Sakamoto Days faces an uphill battle because it premieres on Netflix. How can the animated exploits of Taro Sakamoto presumably enhance upon the uncommonly detailed and choreographed motion that swirls across the titular retired hitman within the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump? The reply, primarily based on the sequence premiere, at the very least, is that they’ll’t: While the episode finds some pleasure in Sakamoto’s explicit model of violence, different motion sequences are hampered by an absence of creativeness. Just as troublesome: It could be onerous to inform when this Sakamoto Days is making an attempt to crack sensible, and when it’s placing on a straight face. But whereas it doesn’t precisely get out of the beginning blocks as a outstanding anime adaptation, Sakamoto Days does lay the inspiration for what might someday be a must-watch present.
Rather than observe its protagonist’s escapades as an equally feared and revered murderer, Sakamoto Days properly goes the best way of John Wick by fast-forwarding straight to his retirement, a lifetime of home bliss alongside the love of his life, Aoi, and their daughter, Hana. To additional cement that Sakamoto’s days of contract killing are behind him, he’s placed on some weight and runs a quaint comfort retailer in a quiet neighborhood. Unfortunately, this abrupt retreat doesn’t go unanswered, and now he should shield his household from different hitmen and former colleagues just like the clairvoyant murderer Shin.
In distinction to shonen sequence that take themselves too significantly (like, in my view, Jujutsu Kaisen and Solo Leveling), Sakamoto Days strikes a visible steadiness between the bodily comedy of Jackie Chan’s output within the Nineteen Eighties and the grittiness of extra typical crime dramas. Similar to how putting Chan in an amusement park funhouse may stoke our anticipation for a way he’ll use the objects round him – nailed down or in any other case – to dispatch his foes, the premiere of Sakamoto Days primes us to count on Sakamoto to make novel use of his environment. It finest threads the action-comedy needle in two thrilling scenes: One the place Sakamoto swiftly mows down a bunch of gangsters in a smoky, dimly lit warehouse, and the opposite the place he blocks a bullet by spitting a gumdrop at it. But there’s a hit-or-miss high quality to this balancing act, typically leading to tedious, uninspired hand-to-hand fight the place Sakamoto haphazardly teleports across the display screen and effortlessly defeats his opponents with lackluster punches.
The pressure between the 2 sides of Sakamoto Days’ persona isn’t helped by stiff, monotone performances that make it onerous to inform when the present is making an attempt to be critical and when it is making a joke. This is very true of Sakamoto, whether or not he’s portrayed by Matt Mercer (within the English dub) or Tomokazu Sugita (within the Japanese dub). Much of this stems from the character not having a lot to say within the premiere; outdoors of delicate behaviors primarily performed for laughs and a heavy provide of expository narration, Sakamoto principally speaks in half-committal utterances that we solely hear as a result of Shin is studying his thoughts. This dims the star energy of Mercer and Sugita’s performances. Granted, that is the very first episode, the character they’re taking part in should nonetheless have some mystique to him at this level, and the sequence is predicated on a manga that burns slowly in its early chapters. But there’s nearly no variation between their supply in comedic and dramatic scenes. The traces are much less blurry in the case of the dynamic between Shin and the Sakamotos. Throughout the episode, Shin turns from a chilly, calculating murderer to an adopted member of his former mentor’s carefree household, who’re hilariously unvexed by both man’s previous life as a hitman.
Considering Sakamoto Days is slated to be launched in elements – with half one comprising 11 episodes and half two slated to debut in July – time will inform if the anime will hit its stride in later episodes or if they’re going to be extra the identical from what’s showcased in its premiere. Regardless, there’s the seeds of one thing extraordinary right here due to the endearing chemistry of the characters. Hopefully, the anime will flesh out the contours of its lead earlier than the punchline of him being an obese ex-hitman turns into stale.
