SAKAMOTO DAYS

Summary:
Sakamoto Days is an adaptation of the Shonen Jump manga of the same name that follows the titular Sakamoto. Retired from a life of being a hitman he navigates running his shop with a world that is attempting to draw him back in.

Visual style:
The visual style used for the anime is nothing special which is unfortunate. I haven’t read the manga but the panels I looked up for comparison have a lot more life to them despite lacking any color. A major contributor to this is the washed-out color palette used for the show. I think the intent is to produce a more serious aesthetic via unnatural colors but washing them out and adding a filter over them. However, the linework often makes things feel a bit dull. It’s certainly not terrible and probably even better than a hyper-saturated slopfest but, something about it consistently rubbed me the wrong way.

Animation:
Similarly, animation was generally passable but it never wowed me. The use of slowdowns for Sakomoto’s quick movements was probably the most unique aspect of the animation. However, it often found itself replaced with a blur effect which works but it often feels like a motion comic and isn't very interesting in fights. Like the visual style it’s not terrible or unwatchable but at no point was I sitting in awe like some of the fights in Demon Slayer, the Elusive Samurai, or the matches in Ping Pong the Animation.

Characters:
The dynamics between the main cast are the highlight of the show for me by far and it’s pretty fun to watch them all hang out. It reminded me a lot of Gintama in this aspect which I adore and I had a lot of fun watching Shin and Lu’s antics. Sakamoto himself often felt pretty weak but I think his presence works well as a facilitator of the more interesting characters around him. Heisuke was a standout for me and I found his personality cute so I’m hopeful season 2 will show more of him. Side characters have strong personalities which made the earlier arcs feel pretty enjoyable with the choice to give the hard-boiled detective a backstory being a good way to flesh out Sakamoto as well. Visually character designs feel great and do a good job of giving you a feel for vibe on characters and looking cool.

Treatment of women:
Sakamoto Days crosses the bar of not featuring fan service or leering panty shots of its female cast which unfortunately cannot be said of many Shonen Jump properties. It should be noted there’s one character who falls into the sexual harassment for comedic effect archetype which I didn’t like but he appears to be a minor character who won’t be showing up frequently. Besides him, there are no other occasions of that type of comedy I can remember.

The main woman in the show is the main cast member Lu who is a fighter like the rest of the group in theory but frequently finds herself sidelined or damseled. I think this is pretty unfortunate and hopefully, it’s certainly not the worst case of this I’ve ever seen but it was very noticeable to me watching. Besides Lu, there is Sakamoto’s wife and daughter who are pretty nothing characters mostly serving to give Sakamoto something to protect. There’s a little bit of backstory on his wife’s feelings on his profession but she’s mostly the stern wife who controls her physically stronger husband stoically and we don’t get much of her inner world.

Comedy:
As far as the show’s comedy as I’ve mentioned in other reviews I’m not someone who finds many things funny so take this section with a grain of salt. I think there are bits in Sakamoto that will get a laugh out of certain people. The main axes for comedy are the nonchalance of the cast around violence, people having the tables turned around and the various silly [and cool] objects Sakamoto will use as weapons. The one bit that did amuse me personally was everything involving Heisuke.

Plot:
For most of the first season, plots are sporadic with there being no clear indication of an overarching aspect. This is pretty typical for shonen and considering Sakamoto Days is a two-cour show it would be pretty ridiculous for me to take points for this. The main plot once hinted at, seems to be something that could go either way, but it didn’t draw deep intrigue out of me. It’s certainly possible as we learn more things could get more interesting but so far it mostly feels like an opportunity to give characters something to do which is fine.

Conclusion:
There is easily a universe where Sakamoto Days is able to hit an 8 or 9 with the material it’s working with but unfortunately, it isn’t this one. Characterization is good but it’s held back by adequate but underwhelming animation that begins to show cracks in the action scenes. If you like Gintama and are yearning for more of that then it’s maybe worth watching and it’s possible the second cour will turn things around a lot. Final rating: 7/10