Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Viz’s various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.
This week, Vince checks in with “Sakamoto Days.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Sakamoto Days – Chapter 57: Have A Nice Flight
Written & Illustrated by Yuto Suzuki
Review by Vince J Ostrowski
I remain impressed with that way that “Sakamoto Days” goes about its business. The pacing of the series is deliberate and its tone is pleasant and unassuming, that is until it needs to raise the stakes. It’s a personality that main character, Taro Sakamoto, lends to the storytelling almost through osmosis. Chapter 57 opens with Sakamoto and his ward on an airplane, traveling to an entrance exam for the JCC, a professional assassin organization with lofty and dangerous testing standards. As is his nature, Sakamoto calmly keeps to himself, downing noodles and soup while the rest of the plane hums with nervous energy. Even as a 4-time failure to the JCC program harasses Sakamoto and Shin, his cool demeanor serves to endear the reader to him. It seems counterintuitive, but by not doing much with Sakamoto as a character to grow him, change him, or make him react to things too hastily, he is as likable a protagonist as there is in shonen manga today. While other characters on the flight reveal themselves to be jerks or nervous wrecks, Sakamoto is a cooling presence at the center. He comes across as kind of an example of how we should all hope to carry ourselves in old age – perhaps without the snap ability to assassinate someone in the blink of an eye.
As the flight goes on, it is revealed that the test begins before anyone even gets off the plane. The test administrators are stationed on the flight itself, carrying with them trinkets that are the key to passing the exam. What follows is a top tier visual gag in a series that has been full of them. A cache of weapons drops from the ceiling of the plane, where the oxygen masks are normally stashed. Some are highly effective items, like assault rifles and swords. Other items drop from the compartments, like spatulas and pens, that are considerably less helpful. “Sakamoto Days” has been full of these little unexpected twists and turns, but when a pen falls in front of Sakamoto himself, readers can kind of expect what happens next. This is a comedy series that invites the reader to know its characters well enough that you can guess what they’ll do. Instead of trying to blow the reader away with shock and awe, the series delivers on our expectations. This is a delicate trick for a series to do without being boring or overly predictable, but “Sakamoto Days” pulls it off.
And just like Taro Sakamoto kicking into assassin mode in the blink of an eye, the artistic prowess of Yuto Suzuki shows up when the series needs it most. The opening sequences on the flight aren’t much to speak of, as Suzuki delivers competent, workmanlike establishment of the flight setting. Once the weapons drop, the heightened suggestion of movement and wider, more spacious panels create a canvas for violent action movie mayhem. Characters dash for the optimal weapons, struggle to strategize, and dodge a relentless spray of bullets in a confined space. Frankly, it’s chaos, but Suzuki sorts through it all nicely, never being overly sloppy or unclear about what is happening. The sense of close quarters combat mayhem is expertly done, brutal, and surprisingly grounded in reality. It turns into such a fun, fast-paced read that it all seems to be over too quickly, but there really isn’t a wasted moment to be found.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Sakamoto Days” is among the best Shonen Jump has to offer right now. A confidently-paced, likable series that doesn’t waste a moment of your time.
