Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Remember This Youtuber? He's in Prison Now // The Mr. Anime Story

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Trey Eric Sesler, known online as "Mr. Anime," was a 22-year-old YouTuber from Texas popular in the late 2000s for his anime review channel, LensCap Productions. Sesler committed a horrific familicide in 2012.

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just him doing skits, often with props. Sometimes he'll bring guests on like his friends or his brother. But mostly he just rates different anime shows and movies. And it's 2006, so there aren't many YouTubers who rate anime during this time, so he develops quite a following and becomes popular in that niche community. So he keeps going and keeps making his videos and about five years go by. And so it's now 2011 and he's around 22. And he's still doing it. Like at this point, he's made over 300 videos and he has about 25,000 subscribers, which again is not bad for someone in the niche anime review community. But, By this point in time, anime isn't the only thing he's interested in. Over the last few years, he's developed a fascination with weapons, specifically firearms.

And he accumulates at least six guns and like a whole bunch of ammo. So along with his anime review content, he begins to do demonstrations of guns on his channel. And he even starts introducing himself as someone who does this. It's Mr. Anime. Or you can call me Trey. You can call me the guy that does the video game reviews. call me the guy that does all the gun stuff now. And as he spends more time focusing on weapons, he becomes fixated on the people who use them,

like, you know, serial killers and mass shooters. And eventually he becomes so obsessed that he basically starts raiding serial killers with like grades. Like, oh, this one accomplished all their goals, so A plus to them. He also starts doing a lot of research on mass shootings, like Columbine. So the guy's clearly not doing well, mentally, and he's on a dark path. Not to mention, he's dealing with depression, and he's having a lot of violent thoughts. He sets numerous fires in the nearby forest and also in random vacant buildings. And he likes to shoot his gun at vacant buildings sometimes or at businesses when they're closed.

He also starts hurting small animals? Not only that, but his physical health starts going downhill too. Like, he's having some back pain and he's not sleeping well. I've had a little bit of shortness of breath lately and a little bit of back pain and stuff. And I haven't been sleeping too well, my eyes are a little swollen that small are in these sunshades. So he ends up dropping out of college because he had been going to college part time. And you know, he works a little bit as a pizza delivery driver, but he spends most of his time playing video games and of course making his YouTube videos.

Now, Mr. Anime lives with his parents, but his parents don't. don't really like the direction his life is headed. So they'll often get into arguments with him, where his dad specifically will urge him to get a steady full-time job. But Mr. Anime, he doesn't want a 9-to-5 job. He just wants to make his YouTube videos and maybe someday make a living doing that. But then, his story gets really dark. So it's now 2012. And at this point, Mr. Anime appears to have gone off the deep end. Almost like he's lost interest in making his normal YouTube videos. And this is apparently when he starts planning to take one of his guns and commit a mass murder.

Specifically at the local high school that he used to attend. And he like posts a video on his YouTube channel telling his followers that he's going to take a two or three week break from posting. And he titles that video, Mr. Anime is planning something. But here's the thing about this shooting spree he plans to go on, at the local school. See, he wants to do it, but he really doesn't want to bring pain and shame on his family. He doesn't want them to have to live with the public disgrace of his actions. So instead of taking this as a sign that he shouldn't commit murder, he feels like the only option is to take out his whole family first so that they never see the horrible things that he's done.

So he makes one last video, and he lets his fans know that he won't be around for a while. Now, he can't tell them his real plan, so instead he lies and he says that he got a job so he won't be able to post as much. He also thanks all of his fans. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff St. with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero, more like

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about looking at something in the garage. So once they're both in the garage, he picks up that gun and, bam, he shoots her. And this unfortunately kills her. Then he puts the gun down and he goes back into the house to find his brother and dad. Once Mr. Anime gets into the hallway, he sees his brother and his brother is like, what was all that noise about? Because he had heard the shooting. And Mr. Anime, he doesn't say anything. He just walks past him, goes into his room, picks up his pistol, and he goes back into the hallway and blam, blam, he shoots him. But the brother runs away into the bathroom and he locks himself inside. So boom, boom, Mr. Anime starts kicking the door, trying to get in. Now all this noise wakes up their dad.

And their dad starts calling out, like, what is going on out there? So Mr. Anime hears this, and he runs into the bedroom, and blam, blam, he unalives him. Then Mr. Anime goes back to the bathroom where his brother's hiding, and blam, blam, he shoots to the door several times, and this, unfortunately, kills his brother. After that, I guess he's feeling remorseful, because he gets a black marker, and he starts writing messages on the walls, like, I love my mom, dad, and brother, and why did I do this, and I will never forgive myself?

Then he gets ready for the next part of his plan. He puts a rifle and a bunch of ammunition in his car. Then he gets in, and he heads to the local high school. Once he gets there, he waits in the parking lot, and he thinks about his plan, because his goal is to go inside and murder at least 70 people. But for some reason, in this moment, he starts thinking about his family members that he just shot. And he suddenly, miraculously, has a change of heart.

And eventually, he leaves the scene. Meanwhile, some of Mr. Anime's relatives can't get a hold of him or anyone in his family who lives at his house. So they get worried and they call the police to go to the house and do a welfare check. So police show up to Mr. Anime's house. And there, they find all the bodies. And based on the messages that he wrote on the wall, police assume that he's the one who wrote them, so now he's their main suspect. And so a statewide manhunt begins, and everyone is looking for this guy.

A few hours later, the SWAT team finds him about 25 miles away at his friend's house, sitting in his car, parked outside the place. And so, bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. And ultimately, he takes a plea deal, and he gets sentenced. to life in prison.