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| 10
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 (2024-7-10) –
September 4, 2024 (2024-9-4)

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]

In November 2024, Apple TV+ cancelled the series after one season.[5]

## 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 the voice of Sunny, a domestic assistance robot created for Suzie
* Judy Ongg as Noriko Sakamoto, Masa's mother
* annie the clumsy[6] as Mixxy, Suzie's friend and an aspiring mixologist
* Jun Kunimura as Yuki Tanaka, a senior 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
* Sekiguchi Anam [ja] as Yuki Tanaka, a young ImaTech employee who shares the same name as the elder roboticist
* Fubito Yamano [ja] as Jin, Himé's cousin and a fellow member of the yakuza
* Kazuko Sakagami [ja] as a close friend of Noriko's
* Tetsu Watanabe as Reiji, one of Himé's henchmen

## Episodes

[edit]

No.| Title [7]| Directed by| Written by [8]| Original release date [9]

|
|
|
|

1| "He's in Refrigerators"| Lucy Tcherniak| Katie Robbins| July 10, 2024 (2024-7-10)

In an ImaTech facility, a robot kills a man before it is deactivated. Sometime later, Suzie Sakamoto is grieving her husband Masa and son Zen, who are both presumed dead after a mysterious plane crash. ImaTech roboticist Yuki Tanaka delivers a Domestic Assistance Robot (homebot), Sunny, to Suzie. Because Suzie's mother was killed in an accident caused by a self-driving car, she is reluctant to have Sunny in her house. When Yuki reveals that Masa designed Sunny at ImaTech, Suzie is stunned, as she had believed her husband worked in ImaTech's refrigerator division. At the company Christmas party, Suzie discovers the room where the man was killed by a robot, with bloodstains still 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 homebot. As Suzie returns home, she is remotely surveilled by a man. After coming home to evidence of Sunny's activity when Suzie thought she had deactivated her, Suzie, unable to hurl her over, abandons Sunny on a bridge. The next morning, Suzie awakes to find Sunny back in the house. Suzie prepares to destroy Sunny until the robot mimics a hand gesture unique to Masa.

2| "Don't Blame the Machine"| Lucy Tcherniak| Katie Robbins| July 10, 2024 (2024-7-10)

Suzie becomes frustrated when Sunny fails to recall her history with Masa. Suzie takes Sunny to be inspected and learns that Sunny is an upgraded model of homebot that receives regular updates. She also learns that there is a hidden community, identified by a circular kitsune symbol, that hacks their homebots to unlock additional features, namely for depraved ends. Suzie recognizes the symbol as something from Masa's past but fails at probing further. She returns to ImaTech with Sunny to find the closure of Masa's lab, and the room where the robot killed the man boarded up. Shortly afterward, she triggers the alarms but escapes with the help of Sunny. At home, Sunny answers the door and receives Masa's shoes, implying it is all that is left of Masa from the crash. Outside, the bot that delivered the shoes acknowledges the task to Suzie's surveiler, revealing his involvement. In a flashback, after the incident at his lab, Masa signs his computer with the hacking group's symbol.

3| "Mmmm, Hinoki"| Lucy Tcherniak| Nancy Won| July 17, 2024 (2024-7-17)

Himé, a high-ranking member of the yakuza who is missing part of her left little finger, is having a man tortured while she is being fitted for a decorative prosthetic finger. Suzie resists Noriko's attempt to hold a memorial for Masa and Zen and contacts Mixxy to learn about hacking her homebot. Mixxy takes Suzie and Sunny to meet a friend of hers, who directs them to meet a purveyor at a dance club. When they arrive, Mixxy and Suzie are separated from Sunny, and later Sunny is abducted. Suzie makes her way to a robot fighting pit, where heavily augmented homebots fight one another. 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 (2024-7-24)

In a flashback, Masa appears to kill a man that he sees at his son's school. In the 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 Mixxy go to a bathhouse 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 (2024-7-31)

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 cannot 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 (2024-8-7)

Suzie and Mixxy return to Kyoto in search of Sunny. Noriko gets herself imprisoned by stealing from a convenience store and implies she was willingly imprisoned to avoid the yakuza. After an argument at a police station, Mixxy returns to her job at a bar, but Suzie is captured by Hime's men. She is forced to unlock Masa's computer. Suzie returns home, where she is greeted by Mixxy, and they find a non-responsive Sunny has been delivered to them.

7| "There's Been a Shift"| Colin Bucksey| Ken Kobayashi| August 14, 2024 (2024-8-14)

Suzie wakes up and finds that Sunny is uncharacteristically angry. Suzie and Mixxy have an argument and Mixxy leaves. Suzie attempts to learn more about Sunny and finds that she is being tracked via a device in her wedding ring. Noriko is threatened in jail by a fellow inmate. Hime meets with her cousins, and she begins to suspect her cousin had her father killed to take over. Suzie and Mixxy search for who is tracking her wedding ring, and while searching in an apartment complex, find the man who first delivered her Sunny.

8| "Trash or Not-Trash"| Dearbhla Walsh| Sarah Sutherland| August 21, 2024 (2024-8-21)

In a flashback, Masa is distraught over the death of his father. His mother contacts Hiromasa, the man who originally delivered Sunny to Suzie, who reveals to Masa that he is his real father, and offers to let him stay at his remote lakehouse. While at Hiromasa's house, he begins working on a trashbot and greatly improves Hiromasa's code. Happy that he has outperformed Hiromasa, Masa leaves the house. He returns home to find Noriko and Hiromasa at the house; he is first angry at Hiromasa, who he believes abandoned him and Noriko, but then learns that it was Noriko who wanted to leave Hiromasa and raise Masa with another father, who resented Masa throughout his life. In the present day, Suzie works with Hiromasa and sees an additional tracker that she believes belongs to Zen. She runs to the location, where she is grabbed by Tetsu. Sunny kills him but is quickly enveloped in darkness.

9| "Who's in the Box?"| Makoto Nagahisa| Nancy Won & Yugo Nakamura| August 28, 2024 (2024-8-28)

After killing Tetsu, Sunny is forced to determine if she should be factory reset as a result of her violent actions, which appears to her as a game show titled Should Sunny Wipe Herself hosted by Noriko and the younger Yuki Tanaka. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Masa wanted to make homebots more human as a cure for loneliness. He had the robots develop relationships with each other, and begin helping test subjects. Homebot #6 begins helping a lonely man, Asahi, allowing him to become social again. During a test in a dentist's office, Sunny became violent towards another robot who she felt was hurting the patient. She learns that Yuki was intentionally sabotaging the robots by introducing computer bugs. During another test, homebot #6 breaks up with another homebot, #17, who becomes violent to her. Asahi attempts to defend #6 from #17 but is killed, while Sunny looks on. Masa becomes despondent and vengefully destroys #17, but decides to save Sunny, who was homebot #32 ("san" and "ni" in Japanese). Masa became worried that the yakuza were hunting him and delivered Sunny to Hiromasa to deliver to Suzie if anything happened to him. At the end of the game show, Sunny is left to decide if she should wipe herself; she willingly passes through the door to wipe herself.

10| "The Dark Manual"| Colin Bucksey| Katie Robbins & Aja Gabel| September 4, 2024 (2024-9-4)

Hime's cousin has become yakuza boss. She orders a technician to abort Sunny's factory reset, extract the Dark Manual code from Sunny and use it make a robot murder her cousin at a Setsubon festival where he is appearing as guest of honor. Zen is alive, but he, Suzie, Mixxy and Hiromasa are captured by Hime's yakuza. They overhear their captor talking online to his mother and deduce she is Noriko's fellow inmate in prison. Noriko holds their captor's mother hostage and forces him to release his captives. Suzie, Mixxy and Hiromasa search for Sunny at the festival. Suzie deduces that Masa programmed Sunny to assault people whenever she says "Suck a dick", so Suzie takes the stage at the festival and says "Suck a dick" over the PA until Sunny frees herself. Suzie, Mixxy and Hiromasa escape to hide out at Hiro's lake house, while Mixxy pledges to take care of Sunny. As Mixxy drives away in the yakuza's passionfruit truck, the technician addresses her as if she has been a spy for the yakuza all along.

## Production

[edit]

In February 2022, Apple TV+ announced production of Sunny, to film in Japan with Rashida Jones starring and executive producing.[10] In July, Hidetoshi Nishijima joined the cast[11] and filming began.[12] In October, Joanna Sotomura, annie the clumsy, You, Judy Ongg, and Jun Kunimura were added.[13]

## Reception

[edit]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 90% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 61 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."[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]

## 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. ^ 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. ^ Rosser, Michael; Geinsinger, Gabriella (November 1, 2024). "Apple TV+'s 'Sunny' starring Rashida Jones cancelled after one season (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
6. ^ "Annie the Clumsy". Annie the Clumsy. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
7. ^ a b "Sunny: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
8. ^ "Sunny". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
9. ^ "Shows A–Z – sunny on apple tv plus". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on July 12, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ 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.
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ "Sunny: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved August 31, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Sunny on Apple TV+
* Sunny at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Apple TV+ originals

Television

| Current|

* Acapulco (since 2021)
* Bad Monkey (since 2024)
* Bad Sisters (since 2022)
* Bearbrick (since 2025)
* The Buccaneers (since 2023)
* Criminal Record (since 2024)
* Curses! (since 2023)
* Dark Matter (since 2024)
* Dope Thief (since 2025)
* Drops of God (since 2023)
* For All Mankind (since 2019)
* Foundation (since 2021)
* Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (since 2022)
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* Severance (since 2022)
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* Slow Horses (since 2022)
* Sugar (since 2024)
* Surface (since 2022)
* Ted Lasso (since 2020)
* Tehran (since 2020)
* Trying (since 2020)
* WondLa (since 2024)

|

Ended|

* The Afterparty (2022–23)
* Amazing Stories (2020)
* Amber Brown (2022)
* Becoming You (2020)
* Before (2024)
* The Big Cigar (2024)
* The Big Door Prize (2023–24)
* Black Bird (2022)
* Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker (2023)
* Calls (2021)
* Central Park (2020–22)
* The Changeling (2023)
* City on Fire (2023)
* The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (2024)
* Constellation (2024)
* The Crowded Room (2023)
* Dear... (2020–23)
* Dear Edward (2023)
* Defending Jacob (2020)
* Dickinson (2019–21)
* Disclaimer (2024)
* Doug Unplugs (2020–22)
* Dr. Brain (2021)
* Earth at Night in Color (2020–21)
* Echo 3 (2022–23)
* El Deafo (2022)
* The Essex Serpent (2022)
* Extrapolations (2023)
* Five Days at Memorial (2022)
* Franklin (2024)
* Ghostwriter (2019–22)
* Greatness Code (2020–22)
* Harriet the Spy (2021–23)
* Hello Tomorrow! (2023)
* Helpsters (2019–23)
* High Desert (2023)
* Home (2020–22)
* Home Before Dark (2020–21)
* Interrupting Chicken (2022–23)
* Lady in the Lake (2024)
* The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2022)
* Lessons in Chemistry (2023)
* Lisey's Story (2021)
* Little America (2020–22)
* Little Voice (2020)
* Long Way Up (2020)
* Losing Alice (2021)
* Manhunt (2024)
* Masters of the Air (2024)
* Messi's World Cup: The Rise of a Legend (2024)
* The Me You Can't See (2021)
* The Mosquito Coast (2021–23)
* Mr. Corman (2021)
* My Kind of Country (2023)
* The Oprah Conversation (2020–21)
* Oprah's Book Club (2019–21)
* Physical (2021–23)
* Pinecone & Pony (2022–23)
* Pretzel and the Puppies (2022–23)
* Prime Target (2025)
* The Problem with Jon Stewart (2021–23)
* Roar (2022)
* Schmigadoon! (2021–23)
* See (2019–22)
* Servant (2019–23)
* Shantaram (2022)
* Shape Island (2023)
* Shining Girls (2022)
* The Shrink Next Door (2021)
* Slumberkins (2022)
* Snoopy in Space (2019–21)
* The Snoopy Show (2021—23)
* Still Up (2023)
* Stillwater (2020–23)
* Strange Planet (2023)
* Sunny (2024)
* Surfside Girls (2022)
* Suspicion (2022)
* Swagger (2021–23)
* Time Bandits (2024)
* Tiny World (2020–21)
* Truth Be Told (2019–23)
* The Super Models (2023)
* Visible: Out on Television (2020)
* Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson (2021)
* WeCrashed (2022)
* Wolfboy and the Everything Factory (2021–22)

Continuations|

* Carpool Karaoke: The Series (season 5; 2022–23)

Upcoming|

* Government Cheese (2025)
* Murderbot (2025)
* Stick (2025)
* The Studio (2025)
* Your Friends and Neighbors (2025)
* Side Quest (2025)
* Chief of War (TBA)
* Down Cemetery Road (TBA)
* Firebug (TBA)
* The Last Frontier (TBA)
* Lucky (TBA)
* Margo's Got Money Troubles (TBA)
* Neuromancer (TBA)
* The Savant (TBA)
* Untitled Vince Gilligan TV series (TBA)

Films

| Released|

| 2019|

* The Elephant Queen
* Hala

|

2020|

* The Banker
* Beastie Boys Story
* Dads
* Greyhound
* Boys State
* Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You
* On the Rocks
* Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
* Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special
* Wolfwalkers

2021|

* Palmer
* Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
* Cherry
* The Year Earth Changed
* Fathom
* CODA
* 9/11: Inside the President's War Room
* Come from Away
* Blush
* The Velvet Underground
* Finch
* Swan Song

2022|

* The Tragedy of Macbeth
* The Sky Is Everywhere
* Cha Cha Real Smooth
* Luck
* Sidney
* The Greatest Beer Run Ever
* Raymond & Ray
* Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
* Causeway
* Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
* Spirited
* Emancipation
* The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

2023|

* Fursat
* Sharper
* Bad Luck Spot!
* Tetris
* Ghosted
* Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
* The Beanie Bubble
* Stephen Curry: Underrated
* Flora and Son
* Killers of the Flower Moon
* The Pigeon Tunnel
* Fingernails
* Napoleon
* The Family Plan

2024|

* Argylle
* Girls State
* Bread & Roses
* Fancy Dance
* Fly Me to the Moon
* The Instigators
* Napoleon Director's Cut
* Wolfs
* The Last of the Sea Women
* The Bloody Hundredth
* Blitz

2025|

* The Gorge

Upcoming|

* All of You (2025)
* F1 (2025)
* Fountain of Youth (2025)
* Bono: Stories of Surrender (2025)
* Deaf President Now! (2025)
* Number One on the Call Sheet (2025)
* Echo Valley (TBA)
* The Family Plan 2 (TBA)
* Highest 2 Lowest (TBA)
* The Lost Bus (TBA)
* Matchbox (TBA)
* Mayday (TBA)
* Outcome (TBA)
* Way of the Warrior Kid (TBA)

* Apple TV
* tvOS
* Apple TV app
* channels
* Apple Studios

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