REVIEW: Sakamoto Days Episode 2 — “Vs. Son Hee and Bacho”

Sakamoto Days is here to thrill you with action and melt your heart with wholesomeness too. The last episode introduced viewers to Taro Sakamoto (Tomokazu Sugita / Matthew Mercer), the former legendary assassin. Shin Asakura (Nobunaga Shimazaki / Dallas Liu) set out to make Mr. Sakamoto kill again, but instead was given a job at his convenience store and joined the Sakamoto family instead. Now, in Sakamoto Days Episode 2, “Vs. Son Hee and Bacho,” we get to learn more about Mr. Sakamoto’s family.

Wives not knowing that their husbands are assassins is an often-used cliche, but it doesn’t show up here. While Sakamoto may daydream about killing Shin in a whole variety of ways, he can’t actually follow through unless he wants to get a divorce. While the house rules and how they got made don’t show up until Shin reads Mr. Sakamoto’s min in the back half of the episode, Aoi Sakamoto (Nao Tôyama / Rosie Okumura) is the focus of Sakamoto Days Episode 2.

Sakamoto Days Episode 2 throws out the oblivious wife trope and replaces it with Aoi Sakamoto, a woman who stared at a present and told her husband she didn’t want it if it was bought with blood money. Of course, she throws herself off a building to prove her point, but it all helps showcase the kind of person Aoi is and how much she trusts Taro in return.

In a few simple scenes, Aoi’s personality is clear; she’s really not someone to mess with. Instead of keeping her in the dark, Taro Sakamoto told her everything. And instead of just accepting all the money he had, she told him to quit. While the first step in building their family rule is to never kill, the second is that Mr. Sakamoto will do good in the world and help people to repent for all of the lives he’s taken.

Aoi is just as powerful as her husband, just in a different way. 

Even at the mere suggestion that Mr. Sakamoto killed people instead of rendering them unconscious from Shin, Aoi loses it. If their rule is broken, their marriage is over. And, of course, that’s not something Mr. Sakamoto wants. He loves his wife and his family, so a divorce isn’t in his future.

As much as Taro Sakamoto was a legendary killer, he’s also a man who listens to his wife no matter what. While you could call him a sweetheart on the inside, Shin’s insight into all of his murderous daydreams shows that Mr. Sakamoto actively makes a choice to not kill every day. It’s this element of Sakamoto Days that does the most show our shonen protagonist as someone who values his family more than power or money.

Taro Sakamoto is the best wife-guy, but that’s because he respects his wife and her wishes and honors his word to her and, thus, their marriage. It’s a representation of love that is rooted deeply in respect. Yes, it is funny that the legendary hitman found a woman to keep him in check. But the reality is that it’s a bit deeper than that.

Marriages are made more challenging when no one works to maintain them. Mr. Sakamoto does that every day when it would be easy to follow his impulses instead. This isn’t just a happy wife, a happy life in the traditional sense. It’s the fact that Mr. Sakamoto gets joy from her happiness alone and will protect it that makes this all work.

While Shin is taken aback that Aoi knows her husband’s past, there is clearly a part of him that respects and envies the fact that Mr. Sakamoto loves his wife so much. But, of course, Shin’s clairvoyance makes it easier for him to see their story. A clever device to deliver exposition to the audience, it also helps build the relationship between Shin and Mr. Sakamoto without too much added fluff.

After the beginning of Sakamoto Days Episode 2 sets the stage, it continues by adding in the action you’d expect and some you don’t. Shin and Mr. Sakamoto head to Chinatown to get Chinese meat buns, the Sakamoto’s favorite treat. Then, a young woman named Lu Xiaotan (Ayane Sakura / Rosalie Chiang) falls on them, smashes the buns, and pulls the duo into a fight with the Triad.

Sure, it would be easy for the duo to mind their business. Still, Mr. Sakamoto promised to be a good man, and good men help people, even if it’s fighting two highly skilled Triad fighters attempting to break into a vault belonging to a mysterious lady who smashed his beloved meat buns. And that’s where the action comes into play for Sakamoto Days Episode 2. 

TMS Entertainments animation is superb in Sakamoto Days Episode 2.

For Sakamoto Days Episode 2, TMS Entertainment’s animation is superb. While the last episode had some hiccups, the stark changes in shading and atmosphere during fight sequences where Taro Sakamoto is locked in and when he’s just bumbling around as a husband and dad are perfectly executed.

The different animation styles used for fight sequences and everyday life bring the manga panels to life fantastically. Mangaka Yuto Suzuki’s art is both highly recognizable and responsible for many of the big moments in the action-manga, hitting perfectly. The way TMS Entertainment has chosen to capture that is perfect and now well executed.

While the art may be faithful, TMS Entertainment has also taken certain liberties with story additions and placement that come into focus in Sakamoto Days Episode 2. Because Episodes 1 – 3 encapsulate Volume 1 of the manga, the pacing for each 23-minute episode has to be adjusted with subtractions and elaborations on Suzuki’s work.

By skipping Chapters 2 and 3, which include a bus-jacking incident and a run-in with police, TMS can get straight into the story, which is adding more adopted family members to the Sakamoto house. It’s an adaptation, after all. Everything flows naturally and captures precisely what Suzuki puts forward, even if slightly different, including the end credits scene being moved up in the sequence of events.

Escaping the Triad and protecting Xiaotan’s vault (and her) isn’t an easy task. Fighting two expertly trained Triad assassins (and brothers), Son Hee and Bacho, means that Mr. Sakamoto isn’t just subduing goons like in the last episode, making it all reasonably tough and forcing him to use strength and mobility he hasn’t had to use in ages. But, even rusty, Mr. Sakamoto is legendary.

With Xiotan saved, the Sakomoto family gets a little bigger. Much like he did with Shin, Xiotan now has a job at the convenience store. However, it’s not purely to keep her safe. It’s because Mr. Sakamoto loves Chinese buns, and she has her father’s recipe. It’s a win-win for all involved, really.

Sakamoto Days Episode 2 captures the softness of the series without sacrificing the action. Even with noticeable deviations from the manga, the series’ pacing is handled with care and pays off, at least for this critic. With Sakamoto Days, Netflix just may have the best anime of the season.

Sakamoto Days Episode 2 is streaming now on Netflix, with new episodes every Saturday in January and February.

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