The following contains spoilers for Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10, “Bathhouse Roughhouse,” streaming now on Netflix.
Many Sakamoto Days fans are still reeling from last week’s earth-shattering fight scenes, so much so that the anime decided to take a step back and relax. Although a company retreat might be too much to ask of the Sakamoto Store manager, the family still gets to take a break, at least, as much as their meager budget would allow. Once again, the slice-of-life vibes are back as if they were never gone. When the Sakamoto team isn’t fighting, they are kicking back and enjoying the sluggish pace of life, leaving the audience to navigate a constant flux in plot from blood-drenched scenes to weird wholesomeness.
With Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10, the action takes a backseat to humor in the story. Even though Sakamoto once again becomes the target of another assassin (just one hapless one as opposed to a full crew, this time), the violence pans out most comically. New characters crash and splash into the episode most literally, and their motivations are entirely responsible for leading the story to some unexpected whimsical silliness. Although this installment of Sakamoto Days gives the impression of a relaxed episode, it delivers one of the most chaotic encounters yet.
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 Shows Even Slice-Of-Life Can Be Chaotic
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 is a Two-Parter With Highs & Lows
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 is a two-parter, which strays away from the show’s formulaic approach of focusing on one character or scenario to the point of overloading the audience with back-to-back hijinks. Fans have already experienced what an episodic narrative feels like when Sakamoto Days Episode 9 concluded the Lab Arc in a one-sided punch-fest. With Sakamoto Days Episode 10, it finally seems like time to relax and recuperate as the Shaotang, Shin, and the Sakamoto family visit a public bath. However, if someone thinks the episode will be a languid affair, they are poorly mistaken. The situation devolves into a bath from hell once the bathhouse manager clocks Sakamoto as the famed assassin with a bounty on his head. This begins the man’s mission to turn his luck around, while Sakamoto remains oblivious to the danger at hand.
Within minutes, the episode plunges into chaos as the failed-hitman-turned-bathhouse-manager Yutaro pulls every knob and lever he has fitted in place for contingencies such as these. From saunas literally on fire to jet baths launching Shin in the air, the bathhouse becomes akin to a killer amusement park in the hands of its manager. The audience can only spectate as Sakamoto and Shin bear the brunt of one death trap after another. While Shin gets the short end of the stick, the humor stems not from the precariousness of the situation but from the reactions of the leads.
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The most surprising thing about this Sakamoto Days episode is its wholesome ending. Although a happy ending contradicts the concept of an assassin trying to kill Sakamoto and the death traps used to do it, there is something naive and innocent about it all. Sakamoto Days shows that its madcap plot can still captivate audiences without a cyborg antagonist or a supervillain organization. However, the same cannot be said for the second story, not by a long shot.
Sakamoto Days finally reveals a bit more about Lu’s past life, even if it’s a stalker with a crush on Lu who wants her to take back the helm of the Lu crime family. A man named Wutang crashes Sakamoto, Shaotang, and Shin’s lunch at a family restaurant and gets a taste of the famous assassin’s power. Given how intensely the story begins, one may think there would only be more of the same from here on out. Sadly, the pace meanders along with exposition weighing down the narrative. Although it is weirdly funny to learn more about Lu’s past from the mouth of a stalker, Sakamoto Days Episode 10 feels like nothing more than a prologue setting up a new anime arc filled with the glamor of casinos.
The New Cast of Sakamoto Days Characters Go on a Wild Ride
The New Sakamoto Days Characters Wreak Havoc
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 proves that a story needs to flesh out its characters for the audience to feel any sort of emotional connection to them. In the very short runtime it gets, the first half of the episode tells the story of an average Joe through some oddball humor. Yutaro is a loser, for lack of a better term. He wanted to be an assassin, and when that didn’t pan out, Yutaro came out to help with the family business. Despite giving up his dream, Yutaro can’t seem to get it off his mind. Yutaro is not a ruthless soul and is poorly cut out to be an assassin. Sakamoto Days Episode 10 features a soul-searching moment for Yutaro, and all it took was for the episode to bring out its deus ex machina — the man named Sakamoto Taro. In all this hullabaloo, the episode still relies on Shin as the point-of-view character. This to-and-fro between Shin experiencing the horrors of a public bath and Yutaro reminiscing about his past keeps the episode intriguing.
If the audience, like Shin, has never experienced a Japanese public bath before, then they must not take his unreliable narration to heart. For a former assassin whose cautiousness makes him analyze every angle in a situation, Shin is also very innocent — sometimes even more so than a child. Shin thinks Saunas should be hot enough to peel off one’s skin or cold enough to freeze one’s bones, not realizing this is way off from the normal, safe standards. His warped sense of normalcy may come from seeing Sakamoto unfazed and enjoying the extreme baths. This dichotomy between the real-life and the cartoonish standards of anime gives Sakamoto Days Episode 10 its fun factor. Unfortunately, the latter half of the anime fails to evoke the same level of emotion from its characters to keep the fun going.
“That’s what jet baths are like? How dangerous.” – Shin Asakura
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The second part of the story sees the arrival of Wutang, and with him comes montages from Shaotang’s childhood. They mostly play from Wutang’s perspective, showing a different side of him, which is wildly different from his outer appearance. Wutang may look calm and composed, but he acts like a total pervert toward Shaotang. Wutang is almost obsessive and comically bleeds from the nose when talking about his childhood crush. After watching a man accept his fate after being flung through the air, Wutang’s reactions hardly create the same effect. Still, he remains instrumental in bringing new backstories and storylines to the forefront.
Sakamoto Days’ Detailed Animation Continues to Impress Fans
The Devil Is in the Details of this Sakamoto Days Episode
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 does not need action to showcase its animation. Its wild encounters are frenetic enough to turn each frame into a circus. Sakamoto Days Episode 10 can be best described as poetry in motion, where the protagonist and the deuteragonist share their space with NPCs. The result is a striking contrast between dynamic character art and a static background. Shin goes through a range of emotions, but the people around him hardly notice him, making the animated furor a localized event even within the frame.
However, Sakamoto Days Episode 10 does not stop there. It adds little details, like curious kids in the background whose simple expressions make Shin’s punishment even more diabolical. Once again, the background art remains the best thing about Sakamoto Days. From the well-laid table in a family restaurant to the floor tiles of the bathhouse, the episode renders the background as close to reality as possible. Even the brief scene of Sakamoto and his employees walking through an alley full of hanging wires and garbage dumps gives a grimy look to the sleek world of Sakamoto Days.
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Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 is strictly a filler episode. The anime may prove that it can adapt the manga page-by-page and leave the bloodbaths for another day, but its lack of plot progress right at the tail end of Season 1 makes things contentious. Fans may not realize Sakamoto Days Episode 10 is the penultimate episode of the season, given how uncommon it is for the anime to end things on a high note. There are still many questions that need answers, but for now, the audience can enjoy the vibrant side of Sakamoto Days through this episode steeped in vibrant slice-of-life vibes.
Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 10 is streaming now on Netflix.
- Heavy on comedy
- New characters introduced
- Great animation
- Little plot development
- Slow pace
