Anime: Golden Kamuy

The year is 1905, the time of the Russo-Japanese war. The Japanese and the Russian forces are waging a massive war that would decimate armies on both sides. The former has a platoon stationed within a trench in the Hokkaido region of their own country. One of the soldiers spots a battalion of opposing forces on the other side, with some machine gunners in their squad for defensive measures. One of the men, a high-ranking officer, gives his men a signal. The platoon charge ahead, screaming and hurling battle cries as they set their sights on the enemy. But its futile. One by one, they drop dead in an instant, their bodies peppered with machine gun bullets. Except for one man… His rage-inducing roar echoes throughout the battlefield as he charges head-on into the enemy’s trenches. He shrugs off the bullet wound; pain after all only seems to make him stronger. His adversaries are pulverized, stabbed, impaled, and mutilated beyond belief as the lone soldier weaves through the squad with amazing dexterity. The camera then pans on him as he shrieks, blurting out his name before executing one unlucky bastard in front of him. And this man is…

Japan’s answer to Hugh Glass from ‘The Revenant’ hahahahaha! What? That’s not funny? Oh, ok then…

This is how Golden Kamuy starts out. From the very start of the episode, it makes it clear that this is a full-blown action series, and perfectly establishes our main hero, Sugimoto, as a man who could shrug off more bullets than any human can. Adapted from the hit manga by Sataru Noda, the story of Kamuy is as if somebody took the plot of an Indiana Jones movie, and spliced it with some references to 20th Century Japanese history. Its an action series, a blood pumping adventure flick, a wacky comedy, a mystery, a cooking program, a creepy romance, and a historical documentation on a certain indigenous culture, all wrapped into one tight, little package. With 12 episodes and a second season on the horizon, Golden Kamuy tells the story of Sugimoto as he runs into Aspira, an Ainu girl. The two strike a close friendship between one another and begin the search for a hidden stash of gold. However, conflicts soon arise as it turns out, they’re not the only ones after it.

I was super stoked for this adaptation seeing as the manga is one of my favourites. But alas, you can’t expect too much from animators, writers and directors these days. Point is, Golden Kamuy had a rough start. Geno Studio’s attempt to adapt the popular seinen manga (which was serialized in the same magazine as ‘Tokyo Ghoul’ mind you), initially urked many watchers with its low budget animation, awkward off model shots and the presence of an out-of-place CGI bear.

Animation wise, Geno Studio weren’t the best type of guys to handle this sort of project. If it were up to me, I’d entrust a studio like Bones to handle it due to their proficiency of animating wildlife, and in showing jaw-droppingly gorgeous landscape shots. I mean look at Wolf’s Rain for instance. This only prompts me to ask: “What the hell happened?” How did they fuck up this badly? Geno Studio may not be that good of a studio to begin with (they were brought into existence from the remnants of Manglobe after they went bankrupt), but their prior works: ‘Genocidal Organ’ and ‘Kokkoku,’ were animated on a decent level despite a few pitfalls here and there. Kamuy is a strange case, because whereas most anime nowadays (even long running shonen like ‘Naruto’ and ‘Fairy Tail’) would have a few moments where the animation would be kicked up a notch, this isn’t the case with this title. There were 0 sakuga moments and coming from a studio that has shown themselves to be competent on that side of things makes it such an astonishment. The animation in Kamuy ranges from poor to subpar at best. Sure, it’s not ‘Berserk 2016’ levels of horrifuckus, but it’s disappointing in comparison to the manga, which is known for having a very crisp and detailed artstyle, with certain panels showcasing action setpieces that seem to move in motion upon reading them. Because of this, action scenes tend to suffer immensely, with character models moving ludicrously stiff, as if they’re mere animatronics.

Also, I gotta talk about that bear. Like wtf? That is quite possibly one of the worse decisions I’ve ever bared witness to. There’s not even any fur sticking to the damn thing. It looks like it’s made entirely out of wood and timber. The bloody thing looks like someone just photoshopped a real bear and stuck it into an anime. It looks so out of place against the 2D background. Apparently one of the animators came out stating that his team chose to depict the creature in CGI to make it seem more otherworldly compared to the humans fighting it. Sure, this technique would have worked in a show like ‘Madoka Magica,’ where the witches are portrayed using Claymation and deranged animation to contemplate the uncanniness of the labyrinths, effectively distinguishing them from the real world. But in Kamuy, it just flat out doesn’t. I mean IT’S A FUCKING BEAR!!! It’s not supposed to be this unearthly, fantastical creature of any kind, its literally just a bear! The other thing the animator noted, was that it was challenging for them to animate a bear in 2D. Well, that didn’t stop shows like ‘Kuma Miko’ and ‘Terraformers’ from having well animated 2D bears. There were other poor choices regarding the us of computer generated imagery, such as inconsistent shots featuring Retar and certain campfire scenes. But alas, I will give it this. At least the bear doesn’t move at 12 fps unlike most anime with CG models (I’m looking at you Polygon Pictures). So, I guess there’s that for a compliment…

Despite that, I still appreciate the adaptation for sticking rather closely to the source material. Take for instance the over the top faces that were used for comedic purposes. They are often well presented in the adaptation, although it was clear that animators sort of struggled to perfectly imitate their look from the manga panels in earlier episodes. However, even the adaptation has taken some shortcuts here and there. There was one important part in chapter 15 that was flat out removed for some odd reason. I don’t get it, why remove a pivotal and emotional moment? The whole episode could have benefitted from that one key event. I’m not going to tell you what it is, because this is a spoiler free review after all. The adaptation also just feels dry and unsoiled at times. The manga has a lot of brutal, gore filled moments, and while its understandable that studios would tone them down due to broadcast restrictions for tv anime, it just kinda lessens the impact. At the very least there’s no obnoxious censoring (like black bars, white beams of light etc) to obscure any of the more gruesome moments, but I would have preferred at least a little bit of it, so I can watch all the uncensored scenes in their full glory when the blu rays get released. Do it like they did with ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.’

But alas, it is a decent adaptation after all. The two most essential components to the series are its setting and characters, and the show does a dang good job with them. Aesthetics wise, the setting looks phenomenally gorgeous with white blankets of snow coating the ground, clusters of beautifully rendered trees towering over the landscape, and populated settlements lined with detailed and artistically pleasing Meiji era structures. The wildlife, aside from the bear and certain shots of Retar, move at a breakneck pace from shot to shot, their 2D designs intentionally used to evoke a sense of cuteness and beauty into the average viewer. The Ainu camps are meticulous well crafted by the designers, with extra care and attention put towards the shape of their huts and the vivid colours of their furs.

Character wise, Noda has done an excellent of ensuring that each one is well fleshed out and disguisable from the other. Sugimoto’s brash and headstrong attitude is put on full display here, as he’s shown to be highly oblivious to his own weaknesses and charges impulsively into battles without thinking clearly enough. I mean the guy punches a bear, like what kind of intelligent person would do such a thing unless they had superpowers of some sort? I also love how Aspira acts more like an actual girl rather than those obnoxious loli archetypes with high pitched voices and shrill tones that you see in almost every anime nowadays. Plus, Shiraishi steals the show at times, with his energetic, silly personality and snake-like movements serving as part of the show’s humour. Fans of “manly men doing manly things” type series, will also find much admiration for characters like the badass Nihei, the grizzled, veteran samurai/gunslinger hybrid Hijikata, and the nigh-invulnerable Ushiyama. Also, let’s not forget Tanigaki, who’s sure to get fangirls swooning over, especially with those sideburns and that deep, attractive voice of his.

One of the main highlights in the series is how it explores both the Japanese and Ainu cultures during the Meiji Era. It also makes it evident that there is some discrimination and culture clashing during the times too. Sugimoto starts off unknowledgeable about the Ainu, and viewers are given a full insight into this through the way he reacts to Aspira’s actions. Never having lived in a hunter gatherer society, Sugimoto is shown reacting with disgust to her idea of skinning and bludgeoning cute critters from rabbits to squirrels. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Aspira reacts in a similar manner to the way Sugimoto adds miso to his meals, due to their resemblance to faeces. The way these two cultures collide is given full insight into, and people watching the show will be able to get a firsthand glimpse of it. Its also the show’s main source of humour and oftentimes it works well to its advantage.

Also, there is a ton of moments featuring cooking and men baring their bare chests and muscles. I mean, there is a reason why people compare this to ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ and ‘Food Wars’ after all. There is a running joke in the community that Golden Kamuy is a cooking and bara manga in disguise. So, if you like that kind of stuff, you’ll find lots of it here.

Kamuy is a rare species of anime that starts off faulty but appears to grow as time goes on. This is the complete antithesis to the rule that “it never gets better.” It doesn’t get good until a few episodes, so it’s the type of title that should be approached with patience (it’s a virtue after all). If you stick around long enough, you’ll be rewarded with a decent adaptation that just needed time to sharpen up its act.

Golden Kamuy seems to be something made for those who got tired of the usual anime tropes. No high schools, no forced romance, no videogame battles, and so on. On top of that, it is heavy on history and culture during the Russo-Japanese war, to the point it can become educational instead of yet another disposable fighting shonen or harem.

And yet it messed up big time. It’s too damn different and it tries to be too many damn things at the same time. One moment it can be a serious action adventure, the next it can be a goofball comedy, and then it turns into a cooking slice of life. I know there are many who will consider this as a positive thing for having variety, but there is no smooth transition from one thing to another and thus comes off as a serious case of immersion breaking tonal whiplash.

The chemistry between the two main leads, Sugimoto and Asirpa, is fantastic, and it’s main appeal of the show. For once there is no shipping going on between a man and a loli, as they are together just for increasing their odds of survival by combining their talents. One for war and the other for survival in the wilderness. It’s never about luring horny teenagers with the promise of steamy kissing scenes. As such, the adventure portion of the story is great and really lame when it halts for stupid jokes or cooking lessons that makes you eye roll with how pointless they are. Educational? Yes. Flavors the cast of characters? Sure. But constantly stopping the main quest for this nonsense makes it feel like there is no urgency. They are supposed to rush to find a treasure before the other factions do and yet they constantly stop for food lectures and silly-wily comedy.

I know many who will claim that the anime’s main focus is not the treasure hunt, but the National Geographic-style look into the lives of the Ainu people. Bullshit! Everyone was in it for the action adventure. If they wanted a documentary, they would watch a documentary. This is anime dammit, it’s supposed to be fun and exciting.

And then there is Tsurumi, the main antagonist who is a complete nutjob. He is very memorable thanks to his crazy personality, but just like everything else, when he is crazy for the sake of comedy instead of getting closer to finding the treasure then it becomes bothersome. The comedy is not integrated into the plot and can easily be comical skits that take place after an episode is over.

And speaking of comedy, lots of serious action scenes can unintentionally turn into that because of the atrocious CGI they use, mostly for animals. It’s no joke when I tell you people often refer this show as “The one with the CGI bear”. The action adventure part which is where the actual plot takes place in, is constantly breaking your immersion with these awful 3D models. And when they are over, you move to even more immersion breaking scenes about dumb comedy. As you can tell, the show does its best to not let you enjoy it and as such I can’t recommend it as anything but an oddity amongst typical anime tropes.