Sakamoto Days: Shin’s Abilities, Explained

In Sakamoto Days, Taro Sakamoto is known as a legendary hitman and, despite retiring from this profession, is still incredibly powerful and intelligent. Although he has some of the most impressive abilities in the series and manga, there are other characters in the universe that possess special abilities that others lack, including Shin Asakura.

Shin Asakura used to be a student of Taro Sakamoto in Sakamoto Days, and eventually he became an ex-hitman just like Sakamoto. However, he is still thrust back into the profession from time to time like Sakamoto, but he has powers that Sakamoto lacks, including clairvoyance. He is not without other abilities that make him stand out among the crowd.

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Shin Asakura’s Background

Relationship With Sakamoto

• Adopted by Asakura
• Gained telepathic powers
• Worked alongside Taro Sakamoto

Shin Asakura has a rich history, despite only being 20 years old at the beginning of the manga and anime. His biological father leaves him behind with his friend, Asakura, making him his adoptive father. He worked as a researcher in a lab, meaning that Shin was often surrounded by the other older researchers, and befriended them despite being the only child. On one particular day at the Okutabi Lab at the Okutabi Science Museum, Asakura was working on research for superpowers, when Shin walked in to get some water. As Shin was hardly awake and not paying much attention, instead of getting water, he took the completed serum that Asakura had made, and drank it.

After drinking the serum, Asakura went to check on Shin and noticed that he only responded by throwing up. Soon after feeling sick, Asakura seemed to believe that Shin was fine, since he showed no other symptoms. However, Asakura had thought to himself that Shin appeared fine, without saying anything out loud. Shin had then responded to this, saying he wasn’t fine, with Asakura realizing that he must have heard what he said in his head, meaning he had gained telepathic abilities.

Though Shin seemed to enjoy this new ability, often messing around with the other researchers by revealing their inner thoughts, Asakura was not so happy about the outcome. He felt remorseful and even attempted to create a drug that could reverse Shin’s symptoms, especially since the other researchers had begun to avoid the boy. Shin refused to take the drug, however, and Asakura thought to himself that he felt bad for getting Shin involved in his research. Eventually, the young boy ran away from home, and began working alongside Taro Sakamoto as an assassin.

The two began to form a significant bond, as Taro Sakamoto took Shin in as his student, and they became more like brothers than mentor and mentee. Shin looked up to Taro Sakamoto and considered him to be his hero, and wanted to eventually become just like him. Shin became known as the Clairvoyant in the underworld, and was at Sakamoto’s side for a while before the legendary hitman left his profession.

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Shin Asakura’s Special Abilities

Shin’s Use of Psychic Powers

Shin’s psychic powers have a lot more use to them than just being able to read minds. With his new abilities after gaining them accidentally from Asakura, he is able to do the following:

• Read minds within a 20-meter radius
• Can see the future actions of an enemy by checking their motor-readiness
• Can control an enemy’s mind and change their thoughts

Whenever Shin is reading someone’s mind, he has to tune into it, almost like a radio. He has no difficulty reading the average person’s mind, including Taro Sakamoto. However, since Sakamoto is aware of his abilities, he uses this to frequently communicate with Shin about their assassin activities whenever his family is around. This ability can be blocked, however, since it relies on electromagnetic brainwaves. For example, a hood could prevent Shin from being able to read someone’s mind. He has also had difficulty in the past reading the minds of those who have a plethora of thoughts, as it is hard for him to focus on one thing at a time.

Alongside mind reading, Shin can also easily predict the future physical actions of a foe. He pays attention to their motor-readiness potential, which essentially means a spike in the activity of the brain’s motor areas just before a physical movement. This makes it easy for him to read an enemy’s attacks, like just before they raise a gun to shoot, or attempt to hit him with a punch or kick. However, Granny Miya mentions to him that he should only be using this ability for 5 minutes a day or else he could be in a lot of pain.

Finally, Shin can also control the minds of enemies and completely change their thoughts. This makes the enemy change their actions as well. This ability makes it easy for him to get enemies to stand down or attack themselves. However, it can only be used on a particular enemy once, meaning that he cannot control the same person again. He can continuously use mind control on himself, however, should he choose to manipulate his own actions. Outside all of his psychic abilities, Shin also has the ability to hold his own in battle with physical strength, durability, and much more.

Sakamoto Days is available to stream on Netflix.

A 2025 anime, Sakamoto Days is an action-comedy based on Yuto Suzuki’s shonen manga, which debuted in 2020. The series follows Taro Sakamoto, a retired hitman who has been enjoying the family life for years. He spends his days running a small store alongside Shin, but his peaceful existence is regularly interrupted by ghosts of the past.

Release Date

January 11, 2025

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1

Character(s)

Taro Sakamoto
, Shin Asakura
, Lu Shaotang
, Aoi Sakamoto
, Heisuke Mashimo
, Obiguro
, Boiled
, Son Hee
, Bacho