Like many other anime fans, when I initially saw the trailer for Netflix and TMS Entertainment’s adaptation of Sakamoto Days, I was skeptical of whether or not it would live up to how charming the original manga is. After all, Weekly Shonen Jump has had some absolutely phenomenal anime adaptations released over the past few years, and I was worried that if Sakamoto Days leaned even a little bit into being mediocre, that it would lose any potential traction to become more mainstream in the West. Thankfully – despite their spotty track record, Sakamoto Days‘ anime adaptation ultimately won me over; not because it had next-level animation or elevated the source material in any particular way. In fact, the anime made some jumps in the narrative in order to introduce popular characters more quickly.
To be perfectly honest, what ultimately made Netflix’s Sakamoto Days such a fun watch was the incredible sense of nostalgia the anime made me feel toward the medium. In many ways, the anime adaptation of Sakamoto Days embodies some of the very positive aspects of anime that released in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It put a stronger emphasis on the series’ signature slapstick humor, and the voice performances elevated the self-aware campiness that the show was going for. While it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I was genuinely impressed with how much TMS Entertainment was able to accomplish with the anime adaptation, and how other anime fans should look past their initial biases and give the show a proper chance.
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Sakamoto Days Is Fast-Paced & Silly But Maintains Its Core Values
When I started reading Sakamoto Days after it debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump, I was blown away by how well the manga was able to emphasize the importance of finding family and security while still delivering a tense, high-stakes action plot. The anime keeps much of this intact, and while some audiences have panned the anime adaptation for its production quality, I believe that the tighter combat sequences don’t rob any of the fights of the over-the-top camp the series has become known for. In fact, the internal monologuing and narration of events from Sakamoto’s friends and the villainous assassins they end up fighting with add to the series’ sense of humor in a way that feels reminiscent of old-school action anime.
Sakamoto Days‘ storytelling can be fast-paced at times, something that the anime adaptation has managed to keep intact, but it has had to make a few sacrifices. The early episodes of the Sakamoto Days anime cut out a lot of the slice-of-life content, such as skipping Chapters 2 and 3 of the original manga to skip to more of the assassin-focused story beats. On one hand, cutting this content robs the anime’s audience of much of the heart of what makes Taro Sakamoto such a special character when compared to other modern shonen protagonists, but on the other, considering the first cour of the anime only has eleven episodes, it makes sense that TMS Entertainment would make some minor content cuts to get to the exciting action that will keep a majority of newer fans invested in the show.
While this is absolutely disappointing as a fan of the manga, I can understand where the production team is coming from. That’s not to say that the anime has removed all of Sakamoto Days‘s wholesome goodness, though, as the anime has done its absolute best to keep Sakamoto’s driving motivation – the wellbeing of his family – at the forefront of its narrative. Every moment depicting Sakamoto’s love for his new life and family is handled incredibly well and perfectly characterizes him as the devoted, albeit deadly, family man that fans have come to know and love him for being
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Sakamoto Days Stands Out Compared To Other Shonen Anime Thanks To Its Characters
Something that I found incredibly endearing about Sakamoto Days‘ anime adaptation is how well the production team at TMS Entertainment adapted the main cast. The performances from the original Japanese dub cast and English dub cast are absolutely phenomenal, but more than that, the way that each of the characters are written holds up to how well they’re presented in the manga. While Sakamoto Days is initially presented as being rather episodic before diving into some of its meatier plot points, its main trio, Sakamoto, Shin, and Shaotang make the early story arcs feel lively and impactful.
Something the first two episodes of the anime did remarkably well was exploring Shin’s understanding of why Sakamoto decided to turn over a new leaf. While initially combative and unsure of the retired assassin’s abilities, he quickly realizes that his love for his family is what makes him so strong, and that even though the world-class assassin looks different than he did when he was working as a killer-for-hire, his life as a husband and father is truly his “prime”. I was blown away by how well the anime adaptation was able to explore Shin learning to understand how big Sakamoto’s heart is, and it truly elevated my viewing experience. The introduction of Shaotang furthers this revelation, with her own relationship with her family and, by extension, grief, being explored in a genuinely heartfelt way that makes it easy to understand why she acts the way that she does toward Sakamoto and the other characters.
It could have been all too easy to drop Sakamoto Days‘ anime adaptation after I learned about some of the heavy-handed critique being directed toward its production quality. However, after taking the time to truly indulge in everything the first cour has to offer, I’ve genuinely had to admit that I was wrong to listen to online echo chambers regarding the show’s quality. Sakamoto Days is still filled with its deadly, over-the-top assassin duels while maintaining its core values as a series about one man who is choosing to walk a better path in life for the people he wants to protect, and in an age of anime where we oftentimes see stories that feel the need to go to deep, dark places in order to teach its main characters a lesson, it’s refreshing to have shows like Sakamoto Days that instead choose to have fun with its narrative.
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