IMO 2 - Sakamoto Days

Intro

Recently I’ve been on an anime kick. The past few months I’ve watched several decent anime. Some at the behest of a friend, others that have been on my radar for a while. At the end of March I didn’t have anything to watch, so I checked out the Sakamoto days anime. I was surprised they announced an anime last year and it looked really good.

The premise of the story is simple: An assassin finds love, and leaves his old life behind. He gets fat and comfortable and starts a family, but his past catches up to him. I had read a little bit of the manga a few years ago, but eventually I dropped it. Not for any reason except that it just didn’t stick at the time. That said, I really did like the premise and wanted to re-read it eventually.

After watching it, I will say that the anime was not only well done, but it made me want to try reading the manga again. I really didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did, but I’m happy I checked it out.

Hello Mr. Sakamoto

To start, the season is split up into 2 different parts (cours) just like Dandadan was (another anime that Netflix produced, you should watch it and also read the manga). The first part is 12 episodes and they’re all available to stream now. The pace is pretty brisk with most early arcs being 1-3 episodes. By the end of the first 4 episodes, the characters have enough personality and development to warrant investing into the series. By the end of the season, you’re left with a nice cliffhanger that will leave you wanting more, or in my case, incentive reading the manga. On its own the season is definitely worth a watch. A lot of people will be fine with staying anime only, but for those who are interested in where the story goes, there’s a lot more content in the manga.

Tone Shift

The first season ends somewhere around chapter 30-40. The total amount of chapters in the manga have recently exceeded 200, so there’s a lot of post anime content. The story after the anime continues to grow in scope and gets fairly chaotic for the characters. The series retains and builds upon its upbeat characters and message.

I think the biggest x-factor of the series is the comedy and the writing, specifically the dialogue. The mangaka, Yuto Suzuki is an excellent writer, and has a knack for writing dialogue in a way that makes their characters feel real. Almost as if they’re based on other people. It’s a joy to read the banter/bickering among the characters. It makes for very compelling situations where you want to see how the characters will play off and interact with each other. On top of that the comedic aspects of the series are, in my view the highlight. It took me by surprise when I began reading the manga, because the earlier stuff in the anime was funny, but nothing out of the ordinary for what you would get from an anime/ manga. There are at least 3 running gags that happen in the latter part of the story that have gotten me close to tears, and really solidified the series as something special.

The manga has a pretty big cast of characters (recurring and one off’s) that are fun to see. The ensemble get plenty of time to develop and in a few cases are written better than the main cast. If there is a slight to the series it would be in the realm of how the female characters tend to be shelved. What makes it annoying is not necessarily that they aren’t used, but that they generally are written really well, and just disappear out of the story. I’m not a woman or a feminist, so it doesn’t bother me in the way that you would expect, I just like to see good characters get the spotlight.

Lastly as Sakamoto Days is a shonen, fighting is a big element of the story. While the fight choreography is not the greatest, the fights all have a sense of tension and stakes. As in the characters are putting their beliefs on the line and are put in situations that can and will compromise their moral compass. This is not to be mistaken with people die all of the time, though there are character deaths. It’s more about the win and loss of the main characters beliefs, and if they can uphold themselves in the world the author built. There are also great moments of tension between the characters, where they are faced with certain insurmountable obstacles, that is reminiscent of one of my favorite manga, Hunter x Hunter.

Outro

When I started the series, I did not at all expect it to go where it did, but I dig it. Currently it’s on my roster of weekly reading, and gives me something to look forward to on the weekends. When I initially started the series, I didn’t think it would be something I would recommend. It felt like a story appealing to a very niche audience, but after watching the anime, and seeing how the manga has progressed, I can say Sakamoto Days is worth the read.

If you have space in your day to read a funny, tense and novel manga with great characters, I say give it a shot.

-Until next time-