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Sakamoto Days

Sakamoto Days - Episodes 1 & 2

The series gets off to a slow start, but there is obviously potential.

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Whilst I have yet to embark on massive, sweeping anime series such as One Piece or Bleach, I'm starting to engage with the genre and am happy to catch potentially new, aspiring franchises that I can experience season by season - Demon Slayer, Dan Da Dan, Delicious in Dungeon are all examples of such series I've seen and enjoyed as they've come out.

The latest addition is Sakamoto Days, a new anime from TMS Entertainment based on a more recent and quite popular manga series, which obviously caught the attention of Netflix, which has previously hosted Dan Da Dan, Delicious in Dungeon, and many more.

But even though I've only seen two episodes of a season that will likely consist of many, I'm a little lukewarm from the start, not because the series lacks heart, a relatively "quirky" premise, or an innovative starting point, but rather because for a series that prides itself on fast-paced action, the animation quality is simply not quite good enough.

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Sakamoto Days follows the once legendary assassin Taro Sakamoto, who after accidentally finding love at the top, retires from the profession altogether and vows never to kill again. But of course, in true John Wick style, the criminal underworld won't allow a quitter, so they send Shin after Sakamoto, who discovers that running a small grocery store has made him a little wider around the hips without losing any of his legendary speed and strength as the world's best hitman.

Sakamoto Days

Sakamoto himself doesn't actually say anything, he's something of a mute character, and is therefore primarily used as a piece of choreography in the series' fight scenes, and as a comical puppet in the breaks in between. Sure, he gets a few punchlines from Shin being able to read his mind, but for now this limitation is a slightly annoying drag on the pacing.

It's clear from the start that Sakamoto Days is about prolonged, brutal, and choreographed fight sequences, with Sakamoto himself having to demonstrate his superiority as his past forces him to return to action. It's not that it's completely amateurish, and a lot of work has gone into demonstrating speed and strength, but both in the aforementioned choreography and the quality of animation to execute it, Sakamoto Days really isn't Demon Slayer, or Jujutsu Kaisen. And it really should be, since so much focus is placed solely on the joy of watching Sakamoto hand out beatings.

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The animation quality in particular feels dull, and when the characters throw shots, for example, which happens especially in the first section, it lacks dynamism, movement and empathy.

It's not that Sakamoto Days isn't recommended. The premise is silly, but hopefully there will be room for Sakamoto himself to evolve from a kind of gung-ho Totoro to something a little more innovative, and hopefully duels in future episodes will show that TMS knows how to put together great fights. Until then, though, I'm disappointed.

06 Gamereactor UK
6 / 10
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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