Where Did All the Hype for Sasaki and Peeps Anime Go?

Summary:

• Fans were initially excited for Sasaki and Peeps, but no one is talking about it now.
• The premise was insane enough to make people watch it, and a double-length premiere helped.
• The anime plot went nowhere, and everyone stopped caring.

During the early weeks of the Winter 2024 season, many fans were positively surprised by Sasaki and Peeps (Sasaki to Pii-chan). A fairly unusual take on isekai where the characters go between worlds, and with some of the most beloved seiyuu voicing the characters — it looked like the anime was destined to become one of the more popular isekai anime of the season.

If you look at the end result, however, it’s the opposite that happened. Practically no one talks about it anymore. Did the anime fall off? Well, that part is debatable, but it certainly wasn’t as impressive as fans expected it to be.

What were the fans excited for?

Arguably, a lot of initial hype for Sasaki and Peeps relied on its wacky premise. A regular salaryman being the protagonist instead of an average Japanese highschooler, combined with the other major character in the series being a bird, isn’t something we often see in anime.

Another reason why fans were initially excited for the anime was the premiere being a double-length episode. Yes, it certainly let fans talk about more things — but it wasn’t even that impressive if you look back at it. It was about the same as the rest of the series — anime watchers often get unreasonably excited over double-length episodes.

So what went wrong?

The main problem with Sasaki and Peeps is simple: the anime tries to do too much.

There’s comedy, which is pretty bizarre and random, there’s a huge amount of characters who get little screentime that we don’t have many reasons to care about, there’s an overly convoluted isekai plot that is leading nowhere. Stuff is happening, but it’s just not that interesting to justify caring about it anymore.

It’s not like there’s one thing about Sasaki and Peeps that makes it terribly bad: it’s more that not a single thing makes it exceptionally good. A double-length premiere possibly left fans thinking that the anime will have more plot and action than it actually has.

Perhaps the initial excitement was a result of wrong expectations, but one fact still stands: the anime mixes many genres, and they don’t really work together well in this case.

While the premise was unique enough to grab viewers’ attention, the novelty quickly wore off. Sasaki and Peeps isn’t your usual isekai, yes, but it also doesn’t make itself interesting in any ways besides the premise. Moreover, the later episodes started showing some issues with animation, making fans care even less.