Sakamoto Days, Vol. 9: Hard Mode

SAKAMOTO DAYS サカモト デイズ #9

by Yuto Suzuki

Sakamoto comes running to Shin’s aid and clashes violently with Shinaya, who’s being controlled by Gaku! Our heroes are striving to get information on X, who continues to operate in the shadows, but nothing has gone as planned during the JCC transfer test. How will it all end?!

Genres: Manga, Fiction, Action, Comics, Graphic Novels, Shonen, Comedy

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2022

About the author

Yuto Suzuki (鈴木祐斗; Suzuki Yūto) es un mangaka japonés.

Reviews

[Ricarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Osaragi, Shishiba and Nagumo together in so many chapters? Bless this volume. Also, this cover? STUNNING.

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of hit a bit of a reading slump but luckily a few chapters of this in between all the crazy stuff going on and I’m starting to get back in my reading groove again. Truly the action especially in the fallen airplane was sick and after the slower paced info dump of the last volume, this kept it hyped back up just like I needed it too. Maybe I should be more worried about the anti JAA league but they don’t really seem all too threatening aside from the top two but hey maybe I’ll be proven wrong in some arcs later on but one things for sure sakamoto’s friends like shin are really taking training and leveling up to heart and I can’t wait to hopefully one day seem them on their masters level fighting against the bad guys.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun entry that allows the plot to thicken whilst also harking back to the familiar.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The entrance exam is finally over, but only one member of Team Sakamoto wins entry while another has to sneak in in disguise. The academic setting does not cause much slow-down in action.

This volume finally made clear for me some of the reason and appeal of X the Slur's bloody campaign against Japan's assassin society. He's still not a very good villain, but at least his henchmen have the flare he lacks.

[fulcrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow, this might be my favourite volume so far! everything just hit perfectly. while some arcs in the previous chapters occasionally bored me or made me want to move on quickly, this one was simply fantastic, not a single dull moment.

all my favourite characters showed up, brightened my mood and genuinely made me laugh. and the best part? it wasn’t just jokes and fun — it also delivered some really cool and intriguing plot developments that i’m now eagerly waiting to see unfold.

i fear i’m gonna become insufferable about nagumo, he’s just too cool. honestly, i have such a soft spot for their trio with osaragi and shishiba. guys i love you so much please never die.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sakamoto Days hits its 9th volume, and while it’s still incredibly entertaining, the plot seems to lose a bit of momentum here. We watch Mr. Sakamoto step into a new role as a teacher at a school, and, of course, he’s disguised as a woman. You know Japan and their tropes, am i right?

There are some genuinely fun moments in this arc, but it also feels like filler, slowing the pacing down a little. The school infiltration mission should’ve been more exciting, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype I was expecting.

However, the last section of the volume definitely redeems it. The Order comes under attack by a group of vicious thugs, leading to some brutal, high-stakes fights that really ramp things up. We also see an ex-member of the Order showcase their deadly skills, adding some extra intrigue.

Overall, it’s a solid read, but I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 for this volume.

[kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ✨ Gaku thinks he’s Gojo

[Gita Karmani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pdhl Toramaru udah berdelusi ditolongin Sakamoto tp ujungnya malah denial. Karena yg nolongin dia adlh Sakamoto versi gendut dan beda bgt dgn imajinasinya 🤣

Walau sudah ikut ujian masuk JCC, kenyataannya malah Shin yg lolos dan Sakamoto malah gagal karena digagalin sama Uzuki. Tp akhirnya Nagumo ngusulin Sakamoto buat menyusup jd guru magang dan nyamar jadi istrinya. Kocak bgt sih Sakamoto gak terima karena pd genit sama penampilan samarannya. Selain cari info, Nagumo minta Sakamoto utk cari bank data, tempat dimana semua informasi ttg dunia pembunuh bayaran, JAA, Uzuki ataupun informasi ttg Order yg bahkan gak diketahui sama member2nya, tersimpan. Kelihatan juga kalo Uzuki juga ngincar bank data ini sampai dia berhasil mengendalikan bbrp kantor JAA.

Shishiba-Osaragi ini emang interaksinya gitu atau gmn sih? Bingung antara mau ngeship karena emang ada hubungan atau emang cuma pure partner kerja walaupun Shishiba ini selalu aja nurutin keinginannya osaragi, begitupun sebaliknya Osaragi juga selalu nurutin perintah Shishiba.

Terus ada Akira yg masih mencari bibinya, Rion tp gak ketemu dgn Shin ataupun Sakamoto selama di JCC. Rion ni masih hidup apa enggak sih? Kok kyknya akar permasalahan di komik ini sebenernya adlh dia dan aku mulai nebak2 hubungan tertentu antara Rion-Nagumo-Uzuki walaupun gak ada kaitannya bgt sama Sakamoto (yah Sakamoto cuma trionya aja) 🙃

Males mau baca di Manga+ tp penasaran 😂

[Nabiboulou · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai beaucoup rigolé en lisant ce tome !
Je suis contente qu’un personnage qui m’intriguait a enfin pu faire son entrée. Voir également 3 membres de l’Ordre en action, c’est assez excitant.
Je n’apprécie pas Kanaguri, mais je le trouve interessant.
Akira est toujours aussi mignonne !
Pour le moment, je n’apprécie pas trop Amane. Mais je sais que ça va changer.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

La parte de la escuela se me está haciendo un poco pesado, pero ver a los miembros de Order (Nagumo) siempre es un placer.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sakamoto to the rescue as Gaku stops holding back in this thrilling conclusion to the JCC entrance exam. (Obviously Sakamoto and Shin pass because plot reasons) So we're officially headed off to assassin school...

Meanwhile we see just how deeply X and Slur have infiltrated assassin society as a few familiar (?) faces start popping out of the woodwork.

[MajesticalLion · Rating 5 out of 5]

School arc has been good. I love the trio of JAA guys. Some of my favorite side characters, and I'm glad they seem to be getting their own side arc with Yotsumura.

[Munsaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

If we lost Mafuyu and Toramaru to the other side, I'm gonna be really sad😟they can take Mafuyu's brother 💀give us back Mufuyu

[Ja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a lot happens in this volume. First, we get the conclusion of the JCC entrance exams and a cool epic battle with Sakamoto. We learn about the school and what life is like as a student. And then we get a few chapters with some of the other order members as they find out exactly what kind of assignment they've been tasked wtih. The world gets a little bigger as newer threats are unveiled, and where they stand in relation to the overall story will remain unclear for a while.

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t really be mad at people like X who have a problem with a monopoly like the JCC who have the final say about all things assassination. Although, on a side note, the members of the JCC Order are pretty cool.

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 5 out of 5]

The school arc begins! A great new setting with fun characters, and the Order’s mission is so great. The action in this series is consistently top tier.

[Farissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Danny™️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was badass

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Badasses doing badass things as always. 🥰😎

[Jersey · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Review of volumes 4-9]

The big action battles are hype but honestly, I prefer this manga when the cast is smaller and there's more focus on the convenience store hi-jinks with some fights here and there. Sure, the villains are cool but I don't really care about any of the new characters. The fight panels are the only ones that stood out. Everything else is just forgettable.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well the test is over and the school year for assassins' starts.
It is OK I guess. There are a bunch of characters added or brought back that I really don't find interesting. What started as a cute retired assassin past caught up with him and wants them back story is getting dark and dreary.

[afton · Rating 5 out of 5]

jan 2025 reread: ugh perfect

come on dark academia arc! infiltration into the jcc for information into x whilst we find out how their movements have affected assassins all-over. who is truly corrupt here? slur? jaa? both?

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sakamoto joins the fight and he absolutely demolishes Gaku/Shinaya. This fight sequence is so amazing as Sakamoto uses the crashed plane as his weapon. After incapacitating Gaku/Shinaya, Sakamoto goes to tend to the wounded and Toramaru meets her idol for a second time, but she doesn't recognize him. After everything has settled, the remaining admin tells the seven remaining test takers that they've passed the test and Toramaru hears Sakamoto's full name for the first time and realize that this chubby, unremarkable man is what her idol has become and she stops being a fan of Sakamoto. They go to interrogate Shinaya now that he's finally awake and he starts crying, saying that he has no idea what's going on. Shin and Sakamoto vouch for him after realizing that Slur was involved. At Slur's lair, they pick which of the test takers is strong enough to be apart of their organization. Helicopters come to take all of the test takers off the island, but when Toramaru and Mafuyu get into their chopper, they realize that they aren't going home just yet. Slur's minions take them to their hideout. It's revealed that Kanaguri is a member of Slur's organization along with two new weirdos that we're introduced to. Mafuyu and Toramaru share my sentiment as Slur's minions try, but fail to convince them to join. We check back in with some of the Order's members as they go to a lotto stand and buy three tickets. Like Sakamoto's video store, this lotto stand is here for information and they determine that they have business in Kyoto. At Sakamoto's, Sakamoto and Shin get mail from the JCC. And while Shin passed the exam with flying colors, Sakamoto fail, even though the test admin said that he passed. They call to ask what's up and they tell Sakamoto that they can't admit applicants with a bounty. Suddenly, Nagumo appears with the perfect solution! The Order also needs someone to find the JCC's database and Nagumo is happy to offer up the teaching internship that the Order already acquired, but that doesn't help since Sakamoto isn't allowed on campus. Thankfully, Nagumo is a master of disguise. We get introduced to the JCC through the eyes of Akira, who is desperate to find anyone from the Exam. She's totally a fish-out-of-water and not prepared for all of the assassin stuff. Thankfully, a kind teacher defends her when another student goes too far. It's Aoi Sakamoto! Or so it seems. Turns out Nagumo disguised Sakamoto as his wife, but the disguise only lasts for 24-hours, so he has no time to lose. It's really fun seeing all of these assassin high jinks. At the Research Lab, Shin is hiding out trying to hear if anyone knows anything about the database. But he's kind of caught up in being at school, since he's never attended one before. It turns out that Seba, the invisible on, is also a student at the JCC and since he may have some information on the database, Shin offers to buy his lunch for the information. During lunch, Shin learns that Seba and Mafuyu are brothers and Mafuyu hasn't been seen since the Exam. Since everyone thinks that Sakamoto is a new teacher, one of the other teachers gets him to talk to some of the students that haven't been attending class. As soon as he enters the dorm, he sees Slur paraphernalia and all the students try to attack him. Even when he's disguised as his wife, Sakamoto is still able to trounce all of the kids and gains their respect in the process. It turns out that Slur has been indoctrinating the youth to go against the JCC and the JAA, even when they don't know the extent to his evils. Sakamoto tells them that they shouldn't be worrying about all of this and they should just focus on school, when another student enters the fray. Amane seems to be more dedicated towards Slur's sentiment, saying that all JAA dogs should die. The Order Members, Shishiba, Osaragi, and Nagumo, are on a roadtrip to Kyoto to investigate their intel when men in black SUVs start to shoot at them, but this barely seems to bother them as Nagumo casually slips into the enemy car and swiftly kills everyone in it. Shishiba uses one of the attackers as a human shield, while Nagumo jumps from car to car killing their enemies. Osaragi was left at the convenience store, so she's out of the fight for now. Just as Nagumo returns, a car hauler truck appears with a hooded man standing at the back of the truck. He ends up crashing the Order's car, forcing them to fight on the hauler. The masked man is able to trade blows on par with Shishiba and Nagumo, when suddenly Osaragi falls from the sky to attack the man with her saw. The man says that there's too many and leaves and we learn that the mysterious man is Mr. Yotsumura, a man banished from the Order. Yotsumura is now working with Slur's minions and his motives are unknown. Back at the JCC, we see that Amane has direct contact with Kashima and Slur and they've ordered him to destroy the database.

[Ophélie Regat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suite de l'examen d'entrée à la JCC. Sakamoto affronte Gaku (qui a pris le contrôle d'un candidat). Il gagne le combat mais l'examen est annulé au vu des circonstances. Toramaru se rend compte que son idole n'est pas comme elle l'imaginait, elle désespère dans son coin. Sept candidats sont sélectionnés malgré l'annulation de la suite de l'examen, dont Taro, Shin, Akira, Mafuyu, Toramaru et Kaji. Ils doivent se rendre à un examen médical, la rentrée aura lieu trois mois après. En repartant en hélicoptère, Toramaru et Mafuyu sont enlevés par Slur et son équipe (dont Kanaguri qui a donc trahi l'Ordre). Le projet de Slur est de les recruter.

En attendant la rentrée, Shin reçoit la confirmation de sa réussite de l'examen, contrairement à Taro qui est recalé. En effet, un candidat est éliminé s'il est recherché et sa tête mise à prix. Grâce à l'intervention de Nagumo, Taro va pouvoir se rendre à la JCC en tant que professeur stagiaire (il va devoir se déguiser en Aoi pendant 24h).

De leur côté, Nagumo, Shishiba et Osaragi partent en mission à Kyoto où des crimes possiblement liés à Slur sont commis. Ils se font attaquer en chemin, notamment par un ancien de l'Ordre, Yotsumura, qui a été banni de la FJA plusieurs années auparavant. Sinon, ils profitent de la gastronomie du Kansai.

La rentrée à la JCC a eu lieu. Akira erre dans l'école à la recherche de ses amis de l'examen. Shin retrouve Seba. Taro assimile les méthodes d'enseignement et se rend compte que les idées de Slur contaminent les étudiants de la JCC, notamment chez un certain Amane. Ce dernier est en contact direct avec Kashima, il a pour mission de détruire la base de données, l'objectif de Taro et Shin pour trouver des informations sur Slur.

[Ilham Muradov · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

Chapter 71: What are you doing?
I'm swimming.

Chapter 71: If you lay your hands on my friends, you get deported.

Chapter 72: Am I just a superficial, bandwagon-hopping, trend-following, shallow, phony fan?!

Chapter 72: The blue sky stretches out before them. They turn their imaginations toward the coming journey. Their hearts brimming with hope, but little do they know despair lies in wait!

Chapter 73: My movie is a far more sacred use of time than your pathetic life!

Chapter 73: We also offer a generous benefits package. Two days off per week. No overtime. Guaranteed lifetime employment.

Chapter 73: You mean, we kill the other 90 percent? Cool. I'm one of the good guys.
I don't think there's good or evil when it comes to killing. But if you ask me an overzealous sense of justice is worse than evil.

Chapter 73: I failed.
Whaaat?

Chapter 74: Japan Clear Creation is a japanese assassin-training institution otherwise known as The JCC

Chapter 75: Oh, this must be the school trope where I get harassed by senpai. By the way, I'm currently doing the "skipping class to smoke in the bathroom" trope. I've always dreamed of doing this! And this should be when I say, "Please let me go, senpai!" I feel like a typical teenager!

Chapter 79: Revolutionary assassins? What a joke. Listen. Assassins are bland - no taste, no smell. We have to be invinsible with our intent to kill.

[Bradley]

Subjectively the art is not my cuppa. I've said this many times already, I think. However, it contrasts nicely with the humor. And this volume, for me, has the most humorous moment I've read in manga for quite some time. In fact, Sakamoto Days delivers top notch humor regularly. Ironically hilarious since there's so much death involved.

I don't wanna prance around the negative, but it's there. As the series gets prolonged, er, as each additional volume comes out, it's increasingly apparent the plot is very thin. We're being bombarded with characters who aren't serving the plot, but character arcs for characters and more characters and people. It's amazing we can keep track - credit due to the distinctive designs. The art's not my cuppa, still it has MANY strong points. it hits home harder than ever when we see the girl and the guy (can't even remember their names) that work at the store.

Maybe that's on purpose and I'm leaning into it. It doesn't feel that way. I like picking up Sakamoto Days because it's fun. At the end of the day it's fun and that's why I'll be reading volume 10, but the series lacks what will make it great. Perhaps we're in for a surprise :D

[Alicia ^^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

He de decir que el principio del volúmen (los 3 primeros capítulos) se me ha hecho un poco bola, ya que sale bastante lo del examen de admisión, y no me ha parecido precisamente la parte más atractiva del manga.
De todas formas, el resto del volúmen se me ha hecho muy ameno y me ha encantado que Shin, al fin, tome más protagonismo. Me encanta que poco a poco deje de ser el “escudero” ultra dependiente de Sakamoto, y que él mismo tenga la voluntad de mejorar.

Por otro lado, estoy algo intrigada por personajes como Akao (la adoro, es monísima y me hace una gracia) y Yotsumura (que todavía no entiendo mucho a este personaje).
He adorado, además, que vuelva a salir Seba en el volúmen 😭🙏 y que encima se re-encuentre con Shin. Esos dos acabarán haciendo un dúo tremendo, con la broma.

Me está entreteniendo bastante esto de la infiltración en la JCC. Y me ha gustado saber la diferencia entre la JCC (academia), y la JAA (empresa de trabajo). Pensaba que eran lo mismo y no entendía por qué cambiaban las siglas jashjasj.

Y mencion diaria de que adoro a Nagumo. En general, los de order me caen genial.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to love the comedy in this series as it's not just a good way to break up all the action scenes but allows the characters to have some fun and in Sakamoto's case, shows how amazing his skill set really is as he uses the most random things for weapons and that's pretty awesome to see especially as he's undercover since he didn't pass the testing 😂.
Shin is in, as a student, which I guess is the most normal and mundane that has happened to him as at one point he's trying to live up to school tropes from mangas for the school "full experience". This kid.

Either way volume 9 ends the testing arc and and as the two try to infiltrate the school as they planned, the order is under attack, and Akira is just trying to survive.

[Dita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not a fan of this volume there's a lot of things that I like.
Sakamoto's undercover mission with Shin, two of my fav characters getting recruited by X (curious what will happen with these two), and my fav definitely is the action from the trio Osagiri, Nagumo and Shisiba fighting the ex-member of the orders, I wished there's more of that though.
Not a big fan of JCC part, well it's kinda fun figure out who's the spy or the new recruits for X, but it's also kinda boring and the sense of urgency with the elimination of many assassins is non existent, which is really weird for me.
Overall it's a fun full of action and pretty gruesome read and I kinda enjoy it.

[Anushka Malik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover Character: Nao Toramaru aka No.1 Sakamoto fan
She is just as unhinged as the cover portrays her to be, haha and I'm all for it. Despite her ruthless bloodthirsty attitude, she does bring in the comedy (unknowingly of course) and I love that,

The JCC test is stretching now and I want the classes and training to begin already. What I want to see in the future of this manga is starting to take away from my enjoyment of the present events. *sigh*

Having said that, I realize that the villains need their page time to be developed as worthy adversaries and yeah, it's not my first rodeo with that element.

I miss Lu, I guess.