Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Well, (animal) shit. Golden Kamuy starts slow this week and ends with a bang. This episode presents many of Golden Kamuy’s ups and downs so it’s best to dissect them one by one. For the negative part, the pacing is still off. This episode spends too much time on Sugimoto and Asirpa hunting that poor deer that there’s no sense of urgency, then it follows up with another food-fest that is out of place and rush up to the white wolf hunting. On the cuisine-of-the-wilderness matter, the manga actually does a better job of infusing the light touch to this heavy thriller, but that’s more because of the chapter format works better that way. Here in an episode it feels like a bumpy ride. In addition, this small-arc revolving Nihei Tetsuzou and Tanigaki feels aimless at first. I feel the same directionlessness when our Asirpa and Sugimoto hunt the deer down. Isn’t this a story about them chasing gold? I asked myself. The Golden Kamuy starts to connect all the dots and I actually find myself engaged and all the themes start to make sense. Well, the development still has some lucky coincidences (like Nihei Tetsuzou “happens” to be an ex-prisoner, Shiraishi just “conveniently” gives the duo the news or where are the 7^th Unit Army and these tattooed prisoners this week?), but otherwise it’s a decent showdown we’re getting here.

It’s the episode’s narrative thread that starts to emerge with the gold chase premise. On Sugimoto and Asirpa’s side, the early part of them pursuing the injured deer speaks more about Sugimoto and his own reflection. Here’s the man who never bat an eye when killing enemies, yet he’s hesitant and somewhat shaken to kill this poor deer. The deer’s survival instinct reminds him of himself, when facing death in the eyes he becomes fearless – in one of the episode’s stunning visual metaphor: the deer becomes a vision of him. The notion of death, or rather, the cycle of life, is further elevated by the point of view of Nihei Tetsuzou, who regards to die in the forest, get eaten by the animals and become animal shit as a perfect cycle of life (that view is shared by Asirpa too). Killing and hunting are one main identity of Golden Kamuy, and it makes a fair distinction between those. In Golden Kamuy, human hunt animals, but they pay proper respect and believe the prey’s presence go back to the nature of life. Killing, on the other hand, is merciless and receive no such respect.

In a completely different sense, we can view this episode as the games of several hunters. On one side we have our duo hunting the deer (I swear I stop bringing up that poor deer now), on the other side we have superhunter and deserted soldier hunt for legendary white wolf. Then we have Asirpa and Sugimoto hunt these villains instead and now it’s a matter of which team can outlast the other. And this wonderful standoff in the end furthers bring the main premise back up front, now that the bear-hunter himself carry that skinned map in his body. It’s a single stone that kill two birds huh? Save Rectar and have the map for themselves. One last thing I’ve noticed though is the way Golden Kamuy increasingly hints us at the possible death of Sugimoto (this week it plays out as a joke and the way he sees himself in that poor de– Damn, again), and it’s that the case I think it makes sense as Sugimoto is pretty much the tragic hero suited only for battle, so he’d have no place when the war and this gold chase are over.

I’m particularly worried about the pacing of Golden Kamuy, which is as messy as it gets. The pacing has no problem speed through the action chases to the ridiculous level, then slow down several notches for more cooking in the wilderness, Asirpa’s crazy face and Sugimoto surprisingly uninjured face after got skewered. We get to see more of the madness (awesomely madness) side the duo’s foes, from Captain Tsurumi with his melted brain and manages to run straight after got kicked out by the horse and rolled several metres or Hijikata who is just happy to chop people’s heads, enjoying the snowy wind and preparing to shake things up to die… and now we even have a small team of hunters who isn’t after the gold but to hunt the last Japanese white wolf on Earth. I’m not so sure about the last gang and how it’s relevant to the main plot, but my main gripe so far of Golden Kamuy besides the pacing is the side characters. The twin, as expected, is pure cold-blooded bastard. The guy with the hammer forehead has no real deep or role except whenever he spells out Hijikata’s plans and motives.

The main chemistry between Sugimoto and Asirpa remains strong, despite the fact that they act mostly like a lover’s quarrel this week. Last episode, we know that Sugimoto left her behind because he cares about her well-being, and this week, we got an answer from Asirpa’s point of view. Screw it. She’s taking the role knowing full well about its risk, and the one who acts up and screws up is Sugimoto himself. It’s as strong a response as you can get, and I don’t mind the new member of our crew – the Escape King who so far is portraited as a comic relief. I would rather have him as a laid-back guy who lighten the mood than having eating sequences that for me just feel so out of place. We also get to see more about Hijikata and his gang, and the only thing we learn so far is that he isn’t the one to be messed with (and he’s both master of sword and gun huh?). Well, despite it’s a plot-heavy episode the whole content lacking in actual engagement, as it serves more of building up the gangs into the great battles. At least after this episode I can safely say that all the players are in place, so the next moves are going to be vital.

Given the brisk pace Golden Kamuy usually sprint through its storyline, breather moments like those in the first half of this episode is much needed. Not only it allows the events happened so far to sink in, it also gives more space to strengthen out main’s dynamic. In addition, it’s informative to say the very least that we get to learn more about the Ainu culture while they’re staying in Asirpa’s village, something that doesn’t discuss quite often in this medium. But by saying all that I feel Golden Kamuy drags at times when they focus too much on the Ainu traditions. That part about Sugimoto playing kisarari game with the children doesn’t need to be there for example, neither does those Ainu cuisines that pop up here and there. Those feel like more the author showing off his knowledge on the Ainu people than it has anything to do with the treasure hunt story, and that tonal whiplash hurts the show more than it helps. Golden Kamuy is the show that has no qualms at depicting excessive violence, like this week’s skewers, because it’s the nature of the show. Having Sugimoto tries (and fails) desperately at some children’s games feel like it belongs to another show altogether.

The main event coming out of that part, however, is that Sugimoto leaves Asirpa behind to pursuit the goal alone. It’s nothing dramatic though since all of us know for certain that they will get back together soon, but this marks an improvement to their relationship. Why, you ask? Many wonders if Sugimoto misunderstands what grandma said to him (FYI, the manga purposely leaves the part untranslated, so we, like Sugimoto, just gets grandma’s intention purely through her expression). I’m certain that he gets what she meant, and decides to leaves Asirpa behind because now he cares for her well-being. They’re close enough that he wants her out of this dangerous game that put their lives on the line. Consider this as a friendly brotherly act from Sugimoto. Asirpa, naturally, doesn’t take it easily since she herself has a history of being abandoned by the ones dear to her – which boasted by a bizarre flashback of the White Wolf (White Fang?) abandoned her BUT I SWEAR I SEE HIM FOLLOWING HER EVERYTIME (so what’s the use of “abandoned” then?). She embarks on her own journey to catch up with Sugimoto and catches Shiraishi, the Escape King instead. I like this guy well enough and I could see him joining the duo as a comic relief/ supporting guy who say cheese every time, and boy do I welcome him joining in for this quest.

About Sugimoto, we’re all aware of Sugimoto the Immortal and not necessary Sugimoto the Wiseman, as he gets himself caught almost immediately by the Grim Reaper. The Immortal vs. the Grim Reaper’s gonna be a fight worth dying for, right? On that note, do you know the simple way to make your character badass? Make them as bold as possible (like a guy whose parts of brain missing) and then have them enjoying something cute. The image of him eating the kushi dango while making serious face will forever burn through my brain, thank you very much Golden Kamuy. It doesn’t take much time for the 7^th Hokkaido Unit to identify Sugimoto, because as Grandma puts it, his turenpe is… distinguishable. Now we know the army’s main objective for the race, to buy arms from the US in order to rule the Hokkaido. The post-war dissatisfaction from ex-soldiers is a well-trodden path, but it fits to Golden Kamuy’s theme so I have no complain. What I do find unpleasant, however, is the character’s designs of the 7^th Unit soldiers, especially their dead fish-eyes. Usually those eyes are used to portrait dummy, doll or characters with no soul and I don’t think these guys have no soul. The twin soldiers in this episode act a bit sadistic as well, make me wonder if the show’s gonna evil them up to inhuman level as the story goes on. And we also have those tattooed escaped prisoners who still lurking somewhere in the dark.

We have a sparser episode compared to the one last week, but believe me it’s still a dense episode with many seeds being planted and this week is essentially your Ainu 101 episode. The mangaka does a thoroughly research over Ainu culture, and he’s more than happy to show off here. But apart from the Ainu cooking porn in which I still feel out of place, Golden Kamuy uses the Ainu traditions and their culture to inform us about who Asirpa is and where her perspective comes from. Take the matter of rising a cub for example, Anui’s belief is to raise them and send them back to their kamuy (Anui’s god) life through sacrifice. It’s a fascinating view to how they approach life and death and I do really respect their belief. Asirpa belief grows beyond that view, the way she approaches it more realistically and she says it best herself “Our beliefs contain our way of life”. It could apply to any culture, to any individual belief out there. She really is mature and wise beyond her age.

Plot-wise, the duo gets chased down by more members of 7^th Hokkaido unit, this time they all meet their miserable end, but not without a good fight. There of the soldiers are in hot pursuit for Sugimoto, and he escapes them just by a hair only because of Asirpa’s wisdom (although I like his quick resolve I have to say the “Bears won’t attack people who enter their hole” setup was hastily set up here). And the three still manage to take down the bear before dying themselves, just to show us the fighting spirits of those men (one of the men even had his face ripped off. Badass). Another soldier pursuits Asirpa and nearly kills her when he realized that she’s involved, but soon taken by the white wolf, Retar. If there is one central moral of this Golden Kamuy story, it is you need to kill your opponent properly because otherwise they’ll come back to haunt you. Asirpa leaves that poor soldier Tanigaki alive, and he vows to kill the wolf at all cost. I’m not keen on this development at all. It means trouble.

Speaking of Sugimoto and Asirpa’s real troubles, I’m worried for Asirpa’s kotan right now as the two seems to forget that they are being followed by a bunch of ruthless and skilful teams. The enemies’ character designs have now gotten to Rurouni Kenshin’s level of ridiculousness, which personally I’m not fond of, but well I can’t disagree that both teams following our duo are badass and will prove to be real threats. On the one hand, we have the army unit, lead by a “missing-the-front-of-his skull” Tsurumi, so you know he’s mad as hell, and on the other we have Hijikata himself, who figures out the way to take the tattoo NOT by skinning them off, so naturally he just kills for the fun of it (that’s half-true though). The next step should be for those two hot pursuers to kill off each other, right?

Leave it to Japanese cartoon that done the Western genre better than the Westerners, at least from what we have seen so far (note: despite my pun, Western the genre doesn’t refer to the Western culture, but to the American Old West). Granted, Japanese cinema and literature has a strong tradition of samurai genre, which in some ways share many similarities in characteristics with Western genre. For me though, I still consider Golden Kamuy a Western one, and (so far) a good one at that. Treasure hunt is one of the most popular premise within the genre for one thing, and then we have its focus on the wilderness. The vast isolated landscape becomes a character on its own and Golden Kamuy certainly shares this. It has snowy mountain backdrop that sets in Hokkaido and the manga (remains a question mark for the anime) pays extremely careful details to Hokkaido places and the atmosphere. Social order and moral ambiguity also play important roles, so far Golden Kamuy carries many of those traits within Sugimoto character. Ex-solider, now becomes sort of nobody who looks for huge amount of money, and in the episode 2 we see his stance for his moral code: he isn’t a murderer, but if there is anyone going to kill him, he’ll kill them first without hesitation. Lastly, Western genre is famous for depicting minorities community, for better or for worse, and Golden Kamuy follows that tradition with a well-research presentation on the Anui people. On those fronts, Golden Kamuy is rather exceptional.

What I’m worried about this show, though, comes from its production. I watched Kokkoku last season and I feel the production of that show was only functionable, not exceptional or anything. It remains doubtful whether the new Geno Studio can do justice for this popular source. CGI bears aside*, the animation isn’t that consistent to be honest. There are many still frames that was a shot-by-shot with its manga source, so while it looks alright in stills, the lack of movement remains a concern. The characters look slightly off model in some scenes, and this is just second episode. I have my real worry that the production could fall apart as the series go one.

Get into the event of this second episode, this episode is jam-packed with actions and details and splits into three parts: 1) the pair gets into Otaru, the biggest city of Hokkaido and finds another tattooed prisoner there, 2) dinner, Ainu style (do they really eat the brain raw? Eew) and 3) another life and death situation – but hilariously so – with the third tattooed prisoner, an Escape Master. This episode also marks the end of the first volume of the manga, which for me the anime runs at a reasonable pace. We learn about a lot more enemies to our duo beside the bears. On one hand we have the whole 7^th Hokkaido division, one of the strongest army unit involved to this gold hunting. The guy Sugimoto faces this time, Oogata is a threatening opponent. I like the way how, after he shoots the first prisoner death, he leaves the corpse there to pursuits the duo instead. Just show you how professional, and experienced this guy is. Kill all the hazards first, then skin the corpse. He manages to escape Sugimoto the Immortal and manages to survive himself, which means that now the army division will be actively involved in tracking Sugimoto and Aspira.

Still, even in this harsh, “the strong alive the weak die” world, there’s always time for more food porn. I get the intent that Golden Kamuy wants to delve deeper to Anui culture – and indeed, so far the show has shown its appreciation and respect to the Anui people – but the tone whiplash here is too severe. When these two characters have that chibi style and fluffy reactions (especially during Sugimoto exclaims(!!!) “This is so good”, I have a feeling someone padding me in my back and telling me I’m a good boy – the amount of self-indulgence is unBEARable. Other than that, the attitude towards Anui culture is overall positively portrayed in the show. Take a scene where the Escape King mocking Sugimoto about Aspira in which she sets aside and said “I’m used to it”, it just speaks volume here. The way Sugimoto feels about the insult isn’t subtle but it’s the right kind of attitude towards those kind race discrimination.

The last segment turns this capturing and chasing game into some odd whimsical enemy-turn-comrade situation, but for the show as grim and dark as this, a little light tone is more than welcome (just don’t go for food). Again, the setting of winter Hokkaido becomes its own character, it’s a force of nature for our characters to overcome. We learn more about the Leader of this prisoner gangs, who was a Samurai before and a scary figure that our duo need to be mindful of. I like this Escape King character and I figure we will see him back again soon. Overall, we have s busy episode where we got introduced to many major characters. The gold is nowhere in sight, the myth keeps getting more mysterious and heads certainly will roll and skins certainly will get ripped off. It’s a marvellous ride, now let’s all see if the production can keep up with it.

* I think the world has complained more than enough about those bears in the first episode that it isn’t worth beating that dead CGI bear dead horse at this point – although I can offer the reason why the director Nanba Hitoshi thinks it was a good idea. In one of the interview, he remarked that “[] bear have a special status for the Ainu, so I think the way to show them is different from other animals.” TAKE THAT.