Golden Kamuy is like a clown (that’s a theme this week) car full of magnificent bastards. Every time you think there couldn’t possibly be another one in there, they come tumbling out and dance all over the screen. And leave to Noda Satoru to get an It reference and a gun-totin’ mailman (played by Koyama Rikiya) with delusions of grandeur in there too for good measure. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – there’s nothing in the world like a Golden Kamuy episode.
Before all that, we also have a very creepy peddler who goes around promising kids candy and giving them lumps of coal instead. And a big gathering in Sapporo, as both Hijikata and a Tsurumi advance party have descended on the place. Team Sugimito is on the trail of the peddler who supposedly has strange tattoos and asks about gold, but then why they find him (after Shiraishi does his best Pennywise impression) the tattoos seem to be on his face. Still, he delivers a parting shot for Asirpa’s ears – “you’ll never find the gold”. That seems to be a recurring theme as Season 4 draws towards a conclusion – could the skin game have been a wild goose chase all along?
No question about it, the dominant figure of this episode is the man they call the Pirate – also known as Boutarou and Oosawa Fusatarou. He’d only turned up once before but as prominent as he in the OP he pretty much had to be a key figure sooner or later. And he’s yet another M.B. who acts like he’s the star and the others have just been keeping the seat warm for him. He’s following the same trail as Sugimoto and Asirpa, and he too has come to believe – thanks to an encounter with a certain tattooed yakuza in Sapporo – that the skin chase is ultimately futile.
It’s on a steamboat where the Pirate and our heroes finally cross paths – as the former is in the process of robbing it. That’t where the mailman, Nozawa Niheiji – who immediately dubs himself “the postman from Hell” – comes in. This is one of the most hilarious turns in the series, and largely unnecessary to the main plot as many of them are. He’s convinced himself he’s a one-man army but in fact it’s Vasily (who eventually gets cut loose from the main boat) who’s cutting down the robbers. If Asirpa hadn’t knocked the old fool overboard he’d never have survived the trip.
Boutarou is a man of big dreams, that’s for certain. He seems to regard Shiraishi with much affection, and while he and Sugimoto don’t exactly get off on the right foot, the Pirate warms to him too. He wants to take the gold and make his own country, having forever been an outsider after his family died of smallpox. Of course, he’s chosen other means to try and find it – and his offer of an alliance rather stems on the ability to track down the gold via other means.
Oosawa’s story gives us a very rare glimpse of Sugimoto’s past. He too lost his family – to tuberculosis – which fueled his determination not to let anyone or anything kill him. Sugimoto is clearly bemused by the fact that he seems to be the only one not dreaming of riches or power – he wants to find the gold for the sake of Asirpa and the Ainu and that’s an end to it. Shiraishi is basically right about one thing – any alliance between the Pirate and the Sugi squad can only end one way – but there might be enough common ground between the two parties to paper over that for the moment.
