Sakamoto Days manga receives a spinoff in Saikyo Jump

Modified May 30, 2024 16:06 GMT

Sakamoto Days manga receives a spinoff in Saikyo Jump (Image via Shueisha)

Thursday, May 30, 2024 saw X (formerly Twitter) user and reputable general anime and manga news source @WSJ_manga reveal a coming Sakamoto Days manga spinoff series from Shueisha. According to @WSJ_manga, the spinoff will be titled Sakamoto Holidays, and will be published in Shueisha’s monthly Saikyo Jump magazine.

Sakamoto Days manga assistant Okawa Tetsu is said to be the artist in charge of the series, suggesting that the mainline series’ mangaka Yuto Suzuki will mainly supervise the spinoff rather than take an active role.

The news comes shortly after a television anime adaptation of Suzuki’s mainline series was officially announced. The anime will premiere in January 2025 on Netflix, and is starring Tomokazu Sugita as titular character Taro Sakamoto.

The Sakamoto Days manga first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump publication magazine in November 2020, where it is still ongoing and regularly serialized today.

As of this article’s writing, 142 of the series’ 167 total chapters have been compiled into 16 manga volumes, with a 17th set to release in Japan in early June 2024. 12 of the 16 currently released volumes have been translated into English.

Sakamoto Days mangaka likely to closely supervise spinoff series to be authored by assistant Okawa Tetsu

Expand Tweet

With one of Suzuki’s own assistants for the mainline Sakamoto Days manga set to work on the spinoff, it suggests that the series will stick closely to canon and be monitored for such deviance by Suzuki himself.

Okawa also lacks any credits beyond serving as an assistant on Suzuki’s manga according to staff credit indexing sites, which further suggests that the series will be closely monitored by Suzuki.

It’s unclear as of this article’s writing exactly what the spinoff will focus on, however, since all that is known at this time is the information mentioned above.

While the title of Sakamoto Holidays would suggest a holiday-themed spinoff, it could also be a play on the main title, which references the days Sakamoto spends working at his convenience store. Likewise, the spinoff could take more of a “day off” approach to its cast and storytelling process.

Expand Tweet

The fact that the series would be published in the monthly Saikyo Jump magazine further supports this slice-of-life-esque approach.

With how action-oriented the mainline weekly series is, a weekly or bi-weekly slice-of-life spin off would likely be unable to hold fans’ interest. At a monthly pace, though, it can prove interesting enough that those fans who primarily enjoy the Sakamoto Days manga for its action will be convinced to read each monthly spinoff issue.

Nevertheless, this is virtually all speculative, with no information officially confirmed, and no leaked information beyond the title, Okawa’s involvement, and a Saikyo Jump publication process. Hopefully more info will be made available in the coming weeks, including an official announcement from Shueisha itself.