Read Sakamoto Days

I’ve been in a reading slump (and a writing one, apparently) and struggling with my concentration, but manga and graphic novels have been keeping me occupied once I get back into the swing of things. One of my latest favourites out of this yearning for literary reprieve has been Sakamoto Days by Yuto Suzuki. It’s simply a joy to read.

Notorious assassin Taro Sakamoto hangs up the guns and bloodshed for the easy life as a devoted husband and father. He eats good, puts on weight, and manages a corner shop with his wife, who is aware of his past and firmly establishes Sakamoto Family Rules, one of which is “no more killing”. He becomes a target for old enemies, but Taro easily disarms or defeats them. Along the way, many of these hired hitmen become friends, allies, or assistants for the shop. The Sakamoto family grows into a hodgepodge of misfits and directionless kids, all of whom are either indebted, awed (or both) by Taro. It is touching as it is hilarious, as seemingly major threats are infantilised, thrown an apron, and made to sweep the shop floors.

Behind the comedy is a sinister plot relating to a shadowy organisation with unknown motives. A conspiracy soon unfolds and betrayals are uncovered, and Taro is forced back into the world he left behind to protect his family and himself.

Btw everyone looks cool in this manga. We need an anime asap.

Sakamoto Days is gaining popularity and for good reason. The extended characters are all hilariously ridiculous and the story is engaging. Despite the comedic nature, it’s filled with action and breath-taking sequences that makes me yearn for an anime adaptation. There are some genuinely gory scenes that come as a surprise, and the character designs are brilliant. The story has an easy quirkiness: nothing too outlandish like some of the behaviours we see in series like One Piece or Fairy Tail, instead, the humour has a similar deadpan ridiculousness to Cromartie High School and One Punch Man. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, which makes the intense, impactful moments all the more nail-biting. Despite Sakamoto’s design and his obvious aloofness, his wife and child are in danger, and so are the countless young people who have rallied around to help him.

I would recommend this manga immediately, but its still in its relative infancy at 113 chapters, which means you’ll catch up quickly and then be left waiting in agony week-by-week. So if you don’t mind reading weekly after a short binge, give this a go. Sakamoto Days is one of those series that showcases the diversity of shonen: it still contains many of the tropes we’ve become accustomed to in action-comedy series, but it’s nice to see a range of demographics represented, a non-conventional wonderboy of a protagonist, and varied examples of ambiguous morality.

So far it’s a 10/10 series.