Sakamoto Days #1-8

Sakamoto Days #1-8

Originally released in 2020

Written by Yuto Suzuki

Art by Yuto Suzuki

I had seen this manga promoted on the Shonen Jump website, but I knew nothing about it, so I decided to try it out. My first impression is that it makes me think of a light-hearted take on a similar premise to John Wick.

Taro Sakamoto was the deadliest hitman out there, but he fell in love, left the killer business, and got married.  Now, he's out-of-shape unassuming man who owns a convenience store with his family, though he's no less dangerous than he once was.

He's tracked down by his former coworker Shin, who's nowhere near as talented as Sakamoto, though he has an advantage in that he can read minds.  This leads to a running gag early on where it seems like Sakamoto murders someone (on several occasions, Shin), only for it to be a thought that Sakamoto had which Shin was reading.

Sakamoto's wife is aware of her husband's past, though she forces him to keep a strict no-killing policy.  If Sakamoto kills someone, she'll divorce him, so he has to be on his best behaviour.

Given Sakamoto's appearance, I figured he was middle-aged, somewhere between forty and sixty.  Instead, I was surprised to learn that he's specifically 27 years old.  Not sure if the Shonen Jump policy from the days of Rurouni Kenshin is still in effect where a protagonist can only start out the series at 28 years old at most.

The first few chapters have Sakamoto and Shin doing day-to-day tasks at or around the convenience store while getting into wacky misadventures as Sakamoto's old life comes back to haunt him, or other people force him to act. (Such as his wife being on a bus that was hijacked for a silly reason)

The duo get caught up in a conflict involving the Triads, a Chinese organized crime syndicate, as they're chasing after a girl named Xiaotan Lu. Lu has a key for her family's safe, which the Triads want, and Sakamoto wants dumplings after some dumplings that he had bought for his wife and daughter were destroyed.

Once Lu is saved, she starts working at the convenience store as she has nowhere else to work.  However, Sakamoto's actions caused his old allies and enemies to think that he has come out of retirement, and as a result, a bounty of one billion yen is placed on his head.

However, his family already had planned a trip to an amusement park, and Sakamoto doesn't want to let them down.  As a result, Shin and Lu have to keep assassins away from Sakamoto, or he has to defend himself in a subtle manner in order to keep his family safe.

At this point, it seems as though the series is making a transition to becoming more of an action series.  It's understandable given how popular those series are, and how series in Shonen Jump live or die based on their popularity, but if that's the direction that the series is going, it's a bit of a shame.

I like the slice of life elements and the comedy, and I'm hoping that the series continues to incorporate these elements going forward. Sakamoto is an unconvential and entertaining Shonen Jump protagonist, making for a nice change from the usual age groups and body types that are seen in Jump manga series. It's a fun premise for a series, and I'm willing to keep going with it even if it's not for this blog.