Summary
- Amusement Park Arc establishes the core characters and the show’s premise.
- Sakamoto Days balances comedy and action while poking fun at normally serious themes.
- The Arc involves hitmen, assassination attempts, and a thrilling amusement park adventure.
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Arc Name |
Amusement Park Arc |
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Manga Chapters Involved |
Ch. 1-15 |
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Anime Episodes Involved |
Ep. 1-5 |
The Amusement Park Arc is the very first arc of the Sakamoto Days manga and anime series. It covers the introduction of most of the core characters, the show’s premise, and their first “big adventure”, so to speak. Apart from the plot though, the Amusement Park Arc does a good job of establishing the feel of the series. Sakamoto Days is a comedy action show that trivializes some really dark things, mainly involving hitmen and assassinations. Another anime in the same vein as this would be Spy x Family, so if you liked the Forger family’s misadventures, there’s a good chance you’d like Sakamoto Days.
For those looking for a quick recap of the Amusement Park Arc, here’s the run-through of what happened. It all starts with the greatest hitman in the world, who has retired and is now living a peaceful life as a convenience store co-owner along with his wife. However, that peaceful life might soon be coming to an end.
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Meet the Sakamoto Family
Taro Sakamoto and Shin
Taro Sakamoto and Shin Asakura are the two main characters introduced in Sakamoto Days episode 1, “The Legendary Hit Man”. The first, Taro Sakamoto, is an ex-assassin who retired after falling in love with a woman named Aoi, who he later married and had a daughter named Hana with. He now runs a convenience store, aptly named Sakamoto’s Store, with his wife. Shin Asakura is another hitman who used to work with Sakamoto. He has the power to read minds, which has given him the nickname “the Clairvoyant”.
Shin Asakura visited Sakamoto in his store and tried to convince him to return to being an assassin, which Sakamoto refused. Shin disliked Sakamoto’s softer self, but still left him alone for the rest of the day. Later, Shin got a call from his employer, and it was revealed that he was actually hired to kill Sakamoto if he decided to remain a civilian. So, Shin attempted to kill Sakamoto but failed as the fat store owner turned out to still be extremely combat-ready, easily knocking Shin unconscious. Shin wakes up to the hospitality of the Sakamoto family, which convinces him to stop trying to kill Taro. Accepting his failure, Shin returns to his employer to let them know, but the situation quickly turns violent. Sakamoto, who apparently bugged Shin beforehand, came to save him and offered him a job at Sakamoto’s Store, which Shin willingly accepted after also quitting his job as a hitman.
Lu Shaotang
In Sakamoto Days episode 2, “Vs. Son Hee and Bacho”, Sakamoto and Shin run into Lu Shaotang, a girl with familial ties to the triad. Unfortunately for Lu, the triad had turned against her family, killed them, and was now hunting her. Specifically, the triad was after a key that supposedly unlocks a vault with her family’s treasures.
Sakamoto and Shin decide to help her and ultimately succeed in taking down the group that was hunting her. Similar to what he did with Shin, Sakamoto offered Lu a job at Sakamoto’s Store, as she still needed money since she refused to sell her family treasures due to their sentimental value. Even though Shin and Lu aren’t related to Sakamoto, they’re now basically part of his family. So, whenever you hear the terms “the Sakamotos” or “the Sakamoto family”, it can sometimes include them.
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The Sakamoto’s Go to the Amusement Park
Roller Coasters and Deadly Assassins
At this point, if you haven’t seen the anime or read the manga yet, you might be confused as to why they called this the Amusement Park Arc. The Sakamotos’ adventure in the amusement park only starts in the second half of Sakamoto Days episode 3, “Welcome to Sugar Park!”. As the episode title implies, they visit a theme park called Sugar Park, which is fun and exciting and all, but why is it such a big deal, to the point that the next couple of episodes will be spent here?
To answer that, first rewind a bit to the first half of episode 3. The Sakamotos are visited by Yoichi Nagumo, another of Sakamoto’s previous co-workers, back when he was an assassin. Nagumo informed Sakamoto that someone had placed a 1 billion yen bounty on Sakamoto’s head and that he should watch out because hitmen from all over would be coming after him. If that wasn’t bad enough, Sakamoto had already promised his daughter Hana that they would go to Sugar Park the next day. Not wanting to worry his family, he decided to keep the bounty a secret from Aoi and Hana, which is also why he didn’t cancel their trip to the theme park. So, episodes 3-5 are all about Sakamoto, Shin, and Lu hilariously trying to fend off hitmen left and right in Sugar Park while doing their best to keep Aoi and Hana in the dark.
“Our mission today is to protect the Sakamoto family, and while we’re at it, we also have to make sure they have a good time.” – Shin to Lu in Sugar Park
Boiled Assassins and De-aging Store Owners
The strongest assassin the Sakamoto Family faced in the Amusement Park Arc is named Boiled, one of Sakamoto’s former acquaintances. He was the first enemy to actually give Sakamoto a hard time in the series, which forced him to unlock his Prime Form. It’s hard to explain exactly what it is here, but essentially, Sakamoto’s Prime Form is his body back from when he was still an active assassin. Somehow, he could become fit again in an instant, and this newfound strength enabled him to beat Boiled and survive their trip to the amusement park.
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Sakamoto Days is now available to stream on Netflix. The release date for Sakamoto Days episode 9 is set to be March 8, 2025, at 6:00 AM PT.
