Sunny – Season 1 Episode 5 “Joey Sakamoto” Recap & Review

Joey Sakamoto

Episode 5 of Sunny starts with Suzie watching Zen’s school play. Masa misses the whole production and comes in after carrying a cuddly toy, claiming that there was an “issue” at work. He actually comes in drunk and believes Suzie would never understand. He berates her for not learning Japanese, and almost takes it out on Zen too.

Back in the present, Suzie awakens on a train with Mixxy and Sunny. Unfortunately their big plan to head out to a farm doesn’t turn out too well when their connecting shuttle is apparently not running anymore. Mixxy had no idea and the train back doesn’t arrive until morning. So with no cell phone coverage either in this rural area, they suggest walking. That’s probably just as well given Suzie bumps into someone who came off the train at the same station. He sports a black eye and he kicks the vending machine nearby, speeding up their desire to get out of here.

As they begin trekking through the woods, Mixxy loses her way and realizes they’re going to be a while. After some gags around Suzie’s lucky underwear, Sunny remains vigilant over Mixxy. Back in town, Noriko shows up at Sunny’s place and begins looking about, but notices that they’re not home.

Out in the woods, Sunny finds a black baby bird and decides to hold onto it for the time being. This happens just in time, as that shadowy guy with the black eye from before starts wandering through the woods. With tensions high, Sunny calls out Mixxy and questions her integrity and whether she’s actually a dirty agent. To make matters worse, Sunny admits that she needs to recharge soon. If she doesn’t, then she’ll shut down and there will be no more light.

Mixxy admits that she’s lost, and Suzie is shocked. Mixxy explains she tried to find a landmark or something she recognized but it didn’t work out that way and they’ve just continued on clueless all this time. As she begins sobbing and apologizing, Suzie offers a reassuring hand. She knows how this feels, to be completely lost and unsure where else to turn, so they decide to press on and use blind faith to find their way.

Out in the wilderness, they do find some refuge coming in the form of an abandoned house so they decide to hang there for a while. When Suzie falls asleep, she ends up having a dream of the past. Specifically, of Zen showing up in her room and claiming that Masa has left. Apparently he went with his suitcase in the middle of the night which is a little suspicious!

Anyway, Suzie is awoken by the sound of chirping. It turns out Sunny’s battery is running low because she’s using the incubator to help the baby crow. As she turns the attention onto Mixxy and blames her, a bear suddenly shows up outside and begins smashing the place up. The pair make a ton of noise to try and dissuade it, and when it runs away, they both decide to head back out.

We then cut forward and see the trio make it to the farm, where Mixxy is reunited with her uncle. Sunny puts the baby crow in the incubator but it doesn’t make it. When Suzie catches up, Sunny is distraught but apparently this is what she wanted. To feel grief. Apparently Sunny only did all o this because she wanted to understand Suzie.

As they stand and talk, Suzie points out the moments that Masa had signs of being odd and acting suspicious. While she blames herself, a little funeral is held for the baby crow. At the same time, we cut across to Noriko, who calls someone on her phone listed as “Do Not Answer”. We see someone inside the shower, which is hinted at being Masa, but we can’t really be sure.

Sunny has a few flashes of memory, notably that of her being taken away from Masa. She promises Suzie that she’ll do her best to remember, but Mixxy happens to be standing in the doorway, watching the pair. When Suzie awakens, she finds Sunny is gone and under the other pillow happens to be a note and a hollowed out finger.

The Episode Review

Once again, Sunny delivers another subdued and slow episode, with drip-fed progression for our characters and not much else. At least not until the final minutes of this one anyway. We basically move through the forest for n entire episode, with a couple of gags about underwear and some distrust toward Mixxy. But to be honest, a lot of this could have easily been cut completely with no difference on the overarching plot.

For a few episodes now, we’ve had this slow, methodical feel that would work as a binge-watch but drip-fed out every week makes for an excruciating mystery that many are probably going to turn off by now.

It seemed obvious from around episode 3 that Masa is probably hiding something and could even still be alive, but halfway through the show, we’re no closer to understanding anything beyond that Sunny is adopting the usual amnesia trope and will need to be helped out to divulge more details.

Hopefully the next episode will improve as so far, this has been rather forgettable.