Turkey! Time to Strike: Bowling in the Sengoku Era

A glowing bowling ball, a flash of light, and five girls land in the Sengoku era—what starts as a cozy sports setup turns into a time-twisting story about fate, loyalty, and what “winning” really means. We dive into Turkey: Time to Strike with open skepticism, genuine surprise, and a lot of laughs as a supposed bowling club anime morphs into a smart blend of sports drama and historical adventure.

First, we unpack the core tension between Mai’s “fun first” philosophy and Rena’s no-compromise drive to win. That clash triggers a supernatural time slip that drops the team into bandit territory, where their cover as traveling performers protects the timeline—kind of. From there, we meet Suguri, the “boy” samurai who’s actually a girl fitting into a role her clan demands be male, plus sisters Sumomo and Anzu, who carry the scars of past encounters with time travelers. The show leans into identity, trust, and consequence without losing its offbeat charm, even as violence flashes at the edges and the Washio clan’s threat forces the girls to choose action over safety.

And then the finale hits. The reveal that Sumomo falls through time, lives in the present as Haru, and adopts Mai spins the story into a clean time loop that upgrades the whole season. Suddenly the bowling alley they build in a feudal village isn’t just a gag—it’s a symbol of agency, of refusing “that’s just history,” and of how play can be resistance when the stakes are human lives. We talk rewatch value, the jump in our ratings, and why this series stands out: not for nonstop action, but for inventive problem-solving, a female-led cast with real arcs, and a Sengoku setting that adds texture and urgency.

If you crave something truly different—sports anime energy, time travel paradoxes, samurai-era tension, and a finale that makes you re-evaluate every scene—press play now. If you enjoyed the conversation, subscribe, share with a friend who loves offbeat anime, and drop us a review with your rating out of 10.

Chapters

• 0:01 Setup: Bowling Club and Premise
• 0:29 Time Slip to the Sengoku Era
• 2:45 Sports vs Winning: Values Clash
• 4:42 First Impressions and Genre Debate
• 6:42 Village, Sisters, and Cover Story
• 9:45 Building a Alley, Staying Stuck
• 12:18 Gender Reveal and Mulan Parallels
• 15:39 Twins, Fate, and Clan Threat
• 18:20 The Final Twist: Haru = Sumomo

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

What up, gang? Let's talk about a new anime called Turkey Time to Strike. Now, the premise, the fact they would sit around five girls that bowl. Yeah, five girls. Well, more like four since uh one of them don't really bowl, she's small enough bench warmer. But it's about this bowling club. Uh about, excuse me, let me catch right. So the story is set at the bowling club of Eco Kukon High School and the Gotta Prefecture. Mai, the club captain, values having fun with everyone overwinning. But her junior, Rena, pushes back saying, I want to win. When Rena threatens to quit the club, Mike tries to talk her down, but Rena challenged her to a one-game match. Suddenly, the bowling ball begins to glow, and the five club members are enveloped in a mysterious light. And when they wake up, they somehow drop time travel to the Sengoku area. Now, first of all, although I like to have fun, Rena has a good point. If you're not trying to win, then what's the point in competing? Like, it's one thing you just go into the bowl now, just hitting some pants and whatnot, just for all that's that's cool. But if you're going to enter tournaments and not intend on winning, I'm like, I don't know. I'll be trying to win the goal, but if I lose, then I'm like, okay, well, at least I try. But you know, there's this whole trauma that my have where she would throw games on purpose for reasons that's gonna be explored upon later. Uh, we have nozony, who's just there to be photographed and discovered. And it's funny because when the moment she said that, I was thinking of that one scene from The Temptations where, like, ain't nobody come to see you, Foodies. But, you know, more like, ain't nobody come to see you, Nosony. Uh Sayri keeps throwing gutter balls despite being in the club for a year. Nanase is the bench warmer, and nobody initially wanted to be in the bowling club or both or wanted to bowl in general. They just, it's just that on my begs and insisted on it. Now, once they arrived in the Sengoku period, they were being accosted by nomadic belligerents or bandits, but was saved by a young samurai boy named Suguri. When Siguri got captured, the girls returned to favor by using their bowling balls and other tricks to take out the bandits. Afterwards, the young samurai boy welcomed the girls back to the village. Now, before we get any further, Semi, first of all, thank you for being on the show. Uh, how are you feeling about Turkey Thomas Ray? What was your impression um before diving into it?

SPEAKER_01: 3:01

When the trailer came out, now I'm a huge sports anime fan. Could it go to basketball, um, haiku? Like, I'm a big sports fan. So when I first saw the trailer, I'm like, cool, we're getting a bowling anime. This looks exciting. Like, I'm sat out to watch this entire thing. Because when it first came out, all we got was Turkey and we got the two-minute little um trailer. We had no idea what was gonna happen to these five girls. And then when finally the first episode came out, it turned into Turkey Time to Strike. And I'm like, is this an isekai situation going on? Like, it was a wild turn of events for me when I first saw it.

SPEAKER_00: 3:45

Yeah, I would say it's more like time travel. Time travel.

SPEAKER_01: 3:48

I agree with you.

SPEAKER_00: 3:49

You you could say that like it's a because isekai means escape from reality, so it's not necessarily oh, you died and went to another world, it's more like you're just escaping from reality. Uh, but this one I would say like not really more like a time travel story. Thank you, Yasha.

SPEAKER_01: 4:09

Yeah, I I agree with you in the in that in that case, then I just thought, you know, it's this is a very interesting premise to me, you know. You have sports anime turned into time traveling um in this world. Like it it I like, I like the premise of it. It's a it's a crazy wacky idea.

SPEAKER_00: 4:30

Right now, as we go further into the story, uh the phone well, hold on, excuse me. Um my notes of you. Okay. Uh the girls meet Sumomo and Anzu, Tsuburi's sisters. Uh, Sumomo is kind of an airhead while Anzu is adorably protected. But it's to be understandable because she has a bad history with a traveling performer where uh her sister, who we're gonna be introduced to later, was taken away by a traveler. And with the girls posing as traveling performers to prevent information from the future affecting the timeline, that's why Anzu was like kind of hesitant on trusting them, trying to kick them out and all that shit. And later that night, Mike interacted with Sumomo, who knows that the girls are from the future, and she and she knows this because she wants to encounter a man from the future. And I like the analogy knows me made to Anzu, where hating old traveling performers for what happened to her sister is like a girl dating a bad boy, then assumes that all men are the same. And I was like, you know, I I busted out laughing when I heard that part. I was like, damn. Oh I just that might have killed some uh ladies that might be listening to this podcast. But uh the following day, Mai and Suguri and Sumomo get the villagers to build a bowling alley. The girls almost went home until Rina's hang up prevents them from jumping back to the present. Uh Nozini spawns with Anzu in one episode. Uh, we got Sayuri, Kaprani Suguri when he and his men killed men who have come on behalf of Tumomo's fiance, the Washio clan leader. We also learned that Suguri is actually a girl and just posing as a man because you know, like the leader of their clan has to be a man. So since there were all girls there, she had uh assume the role of a dude by you know, kind of patting her chest with if she even had one, and you know, kind of looking more boyish, so it can pass off as being a boy. But uh Seb, you want to add anything on to that before I continue?

SPEAKER_01: 7:02

We got ourselves a Mulan. That's what I can think of when I saw like because I caught on it right away. Um I'm like, oh, we got ourselves a little moolan situation. Only part that I have to say that really creeped me out is um when Sumomo, when the messenger asked if Sumomo begin to like because she's getting married, so they're like, did she mention? No, no, I found it a little creepy, but I mean to be fair, this is uh directed towards women, so I guess it's fine. But again, I've I found that that whole episode where it goes to that, then Sayori finds out that Saguri is actually a girl and like called it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:51

Yeah, because I just got this vibe that uh usually with anime like this where the cast is mainly and only women, it's like it sometimes comes off weird when a male comes into the picture, but oftentimes, oh, it turns out that male is actually a woman. In fact, a perfect example of this, I don't know if I'm gonna review it or not, but in case you heard of it, there's this one anime called uh Valkyrie Mermaid, I believe it was called, where essentially you have these all these girls on this one island, uh, some of them can transform into weapons while others can wield those weapons, and it was like they were kind of beefing with each other on this island for the most part.

SPEAKER_01: 8:40

But um, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

Think of it like that, like Soul Eater. And the thing was they had like this leader who was supposed to be like, oh, the only male on the island. But oh, it turns out not only it was a woman with short hair, but this woman was fucking stacked when you gotta take the bandages off. I'm like, whoa, hold on, how are you hiding all that under that suit? Watch Valkyrie Mermaid if you're that curious. But yeah, like I kind of figured, eh, like you must be a girl because, like, I just like I played these games before. Let me just put you like that. Uh Nasume, the older sister that we alluded to earlier, said to have left with another time traveler, came back, and we also learned that Sumomo has a twin sister, Akebi, who wears a fox mask and was hiding in secret. Truth is, one of the twins was fated to be killed while the other gets married off. Eventually, the Washiel clan found out everything and decided to SQ all five sisters. Even though the Bogling Club was able to return home, they went back to save the sisters. Now, at the last episode, I know we're kind of speeding through it, but not gonna lie, most of the anime, I'm like, it was alright, but like, uh, you know, a little twist and turns right there. I was like, okay, cool, cool, cool. But it was the last episode that had me thinking, you know what? If I were to rate this anime, at first, I was gonna write it up at another seven out of ten. Like, it was alright, like it was good, like at least the characters felt like characters, so um, for the most part, I felt like the characters carried the uh anime for me. But this last episode, well, the ending of the series, of the season. If I'm assuming that there's not gonna be a second season because the way they ended it, I'm like, no real need to have a second season after this. So at the last episode, we learned that Sumomo also got sucked into this time slip, forgot her memories, and lived life in the present as Haru, up until she met Mai at the orphanage, where Haru suddenly regained her memories and adopted Mai at that time as her adoptive mother. So if you go back before all this happened, you see Haru at um first episode and whatnot. I'm thinking, bro, I would have not suspected that was Sumomo the whole time, and that just makes it a whole time paradox where everything that happened had to happen, or else none of it would happen at all. That brought up to an eight for me. I'm like, whoa, oh whoa, hold on. I thought this anime was gonna be mid until I saw that plot twist. But Cindy, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01: 12:03

Agreed 150. I literally jumped out of my seat because this this last episode came out on my birthday, September 24th, and I'm sitting on the couch and went no, no way, like I shot up and like, you're not gonna believe I was wild. Like I was like, no, really, and then I kind of had to go back to like the first episode to rewatch it, and then to come back and be like, what? It's like kind of like that whole gotta watch you back again type of situation.

SPEAKER_00: 12:43

Yeah, it's like attack on Titan all over again to where once you know everything, it kind of compels you to go back and rewatch it with the information you now have, and somehow it makes the anime even better for like because now it's like you can look at it from a different perspective to where, but like I said, uh if my in the gang didn't go back the first time, or they didn't go back the second time to save the five sisters from being assassinated or executed, excuse me, none of this would have happened in the first place, exactly. It was like crazy how they made it sound like, oh well, they were supposed to be executed. Um, that's just how it is in history. Like, you can't change history, and then Mai was like, Fuck it, we ball, we gotta go save him. And turns out that that was what they were supposed to do, anyways, because otherwise, Mike would have never gotten adopted. And if she never gotten adopted, chances are she probably I don't know if she wouldn't even met the other four girls and all the adventures, yeah. So I'm like, crazy that one plot was changed my whole perspective on the anime.

SPEAKER_01: 13:56

Agreed, 100% agreed. Because I was right there with you with the whole seven, I was kind of like 7.5, and then the moment I saw it, I'm like, okay, yeah, that shot that back up like to a whole nine for me. Yeah, the plot just is wild, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 14:14

So we would say like an 8.5 out of 10. Okay, okay. Uh yeah, that's about it for me. I mean, I know, kind of short. Like, I thought it was gonna be like I honestly thought we're gonna be talking about for at least a so it's 30 minutes, but not gonna lie, I'm just like, it's it's kind of like one of those anime that I will review for anime and lightning. This was almost an anime lightning title where I was just gonna be like, okay, uh, here's an interesting one, and I'm just gonna spend like what five, ten minutes talking about it. But, you know, seven you want to talk about it too, so let's go ahead and make a full episode out of it. Or, you know, at least a separate episode from anime lightning. But uh, yeah, like I would say it's an anime where not everybody's probably gonna like it because you know how some people are, where it's like, oh well, there's no action, you know, that type of thing. Uh it's like almost too cutesy, you know, one of those c anime where it's I don't know, like I just think some folks uh might not really appreciate what happened with this because it's just gonna be glossed over. But that's kind of the point of the podcast where sometimes I like to watch anime that I don't hear anybody talking about, and at the very least, I'm just gonna put on an episode where okay, here's me talking about it.

SPEAKER_01: 15:46

Yeah, no, like I said, the moment I saw like because again, I I really for real thought it was a sports anime. Yeah, it's kind of everybody did.

SPEAKER_00: 16:00

Yeah, it kind of tricked me in a way to where they're like, okay, at first I really thought it was just gonna be like a bowling uh slice of light where it just they just stay in the present time, and yeah, they have a drama and whatnot, but I thought it was just gonna be like in the present and just like competitive bowling against like rival bowling teams. I thought it was gonna be something like that, but I did not expect for them to go back in time and essentially resolve problems with bowling.

SPEAKER_01: 16:29

Yeah, because the first episode right before they went back in time, I'm like, okay, so I'm getting haiku, I'm getting free, eternal summer, like the swimming anime and Kodakono basketball. I'm getting all that mixed together with the bowling alley. Again, I'm a sports anime fanatic. I love sports animes. So turkey, bowling. I'm like, yep, I'm gonna watch it because this is great. And then I'm like, oh no, they're going to time travel. Okay, that's fine. I find it funny. It's not something that you would expect, to be really honest. And I think that's why I really like the anime itself, is because it's so different. I don't think I've seen animes that are a lot of animes that are like this. You see a lot of isakai's, but you don't see a lot of time traveling sports animes.

SPEAKER_00: 17:22

Yeah, see that alone made it even more interesting to where it's like, okay, it's about bowling, but there's also time travel. And I'm saying, like, and also the fact that it's in the Sengoku period, because like I want to say that's like, I'm I don't know, maybe as a uh anime fan, you know, like ever since I watched anime like Sengoku Bazara and whatnot, it's like for some reason it just seems like I just expect something, some shit to pop off when we talk about the Sengoku period. Like, especially considering that I every time I think of Sengoku era, I think of Oda Nobunaga, where you know, the guy that kind of I mean, he didn't really create guns, but he's like known for being that warlord that capitalized on using guns and wars and whatnot. So there's uh bunch of anime um that's inspired by him, in fact, like uh Oda Nobuna and Nobunaga. I might review those.

SPEAKER_01: 18:30

That's another thing that I found is that you don't, other than the ones that you blessed, I don't see a lot of animes that go fully into the Sengoku period. You see a lot of animes that deal with like Edo period and like that. You don't see a lot of things that are related to that period. So I really actually enjoyed that as well.

SPEAKER_00: 18:49

Right. Like you hear about the Edo period, the Yan period. Yeah, like for some reason like Sengoku is like something's always popping up when they talk about the Sengoku period.

SPEAKER_01: 19:03

So yeah, I found that this is a this is a very unique anime, and if I recommend it to anybody who's like, I need something to spice up my life, well, here you go. Have have have bowling time travel in a tight little package. This is definitely an anime that you want to slice it up, you know, because it's a slice of life, sports, time travel, it does have a lot of action in it if that's what you're looking for, like you said. But if you're looking for something unique, this is it, right?

SPEAKER_00: 19:37

Like don't expect like high octane action, but it's more like at least there's like unique solutions to the problems that they're dealing with.

SPEAKER_01: 19:51

I mean, they totally saw a head come off, so well, oh yeah, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:57

Like they do be like cutting people up, and uh, you see blood and shit, like, okay, I'm not gonna discount it too much. Like, you do see some shit, but it's like not too much, just not too much.

SPEAKER_01: 20:12

But yeah, that's what I have for it.

SPEAKER_00: 20:14

Gotcha. Yeah, honestly, I straight up thought we're gonna spend like 30 or 45 minutes, but yeah, no, you know what? I just didn't have a whole lot to say. I just thought the main thing that saved the whole thing was the plot twist. So, with that being said, uh, let's just go ahead and close this one out. Uh, Sebi, thank you for being on. Uh, listeners, thank you for listening to us to the end. Remember to stay nerdy and that great things are coming. Have yourself a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. But ultimately, take it easy. Let's go ahead and zone about here, Sebasti.

SPEAKER_02: 20:49

Thank you.