We may be finding ourselves in another season where Mob Psycho 100 and its rival for the top spot fire shots across the other’s bow, week after week.  Last time around it was Dororo (both aired on the same day, in fact) and this time Golden Kamuy.  And you know, that would be fine with me since it would mean two great series every week worthy of AotY consideration.  Mob is a funny series for me in that way – it never seems to have an easy path.  Both of the first two seasons were plenty good enough to be my #1 series in many years – just not the ones in which they aired.

The thing with Golden Kamuy, is well…  It’s just nuts.  Noda Satoru pulls off stuff no other manga would even try, and that’s a quality that never fails to score points with me.  I have something of the same awe in watching this series as I do with Made in Abyss – that is to say, marvelling at the imagination and thought process behind them.  It manifests very differently with Noda than Tsukushi obviously, but I just wonder how the hell he thinks of this stuff.  Sometimes outrageousness for its own sake can come off a little precious and self-aware, but somehow with Golden Kamuy it always somehow winds up feeling essential to the plot.

As noted earlier, this phase of the story is actually ported over from earlier in the manga.  Nanba Hitoshi and Takagi Noboru skipped it in Season 3 in order to make that one continuously flowing narrative – which I think was 100% the right decision.  As such we have what amounts to a Hijikata detour for an episode and a half at the start of S4.  It reunites us with some of Noda’s larger than life characters, and gives spotlight to some new ones.  He seems to have an endless supply of them – as I’ve said before, one of the key’s to GK’s success is that Noda writes every character like they’re the star of their own series.

Ushiyama is alive of course – how much poison would it take to kill that guy, seriously?  And he bashes his way out of his coffin, physically sound but bereft of his senses as a result of the poison.  He runs into the fat kid, whose name turns out to be Chiyotarou (and is actually played by Kobayashi Yumiko, which I got wrong last week).  He winds us rescuing him from the tree the local bullies had tied him to, and introduces himself (or so Chiyotarou convinces himself) as “Obenchou” (pussy), which then gets repeated about a thousand times.  Winning over Pussy’s affection with dried peaches, Chiyotarou embarks on a grand adventure with the giant, though he’s gotten more than he bargained for.

Meanwhile Sekiya has sent a ransom note to “asshole inspector” Kadokura (ransoming is what he does), but Nagakura has already left with the skins Sekiya is demanding in exchange for Hijikata’s life.  Kadokura and Kirawus (Maeno Tomoaki) – the Ainu tracker – have to wing a plan to try and trick the poisoner and coerce him (this involves Kadokura hiding Kirawus’ precious Ainu blade between his ass cheeks) to take them to Hijikata.  But Sekiya is a careful bastard, and has arrives wearing gerori (geta ice skates) to facilitate his escape.  This actually plays right into Kirawus’ plan, but Uchiyama’s untimely appearance from under the ice (Chiyotarou has just tried to murder him for the good of the town) puts the kibosh on that plan.

Eventually this builds to a showdown between asshole and examiner at the silkworm processing factory where he’s hiding out (a cocoon falling out of Ushiyama’s clothes tipped off Meitantei Kadokura).  Everything comes down to another of Sekiya’s sick games of chance, once which Kadokura is certain he’ll lose but engages in willingly for Hijikata’s sake.  As the two sit waiting for the poison to kick in and determine the winner, Sekiya reveals to Kadokura the true reason why he chose the path he did – and it really comes down to the belief that he’s been singled out by God for testing.

Noda’s gift for making supporting characters charismatic and engaging is second to none, and Kadokura is no exception.  He’s a fascinating fellow, one of the naturally funnier members of the cast (and that’s saying something).  And he seems to have the wrong idea about his luck, because his ill fortune has a habit of coming full circle and turning out to be good fortune in the end.  As for Hijikata, he has the last laugh on Sekiya as a result of his youth in the apothecary trade (I have no idea if that’s actually a thing), and the latter meets the fate of seemingly all serial killers in Golden Kamuy – though he does die believing he’s found the answer he was searching for.