Sakamoto Days Looks Like 2025’s First Shonen Hit

There’ve been plenty of shonen anime that’ve hit it off with audiences over the past few years, like Spy x Family, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Dan Da Dan. 2025 plans to get right into the swing of things with Sakamoto Days, which got a fresh new trailer earlier this week.

Based on Yuto Suzuki’s ongoing manga and developed by Studio TMS (Blue Box), the series centers on Taru Sakamoto, a renowned hitman who gave up his ways after meeting Aoi, the love of his life. Flash forward several years, and Taru’s put on some pounds and is now running a convenience store with Aoi and their daughter Hana. But you don’t leave the hitman life so easily, and old enemies decide to come gunning for him, assuming that he’ll be easy pickings. He won’t be, both because he’s still got his old hitman skills, but he’s also got help in his employee Shin, himself an ex-contract killer who also happens to have powers of clairvoyance. Y’know, normal hitman skills.

Do you like the goofy antics in an average episode of Spy x Family? It feels like Sakamoto Days is hoping to be as silly and fun as that, since we see Sakamoto balance being both an incredible ass-kicker and also a good family man. It’s got some of its own unique energy, though: he may not be in his prime anymore, but in extreme situations, his body reverts to his original skinny self, and with twice the power behind his hits. And the enemies coming his way are a colorful bunch, from a guy with rocket-powered gloves to a nudist archer and the daughter of a Chinese mob boss.

If all this sounds like your jam, then you’ll be pleased to hear Sakamoto Days hits Crunchyroll and Netflix on January 11, 2025, with a second arc hitting in July.

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