The following contains spoilers for SAKAMOTO DAYS, Episode 6, “Heisuke Mashimo”, available on Netflix.
Summary
- Heisuke Mashimo, a soft and gullible assassin, wins hearts through his likable personality and incredible marksmanship.
- Episode 6 balances humor with emotional depth, showcasing Mashimo’s journey towards self-acceptance.
- The paintball tournament unveils Mashimo’s exceptional skill but also his inner conflict, setting up a touching and comedic showdown.
The sixth episode of SAKAMOTO DAYS gave us one of the series’ most likable weirdos yet in the form of the episode’s titular character, Heisuke Mashimo, a sharpshooting assassin who is totally useless at every other aspect of the profession aside from marksmanship. The new introduction brought some more heart to the series, which is still fleshing out its cast in this early stage through an episodic format. With his overwhelming stupidity rivaled only by his overwhelming softness and general pleasantness as a person, Mashimo finds himself saved by his target; a kill which would have proven his value to the former employers who deemed him unfit for the industry, and also deepened his confidence in the only thing he has.
SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 6 was a goofy episode that was undoubtedly carried by its emotional ebbs and flows more so than the action, and the most interesting thing about it was the way it struck the delicate balance between its humour at Mashimo’s expense while giving him enough room to “look cool”.
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Introducing Heisuke Mashimo
An Endearing Buffoon and His Bird
SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 6 opens with Heisuke Mashimo, a spiky-haired man with a crosshair tattoo on his right cheek accompanied by a fairly large, bright yellow pet with a red patch over its left eye and a strange green collar. The man and his bird are eating field rations at the top of a tower, with their badly tattered tent fluttering in the wind as he looks at a photo of Taro Sakamoto in his prime, identifying him as the target who will dispel his financial problems and even enable him to eat something delicious like sushi.
Shin and Lu are cleaning up the store, which has been badly beaten over the past few episodes. After Shin presents the idea of participating in an upcoming paintball tournament for the 100 million yen grand prize, Sakamoto imagines getting bulletproof glass and a whole new range of ramen in store. Mashimo enters, asking for the location of Taro Sakamoto, unable to connect the overweight store owner before him with his target. They tell him that there are countless people named “Taro Sakamoto”, which causes Mashimo to fall to his knees, weeping, exposing Shin to some of the most trivial thoughts he has ever heard. All Mashimo can think about is how expensive it will be to be on the tails of “two million Taro Sakamotos”, and that sushi is now just a pipe dream.
It was a great introduction to his character, hilariously showcasing his gullibility, a little bit of his personal circumstances and financial troubles, and the fact that he cries a lot. Like, a lot. All these traits come together in a way that could have come off as more irritating than endearing, but the sound direction of the episode was onto something brilliant when the weeping Mashimo’s stomach wouldn’t stop growling, and he made a begging face that was accompanied by sounds reminiscent of a puppy’s whimpers. At this point, there is no reason to see the man as a threat: he is far too unintelligent, and far too trusting to be able to see any kind of success as an assassin, but Sakamoto believes that this kind of person can make it unexpectedly far in the profession.
They give him some piping hot meat buns and send him on his way, putting a huge smile on his face. Back at his rooftop lair, Mashimo tries to repair his makeshift tent with tape, one that we learn he’s attached to because he got it from his grandma back home in the countryside (like, awwww!), but unfortunately, the wind destroys what’s left of it as he thinks back to his former employers, who told him he isn’t cut out to be an assassin. His sadness is cut short when he catches a flier advertising the upcoming 52nd Ikoraizaka Shopping Street Paintball Tournament, the same one Shin talked about earlier.
Gun Gale Offline
Mashimo’s Biggest Strength Becomes Apparent
The first third of SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 6 serves as a great introduction to Mashimo’s character, and makes him very likable as a result, but the second third follows the paintball tournament, where the Sakamotos find him begging one of the organizers to let him participate despite not having enough members. The tournament is set up for team participation for groups of two to five people, so when he sees the Sakamotos, he begs to join Shin and Taro’s team, this time crying even more than when he was begging for food (snot and everything), but as soon as he got what he wanted, he was all smiles again.
His personality up to that point really made him look like he’d be incompetent, but as soon as the tournament begins, he immediately snipes and eliminates a competitor, showcasing his incredible marksmanship. The event is done as a way to have fun and facilitate a community clean-up afterward, but that doesn’t mean Sakamoto will take it any less seriously, using his expertise to deal with multiple foes and escape nigh-impossible situations.
The event was so entertaining that it gave Mashimo a taste of what its like to have friends and allies who can be relied on. Despite seeing how good Sakamoto and Shin are with guns, Mashimo is still unable to figure out that they’re assassins, like him, but a drunk Lu Shaotang makes sure to say the entire quiet part out loud. The funniest part about this situation is, up to this point, Mashimo has been extremely gullible, but try as they might to lie their way out of the situation, no one is that stupid.
There’s a moment when Shin, Sakamoto and Mashimo are all laughing at what Lu had just said, with the photo of Prime Sakamoto fluttering to the ground. The moment it makes contact, the three of them draw their weapons and take aim, initiating an epic Mexican standoff. As ridiculous as it sounds, Mashimo had developed positive feelings for Sakamoto and Shin, considering them friends, showcasing just how starved of positive human interaction this young man has been, not to mention how wisdom chases him, but he’s faster. Their standoff is broken when outsiders fire at them from a vantage point, causing them to scatter.
Don’t be so naive. We’re hitmen before we’re pals. Once I put my eye to the scope, it’s just a matter of hit or miss. Nothing else.
Ma-shimo Häyhä
A Marksman of Note
Mashimo calls on his bird, Piisuke, to bring him his real weapon, an actual sniper rifle, which he will use to take out the target. Despite that having been the goal the entire time, Mashimo cries at the idea of having to kill his friends, even if he’s only known them for all of two minutes. It’s ridiculous, but it just continues to add to his likability, because all things considered, Mashimo’s just a softie. Mashimo’s an extremely talented marksman, and we see him very nearly get Sakamoto with a headshot. Had he not raised his hand to block the round, Sakamoto would’ve been dead.
Despite how much success in this regard would change his life (freelancing is hard), Mashimo is devastated by the idea of having to kill his target, which really confirms that his former employers were right about him, but not for the reasons they thought. While hiding from him, Sakamoto figures out that Mashimo is using special rounds that have a higher rotation rate than regular ones, making them more prone to ricocheting two or three times.
Beyond that, his sniper rifle can fire multiple ricocheting rounds per clip that very nearly hit their targets, but Sakamoto and Shin do well to dodge them. There was a moment where they ran into an alley and Sakamoto hop-scotched off the walls to avoid being hit, which looked to be really strangely animated and lacking in finesse, which takes away from the experience of a series like this. Action scenes in this episode of SAKAMOTO DAYS were by no means bad, but they felt rather flat at times.
What was great about this episode was its focus on its titular character, Mashimo, and how it delved into his backstory to reveal the life of a man who had never been good at anything, and once he found something in which he did excel, it wasn’t enough to make up for all of his defects, leading to his dismissal from his “formal” assassin employment; where his clumsiness out on the field led to his gradual relegation to paper pusher of note. The savant-like relationship Mashimo has with his marksmanship is interesting, but his personality really makes you want to root for him.
Taro and Goliath
Sakamoto Uses His Own Gun
The conflict comes to an end when, having heard Mashimo monologue about his own life through the high-tec walkie-talkies they were given at the beginning of the tournament, Shin tells him that the only opinions that should matter are his own, screaming the final word into the mic, so the shock would cause Mashimo to reveal his location via involuntarily “pinging” the psychic, allowing Sakamoto to throw a pebble to obliterate the barrel of Mashimo’s gun and end the contest.
At the end of the day, Sakamoto and Shin win the paintball tournament, but most of it has to go towards paying the damages to the shopping district caused by the gunfight with Mashimo, who cries once again after losing both the tournament and the money he would’ve gotten for killing Sakamoto, but he does come away with a much-needed compliment from his target, who regards him the greatest sniper he has ever gone up against. It isn’t clear yet if Mashimo will become a recurring character, but based on SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 6, he would be a hilarious, ridiculous, idiotic and charming addition to the cast and an incredible ally should it come to that.
Sakamoto Days is available on Netflix.
