Sakamoto Days episode 1, “The Legendary Hit Man,” finally gives Shonen Jump heads one of their most anticipated adaptations. Hitmen who choose to pivot to a different kind of life is a pretty popular genre these days. The tale of Taro Sakamoto (Tomokazu Sugita/Matthew Mercer), a hit man who prefers working at a convenience store, has been one of Jump’s most consistent series the past few years. Of course, the more excitement an adaptation has swelling around it, the more pressure it has on it. As such, Sakamoto Days is no exception. Does “The Legendary Hit Man” soothe the action anime fan’s anxiety? Yes, but also no.
Sakamoto Days is a faithful adaptation
First and foremost, Sakamoto Days episode 1 is a faithful adaptation of the manga’s first chapter. Nothing stays on the cutting room floor, mostly because there’s not much to cut. The first chapter is a pretty self sufficient set up, as psychic hitman Shin (Nobunaga Shimazaki/Dallas Liu) discovers the kind of life his idol now lives. Director Masaki Watanabe (Bartender) and Series Composition writer Taku Kishimoto (Blue Lock, Haikyu!, Ranking of Kings) let mangaka Yuto Suzuki’s straightforward introduction do the lifting. There’s no attempt to shove in the following chapter, even as it continues the establishing phase of the story.
This choice does mean that “The Legendary Hit Man” is a pretty light first episode when it comes to action, or even much of an inciting incident for the series as whole. However, the choice does also keep the introduction centered on the primary relationship between Sakamoto and Shin. Taking it slow is probably best; because despite casting some truly iconic actors in his role, Sakamoto himself is not much of a talker. He is, literally and figuratively, a man of action. The pay off for episode 1 is him finally sharing some of his actual emotion and motivation, which queues up the rest of the series well.
Okay, so critics weren’t necessarily wrong…
Now, Sakamoto Days does promise quite a bit of action in its premise. That’s led to a lot of scrutiny in its trailers. There are moments in Sakamoto Days that highlight these concerns. More than a handful of shots use well worn animation “cheats” to keep things efficient. Zeroing in on these, I understand the critique. This is an adaptation of a Shonen Jump manga, so shouldn’t it look like one?
That’s where I think a lot of people are misunderstanding both how these productions happen. Each production is different, with various factors that have to be accounted for. While Sakamoto Days is popular enough that Shueisha clearly wants to profit further from it, its collected sales pale in comparison to recent juggernauts like Jujutsu Kaisen. When its production committee was put together, they almost certainly had to take such information into account when setting expectations. That can be hard for fans to swallow, but the facts are the facts – not all series get the same level of resources.
But, TMS Entertainment is no slouch either. Through various corporate shifts, TMS has maintained its place as a pillar of the anime industry. They’ve had influence and direct production of tons of iconic series over the years: Lupin the 3rd, Detective Conan, Megalobox, Fruits Basket, and more. Sure, they’ve not necessarily always put out bangers – Rent A Girlfriend exists – but they’re reliable and consistent. That’s where the “cheats” come from, saving time while maintaining the through line between frames. I do think that in this first episode, they show up a few too many times to be noticeable. But I must stress that it is not a total failure.
Choreography is important!
In fact, compared to the first chapter of Sakamoto Days, “The Legendary Hit Man” actually adds action and detail. Shin’s attempt on Sakamoto’s life is played out very similar to the source material, but details get expanded. The cough drop shattering in slow motion as Sakamoto deflects is the episode’s best shot, and it’s far more detailed than the manga’s version. The final fight against Shin’s employer adds entire sections to both Shin and Sakamoto’s individual fights to satiate those thirsty for action. These also involve changes, but overall they round out the episode better than coming up short in runtime.
At the risk of undermining the earlier argument, this last fight doesn’t inherit Sakamoto Days’ secret weapon: choreography. Compared to the store fight between Sakamoto and Shin, the practically new sequence at the warehouse comes away far more generic than I would expect. Yuto Suzuki has an incredible eye for 3D space and how to use it, and if the anime doesn’t leverage that, it won’t matter how many rendering passes and lighting effects are applied to every frame. Time will have to tell on that, though.
Overall, Sakamoto Days episode 1 is a good start. Not great. There’s room to grow, but there’s indications of that growth to come. Most of its issues are nitpicking about material fans love. The first episode is set up so that it will surely entertain newcomers. Netflix is giving the series a big push, so there is a chance that the lighter opening arcs of the series brings in people and creates a phenomenon like Delicious in Dungeon did last year, which would alleviate those nitpicks in future seasons. For now, “The Legendary Hit Man” does its job.
Sakamoto Days airs Saturdays on Netflix.
Featured image ©Yuto Suzuki/SHUEISHA, SAKAMOTO DAYS PROJECT, Netflix
-
'Sakamoto Days' - "The Legendary Hit Man" - 7/10
7/10
