Ever wondered how Shin and Sakamoto first met? Sakamoto Days pulls the curtain back on that fateful encounter in chapter 196, all the while simultaneously setting the stage for Shin’s redemption.

In many ways, this flashback couldn’t have come at a better time for the series. Shin’s encounter with Tenryu has pushed him to his physical and mental limits, even causing him to throw away his allegiance to the Sakamoto family in the process: he needs the help of his friend and mentor more than ever right now, but what Shin sees in Sakamoto exactly has never been explained. Revealing this will hopefully lead to a satisfying conclusion to the current conflict, alongside providing an compelling story ahead of the anime’s first episode this Saturday.

Like the beginning of most great relationships, Shin and Sakamoto don’t exactly get off on the right foot. This is mainly because the thirteen year old Shin that stands at the center of Sakamoto Days chapter 196 views everyone around him with absolute contempt, but Sakamoto doesn’t exactly help the situation either: he pays absolutely no attention to the young man in front of him, only aggravating his ego and sense of self-importance. It seems almost impossible that these two characters would grow to like each other, let alone become trusted compatriots, which only makes the prospect of seeing their relationship unfold that much more exciting.

So how did Shin and Sakamoto end up crossing paths for the first time? As it turns out, it all comes back to Shin’s past as a victim of the Okutabi Lab and long-held desire to track down his father, Tasuku Ando. While on Ando’s trail as a teenager, Shin ended up being captured by a group of goons that Sakamoto also just happened to be infiltrating at the same time with the same aim of taking out Ando for the JAA: you could say that it was nothing but a coincidence, but there were concrete forces pushing these two characters together that eventually lead to their meeting.

Of course, Sakamoto Days chapter 196 doesn’t just function as an exposition dump to fill in some blanks in the story. Shin and Sakamoto’s constant bickering makes for an interesting dynamic as well as a fair amount of laughs, but Yuto Suzuki doesn’t forget to serve up some of the high octane action that the series is famous for here either. Speaking personally, the moment that stood out the most for me was when Sakamoto used the wheel and license plate from a car to take out two goons: Shin is suitably impressed by this too.

Nevertheless, it must be said that we would never be exploring Shin and Sakamoto’s backstory in the first place if the narrative didn’t call for it. This is how you make a compelling story, after all, but the question still remains whether or not this flashback will do its job properly or not. Simply put, the main question hanging over the series right now is if Sakamoto can convince Shin to come back to the good side, while the question of his “true nature” is something that definitively links the flashback back to the present. 

I’ve yet to be disappointed by this series before, but let’s hope it can deliver the goods.

You can read Sakamoto Days chapter 196 in English for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.