Sakamoto Days

Episode 3

Now that we've got our main cast together, things are kicking into high gear as Sakamoto has to fend off more assassins looking to claim his head. This week's episode gives us our first big taste of that as the big guy and his employees square off against several would-be killers and gives the most action-heavy episode of the show so far. While the execution of said action isn't exactly perfect, it manages to dish out a few surprises and gives me a bit more confidence about how the show will handle that going forward.

With Xiaotang signing on as Sakamoto's newest employee, things have settled down a little as she tries her best to make her new arrangement work. “Try” is used very loosely, since she shows up two hours late and puts little effort into properly stocking items, both of which seem like things that would put her on thin ice with even the nicest of bosses, much less someone as grouchy as Sakamoto. Things become funnier when Sakamoto is not only unfazed, but acts downright friendly and talkative, two things they'd never really associate with him. However, it's only when a second Sakamoto appears that Shin and Xiaotang realize something is wrong, and we're introduced to Nagumo: an old buddy of Sakamoto's who's a master of disguise and a skilled assassin in his own right. He comes to warn Sakamoto that a billion-dollar bounty has been placed on his head and even helps him deal with an assassin in the form of a pizza delivery guy. Still, it's clear that he's got some ulterior motives and seems to be keeping an eye on Sakamoto's actions for his own reasons

While the best thing for Sakamoto to do would be to lay low for a bit, fate has other plans for him when he ends up going on a family trip to the amusement park. This makes him a pretty easy target for anyone looking to take him out, and he ends up being targeted by a hitman who pretends to be a janitor and one who specializes in knives. Unsurprisingly the janitor goes down in short order when he tries to go after Sakamoto directly only to get knifed in the gut, and the results are pretty funny. The knife wielder, on the other hand, proves to be a bit more dangerous, as he decides to hide his killing intent to bypass Shin's mind reading and get closer to Sakamoto. It's only when they're all on a roller coaster that Shin is finally alerted to his presence, and the two of them duke it out in the middle of the ride. It ends up being about as cool as it sounds. It makes for a great action setpiece as we see Shin performing feats like leaping off the coaster while it's in the middle of a loop or successfully avoiding the roller carts while the two of them are fighting, and it's the most anything in this show has felt like something straight out of a Hollywood action movie. As awesome as it is, though, there are a few moments where the animation kind of struggles to keep pace with what's required of the set-up here, and while it never looks outright bad, there were some moments where some of the shortcuts used felt more noticeable than I'd like.

Thankfully, it all pays off when Shin and the knife guy crash into the middle of a children's stage play, and Shin disguises himself as a mascot to continue the fight without Sakamoto's family catching on. It's both as funny and over the top as you can imagine. While the animation quality doesn't crank up too much here, the action is a lot more tightly directed, and it's the most impressive showing up till now. Plus, when the scene involves a bunch of kids cheering Shin on while he beats the tar out of this guy, it's hard not to cheer along with them, and it's the kind of blood-pumping spectacle I was hoping to see from this show. Of course, neither the show nor Sakamoto are out of the woods just yet, as there are still a couple more assassins to deal with before this day at the park is through. If what we got with this last fight was any indication, I'm confident that we'll get a lot more fun out of the affair before it's all over.

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Sakamoto Days is currently streaming on Netflix on Saturdays.