[Interview Exclusive] How Anime and Pokémon Helped Inspire YOLO: Silver Destiny’s Silly Name Change

Michael Cusack has become one of the biggest names on Adult Swim in recent years, masterminding the Rick and Morty April Fool’s special, Bushworld Adventures, before he’d go on to co-create the network’s YOLO: Crystal Fantasy and Smiling Friends. Cusack’s experimental and punk rock comedic sensibilities are a perfect fit for Adult Swim’s subversive programming. Cusack continues to push boundaries in the second season of YOLO, which has undergone a superfluous name change from its Crystal Fantasy suffix to Silver Destiny. While this ridiculous name change fits with Cusack and YOLO’s avant-garde impulses, there’s actually a story behind the comedy’s new title and where its inspiration originally came from.

“‘Crystal Fantasy’ from the first season came to fruition through riffing on two- or three-word phrases that feel like they could be out of an anime,” reveals Cusack to BubbleBlabber. “Bubblegum Crisis”, “Cowboy Bebop,” a lot of those titles are just nonsense words thrown together,” explains Cusack, “but they somehow really make sense.”

When it came to season two’s “Silver Destiny” status, it was in fact one of Nintendo’s long-running RPG series that helped influence the shift. “There was also some inspiration from Pokémon and how their games would use different colors and gems for their sequels,” admits Cusack. “There’s something really aesthetically pleasing, and perhaps nostalgic, that makes those names work…’Silver’ was pretty arbitrary too and it was honestly probably influenced by Pokémon. It’s just fun to come up with silly names like that.”

Adult Swim is no stranger to anime, both through the network’s Toonami programming block, but also a wealth of programming like Ballmastrz: 9009 and Gēmusetto that draw heavy inspiration from the medium. Pokémon has never formally aired on Adult Swim, but it’s perhaps only fitting that the series and its larger medium would go on to play a role in both the branding and storytelling of YOLO. It’s not easy for a TV show to suddenly change its name in the middle of its run, so it’s appreciated that YOLO goes the extra mile in the name of comedy, but also that they were even allowed to do so. Cusack was both grateful, and surprised, at this privilege: ”There wasn’t any pushback at all,” explains Cusack. “I thought there would be!”

Cusack has been vocal about viewing YOLO as a trilogy, although a third season has yet to be confirmed. Hopefully Cusack and YOLO will receive this opportunity and with any luck YOLO will incorporate “Ruby,” “Sapphire,” or “Emerald” into its season three title. “YOLO: Sapphire Symphony” has a certain ring to it…

YOLO: Silver Destiny airs Sundays at midnight on Adult Swim, with next day streaming on HBO Max.