Sakamoto Days Scores Big With Netflix Debut

When Netflix announced that it would be housing the story of Taro Sakamoto, anime fans knew that the streaming service was continuing to be serious about its place in the anime streaming wars. Sakamoto Days has long been one of the biggest Shonen Jump manga that fans were hoping to see on the small screen and numbers don’t lie. With two episodes of the anime adaptation already in the tank for Sakamoto Days’ first season, Netflix has confirmed just how well the television series has been doing so far and the numbers might be enough to shock you. Clearly, the Sakamoto clan has a lot of groundswell.

Much like Dandadan, shonen fans have had to wait years to see Taro Sakamoto brought to the small screen, but the wait was worth it. Brought to life by studio TMS Entertainment, the source material was originally forged by mangaka Yuto Suzuki in 2020 and has continued releasing new chapters to this day. At present, the series has one hundred and ninety chapters under its belt, meaning that we are just a few weeks away from witnessing Sakamoto Days’ two hundredth chapter release. This fact means that if the shonen series continues to ride high on its popularity, anime fans could see several more seasons and/or movies in the franchise’s future.

[RELATED: Sakamoto Days’ Anime Is Already Better Than the Manga]

Sakamoto Days: One of Netflix’s Biggest Anime Premiere

Since debuting on Netflix, Sakamoto Days has garnered 8.6 million views, making it the number two non-English television show. The anime focusing on Taro Sakamoto and his family would have hit number one if not for the juggernaut that is Squid Games Season 2. The number of hours that subscribers have watched Sakamoto Days, according to Netflix, is over 7.7 million in total which is thanks to the anime episodes having a runtime of around thirty minutes.

In terms of what’s been seen so far in Sakamoto Days, the series has seen former assassin turned convenience store owner Taro attempting to live a normal life. Through no fault of his own, he is once again dragged back into the life thanks to the arrival of the psychic hitman Shin Asakura. Unfortunately for Taro, while he is still a powerhouse, he can no longer take a life as the promise to the love of his life forbids him from doing so. Luckily, the main character and Shin as his new “sidekick” still have the goods to wade major challenges hurled their way, for now anyway.

Sakamoto Days Live Action?

Netflix has seen some big success lately with live-action adaptations of One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender. While the platform hasn’t confirmed whether they’ll do the same with Sakamoto Days, the premise lends itself to becoming a “real world” story as well. Since Japan will often create live-action projects of its own, with recent cases including Cells At Work and Tokyo Revengers, it will be interesting to see which market pulls the trigger first on a live-action Taro.

Want to stay in the loop on all things Sakamoto Days? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Taro Sakamoto and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

Via Netflix