English Dub Review: Sakamoto Days “Round and Round the Tower”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Despite his inability to lose weight, Sakamoto faces off against Apart in a fierce showdown.  Later, X reveals his dangerous plans for the assassin world.

Our Take:
They say that if you learn to accept yourself for who you are, anything is possible.  Sakamoto just happened to take that advice to heart, as he was able to harness his full power without burning his fat at will.  Consequently, we’re treated to an exciting and well-animated showdown between Sakamoto and Apart, who seek human connection by dissecting them.  However, unlike the Order members who brutally murdered the Death Row assassins, Sakamoto spared Apart’s life afterwards, further emphasizing his strive not to break his wife’s no-kill policy.  More importantly, the episode managed to humanize Apart with his backstory, where he was treated poorly by other people, including his father, forcing him to take the phrase “It’s what’s on the inside that counts” a bit too literally.  Fortunately, thanks to Sakamoto, Apart realizes that the only way to earn a connection with other people is by opening his heart a bit more, rather than killing people for treating him like crap.
With the Death Row killers taken care of, this leads us to another big problem, one that involves the mastermind who hired the infamous killers to harm Sakamoto and the others.  It turns out that the mysterious Slur was using the killers to distract the Order so he could infiltrate the now-vulnerable JAA headquarters.  Of course, this also prompted Sakamoto and the crew to head over to the branch to confront them.  However, given Gaku’s immense power, they’ll undoubtedly need to be well prepared for this possible confrontation.  In short, “Round and Round the Tower” provided the usual excitement and impressive animation finesse we expected from one of Sakamoto’s battles while also humanizing Apart as a complex figure with a dark and poignant past.