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Golden Kamuy (TV) (all seasons).


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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 1:43 pm Reply with quote
Harleyquin wrote:
"She's currently in a prison in the Russian-controlled part of Sakhalin. Want to go?"

At the end of this episode Kiroranke says they are going to free Sofia and cross the ice into Russia, the same way he and Wilk crossed over years before. My question concerned that portion of Asirpa's journey. She seems now to be trying to trace her father's footsteps, a far cry from unearthing the cache of gold that perhaps only she knows how to find.
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Sobe



Joined: 04 Jun 2011
Posts: 886
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:44 pm Reply with quote
All of these spoiler[backstories] and the most shocking one of them all is that all of these people - either centering around spoiler[Sugimoto or Tsurimi - were intertwined] with each other at one point in time. It's so beautiful yet spoiler[tragic] at the same time.

I'm so glad we got a chance to see the story in episode 9. I didn't connect the dots until spoiler[he said his] name. I know we all heard his background in previous episode(s) but I forgot he spent time in spoiler[Russia].

All of these eye-opening spoiler[backstories] is seriously something I didn't know I needed. I'm worried I won't be able to hold out for a season 4. This entire season has been absolutely above every standard for me; Season 1 setting the bar, season 2 going above, and season 3 obviously going even further. It's been a long time since I've seen this much integrity from an anime let alone a manga.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:50 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
Harleyquin wrote:
"She's currently in a prison in the Russian-controlled part of Sakhalin. Want to go?"

At the end of this episode Kiroranke says they are going to free Sofia and cross the ice into Russia, the same way he and Wilk crossed over years before. My question concerned that portion of Asirpa's journey. She seems now to be trying to trace her father's footsteps, a far cry from unearthing the cache of gold that perhaps only she knows how to find.


"If we meet up with the other revolutionaries and later find the gold, will this help the Ainu?"
"Yes it will. Not just the Ainu, but all of the ethnic minorities in the Far NorthEast".

That's one answer. At this point she's taking the option of going along with Kiroranke's plan since it also provides manpower. One thing Asirpa's group has always lacked from the start is manpower, which the Hijikata and Tsurumi factions have an overwhelming advantage of. If she can learn more about her father and have more allies at hand during the journey, they can help with the search for the gold since Asirpa isn't in this journey to use the gold.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:20 am Reply with quote
#34

It's all coming together now. Multiple trips down memory lane have finally triggered something in Asirpa which may be the key to unlocking the tattoos. Sugimoto probably guessed something similar a few weeks ago, but he doesn't have the same insight Asirpa has because she remembers a secret only she and her parents are privy to. Unfortunately for her, the sharp-eyed Oogata has realised Asirpa has remembered something crucial and he's not going to let this opportunity pass.

The jailbreak eventually worked, but it was more troublesome than expected. Who would have thought explosives stored for too long in sub-optimal conditions wouldn't work as expected. The appearance of a Siberian Tiger (!) also complicated matters, but the plan worked in the end but with no small sacrifice for the prisoners. Because it wasn't the mass breakout they had hoped for, it looks like Sofia is on her own with Asirpa's group and the men who were with her won't be joining up. So much for the manpower hypothesis, but the original aim of setting up the jailbreak has belatedly been achieved.

Speaking of Oogata, he's too dedicated to his job. Very few people can distinguish the make and age of a firearm from the shot alone.

Last scene with Shiraishi was a good one. They even looped in the oracle bone fortune telling from several weeks ago. Fortunately for Shiraishi his devil's luck isn't completely spent. Now that he and Sugimoto are reunited, it won't be long before one member of the pursuing party catches up with the target.

That episode title: more to it than meets the eye at first glance. After watching the episode, it's a perfect fit for the themes explored this week.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 6:18 am Reply with quote
#35

Ah, what an episode. Almost all of it is action as the chase reaches its denouement.

There are some gross moments involving runny noses and urine, but most of the action is with the different antagonists coming face to face. Kiroranke and Tanigaki have a brawl on the ice, with both sides getting smashed up in different ways. There's the face-off between Asirpa and Oogata, with Sugimoto intervening in the most ironic way imaginable.

Despite it all, fate has found a way to get Tsukishima and Svetlana to cross paths. The former shows he's still a human with some decency, as he was the only person who could help her and refused to abandon her despite Koito's urging.

Sofia is not an enemy of the chasing party, but she won't be happy to find out Kiroranke is mortally wounded at the hands of Tanigaki. If Asirpa is to get more information out of her father's old compatriot, only she can find a way to reconcile the two parties.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:46 am Reply with quote
Season 3, Episode 12 (Episode 36) Finale

It did feel like we finally had a get back to normal, when it did the old like a cooking show thing. After the Judas died without being able to reveal anything, and before our sniper somehow managed to get saved and escape. Kind of surprised because I thought that foreshadowing pointed to his doom soon.

Anyway, I have tried to stay positive this season, but Blood- was saying what I was kind of afraid to say, that we are in this for the Sugimoto and Asirpa chemistry, their characters felt incomplete without each other. I still found some episodes pretty good, especially early on that had the circus episode and the fight club, sauna and wolverine. When it was good this show can be incredibly entertaining and funny. Some of the more serious and story centric stuff kind of got in the way how this show could get at its best, some new weirdos and that could feel oddly absurd.

My rating is Good (7/10), I kind of wish that I could rate it higher as certain elements have just grown stronger on me after each season, a legit series that I can think back to just watch certain scenes or screenshots, but other parts just do feel like a misstep from doing so.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 5:13 am Reply with quote
#36

Kiroranke dying wasn't a surprise. Getting attacked by three of the Japanese soldiers who want his head was never going to end with him getting out alive. Koito's too good with his sabre so even the last-ditch attempt to take them all with him failed. He did gain some satisfaction in seeing how the trip north helped trigger enough of Asirpa's memories to allow her to remember the key to the skins. The journey itself also taught her more about the outside world than she could have ever learned in Hokkaido alone, but whether that's to further the great cause he and Wilk believed in remains to be seen.

As for Ogata, I'm not surprised he's still alive despite his injuries. Not a popular character at all, but he plays a role in this series which is quite unique (a mix of the stereotypical villain and of the unpredictable wild card). He's going to be around in any future adaptations, but with one eye less he's not as fearsome a sniper as he used to be. Sugimoto's a lousy shot as always, but he might have missed on purpose so that he could kill Ogata in close quarters.

Asirpa holds the key to the skins, Tsurumi holds virtually all of them with Hijikata's group possessing the rest. Only Tsurumi knows which of the skins are fake, so it's not so simple for Asipra to just see the collection and then unlock the code. This journey is far from over, and I'm hoping more of the story will be adapted in the future.

This season has been different from the previous adaptations because of the chase element and the separate development of the two groups during the long journey north. It's no less entertaining and the food element is as strong as ever with the ethnic minorities of the Russian Far East getting their turn in the spotlight. More of the same for future seasons wouldn't go wrong for entertainment.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:06 pm Reply with quote
#37

This season is dominated by many big-name adaptations, but the one I was most looking forward to is Season 4. If the quality of this season is up to par with the previous ones, this franchise will have no problems standing out from the competition.

Not a big fan of the OP song, but the animation is good and it introduces at least one new character not seen yet in the franchise. As for the ED song, not very memorable but the animation is huge on information because of its brief synopsis of the major characters.

Not much recap from where we left off. The party cross the border to Japanese territory when they are attacked by a sniper. The Russian sniper (Vasili Pavylychenko: see the ED animation for his Katakana name) has survived but Ogata's duel left him so disfigured he can no longer talk. He wants a rematch, and if the pair do cross paths again it's going to be more even now that Ogata has lost an eye which will permanently affect his stereoscopic vision.

Because the third season was so dominated by the chase and the background into Asirpa and Wilk, viewers will have forgotten there is one more faction chasing after the gold. Back to Hijikata and company, who have latched on to another convict's trail. Like every tattooed convict to date, this one is insane but deviously cunning. Not a fan of his "penchant" for testing the luck of others, but Hijikata and Ushiyama aren't going to be taken out so easily (plot armour aside). The big irony of the episode is how Kadokura is so unlucky that losing his footing can make him lose an entire gift of fish, although it's a blessing of disguise when one of them is toxic enough to kill.

It looks like the next few episodes will concentrate on the poisoner, so Asirpa and company can get a rest while they travel back to Hokkaido.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2969
PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:39 pm Reply with quote
#38

So this ends the poisoner arc. Not a bad way to start off the season, since insane prisoners usually have a backstory that explains why they ended up in Abashiri. This one is no different, although his overreliance on luck proves to be his undoing.

As for the poisons featured in this arc, the effects of Datura match the article on Wikipedia. I would not place too much stock in Wolfsbane being an exact counter to Fugu poison, since the Wikipedia article for the latter in English and Japanese says there is currently no pharmacological cure to Fugu poison, only for the victim to be treated for symptoms and methods to bind the toxin to prevent it from spreading. Most likely Noda Satoru read up on Chinese medical texts regarding this combination. It is surprising Hijikata was able to treat himself, which is borne out from the real-life experience of the historical figure actually being a medicine seller (Chinese medicine) in his youth before joining the Shinsengumi. Luck works in very mysterious ways for Kadokura, so seeing how far it will take him is going to be interesting for the rest of this adaptation.

Seeing Ushiyama being a comedy figure for the first third of the episode is quite the change, although it wasn't nice of the kid to try to kill him. Kadokura's luck being what it is, maybe it was all part of the divine plan to get Kadokura to the silk farm hideout in some way or another.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 9:18 pm Reply with quote
#39

Another mini-arc, but this is a self-contained one-shot and introduces two new characters (Kikuta and another imperial Ainu recruit Ariko). Again it's another arc featuring prisoner skins, although this time it's the 7th Division who get a one-up over the other factions.

Although it isn't explicitly stated in the episode, the last shot featuring the bats is the secret behind Andou's uncanny ability to find his way around in pitch-black darkness. Echolocation is very powerful for blind masseurs who compensate for their blindness with keen hearing beyond the capabilities of normal people with all five working senses. Unfortunately for the masseurs, they have met their match against experienced veterans who can overcome their disadvantages in the dark through other means.

Noboribetsu today is still well-known as one of Hokkaido's premier hot-spring areas, while its nickname is Hell's Valley because of the overwhelming sulphur odour emanating from its springs. There's even a big Oni statue at the entrance nowadays, so anyone with the chance to visit Hokkaido should see (and smell) it for themselves.

The vignette at the end is a reminder where Asirpa's group is and the first proper introduction to Ainu cuisine in this season. Hygiene-wise I would be very wary of eating the gifts, but they were tasty enough for the guests so it all turned out well in the end. It is also a convenient way of linking the episode to the next one, as the Russian slur against rich kids appears to be aimed at Koito.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:17 pm Reply with quote
Episode 40

*sigh*

Anybody remember when Golden Kamuy was about this Ainu girl named Asirpa who teamed up with a Japanese soldier named Sugimoto to track down stolen gold that could be found by using a map made up of tattoos on the bodies of prisoners? Remember that story? Yeah, me neither.

Gosh, I guess next week will be another fascinating flashback to one of the three thousand characters already introduced in this title. Can't wait.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2022 9:18 pm Reply with quote
#40

Notwithstanding the slow pace of the main story which other viewers are griping about, this episode is important since viewers not acquainted with the source material might be wondering why Koito is so obsessed with his commanding officer Tsurumi and why his father was willing to help Tsurumi during the battle of Abashiri prison with his ships.

This ties in with last week's ending scene, when Koito asked Tsukishima what "Barchonok" meant. Turns out Koito had been meaning to ask what the phrase was for some time, but never had the chance to until he remembered Tsukishima is fluent in Russian, is discreet and Koito himself remembered about this long-forgotten experience from years before.

This is one of those episodes where even the native Japanese speakers are going to struggle: the Kagoshima dialect is one of the toughest ones to understand as it's so far removed from standard Japanese. I've heard and read this before (Drifters Shimazu Toyohisa) but it's still a pain to parse and for once I have to take the subtitles at face value since I can't tell for myself otherwise short of listening to the episode multiple times.

Koito Otonoshin is a poser, but it's probably a legacy of his childhood after his elder brother died during the First Sino-Japanese War. After his father gave up on him, he probably acted the way he did for attention. After the incident, the two reconciled and Otonoshin enrolled in the army instead (which conveniently means he doesn't have to overcome seasickness). The knowing glances of the 7th Divison's clean-up crew, the mouldy Anpan in the star fort and Ogata's unsubtle use of Barchonok at the last suggest all is not as it seems with the kidnapping incident. Tsurumi was of course the biggest beneficiary as he won over a high-ranking naval captain to his side during a time when the Army-Navy rivalry in Imperial Japan was at its zenith. One favour would be called in when Abashiri prison had to be stormed.

The use of telephone exchanges and the prototype motorcycle are a reminder this series is set in the Meiji era when industrialization hasn't quite gotten into full swing. Hakodate was one of the more advanced cities in Japan at the time, and even it didn't have full telephone connectivity throughout its population as it was still expensive then to pay for one. Thanks to that, one of the peculiar aspects of the episode makes sense as it would have been infinitely harder to trace the kidnappers had coverage been more widespread. As for the motorcycle, not surprising only influential and rich Japanese could afford to import a novel Western invention. Turns out it had its uses, especially in hilly areas which made horses more difficult to handle (that Kagoshima naval officer's reaction to his bolting horse is really impressive).

Next week's episode title is another aspect of technology during the era, and unfortunately for impatient viewers I don't think Asirpa and the others are going to be involved in it as they are nowhere near a place which has that particular installation. So most likely another flashback episode, but whose?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24166
PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:17 pm Reply with quote
Harleyquin wrote:
#40

Notwithstanding the slow pace of the main story which other viewers are griping about, this episode is important since viewers not acquainted with the source material might be wondering why Koito is so obsessed with his commanding officer Tsurumi and why his father was willing to help Tsurumi during the battle of Abashiri prison with his ships.


Whether it is "important" for a viewer to know why Koito is so obsessed with Tsurumi or why his father was willing to help Tsurumi is up to each individual viewer. This particular viewer doesn't give two shits. I have never cared about Koito as a character and it's been so long since the prison fight I had forgotten his father helped out. Again, not that I care now that I know the reason. These tidbits have absolutely zero to do with the supposed main story.

There have been so many characters introduced so far, we never have to return to the main story. The vast majority of of season three kept Asirpa and Sugimoto apart. And now apparently we can look forward to more of the same in season 4. I'm not impatient. I'm disgusted with a story that has literally lost sight of the plot. I guess the original creator got bored of the main story and decided to write about everything tangential to it but nothing central. Jerk.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2022 3:06 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Whether it is "important" for a viewer to know why Koito is so obsessed with Tsurumi or why his father was willing to help Tsurumi is up to each individual viewer. This particular viewer doesn't give two shits. I have never cared about Koito as a character and it's been so long since the prison fight I had forgotten his father helped out. Again, not that I care now that I know the reason. These tidbits have absolutely zero to do with the supposed main story.

There have been so many characters introduced so far, we never have to return to the main story. The vast majority of of season three kept Asirpa and Sugimoto apart. And now apparently we can look forward to more of the same in season 4. I'm not impatient. I'm disgusted with a story that has literally lost sight of the plot. I guess the original creator got bored of the main story and decided to write about everything tangential to it but nothing central. Jerk.

Drop it then, since Asirpa currently travelling together with Sugimoto back to the 7th Division in Hokkaido as they previously agreed is going to take time, is very boring since they are literally retracing their steps under armed guard and with express pace and the other factions (7th Division, Hijikata) are still looking for the remaining missing skins which are required for the main story since without all of them no one knows where the gold is .

Some viewers like an eternal pairing of Asirpa and Sugimoto on a wild goose chase, all power to them since it drags out the main story when they have no clue where the gold is which is the whole point of them sticking together. The last arc has progressed the main plot forward by acquiring an additional skin for one faction, while this week is the first episode in the season which is a sideshow as it is apparently unrelated to the main game of chasing the gold. I'm actually happy with what I saw this week because as a historical show in addition to two main characters chasing after a goal, the question about how a naval captain would willingly help a rogue army division captain in storming a jail is very relevant when it's a known fact the army and navy hated each other during the Meiji period, something Tsurumi himself flagged up in this episode.

Since it is a jerk responsible for this franchise, I wonder what that makes viewers who've been happy with what's been offered since the start. There's no compulsion to watch the show if the pacing is not to anime-only viewers' liking, and I'm going to keep watching regardless. It will clear this thread when one less disgruntled viewer gives up the show permanently, since the Talkback thread for the reviews is where complaints about the general pacing of the show go and I couldn't care less about what goes on there. Last I checked, this forum is about detailed discussion of the episodes rather than random rants which the Talkback thread is more than happy to host.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24166
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2022 5:43 am Reply with quote
Laughing

Oh dear, somebody doesn't approve of my distaste for the show's devoted abandonment of its main characters. Imagine a viewer not liking the ignoring of a central relationship that inspired his enjoyment of the show in the first place... the nerve!

Laughing

In any case, I have no intention of dropping the show or this thread. Clearly, the show will continue to ignore its central relationship and I will continue complain about it. Since this clearly rankles you, I suggest you pass over my posts.
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