Summary
- Episode 7 of SAKAMOTO DAYS set up an eventful eighth episode with members of The Order arriving at the Akutabi Science Museum, where Shin was raised.
- The alternate ending’s monochromatic visuals and song choice set a noir atmosphere, with a sense of foreboding.
- The episode’s brilliance lies in contrasting the upbeat feel of the series and its usual ending theme.
The seventh episode of SAKAMOTO DAYS ended with Osaragi and Shishiba of The Order arriving at the Akutabi Science Museum, setting up an eighth episode that’s sure to be eventful, as the members of the secret unit of the JAA finally make their move to thwart “Slur”. The ending theme song of SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 7 switched up from the sweet, adorable, and upbeat vibe of “Ordinary” performed by Cotton Candy to a gritty, grungy film noir atmosphere and a powerful vocal performance by the series’ opening theme song artist, Vaundy.
The monochromatic visuals and song choice are an excellent treat for fans of the series, giving it the unmistakable feel of some kind of cult classic crime drama.
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Brief Episode 7 Recap
Shin’s Past Comes Bubbles Up, The Order Make Their Move
The significance of the alternate ending in SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 7 is related to the situation at the end of the episode, with Osaragi and Shishiba making their way into the museum where the laboratory where Shin was raised is located. The Lab has been taken over by a bunch of assassins, and the scientists are forced to perform research into supernatural abilities.
Shin is The Lab’s only successful case of induced supernatural ability, but episode 7 doesn’t get into how exactly they managed to do that. Lu Shaotang is kidnapped by a group of hazmat-wearing guys led by a severely unintelligent man who is convinced she must be Shin because she was wearing his apron and had his name tag.
Shin and Sakamoto engage in a high-octane motorcycle chase, and decide to go directly to The Lab after Lu’s kidnappers managed to shake them off. The Lab is different from how it was when Shin was there because of the “new management”.
They encounter the place’s resident mad scientist, Mad Horiguchi, and have their work cut out for them, but maybe they’ll have help from Osaragi and Shishiba, who made a brief cameo at the very end of the episode. The Order getting their own little music video in such a brilliantly executed way builds the tension for the upcoming eighth episode.
A scent drifted from somewhere
A monster in this desolate town
A floater elegantly masking it with flowers
Looking back, the empty nights feel unbearable
Wake me up from this dream
Why An Alternate Ending?
The Significance of Alternate Opening and Ending Themes
Theme songs are probably one of the most important aspects of the television experience in almost all of its forms. Every major news channel or programme has that jingle that just perfectly prepares the mind to hear “thousands dead and many more injured…” or “the stocks of the SKMT, the JAA, and the DDK have reached an all-time low”. Every successful sitcom has its all-important intro that usually just summarizes what the show is about over a catchy beat or instrumental, and every cartoon etched in the mind from childhood has a theme song that burns itself into memory.
The point is that a show’s music is really important, and in the case of anime, this is even more so. While the animation quality of the series gets all the negative attention, SAKAMOTO DAYS has a great atmosphere supported by the soundtrack, which is composed by none other than Yuki Hayashi, the legend behind the soundtracks of Haikyu!, My Hero Academia, Wistora: Wand and Sword, Insomniacs After School, and many other titles.
When it comes to using music to set the scene, it wouldn’t be strange to consider Hayashi one of the best in anime, and his influence has shown as the music in SAKAMOTO DAYS has been good, and particularly interesting because of how different a bag he’s pulling from for the show than he would for something like My Hero Academia. Alternate theme songs stand out because they subvert expectations and the “safety” established from the routine a show creates with its usual sequence of opening, episode, ending, and post-credit (if necessary).
So by definition, the use of an alternate theme is to connect to or emphasize the episode. The original Teen Titans might be the best case study, given that it had something closer to an anime opening. The theme song performed by Puffy AmiYumi had an English and a Japanese version; the former would play for more serious episodes, while the latter was generally used for episodes that were more comedic, illustrating how much information can be gleaned from the simple changing of a theme song, especially when it’s only temporary.
The Brilliance of the Episode 7 Alternate Ending
The Underworld of the Underworld
What’s great about the episode 7 alternate ending is how much the monochromatic, grainy visuals match the vibe of Vaundy’s music and lyrics, which give rise to a profound sense of hopelessness buoyed by Vaundy’s belting of the line “Somebody help us”. The atmosphere of the SAKAMOTO DAYS episode 7 alternate ending can be described as “noir” or inspired by film noir, which is either a style or genre of cinema that arose in the 1940s and 1950s, characterized by cynical attitudes or motivations, morally gray characters, and the unmistakable monochromatic visuals of the style that gave it its name: “film noir”, French for “black film”, or more specifically, “dark film”.
Inspired by several artistic movements arising in Europe in the early 20th century, such as German Expressionism, French poetic realism, Italian neorealism and American hardboiled fiction (maybe that’s where the character gets his name), it is debatable whether film noir is a style or genre, with many critics having interesting reasons for falling on either side of the debate. The SAKAMOTO DAYS alternate ending in episode 7 brilliantly contrasts the otherwise upbeat, colorful original ending theme, but also the vibrant feel of the anime’s visual style, giving a sense of foreboding and emphasizing the significance of this part of the narrative. Given the fact that the series follows people who have been part of the criminal underworld in some way, the stylistic choices made for the ending theme are also a great fit and strengthen the link to noir.
SAKAMOTO DAYS is available on Netflix.
