‘Sakamoto Days’ episode 3 review: “Welcome to Sugar Park!”

With Sakamoto Days episode 3, the anime begins to move into the plot proper. Now, Taro Sakamoto’s quiet life and family are in the line of fire. He can’t allow that, but he’s also not about to break poor Hana’s heart and cancel their theme park trip. So, it falls to the staff of Sakamoto’s to secretly protect the family’s day out from their boss’ old life. The end result is a fun blend of action and slice of life that will quickly become the series brand. As an episode, it’s the best of the three released in the States so far.

Meet Nagumo

Before “Welcome to Sugar Park” takes the team to the theme park, there’s a small tease of Sakamoto’s hit man past. This comes courtesy of a visit from former ally Nagumo (Natsuki Hanae/Aleks Le) to tip off the store about the hit order going out. Nagumo is immediately interesting, moving so fast that it’s difficult to know how he works, something I’m sure the studio appreciates to conserve as much work as possible. Hanae gives Nagumo cockiness and intrigue befitting a “this character will be important later” introduction all while being the main source of gags this week. His easy lies and casual speech is very triggering for Shin and Lu, who both take the threat he poses to their boss seriously. 

Shin and Lu’s instant attachment to the Sakamoto family is cute. The loyal to a fault Shin instantly clashes with Lu in a (not weird) brother-sister way. It’s an important grounding tool as the action continues to pick up. Sakamoto Days is a series about how what might be seen as mundane has joy and is worth protecting. We need to continue to see these silly moments of Lu not knowing how to stock shelves so we can better appreciate what the real stakes are. 

Also meet Hana, and Shin, kind of

This is equally true for Sakamoto’s family, though. His daughter Hana gets to showcase who she is a little bit via her excitement for Sugar Park. She’s a huge fan of the park’s heroic mascot, Sugar Bunny, which may be a subtle acknowledgement of her father’s role in the neighborhood. Her short attention span is what guides everyone’s journey around the park which sets up the reactions that Sakamoto and team have to take to stop the hitmen targeting him. It’s a fun way to set some ground rules for how things actually work in Sakamoto Days. 

Shin can read minds, yes. But as his struggles in this episode showcase, these powers have some pretty hard limits. He’s not always reading minds, and even when actively trying, it can be harder in some situations. He doesn’t even so much as try to read Nagumo’s mind and a more focused other hitman breaches his defenses. To make up for those limitations, Shin does have some combat skills he gets to employ in Sakamoto Days episode 3’s proper action scene. He manages to leverage his environment well, in a full demonstration of the choreography that I’ve alluded to in previous reviews. Of particular note is the episode taking just enough time to ensure that Sakamoto himself has gotten off the coaster ride and into the place he needs to be for the last moments of the fight. 

Okay, some of this action is a bit stiff

However, there are moments during this fight scene that are kind of rough. Not necessarily as a lack of skill or shoddiness, but as aesthetic choice. Shin leaps from a moving roller coaster during a loop to get the drop on Sakamoto’s would-be assassin. It’s a cool moment that is somewhat undercut by a strange color grading shade placed over the frames unexpectedly. The choice doesn’t heighten the moment, it’s distracting. So much so it even makes the coaster tracks shift into a CGI environment and back very obvious. There’s a camera rotation involved that looked good in the trailer but now seeing that rotation finish, it falls a bit flat. It’s a shortcoming seen again moments later when Shin “leaps” back onto the coaster when his model goes pretty stiff. None of these dismantle the overall sequence, but they’re highlighted by the shifts in color grading. 

Eventually, once off the coaster tracks and back in a proper physical confrontation, things greatly improve. Shin and Sakamoto demonstrate a surprising level of synergy as the latter guides the former. The beatdown Shin puts out is amplified not only by much stronger sakuga but also the hilarity of having to do it dressed like Sugar Bunny. Once again, the slice of life elements are incredibly important to Sakamoto Days and here it makes a pretty straightforward fight much more iconic. 

Regardless, this is working

As the plot starts to pick up, Sakamoto Days episode 3 picks up where it counts. There’s still some average moments that keep this anime from hitting the upper echelon. However, the production clearly knows what makes this manga worth adapting. And it’s working – Sakamoto Days remains in Netflix’s top 10 and has become its largest anime premiere since reporting weekly numbers. Yes, that’s including Delicious in Dungeon. Even if some aspects don’t hit the highest highs, the production team is getting it right where it counts.

Sakamoto Days airs Saturdays on Netflix.

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Featured image ©Yuto Suzuki/SHUEISHA, SAKAMOTO DAYS PROJECT, Netflix