Sakamoto Days

Sakamoto Days is the textbook definition of a just-below-average show. Not offensively bad, but near everything it could be praised for has been done better by other anime and it will be largely forgotten once a few years are behind it. This wouldn't be such a problem if not for the immense online hype surrounding this adaption that convinced me to give it a watch in the first place. I sat down expecting a top-tier action-comedy with amazing fight scenes, which made the mediocre product I received that much more disappointing. Indeed, I kept watching weekly with a gradually diminishing hope that I would eventuallysee what was so great about Sakamoto. The plot is nothing we haven't seen before: "hardened assassin has to balance their dark past with domestic life and defending their family". Sakamoto Days doesn't do anything particularly interesting with this concept, other than Sakamoto involving two other sidekicks who are aware of his origins and abilities, one of whom can read minds. The episodes are, well, episodic, and most of the smaller story arcs can be arranged in any order without any real consequence. The "serious" episodes feel low stakes and forced, and like they don't have any real consequences that affect the main cast. Anime like Spy x Family and even Way of the Househusband have executed this concept far better (WotH had at least a clear idea of what type of show it was and what it was trying to do). The animation is probably the biggest letdown here. Nothing stood out to me as bad, and there were some cool moments, but it wasn't anything to write home about either, which is a major issue for a property whose main draw is the fight sequences. Also, the artstyle overall felt a little "off", for a reason I can't put my finger on. The characters are likable but archetypal and don't have any real depth to them. We don't have any real reason to care about these characters or their motivations until we get a backstory exposition dump shoehorned in. Speaking of motivations, the characters are so nebulously defined that I finished the anime only yesterday and have already forgotten what the key motivation of each character outside of Sakamoto is (protecting his family). Character designs are fine, I like Sakamoto's face and Lu's hair in particular, but they're nothing special. I also should note that I watched it in English, and while the voice acting is good in general, I found Lu's English voice to be somewhat annoying. In genera, while Sakamoto Days has its moments and isn't totally devoid of good things to talk about, it is ultimately an incredibly mediocre anime and I can't honestly recommend it to a general audience. Your time is probably best spent watching one of the many other action-comedy shows that do their job much better.

Sakamoto Days evokes a feeling of familiarity, back in a time when anime felt more old school with cartoonish humor. It ditches trashy fan service in exchange for a blend of engaging adult cast and mature setting. Despite that, Sakamoto Days both takes itself seriously and have fun with what it brings to us. Outside of his participation related to One Piece and other one-shots, Sakamoto Day to date is Yuuto Suzuki's most known work. What started back in 2020 became a sensation as we follow the everyday life of Taro Sakamoto. As a retired hitman with a reserved personality, Sakamoto is protrayed as a fatman in stereotypical fashion of having the 'Dad Bod'. This is exmplified to show that he has ditched his former life as a hitman in favor of raising a family with his wife Aoi. It's not soon after that hitmen from his previous life puts his family in danger where Sakamoto has to rely on his skills to protect what he loves. Drawing from influences such as the John Wick franchise, Sakamoto Days' story typically revolves around Sakamoto's daily life, his family, and friends. When imminent danger is absent, the anime can feel like a sitcom. The colorful cast adds flavor to this show with its diverse range of personalities. I confess to say that among its cast, the character chemistry feels natural and flourishes through their conversations and weekly segments. While Sakamoto himself is a man of few words, others such as Shin, Aoi, and Shaotang brings out the best out of him and each other. Shin Asakura is especially important to pay attention with his status of an ex-hitman. As someone who is loyal and confident, he remains an important ally and friend to Sakamoto. The term of loyalty also symbolizes the relationship between Sakamoto and his wife Aoi. Through background storytelling, we learn why Sakamoto quit being a hitman and settled down with a humble family. Make no mistake however, as Aoi herself is a strong willed woman who isn't afraid to take risks. Despite having different personalities, the two are fated seems to be with each other. Even with its weekly sitcom segments, this anime does have an overall plot. It fundamentally tells how Sakamoto lives his life while we see events from the underworld and gangs. The contrasting protrayal of his character going from an obese man to a will-fit hitman is a recurring plot element used throughout the story. It also cleverly mixes in lighthearted moments of humor while adapting shocking violence, done just right. It doesn't explicity glorify violence to stay in touch with gang and hitman related themes. It respects its plot themes while always focusing on Sakamoto's double life. The maindraw back of this season is its attempt to stay consistent. By that means, there are over 200+ ongoing chapters and one season of 11 episodes is far from reaching its full potential. This adaptation only touches the tip of the iceberg and fundmentally adapts the overall tone of the series. Luckily, we do have another cour already announced and through this franchises' popularity, we should expect more. On the technical front, Sakamoto Day adapts a stylish way of action sequences and fast paced combat. At times, it looks like a comic book coming to life when flipping its pages. Rather than giving characters powers, characters fight with superhuman-like movements. Sakamoto's transition is the most fascinating as if he's built like a lab experiment. Indeed, the early episodes of this series especially impresses with its battle chereography. The layers of body movements and expressions captures the beauty of this show. It's the perfect storm for a show with an adult cast featuring our title character Sakamoto. There's no one better to protray him and when we watch carefully, his life is quite normal outside of the hitman shenanigans. Anime like this often takes a more mature approach at storytelling but this show keeps it light and simple. It really can be enjoyable when you know what you see.

As someone who read the manga in preparation for the release of this show, I can only say that I'm disappointed. Knowing the course of the source material, it was easy to overlook how much was wrong with the adaptation (mostly because I was just excited to see it animated), but thinking about how this could be some people's first interaction with the Sakamoto Days story made me extremely sad. Putting aside how lackluster the animation was, the flow of the episodes just felt very disjointed, and the pacing was also quite strange. Still, there are some merits to its existence, I just hope thatseason two is able to deliver more than the first. Moral of the story though, just read the manga.

-🔵Winter 2025. It was supposed to be another "hit" but something didn't work out, practically everything failed, the story is boring and bland, it's just an excuse for action that fails due to average animation. How this anime went without much attention is so pathetic that it's sad, but oh well... maybe it's a good thing, the second anime this season that would be overrated because of spectacular action scenes, it's already too much..... The plot... the killer retires and starts a family but one day his past reveals itself and he will have to face a horde of paid killers trying to kill him... that's it. Only thesecond part of the plot description is important, this series ignores half of its assumptions and focuses exclusively/mainly on action with supernatural elements and (not as much as you might expect) a comedy tone in a typical shounen formula that you've seen a million times in other series of this type. Unfortunately, the action in this anime is just average in itself and the lack of a good story, characters and not using its own assumptions does not help it, and it could if more effort was put into writing this series. This anime tells the story of a hitman who gave up his profession for his family, it is the central part of the story, but this anime ignores it, does not develop it and gives the impression that it could just as well be the story of an assassin who still actively works in his profession, has no family and spends his free time with friends from work. This series is often compared to John Wick, but the assumptions of that film were even simpler than in this anime, so simple that the viewer did not feel that the rest of the story was omitted in favor of the action itself and it worked, the assumptions of Sakamoto Days are more developed after all, but for some reason this series forgets about it. Family... It is the main motivation of the MC and it is bland, yes the wife and daughter of the MC are cute but they are also an irrelevant background, this anime does not build real family relationships, it wastes the chance to say something real, simple common truths about ordinary simple life, family, relationship or parenting in contrast to a life of crime, even though it has the opportunity to do so and the plot assumptions scream that it should look like this. The simplest fairy tales for children are able to convey some lesson and this anime has nothing even though family is one of the main elements of this series. Still focusing mainly on the action these things could be presented but this anime, in breaks from the action, decides to spend time on naive lessons like "do not kill under any circumstances" or "building relationships" with the MC's new friends who are also killers, they are also one of the most forced groups of friends I've seen in a battle shounen, strong bonds are built within a single episode which makes them come off unconvincing, this anime simply pretends that the characters have gone some way to becoming friends and does so only so that it can jump straight to the action. Another thing that writes itself is the theme of the main character's transformation, but this anime again doesn't use it and makes Sakamoto simply boring and unbelievable, his path is I am a killer --> my wife asks me not to kill --> I don't kill and that's it (although this "not killing" is also presented here strangely and I don't know if it's the fault of the adaptation or the source material) seriously... that's all. Despite being a legendary killer, Sakamoto doesn't stand out with anything except his strength and only serves as an empty action figure, although there is room in the plot for the theme of "killing for the greater good" generally even the simplest consideration of the reasonableness of the MC's rule about not killing would be a plus, but this anime decides to go the simplest route and not give the MC any real challenges apart from another characteristic but nevertheless boring opponent whom he defeats and returns to the starting point, and this opponent of course converts after being defeated by the MC and never returns to take revenge xD As for "not killing", well... at some point the characters break the neck of the opponent but since the anime does not comment on it at any point it means that it is probably a shortcoming showing how much the creators do not care about their own assumptions xD Someone may also say that it is just a loose comedy action so you can't expect anything more serious from it but despite being like that, it is also quite brutal at the same time, we see a lot of blood, images of quartered people and generally the mystery behind the killers' garbage seems to be something darker and more serious, combined with the fact that this anime is most of the time at the level of a children's fairy tale in terms of tone and complexity, it simply seems inconsistent but these more serious things that still exist in this series also give the impression that this series could have allowed itself to do more but did not and it works to its disadvantage. It's time for action and well... the animation is simply average. You can simply see that the movement of the characters is often slow, often even this movement is not really there, for example when the MC delivers a powerful punch. We will not find in this anime really good and spectacular action sequences straight from jjk or praised in the context of choreography (at least in the first episodes) Ninja Kamui, it is simply not enough for a series that has nothing but these action scenes, that is why this anime is such a failure and everyone from fans of the original to new viewers are disappointed. As for writing the action... there are a lot of stupid things like "not hitting the protagonists who just run forward and do not even try to avoid bullets" or much more serious things like the world in which this action takes place. This anime does not bother with logic and credibility, the strangest, most destructive things can happen in the middle of the city but the world will not react to it anyway, seeing that this anime does not go into total absurdity after all, such a lack of a functioning world is irritating. I could also list the advantages of this anime but they are not important enough to change anything in particular so well.... Rating:⭐⭐⭐❌❌❌❌❌❌❌

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