REVIEW: ‘Sakamoto Days’ Episode 21 – “Hard Mode”

Shin is often the MVP of the manga series and is steadily becoming the MVP of the anime as well. Sakamoto Days Episode 21 works because a battle involving Shin is at the center, a clear indicator of when the animation team steps things up. With greater grace and fluidity, “Hard Mode” ups the ante as Shin (Nobunaga Shimazaki), Mafuyu (Daiki Yamashita), Toramaru (Hisako Kanemoto), and Kaji (Tomoaki Maeno) fight against Shinaya, who is still being controlled by Gaku (Koki Uchiyama). 

This combination of fighters immediately makes for a fun, energized fight sequence that takes over the majority of Sakamoto Days Episode 21. The story’s strength lies in its development as the team dwindles due to injuries, forcing Shin to adapt his fighting style and leverage his unique strengths. 

It’s also fantastic to see how this group of would-be assassins work together against a greater threat, despite being one another’s adversaries mere moments ago. The impact of Mafuyu and Toramaru leaping into battle to aid Shin was felt at the end of Episode 20 and is fully detailed here. All three operate by utilizing speed to emphasize their power, making for a strong display of animation as they do everything in their power to take out the threat ahead of them. 

Sakamoto Days Episode 21 distinguishes between different fight styles. 

However, they’re no match for Gaku’s sheer speed and skills in fighting, leaving Mafuyu and Toramaru displaced. It takes Kaji entering the fray and overcoming his own shyness and insecurities to make any sort of progress. Sakamoto Days Episode 21 channels the propulsive energy of the manga throughout this sequence as the battle changes form and setting on a constant trajectory forward. 

Or, in this case, downward, as Shin, Kaji, and Gaku, as Shinaya, plummet below ground mid-fight. This helps the sequence twofold. First, technically, the clumsily rendered backgrounds are tougher to decipher due to the darker landscape. Similarly, it also highlights Shin’s psychic powers, the blue shocks of electricity, as a sign of him using his abilities. It also helps contain the fight, allowing us to see exactly who is going where and just how hard certain hits land. 

Kaji’s ability and expert hearing align with Shin’s own abilities. This is especially true when Kaji can hear a lag between Gaku’s movements and Shinaya’s. Shin, overextending the use of his power in what is already an expected move, uses his power to read Kaji’s mind to determine when the lag takes place, thereby becoming Gaku’s equal, however momentary. 

Sakamoto arrives to save the day in expected, inventive ways. 

Even that’s not enough, however, and it’s a definitive moment that makes clear just how imposing a foe Gaku is even when he isn’t present. Winning costs Kaji a part of his torso and requires the involvement of Sakamoto, who arrives just in time to handle the fight, propelling him and Shinaya back above ground and into the crashed airplane, yet another visual moment reminiscent of the manga. Sakamoto Days should always, always, be in motion. 

This long, continued fight scene is what gives “Hard Mode” a steady sense of life. The different fighting styles are evident between each character and team-up, allowing the show a sense of movement beyond simply the action itself. It’s the changes and dips, the range of styles from Sakamoto’s brute force to Shin’s quick-on-his-feet dexterity, and Gaku’s balletic skill, that deliver the finest moments in the episode. It’s when the series relies on stiff and repetitive action and direction that it grows stale and meandering. 

Sakamoto Days Episode 21 is fun and lively as it homes in on a single fight scene. Emboldened by creative action and an energized story carried by those sequences, “Hard Mode” might not be a remedy to all of the series’ problems. Still, it’s a reminder of why we care to tune in beyond our love for the characters themselves. 

Sakamoto Days Episode 21 is out now on Netflix. 

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