Having been without it for three months really makes one appreciate the qualities that Golden Kamuy – and only Golden Kamuy – brings to the table.  In the oft-quoted (by me) words of Midousuji Akira, this series is not a mass-produced model.  In fact it’s not even a Hamburg Steinway – more like a Fazioli.  100% hand-made to the last detail and thus completely unique, legendary for its huge tone and almost dazzling brightness.  It can produce great delicacy and utter bombast depending on the notes being played, and there’s nothing else quite like it.

That’s a large part of the appeal of this series, I think.  It tells a story of genuine literary stature, elegantly plotted and rich in historic detail.  Yet it’s also batshit nuts – full of crazy people doing crazy things, blood and gore, scatology and juvenile humor.  We see this sort of dichotomy in the best of comedy – Monty Python and Craig Ferguson spring to mind immediately – but only rarely.  And it’s even more unusual in drama, I would argue.  There just isn’t a lot out there that’s remotely similar to Golden Kamuy, or tries to be.  Whoever Noda Satoru is, he must be a fascinating and strange man.

One can only imagine that the Hokkaido of this time period, which was as close as Japan had to the wild west, was full of larger-than-life characters.  Even so, the sheer number of psychotics in Golden Kamuy is really something.  This time around it’s Edogai Yasuku (Uchida Yuuma), a taxidermist who’s come under the watchful eye of Lt. Tsurumi (who’s once more made to look sane by those surrounding him).  It’s clear pretty much from the start that the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor with Edogai, but he’s good at his job – which is all Tsurumi really cares about.

It says a lot about Tsurumi that the depth of Edogai’s madness means nothing to him as long as he can deliver – in this case, fake skins with maps to send rival gold hunters down the garden path.  Grave robbing?  Cool.  A house full of stuffed corpses who talk to him?  Not a problem.  I don’t think we’re to believe that Edogai killed those people himself (though who knows) but even so, can there be any doubt he’s capable of it?  To Tsurumi he’s a tool and nothing more – though he may proving to be more high-maintenance than Tsurumi anticipated (and there are unsettling hints about what raw materials he’s going to need to complete the task he’s been assigned).

Meanwhile, clues are being dropped about the state of affairs with Asirpa.  Her father (I believe this is the first time we’ve seen his face) is a Russian partisan, Hijikata speculates – blending in with the Ainu with the long-term goal of using the gold to finance his own political aims in what was then a very fragmented Russia.  It’s implied that Kiroranke is a false Ainu as well, and that his intentions towards Asirpa may be suspect.  That’s certainly the suggestion made by Inkarmat, but we know she has another agenda – she’s working on Tsurumi’s behalf.

Meanwhile, Tanigaki – who Lt. Tsurumi has instructed Inkarmat to use to get to Sugimoto – has healed nicely, and is out hunting with Asirpa’s uncle Makanakkuru.  They’re followed by a boy from the village who Makanakkuru dexribes as “weird” – an orphan who doesn’t socialize with the other children, though he does show interest in the hunt.  This is Cikapasi (Watanabe Akeno) whose name means both “he who makes birds fly” and “boner” , and Tanigaki – who sees something of himself in the boy – takes an immediate liking to him.  When they return from the hunt Inkarmat is in the village, spinning her tales about Asirpa’s imminent danger.

The next phase of the story, then, finds Tanigaki headed off to find Sugimoto – not because he believes Inkarmat, he says, but because the villagers do.  She tags along, naturally – and one suspects Cikapasi is going to do so as well, or at least try to.  Golden Kamuy truly is a dizzying tsunami of characters and agendas, with the only thing really tying these people together the Ainu gold and their desire to find it.  It’s a fascinating and compelling patchwork quilt of a story, full of contrast and never boring, and it’s great to have it back on the schedule.