Sakamoto Days is one of the most hotly anticipated anime of the winter 2025 anime season, and after months of waiting, its premiere is finally on the horizon. Between the great staff at TMS Entertainment behind the production and the phenomenal cast in both English and Japanese, there’s a lot to be excited about, and Sakamoto Days is sure to become as big a hit as people could hope for.
What Time Sakamoto Days Episode #1 Releases
Sakamoto Days’ Release Schedule Explained
Sakamoto Days is set to stream exclusively on Netflix, which can be accessed through the app or directly through the website. Sakamoto Days episode #1 will premiere on Saturday, January 11 at 6:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST), 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST), and 2:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and it will be available for streaming in both English and Japanese as soon as the series premieres.
Sakamoto Days’ Story Explained
Sakamoto Days stars Taro Sakamoto, a man who was once the world’s greatest assassin until he fell in love with a convenience store clerk named Aoi and decided to retire. Five years later, Sakamoto is raising a daughter, running a convenience store with his wife, and he’s put on a ton of weight, but nevertheless, Sakamoto, despite his weight gain and years of inactivity, is just as dangerous an assassin as he was before he retired.
Sakamoto would rather spend his days idly with his family at the convenience store, but after reconnecting with Shin, an old associate from his days as an assassin, Sakamoto ends up embroiled in one assassin-related conflict after another, with Sakamoto even getting a mysterious bounty placed on his head. To protect his family, Sakamoto has to jump back into his old life while maintaining his promise to his wife not to kill, and more importantly, Sakamoto will have to confront the people from his past who helped push him into retirement, in the first place.
Sakamoto Days’ Production Might Hurt Its Chances At Success
While what little animation that’s been shown off in trailers hasn’t been bad by any means, but Sakamoto Days is a manga known for its intense, kinetic action, and because of that, Sakamoto Days’ anime is already being criticized for taking a very basic approach to the series and not adding a lot of fluidity to the action. The fact that there’s very little action to speak of in the theme song only emphasizes that point, and as exaggerated as some of the criticisms may be, it’s hard not to see where they’re coming from.
Making things worse for the anime is how TMS Entertainment is censoring criticism of Sakamoto Days. Even in Japan, people have been critical of Sakamoto Days’ quality, but rather than be allowed to express those opinions freely, TMS Entertainment is censoring criticisms of Sakamoto Days by deleting most of the negative comments on their YouTube channel; that’s a common practice for companies on social media, but it almost always gives the impression that the criticisms are warranted, so it only casts more doubt on how good Sakamoto Days will be.
As for why the animation looks relatively subpar, that’s also easy to understand. 2025 is set to be an incredibly busy year for TMS Entertainment as in addition to Sakamoto Days, they’ll be working on Dr. Stone season 4, the new Detective Conan movie, and the second half of Blue Box, so Sakamoto Days’ animation quality might be because TMS Entertainment is too preoccupied with other projects to put their all into it. It’s understandable if that’s the case, but it’s disappointing for anyone who wanted Sakamoto Days to be a top priority, regardless.
Sakamoto Days’ Final Trailer Is The First Look We Needed
Sakamoto Days is already proving to be rather divisive, but its final trailer has done a lot to assuage the biggest issues. Sakamoto Days’ final trailer for the series was produced specifically for the English audience, and not only did it show off the phenomenal, all-star cast comprised of big names like Matt Mercer, Dallal Liu, Rosalie Chiang, and Xolo Maridueña, but Sakamoto Days’ final trailer did a much better job of highlighting the action than previous trailers did, with there being far more scenes of dynamic and well-animated action than its predecessors.
The final trailer doesn’t completely erase the criticisms being levied at the series, but it has a far better selection of scenes to highlight for both action and comedy, and because of that, Sakamoto Days’ final trailer suggests that the anime, while not perfect, will be far better than people are giving it credit for. Overall, there’s still plenty to be excited about for Sakamoto Days’ anime, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be seen as one of the best anime of winter 2025 to watch.
Be sure to watch Sakamoto Days episode #1 when it releases on Saturday, January 11.
Source: Netflix’s official YouTube channel.
Sakamoto Days centers on Taro Sakamoto, a former top-tier hitman who has traded his life of crime for a peaceful existence running a convenience store. Despite his attempts to leave the underworld behind, Sakamoto’s past catches up with him as old rivals and dangerous enemies reappear, threatening his newfound tranquility. Forced to defend his family and business, Sakamoto must draw on his lethal skills while navigating the humorous and unexpected challenges of balancing his ordinary daily life with the chaos of his former profession.
- Release Date
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January 11, 2025
- Cast
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Matthew Mercer
, Dallas Liu
, Rosalie Chiang
, Rosie Okumura
, Xolo Mariduena
, Aleks Le
, Alexa Bliss
, SungWon Cho
, Dushaunt Fik-Shun Stegall
, Toru Uchikado - Character(s)
-
Taro Sakamoto
, Shin Asakura
, Lu Shaotang
, Aoi Sakamoto
, Heisuke Mashimo
, Obiguro
, Boiled
, Son Hee
, Bacho - Creator(s)
-
Yuto Suzuki
- Seasons
-
1
- Studio
-
TMS Entertainment
- Creator
-
Yuto Suzuki
- Based On
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Manga
