Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto

Episode 13

Gakubun High's bespectacled wunderkind returns for a slightly disappointing swan song in Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto's delayed 13th episode. Even though the series' previous 12 episodes covered the parent manga in its entirety, I was totally game for seeing more of Sakamoto and his bizarre cohorts in animated form. Unfortunately, this special failed to measure up to even my least favorite episode of the main series. Since director Shinji Takamatsu helmed some of my favorite anime-original Gintama episodes, I was curious to see how he'd approach Sakamoto without any source material to adapt The results this time around are a mixed bag.

The first half of episode 13 is essentially a clip show—an exceptionally weak one, even by anime standards. Intent on continuing Sakamoto's adventures in movie form, Kubota, Acchan, and the other supporting players create personalized trailers for a never-to-be-released feature film. Predictably, each character's trailer contains an abundance of scenes that prominently feature themselves. If these trailers were wholly original, this segment might have held some merit outside of serving as blatant time filler. However, since each trailer is comprised entirely of highlights from the previous 12 episodes, this segment feels like shameless padding. Not even the banter between the supporting players is particularly amusing. The copious fourth-wall-breaking in this portion of the episode comes off as lazy, and the overall setup gets old quickly as the audience is subjected to a barrage of clips they've already seen. On paper, each character changing the framework of the “movie” to highlight their personal experience with Sakamoto sounds interesting, but this concept is executed as lackadaisically as possible.

The latter half of the episode finds Class 1-2 speculating on Sakamoto's stateside whereabouts, after spotting him in the background of a newspaper photo taken in NYC. Megumi believes he's currently attending a high school run by NASA (“MASA”), and the bulk of this segment is dedicated to presenting a visual representation of her fantasy. In Megumi's mind, Sakamoto is being harassed by Acchan and company's American dopplegangers at his new school, thus setting the stage for an Americanized recreation of the first half of the series premiere. (Unfortunately, if the first episode isn't fresh in your mind, certain gags are liable to be lost on you.) Shortly after dismissing Megumi's delusions, Acchan opines that since Sakamoto showed interest in exploring Mars, he must be attending high school on the red planet. In actuality, however, the hero of Gakubun High is stylishly averting a potentially disastrous MASA rocket launch and blasting off into space.

Seeing Sakamoto feeding birds while perched atop Rockefeller Center is probably this segment's funniest moment, as it perfectly encapsulates the character's penchant for bizarre behavior and popping up in random places. I also found it amusing that Sakamoto's classmates are so obsessed with him that they scour U.S. news stories for signs of their departed hero. Additionally, while it made me laugh, I'm not sure the rocket launch segment at the end of the episode is really necessary. Definitively knowing what Sakamoto is doing post-Gakubun makes a dent in his perpetual mystique.

For a low-stakes gag series, Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto featured a surprisingly satisfying resolution, so I see no real need for an additional episode, especially one that expands on the source material's ending. In essence, this special is an examination of Sakamoto's lingering effect on those he left behind—which is an interesting concept, but I don't think it was very well-executed. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the main series, I found parts of this special amusing, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to casual Sakamoto fans.

Rating: C+

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for over two decades.