When the first season of Sakamoto Days came out, I knew nothing about the anime or manga. But I gave the anime a shot, and I ended up really enjoying it. I didn’t think too highly of the second season, but the show quickly became one of my favorite action anime. I didn’t want to read past where the anime was, so I avoided the manga, but earlier this month I found out about Sakamoto Holidays.
I gave it a shot and I liked it too. But I do have to address the elephant in the room. This isn’t really a spin-off so much as it’s an alternate timeline. The characters and action are the same, but so much of the story is just different. There’s nothing wrong with the volume itself, but I couldn’t understand why these seemingly random events couldn’t have taken place in the canon story.
Sakamoto’s storyline is basically the same. But the backstories of all his acquaintances have changed. In the first chapter, Shin’s history has been changed. Instead of being a fellow hitman and former co-worker of Sakamoto, he’s a first-year high school student. He used his clairvoyance to find out that Sakamoto is a hitman, and he just thought that was cool.
Then the events surrounding how the gang met Heisuke is changed. There’s lots of smaller changes like this throughout the volume as well. It’s definitely an interesting volume, but it’s really just a retelling and reboot of Sakamoto Days from scratch. I didn’t care much for that, but most people will be able to get past that and enjoy the volume for what it is. But what exactly is it?
The neighborhood that Sakamoto’s store is located in has seen an increase in crime. Sakamoto and Shin realize that more crime would affect his family while also limiting his time off. So the two take it upon themselves to clean up the neighborhood. The gang takes on a variety of side-quests to make the area peaceful again.
Personally I prefer the canon manga and anime. All the characters that I know and love grew into what I love because of what they’ve been through when they first meet Sakamoto. The characters here don’t have that same level of depth and charm because they’re rebooted versions that haven’t been through the same as their original counterparts. But the humor and charm of the original is still present, and fans will enjoy the action.
Check out the series at Viz Media.
7/10