Anime Review: Sakamoto Days, "Sakamoto vs. Lab" (Season 1, Episode 8)
Episode 8 of Sakamoto Days may have made me tear up. Just a little bit.
From the start, the anime episode delves into Shin’s past. The head of the lab, Asakura, was a father figure to Shin since he raised him after he was abandoned. After he discovered a solution that would allow a person to gain the power of telepathy, Shin walked into the lab and downed it, thinking it was something to drink.
Realizing what had happened, Asakura panicked and asked him if he felt any different. It was only when he started worrying internally than Shin said he could read his thoughts.
However, this ability came with dire consequences. He began to reveal the thoughts of everyone in the lab, and as a little kid, he thought it was fun. As a result, they all started to ignore him as they didn’t want their minds read. Seeing this treatment, Asakura kept trying to find a way to reverse Shin’s newfound clairvoyance, but this only angered Shin, resulting in him running away.
I thought the story was very heartfelt and they weaved it effortlessly into the story despite the constant action going on. It was a stark contrast from the fast-paced fights in the anime.
Back to the present, Lu was bawling her eyes out and said that he has to reunite with Shin. The head of the lab pours a solution on the cell bars that dissolves them instantly. Instead of telling her his story, why didn’t he get them out from the start? Even Lu said the same thing.
At the same time, Sakamoto and Shin are fighting the needle obsessed man, Mad Horiguchi, who now injected both of them with an electrode. This resulted in them striking each another as he controlled their movements. Taro found a way to counter this by using Shin’s telepathy to tell him which ways to dodge so he would be attacking the enemy and not Shin. With this method, the duo defeated him, but then got separated when the floor opened from under them.
When Sakamoto fell through the hole, he landed on top of deer mask, Kashima, who runs the assassin group. He found Osaragi and Shishiba already there, having killed two of the boss man’s lackeys. While the two left to fight their main target, Taro stayed to fight Kashima who is terrifying with all the stitches on his body which he pulls out when it’s time to fight. Not to mention, he’s basically immortal as each of his body parts is a weapon and even his spine is artificial.
After Taro and Shin got separated, Shin was ambushed by the invisible guy, Natsuki Seba, who dealt fatal blows that he was only able to avoid due to his clairvoyance. He nearly killed him but Heisuke Mashimo saved his life last minute with a sniper shot.
This is definitely one of the best episodes in the anime so far. It had everything a solid episode needs: emotions, fights and still comedic moments sprinkled throughout. It’s not easy for an anime to pull this off without being corny or choppy. It truly was a rollercoaster of feelings. One of the best parts was peeking into Shin’s past because I think a heart-breaking backstory adds a lot of depth to a character and showed that he just wanted to feel accepted.
Do you think that Shin will reunite with his father figure? Who will emerge victorious from these battles?
Time to wait a week to find out!