Warning! Contains spoilers for Sakamoto Days chapter 91!It is a common Shonen trope for a protagonist to become stronger after undergoing an awesome transformation in the middle of a fight, but the innovative Shōnen Jump manga Sakamoto Days is subverting that trope in a fascinating way.
What Sakamoto Days does goes against trends in the genre established by iconic and influential series like Dragonball with its Saiyan transformations and One Piece with Luffy’s different gears. By providing a different take on the concept, Sakamoto Days proves that it is one of the best shonen series currently running. Sakamoto Days—a manga by Yuto Suzuki—follows a retired hitman named Sakamoto who is forced to reenter the world of assassins after new enemies threaten the normal life he has created for himself. Sakamoto is not a typical Shōnen Jump protagonist. He's a heavyset middle-aged man, but he still embodies the typical Shōnen ideals of trying to protect his family and innocents from danger. He is also an incredibly skilled fighter despite his physique, although most of his skills come from his previous life as a much skinnier hitman. This means when he needs to get serious in a fight, he often instantly slims down into a form that's more similar to his past physique. But while these transformations are cool, they aren’t actually an upgrade. They’re a crutch.
In chapter 47, the holistic healer Granny Miya, who has spent many years healing wounded assassins, states that the strongest assassins are those that can adapt their fighting style to any situation, even a body type they are not used to fighting in. So the fact that Sakamoto must slim down to unlock his full fighting potential is actually a sign of weakness, for if he was truly at his full potential, he’d be able to fight at that level in his normal body as well. Ever since this revelation, Sakamoto has refrained from transforming, opting to fight with his chubbier form. But in chapter 91, Sakamoto is finally forced to slim down in his fight against Kanaguri, an incredibly powerful member of the anti-establishment assassin group Slur.
Sakamoto's Transformations Reveal That He Needs To Grow
While it is somewhat exciting to see Sakamoto in this form again as it means that the upcoming fight will likely be awesome, it is also a bit sad. Unlike previous times when he transformed, Sakamoto’s slim form is now also an admission of weakness. Sakamoto knows that he can’t defeat Kanaguri with his current power level, so he must fall back on a crutch. This completely defies the role of transformations in other Shōnen series. By preventing himself from pushing his abilities further in his natural body state, he hampers his growth. It also shows that while Sakamoto has consistently shown himself to be an incredible fighter, he still has a long way to go if he wants to be able to take down Slur’s top members.
This subversion of the Shōnen battle transformation trope is just one instance of Sakamoto Days’s masterful deconstruction of the shōnen genre. But this moment in particular stands out due to how much it accomplishes as both promised epic moments ahead while also implying a lot about Sakamoto’s power level and mental state. Thus, by completely subverting the idea of powerful battle transformations, Sakamoto Days has subtly proven itself to be one of Shōnen Jump’s best series.
Sakamoto Days is available to read from Viz Media.