By Charles Solomon
Japan may well be the safest country in the world. Tokyo, the largest city on Earth with a population of over 37 million, had fewer than 100 murders in 2023. Yet Japanese animators, manga artists and audiences seem fascinated by assassins, hit men and hit women, from Duke Togo aka Golgo 13 (2008) and Rob Lucci in One Piece (1999) to Killua Zoldyck in Hunter X Hunter (1999) and the murderous moppets in Gunslinger Girl (2003). In the hit series Spy X Family (2022), undercover agent Loid Forger “built a family” by marrying assassin Yor Briar and adopting telepathic orphan Anya, while Kenshin Himura in Rurouni Kenshin (1996) and the unnamed samurai in Sword of the Stranger (2007) are reformed killers.
Konbini (convenience store) owner Taro Sakamoto of Sakamoto Days is the latest professional killer-turned-good guy to win the hearts of otaku. His story began as a manga written and illustrated by Yuto Suzuki that debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in November 2020. In four years, the 19 volumes have sold more than 5.5 million copies and given rise to spinoff novels and an animated series produced by TMS Entertainment, which premieres this month on Netflix and TV Tokyo.
“No Killing Anyone!”
Once the deadliest hit man of all time, Taro fell in love, got married and retired to the quiet life of a neighborhood shopkeeper with his wife, Aoi, and their 6-year-old daughter, Hana. The once-slender, agile killer morphed into a chubby, mustached member of the middle class. The convenience store is a key establishment in any Japanese neighborhood, and Taro’s customers would never suspect the man selling boxed sandwiches and magazines has an incredibly violent past. Although she’s generally cheerful, Aoi has instituted one unbreakable family rule: “No killing anyone,” where more conventional households might enshrine regular church attendance or daily tooth brushing. It works for them, and Taro has no desire to risk Aoi’s threats of divorce.
However, it would be more accurate to say Taro tries to live the quiet life of a neighborhood shopkeeper. He has a lot of old enemies seeking revenge, and he gains new enemies by stumbling into situations where someone needs help only he can provide. Fortunately, he hasn’t lost his flexibility or dexterity, despite the added avoirdupois. He uses everything from cooking equipment to ballpoint pens to stop bullets, disarm foes and clobber anyone dim enough to attack him. He snaps sword blades with kitchen tongs and bangs heads with skillets. He beats the onigiri out of his would-be assailants, but he obeys the Rule and never kills them.
Some of the people he encounters become adopted family members in the first episodes. Shin Asakura, a telepathic young hit man who tries to take out Taro, becomes his assistant. Lu Xiaotang, a Chinese mob boss’ daughter, joins the family to make the pork buns Taro adores. Together, they cheerfully disprove Tolstoy’s famous dictum that all happy families are alike.
“The design of Sakamoto was drawn according to the expression of the original work: This is my interpretation, but I believe that the design is differentiated in that the fat Sakamoto’s face is symbolically deformed, while the skinny Sakamoto’s face is realistic.”
— Director Masaki Watanabe
Director Masaki Watanabe talked about the new series in a recent interview conducted via email. He said he hadn’t read Yuto Suzuki’s manga when it was originally published and had encountered the characters for the first time when he began work on the series.
Watanabe says he didn’t have any difficulty bringing the main character to animated life, despite the fact that he remains static frequently. “I believe that his character is his personality, as well as the fact that he does not move needlessly,” explains the director. “The lack of movement in everyday life is purely my image of Taro Sakamoto, rather than my intention. I feel that he simply exists and functions as the main pillar of the work by simply being present.”
Watanabe also explains that it was an interesting challenge to offer a slimmer version of Taro in the earlier flashback scenes of the show. “Sakamoto is agile even though he is fat, and powerful even though he is thin, so as a result the way the animation looks did not change much,” he explains. “I was conscious of the difference in the way the characters are presented rather than the animation. The fat Sakamoto has a big presence as a father figure, while the skinny Sakamoto is cool as a sharp assassin.”
An Opaque Character
In most scenes, Taro Sakamoto’s eyeglass lenses are opaque, and viewers rarely see his mouth, but that didn’t stop Watanabe and his team from delivering an expressive character. “The design of Sakamoto was drawn according to the expression of the original work,” he says. “This is my interpretation, but I believe that the design is differentiated in that the fat Sakamoto’s face is symbolically deformed, while the skinny Sakamoto’s face is realistic. I believe that the design differentiates between the two.”
In the show, Taro’s protégé, Shin Asakura, is clairvoyant. “The expression of Shin’s abilities, they can be portrayed in various ways, including acting, filter work and sound effects,” says Watanabe. “We have a team who is able to complete the orders from the director, so I didn’t feel that it was too difficult.”
Although there’s a lot of slapstick comedy in Sakamoto Days, the series can also be quite violent. However, the director says he managed to balance the violence with the comedy of Sakamoto’s fixation on eating (especially buns!). “I enjoyed working on it because it is a fascinating part of the original work,” he points out. “When in doubt, I have the standard of the original work, so I have never found it difficult to find a balance!”
Watch the trailer below:
Sakamoto Days premieres on Netflix on Jan. 11, with one new episode released each week. Season 1, Part 2 will debut in July 2025.
