Sunny
Sunny
Now Showing

Sunny

"Its first memory is meeting you."

6.7
Yr 2024
Status Canceled
Your Verdict

Rate this show to unlock picks like it. Create a free account.

Series Brief

Overview

The life of an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As consolation, she's given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband's electronics company.

Critical Reception

What critics are saying

Score 80 /100

Critics generally embraced Sunny as a bold, stylish, and surprisingly effective sci-fi dark comedy. Reviewers praised the show's confident tone and intriguing exploration of grief, artificial intelligence, and domestic technology, noting that the series managed to subvert initial expectations and deliver an engaging, unpredictable thriller.

Rashida Jones drew widespread acclaim for her lead performance, with multiple critics highlighting it as a career-best showcase for her talents. Her grounded, emotional portrayal was frequently cited as the glue holding the show's dark humor and unusual human-robot dynamic together.

While response was largely positive, some reviewers observed that the central mystery and conspiracy plotlines occasionally stumbled or felt uneven compared to the stronger character-driven relationships. Nevertheless, the series was broadly lauded as an intriguing and original streaming standalone.

“confident, quirky TV that doesn’t put a foot wrong”

“The new Apple TV+ series features the actress in a career-best performance with plenty of twists and turns.”

“an uneven but often bold and original series that gives Rashida Jones a terrific showcase for her unique talents”

“not only an engaging thriller, but one of the most intriguing series this year has to offer”

Transmission Paths

Where to Watch

Apple TV Amazon Channel
CA • UK • US
Apple TV
UK • CA • US
Why fans love it

Rashida Jones anchors this Kyoto-set mystery as an expatriate navigating the wreckage of a life built on secrets. The series balances the cold precision of domestic robotics with the messy, opaque reality of human grief. It treats the arrival of a companion machine less like a futuristic marvel and more like an unwanted roommate that forces a confrontation with an unsettling past.

The show operates at the intersection of dark comedy and thriller, leaning into the quiet aesthetic of its Japanese setting to ground the increasingly strange circumstances. It treats the disappearance of a family as a puzzle where the pieces are made of circuitry rather than clues. By focusing on the friction between a lonely woman and her new automaton, the narrative finds a specific, melancholic rhythm that sets it apart from more heavy-handed science fiction.

Featured Players

Cast

Credited 75
Regulars 11
Longest run 10 eps
Show 67 more
Anam Sekiguchi as Yuki Tanaka 4 episodes Kazunari Yanagitani 2 episodes Maruyama Nao 2 episodes Fubito Yamano 5 episodes Akiko Iwase as Crisis Manager 1 episode Tadashi Watanabe as Handsome Man 1 episode Oto Yoshino as Woman with Glasses 1 episode Chiharu Hasegawa as Pregnant Woman 1 episode Saya Yoshida as Elderly Woman 1 episode Yaeko Kimura as Griever #1 1 episode Teruyuki Nagamori as Griever #2 1 episode Sakiko Nishiyama as Griever #3 1 episode Wakako Miyamoto as Griever #4 1 episode Kira Cook as English Virtual Assistant (voice) 4 episodes Takashi Sasano 1 episode Hiroko Yano 3 episodes Katsuhiro Yokoi as Anchor (voice) 2 episodes Kazuko Sakagami 5 episodes Hiroko Takahashi 4 episodes Nichita Tanabe 2 episodes Kenichi Abe as Man in Vest 1 episode Shino Shinozaki as Receptionist 1 episode Kyosuke Shimamori as Tetsu's Bot (voice) 1 episode Tetsu Watanabe as Reiji 6 episodes Ryotaro Sakaguchi as Takumi 3 episodes Daigo Tanji 3 episodes Chigusa Nagayo 1 episode Takashi Yuki 2 episodes Ryohei Abe 4 episodes Akie Namiki as Additional Sunny Japanese Dialogue (voice) 4 episodes Erika Ishii as Koko 1 episode Kotaro Torii as Mr. Purple 1 episode Masafumi Fuse as Mr. Green 1 episode Ryuho Tsuda as Belligerent Dude 1 episode Katsutoshi Gara as Emcee 2 episodes Ryutaro Yamasaki as Host #1 1 episode Satoshi Hashimoto as Host #2 1 episode Takumi Hori as Host #3 1 episode Akihara Matsumoto as Host #4 1 episode So Michikawauchi as Host #5 1 episode Shuto Hayasaka as Dressing Room Host #1 1 episode On Nakano as Dressing Room Host #2 1 episode Kohei Kobayashi as Dressing Room Host #3 1 episode Kyu Kanai as Natsuko Todoroki 1 episode Yasuhito Shimao as Tendo's Bodyguard 1 episode Akinori Okibayashi as Drunk Man 1 episode Saho as Woman in Scrubs 1 episode Yuya Okutsu as Drunk Bettor 1 episode Hiroshi Sogabe as Neighbor 1 episode Goldie Berson as Dee's Daughter (voice) 3 episodes Taido Ishige as Buddhist Priest 1 episode Watashinoyouna Tenki as Ran Tomakomai 1 episode Minori Terada as Himé's Father 2 episodes Satoshi Nikaido as Jin 3 episodes Hiroshi Yamada 3 episodes Uekichi 3 episodes Akira Hamada as Mr. Nishimura 2 episodes Jun Kunimura as Yuki Tanaka 4 episodes Ryo Mishima as Male Bot (voice) 2 episodes Haruki Takano as Yakuza Henchman 2 episodes Masanobu Yada 3 episodes Seiko Noguchi as Ayame 2 episodes Mayumi Yoshida as Additional Sunny Japanese Dialogue / Female Bot (voice) 4 episodes Alice Yanagida as Yoko 2 episodes Kayo Yamamoto as Droopy Ponytail Guard 2 episodes Sonoko Kameoka as English Lesson Granny 2 episodes Haru Tanaka as Nana 2 episodes
Production Board

Crew

Director of Photography
Local Casting
Set Decoration
Second Assistant Director
Supervising Producer
Executive Producer
Hair Department Head
Co-Executive Producer
First Assistant Director
Associate Producer
Script Supervisor
Creator
Makeup Department Head
In Memory Of
Special Effects Coordinator
Art Direction
Casting
Signal Match

Similarity

Where Sunny overlaps with other shows, and exactly what they have in common.

Keyword Cloud

Keywords

based on novel or book dark comedy expatriate kyoto, japan robot companion
Technical Sheet

Details

First Aired
July 09, 2024
Status
Canceled
Origin
US
TMDB Votes
108