I’m an anime noob. I couldn’t find a show I vibed with until I watched Dandadan last year, and I’ve been on the lookout for new and interesting ones ever since. Nothing I tried had that je ne sais quoi that Dandadan had, and it still hasn’t to this day.
However, Sakamoto Days gets mighty close.
Sakamoto Days follows the retired assassin, Taro Sakamoto, who works in his convenience store while he is hunted by his former employers and bounty hunters from across Japan. But, for all the really great fight sequences this show has, where it shines is its characters and comedy. You may be thinking, “Pfft. A bunch of shows have great core characters,” but I’m not just talking about the core cast. I’m talking about the rotating roster of villains.
Sakamoto Days is giving a masterclass in how to make interesting characters for your heroes to battle. Even one-and-done villains have something special about them, but some are so compelling that they’re able to transition to the main cast. So, let’s take a closer look at a few of the assassins who have entered the Sakamoto store and failed to kill the legend.
Shin is the first “villain” in Sakamoto Days. A former partner of Sakamoto, Shin knows him better than anyone and is the first person to track him down when a hit is ordered. He has the supernatural ability to read most people’s minds, which presents itself as clairvoyance. It’s easy to predict what is going to happen if you can hear the thoughts of everyone around you.
Although he fails to kill his old mentor and friend, he gives him a good fight, and when the legendary hitman doesn’t kill him, Shin turns on the JAA (think of it as like the Assassin’s Guild of Japan). Sakamoto has a lot of love for Shin, even offering him a job in the store, which his old partner accepts.
I love that The Clairvoyant helps Sakamoto to protect his family from the oncoming assault of assassins. However, what I find hilarious is Sakamoto’s continuous thoughts about how to kill Shin, just to screw with him. It’s really funny!
Although not the overarching villain (that would be Slur, but we’ve not seen a lot of him yet), Kashima is pretty high up on the list of antagonists in the first season. He wears a deer head mask and a suit, looking pretty intimidating while keeping mostly calm and polite. He knows he can take pretty much anyone in a fight, especially with his CYBER-FREAKING-NETIC ENHANCEMENTS. Kashima has a laser gun that can fire out of his mouth, blades in his arm, a gun in his other arm… basically, he’s a killing machine.
He’s definitely a badass, but Sakamoto Days doesn’t leave it as “Here is this cool antagonist. He just likes killing people.” They give him a little backstory here and a connection with Slur there, which makes him infinitely more interesting. Yeah, Kashima is a psycho, but he was found and nurtured by the main villain after he killed a bunch of people who were torturing a cat.
I mean, it was an overreaction, but don’t be mean to animals, right?
Boiled is an assassin who went to JCC (assassin school) with Sakamoto. He even thought they were friends, but Sakamoto didn’t reciprocate those feelings. Boiled was incensed at his indifference towards him and how he made fun of his homemade weaponry. Boiled jumped at the chance of fulfilling the contract on Sakamoto, hoping that he’d finally recognise him as a competent assassin before ending his life.
But his character goes further. He is polite, conservative, and he values the lives of everyone and everything. If they aren’t his target, then he’ll go out of his way to save the tiniest creature from its demise. His relationship with the less-than-conservative Obiguro accentuates Boiled’s traits. He’s an awesome character.
Every villain in this show has something about them which is endearing, grotesque or interesting, but all of them are compelling in some way. Whether they are a one-off character, like the dude who turns his mom and dad’s bathhouse into a murderhouse to try to prove to himself he’s worthy of being an assassin, or they’re a villain that eventually becomes part of the team, they are all flipping cool.
Not one villain in Sakamoto Days has disappointed me so far, and that’s a massive tick in the box for this show. When a show displays no sign of SVS (Sh*t Villain Syndrome), then it’s definitely worth a watch in my book.
Sakamoto Days is available to watch on Netflix now.
