Sakamoto Days continues to be a super fun action manga that can be recommended to readers of all ages, I love this series!

The characters are good, the premise for the story is fun. It feels super familiar without feeling boring. It has an interesting type of humor, and while you'd think the story would be very violent when reading it doesn't feel that way. We keep being introduced to new characters as the series progresses, but so far they've all been interesting additions.

So far with three volumes this series seems to be striking that fine balance between silliness, dram, heartwarming, and over the top action. A new big bad seems to be introduced and this good push the series up to a new and higher level.

I read a sample of the first volume and decided to request this one, even though it was the third volume in the series.

WOW did it blow me away! Despite not having read the first two volumes, I was able to step into this one and follow what was going on in it with little difficulty or confusion.

This one was rather violent (about hit men and assassins, so definitely a more mature storyline happening here.), but once I got used to the violence and the nerves such violence against MCs I care about tends to cause in me, I was DOWN with how utterly COOL Sakamoto is. And his allies are amazing and really kind of sweet too.

This volume ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, but I liked this enough to want to continue the series and pick up the two volumes I missed.

5, I unexpectedly loved this one and will be reading the rest, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I honestly quite enjoy this manga. It keeps with vibes similar to One Punch Man consistently. It is funny, heartfelt, and continues to expand on this strange and intricate world. In this volume, we find out more about Shin and how he got his special ability to read people's minds. I found this to add another layer to this already amazing story. It gives the reader a better look into the lives of "team sakamoto" and their diverse backgrounds.

I really enjoyed this volume. I genuinely believe that it should be an anime if it hasn't been set to become one already. It has everything the manga / anime community wants in a story. If you haven't checked out this series yet, I highly recommend it.

Volume 3 of "Sakamoto Days" is another great installment to the series! I really enjoyed meeting a new "friend" to the Sakamoto family and learning more about Shin's past. I'm looking forward to volume 4!

Sakamoto Days Volume Three introduces a new character to the series, as well as provides backstory for Shin.

Sakamoto Days Volume Three
Written by: Yuto Suzuki
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: August 9, 2022

The billion-yen bounty placed on Sakamoto’s head begins to capture the interest of assassins. In this volume, we’re introduced to Heisuke Mashimo, a down on his luck sniper who was fired by an assassination organization. It turns out Heisuke’s not too bright of a guy, though, which works in Sakamoto’s favor at first, since the picture Heisuke has is of Sakamoto before he gained all that weight. Heisuke doesn’t pick up on the fact that the two men are the same.

Meanwhile, Sakamoto and Shin enter an airsoft tournament being sponsored by the shopping arcade, in the hopes of winning the prize money in order to provide some much needed renovations to Sakamoto’s shop. Heisuke also goes to enter the tournament but is told you can only enter if you’re part of a team of two to five people. Heisuke ends up joining Sakamoto’s team, and Heisuke shows off his sniper skills in the tournament. Unfortunately, thanks to Sakamoto’s wife and Lu revealing Sakamoto’s true identity, Heisuke grabs a real rifle and starts going after Sakamoto and Shin. In the end, Sakamoto and Shin come out on top.

I had assumed that Heisuke would be disappearing from the series after this failure, but it turns out that he becomes a regular character in the series. His role is to serve as comic relief, though, and the comedy is derived from his down on his luck circumstances. Heisuke has a running gag of going to Sakamoto’s shop and begging for the pork buns that they’re going to throw away. I’m concerned that if Heisuke continues to be this running gag character that his schtick is going to wear thin quickly. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing some character progression for him as the series continues.

The remaining seven chapters in the volume provide the backstory for Shin and how he gained his clairvoyant abilities. Unfortunately, this storyline doesn’t conclude in this volume, so you have to read Volume Four in order to potentially see how Shin’s storyline will come to an end.

The story starts with Shin and Lu minding the store because Sakamoto and his wife have gone to Parents’ Day at their daughter’s school. Lu is doing things to irritate Shin, such as wearing his apron when she’s doing dirty jobs. She also yells at him about his mind reading abilities and how she can’t relax around him. Shin leaves to take a walk and cool off his head, leaving Lu alone. Two strange men enter the store, see the nametag on her apron, and assume that she’s Shin. They kidnap her, and we learn that these men are from the lab where Shin had spent some time growing up, and that they’ve been given the job of kidnapping Shin. Even when they realize that they have the wrong person, they still insist on taking her to the lab and trying to come up with a cover story.

When Shin and Sakamoto’s family return to the shop, they find that Lu is nowhere to be found. It turns out that the nametags on their uniforms have GPS trackers, and they use the signal from Shin’s nametag to find Lu. Sakamoto and Shin attempt to rescue Lu, and it comes out to the kidnappers that they’ve found the real Shin. Sakamoto and Shin are defeated by some other men serving as security for the kidnappers, but Shin realizes that these men are from the lab. Shin takes Sakamoto to where it’s located (at a museum), and some of the story focuses on their attempt to get to the basement, where the lab is hidden.

When the kidnappers present Lu to the assassins who have taken over the lab, the leader realizes she’s not the right person and has her locked in a cell. She’s sharing a cell with Asakura, the head of the research lab. He’s also the one responsible for giving Shin his clairvoyant abilities. Asakura explains what happened to Lu, and the reader gets to experience this through flashbacks. I wasn’t terribly surprised that when Asakura first started taking care of Shin as a child, he didn’t like kids and tended to be antagonistic toward Shin. And I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at how Shin ultimately gained his clairvoyant ability. It had a similar vibe to how One Piece‘s Luffy gained his stretching abilities by doing something careless as a child. Considering that Sakamoto Days is a comedy, having Shin gain his ability in such a careless way makes sense.

By the end of the volume, you have Lu, Asakura and another prisoner working at breaking out of their cell and escaping. At the same time, Sakamoto and Shin make it into the lab and are fighting the boss that’s in charge of the level that they’re in. Sakamoto and Shin’s fight with this boss is exciting, yet amusing, at the same time.

My favorite part of Sakamoto Days Volume Three is getting backstory for Shin. I’ve really come to like Shin as a character, and I’d been wondering about his past. However, we only get a brief explanation of how Shin ended up with Asakura (an old friend of his left Shin with him and disappeared). We don’t know if this old friend was Shin’s parent or just some adult that was taking care of him. Maybe in the future, Shin can have a flashback that would fill in that gap for the reader.

Overall, I enjoyed how Volume Three progressed the story. My main concern, though, is with the character of Heisuke. I’m just afraid that he’s not going to add much to the series in the long run and that he’ll be stuck as a character with a running gag that eventually gets on my nerves. His gag was amusing for one volume, but I don’t think it’s a gag that’s going to work for the long term. I’m hoping to get the opportunity to read Volume Four in order to find out how Shin’s storyline is going to progress.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the first two volumes of the series, then I think you’ll appreciate Sakamoto Days Volume Three.

Mr. Sakamoto and his crew have a problem. The store needs renovations, major renovations after being visited by multiple assassins. So they decide to enter a local Airsoft tournament to win a million yen. But that blew up with a visit by a crazy sniper. After that incident, Lu gets kidnapped by a very strange group that think she is Shin since she has on his apron. A new villain has entered the fray! And mayhem ensues on highway and museums! Will Lu get rescued? will Shin and Mr. Sakamoto manage to win the fight they are in? Tune in for the next exciting issue to find out!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title

New faces and new shenanigans arise as Shin and Mr. Sakamoto attempt to break into a secret underground lab and rescue Lu. With every new volume the cast of misfit assassins grows. Whos next to join team Sakamoto? I am really enjoying this series. I look forward to an anime adaptation.
Thank you to Netgalley and VIZ Media for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was glad to see tis volume focus on one of our main characters, giving us some back story along with the usual fun, action plots! I hope the sniper gets adopted into the family fold next. It was also nice to see the large to thin Sakamoto joke didn't make an appearance this volume..

This series continues to be interesting and very fun to read, the plot continues on, introducing new info while retaining the light tone and humor that makes the story so great. The volume starts off with a story similar to what we've seen before, with the Sakamoto gang meeting and eventually befriending yet another assassin trying to come after Taro. The majority of the volume, however, is focused on a short arc that gives us some backstory on Shin and the shady organization that raised him and gave him his powers. Those that liked the first two volumes will love this one as well.