Sakamoto Days - Season 2

 Sakamoto Days season 2 is the 11 episode continuation of the adaption of the shonen action manga of the same name by Suzuki Yuto.  The series originally aired during the Summer of 2025.

     There is no time to rest as Sakamoto and his chosen family are targeted by four releases serial killers bent on killing them.  The battle against the savage murders exposes a deeper threat to them and the body governing Japanese assassins, the JAA.  The mysterious Slur makes his first move while everyone is distracted by the rampaging killers and attacks a regions JAA office, murdering a large majority of its personnel..  The attack is stopped at the last moment when Sakamoto, Shin and Heisuke are backed up by the most mysterious member of The Order, Takamura.  In the battle Sakamoto realizes that Slur is an old classmate of his in assassin school, Uzuki, who was thought dead.

    The confrontation with Slur and his companions ends in a stalemate.  Sakamoto, unable to get cooperation from the JAA about Slur decides to do his own investigation.   He and Shin enroll as new students in the JCC, the assassin schooling system under the JAA.  He figures that is the best way to gain access to the records of Uzuki's time at the school and supposed death.  The initial screening tests for applicants goes sideways as Slur enacts an attack on the group as a way to recruit new members to his cause.The event leads to Sakamoto and Shin gaining a few more comrades in their cause and SHin's acceptance into the JCC as the top of his class.  Sakamoto on the other hand is rejected, failing to hide his identity but Nagumo arrives at the right time to offer a solution.  We will have to wait for season three for the start of the school arc.

    Its no secret I only watched this season for the podcast as my co-host David loves shonen and to force me to watch it along with him.  I didn't particularly enjoy season one and didn't plan to watch season two on my own.  The strongest thing Sakamoto has going for it is its pace of story telling.  Unlike its peers in the shonen action/battle genre it doesn't spend a lot of time on minor details.  The first half of the season exemplifies this as the serial killer threat is dealt with faster than they probably should have!  Then as it moves into the confrontation with Slur the combat takes center stage and I actually enjoyed this fight, much to my surprise.  Plot armor kicks in hard but it was still an entertaining melee.  Then we get into the back half of the season and my enjoyment erodes as we move into the dreaded testing arc... I hated it in Naruto, it ruined the second half of Frieren and it dragged on way to long in Sakamoto.  We could have needed the season in the school arc...but had to waste a lot of time with pointless exposition and characters.  This part really enhanced my dislike of Shin as a character as his personality is overrun with his flaw of self doubt that continues to be readdressed.

     I don't like Sakamoto Days, its not for me.  The joke of Sakamoto himself wore out early on in the first season.  Shin becomes a major focal point for this part of the story and hes not a good or interesting character.  Heisuke and Lu are far superior in their design and personalities.  Yet we saw very little of either of them in the course of the season, even before it shifted location.  I dread the return of the anime because I know it will be a part of the podcast again!!  But...that is what it is.  There is an audience for this story and its not me.  I do appreciate the pacing, most of the time, but it needs to be consistent.

The series is available on Netflix.