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Golden Kamuy (TV) (all seasons).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:01 pm Reply with quote


Season 1: Golden Kamuy (TV)
Season 2: Golden Kamuy (TV 2) (discussion starts here)
Season 3: Golden Kamuy (TV 3) (discussion starts here)
Season 4: Golden Kamuy (TV 4) (discussion starts here)

Source: Manga (completed @ 31 volumes, by Satoru Noda)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio:
Seasons 1-3: Geno Studio
Season 4: Brain's Base

Genres: action, adventure, drama

Themes: historical, period piece, western

Plot Summary: In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush on the wild frontier of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it.

But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it. Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.

Air Date & Platform:
Season 1: April 9, 2018 (Monday)
Season 2: October 8, 2018 (Monday)
Season 3: October 5, 2020 (Monday)
Season 4: October 3, 2022 (Monday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime:
Season 1: 12 episodes
Season 2: 12 episodes
Season 3: 12 episodes
Season 4: Pending

Total: 36 episodes
----------------------------------

I've been reading the manga for this. There's so much to adapt but one of the best selling parts of the show is the characters and the comedy (often over the top) antics. Hope they adapt this as accurately as possible especially with the character chemistry.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 11:32 am Reply with quote
Episode 1:

Whoa, this was an intense start. Right off the bat, we got soldiers fighting on the battlefield and this episode didn't waste time showcasing the violence, blood, death, etc.

I think the highlight of the episode would be Sugimoto's personality as he really shows it when he fights with that intense energy. The setting also looks refreshing and I like the way this is illustrated so far.

Production quality looks good so far so I hope they can keep it that way except for the CGI. The show is also interesting for its wilderness and animals so that's definitely worth keeping in mind. I'm really happy to see Asirpa animated too.

Just hope they can fix up the CGI stuff because that what bothered me most so far.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:56 pm Reply with quote
First off, I don't think this setting has been used before an animated adaptation. The time period yes, but not the geographical location. It was not that long ago the Ainu weren't recognised as minorities worthy of recognition and protection in Japan's constitution. A look at the credits shows how seriously this show is taking its time period, I've been to the museum references and they've got one of the best stores of period Ainu artefacts there is on the island.

Abashiri is still (in)famous for its prison and I wonder if this adaptation will take us there besides the flashback segment. The hook is an unusual (if macabre) one but the unlikely pair have a lot of ground to cover if they want to achieve their goals.

There's been plenty of coverage on the ensemble cast for this franchise, some of them being actual historical personages. Time will tell if they're just as gung-ho as the opening pair are in the search for the buried hoard.
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TexZero



Joined: 25 Oct 2017
Posts: 591
PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:09 pm Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
Episode 1:
Just hope they can fix up the CGI stuff because that what bothered me most so far.


I didn't see the need for CGI to begin with, so the random jump cuts to it really took me out of the show.

Thankfully, the characters and whats surfacing to be a plot are enough of a reason to stick around. I just hope they don't do more of that jarring jump cut to cgi and poorly layered cgi at that.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24165
PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:04 am Reply with quote
Man, this show sucked me in virtually from the get go. I'm probably the one viewer who wasn't particularly bothered by the bears. Sure they didn't blend in with the rest of show's visual look, but they looked damn scary to me (except for the cub, of course). Intrigued by the little used time period and location. Love the two leads and their partnership. I like that the guy isn't just a remorseless killing machine. I haven't been bowled over by a lot of the season's offerings so far, but this one is making me sit up and take notice.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:23 am Reply with quote
#2

Ainu cuisine is not something that's covered everyday in animation, so no complaints when viewers learn about what the people would cook if fresh squirrels were caught. The brains are a little too exotic for my taste though. Asirpa must have learnt a lot with what time she had with her father, the hunting trick she employed this episode works just as well against humans.

The nameless second prisoner was taken out with a headshot from 300 metres. I'm not an expert on period arms, but Ogata is one hell of a shot if he can pull that off using just a knife on a bark as his firing stabiliser. He'd give Sugimoto a run for his money with the "immortal" epithet: broken arm, smacks his face/head on an outcrop on the way down and is immersed in freezing Hokkaido water for a considerable length of time.

I don't want to know where Shiraishi keeps his escape tools. He deserves his epithet of "escape king" but hygiene wise he'd kill most people.

The OP number was used as last week's ED, but it's the ED animation that grabs my attention since it features cast members that don't even show up on the official website's character roll. ED song is good too, but the OP is catchier (more than 50% English lyrics doesn't hurt its chances with the overseas market either).
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:44 pm Reply with quote
The opening theme song is great. No CGI this week and honestly, I think I don't feel bothered by it anymore after seeing the first two episodes.

I really love the character chemistry between Asirpa and Sugimoto in this show. Plus, Asirpa has great survival skills and knows how to hunt so she can work quite well with him. Hope we get to see more character expressions as the comedy feels somewhat tame for now.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:35 pm Reply with quote
#3

The Japanese saying "You have to risk death entering a tiger's den for its cubs" is turned on its head in its Ainu equivalent. Sugimoto is either really lucky or really insane (probably both) taking up Asirpa's advice and using the hibernating bear to save his life. I don't remember Ainu cuisine being that exotic when I looked at the exhibits (nowadays they rely heavily on smoked fish from what I remember) but an enclave of hunters in the far north where agriculture isn't an option has to use everything it can from the surroundings to survive.

Interesting how Asirpa perceives miso. It's not often seen in its raw form but those without knowledge of agriculture would not be wrong to perceive it the way she did.

The Matagi hunter is featured in the website's character roster, so he's clearly not out of the picture just yet with his broken leg. He's not finished with the white wolf either. Oddly enough it seems Asirpa knows the white wolf personally so she might well have had it for a time when she was younger before it returned to the wild.

I wonder what lieutenant Tsurumi is up to when he says the 7th Division isn't finished fighting. He's ruthless enough to get his commanding officer killed and charismatic enough to get all of the men around him on his side though.

Old man Hijikata Toshizou and a lecherous Judo expert Ushiyama about to join forces. The latter's biography is also on the official website and his moniker is apparently "Ushiyama the unbeatable". Maybe viewers will get to see what both of them are made of in the coming weeks.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:06 pm Reply with quote
#4

Messing around with the Ainu kids must have given Sugimoto some kind of epiphany, since he's not the type who would break his word and leave on his own without telling his partner. Viewers are not told why he's left to continue his search alone, hopefully we'll find out assuming Sugimoto's nickname continues to hold out.

Without seeing the Ainu source material again, I can't tell if some of the details like the children's games, the punishment stick and the trap crossbows are accurate. But if even half of them are true then the creator has certainly done his research.

The survivors of the Russo-Japanese War are hard men, but is there anyone harder than Sugimoto? Multiple bruising, his mouth impaled by skewers and he still has the energy and determination to attempt killing one of the twins with a knife stabbed through his chest. If Asirpa's grandmother is telling the truth about Sugimoto's guardian spirit, he's probably been blessed with a spirit that's virtually indestructible.

Now that Asirpa is on Sugimoto's trail and has enlisted the help of the prison break king, something has to happen next episode.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2018 5:44 am Reply with quote
Granny: "Look after her forever."
Sugimoto: "I understand completely."
*leaves without saying anything*
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2018 6:28 pm Reply with quote
#5

It sounds incredible at first, but Asirpa's theory on the secret behind Fujimoto's moniker is probably an apt one since he always looks for a way to escape the most dangerous situations regardless of his physical condition and the surroundings. This time he got lucky and was freed from his bonds, or he really would have been killed by the twins. The scheme to pretend to be mortally wounded as an escape plan is not something most people would come up with in a fort full of elite soldiers.

More food, but Sakuranabe is for once not a typical Ainu dish. Horse meat is usually associated with Kyushu nowadays but the recipe they've presented is an old one dating back to the bygone eras of Samurai on horseback.

The Touhoku soldier with the broken leg is back, but he's found one dangerous partner in the guise of a bear hunter who relies on one shot from an outdated rifle to kill his prey. It looks like things will be interesting since their target is surprisingly close by if Asirpa's premonition is accurate.
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Harleyquin



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Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2018 12:47 pm Reply with quote
#6

I wouldn't associate Sugimoto with PTSD, but his encounter with the deer is the closest I'll ever see the two of them linked that closely. Maybe the animators were trying to show how Sugimoto could get over his trauma when he projects himself on a dying deer by warming his hands using its innards, but I'm not sure I got the message as intended.

Well, well. Nihei Tetsuzou is one of the wanted marked men. First impression was he couldn't be further away from an Abashiri prisoner based on his lifestyle and temperament, but his reminiscence of the cheating poachers shows just how thin the line is between determined hunter and merciless killer. He's definitely won over Tanigaki back from his guise as a soldier, but can two skilled hunters really claim the pelt of the last Hokkaido Wolf when Sugimoto and company are opposing them?!

Nothing new on the food front. Just don't give Asirpa alcohol to drink. She's certainly not old enough to take it, and it's not just a reference to her years on the planet. Shiraishi is a rogue, but I don't think he's going to do much beyond that even when Sugimoto and Nihei are going all out right in front of him. Did someone lose a few fingers in those last few frames? Speaking of which, where's Tanigaki disappeared to amidst the fighting?
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Harleyquin



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PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 1:34 pm Reply with quote
#8

If the only way to stop a charging bull is to shoot it dead in its tracks, then those soldiers should have fired as soon as they had a line on Ushiyama's heart. Too bad Shiraishi was close enough to be used as an organic weapon...

The bank manager only sees Katanas as works of art. For Tsurumi (and many other weapon otakus) the surviving swords used during the Bakamatsu are also renowned as incredibly sharp-edged weapons custom-made by some of the deadliest warriors of the age. No surprise Hijikata went for the one in the bank's possession.

Shiraishi is an opportunist, otherwise he wouldn't have been so successful at escaping so often. Does being opportunistic equate to being treacherous? He lied about the number of skins held by his group but was either able to pull off the bluff or allowed to get away with lying for now.

All of the characters in this series have something akin to an eccentricity or downright mutation in their characters or appearances. Henmi Kazuo seems to fit the bill. I've never seen a seasoned killer get saddled with the character trait of searching for the perfect death whilst getting an erection each time he visualises his executioner performing the deed. Oddly enough, despite the episode title the eyes of a murderer aren't cut from a standard mould. There's enough of them to fill a rogue's gallery in this episode yet they don't really look alike.

White rice and herring this week for the gastronomy tour of late 19th century Hokkaido. The tidbit on herring oil as fertiliser is a nod to an age before commercialisation of artificial fertilisers thanks to German research became widespread. Whale hunting isn't yet finished as a custom either despite how important it was just a century or two ago.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 6:30 pm Reply with quote
#10

Tanigaki is a better shot than Sugimoto, but he could have gone for the head rather than the easier torso. At any rate it looks like viewers haven't seen the last of Ogata. That said, this episode gives animators another excuse to show off the gore as well as how twisted Tsurumi is when he's been crossed.

The second half throws out big plot developments one after the other like mere afterthoughts. If Kiroranke is telling the truth, the quest changes complexion dramatically. Regardless, Sugimoto isn't placing a lot of trust in him but is willing to go along with the detour for now.

That's a very eye-catching episode title for next week. Nothing to do with the hotel manager introduced in the post-credits either, I'm sure.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:18 am Reply with quote
Episode 10

Well, this kind of just went full Star Wars.

Surprising the amount of people that can survive getting totally mauled by animals in this show.
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