Anime Review: Sakamoto Days (Season 1, Episode 7)
A scuffle between Shin and Lu takes a turn for the worst when Lu gets kidnapped.
I was shocked when I found out that Shin Asakura was raised in a lab and experimented on. It seems as if that’s where he got his mind-reading power from even though it hasn’t been stated yet.
While Taro Sakamoto and Aoi Sakamoto are at a school event for their daughter, Shin and Lu get into a fight. It escalates to the point where Lu Shaotang insults his telepathy, resulting in Shin leaving and Lu feeling bad for what she said.
When she heard someone enter the store, she thought it was Shin. To her surprise, it was men in spacesuits who were there to kidnap Shin. Since she had his name tag on, they mistook her for him and captured her.
Fast forward, Shin realized that Lu went missing and notified Sakamoto. They tracked her down but she was locked in a white van with the spacesuits surrounding her. Shin jumps onto the top of the truck but encounters trouble when one of the spacesuits attacks him with his invisibility power and even gets the best of Taro by exploding his motorcycle.
With no means of transportation, the duo is unable to continue following Lu. However, Shin thinks that she was taken to the lab he grew up in. They find their way to the lab and encounter the staff who fill Shin in about how an assassin group has taken over the lab.
One of the members of the assassin group walks in with needles in his shoulders while drinking blood. Yes, drinking blood. The mangaka definitely did a superb job making him creepy.
When he spots Shin, he introduces him to one of their latest experiments. Before he even realized it, the blood-sucking monster implanted an electrode that allowed him to control Shin’s speech and practically take over his brain functions. Even though it’s a scary moment, it’s funny when Shin starts talking backward and sounds like he’s speaking complete gibberish. Even when Sakamoto broke out of the locker and sent the blood-sucker flying, Shin’s words were still incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, Lu is locked up with the boss of the lab and she tries to break out of the cell by hitting a rock against it. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. A rock, seriously?The boss asks her if she wants to escape and the episode ends with a preview of Osaragi and Shishiba on their way to the lab.
The episode was nothing short of entertaining, filled with action, comedy and drama. Although it may not fit with the vibe of the anime, I think it would’ve been more impactful if Shin had a traumatic past at the lab instead of a more light-hearted one where he simply called the members “weird.” Nevertheless, I enjoyed another hectic day of Sakamoto Days.
What did you think about how the episode played out? Do you think Shin, Sakamoto and Lu are going to make it out safely?