Winter 2025 Preview: Sakamoto Days

SUMMARY

• The highly anticipated adaptation follows an ex-assassin whose family life is threatened as he comes back to haunt her.
• It is an action comedy highlighted by a strong concept and presentation, especially in developing the character of the lead.
• The anime's production staff is amazing, from story writers to talented designers, and wonderful composers.

Every couple of years, the anime community gathers in anticipation of some sort of adaptation, mixing intense action with silly/helpful comedy, and usually focusing on one OP lead. These are like anime One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100or Spy x Family (Let's be real, Yor is powerful), and now, Sakamoto Days was the last action scene to receive a similar amount of tension.

Based on the manga by Yuto Suzuki, this shōnen series follows the titular Taro Sakamoto, who was the world's greatest assassin but left that life when he found his next love. After getting married and having a daughter, Sakamoto puts on a few pounds and owns a brothel, only to discover that his past has ruined his life.

Not a Retired Murderer's Story

It is a

John Wick

back story but with less scary events.

Most of the logline is familiar, but the nuances are evident in the presentation, something that is quickly apparent in the trailer alone. Compared to Sakamoto's usual impressive and charismatic appearance in his previous independence, his appearance as a loving father creates such a disconnect. The fact that he retains most of his fearsome combat skills adds to the humor. It is a John Wick back story but with less scary events.

Sakamoto (CV: Tomokazu Sugita) has made enemies and it's hard for the underworld residents to resist his boss's wealth. Whether his former rivals and associates are in it for the money or simply don't believe he's really out of the game, they're gunning for him. And since Sakamoto's wife Aoi (CV: Nao Touyama) makes it clear that if he kills again, their marriage is over, he needs to be…creative about how to stop his enemy.

Murderous brothel worker

Fortunately, he is not alone and will gradually be joined by a killer who becomes a partner and co-worker in the store. Shin Asakura (CV: Nobunaga Shimazaki) is Sakamoto's former partner – a young assassin with psychic powers. Followed by Xiaotang Lu (CV: Ayane Sakura), an ally of the Triad, and Heisuke Mashimo (CV: Ryouta Suzuki), a low-level assassin and sniper with a pet parrot named Piisuke.

The staff behind the day Sakamoto

The Director and Writer

Sakamoto Days is produced by TMS Entertainment, the same studio behind it Lupine III, Dr. Stoneand Undead Unluckto name a few. Its director, Masaki Watanabe, is a recurring director of the A battle of souls series at Studio Sunrise and Bandai Namco Pictures, and he is also the director of the 2022 episode. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. His other credits include Code Geass: Akito the exile film and adaptation in 2006 Bartender.

Taku Kishimoto is the writer behind the adaptation and if you're not familiar with the name, you are no doubt familiar with his work. He is a prolific screenwriter in animation, credited with creating a series of recent shows Blue Lock, Number of Kingsand or The One PieceWit Studio's upcoming update on global sensation. Kishimoto also wrote the screenplay for the Moriarty the Patriot, Haikyuuand deleted.

Behind Art and Music

You Moriyama is a television anime character creator, and his resume is quite impressive. During the 2000s, he was a major promoter of projects like 2004 a monster and the first Naruto movies. He was an assistant to director Takeshi Koike in character design in the background Lupine III film and did background art for Koike's 2009 cult Redline. Perhaps most excitingly, he is the 2018 director of the year Mega Box and the continuation from 2021.

Moriyama may not be in the director's chair here, but his resume speaks volumes for the masterpiece. An anime director hasn't been hired yet, but it would be great if it was. Speaking of artwork, Yukiko Maruyama is the art director, coming hot on the heels of her work on My Hero Academialast season, the third Overlord movie, and season 3 of KonoSuba.

Maruyama was not alone My Hero Academia a veteran of the staff, however, as the soundtrack will be composed by Yuki Hayashi, whose work we reviewed in February. Hayashi's inspired mix of epic orchestras, intense rock music, and a fusion of many other genres has cemented him as one of the leading anime composers of today. No matter how hard the animation works to build hype, the music will work hard too.

One month left

The anime will be released in two parts, the first on January 11 and the second on July. It is said that in total, there will be a total of 22 first seasons of the TV anime. Netflix broadcasts the series worldwide.

The fans of the manga are eager to see Sakamoto Days has been in the making for a long time, and for many, the trailer is everything they've ever dreamed of. Checking in with the staff behind the alignment makes alignment even more exciting, even at the cost of making next month more painful to navigate in the meantime.

Sakamoto Days will be available to stream on Netflix starting January 11.

Source: ANN