maomao is a 17 year old apothecary raised in the red light district who gets kidnapped and sold as a servant in the emperor's rear palace. She plans to keep her head down and survive her term quietly, but when the emperor's infant children start dying, she can't help herself. She figures out the cause, leaves an anonymous tip, and immediately catches the eye of Jinshi, the impossibly beautiful palace official who promotes her from laundry maid to poison taster.What follows is a medical mystery series wrapped in court intrigue, where Maomao solves cases with pharmacology, logic, and an unhinged enthusiasm for poison that borders on concerning. She's blunt, stubborn, and completely immune to Jinshi's charm, which only makes him more obsessed. The anime adaptation became a global hit, season two has already aired, and the manga has over 30 million copies in circulation.If you want a protagonist who's more interested in testing toxins on herself than romance, this is your series.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform

This was one of the biggest anime weeks of the year. Grab a seat, we’ve got lots to talk about out.A brand new Mobile Suit Gundam universe was announced, more live action Parasyte, LEGO One Piece, a new romcom called Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow Up is on the way, and Steel Ball Run is FINALLY returning in September!If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow my anime Spotify playlistMy amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)Affiliate links:Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platformKomi.io - the best linkinbio websiteRiverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform