Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast

You Don't Know Me Anymore

What 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...

The Anime & manga worlds did WHAT this week?! Massive news from some of the industries biggest titles, including:

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.)

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...

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...

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...

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 collab

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.)

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...

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.)

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...

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...

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Choujin X by Sui Ishida, the creator of Tokyo Ghoul returning to manga entirely on his own terms.

Tokio Kurohara has spent his whole life as a bystander, stumbling along in the shadow of his best friend Azuma who's better at everything. When the two are attacked by a superhuman mutant called a Choujin, Tokio injects himself with a transformation serum to save them both and is thrust into a world where superhumans are feared, policed, and hunted.

But this isn't just another power...

The anime world was on a whole other level this week. Let’s talk about it.

HUGE updates on Solo Leveling, The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy At All, Delicious in Dungeon, Jurassic Shadows, and Grotesqqque 🙀

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into The Color of the End by Haruo Iwamune, a post-apocalyptic seinen running in Harta that reads like the intersection of Blame! and Mushishi in the best way possible.

Fifty years after alien creatures called Executioners wiped out most of humanity, a young researcher named Saya walks alone through the beautiful, empty ruins of civilisation. Her mission is simple: find survivors and cleanse the land of the toxic disease the aliens left behind. Every chapter is a quiet, devastating encounter with what's left, abandoned robots still performing...

You won’t believe what went down in the world of anime this week! 🤯 let’s talk about it.

Massive news and announcements on Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2, Fool Night, Witch Hat Atelier, Kill Blue, Wistoria Wand & Sword, Rent-a-Girlfriend, Eleceed and Bugle Call: Song of War.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Make the Exorcist Fall in Love, written by Aruma Arima and illustrated by Masuku Fukayama, a supernatural action romance on Shonen Jump+ that has no business being this emotionally devastating.

Joshua is a 16 year old boy chosen by God to be the world's strongest exorcist, trained and abused by the Church since childhood to fight Demon Lords. All he actually wants to do is bake sweets and live in peace. Then Imuri enters his life, a warm, loving girl who becomes his reason to keep going...

Strap in, the anime world is going crazy this week! Let’s talk about it.

MAPPA’s 15th Anniversary event delivered massive news and announcements for Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Fall in Love, You False Angels, Dorohedoro, Ranma 1/2, and Oblivion Battery. We also had a live action version of Kiki’s Delivery Service announced as well as updates on the Kagurabachi manga and Great Teacher Onizuka.

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 mean...

Summer 2026 is here and it is absolutely loaded. This episode, I'm counting down my top 10 most anticipated anime of the season — Ghost in the Shell, the Bleach finale, 100 Girlfriends Season 3, and a few picks that might surprise you. Plus some honorable mentions that almost made the cut. Tune in and let me know your top picks too.

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...

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Dai Dark by Q Hayashida, the creator of Dorohedoro, and if you loved that unhinged masterpiece then buckle up because she did it again but in space.

Zaha Sanko is a 14 year old kid cursed with bones that can supposedly grant any wish, which means every alien, space pirate, and cult fanatic in the galaxy wants to rip him apart. Armed with a shapeshifting weapon made of pure darkness and his skeletal best friend Avakian, Sanko fights his way through the cosmos looking for whoever cursed...

Welcome to Manhwa Monday!

This week we're diving into The Spark in Your Eyes by MURO, a historical fantasy romance on Webtoon that sets up one of the most gut wrenching slow burns you'll find anywhere.

Erkin is a young pharmacist from the north, orphaned by the war between the Northern Nations and Mormeratta, who's spent his whole life quietly hunting for one person: the Witch of the Sun, the infamous war hero who killed his parents. When he's summoned to a remote castle to treat a mysterious patient no one has ever seen, he...

Strap in, the anime world is going wild this week! Let’s talk about it.

Massive updates on Solo Leveling, a Vampire Survivors and Jujutsu Kaisen crossover, Black Clover, BLUELOCK, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners x Wuthering Waves.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into MAD by Yusuke Otori, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror running on Shonen Jump+ that plays like Alien meets Chainsaw Man and refuses to let you breathe.

Alien life forms have invaded Earth and wiped out most of humanity. John, his sister, and a handful of survivors are just trying to stay alive in a world that has absolutely no interest in letting them. After a fanatical group of soldiers feeds him alien meat, John gains the ability to transform into one of the creatures himself, but at...

Strap in, the anime world went mad this week. Let’s talk about it.

Massive updates on The Apothecary Diaries, Gachiakuta, Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You, Mushoku Tensei, Wasted Chef, and Kadokawa CEO being tone deaf.

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.)

The anime world went crazy this week. Let’s talk about it.

Massive updates on Bleach, Tekken 8 AND Baki, Dorohedoro, You And I Are Polar Opposites, and Takopi’s Original Sin.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into RuriDragon by Masaoki Shindo, a slice of life manga running in Shonen Jump that proves you don't need a single fight scene to be one of the most captivating series in the magazine.

Ruri Aoki wakes up one morning with horns growing out of her head. Her mom's response? "Oh yeah, your dad's a dragon." And Ruri, in the most relatable move possible, just goes to school anyway. What follows is essentially dragon puberty, an introverted teenager navigating high school while her body keeps doing new...

Strap in. The anime world did not come to play this week. Let’s talk about it.

Bigtime updates on Kagurabachi, Studio Ghibli, Gigantic (from the mind of the creator of Gantz), The Book of Human Insects, Bocchi the Rock, and Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, which is one of the greatest manhwa of all 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 s...

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Tenkaichi - The Greatest Warrior Under the Rising Sun, written by Yosuke Nakamaru and illustrated by Kyotaro Azuma, an alternate history martial arts manga that asks one question: what if Oda Nobunaga unified Japan, found out he was dying, and decided the most entertaining way to choose his successor was a sixteen fighter death tournament featuring the greatest warriors in Japanese history?

Miyamoto Musashi at sixteen years old. Honda Tadakatsu, the general who never took a wound. A blind swordsman. A kunoichi wielding an oversized fuma...

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, written by Rikito Nakamura and illustrated by Yukiko Nozawa, and yes you did just read that title correctly.

Rentarou Aijou is a hopeless romantic who confessed his love to 100 different girls before high school and got rejected every single time. After praying at a shrine, the God of Love appears and tells him he's destined to meet 100 soulmates. Great news, right? Except there's a catch: if any of them fail to get into a relationship with...

Strap in. The anime world did not come to play this week. Let’s talk about it.

Bigtime updates on The Ribbon Hero, My Hero Academia's epilogue, Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent, Copycat, and Sydney Sweeney's live-action Gundam film (please god be good).

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.)

Welcome to Manhwa Monday!

This week we're diving into Unholy Blood by Lina Im, the number one supernatural webtoon on the platform and a vampire story that throws out every post-Twilight cliche in the book. Ten years ago, vampires infiltrated South Korea, and violent crime has skyrocketed ever since.

Hayan Park is a college student who just wants a normal, quiet life, but she's hiding a dangerous secret: she's a pureblood vampire, the rarest and most powerful kind. When the vampires she's been avoiding destroy her family and kill Father Michael, the priest who raised...

Strap in. The anime world did not come to play this week. Let’s talk about it.

Bigtime updates on Witch and Mercenary, the Japanese government targeting massive growth via global anime domination, Ascendence of a Bookworm AI controversy, and MAPPA x Honkai: Star Rail.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into The Summer You Were There by Yuama, a yuri manga that ran in Comic Yuri Hime and will absolutely destroy you in the most beautiful way possible.

Shizuku Hoshikawa is a shy, isolated high schooler carrying deep guilt from her past as a bully. She writes stories as an escape but never plans to show anyone. Then Kaori Asaka, the bright, popular girl in her class, gets her hands on Shizuku's manuscript, praises it like it's the greatest thing she's ever read, and makes a wild...

Your weekly anime news fix is HERE and it did not come to play…

Big updates on One Piece, ISHOWSPEED, Date A Live, Dandadan, and Yaebuki Kikan.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Shikabane Kaigo, also known as Cadaver Nursing, a horror manga adapted from Harumi Miura's Kadokawa Horror Bunko novel with art by Ayuko.

Akane Kuritani is a young caregiver looking for a fresh start who takes a live-in job at a secluded mansion deep in the mountains. Her patient is the wealthy, bedridden owner Hiwako Miyazono. Except when Akane opens that bedroom door for the first time, what's lying in bed doesn't look like a patient. It looks like a corpse. Discolored skin, claw-like hands, a putrid...

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity by Saka Mikami, a romance manga running on Magazine Pocket that is basically Romeo and Juliet if Romeo worked in a cake shop and Juliet was really, really hungry.

Chidori Public High School and Kikyo Girls' Academy sit right next to each other but couldn't be more different. Chidori is full of so-called delinquent boys with terrible grades, Kikyo is a prestigious academy for wealthy young ladies, and the two schools absolutely despise each other. Rintaro Tsumugi is a Chidori...

The anime headlines you NEED to know about.

This week’s In Bloom is stacked with big updates on Frieren, Sentenced To Be A Hero, You And I Are Polar Opposites, Eminence in Shadow, Solo Leveling, and Rascal Does Not Dream.

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Kagurabachi, Takeru Hokazono's sword fighting revenge epic running in Weekly Shonen Jump that memed its way into the conversation and then backed it up with one of the best action manga in years. Chihiro Rokuhira grew up training under his father Kunishige, a legendary swordsmith whose six Enchanted Blades single-handedly ended a war. The goofy dad and the serious kid lived a quiet life together until a group of criminal sorcerers called the Hishaku murdered Kunishige and stole the blades. Now Chihiro wields his father's seventh and final...

Your weekly anime news fix is HERE and it did not come to play…

Big updates on The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Crunchyroll getting hacked, Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None, Steel Ball Run, and The Anime Trending Awards.

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.)

Welcome to Manhwa Monday! This week we're diving into The Greatest Estate Developer, written by BK_Moon and illustrated by Kim Hyunsoo, a fantasy isekai on Webtoon that takes the "reincarnated into a novel" premise and turns it into something genuinely hilarious.

Civil engineering student Suho Kim falls asleep reading a fantasy novel and wakes up as Lloyd Frontera, a lazy, drunk nobleman whose family is drowning in debt. But Suho's read the book, he knows what's coming, and he's got something no one in this world has: modern engineering knowledge. So instead of swinging a sword...

Your weekly anime news fix is HERE and it did not come to play, with massive announcements surrounding Tank Chair, The Dangers in My Heart, The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip, Sekiro: No Defeat and From Far Away!

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.)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai, affectionately known by fans as "Green Yuri," and the winner of the Next Manga Award 2023.

Aya is a fashionable gyaru high schooler who's obsessed with rock music but can't find anyone who shares her taste, until she starts visiting a small CD shop and falls hard for the cool, mysterious clerk dressed in all black with a hoodie and face mask. The problem? That clerk is actually her quiet, nerdy female classmate Mitsuki Koga...