Summary
- Watchers can start reading Sakamoto Days manga from Chapter 38 after Part 1 ends.
- Part 1’s finale drew mixed fan reception due to animation quality and slice-of-life removal.
- Part 2 of Sakamoto Days will be released in July 2025 with minor chances of major changes.
Sakamoto Days finished airing its first cour in Japan, although the finale is not yet available internationally. While many manga fans have complained about the adaptation — and they have some legitimate complaints —, the series is undeniably a hit and has been featured in Netflix’s Most-Watched series worldwide for several weeks in a row.
Many new fans will probably want to start reading the Sakamoto Days manga to check what’s next for the story. Part 1 ended in the middle of a new arc, and the next episodes will have a lot of action, but they will only be out in a few months. So where should new fans pick up the manga after watching the anime?
Related
Rumor: A Sakamoto Days Live Action Movie Is Coming
Sakamoto Days might be getting a live action movie. Here’s everything fans need to know.
Where Does Sakamoto Days Part 1 End?
Sakamoto Days Episode 11, the final episode of the first part of the series, adapts Chapters 35, 36 and 37. It is still at the beginning of the Death Row Prisoners arc, so Part 2 will cover most of it. Death Row Prisoners is the last arc in which Lu is a “main” character; her appearances become less frequent after that.
For fans who want to know what happens after Episode 11, the most logical choice would be to pick up the series at Chapter 38 (the fourth chapter of Volume 5). However, some chapters were skipped in the adaptation, especially those with short and more slice-of-life plots. Because of this, it might be a better idea to actually start from scratch.
So, basically, these are the available options:
- Start with Chapter 38 (Volume 5)
- Read Chapters 2, 3, 16 and 33 (skipped chapters) and then start with Chapter 38
- Start with Chapter 1
Fan Reception After the Final Episode
Sakamoto Days has sparked controversies among fans even before the anime debuted, as many fans were wary of the trailers, due to the lack of action scenes (and those that were shown in the trailers seemed stiff).
As the series advanced, these complaints grew louder, especially after comments from members of the animation staff suggested that the production schedule was complicated and rushed. The manga is known for mixing great action-packed segments with fun slice-of-life parts, especially in the beginning (later on, the action becomes more prominent), but for most manga fans, the anime did neither of these well.
The action segments were not on par with the manga in their opinion, and some fun slice-of-life chapters were cut off from the anime for no apparent reason.
For many fans, the finale of cour 1 didn’t look like a finale at all, being mostly described as “mid”. On Reddit, one user wrote:
When Will Sakamoto Days Return?
Sakamoto Days Part 2 is already scheduled for release in July 2025, and, as far as we know, it will also air for 11 episodes.
The exact return date hasn’t been revealed yet, but AnimeJapan 2025 takes place next weekend (anime announcements will be made on March 22-23), so there is a good chance that they will drop a trailer and reveal the release date.
Can Part 2 Be Better?
While it is possible that the production team will try to fix a few issues in Cour 2, it seems unlikely that there will be major changes. Sakamoto Days Part 1 finished production before it aired, which means that they have probably been working on Part 2 for a while.
Even though it will debut in a few months, there may not be enough time to make big changes. Those who are expecting a more visible change of course may have to wait for Season 2.
Sakamoto Days is available to stream on Netflix, subbed and dubbed in many languages.
