In a recent interview with Comic Natalie, voice actor Tomikazu Sugita opened up about his initial hesitation to take on the lead role of Sakamoto in Sakamoto Days anime.
His reason? A sense of déjà vu tied to his past work.
Sugita admitted that while he was aware of the manga’s buzz as a rising Weekly Shonen Jump hit, he was hesitant to take on the role due to similarities with a character he had played before.
“I had already played a protagonist in a similar position in a Jump anime before, so I had that in mind, and it felt a bit like déjà vu.“
When the audition opportunity arose, he initially focused on another character, Kashima. However, his agency strongly encouraged him to also consider Sakamoto.
“When I received the audition information for Sakamoto Days, I showed the character materials for a character named Kashima to my agency staff, saying, ‘I think I should audition for this role,’ and they said, ‘Mr. Sugita, you should also audition for Sakamoto.’ I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Well, then I’ll try for this other character…’ and they said, ‘No, Mr. Sugita, you should audition for Sakamoto too.’ So, there was this somewhat absurd exchange like, ‘Yeah, okay’ (laughs).“
He eventually decided to checkout the manga to better understand the characters and their dynamics.
“So at first, I intentionally avoided the role. But then I realized that wasn’t the right approach. I decided to get to know the characters properly before making a decision. That’s when I read the original work and decided to audition for the role of Sakamoto Taro.“
According to him, the decision to take on the role of Sakamoto came not from a desire to assert his own presence as an actor, but from a more heartfelt motivation.
“When I thought about joining Sakamoto Days, I didn’t want to think about what I wanted to do as an actor or what kind of statement I wanted to make. Instead, I just wanted to share the happiness and joy that I gained from the experience with everyone around me. Sakamoto is like that with his family, including his wife, daughter, and employees like Shin and Lu. I felt that if I were to play Sakamoto Taro, I’d act in a similar way to him. It’s about celebrating someone else’s happiness and lifting each other up.“
Sakamoto Days anime is set to air on Netflix starting Jan 11, 2025. It is scheduled to release in two parts on the platform, with the first part, consisting of 11 episodes, releasing on Jan 11, 2025. A new episode will air each week.
The second part will start airing in July 2025.
Tomokazu Sugita, who is known for portraying Gintoki Sakata, is voicing the titular character Taro Sakamoto.
- Nobunaga Shimazaki as Shin Asakura
- Ayane Sakura as Lu Shaotang
- Nao Toyama as Aoi Sakamoto
- Hina Kino as Hana Sakamoto
- Ryota Suzuki as Heisuke Mashimo
- Miyari Nemoto as Piisuke
TMS Entertainment, the studio behind Detective Conan, Fruits Basket (2019), and Dr. Stone, is set to handle the animation production for Sakamoto Days anime.
Masaki Watanabe will serve as the director, with Taku Kishimoto in charge of series composition, and Yo Moriyama will handle the character designs.
Sakamoto Days is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuto Suzuki. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump since November 2020, with its chapters collected in 16 tankobon volumes as of April 2024.
It is simultaneously published in English by Viz Media and the Manga Plus online platform.
The manga is also getting its first ever smartphone game in Spring 2025.
Source: Comic Natalie
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