Summary
- Sakamoto Days is highly watched on Netflix, despite initial criticisms from fans about the lack of action.
- The series has remained in the top 10 most-watched shows in Japan for six consecutive weeks.
- Viewer numbers have stayed consistent, with around 3 million views each week and 7-8 million hours viewed, indicating solid audience retention.
Despite many complaints, especially from longtime fans, Sakamoto Days is still among the most watched shows on Netflix. The series has sparked controversies even before its debut – fans first criticized the trailer for focusing too much on slice-of-life segments, leaving the action behind.
It’s important to note that the action scenes are one of the key features of the Sakamoto Days manga, and many fans were naturally excited about seeing them adapted into animation. And, of course, they wanted them to be great action scenes, like those in Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer. So, it is natural that these fans would be worried or upset by the absence of consistent action scenes in the trailers.
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What Global Viewership Numbers Suggest
In its first week, Sakamoto Days wasn’t featured in Netflix’s global most-watched weekly chart – but it has been ranking in the top ten since its second week. That means the series has been among the most-watched shows for five weeks straight.
In Japan, it’s even better, as the series has stayed in the top 10 for six weeks straight, and it is impressive the series featured in its first week as the episode was released only one day before the end of the “chart week”. It is also noteworthy that Netflix Japan released two episodes on January 11, while only one episode was released worldwide, and the Japanese service is one episode ahead of the global release since then. This means some fans might be using VPN to watch episodes before their global release and boosting Japanese viewership numbers.
Analyzing the numbers, viewership declined since its release, as is natural, but hours viewed seem to stay constant. In the first week it was featured in the chart (Jan 13-19), Sakamoto Days ranked at second, with 8,600,000 views and over 7,700,000 hours viewed. In the last two weeks, the series had around 3,000,000 views (each week), but hours viewed are still between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 (each week). Thus, it seems the audience is solid.
In comparison, by mid-season, Dandadan had around 3,000,000 views and 7,000,000 hours viewed, which are similar numbers. However, as Dandadan was not a Netflix exclusive series, its overall viewership (considering all streaming services) was likely higher than this.
Criticism Is Not Only About Action Scenes
While the first complaints were mostly about the action, as the show advanced, some fans started expressing dissatisfaction regarding the humor and the slice-of-life segments too. In their opinion, the production is cutting many slice-of-life chapters and scenes that add to the humor and vibe of the story. And it’s not only about the contents of the show for some, as recent reports have led many to believe that the animators are under pressure.
For now, it seems that viewership is not converting into manga sales in Japan at the same pace. However, numbers from Manga PLUS suggest that many new fans are now reading the latest chapters, which are available for free. So, there might still be a spike in sales in the near future.
Sakamoto Days is available to stream on Netflix, subbed and dubbed in many languages.
Source: Netflix
