What Is Sakomoto Days? Shonen Jump’s Next Big Anime Adaptation

Key Takeaways

• Sakamoto Days promises a unique blend of yakuza, assassins, and a family-owned store in an action-packed comedy anime.
• The diverse cast includes a former assassin, telepath, mafia member, and sharpshooter.
• Premiering on January 11, 2025, on Netflix, this adaptation offers weekly episodes, marking a new anime release strategy.

Comedy-centered action-shonen have been dominating the charts lately. Dandadan, Mashle, and Spy X Family are only a few of the hilarious and action-filled adventures that have graced our screens lately. But there’s a new contender in action-comedy that’s shaping up to be the next big thing in anime; the adaptation of the Sakamoto Days manga. Imagine if you could blend John Wick in with The Ways Of The Househusband… that’s what this manga promises to be, and delivers.

Blending yakuza tropes with assassins, telepathy, and the casual life of a family-owned convenience store, Sakamoto Days is a one-of-a-kind shonen manga that will translate beautifully into an exciting anime that will dominate the anime charts when it comes out early next year. There’s engaging fight scenes, lovable characters with diverse personalities, and the complex Sakamoto himself; he’s a family man first, retired-assassin-forced-back-into-action second. He doesn’t talk much, but his talent and abilities more than makeup for that. Besides, his new crime-fighting companions can do the talking for him.

What Is Sakamoto Days About?

Crime, Assassins, And A Convenience Store

Sakamoto Days is about Taro Sakamoto, a retired assassin who left the criminal lifestyle when he fell in love with his wife, Aoi. Together they have a daughter named Hana, and they all run the Sakamoto’s Store together. One day, a former Yakuza trainee of Sakamoto’s arrives to the store, cloaked and begging for him to return to the criminal grind. While Sakamoto has initially refuses, circumstances outside of his control slowly force him back into action, with a caveat; he has to follow the Sakamoto “family rule” initially imposed by his wife to not kill another human being ever again.

“Assasins don’t go to heaven.”

The problem? Assassins who leave their crime group have to be killed once they leave; the information they possess could cause trouble for the organization, and their lives are a liability. For example, in the first arc, even a simple trip to an amusement park proves to be dangerous with the bounty on Sakamoto’s head, and he ends up. Sakamoto is faster, stronger, and more agile than anyone else in his organization, which is how he has evaded them for as long as he has thus far.

Main Characters of Sakamoto Days

Sakamoto’s Family and New Crime-Fighting Friends

First of all, is Taro Sakamoto himself. This former assassin has become overweight since quitting the criminal lifestyle, but miraculously, he can transform into his skinny former self when the agility is needed. Otherwise, he hasn’t changed; he doesn’t talk much, believing action matters more than words. He spends his days helping his wife run their family-owned convenience store, and doing typical, mundane husband and father activities. He has grown to prefer this lifestyle, and would do anything to protect it. This, of course, eventually includes returning to the criminal world to take down those who are threating his family and their safety.

Our co-protagonist for Sakamoto Days is Shin Asakura, who was trained by Taro Sakamoto himself when he was still a part of the Order. Shin was a human experiment that developed telepathy, an ability that is very useful in his former criminal life, and his new life as a crime fighter alongside Taro Sakamoto. He also ends up working at Sakamoto’s Store as a clerk in between crime-fighting activities.

Lu Shaotang is another major character in Sakamoto Days, as another employee of Sakamoto’s Store. She is a member of the Triad family, a part of the Chinese Mafia. We met her when she is on the run from people attempting to take her family’s hidden safe, and want to use her for information. Taro Sakomoto, along with Shin, not only rescues her and hires her as a store clerk to give her something to do outside of the family. Despite her past in crime groups, she doesn’t possess the same prowess the other two do, partially due to her own laziness.

And finally, Heisuke Mashimo is the last major character we will touch on today. He has an affinity for sharpshooting; so much so he is bad at everything else expected of a criminal. He was fired and forced to survive off of odd jobs as a sharpshooter, living homeless in a tent with his pet bird. He meets Taro Sakamoto during an airsoft tournament, where after being defeated by Sakamoto’s team, is recruited by Sakamoto himself due to his skill as a sharpshooter.

When Is It Coming Out?

We Don’t Have To Wait Much Longer For This Adaptation

Sakamoto Days will premiere on January 11th, 2025, exclusively on Netflix. That’s less than two months from the release of this article, exclusively on Netflix. So far, word is that there will be a new episode weekly, but there isn’t any official confirmation yet on whether that’s for 12 episodes or 24 episodes in the first season. Press releases are calling this season one, so it’s to be expected there will be more seasons following this in the following years. This is exciting, since they now have four years of content to adapt already, and the manga is still serializing with no reported end in sight.

Releasing episodes one and a time rather than all at once has been shown to be successful for anime like Dandadan and Delicious in Dungeon, and notably, they appear to be dropping the “all at once” show schedule Netflix has been known for in the past, across all mediums outside of anime as well. While we don’t have to wait much longer for Sakamoto Days to hit Netflix, we will be hanging on the edge of our seats after each action-packed episode, anxiously waiting for what antics Sakamoto gets up to each week.

You can watch Sakamoto Days on Netflix starting January 11, 2025.