Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast

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 her and her adoptive siblings, Hayan stops hiding. She teams up with Euntae, a rising star on the police anti-vampire task force with secrets of his own, and sets out to dismantle the vampire empire one Angel of Death at a time. These aren't your typical vampires either, sunlight doesn't touch them, stakes don't work, and they only live five years unless they consume pureblood, which makes Hayan the most hunted person alive. The art is absolutely stunning, the action hits like a truck, and Hayan is exactly the kind of female lead you want, a cinnamon roll who transforms into an absolute force of nature when you threaten the people she loves. The romance is a slow burn that never overshadows the plot, and the twists genuinely catch you off guard.This one earned every bit of its 7.6 million likes.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

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 request: she wants Shizuku to write a romance novel about the two of them. To get material, Kaori convinces Shizuku to pretend-date her over summer break. It sounds like a lighthearted setup until the layers start peeling back. Shizuku's guilt over who she used to be, Kaori's suspiciously urgent need to make every moment count, and the secret she's hiding behind that relentless smile. This is a story about two girls finding each other at exactly the right time and exactly the wrong time, about writing as a way to hold onto someone, and about what it means to turn a life into a story before it's too late. Nominated twice for the Next Manga Award and ranked eighth on AnimeJapan's most wanted anime adaptations. Bring tissues. Bring the whole box.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

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 smell, and a burlap sack covering the face. The house rules are strange, the staff seem to be hiding something, there's zero outside contact, and everything about this job feels profoundly wrong. The horror here isn't loud or frantic. It's slow, suffocating, and patient, with hyper-detailed grotesque art that makes you feel as trapped in that mansion as Akane does. If you like your horror atmospheric, psychological, and dripping with dread, this one will get under your skin and stay there.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

POV: you let me summarize all the massive anime news from around internet so you don’t have to 😉 BIGTIME updates on Samurai Champloo, J2M, Aoashi, KPop Demon Hunters, In Old Records and Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

One Piece just became the best-selling comic series in history at 600 million copies — dethroning Superman in 60 fewer years — and Oda celebrated by writing down what the One Piece is and throwing it in the ocean. Genuinely unhinged. Berserk crosses 70 million worldwide sales with volume 43 on the way, Naruto and Boruto get an official YouTube channel, and Rumiko Takahashi's MAO is getting a two-cour anime from Sunrise this April. Akame ga Kill! creator Tetsuya Tashiro returns with a new series, and we close this week remembering Kyoto Animation founder Hideaki Hatta, who passed away at 76 — the man behind Violet Evergarden, A Silent Voice, Clannad, and so much more. Rest in peace to one of anime's greatest builders.All this and more on this week's In Bloom.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into Shinobi Undercover, written by Ippon Takegushi and illustrated by Santa Mitarashi, a modern ninja action comedy running in Weekly Shonen Jump that asks one beautiful question: what happens when the most lethal shinobi of his generation has crippling social anxiety? In this world, ninja still operate in the shadows of modern Japan, trained and deployed by the Ninja Public Safety Force as spies, bodyguards, and counterterrorists. Yodaka, is their strongest asset, an unstoppable force who can infiltrate anything, take down entire crowds of hitmen, and vanish without a trace. His new mission? Protect Aoi Mukai, a clumsy high school heiress being targeted by fugitive ninja, while blending in as a normal student. The problem? This guy can barely talk to people his own age without spiraling. But here's what makes it special: Yodaka doesn't win Aoi over with cool guy confidence or some rehearsed act. He wins her over by just being himself, awkward, earnest, and genuinely wanting to be her friend, something she's never actually had despite years of people being assigned to get close to her. It's got incredible action, genuine heart, and a comedic dynamic that just works. This one's a blast.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into WITCHRIV, Hakuri's devastating new fantasy series running on Shonen Jump+ about a world where being born a mage is a crime punishable by death. Nona Ewin lives a quiet life hiding in plain sight with her mother, keeping their secret locked tight. She's got one real friend, Lovi, and when Nona uses magic to fix her broken glasses, that one small act of kindness brings the Bureau of Magic Surveillance crashing down on everyone she loves. The Bureau doesn't just arrest people, they execute children, they kill entire families for the crime of knowing a mage, and they do it without blinking. Now Nona's separated from her mother, alone in a world that wants her dead, armed with nothing but sewing magic and the kind of resilience that refuses to break. She's not out for revenge, she just wants to find her mom and live in peace, and somehow that makes her even more compelling. This one grabs you by the throat in chapter one and doesn't let go.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into After God, Sumi Eno's wild horror-comedy masterpiece about a Japan that's been invaded by gods, and not the kind, merciful type. These are massive, incomprehensible beings called Idolatry Prohibited Organisms that turned entire cities into uninhabitable Danger Zones. Lock eyes with one? You turn to stone. They breathe on you? Your body dissolves into water. For thirty years, humanity has had one question: how do you kill a god? At the center is Kamikura Waka, a fierce high school girl who watched her best friend Shion die at the hands of a god, livestreamed for the world to see, and traveled to Tokyo not for answers, but for revenge. The twist? There's a god living inside her too. Then there's Tokinaga, the Anti-God researcher who found her, a gentle, self-sacrificing man hiding darkness of his own. Together they're humanity's best shot at fighting back. It's got body horror, black comedy, gods with absolutely unhinged blue-and-orange morality who don't even understand what death is, and a female lead in a shōnen who is genuinely allowed to be terrifying, vulnerable, and complex all at once. This one doesn't just break the mold, it asks why the mold was ever there in the first place.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into 86, Asato Asato and Shirabi's devastating military sci-fi masterpiece about the Republic of San Magnolia, a nation that claims it fights its war with "zero casualties" using unmanned mechs. The lie? Those mechs are piloted by the 86, people stripped of their humanity and sent to die in machines while the privileged sit safe behind walls. At the center is Shinei Nouzen, the "Undertaker" squadron leader who's seen too many comrades fall, and Vladilena Milizé, the Handler who refuses to see the 86 as disposable. It's about the cost of war, the weight of survival, and what it means to truly see someone as human. This one doesn't just hit, it devastates.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.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)