Golden Kamuy

[Drunk Monk]

Golden Kamuy

Set after the Russo-Japanese war, scarred veterans chase after a map to a cache of stolen Ainu gold that is tattooed on the bodies of 24 escaped prisoners. It’s based on a bestselling manga which I’ve heard of but knew nothing about. Given that the manga has been going since 2014, this is just the start. Wish I knew that before I watched this - then the ‘this is just the beginning’ ending wouldn’t have been such a let down.

There’s some great stuff in this. It opens with an epic battle scene that has a startling good one against many oner fight in trench warfare - rifles, bayonets, gunto katanas & fisticuffs - tasty ultravi. Then there’s bear fights, white wolf fights, gun fights, bayonet fights, and many scarred heroes and villains, plus a cute wilderness-smart Ainu archer gal. There’s a lot of Ainu culture, and I don’t know much about that so whether it was authentic or not was beyond me. But it seemed cool. There’s comic relief, psycho ultravi (the bear swatting a soldier’s face off was particularly standout), sporadic yet unusually tasty brutality like only Japanese can deliver.

I enjoyed it for its storytelling and a few good twists, plus the gruesome violence is just borderline gratuitous, dropped suddenly amidst the carnality in a way to startle shock with good effect. I’ll watch the sequel should they get green lit for that. 

D00M recommended