Storyboard artist and episode director: Shinya Ino (also the series director and series composer, and this episode’s scriptwriter)
I usually fancy myself the type to be relatively unfazed by dark and mature content, but there were moments in Takopi’s Original Sin’s premiere that still made me blink or inwardly flinch. It’s not simply that the story involves relentless bullying, broken families, and tragic abuse. The episode also delivers tactile and dirty drawings, deliberate animation, and effective direction, which serve as a potent tool for turning the events on screen into a punch to the gut that you can almost feel.
The premise follows the alien Takopi, who hails from Happy Planet, as he meets the forlorn Shizuka and tries to help her with various special gadgets. As an alien who isn’t all that familiar with life on Earth and has a rather different viewpoint, Takopi isn’t as privy to Shizuka’s circumstances as we are and comes off as naive. However, his persistent desire to make Shizuka happy is perhaps the only source of hope for Shizuka, even if it’s a brutal trial-and-error process that can backfire terribly.
While Takopi’s understanding is a few rungs below that of the audience’s, the story unfolds in a way that takes the viewer on their own parallel journey of learning about what’s going on. Without going too much into detail, the final section of the episode contextualizes Shizuka’s bullying in a way that eventually makes you fear for the bully. It obviously doesn’t make the bully’s actions forgivable, especially with the outcomes they bring, but it directs your focus to the shroud of misfortune and awfulness that the two characters are enveloped by.
Takopi’s Original Sin’s first episode is particularly heavy because the drawings and character weight make its world and cast feel tangible, even with moments of exaggerated cartoony depictions and Takopi’s cute octopus design. Combined with its unflinching depiction of what the characters go through, the warning at the start is very much justified.
There are also the shadows, lighting, and camera. Two of the episode’s most memorable scenes make use of the darkness of shadows and framing to turn their lurking or encroaching danger into something you can palpably feel on your skin (the sound design plays a part in one of them too). The episode is not determined to provide an endless parade of super flashy composition, but it effectively deploys its camera. Sometimes, it inserts Dutch angles or uses perspectives that make you feel the weight or wrongness of things. A split-screen sequence showing two parallel perspectives could be easily considered fun if it didn’t involve persistent bullying.
Takopi’s Original Sin’s first episode is very much not an easy watch, but if you have the stomach for it, this seems to be one of the strongest anime of the Summer 2025 season.
Watch it on: Ani-One Asia YouTube channel, Crunchyroll
Adaptation or original: Based on the manga by TAIZAN 5
Series staff
• Director and series composer: Shinya Ino (Dr. STONE and Dr. STONE STONE WARS director, Made in Abyss assistant director et al.)
• Character designer: Keita Nagahara (Assault Lily Bouquet assistant director, Massara director et al.)
• Background art director: Sagako Itakura (“Page of Lambda” opening, “Sore o Ai to Yobu dake” music video)
• Color designer: Yuki Akimoto (SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary)
• Color script: Aoi Otani (Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! co-visual board artist and ending animation 1 co-animator)
• Compositing director: Yu Wakabayashi (BLACKFOX, “Page of Lambda” opening)
• Animation production and production cooperation: ENISHIYA
Cast
• Kurumi Mamiya as Takopi
• Reina Ueda as Shizuka
• Konomi Kohara as Marina
• Anna Nagase as Azuma
