Well, raise your hand if you saw that coming (manga readers need not participate).
That was one wild ride. All in all that may have been one of the most breathless and exhilarating anime episodes I’ve seen in a long time, though one gets the sense that it may have crammed one too many manga chapters in. Never having deep-dived into the source material it’s hard to know how different the pacing and feel is in anime form, but I’m continually struck by how dense Golden Kamuy is. There’s always a lot of stuff going on, and a lot of iconic characters doing it.
We begin with a little toilet humor – quite literally. Henmi Kazuo has forgotten for the moment that he’s hidden his latest victim in the outhouse – which presents rather a rude surprise for Asirpa when she goes to use it. The next stage is a study in crisis management for Asirpa – she realizes that the killer is likely somewhere among the bunkhouse crew, and sees Sugimoto disappearing up the hillside (fleeing the just-arrived 7th) in Henmi’s company. But at the moment, she has bigger problems on her hands. And other places.
After that, it’s pretty much all just craziness that words on a screen can’t possibly do justice to. Lt. Tsurumi playing the piano, and waxing philosophical with the owner of the herring company (who, naturally, is kind of nuts himself). Henmi blissing out on death fantasies and generally making Hisoka seem well-adjusted and normal. Hemni sticking a bayonet in a soldier’s eye and then getting shot by the same soldier. The owner showing off his Maxim gun (the first recoil-operated machine gun and a hugely important part of military history).
The kicker, though, has to be the orca. I mean, who the hell has an orca come out of the water and pull a serial killer right off the beach? That’s one of the wildest things I’ve seen in a long time and I probably should’ve been irritated by the absurdity of it, but somehow – it fit. This leads directly to Sugimoto stripping naked in front of Asirpa (I was actually surprised she gave a damn about modesty) and diving into the water to “save” Henmi – though it’s the man’s skin he’s out to save, as he’s half-dead or more already. Oh, and Asirpa harpoons the orca and uses it as an outboard to enable their getaway from the pursuing Tsurumi.
For someone who was only around for two episodes Hemni made one hell of an impression (funnily enough, one could say the exact same thing about Nihei). A total sicko, a serial killer – but there was something kind of magnetic about the guy that made me sorry to see him buy it so quickly. In any even Golden Kamuy doesn’t even think of slowing down after the death a major character, never mind stopping – the story continues to hammer along at breakneck speed, advancing on a dizzying array of fronts.
One of those is a rebellion inside the 7th, led by Sgt. Ogata (remember him??. He’s turned up at Asirpa’s family home along with the surviving Nikadou twin (I forget which one). That presents a rude surprise for Tanigaki, who’s obviously grown attached to the Ainu family that saved his life. Ogata is convinced that Tanigaki killed the soldiers he was on patrol with when he found out they were planning a rebellion, and seems to be using Granny and Osoma as hostages to get the truth out of him – but in the end he seems to leave in peace. That’s only a trick, though – though in his defense, he does at least go out of his way to try and avoid the civilians being taken out as collateral damage.
Not to be forgotten, old man Hijikata is trailing Sugimoto and Shiraishi (who’s now a double-agent, let’s not forget). And he, too, seems to be negotiating via threat – this time towards Asirpa herself. It’s not worth Hijikata’s time to force a confrontation with Sugimoto now – he has a man on the inside, and Sugimoto seems to be doing better at finding tattoos than anybody. But he’s obviously not a man to be trusted, or likely to be concerned about collateral damage that might occur as a result of his grand scheme. So many players, so many agendas – and Sugimoto and Asirpa at the eye of the storm. This is great storytelling, no matter how much story it’s telling in any given week.
DP
June 5, 2018 at 9:16 amAs a non-manga reader, from what I can tell, I feel like this SHOULD be a good show, but I have to say I don’t agree with your assessment of it at all.
This show is a complete tonal mess, constantly seesawing between childish humor and extreme violence (what’s with all the boner jokes?); the animation (even ignoring the awkward CG) is generally poor; and the writing and direction seems haphazard, and frequently lazy. They’ve introduced too many characters, with too many motivations, far too quickly, and the whole thing is just failing to cohere in any sort of compelling fashion.
At the beginning, I thought despite the anime’s failings, the story seemed interesting enough that I should pick up the manga. However, the anime has just been SO bad of late, that I’m starting to fear that maybe even the source material isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
chevira
June 5, 2018 at 10:53 amIt constantly seesawing from humor and extreme violence because the anime is trying to cram too many stuff as much as possible within 12 episod(it seems like they want to end with the start of the 2nd arc), this make some joke feels weak because it was supposed to be tied with the situation they have, the ainu culture and some history reference which they kind of skip, the average animation at best is not enough to carry the joke most of the time. And the boner joke, its just a character trait the current prey (flavor) of the week have.
You might think have introduce a lot of characters with different motivation, but most of them are prey (flavor) of the week their motivation and trait arent really important to the whole plot they are just there to be hunted by sugimoto and co. There are really just 3 main motivation in the anime as of now and it will stay 3 until later on.
It might feel like there is a lot going on but it really just the anime trying to cram a lot of stuff not being able to slow down, they end the episode with a cliffhanger and finish it on the first half of the next episode, and start a new problem at the 2nd half so the episode.
Guardian Enzo
June 5, 2018 at 5:53 pmThe only thing I can add to this is that it comes down to the eye of the beholder. This is totally working for me – though it must be noted that the more negative takes seem to be coming from up-do-date manga readers, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
chevira
June 5, 2018 at 6:59 pmIt also dosent help that even after several episode the manga readers tell everyone to stop watching the series and just read it because of the cg bear and cg fire.
Guardian Enzo
June 5, 2018 at 7:53 pmI agree that is exceptionally annoying. But it happens with pretty much every adaptation of a beloved source material, and to be fair not all of the manga readers do it.
Shinrakugin
June 5, 2018 at 12:13 pmIs this Henmi dude related to Hisoka somehow? Because Jesus man what’s all that gleaming
GC
June 5, 2018 at 5:13 pmAt ;east the Orca was better animated then a bear. This show is one hell of a roller coaster (in a good way).
suxing
June 10, 2018 at 4:09 amAs a manga reader, the anime actually feels like a cakewalk to me when it comes to following the various different threads of ongoing plot — or maybe it’s just that things become even more complicated given the expanded cast and all the fracturing/reforming of alliances later on in the manga? Which isn’t a criticism, just an observation. Despite all the concurrent events happening at this point in the story, everything still feels simpler in retrospect.
re: the orca, I agree with you 100%. In any other series I’d dismiss it as poor writing, but somehow, tonally, it just fits the slightly surrealistic mythological/cultural background of Golden Kamuy, absurd coincidences be damned.
re: most manga readers being hyper-critical of the anime, I can sort of understand where they’re coming from, but given the limits of the medium, I think the anime’s doing a remarkable job adapting the material. Despite knowing what’s going to happen next, I’m still very engaged in and entertained by the events unfolding on screen. Tanigaki’s abrupt departure from Asirpa’s house in particular moved me in a way that the manga never quite did.