SAKAMOTO DAYS

SAKAMOTO DAYS adapts Yuto Suzuki's Weekly Shonen Jump manga and was produced by TMS Entertainment for Netflix. Taro Sakamoto was once the most feared hitman alive. He fell in love, married, started a family, retired, and put on weight running a small neighborhood store. The anime ran as 22 episodes across two cours in 2025, from January to March and from July to September.

His quiet life does not last. Former enemies and colleagues arrive seeking revenge or a bounty, and a one-billion-yen price on his head draws a steady stream of eccentric assassins. Sakamoto has sworn to his wife Aoi never to kill again, so he must protect his family and his two odd employees without breaking that vow. Those employees are the mind-reading ex-assassin Shin and the mafia heiress Lu. Each fight becomes an exercise in creative non-lethal violence.

The series moves from episodic "hitman of the week" set pieces, such as an amusement park, a shopping-district survival tournament, a secret lab and a casino, toward a larger conflict involving the Japan Assassins Association, the elite group ORDER, and escaped death-row prisoners. It keeps a comic, found-family tone while the world gets darker and larger.

The series asks whether a violent past can be atoned for without denying it. Sakamoto does not erase what he was. He redirects his skills toward protecting and helping people, and he keeps a promise made out of love. The story argues that strength means restraint and responsibility more than domination.

It also treats family as something chosen and built. Shin, Lu and the other strays are absorbed into the store's household. The humor of an action hero who runs out of breath and gets pudgy says the same thing: an ordinary, loving life is worth defending, and it is heroic in its own right.

Some read it as a straight genre parody of the invincible-hero trope, noting that Sakamoto can both damage enemies and receive wounds, which sets him apart from overpowered leads. Others read it as a sincere story about redemption, with the comedy softening a serious question. A third view treats his no-kill vow as a convenient narrative constraint that is not always plausible, as one reviewer remarked about explosive car crashes.

Sakamoto Days arrived as a high-profile Jump adaptation on Netflix and reached the US top five soon after launch. Commentators compared it to John Wick, with the lead as a family-man version, and to Spy x Family for its tone, pacing and mind-reading character. Its draw is the blend of action, comedy and domesticity.

It was commissioned with a continuing run: a second cour followed within months, and a second season and a live-action film have since been announced.

Critics were generally positive. Rotten Tomatoes showed 84% on a small number of reviews, and IMDb sat at 7.5/10. Reviewers praised the action-comedy blend, the contrast between Sakamoto's past and present, and the supporting cast, which one critic said lifts it from a fun but forgettable concept into something engaging.

Criticism centered on the animation quality in places, pacing, and a messy plot that jumps from "hitman of the week" to Shin's scientific origins. One reviewer felt Sakamoto's silent personality might keep viewers from bonding with him, and another noted some awkward lines. Overall verdict: a fun, binge-friendly action comedy that grows more engaging once its ensemble forms.