Sakamoto Days (Season 1) – Follow the action-packed story of legendary ex-hitman Taro Sakamoto, as he bands with comrades to face off against the looming threat of assassins to ensure a peaceful life with his beloved family. Get ready for non-stop assassin action as chaos ensues in the ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) life of Sakamoto and his comrades!
Sakamoto Days Episode 2 is now available on Netflix (it was released in Japan a week ago), introducing Lu Shaotang, and cutting a character who appears in Chapter 3.
For those concerned about the animation quality, the episode keeps the same level of animation from the first episode, with a few scenes focusing more on impact over action.
In Episode 2, we meet Lu Shaotang, who’s part of the Lu clan, a Triad family. Her parents (who died before her debut in the manga) gave her the key to her family’s hidden vault, and now a rival faction is after Shaotong.
She accidentally meets Shin and Sakamoto in Niikita Chinatown, and they decide to help her. The rival faction send Son Hee and Bacho, cruel twin murderers. The trio defeat them, and Lu is now a new employee at Sakamoto’s convenience store.
However, this episode mixes events from Chapter 2, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, completely skipping the events in Chapter 3 – and thus cutting the introduction of Officer Nakase.
Who are Lu Shaotang and Officer Nakase?
Lu will be a major supporting character in this season, but she isn’t likely to stay for long. Despite being a recurring character at first, she later stops appearing in the story.
Indeed, when Suzuki tried to put her in a leading role, fans didn’t like it. The manga sales dropped significantly, so she was put in the background. For this reason, some fans jokingly ask “Who is this girl?” when referring to her in the promotional images and trailers, as she becomes irrelevant to the story.
Nakase, who was cut from the episode, is a police officer who wants to help people in Chapter 3. She first appears when she scolds Sakamoto and Shin for parking the car in an inappropriate place, and she later gets suspicious of them.
After that, when Nakase tries to stop some guys from harassing a woman, she finds out they’re part of a gang and in possession of drugs. This puts her in immediate danger, but luckily, Sakamoto and Shin are able to save her.
It actually makes sense to cut this chapter from the adaptation, as Officer Nakase hasn’t reappeared in the story. Some thought she would be a recurring character in the series, but that hasn’t happened – yet.
The story could still eventually adapt this chapter in later episodes, making the proper changes to it (or maybe it could be included in a standalone OVA).
What’s next for the story?
Season 1 of Sakamoto Days follow the action-packed story of legendary ex-hitman Taro Sakamoto, as he bands with comrades to face off against the looming threat of assassins to ensure a peaceful life with his beloved family. Get ready for non-stop assassin action as chaos ensues in the ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) life of Sakamoto and his comrades!
At the end of Episode 2, after the credits, there’s a scene that reveals the mafia is offering a 1 billion yen bounty on Sakamoto’s head. So, we should expect to see many assassins hunting him down.
The next episode will likely introduce Nagumo, another major character and an old friend of Sakamoto, who will inform him about the bounty.
Meanwhile, you can check more on other Winter 2025 anime, like Solo Leveling, Dr. Stone and The Apothecary Diaires.