At the risk of being repetitive, there really is nothing in the world like a Golden Kamuy episode.  And to further the risk, this series really is fearless.  The sense one gets is that Noda Satoru just doesn’t give a flip about any sort of storytelling convention or who he offends – he just riffs with whatever strikes his fancy and lets the rest of the world worry about.  The highbrow-lowbrow intermingling with GK is positively Pythonian in nature, but this OVA may be one of the most Python-esque episodes yet.

Basically, this entire episode (not including the zoological epilogue) is one long setup for one forehead-to-table punchline.  Really, that’s all it is – and Kiroanke’s “That’s the end?  What a waste of time!  I’m going to sleep.” at the close of Shirashi’s story was the perfect reaction.  Except if you’re a fan of this series you were probably laughing your ass off at how stupid it all was, even if you saw it coming about 30 seconds before the punchline hit.

So what did we have here?  Some anal cavity searches, jerking off to nuns, a guest appearance by the unforgettable Henmi-san and Nihei Tetsuzou, and a whole lot of Shiraishi being his irreplaceable goofy-ass self.  Basically, he’s recounting to the Hijikata group how he came to be known as the Escape King, and it all ties back to a forger named Chouran (Furukawa Toshio), one of Shiraishi’s cellmates during one of his early prison stretches.  He knows Shiraishi will break out sooner or later, and begs to be included – and Shiraishi asks for a shunga (an old-school dirty picture) as payment.  Chouran draws one of Sister Miyazawa, a nun who he says used to visit the prison.  Shiraishi doesn’t take Chouran in the end of course – the first rule of prison breaks is, you always go alone.  But the shunga changes his life.

Basically, Shiraishi is a total idiot with no sense at all who happens to be exceptionally good at one thing – escaping from prison.  Well, two things if you include getting thrown into prison.  Which he does repeatedly, following up every escape with a visit to another prison where Sister Miyazawa supposedly visits, and promptly gets imprisoned again.  This eventually gets him dumped at Abashiri, but that turns out to be his big break because Sister Miyazawa actually does show up.  And then, you know, the punchline.

A very interesting interview featuring Noda-sensei and Vinland Saga mangaka Yukimura Makoto appeared this week.  it was no coincidence that I mentioned GK in my VS review, and it’s no coincidence that these two men admire the other’s work – as different as they are tonally, they share a tremendous dedication to the depiction of a “foreign” culture in an accurate manner.  It also emerged this week that Golden Kamuy will be getting a third season – not a surprise given how popular the anime has been (though that itself was a big surprise to me), though there was some question of whether there’d be enough source material.  OVA’s are always a lot more fun when you know there’s another season coming, and more Golden Kamuy is a shot in the arm anime desperately needs.  May Vinland Saga prove to be as lucky – and popular.