From “Shōgun” to “Blue Eye Samurai” to “Tokyo Vice,” Japan has been having one thing of a second on American TV. Final yr, Apple TV+ launched “Drops of God,” a live-action manga adaptation a couple of wine empire’s succession disaster, to stateside viewers. With “Sunny,” its new A24-produced half-hour dramedy that stars Rashida Jones as an American housewife overseas, the corporate now brings this pattern in-house. A buddy thriller that pairs Jones’ Suzie Sakamoto with the title character, an clever “homebot” left to Suzie by her lacking husband, Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima), “Sunny” conveys an immersive, eye-catching imaginative and prescient of the close to future, even when the central storyline can’t fairly ship on its makes an attempt at character-driven suspense.
“Sunny” isn’t animated, like “Blue Eye Samurai,” or a interval piece, like “Shōgun” and “Tokyo Vice.” As an alternative, the present is distinguished by a delicate sci-fi aesthetic harking back to Spike Jonze’s “Her.” Suzie, Masa and their younger son stay in Kyoto, a metropolis with historic structure and serene non secular websites that contrasts with dense, tall, neon-lit Tokyo. The locale gives a super backdrop for the genial domesticity of the collection’ know-how, from trash-collecting droids to Recreation Boy-like “units” that take the place of smartphones. “Sunny” was tailored by Katie Robbins from Colin O’Sullivan’s novel “The Darkish Guide,” however its most tangible contributions come from the craft workforce, together with manufacturing designer Shinsuke Kojima and artwork director Masaharu Maeda.
Suzie struggles to navigate this new actuality, a couple of decade distant from our personal, even earlier than Masa and her son disappear after a suspicious aircraft crash. Having misplaced her mom in a self-driving automotive accident, Suzie is a technophobe who loathes robots. (Upon Sunny’s supply by Masa’s colleague, she’s shocked to be taught that her partner had spent his life constructing them. He’d instructed her he labored on fridges.) Suzie additionally hasn’t bothered to be taught Japanese, as an alternative counting on auto-translating earbuds. She claims her dyslexia makes new languages a problem, however over 10 episodes, we begin to see Suzie’s insistence on English as considered one of many misanthropic tendencies. Her approach of claiming goodbye to Masa on the airport is by flipping him the double chicken.
The sudden absence of her nuclear household none-heless forces Suzie to hunt assist, whether or not from her mother-in-law, Noriko (Judy Ongg), or her new buddy Mixxy (musical comic annie the clumsy), a bartender who presents to help Suzie’s investigation into her household’s destiny. Out of desperation, Suzie even involves depend on Sunny. Voiced by Joanna Sotomora, Suzie’s companion might resemble a extra globular Michelin Man with an animatronic show, however she’s been custom-coded by Masa with a persona as prickly as his spouse’s. Steadily, the 2 change into collaborators, and even one thing like mates.
This dynamic is endearing, and Jones capably acts reverse her anthropomorphic scene accomplice. (She additionally sports activities a slew of outstanding outfits, courtesy of costume designer Analucia McGorty. If Suzie has assimilated to any diploma, it’s in her vogue sense.) However “Sunny” can get distracted from its core mission of explicating Suzie’s loneliness and, retroactively, marriage. The yakuza emerge as cookie-cutter villains, and whereas aspiring boss Hime (mononymous actress You) pulls off an attention-grabbing haircut, her campaign towards sexism in organized crime doesn’t maintain our consideration. Noriko will get reduce off from the remainder of the solid, and any potential perception into her son alongside together with her.
By the finale, the viewers doesn’t have sufficient readability on Suzie for her journey to really feel totally happy; we by no means be taught, for instance, what — or who — she left behind within the States. However this surreal, alternate Japan nonetheless delivers such bravura se- quences as a flock of company drones donning VR units for a coordinated stretching routine straight out of “Severance.” The penultimate episode, a mock sport present set inside Sunny’s mechanical thoughts, manages to marry the present’s world-build- ing with its emotional substance. Even when “Sunny” doesn’t hit this candy spot constantly, it’s good to understand it’s there.