Sakamoto Days Review: The World's Greatest Hitman Retired to Run a Convenience Store and Now the World Won't Let Him

Quick Take

• One of the most enjoyable action manga currently publishing — the premise (retired hitman who wants to live quietly but can't) generates consistent comedy while the action is genuinely creative and surprising
• Sakamoto's fighting style — improvised, using convenience store items, in a body that is visibly no longer peak condition — is one of manga's most inventive action conceits
• 15 volumes ongoing; rapidly establishing itself as a Weekly Shonen Jump classic

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want action manga with sustained comedy that doesn't undercut the action
• Anyone drawn to the "legendary figure pretending to be ordinary" premise
• Fans of creative fight choreography who want something different from standard shonen
• Readers who appreciate ensemble casts where every character has a distinct combat style

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Action violence throughout; the hitman premise means assassins are the primary character type; comedy treatment prevents graphic content

A genuine T rating — the violence is real in consequence but comedic in presentation.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★☆
Art Style	★★★★★
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★★★

Story Overview

Taro Sakamoto was feared by everyone in the assassin world — no target escaped him, no organization could touch him. Then he met Aoi. He married her. He opened a convenience store. He became happy.

Years later, he is visibly out of peak physical condition, runs a store with his wife and daughter, and has an employee named Shin (a reformed assassin) who handles things Sakamoto would prefer not to handle. His peaceful life is repeatedly interrupted by assassins, former colleagues, and organization conflicts that cannot imagine he has genuinely left.

Sakamoto cannot kill anyone — he promised Aoi. So he defeats every threat non-lethally, using whatever is available, in whatever condition he happens to be in. The series follows this increasingly expanding problem.

Characters

Taro Sakamoto — A protagonist who communicates almost entirely through expression rather than dialogue — he is not a man of words, and the visual humor of his reactions to various threats is the series' most consistent comedy engine. His love for his family is the series' emotional core.

Shin Asakura — Sakamoto's employee and increasingly his partner — a former assassin with telepathy who is trying to go straight, navigating the assassin world while Sakamoto's retirement keeps pulling them both back in.

Aoi Sakamoto — The reason for everything. Her trust in her husband's retirement and her obliviousness to the ongoing chaos is handled with warm comedy.

Art Style

Suzuki's art is exceptional — the fight choreography is inventive and visually clear, the comedy timing is precise, and Sakamoto's action sequences (using cleaning supplies, food items, store infrastructure) are among manga's most creative action illustration. The contrast between his domestic appearance and his combat capability is a visual joke the art never stops being funny.

Cultural Context

The convenience store setting is distinctly Japanese — the specific culture of Japanese convenience stores (konbini), their role in daily life, and the specific products they stock are all part of the comedy. Sakamoto using konbini products in fights is funnier if you know what those products are.

What I Love About It

Sakamoto never wants to be here. Every fight, he would rather be stocking shelves. His visible reluctance and the contrast between what he has to do and what he wants to be doing is the series' emotional engine, and it never stops working because his desire for his quiet life is genuinely moving.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers describe Sakamoto Days as one of the most immediately enjoyable new Shonen Jump series — the premise is immediately clear, the comedy works without cultural context requirements, and the action is creative enough to satisfy readers who want more than standard tournament or power-escalation content. Sakamoto himself is consistently cited as one of manga's most likable protagonists.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The first extended fight sequence — where Sakamoto's actual capabilities become visible through what he does with store products and his own out-of-shape body — is the series at its most complete statement of what it is. Everything the manga does is present in that sequence.

Similar Manga

• Spy x Family — Secret agent with domestic life, similar comedy-action balance
• One Punch Man — Overpowered protagonist who finds normal problems more interesting, similar sensibility
• Way of the Househusband — Retired yakuza doing domestic things, similar premise
• Assassination Classroom — Comedy action with assassin cast, similar genre

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Sakamoto's situation and the first major confrontation are established in the first chapter.

Official English Translation Status

VIZ Media publishes the ongoing series. 14+ volumes currently available in English.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Premise generates consistent comedy and action simultaneously
• Fight choreography is creative and distinctive
• Sakamoto is an immediately lovable protagonist
• Ongoing with consistent quality

Cons

• Ongoing series without complete arc
• Some assassin-world mythology becomes complex
• Konbini-specific humor requires Japanese convenience store familiarity

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	VIZ Media; ongoing
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get Sakamoto Days Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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