Sakamoto Days episode 14 continues a mostly middling first season with little change. The episode, with the appropriate title “Strong Assault” does cruise along with Sakamoto and Nagumo getting to show off. However, the series’ insistence on its economical action fails to do them too much justice. On the upside, the narrative does make progress on establishing Sakamoto’s sense of self.
A brief look at Sakamoto’s past
The staff of Sakamoto’s pay a post-battle visit to another underworld resource — Granny Miyo. She has the medical history to treat and even advise Shin on the effects his new powers are having on his body. It’s also very notable that Sakamoto shows a level of trust to Miyo that he doesn’t articulate when talking about others. This doesn’t stop him from withdrawing when she observes he usually doesn’t take on allies like Shin and Lu.
There’s been plenty of hints and teasing at Sakamoto’s history with The Order, but this is the first real indication at what’s actually up. Despite having some sort of relationship with Nagumo, it’s starting to become clear that Sakamoto is still pretty new to this connection thing. He can’t even articulate an explanation to Miyo, so he withdraws back to his non-verbal basics.
Don’t worry, Aoi isn’t doing anything still
Meanwhile, Sakamoto Days episode 14 resolves the previous episode’s cliffhanger involving Aoi. It will probably surprise no one to discover that this is a fake-out. Nagumo is holding down the fort at Sakamoto’s, completely with a pay check in a funny flashback. Again, comparing the simplicity that Sakamoto uses with Nagumo comes away so different compared to the reverence for Granny Miyo. These relationships say a lot without using the exact words.
Nagumo’s depiction has been critiqued by some fan circles, but I’m not seeing the issue. He’s a bit aloof, definitely a Satoru Gojo type. Maybe some people don’t read that from the manga, but to me his sheer audacity over the course of his fight with Minimalist is right in line with it. He takes everything very casually compared to the rest of the cast.
Comfortable in one’s own weight
Especially Sakamoto, who is put through the paces when he interrupts Heisuke’s encounter with Apart. Miyo left Sakamoto with a present that he doesn’t quite understand is one; because he immediately tries to go into his slim mode without thinking about it only to find he can’t. In reality, this is a bit of training for Sakamoto, to get him into sync with how his body is currently.
As discussed before, a chubby Sakamoto is a happy Sakamoto. Unlike other power ups, there should be a sense that when Sakamoto is slim, things are bad. Being forced to fight as his real self does an interesting flip on the normal training scenario where a protagonist has to learn to master their more powerful form. Instead, Sakamoto is increasing the threshold in which he can fight as his standard self. It’s a clever inversion of a common shonen story beat.
Round and flat
Unfortunately, neither of these fight scenes do much to visually enhance the stories they are telling. It’s beating a broken drum at this point, but Sakamoto Days continues to stick to the basics. The lighting of both of these scenes is very flat, which robs what sakuga there is of impact. This is most noticeable in the fight between Nagumo and Minimalist as it takes place with the lights off. Sakamoto fights on Tokyo Tower, which is brightly lit but somehow comes away just as flat.
The anime continues to be too close to the paneling of the manga, which isn’t inherently bad. But when the sequences don’t have the same inherent motion of Yuto Suzuki’s linework, our brains can’t fill in the choreography as well. As such, these cuts are much harder than in the manga, even if they’re faithful. Some leeway should be allowed to show Sakamoto’s fist connecting, for crying out loud.
Abandon all hope, sakuga addicts
Nearly fifteen episodes across two cours, it’s about time to accept what Sakamoto Days is. As an adaptation, the anime preserves a majority of the thoughtful and frenetic nature of the narrative. It also traps that narrative in an animation structure that is satisfied with being serviceable and not much more. It’s hard to hate a production balancing its budget, but it can be disappointing when that production is using material that relies so much on action.
Sakamoto Days Part 2 airs Mondays on Netflix.
Featured image ©Yuto Suzuki/SHUEISHA, SAKAMOTO DAYS PROJECT, Netflix
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‘SAKAMOTO DAYS’ - STRONG ASSAULT - 5/10
5/10
Travis Hymas is a freelance writer and self appointed Pokémon historian out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Known to be regularly obessive over pop culture topics, gaming discourse, and trading card games, he is a published critic featured on sites such as Uppercut and The Young Folks.
