Sunny (TV series)

American black comedy television series

Sunny

Genre|

* Black comedy
* Comedy-drama
* Mystery thriller
* Science fiction

Created by| Katie Robbins
Based on| The Dark Manual
by Colin O'Sullivan
Starring|

* Rashida Jones
* Hidetoshi Nishijima
* Joanna Sotomura
* Judy Ongg
* annie the clumsy
* Jun Kunimura
* You

Opening theme| "Sukiyo Aishite" by Mari Atsumi[1]
Composer| Daniel Hart
Country of origin| United States
Original languages|

* English
* Japanese

No. of episodes| 7
Production
Executive producers|

* Katie Robbins
* Lucy Tcherniak
* Ravi Nandan
* Jess Lubben
* Rashida Jones
* Nancy Won

Producers|

* Nellie Nugiel
* Nathan Reinhart
* Georgina Pope

Running time| 29–36 minutes
Production companies|

* A24
* Twenty First City
* Babka Pictures
* Poppycock Pictures

Original release
Network| Apple TV+
Release| July 10, 2024 (2024-07-10) –
present (present)

Sunny is an American black comedy television series created by Katie Robbins, based on the 2018 novel The Dark Manual by Irish writer Colin O'Sullivan.[2][3] The series premiered on July 10, 2024, on Apple TV+.[4]

## Premise

[edit]

Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto whose husband and son vanished in a plane crash, receives a domestic robot from her husband's robotics company.

## Cast and characters

[edit]

### Main

[edit]

* Rashida Jones as Suzie Sakamoto
* Hidetoshi Nishijima as Masahiko Sakamoto, Suzie's husband and a roboticist
* Joanna Sotomura as Sunny
* Judy Ongg as Noriko Sakamoto, Masa's mother
* annie the clumsy[5] as Mixxy, Suzie's friend and an aspiring mixologist
* Jun Kunimura as Yuki Tanaka, a roboticist and Masa's former co-worker
* You as Himé, a high-ranking member of the yakuza

### Recurring

[edit]

* Fares Belkheir as Zen Sakamoto, Suzie and Masa's son
* Shin Shimizu [ja] as Tetsu, one of Himé's cohorts
* Fubito Yamano [ja]

### Guest

[edit]

* Kazuko Sakagami [ja] as a close friend of Noriko's
* Tetsu Watanabe as Reiji

## Episodes

[edit]

Parts of this article (those related to Episode 6) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2024)

|

No.| Title [6]| Directed by| Written by [7]| Original release date [8]

|
|
|
|

1| "He's in Refrigerators"| Lucy Tcherniak| Katie Robbins| July 10, 2024 (2024-07-10)

In an ImaTech facility, a robot kills a man before it is deactivated. Some time later, Suzie Sakamoto is grieving the death of her husband Masa and son Zen after a mysterious plane crash. One night, ImaTech employee Yuki Tanaka delivers a domestic assistance robot (homebot), Sunny, to Suzie. Because Suzie's mother was killed by a self-driving car, she resists having Sunny in her house. When Yuki reveals that Masa designed Sunny at ImaTech, Suzie is stunned, as she believed that her husband worked in the refrigerator division. At ImaTech's Christmas party, Suzie discovers the room where the engineer was killed by a robot, with bloodstains on the wall and carpet. Afterward, she meets Mixxy, a bartender, who mentions that a local politician is believed to have been killed by his domestic robot. As Suzie returns home, she is being monitored by a man viewing surveillance footage. Inside, she finds red wine tracks on her floor, resembling blood, prompting her to abandon Sunny on a bridge. The next morning, Suzie awakens to find Sunny back in her house. Suzie prepares to destroy Sunny, until the robot mimics a hand gesture that Masa made before boarding the flight.

2| "Don't Blame the Machine"| Lucy Tcherniak| Katie Robbins| July 10, 2024 (2024-07-10)

Suzie becomes frustrated when Sunny will not talk about Masa's history. Suzie takes Sunny to be inspected and learns that Sunny is an upgraded model of homebot that receives regular updates. Suzie learns that there is a hidden community, identified by a red circular symbol, that hacks their homebots to unlock additional features. Suzie recognizes the symbol as something from Masa's notes but is unable to find information about it. She goes to the ImaTech building and finds it locked down; the room where the robot killed a man is boarded up. Security comes for Suzie, but she escapes with the help of Sunny. At home, Sunny answers the door and receives Masa's shoes, indicating that his body had been found after the plane crash. Outside, the bot that delivered the shoes meets with the man that has been watching Suzie and reveals that they lied about the shoes belonging to Masa. In a flashback, Masa works on his computer, and signs it with the hacking group's symbol.

3| "Mmmm, Hinoki"| Lucy Tcherniak| Nancy Won| July 17, 2024 (2024-07-17)

Himé, a high ranking member of the yakuza who is missing part of her pinkie finger, is having a man tortured while she is being fitted for a decorative prosthetic finger. Suzie contacts Mixxy to learn about hacking her homebot. Mixxy takes Suzie and Sunny to meet a high-school friends, who directs them to a dance club. When they arrive, Mixxy and Suzie are separated from Sunny, who is left outside. Sunny is abducted, and Suzie makes her way through the building, eventually arriving at a robot fighting pit. Suzie sees that Himé is planning to have Sunny fight, but Suzie fights her off and escapes with Sunny. The next day, she attends Masa's memorial ceremony, and is surprised when Himé arrives.

4| "Sticky"| Lucy Tcherniak| Kimi Howl Lee| July 24, 2024 (2024-07-24)

In a flashback, Masa appears to kill a man that he sees at his son's school. In present day, Suzie meets with one of Masa's college friends, who references Masa's father; Suzie is surprised as she thought Masa's father was dead. Suzie confronts Noriko, who refuses to answer her questions. To learn more, Suzie and Mixxie go to a bath house that Masa frequented, where they witness a yakuza member killing another member. At the same time, Sunny gets Noriko drunk, and finds files about Masa's father, who is still alive. Suzie returns home, but finds her apartment ransacked.

5| "Joey Sakamoto"| Dearbhla Walsh| Julissa Castillo| July 31, 2024 (2024-07-31)

Mixxy, Suzie, and Sunny flee from Kyoto to the countryside, where Mixxy's uncle has a farm. They arrive at a remote train station, where Suzie has an encounter with a suspicious man. Mixxy learns that the shuttle to the farm no longer runs, and because there is no phone service, they decide to walk to the farm. They quickly become lost, and Sunny accuses Mixxy of intentionally getting them lost. Sunny begins caring for an injured bird, despite Suzie telling her to abandon it. At night, they hide in the woods as they see the man from the train station walk by them. They come across an abandoned building, where Suzie falls asleep and dreams of a time that Masa suspiciously left in the night. The following morning, they arrive at the farm, and are welcomed in. Sunny's bird dies, and she is distraught, but realizes that she was being moved by Masa on the night he disappeared from Suzie's house. The next morning, Suzie wakes up and can't find Sunny, but sees one of Himé's prosthetic fingers on her pillow.

6| "Kyoto Manju, So Delicious"| Lucy Tcherniak| Aja Gabel| August 7, 2024 (2024-08-07)
7| "There's Been a Shift"| Colin Bucksey[9]| Ken Kobayashi| August 14, 2024 (2024-08-14)
8| TBA| Dearbhla Walsh[10]| Sarah Sutherland| August 21, 2024 (2024-08-21)
9| TBA| Makoto Nagahisa[11]| Nancy Won & Yugo Nakamura| August 28, 2024 (2024-08-28)
10| TBA| Colin Bucksey[12]| Katie Robbins & Aja Gabel| September 4, 2024 (2024-09-04)

## Production

[edit]

In February 2022, Apple TV+ announced it had given Sunny a series order. Rashida Jones is set to star in and executive produce the series, which is set to film in Japan.[13] In July, Hidetoshi Nishijima joined the cast.[14] In October, Joanna Sotomura, annie the clumsy, You, Judy Ongg, and Jun Kunimura were added to the cast.[15]

Filming for the series began in Japan in July 2022.[16]

## Release

[edit]

Sunny was released on Apple TV+ on July 10, 2024.[4]

## Reception

[edit]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 89% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 57 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Brightened up by Rashida Jones' sly comedic timing, Sunny is a melancholy sci-fi series that positively glows."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Roeper, Richard (July 9, 2024). "'Sunny,' about a robot with mystery-solving smarts, makes bold choices". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
2. ^ Herman, Alison (July 10, 2024). "Rashida Jones and a Robot Star in Apple's Stylish, Unsatisfying Mystery 'Sunny': TV Review". Variety. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
3. ^ Young, Polly (January 9, 2012). "Interview with Collin O'Sullivan". Books Ireland. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
4. ^ a b Nemetz, Dave (April 18, 2024). "Rashida Jones Is Friends With a Robot in Apple TV+'s Sci-Fi Mystery Sunny — See First Photos and Get Release Date". TVLine. Archived from the original on April 18, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
5. ^ "Annie the Clumsy". District81. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
6. ^ a b "Sunny: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
7. ^ "Sunny". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
8. ^ "Shows A–Z – sunny on apple tv plus". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on July 12, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
9. ^ "Sunny – Season 1, Episode 7". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
10. ^ "Sunny – Season 1, Episode 8". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
11. ^ "Sunny – Season 1, Episode 9". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
12. ^ "Sunny – Season 1, Episode 10". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
13. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 7, 2022). "Rashida Jones To Headline Dark Comedy Series Sunny Ordered By Apple TV+ From A24". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
14. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 14, 2022). "Drive My Car Star Hidetoshi Nishijima Joins Rashida Jones In Apple TV+ Series Sunny". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
15. ^ Petski, Denise (October 26, 2022). "Sunny: Rashida Jones' Apple TV+ Dark Comedy Series Rounds Out Cast With Joanna Sotomura, 4 More". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
16. ^ Rosser, Michael (November 18, 2022). "Spotlight on Japan". Kemps Film and TV Production Services Handbook. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
17. ^ "Sunny: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Sunny on Apple TV+
* Sunny at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Apple TV+ original programming

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