I hate to keep cursing that stupid bear thing, but it is a reminder of just how shallow too many anime fans are. It’s just a shame that Nanba Hitoshi and his team decided to try that disastrous experiment in the first episode, because in some quarters it’s turned Golden Kamuy into a joke – and this series is anything but a joke. In the age of social media you simply can’t get away with colossal flubs like that anymore, because you’re a meme before the scene is even over. But Golden Kamuy was one of the smartest and most nuanced anime of the year both before and after bear-gate (and there was barely a frame of CGI this week).
I’ve often noted that two things can be indicators of a really strong anime episode – either when I have a ton of scribbles on my notepad, or when I have very few. It’s probably indicative of the sort of great story Golden Kamuy is that it was the former here. There’s just so damn much going on in this episode – it’s jam-packed not just with action, but with interesting new characters and language and cultural observation. It’s also very political in a very particular and specific way anime almost never is, though it doesn’t beat you over the head with that.
But above all, I suppose, Golden Kamuy is a great yarn – a mismatched buddy picture, a wilderness survival story, a caper flick. That it can manage to be all these things at once without seeming schizophrenic is a credit to mangaka Noda Satoru. It’s also benefiting from a seemingly endless succession of great seiyuu (including the two leads of course), starting with narrator Tachiki Fumihiko. The animation may not be I.G. caliber lavish, but it’s very true to Noda’s drawing style both in terms of backgrounds and character design.
Sugimoto and Asirpa are, of course, continuing the hunt – that’s the spine around which Golden Kamuy is built – and it takes them to Otaru. Today it’s a beautiful but minor port town, but at the end of the Meiji Era it was the richest place in Hokkaido. The reasoning is simple – the escaped prisoners can’t hide in the woods in the frozen North forever, and the smaller the settlement they go to the more they’ll stand out. There are no leads to be found (except that someone else has been there first asking the same questions), but there is a taste of the sort of abuse Asirpa and all Ainu people received from Japanese at the time (and not just at the time). Sugimoto’s response to Asirpa’s detached reaction – “You shouldn’t have to be used to it” – tells you much of what you need to know about him as a character.
Sugimoto and Asirpa are followed as soon as they leave the town, and it turns out to be one of the escaped prisoners – a man who claims that the prisoners have turned on each other and many already been killed. Asirpa is resolutely against killing anyone, to the point where she even spoils Sugimoto’s attempts to terrify the man into talking. But the plan is not to skin anyone alive, rather to have Asirpa sketch their tattoos in detail and then turn them loose. The prisoner says only this about the man who carved his tattoos –Noppera-bou a “faceless ghost” of Shinto mythology. But before they can release this man he’s shot by yet another stalker – Oogata (Tsuda Kenjirou), of the feared 7th Hokkaido Division.
Oogata is no pushover, but the immortal Sugimoto is no normal human man. The larger concern for him is not Oogata (though he’d be a lot more worried if he knew Oogata had survived), but what his presence signifies – the 7th is looking for the same treasure he is, just like the other escaped prisoners. Still, there’s always time for some food porn – though a horror film may be closer to the truth from Western or ethnic Japanese perspectives. Top tip – don’t eat squirrel brains (especially raw) these days, unless you want rabies. Hinna, hinna!
There’s one more major player introduced here – yet another escaped prisoner, the second caught in Asipra’s adapted hunting traps. This one is Shiraishi Yoshitake (Itou Kentarou), and he’s a man of considerable talents as an escape artist. A sudden squall and an aborted escape lead and Sugimoto to come to an agreement out of necessity, and Shiraishi shares some very interesting information – that the leader of the escaped prisoners was none other than Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi Hijikata Toshizou. The big dogs are certainly lining up for the hunt.
pitchan
April 17, 2018 at 8:59 amI’m liking Golden Kamuy so far. I wasn’t overly bothered by the CGI bears in any case. I don’t know what the director is going to do in the future, but based on the manga there will be more bear fights coming up in the future, so either people have to learn to deal with the CGI bears or the director capitulates to popular opinion and animates the bears in a different way.
GC
April 17, 2018 at 1:34 pmThis is a very good series and one of my favorites of the season.
Morgan
April 17, 2018 at 3:32 pmActually squirrels are not considered to be a risk for rabies. It’s very rare to find a squirrel (or any small rodent including rats) that’s been infected. That’s not too say I’m going to go out to chow down on squirrel brains anytime soon. Although I just did a google search and there are a frightening amount of recipes out there…
Anyway I’ve really enjoyed these first two eps so far. It’s always fascinating to see a show or book that deals with the native cultures of a land. I hope you keep covering this as I doubt many others will.
Guardian Enzo
April 17, 2018 at 3:51 pmThey can be a risk – there are actually a couple places in the US right now that have deal with squirrel rabies scares recently. Not common like skunks or bats but it can happen.
No danger I’m dropping this one, don’t worry.
sonicsenryaku
April 17, 2018 at 6:06 pmIn terms of the narrative substructure Golden Kamuy ‘s premise proposes, I think it has all the makings to be a brilliantly executed show dripping with drama, suspense, commentary, action, and heart. However…sigh….However….the production values are really holding this series back from soaring. At it’s core, this is supposed to be a rip-roaring survival action series; so why is it that the action scenes are lacking both the visual acumen and kinetic force required to enrapture it’s audience in the thrills and dangers of its happenings? Just forget the CGI bears or wolves for a second; why is a series with this much praise and hype to its source material not being given the necessary technical care to be hitting these narrative aspects out of the park? Why isn’t the beautiful character art consistent? Why do we have a narrator breaking up the narrative pace of sequences from time to time? I don’t mind the use of narration to supplement the storytelling but it should be used as a framework to either establish information we couldn’t figure out from visual cues or provide the viewer a different lens in which to view the narrative.
On the other hand, I like both Sugimoto and Asirpa; they have electric personalities and their burgeoning chemistry is looking to be one of the strongest aspects of this story. I adore the immediate respect established between Sugimoto and Asirpa and their ability to work together in perilous moments. I like that we have tarantino-esque characters in this almost tarantino-esque world. I like how the Ainu elements of this series is not just a gimmick, but an integral mesolayer to the immediate plot elements of the show. All of this should be making me go over the moon about this series but instead I’m kinda lukewarm to it all. Your visuals are an essential part of your storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Golden Kamuy’s visuals are incompetent; it’s just that they’re inconsistent in quality and lacking the weight and direction to sell the core conceit that is this series’ selling point. I’ve loved shows that don’t have the strongest animation or visual quality, but 1. i had to be really blown away with what i was getting in return and 2. if great visual technicality wasn’t necessary in selling the show’s premise, then it serve a significant detriment to it’s storytelling for me.
Again, Golden Kamuy is meant to be a rip-roaring, tension-filled action adventure; a big part of selling that is going to come down to your visual/cinematographic aspects, the choreography of the action, and structural composition of scenes. So far, GK is not delivering on those aspects as well as i hoped. I’m going to keep watching this series though; the premise is intriguing as hell, I like our two mains, and there’s plenty of promise with the plot threads being set up here. However, I would be lying if i said this show was every bit as thrilling as i hoped it would be.
Yukie
April 17, 2018 at 8:13 pmI actually quite liked the use of a narrator. I think it works well in giving this series the tone of a historical novel, and I also enjoyed how they used the narrator to great comedic effect in this episode. I do agree that the visuals are inconsistent (esp. the character art), but I personally find that the story more than makes up for it. I also think in comparison to what we got in Kokkoku, the animation and visuals in Golden Kamuy are (many times) better. I also thought the execution of the fight scene was pretty good, no?
sonicsenryaku
April 17, 2018 at 8:56 pm“I actually quite liked the use of a narrator. I think it works well in giving this series the tone of a historical novel”
except it didn’t quite achieve that effect. Trust me, I would have appreciated that part of the narration otherwise. That’s why i particularly said that i don’t mind narration if it’s used as an interesting framework. It didn’t quite convey that tone for me. Not to mention that I don’t need a narrator telling me basic information on a character such as Ogata in a scene in which I can already ascertain such information visually or from the conversation between the two characters. Redundancy is not something you want to commit when telling a story.
“and I also enjoyed how they used the narrator to great comedic effect in this episode. ” I prefer the comedy to feel more organic than to be perused through the lens of a fourth party i.e a narrator. It would be one thing if there was some satire or biting commentary coming from the narrator but that wasn’t the case, making it feel superfluous and ultimately unnecessary. It didn’t add anything to the comedy for me. Again, this comes from the fact that 1. i don’t feel like this ep justified the existence of the narrator or used him to great effect, 2. this kind of story just doesn’t feel like it needs one. Perhaps the narration was in the manga but it probably works better there. As of right now, I don’t think the narrator was translated properly when switching mediums
“the animation and visuals in Golden Kamuy are (many times) better.” Yes it’s better though i wouldn’t say many times. I think a big part of Golden Kamuy being visually superior to Kokkoku comes down to the impressionistic art direction and sharp character designs
As for the action scenes, I find that there are interesting elements to the fight, like Ogata using his blade to line his rifle for a precise shot or Asirpa making a makeshift smokescreen to obscure the enemy’s vision. The action scenes have engaging pieces but they don’t quite come together in a riveting and tension-filled package that I think it should; not yet anyway (at least in anime form). Anyway the strength of the narrative’s premise, our main duo, and the plot intrigue is why i’m still sticking around with this series in anime form
Guardian Enzo
April 17, 2018 at 9:10 pmI think you know the answer to why there’s so little budget for Golden Kamuy, despite it being such an acclaimed source material. It’s the same reason Arslan and Shoukoku got so little budget. Production committees run the industry today, and they’ll only commit money to huge manga like BnHA, proven sequels, and the formula crap they know will sell. Rather than let the limited budget bother me too much I’m just thrilled to get an anime of a series like this at all. As long as they avoid disasters like that CGI bear…
sonicsenryaku
April 17, 2018 at 9:51 pm…….I know and it’s frustrating because certain manga don’t deserve being handed the short end of the stick. I swear the anime industry truly is a self-perpetuating disaster
Simone
April 19, 2018 at 5:47 amThe comparison with Arslan seems very appropriate. Just like with Arslan, I feel fascinated by the story but feel that the sloppily made anime not only isn’t doing it justice, but it may be dragging it down. With Arslan I’m pretty sure that was the case, I ended up enjoying the manga much more. It might be the same here as well. For example I’d expect the manga art to be much more evocative and detailed, which is key in telling a story about people living off the land in wild forests. There’s never a sense of the true ruggedness and beauty of the wild in this show, as to now. Last season, the show about cute girls going to Antarctica and the other one about cute girls going camping around Fuji-sama both managed to give a much better sense of the awe and, in the first case, danger of Nature than this show about risking death in the snowy woods of Hokkaido is.
Ronbb
April 17, 2018 at 9:52 pmI really enjoy this show. Aside from all the great themes that Enzo mentioned, it’s just rare these days to have a story’s main character being an indigenous person. This totally makes the story richer, and this show doesn’t shy away from the dark history — even though it’s not the main narrative, it got me curious about the Ainu peoples and their history.
Guardian Enzo
April 17, 2018 at 10:38 pmI would actually argue it’s not far from being the main narrative. It’s certainly inseparable from it.
Ronbb
April 18, 2018 at 10:32 pmI’d love it even more…so much to learn about and reflect on around indigenous and reconciliation, and stories on these subjects are rare.