DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionGolden Kamuy
OVA ActionGolden Kamuy OVA
ANIME ActionGolden Kamuy 2nd Season
ONA AdventureGolden Kamuy: Golden Douga Gekijou

REVIEWS

• 

  MinTsubasa

  75/100
  With a unique combination of protagonists Sugimoto & Asipra, cgi bears can never be a thing.

  It has been a long time since we have simple plot concept but decent execution with action, comedy and adventure. And this party is not your usual kind hearted boy and lovey cute girl with a pet. This party starts from a young retired soldier, an Ainu girl about 10 years old.

  I do not have problems watching this anime as what people have been mentioning on the cgi bears. Golden Kamuy is definitely not your most amazing anime but it is probably one of the most worth watching new anime in this season.

  Action
  Sugimoto is on the search of the Gold Treasure while Asirpa wants to find out the truth behind her father's death. As such, many people with different ideals (or maybe none) end up being their enemy. While surviving in the wild, hunting food food is essential. Thus both humans and animals are Sugimoto and Asirpa's enemies. Every day is a new battle so about every moment is an action scene. Especially for Immortal Sugimoto, he prefer to kill than be killed.

  Adventure
  There is very minimal adventure in Golden Kamuy because the plot focus on finding the prisoners who has the map tatoo on their body and they are spread over everywhere in Hokkaido or maybe further. Sometimes they stay low in the mountains, visits different villages and hunts different animals for food, and for that, it is also interesting to watch because when it's when more Ainu culture is presented to us.

  Comedy
  The cultural differences between Sugimoto, a Japanese and Asirpa, an Ainu makes up half of the comedy scenes. They have lots of expression which is quite funny to watch, and they are not the ones in slice of life comedy show. With the addition of Shiraishi, the funny moments makes into the next level.

  I didn't use the usual guideline to make this review because I don't think I can describe the execution of the plot, the chemistry among characters and the enjoyment correctly. But I still really appreciate the relationship between Sugimoto and Asirpa and so, here's my little opinions.

  Young Retired Soldier Immortal Sugimoto
  If you know Sakata Gintoki or any mature characters then you can imagine what kind of person is Sugimoto. He is a firm guy about surviving and will not hesitate to kill for survival. Even eating exotic food in order to fill his hunger and body needs. But as a person himself, Sugimoto is actually a caring person. He promise his war mate to take care of his wife and that's the sole reason for Sugimoto to embark on this dangerous gold hunt. After Asirpa joins in the party, he have done and learn a lot of things about Ainu culture and protects Asirpa from all kinds of danger. I can say that he definitely bonded with Asirpa thus even if there is a chance to be rich, he doesn't stop and continue the journey because he is a responsible person. I know its weird to ship them but I hope even when they reach their goals, I hope they can continue their endless journey.

  New Generation Ainu Shoujo Asirpa
  Asirpa is my most favourite female protagonist in the entire Spring Season because of her great personality. During her first appearance, she saves Sugimoto from dying in the claws of a bear and also not hesitate to introduce herself in front of an unknown stranger. She also joins Sugimoto in the search without thinking too much. Asirpa has a will of her own and acts with responsibility, she is knowledgeable in food hunt and understand her culture well despite in a young age. However, Asirpa does not follows exactly what an Ainu girl supposed to do and claims to be a new generation of an Ainu. With her somewhat bubbly character, Asirpa reduce some intensity and become a trustable companion for Sugimoto. However, Asirpa is still young to understand the complexity behind human greed so Sugimoto has to take care of her somehow but the guy doesn't complain and so do us.

  Lastly, I hope Golden Kamuy can be next legend.

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• 

  CryingLad

  90/100
  A good balance of Weird, Funny, and Serious.

  [This review will contain Spoilers for the show!]()

  
  
  Golden Kamuy is serious but can have many scenes with absurd humour and characters, the main reason why I love this series.

  [(SPOILER AHEAD) STORY:]()
  The story focuses on Sugimoto who, after the war, tries to find some gold as to save his comrade's wife. Soon enough he hears about the Hidden Ainu gold and the tattoos. To be honest, I completly forgot that the main focus was to save his friend's wife.

  Sugimoto meets many faces along his journey, Asirpa and Shiraishi being the first few to join his squad.
  Their goal is to collect all of the tattoos which apparently make a map to where the gold is. This means that they have to make their way round nearly whole of Japan to find the tattooed convicts, which is rather interesting, there is always something going on in the show.

  I nearly missed it but there are many vital points of their trip, cooking.
  Asirpa teaches the squad how to use the wildlife to their advantage and how to make the best dishes out there, these scenes are honestly amazing.

  

  
  

  [CHARACTERS:]()
  Saichi Sugimoto - A war veteran who is set on finding the hidden Ainu treasure. During the war he's earned the nickname "Immortal Sugimoto" due to the reason that...well he wouldn't die no matter what challenge was thrown at him, he is quite the tough guy. Despite all that though he does have a soft side, he wants to save his friend's wife and also wants to protect Asirpa.

  Asirpa - A young Ainu girl who meets Sugimoto when he is attacked by a bear, she is the first one to join his squad. She is very skilled at hunting and tracking. She often teaches Sugimoto how to find prey easier and how to cook proper food in the wild.

  Yoshitake Shiraishi - The escape king, he's been to so many prisons and he managed to escape all of them. He is more of the comic relief for the show due to his immature nature and personality. Did you know that his character is based on "Yoshie Shiratori" a real Japanese prisoner who also managed to escape all of his prisons?

  Kiroranke - He is the last one to join Sugimoto's squad in this season. He, too, is an Ainu. He is a friend of Asirpa's dad and thus thats his reason for joining the group. He is calm and serious, just like Sugimoto but a bit more.

  There are many other characters in the show such as:
  Tokushirou Tsurumi - The antagonist of the series, he is much less stable than most of the characters in the show, a part of that can be attributed to frontal lobe injury, he is plotting things, he wants the 7th division to take over Hokkaido. A really good bad guy imo.

  Tetsuzou Nihei - A skilled hunter who owns a dog name Ryu. He just wanted to hunt down Retar. He was a weird character, often making boner and dick jokes.

  Toshizou Hijikata - An old man who is still very energetic. He is also plotting many things such as well you know...taking over Hokkaido, yep two factions opposing each other, nice. Honestly this lad is quite the badass, just like Sugimoto.

  There are more characters in the show that are important but I don't want to make this section too long, yep.

  

  
  

  [ART/ANIMATION:]()
  Golden Kamuy has a good art style, it feels unique and fresh. It has a nice combo of weird surreal look during the comedic scenes and dead serious during the...well the serious scenes.
  The animation is nice, smooth fluid. Really makes the combat and gore stand out. The only issue I found with the animation is the use of CGI bears. I, personally don't really like making the main points of the scene in CGI (unless the CGI is really good like, for example, in Violet Evergarden), if its in the background sure thats fine but hey.

  

  
  

  [MUSIC:]()
  This show has an amazing OP, "Winding Road" by Man With a Mission. Such a bop, I love MWAM but this song honestly is one of their best.
  The ED is also really catchy, just like the OP. "Hibana" by The Sixth Lie.

  

  
  

  [OVERALL OPINION:]()
  Golden Kamuy is a great show with many great characters, the mix of humour and seriousness is great and felt unique to this show.
  The plot is also very interesting, there is always something happening, either bad or good.

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• 

  peteg13

  93/100
  Greatness hidden behind a CGI Bear

  So let me preface this review by saying this is my first time ever writing a review. Along with this, this is not a "critical" review because I rate series based on enjoyment rather than on a critical scale. (What is the point of watching if you can't enjoy the series?) I should also mention that I will have absolutely zero spoilers in this review out of respect to the readers of this review. My hope in creating this review is to encourage people to check out an anime which I consider to be extremely underrated.

  ---

  To begin I'm going to address the elephant, or rather bear, in the room when it comes to this anime. Yes this series does have some CGI sprinkled throughout the season. (Video of CGI bear and wolf) If you are someone who is easily turned off by CGI in anime then this series may not be for you. I would encourage you to watch it nonetheless because the CGI is infrequent throughout the series. I'm uncertain whether the decision to utilize CGI the way it was used in this series was a budget decision or a creative decision but it does not gel as intended. The CGI clashes against the animation of the characters and sticks out quite a bit. That being said, CGI is used only occasionally throughout this series and it in no way took away from my enjoyment of watching this anime.

  ---

  With that out of the way, allow me to talk about what makes this series so great to me. To begin, the plot of this series is incredibly interesting. The story takes place shortly after the Russo-Japanese War in Japan. It follows many different groups of people all fighting to obtain a map to hidden gold stolen from the Ainu people of Japan. The issue with obtaining the map to the gold is that unique portions of the map have been tattooed on the body of 24 different death row inmates by the man who originally stole the fortune of gold from the Ainu people. This means that the only way for anyone to find the gold is to either skin the bodies of these inmates or sketch out the unique designs of their tattoos. Without obtaining the unique designs of all 24 tattooed bodies and piecing them together it is impossible to complete the map and find the gold. All groups hunting the fortune of the Ainu people share a common goal but they all come from different backgrounds and all have their own reasons for wanting to obtain the goal. What this overarching plot does is link all of these groups in a crucial hunt or be hunted adventure. Groups are willing to kill one another in order to obtain just one section of the map. What you see throughout this anime is that the decisions characters make effects their chances of survival. Due to the plot being what it is, combined with the characters having to survive in the wilderness, the death of any main character is a realistic possibility. For me personally this is a welcome change from most anime and it kept me hooked on this anime. Without going into spoilers, the overall plot grabs your attention and keeps you hooked episode to episode.

  ---

  With the intrigue of the main plot out of the way I will briefly address the other three elements of this anime that makes it so great to me. These three elements are the characters, the comedy, and the food. Now I know what you're thinking, "FOOD?! How does that have anything to do with a survival of the fittest, adventure style anime?" What this anime does so well is break up the intense scenes related to the overarching plot of this series with meal breaks. (Video of food in Golden Kamuy) What these meal breaks allow is for the viewer to learn about the meals being prepared, their origins, how important hunting is, and also just fun banter between characters. Along with that, the food animated in Golden Kamuy rivals what I have seen from Food Wars (though I have yet to watch it yet). Segueing from food into the comedy aspect of Golden Kamuy as it fills a fairly similar role to the food. The comedy of Golden Kamuy is sprinkled throughout episodes and it is also used to split up the intensity of the plot. From the animation of characters changing to express comedy to the hilarious one liners given in conversations there are very few instances where the comedy in Golden Kamuy did not hit. I also want to mention that these two aspects of Golden Kamuy are never mistimed. When a scene is intense and a critical plot point then the comedy and food does not interrupt the scene. These two aspects are utilized only in a positive fashion and never take away from the overall plot.

  Finally, I want to address the characters. Golden Kamuy has without a doubt one of the best cast of characters I have seen in an anime/manga in my time in these mediums of entertainment. Sugimoto, Asirpa, and Shiraishi are an incredible main cast. They all have their own distinct personality and quirks that make them all loveable. What makes the characters in this anime so great to me is that the creators take the time to establish the supporting cast as well. The plot following different groups and the way in which the episodes are structured allows for all of the characters in each group a chance to shine. Every character who gets significant screen time feels well thought out and important to the overall story. Once again, without going into any spoilers, every character feels they could realistically die and it causes you to appreciate the time they have on screen.

  ---

  Overall, Golden Kamuy is so much more than the CGI bear that so many people know this anime for. While I have yet to read the manga (which I certainly plan to do), I have heard nothing but great things about this series going forward. If you are unwilling to watch this anime due to a CGI bear in the first episode then you are missing out on an incredible story, a great cast of character, and a lot of great laughs. Golden Kamuy should be on the plan to watch list of anyone who loves adventure anime and it is a hidden gem worth exploring!

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