The Summer 2025 Anime Preview Guide - Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show

Miko Kurono, also known as "Necronomico," starts doing her dream job as a live streamer after graduating from junior high school. Miko spends her days with her childhood friend Mayu Mayusaka and rival Kanna Kagurazaka. One day, they receive an offer to try a new virtual reality (VR) game that will change their lives.

Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show is an original project from Studio Gokumi and series writer Makoto Uezu. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Tuesdays.

Isn't it nice to watch this episode with competent subtitles? I can't say that it particularly changed my opinion of the show, but it certainly was much less taxing to pay attention to when the characters' names weren't switching every other line. And given that this episode delves deeper into Lovecraftian mythos, a clear set of subtitles is tantamount. For example, the game Cthulhu herself sets up in episode two is a mix between a basic maze game and H.P. Lovecraft's 1931 novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth. While it's hardly a direct tribute or homage, it's still important to note that viewers can figure out which Lovecraft work is being referenced.

Not that I'm finding the link between Cthulhu mythos and livestreaming particularly rewarding. Apart from the idea of The Ancient Ones wanting to influence the human world again, there isn't much that feels important about this game. Yes, Mayu's coma and Cthulhu's possession of her body are significant to the main heroine, but no one else seems to have much at stake. (And that's not even getting into how Mayu's body can still be hospitalized while Cthulhu uses it. Maybe I missed something.) Maybe Eita's ego is on the line, or the assistant professor's reputation, but those are hardly on the same level. And it makes me very nervous that something will happen to Kanna's dog – the way the camera lingered on Daifuku while Kanna mused that she didn't have anything she'd wish for felt very ominous.

This second episode remains decently entertaining, albeit without making significant strides beyond that. More of the cast of Lovecraftian monstrosities are introduced, and getting Miko and Mayu's backstory does ground both of them in a way that the other characters lack. I suppose the moment of breathtaking misogyny when the actress is referred to as someone who “can't keep her legs shut” does let us know that the gods are bad guys. (Not that we needed the reminder.) But a death game needs to feel urgent, and this one just doesn't right now. It's moderately interesting, but it hasn't held my interest in the way I hoped.

I want to dedicate this review to my eight-year-old neighbor, thanks to whom I know that the VR game in this episode looks like Roblox. It's not totally unexpected, given Roblox's popularity, and even the name of the game, MEGALOX, sounds a bit like a reference to it. (That or someone really likes lox on their bagels.) That makes it an ideal style to use for the concept: a VR version of a kid-friendly game that hides horrors for its players. I'm not sure it's what the Old Gods would have chosen, but oh well.

As a concept, this show is at least interesting. VTubers and eSports players being dropped into a video game war with Cthulhu and his ilk isn't something I expected to see, but it works surprisingly well. From the girls' horror at how ugly they look in their avatar forms to the basics of a platformer, this gets a lot of little things right, or at least right enough to be fun. And underneath the candy-colored Lego blocks is something much more sinister – as the game's organizers say at the end, failing doesn't necessarily mean death, but it is a penalty in ways the players don't expect.

It also answers a lot of questions for Miko, who appears to be the primary protagonist. Her streaming partner and probable girlfriend, Mayu, collapsed midstream, and Miko has been driving herself crazy trying to figure out why. Now she has an answer, and it's not one she likes – or even one she can necessarily fix. It's worth noting that none of the Elder Gods have said that beating them will save the people they've hurt. Kei implies that it will save the world, but that's still no guarantee that Mayu or any of the others will come back. That feels like a higher stake, frankly, than the oft-used world-saving gambit, and for Miko, it almost certainly is. I get the impression that the world could go hang if she can get Mayu back.

This still has its flaws, ranging from the introduction of too many named characters at once to the translation. It's that latter that really is a problem; there were moments when phrases were awkward or, more glaringly, when a too-literal translation was used, such as “uso” being subbed as “liar.” Not necessarily wrong, but contextually incorrect, and there are more pieces where it doesn't sound…right. A glance over at the German sub reveals what the problem may be:

If this screenshot is to be believed (and I took it myself), Crunchyroll is using a script translated via voice recognition and ChatGPT for the subtitles, with no quality control whatsoever. While it's nowhere near the Yuzuki Brothers disaster, it's nowhere near acceptable for a professional product. I hope that this is addressed going forward, because a machine can never, and should never, replace a human translator for a project like this.

The good news is that the English for Necronomico is much improved from the debacle we got last time—almost as if an actual human being had a hand in making it read like a professional localization. Weird how that works, isn't it? I don't think the script of this show is going to blow anyone away in any language, but the show is much more enjoyable now that you aren't forced to constantly second-guess whether or not you actually understand what is happening.

As for how well Necronomico holds up in its second episode, the answer to that question will largely depend on your reaction to its premiere. Compromised localization aside, the premiere of Necronomico made it pretty clear what kind of anime this is set to be: We've got a bunch of candy-colored streamer weirdos trapped in an Eldritch Death Game Scenario, and the show has its tongue stuck firmly in its cheek so far as the tone is concerned. This is not an anime that is aspiring to high art or world-class spectacle. It is, however, attempting to entertain its viewers with a wacky and Cthulu-flavored twist on the usual death game shenanigans. In that sense, I'd say Necronomico continues to be a good time, so long as your expectations are in check.

With the basic setup out of the way, this second episode is devoted mostly to establishing what the overarching narrative goal is: If Miko can win enough points in this psychotic game show she has been recruited into, she has a shot at forcing the dark gods who control the game to return her childhood friend, Mayu (and maybe make a good amount of cash while she's at it). We also get to know Kanna, the fashion streamer, a little better and see what motivates her to participate in this deranged competition.

If anything is disappointing about this episode, it's that the “Great Old Ones Academy” game that comes next in the competition is presented in the same art style as any other scene in the show. It's a perfectly fine sequence to lead us to the end of the episode, but one of the aspects of the premiere I enjoyed was the show's switch to a completely different CGI mode for the video game parts of the story. While I'm still interested enough in Necronomico to check out the next episode or two, it will be a shame if the series abandons that gimmick entirely. It was a good one.

Maybe it's because my life has been consumed with playing through every route of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, but I've been jonesing for a good killing game anime as of late. Enter Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, which seemed like it would satisfy that craving based on its premise alone. The opening act of the premiere did not disappoint, either. Sure, the character animation is generally…not great, but the show's still got plenty of scrappy personality to spare, thanks to its broadly likeable cast and wild, hyper-colorful visuals. While the animation itself looks kind of ugly in an unfortunate way, the world and characters are all so obscenely colored and garishly overdesigned that the aesthetics become overpowered by a very fun, campy kind of ugliness.

What impressed me the most, though, was the clever and effective way that Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show incorporated CG animation into the proceedings. You'd think that more anime would take advantage of new technology to differentiate the real world of its setting from whatever virtual reality video game realms that their characters end up trapped in or getting reborn into, but Necronomico counts itself among the rare breed of anime that actually makes the attempt. What's more, the adorable and squishy world of KADATH looks more like Fall Guys than any dark, sinister plot being hatched by eldritch gods from beyond the void of space, which makes for a fun contrast.

Of course, the spooky underpinnings of the titular Cosmic Horror Show become apparent to our heroine Miko and her fellow streamers by the time the premiere comes to a close, so it remains to be seen if the show will stick with this cutesy style for the VR games, or if it will switch things up on a regular basis. Either approach could be effective, as long as the execution is solid. There's also a lot of potential to the friendship (and maybe romance?) between Miko and her Cthulhu-ficated BFF, Mayu. However, I doubt this is an anime that will delve too deeply into its character development or relationship drama.

While Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show is unlikely to blow anyone away, I think it's a very promising start to a kooky and cartoony take on a cosmic-horror-fueled killing game anime. It's a great concept, to begin with, and the characters are compelling enough to carry us through to the next episode (even if the shoddy English localization makes their dialogue come across as overly stiff a lot of the time). Just don't expect too much from the 2D animated segments of the episodes. This is not the kind of production that is going to be able to win anyone over through the sheer strength of spectacle alone.

To start with, I'm impressed by the rapid turnaround on the whole English subtitle debacle. There is so much red tape when it comes to making an anime—so much bureaucracy and so many approvals needed for even the smallest change—I am shocked that not only was a decision made but a translator found and translation done within a single week. Of course, I'm also aware that if no one had noticed the horrible quality of the subtitles, ChatGPT-sensei would no doubt have kept his job, and whoever was responsible for the subtitles would have been patting themselves on the back for saving a ton of money by not having to hire an actual person.

As for the actual content of the episode, this one is much more character-focused than the first. Now that the overall plot and stakes are established, we can start to get a handle on our main characters beyond Miko. This is done by having each grapple with the question, what wish will they have granted by the outer gods if they win? Not only does this give us a peek into their motivations (or lack thereof), but it also shows us how virtuous they are. It's obvious that Miko is playing the game for both a shot at revenge and a chance to heal Mayu, but several of the others have more sinister-seeming intentions. This marks them as both less sympathetic and more dangerous as far as Miko is concerned.

Even Kanna, who is the closest thing Miko has to an ally, is in it first and foremost to survive. She doesn't even know what she'd do with a reality-altering wish if it were given to her. And honestly, that may make her more dangerous than the people who are already committed to their own goals. You never know what side she's going to eventually end up on.

I also liked that, while several other characters were introduced, we didn't get to see their wishes. This makes them wildcards. Sure, they may seem friendly or standoffish when the group meets up, but we have no real idea of what drives them. The actress, for example, may be innocent of the scandal facing her, and that's why she is unable to trust her competitors. We just don't know.

Lastly, I liked the idea of seeing the various characters' sanity scores at several points in the episode. Assuming that 100 is a healthy mind, it makes sense that each is way lower than that just by going through the preliminary game. It also gives us yet another way of telling when things start going badly.

All in all, this looks like it will end up being an average death game anime. There's nothing groundbreaking about it, but if you're a fan of death games, it'll be enjoyable enough.

You know, in some parallel universe, I'm sure I enjoyed this show. It's got a solid supernatural hook, personal stakes, and a fair bit of social commentary. The story is easy to follow, whether you're a gamer or not, and the Fall Guys-style setting for this episode is great because it is something many are already familiar with. There's just one issue that prevented me from getting into this show: the fact that I speak Japanese. In every scene, there was at least one glaring mistranslation that pulled me out of the story.

To be clear, normally, as long as the basic meaning of a sentence is conveyed, I really have no opinion on the quality of most translations. At most, I go with “I wouldn't have translated it that way, but to each his own.” Of course, this only applies to human translators.

While there's nothing quite as egregious in the English subtitles as in the German ones (check out Rebecca's entry for the screenshot), let me assure you this anime was absolutely translated by a machine—and almost certainly by one listening to the audio rather than going off the written script.

The biggest telltale sign here is that, often in Japanese conversation, you drop the subject of the sentence. In English, it'd be like saying “Goin' to the store. Want anything?” From context, you know that the actual sentences being said are “I'm going to the store. Do you want anything?” and you don't need the “I” and “you” to get the meaning. However, an AI can't do this. So it guesses at the subject—usually going with “I”, “he”, or “she”.

Then there's the issue of AI translating in an overly literal fashion. One easy to recognize example in this episode is translating “Uso!” as “Liar!”—which would never be translated that way by a human. (In context, the obvious translation would be “No way!”)

The final big problem with the translation in this episode is that the AI has problems hearing. It gets names completely wrong—like translating Miko's friend Mayu's name as first “Mako” and then “Mai” within the same scene. Another time, it mishears the word “mazui” (meaning “This is bad!” in context) as “matte” (which it translates as “wait.”). It also gets numbers wrong. When the players are told they'll get bonus money, the amount the subtitles list is 100,000 yen when it's supposed to say 1,000,000 yen.

Here's my “favorite” exchange showcasing all the aforementioned problems in one:

-"Brilliant goal. Congratulations. Player Kanon Miko, the beauty queen."
-"She really scored?"

Meanwhile an actual human would translate it something like this:

-"What an amazing finish! Congratulations to you, competitors Kanna and Miko."
-"We made it to the goal?"

In the end, I recognize that this is much more a rant on the translation issues in this episode rather than the content of the story. However, subtitles are a major part of how the story is conveyed to the audience. If a viewer can't understand what's actually being said, they can't understand the story. If this show gets a new set of subtitles in the future, I'll be more than happy to revisit this episode with a more critical eye, but as it stands now, this is the review it's going to get.