By now you’ve probably heard the news that Golden Kamuy will be getting a second season beginning this Fall – which effectively means this was a split cour series.  This does not come as entirely surprising news to me, as you know if you’ve been following my posts – a second season always seemed possible given that the Stalker numbers looked at least decent and the manga remains extremely popular.  As it turns out this has clearly been in the planning all along, so those sales numbers (and let’s not forget that the discs were delayed by a month) weren’t going to be a deciding factor.

But there’s still a great sense of relief in knowing this excellent story will continue in the telling, and “season finale” is always one of my favorite phrases to type.  While the pacing for Golden Kamuy was certainly brisk (this was not a narrative that ever let moss grow on its back), I get the sense that’s more just the nature of the writing than the anime being in a hurry.  And there was never any hint that the anime was going to try and reach a conclusion this season, what with this massive story still being in the expansion phase.  Now, I guess, we know why.

Indeed, this final episode was one of the least “final” in the series so far, I think.  It was quite stand-alone in nature, focusing as much on a side story and on Shirashi as on the main canon plot.  Of course this being Golden Kamuy it and the new character it introduced are still connected to the main story.  That character is Inkamrmat (Mamiko Noto, joining the group of A-listers in this cast) an Ainu (probably) woman who’s bewitched the village of Naganuma with her purported fortune-telling.  Team Sugimoto is forced to head there to replenish their war chest through hunting after Shiraishi’s mishap with their explosives (not to mention he borrowed money from Asirpa and gambled it away at the racetrack).

While it can be very unpleasant to watch (and that fox trap certainly qualifies) I do appreciate that Noda-sensei never spares the harsh details of Ainu hunting practices. There’s a message here about cultural biases, no question.  While these people are doing what they have to do (and have done for centuries) to survive, I’m certainly uncomfortable with stuff like snagging a fox’s head on nails in a bucket and whaling as a general matter.  I’m not in any position to judge here, just acknowledging my own biases – and Golden Kamuy for not sugarcoating reality in order to appease them.

I don’t think there’s any question that Inkarmat is a charlatan rather than a mystic, and Asirpa  – the modern Ainu girl – agrees.  Nevertheless, she’s clever – the way she’s able to manipulate both the locals and Shiraishi certainly proves that.  And what’s more, she knows more about Asirpa than random chance would suggest – even noting that her eyes are very much like her father’s.   There are still three (by my count) prisoners with their illustrated skins unaccounted for – I wonder if Inkarmat might be one of them.

The other subplot here involves Kiroanke stepping in to ride a horse in a race the local Yakuza boss has fixed.  It’s not surprising that Kiroanke is comfortable around horses, though his physique certainly isn’t what we’d normally associate with that profession.  It’s an interesting side to him, but feels kind of like omake material to be honest – apart from his involvement causing Shiraishi to lose all his money again I don’t see that much of direct import to the story happening here.  The most interesting element here is that Inkarmat uses a bit of Shiraishi’s stash to buy one ticket on Kiroanke’s horse (which wins) instead of throwing them all on #6 (the yakuza ride) that she’s told him to bet on.

Shiraishi is an interesting one.  He plays the fool well, as Ushiyama notes, and indeed in many respects he does seem foolish – but he’s a shrewd man, and he’s playing both sides skillfully here.  At some point the truth will come out and he’ll have to decide on his true loyalty, assuming Sugimoto lets him live long enough.  In the meantime the story is headed to the town of Yuubari, where Ienaga – who’s survived and come under Hijikata’s control – has suggested there might be another skin to be found.  Shiraishi doesn’t tell Sugimoto and Asirpa where he got that information, of course – and it seems likely he’s under orders to get the rest of his group to Yuubari to check out the veracity of Ienaga’s story on Hijikata’s behalf.  But Tsurumi is already there – showing a particular interest in a grave robber with a very interesting glove…

And that’s where we leave it – rather suddenly and sharply, perhaps, but given the news earlier it’s not really an issue.  With many split cour shows it’s best to just think of them as one long season with a gap in the middle, and I think that applies to Golden Kamuy.  I join those who wish the production values were a bit more regal, but that’s a small quibble – as long as excessive CGI was avoided I actually think Geno did an excellent job in terms of character animation and cinematography.  This is a fascinating, intense and rather unique story and it’s easy to see why the manga has racked up pretty much every major award in the industry.  It’s the kind of show that makes one feel all hope is not lost for the future of anime – especially when it can get more than one season.  With this series, Fall can’t come soon enough.

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