A friend and I have this pet concept of anime that are perfect 7/10s. They're not necessarily the most lavish of productions and they are usually constrained to the fairly cramped realm of single-cour seasonal anime writing, but they have a ton of heart, and they tend to do one or two things very well. Turkey! is one of those. It's honestly one of the better ones in a long time. About its length, though, I don't want to make it seem like that's some kind of straightjacket for Turkey! For many other anime, twelve episodes can be restrictive and you can feel the show scratching at the edges of the format. This is true of even some very good anime. Turkey!, though, knew exactly what it wanted to do. It got in, told the story it wanted to tell, no more and no less, and it got out. Pure professionalism. Which maybe undersells the fact that this thing made me cry more than once. Turkey is, in the broadest sense, about what we, as people, mean to the other people in our lives. Our family, our friends, even those who we meet only by circumstance. And it explores this through a, frankly, boldly silly mixture of signifiers---do recall this is still the show that's about bowling and also the Sengoku period. That it takes itself seriously in spite of that is, as in similar cases like Birdie Wing, and---on a much vaster scale---something like Umamusume or even Saki from back in the day, is to be commended. Because it shows that you truly can build a story out of fucking anything and have it still work.

The finale itself, is the best case scenario for this sort of show. There are moments that are so deathly dramatic that they're funny---the final throw coming down to, of fucking course, a turkey split? Hilarious. Mai's "I don't care about your gods, I care about bowling." line? Incredible stuff---and then there are moments that are much the same but hit you right in the heart instead. The series' final twist is one I cannot bring myself to spoil, but I was so delighted that this show still had one last trick up its sleeve, only for the specific way Turkey! played it to make me cry like an idiot. What else can you even say? This was a game well played.

#TurkeyAnime #Turkey finale writeup.

Good show!!

them
#TurkeyAnime

At the start of the season, Turkey surprised me---and many---with its genre switch. Here, at its halfway point, it surprises again, this time with one of the year's single best episodes. A common concern of the time travel narrative is that of the dissonant value systems of those in the past compared to those who live today. This episode deals with this dichotomy, in its many forms, from its beginning to its end, starting with relatively simple examples---Sumomo being betrothed to someone she's never met, for instance---and slowly snowballing up until the episode's final, harsh climax. The relevant early example is that Sayuri has her period here, and initially panics because she's not really sure what to do about that in a time before pads were invented. Suguri is there to help, thankfully, and is revealed to be a woman---ordered by her father to play a man's role as a protector and warrior of the estate---in the process. Were that all this episode did, we'd already be approaching rare territory for an anime (think of how many anime bring that particular subject up at all. It's not zero, but it's not exactly a thriving club). But episode six's masterstroke is instead in drawing a connection between that blood and blood of a very different kind. After Suguri and Sayuri's initial connection and bonding over their shared womanhood, a group of bandits threatens the estate, forcing Suguri and her men to take defensive action. This, of course, entails killing them.

Perhaps understandably for someone growing up in the relatively privileged position of being a high school girl in modern Japan, this sort of breaks Sayuri's brain. She lashes out at Suguri, simply not understanding how such a kind and caring person can be so willing to take a human life. She initially finds Sugiri's counterargument, that protecting someone necessarily entails that you may have to harm or even kill someone else, unconvincing, and runs away in tears. It is thus left to not a single character but the show itself to explain how these traits coexist in a person. Turkey's answer to this dichotomy is that because the bloody period the girls are trapped in will one day become the gentle times they grew up in, any one person---Suguri, Sayuri, anybody---is exempt from blame. It articulates this, quite deftly I would argue, with its final scene. One of the bandits who survived Sugiri's forces' initial attack threatens her again, and in order to save Sugiri, Sayuri heaves a massive rock at the bandit, allowing Sugiri to finish him off. (The sound work deserves a check in particular, here, the bandit's death gurgle is absolutely grisly.) The fight scene is equal parts stylish and over the top and positively ghoulish, a reminder that the relatively pampered lives we now live are the exception, rather than the norm, of human history. (And, it must of course be said, it's not like those are a universal human experience in of themselves.) By putting blood on Sayuri's hands, symbolized by it dripping down and staining the petals of a pure white flower, Turkey has involved her directly in the period's violence. In doing so, it asks, even if our girls ever do return home, will they ever be the same? But the stained flower is the show's answer; unchanged, no, but the same at their core, yes.

It is a thesis Turkey will need to spend the remainder of its runtime proving or, perhaps, disproving, but this episode proves it can pull off this kind of subject matter. So I await what is to come with anticipation and bated breath. Godspeed, girls. image: Suguri comforting Sayuri: Kind yet strong. You are still yourself.

Turkey's most recent episode might be one of the best of the year? Absolutely insane glow up for what was already a quite good show.

(What tag are people using for this? #TurkeyAnime?)

I know it's silly but I am legit upset that the cute bowling girls anime was just a Bait-and-switch for some isekai trash

With them Literally updating the Promo image from cute to Sengoku violence

#Turkey #TurkeyAnime #TurkeyTimeToStrike #Anime

#TurkeyAnime
I am apparently watching three anime this season who have main characters name Mai.

Strike voraus! Der neue Anime „Turkey! Time to Strike“ zeigt uns ab Juli 2025, wie emotional Bowling sein kann. Freundschaft, Selbstzweifel & große Sommerträume – das alles in Chikuma, Nagano.#TurkeyAnime #Anime2025
sumikai.com/mangaanime/a...

🎳 Anime de BOLICHE?! Turkey! estreia em julho de 2025 e será ambientado em Chikuma, Nagano! 🏆✨

Com direção de Susumu Kudo, a série promete trazer emoção esportiva como nunca antes! 👀🔥

Ansioso? 🎳💥

#anime #TurkeyAnime #Anime2025