Anime
Episode 5 – Needy Girl Overdose
© WSS playground / NEEDY GIRL PROJECT
Just when I think I have the cynical tone and philosophy of Needy Girl Overdose figured out, it throws me a curveball and gives me its most uplifting (and gayest) episode yet. Shifting focus away from Kache and OMGKawaiiAngel, this episode explores how Lollipop, Michica, and Nechika-sama formed Karamazov and sheds some light on the three’s relationship. Through nonlinear storytelling, this episode slowly lays out that the brash and bold Lollipop used to be a meek shut-in, who was transformed by the beautiful and confident Michica and Nechika into the person she is today. Between these peeks at Karamazov’s origins, we’re treated to Kache continuing to be rizzed up by these ladies, hints that OMGKawaiiAngel’s irl-ego Ame-chan might be able to form a real relationship with Lollipop, and a delightful mixed media crashout from KAngel.
Especially after the opening episodes of Needy Girl Overdose were so hostile towards much of society, it was really affecting to see this group of young women support each other and help raise each other personally and professionally. After so many episodes dedicated to exploring the artifice of modern society and how hollow and destructive parasocial relationships are, it’s so sweet to see these characters form a genuine connection and clearly care about each other a whole lot. With flower-focused interstitials in this episode helping frame it as a story of how Lollipop (and to a lesser extent Kache) bloomed into the ideal version of herself, I can’t help but be impressed that Needy Girl Overdose found a way to make the “real friends are important” message present in so much anime land so well.
Though maybe they’re all more than friends because I interpreted that scene of Lollipop, Michica, and Nechika all snuggling in bed together as proof of them all being in a romantic and sexual relationship. To be clear, this is awesome, and anime needs more lesbians, but also OMG NO!!! Fucking your professional partners (who are also your friends) has never gone well in a collaborative creative endeavor, and I’m now terrified that this is going to blow up in all of their faces. Or, wait, was Ame-chan’s impromptu date with Lollipop an attempt to honeytrap her and break up rising streamers who might usurp KAngel?
This is the most interest anything related to internet streamers has ever inspired in me, and I can’t get enough!
To pull back on the speculation, though, the ending of this episode seems to be grounding the ideological differences between Karamazov and OMGKawaiiAngel, which we’re likely to see play out in the episodes to come. While OMGKawaiiAngel is currently the biggest streamer in the world due to her deep-seated need for external validation and desire to make other people as sick as she is, Karamazov is doing this because its members genuinely believe that they’re awesome, like doing cool stuff together, and that they deserve to be celebrated. While the latter mentality is obviously the healthier one, I greatly look forward to seeing how tenable either is in a society that is principally designed to make women feel miserable and sabotage their own happiness.
(Also, credit to Chiaki Mitama on Bluesky for pointing out that Kache lost a follower after breaking up with her boyfriend, who presumably unfollowed her. This little detail is both terrific and representative of all of the passion and extra effort that goes into the production of Needy Girl Overdose.)
Rating:
Lucas DeRuyter is not a streamer nor a girl, and in fact has a contentious relationship with many of those who identify as the former. He does, however, tend to overdose on entertainment and culture writing, with some of the best pieces in his body of work noted in his portfolio! While he probably could be forced to appear on a stream or podcast if the right person asked, you can regularly find his anime-related thoughts and opinions expressed in ANN’s This Week in Anime column.
Needy Girl Overdose is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.
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Anime
‘Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga’ Gets Miniseries in October – News
Original series based on card game ended in April 2025
The November issue of Kadokawa‘s Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine announced on Saturday Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota will launch a new miniseries for their Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga (Subete no Jinrui o Hakai suru. Sorera wa Saisei Dekinai.) manga, based on the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, beginning in the December issue on October 26. The series will be titled Subete no Jinrui o Hakai suru. Sorera wa Saisei Dekinai. -Timeshift- (Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. -Timeshift-).
© Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Ise confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) the new manga will be a short limited series that will run for four chapters irregularly in the magazine.
Viz Media releases the main manga in English and describes the story:
Travel back in time to the early days of Magic: The Gathering!
It’s the nineties at Tokiwagi Middle School. And for gamers like Hajime Kano, after the release of Magic: The Gathering, nothing will ever be the same again!
In everything he does, it seems like geeky Tokiwagi Middle School student Hajime Kano comes in second place behind popular honor student Emi Sawatari. But when Hajime takes a trip to a new game store he’s been hearing about, their rivalry takes an unexpected turn. Welcome to the early years of Magic: The Gathering, whena trading card game shaped a generation forever!
The manga first debuted as a one-shot in Monthly Shōnen Ace in August 2018. The manga started its serialization in the magazine in November 2018. Wizards of the Coast LLC. is credited with cooperation. The manga ended serialization in April 2025, and Kadokawa shipped the 18th and final volume in June 2025.
Sources: Monthly Shōnen Ace November issue, Katsura Ise‘s X/Twitter account
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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Side story debuted in January
© Akaza Samamiya, Kadokawa
Akaza Samamiya announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday the Mr. Mallow Blue: After The Rain side story to the Mr. Mallow Blue manga will end in the next chapter.
The original series focuses on the meetings of various social outcasts, including a fragile girl, a shut-in, and a handsome man who wears a cold expression as a mask.
Samamiya launched the side story in the March issue of Kadokawa‘s Asuka magazine, which shipped in January.
Samamiya launched the main manga in Kadokawa‘s Asuka magazine in November 2019, and ended the series with the the sixth and final compiled book volume on December 24.
Samamiya launched the Ballad x Opera manga in Asuka in May 2017, and ended it in September 2019. Kadokawa published the manga’s fifth and final volume in November 2019.
Samamiya serialized the Bloody Mary manga series in Asuka from November 2013 until February 2017. Kadokawa published 10 volumes for the manga, and Viz Media published all 10 volumes in English.
Source: Akaza Samamiya‘s X/Twitter account
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
>
Side story debuted in January
© Akaza Samamiya, Kadokawa
Akaza Samamiya announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday the Mr. Mallow Blue: After The Rain side story to the Mr. Mallow Blue manga will end in the next chapter.
The original series focuses on the meetings of various social outcasts, including a fragile girl, a shut-in, and a handsome man who wears a cold expression as a mask.
Samamiya launched the side story in the March issue of Kadokawa‘s Asuka magazine, which shipped in January.
Samamiya launched the main manga in Kadokawa‘s Asuka magazine in November 2019, and ended the series with the the sixth and final compiled book volume on December 24.
Samamiya launched the Ballad x Opera manga in Asuka in May 2017, and ended it in September 2019. Kadokawa published the manga’s fifth and final volume in November 2019.
Samamiya serialized the Bloody Mary manga series in Asuka from November 2013 until February 2017. Kadokawa published 10 volumes for the manga, and Viz Media published all 10 volumes in English.
Source: Akaza Samamiya‘s X/Twitter account
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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