09/10/2025

LYFE THURSDAY | OCT 9, 2025

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Sakamoto Days goes off rails o Second cour swaps realism for absurdity, humour, wild assassin action

TV SHOW REVIEW

Ű BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR

humour and giddy fun. It helps that Sakamoto Days does not take itself very seriously. The series sticks to its guns by delivering creative fight sequences that mix over the top violence and funny gags equally through its colourful cast of characters. For instance, there are two episodes that take place entirely in an aeroplane. Halfway into the cour, as Sakamoto and Shin are on a flight to the location of the JCC entrance exam, JCC staff appear and tell the flight passengers that the exam is actually on the plane, with the scene cutting to outside the plane, where the word “kill” is seen as the plane’s livery. What ensues is an all-out battle between the passengers who are tasked with retrieving the bullets being held by the JCC staff in order to pass the first phase of the exam. This episode also introduces several new characters that add a different dynamic to the existing cast. It is refreshing how Yoto Suzuki’s manga that the anime is adapted from does not overcomplicate its world by giving names, concepts, etc to the feats being displayed by characters of Sakamoto Days . Unlike Jujutsu Kaizen or Demon Slayer , there is no need to understand or go on a deep Google dive into why characters like the Order’s Takamura, a frail, barely mobile old man, is able to slice entire buildings in half with his sword. As both cours form the first season and ends with Sakamoto’s infiltration of the JCC involving crossdressing, it will be interesting to see how much wilder Sakamoto Days will become with its second season, which as now, has not been confirmed.

A S restrained as the first cour of Sakamoto Days was in terms of how far it bent the laws of realism and physics, the recently concluded second cour completely drops its mask of semi-believability and embraces the chaos of imagination, absurdity and creativity. The new cour continues developing villain Slur’s efforts to destroy the Japan Assassins Association (JAA), picking up from the previous cour involving his hired serial killers that were sent to assassinate the members of the Order, the JAA’s elite group of assassins. Straying from that objective, the serial killer Saw instead goes after Sakamoto. While the group causes chaos around Tokyo as a diversion, Slur and his henchman Gaku launch a direct attack on a JAA branch. The cour leads into Sakamoto and Shin joining a dangerous student transfer exam by the Japan

The aeroplane episodes impressively ramp up the unhinged mix of action and humour.

Clear Creation (JCC), a prestigious assassin academy, before culminating in them infiltrating the

JCC’s campus in order to get information on Slur. Like theSun covered in its review

of the first cour, the strengths of the series are amplified in the second cour, which pushes the limit in

New characters join Sakamoto (centre) and Shin (in Sakamoto’s arm) by the end of the cour. – PICS FROM NETFLIX

Slur (left) and Gaku are on a mission to eradicate the JAA.

Gen Z protesters worldwide rally to One Piece pirate flag in Indonesia, where the

WITH a yellow straw hat and a wicked toothy grin, he bobs among crowds of protesting youngsters from Asia to Africa to Latin America and Europe – a smirking reproach to governments everywhere. Born in the cult manga series One Piece , the cartoon skull and crossbones has in recent weeks become the flag of anti-establishment demonstrations worldwide. An emblem of the hero Luffy – fighter of cruel powers, liberator of the oppressed – in the best-selling comic books dating to 1997, the stylised pirate flag is a rallying sign for Gen Z, the generation of 20-somethings who have come of age since. “I grew up with One Piece , like the vast majority of Gen Z, so it has become a symbol for us,” said Kai, a 26-year-old protester who joined recent youth demos in Madagascar. For Kai – who identified himself by a pseudonym – the series carries a clear message of struggle against “oppressive governments”. The Luffy flag was first sighted flying over the heads of young demonstrators during recent rallies

carry an ecological message. “Behind the pirate adventure accessible to everyone, Oda develops many political themes: a ruling caste that exploits the people, slavery, discrimination, racism,” said Derycke – who perceived echoes of scenes from One Piece in the recent youth rallies. As for the cartoon death’s head, he added, it is a suitably “depoliticised” symbol, adaptable to protests in a variety of settings. Online manga unifier It popped up during recent protests in France, a fresh face among the familiar banners of labour unions. A protester carrying the Luffy banner in the southern city of Lyon, 45-year-old teacher Julien Dubon, said he was sharing what “the youth of Asia... started”. “It will reach many more people than those (union) flags you see behind me. Those will speak to certain (older) generations and perhaps less to others,” he said. Anthropologist Elisabeth Soulie, author of a book about Generation Z, saw the Luffy flag as an

government threatened to ban it. It has since been seen at protests in countries, including Nepal, the Philippines, France and Peru. In Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island struck by protests this week against power and water failures, the flag was promoted by organisers via the Instagram account “Gen Z Madagascar”. Fighting ‘World Government’ In Japanese artist Eiichiro Oda’s cult series – some 100 books and counting – Monkey D. Luffy sails the seas striving to become the Pirate King. His is a “universal” epic quest, according to Phedra Derycke, author of the book One Piece: Lessons of Power . “It is a series that has lasted for more than 20 years, sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide and conveys ideals of dreams and freedom,” he said. Stopping on various islands – inspired by real countries, including Egypt, Spain and Japan – he fights to end the oppressive reign of the World Government. The books also

Luffy, the main protagonist of the adventure manga and anime series One Piece . – PIC FROM INSTAGRAM @ONEPIECE_ STAFF

was recently sighted in Peru. Through social networks, said manga specialist Derycke, Luffy’s pirate flag could “get even bigger around the world”. – AFP

“emotional” emblem and a “unifier” of young people who typically mobilise collectively online, without clear leadership. From its Asian origins, the flag