At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Golden Kamuy is pretty damn great. There are certain series where the quality of the writing just shines through in everything, and this is one of them. Every character is distinct and vibrant, and most of them are larger than life. The plot is an intricate web of complications that are exposited so effortlessly that it’s a piece of cake to follow. It effortlessly transitions between genres, never a slave to any but a sterling representation of all. This is the kind of story than would be great in any medium and any language – the fact the particulars of this one are uniquely Japanese is a happy happenstance.
There are so many faces to this show, literally and figuratively, and any number of them seem as if they would have no problem carrying a series on their own. The face of this arc is definitely Nihei Tetsuzou, and the dominant theme is the hunt for the white wolf. Nihei is such a towering presence that even the brooding and severe Tanigaki seems to disappear beneath it. His obsession with Retar is pretty simple – he’s killed over 200 bears, and it’s clear he doesn’t get much thrill from it anymore. The idea that there’s only one Hokkaido wolf left, and that it was the one smart enough to survive this long. literally makes Nihei erect with his desire to kill him. This is an imperative I will never understand – “this thing is so beautiful and so unique that I must kill it” – but undeniably there are many hunter types who are slaves to it.
Nihei is intricately involved in this story above and beyond the hunt for Retar – he wears the tattoos as well, having been sent to prison for killing three soldiers who dared try and rob him of one of his kills. Nihei is, frankly, a psychopath – but he’s legitimately fearless and his surety of purpose has a hypnotic pull on Tanigaki. He effectively shames the younger man into rejecting his soldier’s past and embracing his heritage as a Matagi, even promising him the white wolf’s pelt as a trophy to bring back and use to get back into the good graces of his people.
Sugimoto and Asirpa, meanwhile, are still on the trail of the deer Sugimoto wounded the day before. Sugimoto’s obsession with not letting the deer suffer is rather fascinating, given how many men he’s killed and wounded in battle. In fact, when he does get the chance to finish the job (thanks to Asirpa’s tracking skills) he hesitates, awed and shamed by the deer’s fierce determination to cling to life. Sugimoto is a complicated man, to be certain – and it’s left to Retar to finish off the deer (or rather, hold it down so Asirpa can do it). Retar senses the presence of the other hunters while Asirpa is dressing the kill, forcing the trio to flee the scene (Retar with a leg and Sugimoto with the head – Asirpa loves her brains).
Even as seemingly amusing events are taking place involving both parties, the tension her is building big-time – it’s clear that paths are converging and this situation is about to explode. Nihei suggests that he and Tanigaki bathe together – citing the Matagi ritual to throw the prey off the scent, but more likely to test his reaction when he sees the tattoos. Meanwhile Shiraishi has returned to Asirpa and Sugimoto’s lean-to, bearing sake – and the three of them proceed to get plastered while eating disgusting parts of the deer carcass. Even knowing what’s coming this is some pretty hilarious stuff – especially from Asirpa. But she sobers up fast when Shirashi tells them what he’s heard in town.
Between Nihei’s cunning and Tangaki’s acumen and local knowledge, it seems as if Retar’s luck is finally going to run out. But Asirpa intervenes in the nick of time, putting off that tragedy for the moment. Nihei and Sugimoto meeting up seems t0 be the proverbial irresistible force meeting the immovable object – something has to give here, and much is on the line besides Retar’s pelt. Sugimoto senses that this is an important moment in the hunt for the gold, but he’ll need to survive a gory battle with the ruthless Nihei for that to matter – and just where has Tanigaki gotten to while all this is going on?
sonicsenryaku
May 15, 2018 at 6:45 amWow….Golden Kamuy ep 6 was easily the best looking one of the entire series. Everything from the art direction (which has always been good) to the character designs to the shot compositions have never been stronger. Whoever was the animation director on this ep should show up on the series more often (either that or the production team as a whole got more time to work on this ep). If each episode looks this good from here on out, we’re looking at a much more visually cohesive final 6 episodes. As i said before, the inconsistent visuals of golden kamuy stem from more than just the cgi bear. Some viewers are under the impression that other than that blemish, the series looks great and i couldn’t disagree any more. The visuals of the show aren’t a travesty, but there are problems; so much so that even the blu-rays are being delayed so that these problems can be fixed.
That aside, this episode also happened to be the strongest when it came to handling its exposition. Dialogue felt more like true conversation pieces rather than a formal regurgitation of backstories and motivations. Studying the film “Pulp fiction” has really spoiled me regarding my expectations for a narrative when it comes to exposition XD. Anyway, regarding Sugimoto, there’s seems to be this element of PTSD to his character that inexorably drives him to want to survive. A part of me is under the assumption that he was always afraid of war and in order to cope with the trauma, he deluded himself into believing that he was immortal which ironically kept him alive. This ep gives weight to the words he said to Asirpa in ep 3 about killing in order to live; that’s some pretty good writing there. My only tiny gripe with an otherwise promising bit of characterization is that the anime took this long to broach this aspect of Sugimoto’s internal conflict, which almost makes his trauma feel as if it came out of nowhere….just almost. I’m willing to consider his trauma didn’t start bothering him as much until recently due to being exposed to the elements of the wilderness and dancing with death even though the war has long since ended.
Yukie
May 15, 2018 at 6:15 pmI love how all the animals are characters of their own right. Ryuu’s facial expressions~
sonicsenryaku
May 15, 2018 at 6:50 pmyea i know right. In a hokkaido full of badasses, even animals like Retar are inaugurated into the group of badasses as if he was a main part of the cast
Sam
May 15, 2018 at 6:50 pmI’m watching this and Hinamatsuri (and Boku no Hero s3). A while since I watched this many series. Half way in, they are all quite good.
Both are getting better (as I expected) as it gets into stories and my hope is somehow they get a good response and 2nd season.
My impression is that Golden Kamuy may get some decent audience but due to gore and stuff, it’s still not a certain while Hinamatsuri is just not that popular. I have no evidence to back that impression though. 🙂
At least so far both series haven’t rushed (story-wise) too much, especially Golden Kamui, and pacing is more or less as if they aren’t a 12 ep deal.
Hinamattsuri just chose to focus on stories around some characters instead so far, which resulted in pretty much cutting out most, if not all, of Nitta’s Yakuza group side of storyline (which is quite hilarious slapstick stuff on its own right IMO, if one doesn’t take the subject matter seriously).
Ronbb
May 16, 2018 at 9:45 pmThis episode kept me on the edge of my seat almost from start to finish, and I’m glad that Retar’s still alive… Yes, Aspira and her brains…and her enthusiasm in telling Sugimoto how to prep them. I see that as a cute side of her.
ssva
May 19, 2018 at 10:01 pmThe first half of the episode was such a hinna matsuri (hinna hinna!) – and the rest is just bloody tense. Oh wait actually the entire episode is bloody. Eh. Anyway, superb episode!