Basic anime audiences usually flip to shonen titles to get a style of recent storytelling traits that perform as an interesting microcosm of society. Whereas anime and manga that concentrate on contract killers is nothing new for shonen, there’s been a push towards extra subversive murderer tales that characteristic unconventional killers who’re caught in some “fish out of water” state of affairs. This was an anomaly again when Katekyō Hitman Reborn! and Assassination Classroom got here alongside within the 2010s, each of which used supernatural and sci-fi situations to rejuvenate the contract killer hero trope. Now the pages of Weekly Shonen Leap are crammed with sequence that lean into such an ethos: Kill Blue, Mission: Yozakura Household, Shinobi Undercover, and SAKAMOTO DAYS.
Shonen’s current fascination with altruistic and empowered assassins speaks to a world the place audiences wish to consider that they’ve the ability to rage in opposition to the machine and dismantle the established order by means of atypical benefits. That is completely different from shonen sequence, the place there are superheroes with supernatural powers. In any case, this can be a wish-fulfillment fantasy that is still rooted in actuality, even when SAKAMOTO DAYS indulges in absurdism.
This emphasis on management can be a pure response to the “Darkish Trio” of grim, oppressive dystopian shonen titles—Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku—the place victory feels unimaginable. These previous titles push loss of life and ache to uncomfortable extremes that get misplaced within the trauma and grief of all of it. SAKAMOTO DAYS and the brand new wave of shonen content material create a much-needed launch valve that pushes again from the oppressive distress that used to dominate the demographic.
SAKAMOTO DAYS and its murderer shonen friends characteristic copious physique counts, however this new crop of tales by no means sensationalizes their murders. Taro Sakamoto even staunchly respects a “no kill” code as a loving gesture to his spouse. Thus far, these shonen sequence are extra excited about celebrating the tender bonds and candy feelings that come from household, whether or not organic or cast collectively. SAKAMOTO DAYS, Spy x Household, Shinobi Undercover, and extra all emphasize the ability of household and the way a loving group is extra invaluable than any weapon. This optimistic disposition helps these sequence keep cheerful somewhat than diverging into extra grownup seinen tendencies that get misplaced at nighttime. This empathy is essential to the equation and why SAKAMOTO DAYS works in addition to it does. It demystifies hitmen into peculiar protectors, which helps the anime additional set up its voice and push the subgenre to sudden locations.
SAKAMOTO DAYS is main the pack with regards to the thrilling technology of murderer shonen sequence. This subgenre’s dominance in shonen anime and manga has been helpful to SAKAMOTO DAYS’ success, however these tales don’t exist in a vacuum. They’ve additionally develop into the norm in American blockbusters. This helps SAKAMOTO DAYS join on a fair stronger degree since fiction from around the globe echoes its style, characters, and magnificence of storytelling.
SAKAMOTO DAYS feeds into this power and helps the subgenre evolve. It’s an encouraging suggestions loop that displays a common development towards tentpole murderer tales. Netflix’s The Killer and Hit Man had been each two of 2023 & ’24’s high titles, respectively, and it’s not arduous to image any of Group Sakamoto taking up these heightened hitmen archetypes. SAKAMOTO DAYS continues to succeed—extra so than a few of its anime friends—as a result of it capitalizes on this development. It tells the tales that audiences from the world over wish to see, however contextualizes them into a unusual action-comedy anime.