The ‘daily life of a retired hitman: the anime’, also known as Sakamoto Days, continues with the airing of episode 12 this week. While Season 1, Part 1 was very well animated, it felt lacking in certain areas, particularly in parts where the action is a bit toned down, at least compared to the manga.
Sakamoto Day Season 1 Part 2 marks the actual start of the Death Row Prisoners Arc. When we last left Sakamoto and company in Part 1, they had just received their first lead on Slur. The team learned that he had recruited a group of death row inmates to hunt down Sakamoto and members of the Order. Episode 12 picks up almost immediately after the inmates were introduced on screen at the end of episode 11.
The episode starts with a showcase of the inmates’ powers. We see Dump and Apart using their powers for the first time on some unfortunate victims. We also see a bit of their twisted personalities. We also see Minimalist, whose powers were already teased at the tail end of part 1, shaping meatballs in a back alley. We don’t need to guess what these meatballs are made out of.
Saw is introduced last with some… company in bed. What stood out in that scene was the death row inmates’ crew communicating through group chat. That was somewhat out of place and terrifying at the same time. I don’t want to backread their chat history.
I think this was a good introduction for the new villains of the arc. We don’t see Saw doing much of anything yet, but that’ll change later on in the episode.
For the first time, we finally see the Order out in full force in this next scene. Shishiba, Osaragi, Hyo, Nagumo, and Takamura are in a camper on the way to their next mission. It wasn’t the most action-packed introduction to the group. It almost gave off the vibe of co-workers going on a work trip kind of energy. Complete with the elderly co-worker dozing off in the back. Now, Takamura was someone we didn’t get to see in part 1. But we see a glimpse of his power level on display against a fly, of all things. I don’t have much else to say, but much respect to the old man.
Also, I didn’t know campers have a convertible feature. That must be a perk of working for the JAA.
We then catch up with team Sakamoto for the first time this cour, paying a hefty fee for information on the inmates. In other words, going to the local Blockbuster and watching “artistic renditions” of the inmates’ past works. This is what passes as recon in the assassin world nowadays.
Nagumo later shows up and lets the team know that the Order is actively looking for the Death Row Inmates. He also shows Sakamoto the information that was shared about him and the kind of threat he poses. To his surprise, Sakamoto is only a rank B, while Nagumo is considered a rank S threat. Sakamoto was doubly dumbfounded.
And that’s as much Sakamoto we’ll get for the rest of the episode. What struck me the most was the fact that Sakamoto wants to find the inmates before the Order does. That is because he wants to… save them. The Sakamoto “Family Rule” is all-encompassing, even towards the worst of the worst of the criminal underground.
In case you’re wondering where Shin and Lu are during all of this, they are shopping at the local store. Lu easily gets distracted by some pets in the pet section. That’s just expected at this point. What I wasn’t expecting was for Shin to fold like a lawn chair and give himself up to the cute ways of a shiba inu. I didn’t see that one coming, considering Shin being the serious sidekick he presents himself as. The joyous moment didn’t last long, however, as the animals instinctively act defensively, sensing something dangerous nearby.
Turns out, Saw is out on a walk, and he happened to be in the area, hoping to fire the opening salvo against Sakamoto. Let’s just say that things didn’t go according to plan, and he might have unknowingly helped the team in a huge way.
One can say that the fight scene between Shin and Saw is a step up from the fight scenes in part 1. I’m not saying that the fight scenes were bad. In fact, they were very well animated. It was just that the fights didn’t have the level of explosiveness I wished they could have had. That was always my biggest critique of part 1. I’m glad that the action scene ramped up as quickly as it did.
Also, Shin learning his powers in a life-or-death scenario was very Shonen-like. Even his newly acquired powers reminded me of a certain jobless incarnate. His owning of Saw after previously getting called out as a weakling was poetic justice in motion. Lu probably would have contributed more in this fight if she had a bottle of booze in her hand. Then again, Shin might not have unlocked his potential if she did.
All in all, a nice start to the 2nd cour of the season. I’m still wary that it’ll start losing its edge after a few episodes, but I’m willing to give it the old good 3-episode try. There’s a lot of potential here, considering the stakes have never been higher. Hopefully, the studio took the criticisms to heart and has settled in for the rest of the season. We’ll find out in a few months from now after the season ends.
