Sakamoto desu ga?

“Who.. are you?”
“Haven’t you heard? I’m Sakamoto.”

You’d almost wish it started out like this, there’s that perpetual gnawing going on in the obscured depths of your conscience that bugs you for some normality, some profound simplicity in going about an anime you might never have even heard of. This auxiliary introduction to this mysterious, clean-looking man, unfortunately, doesn’t exist.

Why, of course, would there be such a need?
One does not introduce Sakamoto.
One does not simply require the induction of any mainstream preface to unveil such a magnificent being.
It is without question, almost as splendidly visceral as how the gleam in his eyes decimates the wobbly ... heart of every female and non-asshole male in his vicinity, for everyone to instantly fathom that this man right here, Sakamoto, superabounds over what it takes to be the chef d'oeuvre of all characters, a resounding existence amongst those who don’t exist, in an even more resounding, deafness-impelling, heaven-shattering pièce de résistance that goes by the splendid title: Sakamoto desu-ga?

It’s quite simple, especially for a thoughtful Solomon who would scrutinize and deeply consider the 2nd last, 6th and 6th last letter of every title of every anime before concluding on a score, to assign Sakamoto desu-ga an objective semblance of pure perfection. While the masses do revere icons and symbols of divinity, others of heuristic agnosticism, few can appreciate the enrapturing coalescence of the two. Such is the misappropriation of the essence and cachet withheld by some for Sakamoto desu-ga. Allow me to hereby inscribe the holy scripture of seraphic diagnosis with respect to Sakamoto, and why any of this information should be not be reprised.

i) Story - Simple, yet revolutionary
Consign GTO’s Onizuka Eikichi and his biker-educational-reformation to oblivion. It’s a simple explanation in real life, really: Panty and Male equals to, well, Jail. Forget One Punch Man’s Saitama just like how everyone he’s saved belittles his bald existence. You’d be fighting incredulous monsters every second and be damned to well, a bald existence.
This story’s premise doesn’t stink with excessive quixotical nihilism, or a spectrally-antithetical cosmic flamboyance, nor is it ostentatious in budget-cramped explosions or drenched in senseless sexual innuendo.
Instead, this story presents that of one we have all experienced, through sweat and tears, through journeying a school life so mundane and arduous, through all those lonely and embarrassing moments, and to this day we still ponder what had ruined it all. That’s right, the omission of a Sakamoto in our lives. Someone, who epitomizes vigor, strength and intellect, that inspires and unbounds the coolness deep within our own individuality. With the absence of such a character, our stories were tasteless, and this story, just like ours had been, would be so too, with a convolution of archetypical dense leads as dense as lead, busty brainless “supports”, conventional franchise-driven, product-advertising, cash-grabbing studios dragging sideways an unrealistic rendition of what COULD have happened in our youths, hence pandering to the lowest, albeit commonly sought-after pubescent demographic. Lay everything bare with your eyes, and you’ll see how all this dirt and grime have long since insidiously buried the savior to all this banality, the deity and student of class 1-2, Sakamoto, and how HE truly deserves to lead us back to a path of greatness that anime has long since been led astray.
This story, is how it all begins.

ii) Characters - Sheer, harmonic opulence
Why have characters when there are no characters at all? With the respectable, sensible judgment upheld by numerous veteran critics, the characters of animes in vogue are plethorically referred to as “cardboard cutouts”, “lifeless”, “fictitious”, “not-Sakamoto”. There are no supporting characters in Sakamoto desu-ga, simply because Sakamoto himself supports everyone else. He never imposes; he does not instruct; he only exemplifies the genuity of coolness, and he blows both the animated plebeians and you away with way more than whatever renewed apocalyptic jutsus in Naruto Shippuden are ever canonically capable of achieving. Sakamoto need not amateurish fillers, what for? He is filled to the brim with untainted swag, and instead of receiving fillers he fills everything around him with nothing but the truth. Critics lament and exhort producers and animators to fix their messed-up characters. Well then, Sakamoto’s very much heard enough, so he fixes his own goddamn characters, he gives the very meaning to life as it should be, it’s the raison d'être of his existence. What else, then, are the characters in Sakamoto desu-ga but an ethereal assemblage of life itself, with all its beauty and flaws intact?

iii) Production - A team of legends
Animation: Studio Deen
The beginning of Sakamoto heralds what will be known as the timely Olympian peroration of Deen-animation jokes. “Deenimation” budget might have once been a joke. However, this very production itself, is factually no joke. Sakamoto visualized in motion picture spells an unequivocal merchandisable disaster for financially acclaimed studios such as Madhouse and ufotable; Sakamoto’s rendition is simply too gorgeous, invoking too paradisiac an animation quality requirement for even the likes of so-called Unlimited Budget Works to sustain. Before Unlimited Sakamoto Works, everything else’s reduced to a marginal and pathetic joke.

Director: Shinji Takamasu
Superseding School Rumble, Gintama and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, comes a man of wit almost as cool as Sakamoto himself. One can only admire his wisecracking craft as much as Sakamoto desu-ga is to be admired for its gag-propitiated comicality. Accordingly, I place utmost value on discerning the first, third last, seventh, fifth last and fourth letter of the names of every director before contrasting it to the former analysis of the very title of that anime. Naturally, you can barely even perceive how powerful this matchup is; what else, would Sakamoto be deserving of if not the best?

Voice Acting: Hikaru Midorikawa as Sakamoto
Heck, you might have watched Gintama, some Great Teacher Onizuka, maybe Code Geass, perhaps Angel Beats, or Fate/Zero, with an off-chance of Mononoke, and this guy’s been in all of them and more. You’ve probably never even heard of him, he’s never been in the spotlight, but now that “supporting role” entirety is gonna change. As Sakamoto himself, he holds nothing less than the God’s Tongue and the voice of heaven, auralizing an indescribably lustrous overtone that defines perfection. What more can you ask for? Beethoven? That's on appallingly divergent levels. Sakamoto’s voice entails the ascension of every composed and uncomposed orchestral symphonic masterpiece to date. Right here, it’s Sakamoto Flows In You. Beethoven, on the other hand, has long since been decomposing.

Opening/Ending Songs by Customi Z and Suneohair:
22 times. That’s the total number of different stances that Sakamoto has stylishly taken in the opening sequence, COOLEST. It’s almost as if the song was made just for Sakamoto. Can you believe that? Simply amazing.

Unabridged and sporting a melancholic transience, Suneohair’s exemplar of an ending song is contemporary to that of an angel’s hymn. With luster and class, Sakamoto is splashed with an aural paint of sublimity in an everlasting interlude between his work days of delivering more COOL to the mortal realm and heightening levels of SPECIAL in the progression of civilization. In the lateness of day, even the sun begins to shy away from overexposure to Sakamoto’s dignified existence. It is thanks to this hymn in great taste, that we can observe Sakamoto in his natural habitat, partaking in elegant recreation alongside a beauteous sunset.

iv) Ultimatum
Should you watch Sakamoto desu-ga?
I am afraid I would have to say no.
It is beyond tangible excruciation for me at this point of writing to even delineate the consequences of watching the first episode of Sakamoto desu-ga, which include:
1) Sentience
2) Admiration
3) Killer moves
4) Another reason to watch Sakamoto
5) Macrocosmic indulgence
6) Obstruction of negativity
7) Titular charisma
8) Over-the-top greatness
Very much 8 tragic mortal weaknesses, withal the 8 tenacious symptoms of perfection.
Should you be slightly confused or bewildered at this point, I greatly sympathize with the below philosophical postulation:

“Do you think God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he has created here on Earth?”
-Robert Rodriguez

Sakamoto however, parades the mortal realm with no fear of himself.
Undoubtedly, you should fear and stray away from such an absurdly brilliant creation. You should fear perfection, when perfection perfectly clones itself and stares at it like it’s nothing.

Unless, you, are different?
Might you have actually embraced the abstraction altogether, pieced en masse the very construct of valuation and grasped perfection since the start, from the very first moment?
No, how could this be??
Who.. are you?
-
~
Haven't you heard? I'm Sakamoto

If there wasn’t enough fabulousness this season, don’t worry, Sakamoto is here. Sakamoto desu ga is exactly how it looks and sounds. An entire series focused on a character that is perfect is a pretty risky job. The series can easily become repetitive and boring if it heavily relies on one joke. Sakamoto manages to consistently entertain with its variety of different jokes, that all use the same backbone. It’s just the sheer amount of creativity and wackiness that can make Sakamoto look not only perfect to the people around him, but also the viewers. But it’s not just the comedy Sakamoto succeeds at, but ... also its parody on common tropes in anime, which makes the series seem much more intelligent than it out to be.

~{Story}~
Well, Sakamoto desu ga is exactly as the premise says it is. The series revolves around Sakamoto doing wacky, yet fabulous stuff in very weird comedic situations. He’ll avoid bullying, smoke bubble, run like the Darwin Evolution diagrams, create subliminal messages in split-seconds… you get the point. People say that there is no such thing as perfection. They clearly haven’t heard about Sakamoto. He has the girls being deredere for him, the guys being tsundere for him, and birds being dandere for him… yeah, that’s the power of Sakamoto’s charm. Sakamoto is primarily episodic, as each episode (or more like half of an episode) revolves around a comedic situations involving Sakamoto. The series doesn’t have a major plot in the series until the very end, but that’s not the highlight of the series. The highlights are the comedic situations throughout the series. The writing of these comedic situations is somewhat genius and the tiny stories themselves are very unique and creative. And the ending is satisfying enough to be a fitting conclusion to the series, that doesn’t need any more continuations. It leaves a lot of questions open, but that’s what maintains the charm of the series – who is Sakamoto really?
Story: 5/10

~{Presentation}~
If there’s one thing that’s fabulous in Sakamoto desu ga besides Sakamoto himself, it’s the style. The way the series presents its comedy is fantastic. Characters will talk about the most absurd things in the most common fashion, OST will be an intentional mismatch for the situation to create more comedy, and Sakamoto will make the most bizarre things look like a typical day for an average teenager. For an anime that heavily relies on one joke for laughs, it manages to do so properly. The amount of creativity the series has makes it very impressive. Sakamoto’s jokes may come from a randomly generated joke machine, but it manages to blend these absurd elements together that it makes is feel consistent. The series also has moments when the series takes a serious tone in situations, and this is when the series starts to break apart. The serious moments don’t seem tense enough to be serious enough and they only make the moments boring. Though it is necessary to have these moments to create a main story, it’s just that it feels so out-of-place that it feels like I’m watching a different series. Luckily these moments end quick and the comedy kicks in again. But there are moments when the series can be heartwarming, such as its conclusion and its final moments with Sakamoto.
Presentation: 6.5/10

~{Character}~
Sakamoto desu ga is all about Sakamoto and Sakamoto, nothing more, nothing less. And for a series that primarily focuses on one character, it is important for him to be likable and good as a character. Well, Sakamoto is more than that, as he’s fabulous! Sakamoto is a character without any flaws and perfect to the core. But he’s not a Gary Stu, because he’s too extreme to be so. He’s more like a parody of it. Sakamoto’s character is here to pull fun at other characters from other series that are considered perfect. And a formula like this can get boring quite easily, but Sakamoto manages to keep us entertained by going through even wackier situations. He doesn’t have a backstory, and there’s no real depth to him, but that would ruin the purpose of the series. Sakamoto has always been a mystery with his inhuman abilities, and it’s up for the viewers to decide who his really is. No matter what he is though, he’s still Sakamoto. Even though the series primarily focuses on its protagonist, the supporting characters are also fun and likable. You got the tsundere bully Acchan (who plays a bigger role near the end), bully victim Kubota, delinquent Hayabusa, and much more. The series does feature an antagonist, but he never ends up being an interesting character.
Character: 5/10

~{Art}~,
Considering Studio Deen’s track record of having subpar art, Sakamoto desu ga’s art quality is a lot better than most of their work. For the most part, it’s very clean and consistent, and the series manages to have good detaining even for background objects. The backgrounds are really good looking and have a good amount of details. Deen was always good at having detailed architectures, and Sakamoto is no exception. Characters also look clean and neat, though they do lack some detailing. Character design is quite interesting, as the perfect Sakamoto is shown to have glasses, which was an interesting choice. Acchan’s toque also makes him stand out a lot. And overall the character designs are good and somewhat unique.
Art: 6/10

~{Animation}~
This is where Sakamoto desu ga starts to stumble. Studio Deen doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to production values and animation fluidity. However, they managed to nail Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu’s quality from last season, so one could hope they would do the same in Sakamoto. Sadly it’s only okay, nothing more. Character fluidity is quite lacking and disappointing and backgrounds, though they look good, feel very static and flat. And the series heavily relies on still shots so less will need to be animated. Though these still shots might have good art, the lack of animation in them shows that they were used to cut corners. Hey, at least the animations in the OP are great…
Animation: 5/10

~{Voice Acting}~
The voice acting in Sakamoto desu ga is fabulous to say the least, as every character Is done with near perfect. Although, that is expected with such a good cast. Midorikawa Hikaru nails it as Sakamoto. His tone in his voice is always kept in an even level, just like how a perfect character like Sakamoto would talk. He makes sure to make his character lack emotion, yet not feel dead. He might have been the best choice for Sakamoto. Sugita Tomokazu does an outstanding job as Acchan, which it to be expected since Sugita is a wonderful seiyuu, especially for comedic situations. His over-the top tone in certain situations is hilarious. And Sugita nails his love for Sakamoto, by adding a girly tone to Acchan whenever he goes deredere for Sakamoto. Ishida Akira does a role I’ve never seen him do before. It astonishes me how he’s able to do Kubota so effortlessly. It just shows how talented he is. Other well-known seiyuu are also part of the series, such as Horie Yui, Nakahara Mai, Suzuki Tatsuhisa, and they all do an excellent job in what they have to do.
Voice Acting: 8/10

~{Music}~
I guess you can say that the music is Sakamoto desu ga is the “coolest”. The OP, “COOLEST”, is absolutely perfect for a series like this. The vocals are nice and the lyrics are ridiculous (and it should be like that), and the music is great too. The OP matches the context of the anime so well because Sakamoto is indeed the coolest. The ED, “Nakushita Hibi ni Sayonara”, is also quite good. It’s not as memorable as the OP, but it’s nice enough. The vocals are nice and the music is soothing. The background music in the series is great and it works well with the series. Sakamoto’s theme, which you’ll be hearing a lot, matches every over-the-top situation Sakamoto’s in. Overall, the background music may not be the most inventive, but it works well with the anime.
Music: 7/10

~{Enjoyment}~
Sakamoto desu ga is always a blast to watch. Very few comedy anime can make me laugh in every episode, and Sakamoto succeeds in doing so. The series is just so over-the-top, absurd, and ridiculous, that it’s hard not to find enjoyment out of it. Sakamoto’s perfection is to die for, and it’s always fun seeing him in weird, comedic situations. Whether it be running like the Darwin Evolution diagram, or Sakamoto using curtains to make breasts, or uses a balloon gun to threaten bullies, Sakamoto does all of this in ease and it’s fun seeing him do so. He remains a mystery throughout the series, and it’s up for the audience to decide who he really might be. Is he actually human or is he an alien? It’s up to you to decide.
Enjoyment: 7/10

In the end, Sakamoto desu ga is a comedy you don’t want to miss out on. Parody comedy anime are pretty rare to see these days, so finding one that actually works is a blessing. The series is all about Sakamoto, nothing more, nothing less. It may be repetitive for some, but it’s impossible to deny the sheer creativeness and uniqueness the series has to offer. You won’t see comedic situations like the one you’ll see in Sakamoto. The production values are a little off, and the serious moments aren’t too great, but the comedy makes up for it. Do yourself a favor and fall in love with Sakamoto’s fabulousness. You won’t regret it!

+ Sakamoto’s a cool protagonist who manages to entertain throughout the series
+ Comedic situations are absurd and ridiculous, yet creative and inventive
+ Fitting and somewhat heartwarming conclusion
+ Fantastic voice acting for Sakamoto and the major supporting characters.
- Production values are lacking
- The serious tone, when it appears, don’t work well for the series

Overall: 6.2/10

Well, this is a different approach of the 3 episodes rule. If you watched the first 3 episodes, whether you liked it or not, you've seen everything the show can offer.

There is no story, no characters, just Sakamoto swagging around, overcomes his opponents effortlessly. It becomes repetitive and boring real quick. There are some minor plot twists in every one or two episodes, when you along the rest of the cast thinks Sakamoto doing something extraordinary, but it turns out, it's just a regular thing, like making noise or hail a taxi. It's creative and funny, at least the first 2 or 3 times, but ... not enough. The sound and music are decent, fits to the series, but that's all. There is literally nothing to talk about this series because it's completely blank.

At the end the biggest flaw of the series is that how flawless the main character is. There is no excitement, no tension and the blunt jokes couldn't keep up my attention. It's bad show and a boring which is one a mistake a comedy series can not afford to make.