Sakamoto Days is an anime that has been adapted from the extremely popular manga series. The anime has not even been completely adapted when the news of a live-action adaptation has been confirmed for this very year.
An assassin’s tale of going into retirement to live peacefully as a family man may sound like the story of John Wick, but it is completely different. Taro Sakamoto is living a fulfilled life with his wife and daughter, managing his grocery store.
The idea might work in manga and anime, but the live-action may not be able to completely capture the idea or essence of the anime. Let us delve in and understand why a live-action adaptation might not be the best thing for Sakamoto Days.
The absurdity of Sakamoto Days is hard to replicate
Adapting Sakamoto Days into live-action might sound exciting at first, especially since a lower budget and a few choices led to a massive decrease in quality in Sakamoto Days’ anime. But when you break it down and think about it, it is clear why this would be a bad idea.
It needs to be understood that most anime that are adapted into live-action are usually massive failures. The only exceptions might be the ongoing Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece and Alice in Borderland. The importance of the series lies in the absurd and cartoonish movements of the characters.
Sakamoto Days Live-Action Movie Release Confirmed for 2025
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The two important elements of the series are the intense action sequences and the absurd humor that exists in the situations and banter. Even though the humor may be replicated and captured, it will take a massive amount of episodes, possibly as many as the anime has.
It is even more difficult to adapt to the action sequences, some things like Taro Sakamoto jiggling his fat body around in unnatural and non-human poses, to dodge attacks and bullets. Not to mention, the fat and slim Sakamotos should be, well, the same person. This is unfeasible, so they will either be played by different actors or will use a lot of CGI.
Why Sakamoto Days works as an anime, not a live-action
Despite being overweight and seemingly out of shape, he performs gravity-defying stunts, which would be difficult to replicate in a live-action medium. It is accepted in the anime because it is a norm to see unnatural movements.
This is where the concept starts to fall apart. Even the anime was accused of not being able to translate the action sequences properly from the manga, much less in a live-action, which will have to be much more realistic (or would need an exaggerated budget).
The John Wick franchise has already established itself as the gold standard for action-packed hitman stories, meaning a live-action Sakamoto Days would struggle to compare to it.
If the adaptation leans too hard into the action, it risks being something of a subpar quality that will be compared to John Wick; it needs to be unique and different and still be able to satisfy the fans of the franchise.
Sakamoto Days is available to watch on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
