Sakamoto Days anime creators give behind-the-scenes journeys into the making of the series

On May 13, 2025, the official X account of Netflix Anime posted an interview from the Sakamoto Days anime creators, Masaki Watanabe and Genki Ito, giving a scene breakdown for the making of the series. The popular Netflix Original anime series produced by TMS Entertainment made its maiden run in January 2025, with its first season concluding in March 2025.

The Sakamoto Days series had an immense manga fandom before it even hit the screen, making it an instant hit as soon as the pilot episode came out. While the anime series had a few debates regarding the quality of the animation, the series was an overall hit.

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Masaki Watanabe and Genki Ito talk about the creation of the Sakamoto Days anime

As mentioned earlier, the official X profile of Netflix Anime posted a video interview featuring director Masaki Watanabe and animation producer Genki Ito talking about the making of the Sakamoto Days anime series, with a shot-by-shot breakdown of the process.

The interview starts with Genki Ito talking about Lu's introduction and inclusion into the family in the series. While Genki says that they wanted the inclusion to be as smooth as possible while showing off her character as strong and adorable, Masaki added how difficult the scene actually was to animate.

"Animating this was a real challenge. We did a lot of fine-tuning. Lot's of painful memories.", said Masaki, while breaking into nervous laughter

As the interview progresses, the creators move on to the famous Sakamoto Days' pork bun scene. While talking generally about how Sakamoto went to Chinatown to purchase their famous pork buns, Ito adds how the background of the scene helped portray and elevate the Chinatown vibe perfectly.

This was also the introductory scene for Lu, the main heroine of the Sakamoto Days series. While Ito expressed to the director how much he wanted the scene to be impactful, the director, Masaki, went on to explain the details of the scene.

While they wanted to portray Lu's fall as a very long fall, the fourth or fifth floor of a building doesn't necessarily help their cause. So for the anime, they animated the scene using the camera angles and stretching out the shot in such a way that the fall was made to visually look longer than it actually was.

"Maybe viewers won't notice. I've done a good job if they don't.", added Masaki at the end of the discussion

Genki Ito adds how they took the opportunity of the smashed pork buns to show a bit of Sakamoto's personality. The otherwise calm and collected Sakamoto was shown thrown into rage as he fights off the goons attacking Lu. This also allowed Shin and Lu to show off their fighting capabilities.

"The way animation is done in Japan, it's the animation director's job to ensure the faces, proportions, and other details are consistent. The animation director is responsible for checking all that.", added Masaki in the interview

He further added:

"We have animation directors familiar with this title do a cleanup pass on the drawings to maintain the animation quality."

The animation director for Sakamoto Days, Genki Ito, then explained Lu's entry scene, giving a brief portrayal of her character and personality. He also taps into Sakamoto and Shin's involvement in the scene, concluding how nice they were to aid Lu.

Masaki continues the conversation, emphasizing Sakamoto's reliability. He further claims that Sakamoto is a trustworthy person with whom one can feel comfortable, which also helps viewers connect with the story.

Masaki further explains their meticulous and thoroughly accurate approach towards the anime, staying true to the storyboards as much as possible, making everything feel fast, precise, and powerful. They also revealed that the less realistic style the goons were designed was intentional, to create a comedic effect.

With this, the interview was concluded, providing insight into the making and production of the popular fan favorite anime series, Sakamoto Days.

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